US3885666A

US3885666A - Storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values

Info

Publication number: US3885666A
Application number: US378585A
Authority: US
Inventors: William J Maxwell
Original assignee: MASTERSON ENTERPRISES Inc
Current assignee: MASTERSON ENTERPRISES Inc
Priority date: 1973-07-12
Filing date: 1973-07-12
Publication date: 1975-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 1992-05-27

Abstract

A storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values for use by artists comprising a plastic container. The container houses tablet-form palettes held in a predetermined manner for preventing paints and values from untimely drying hardening between use.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Maxwell May 27, 1975 1 STORAGE DEVICE FOR PALETTES 2,515,703 7/1950 Dumas 206/l.7 CONTAINING AIR DRYING PAINTS AND 2,645,334 7/1953 Aldridge 206/300 VALUES 2,923,081 2/1960 Simmons 312/31 3,165,227 1/1965 Crowell et a1... 220/42 C [75] Inventor: William J. Maxwell, Scottsdale, 3,256,975 6/1966 Puente /6 R Ariz. 3,324,996 6/1967 .lordt 206/42 3,756,393 9/1973 Markwitz et a1 206/456 [73] Assignee: Masterson Enterprises, Inc.,

P hoemx Anz Primary ExaminerWilliam T. Dixson, Jr. 1 1 Flledl J y 12, 1973 Attorney, Agent, or FirmWarren F. B. Lindsley [21] Appl. N0.: 378,585

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. 206/1.7; 312/31; 206/205;

220/355 A storage device for palettes containing air drying [51] Int Cl 344d 3/04; 344d 3/02. B65d 43/10 paints and values for use by artists comprising a plastic [58] Field of Search 42 306 container. The container houses tablet-form palettes 2O6/456 220/60 R 42 1 held in a predetermined manner for preventing paints and values from untimely drying hardening between [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1,009,995 11/1911 Reusche 206/l,7

STORAGE DEVICE FOR PALETTES CONTAINING AIR DRYING PAINTS AND VALUES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Painting has in recent years become increasingly popular as an avocation or hobby. Men and women with artistic talent or who have the desire to engage in creative activity as a release from the cares and burdens of their vocations have turned to painting as a free time activity.

When such free time is limited, however, and when it comes only in brief periods of an hour or two one or more times a week, the spare time artist finds himself spending a major part of his time preparing and getting set up to paint and in cleaning up and putting things away again. In addition, such brief separated periods of painting tend to be wasteful of expensive materials. Having mixed a number of colors on his palette, the artist usually runs out of time before he runs out of paint. Knowing the paint will be dried out and unuseable when he next has an opportunity to paint, he discards it. The next time he wishes to paint he is confronted with the task of mixing a new set of colors or values which must be carefully matched with those he used before. Because colors and values tend to change in tone as they dry, this is a difficult and often frustrating task, and the waste of the expensive materials is often compounded by the necessity of having to repeat an unsuccessful attempt.

One recent innovation, the throw-away palette, has simplified the task of cleaning up at the end of a painting session, but it has not addressed the problems of preparation, of mixing and remixing colors and values or the problem of the wasted materials. The throwaway palette is simply a tablet of treated paper that will not absorb the liquids of the painting materials. Colors are mixed on the top sheet of the tablet as they would be mixed on any conventional palette. At the end of the painting session the top sheet is removed and discarded along with the unused paints.

What is needed is an innovation that will permit the part-time artist to reduce significantly the time required to get set up and ready to paint. The innovation should provide a means for preserving unused colors and values from one session until the next, thereby conserving both time and materials and allowing a maximum percentage of available time for actual creative activity.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values comprising an enclosure for preserving colors and values on the paletles from one painting session to the next.

Another object of this invention is to provide a storage device for palettes containing paints and values which significantly reduces the time required for setting up and painting the next time.

A further object of this invention is to provide such a storage device for palettes that effectively prevents drying and hardening of the prepared colors and values on the palette by employing a reliable airtight seal between its cover and storage compartment.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a storage device for used palettes that may be stored without color mixing.

