US416027A - Benjamin f - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

- B. F. BILLINGS.

GALBNDAR. n No. 416,027. Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN E. BILLINGS, OF BLUE CREEK, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF 'lO \VILLIAM A. COPAS, OF SAME PLACE.

CALENDAR.

SPECIFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,027, dated November 26, 1889.

Application filed September 3, 1889.

To all whom t may concern.'

Beit known that I, BENJAMIN F. BILLINGS, a citizen of the United States, residing' at Blue Creek, in the county of Adams and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Calendars, ot' which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of calendars commonly known as perpetual or combination-date calendars, and one purpose thereof is to provide a simple, compact, and convenient construction and combination of parts, whereby such a calendar may be placed upon or form part of a pencil, penholder, umbrella, paper-weight, or other suitable article having a cylindrical form.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a perpetual calendar which may be set to give the correct dates of each month for any year, and by means of which the days of the current months may be indicated for any number of years in succession.

It is my purpose, also, to so construct and combine the cylindrical tabulations ot such a calendar that, by knowing the year, month, and day of the month of any given event, the

y day of the week corresponding to such date may be readily ascertained; or, by knowing the year, the day of the month, the season of the year, and the day of the week, the name of the month in which said day falls can be ascertained.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a simple means whereby a person knowing the month and the day of the month and the day of the week of any given event, and knowing` that the date occurs in one of a series of tive consecutive years which includes the correct year, can ascertain the latter with accuracy; or, the year, month, and day of the week being given, and within three days of the day of the month, the latter may be readily ascertained in any century.

The invention consists in the several novel features of construction and new combinations of parts hereinafter fully set forth, and then definitely pointed out in the claims following this speciiication. y

In order to enable those skilled in the art to practice my said invention, I proceed to ble or desk.

Serial No. 322,862. (No model.)

describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l isa view in elevation showing my invention applied to a pencil. Fig. 2 is a View ot' the cylindrical shells and rings laid out iat to show the tabular arrangement.

In the said drawings the reference-numeral l denotes a pencil or other cylindrical body so constructed that it may be carried in the pocket, worn as a charm, or used upon a ta- Upon this pencil or other article is arranged a cylindrical shell 2, placed at the top or upper end, and capable ot' independent rotation. Below this shell is arranged a second and longer cylinder 3, which is likewise capable of rotation in either direction and upon which the shell