A still further object of this invention is to provide such a palette storage device formed from a molded,

synthetic plastic enclosure that is inexpensive to produce and easily carried from place to place by the user.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide such a palette storage device that is suitable for use with the throw-away tablet form of palette and which may be readily marketed and sold as a kit comprising the storage device and one or more palette tablets.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize this invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specificatron.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing objects are achieved in the instant invention by providing a new and improved storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values comprising a plastic enclosure or container for the throwaway, tablet-form palettes which is equipped with projections that hold the palettes in place and prevent smudging of the colors regardless of the orientation of the stored enclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention may be more readily described by reference to the accompaning drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspectivev view of the storage device for palettes showing the container with the cover lifted away from the container and with portions of the container and cover broken away to reveal details of the construction.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the storage device shown in FIG. 1 as viewed in the direction of the arrows at section 22'.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the storage device shown in FIG. 1 taken along the lines 33 with the cover in place on the container.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly to the drawing by characters of reference, FIG. 1 discloses a storage device 10 for palettes containing air drying paints and values comprising a container 11 and a cover 12 therefor with the cover shown in an elevated position above the container. Both container 11 and cover 12 are preferably formed of a semi-flexible plastic material. It should be recognized that other suitable material may be used.

The container 11 is in the form of a shallow, open box having a flat, rectangular bottom 13 with

vertical sides

14A and 14B, and

ends

15A and 158. The bottom, sides and ends may be substantially mutually perpendicular as in a simple, rectangular box.

Cover 12 comprises a flat top panel 16, sides 17A and 17B, ends 18A and 18B and a multiplicity of flat, tapered projections 19A through 28A which are shown in FIG. I mounted around the periphery of the cover inside of its edge and extending into the container. A tapered downward projection 25 is provided at the center of the cover as shown. Reinforcing lateral ribs 26 may be provided for extending along the under surface of panel 16 between the projections 19A-28A along the periphery of cover 16 and longitudinal reinforcing ribs 27 between some of projections 19A-28A and projection 25. The lateral and longitudinal ribs serve to reinforce both the panel 16 and the various projections.

The contours of container 11, cover 12, and their respective parts may be visualized more clearly when considered in connection with the sectional views of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

An outwardly and downwardly extending flange 28 having a rounded convex cross-section traverses the periphery of the opening of container 1 l for fitting into a channel 29 formed by a lip 29A traversing the periphery of cover 16. The concave inner cavity of channel 29 is appropriately formed and dimensioned to fit snugly over flange 28 when cover 12 is in place on container 1 1, as shown in FIG. 3. The cooperating surfaces of flange 28 and channel 29 are specially contoured so as to provide firstly a substantially air-tight seal between cover 12 and container 11, and secondly to hold cover 12 securely in place. The latter function is accomplished by virtue of the interference between the underside of the outwardly extending flange 28 and the inwardly extending convex inner surface of lip 29A. The lip 29A is forced outwardly by flange 28 as the cover 12 is being installed on container 11, and the residual stress in lip 29A producing an inward grabbing action against flange 28 while cover 12 is in place. This same interference between flange 28 and lip 29A produces pressure between the mating surfaces of the inner surface 30 of the periphery of container 11 and surface 31 of inner wall 29B of channel 29. The pressure between these two surfaces over their considerable contact surface area accomplishing the first function, ..e., producing the substantially air-tight seal between cover 12 and container 11.

In the intended application of the storage device, an appropriately dimensional rectangular tablet-form palette 32 having disposable sheets of treated paper is placed inside container 12. The artist then mixes his paints on the top sheet of the tabletform palette in the usual manner and proceeds to paint. If, at the end of his painting session, he has further use for the colors and values he has prepared on the palette and he expects to resume his painting activity within a few hours, days or weeks, he simply installs cover 12 on container 11, the cover 12 sealing the container 11 and its contents against the atmosphere and preventing the evaporation of solvents from the prepared paints and values on the palette and preserving them for use during the next painting session.

As seen in FIG. 3, the lower extremities of the projections 19A-24A and 25 press against the top surface of palette 32, holding palette 32 in place against bottom 13 of container 11, their points of contact being distributed principally about the periphery of palette 32 where they are not likely to come into contact with the paint stored on the surface of the palette. With palette 32 being held securely in place, it may be stored without regard for its orientation, i.er, right side up, upside down or on its side without hazard of smudging the paint. Furthermore, the storage device maybe conveniently stored in a refrigerator or other cool place to further reduce the drying rate of the prepared paints and values and the absence of restriction regarding its physical orientation simplicics the problem of finding such suitable available space.

In order to provide some moisture in the storage device a sponge 33 may be fastened at a suitable place to the underside of cover 16 with a suitable amount of moisture added thereto.

While specific cooperating surfaces between cover 12 and container 11 have been descrobed, numerous variations in these parts will be apparent which will perform the same desired functions of holding the cover in place and providing an air-tight seal. Other means will also be apparent for securing the palette in place at the bottom of the container such as, for example, a projection or a ridge running horizontally at least part way around the inner surface of the vertical sides and ends of the container 11 just above the edges of the palette, or the inner wall 298 of channel 29 may be extended downwardly so that its lower extremity presses against the surface of palette 32 when cover 12 is in place. Furthermore, the combination of the storage device with a tablet-form palette has been specifically described, but other forms of palettes such as wood, plastic or glass may also be employed with some loss in convenience.

A novel and useful storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values has been provided which preserves the prepared painting materials on a palette from one painting session to the next, thereby reducing the time required for setting up before painting, retaining the values which might be impossible to reproduce and cleaning up after each painting session. The storage device incorporating particular design features securely holds its cover in place while providing an air-tight seal and further secures the palette in place so that colors cannot be smudged or transferred to other surfaces regardless of the orientation of the container. This latter feature greatly simplifies the storage of the device between periods of use. The storage device is designed in two simple parts, both of which may be inexpensively molded from a synthetic plastic mate rial and sold as a kit along with one or more tablet-form palettes.

Although the cover is shown as being pressed fitted on the container 11 it should be recognized that it may be hingedly attached thereto.

While the principles of the invention have now been made clear in an illustrative embodiment, there will be immediately obvious to those skilled in the art many additional modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, the elements, materials and parts used in the practice of the invention, and otherwise, which are particularly adapted for specific environments without departing from these principles. The appended claims are therefore intended to cover and embrace any such modifications, within the limits only of the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values comprising:

a shallow rectangular box comprising a base and side and end walls extending laterally from said base in the same direction for forming a container for receiving one or more palettes juxtapositioned against its base,

a substantially flat cover having a lip around its periphery for engaging in substantially air tight arrangement the edges of said side and end walls of said container;

a means arranged around the periphery of said cover for extending into said container beyond said lip when said cover is mounted thereon for holding the palettes against the base of said container,

6 said means comprises a plurality of projections which tainer along the surfaces of said side and end walls taper toward their ends, in sliding engagement therewith for aiding in proa tapered projection extending outwardly from the viding a substantially air tight seal,

center of said cover in the same direction as said said flat surfaces of said lip wedgingly engages the projections around the periphery of said cover, 5 surfaces of said side and end walls. the edges of said side and end walls being provided 2. The storage device set forth in claim 1 in further with a convex surface for engaging a concave combination with: pocket in said lip around the periphery of said a sponge mounted on the inside of the cover for concover to form substantially an air tight seal taining moisture to condition the air in the storage said lip around the periphery of said cover further 10 device.

comprising a flat surface projecting into said con-

Claims

1. A storage device for palettes containing air drying paints and values comprising: a shallow rectangular box comprising a base and side and end walls extending laterally from said base in the same direction for forming a container for receiving one or more palettes juxtapositioned against its base, a substantially flat cover having a lip around its periphery for engaging in substantially air tight arrangement the edges of said side and end walls of said container, a means arranged around the periphery of said cover for extending into said container beyond said lip when said cover is mounted thereon for holding the palettes against the base of said container, said means comprises a plurality of projections which taper toward their ends, a tapered projection extending outwardly from the center of said cover in the same direction as said projections around the periphery of said cover, the edges of said side and end walls being provided with a convex surface for engaging a concave pocket in said lip around the periphery of said cover to form substantially an air tight seal, said lip around the periphery of said cover further comprising a flat surface projecting into said container along the surfaces of said side and end walls in sliding engagement therewith for aiding in providing a substantially air tight seal, said flat surfaces of said lip wedgingly engages the surfaces of said side and end walls.

2. The storage device set forth in claim 1 in further combination with: a sponge mounted on the inside of the cover for containing moisture to condition the air in the storage device.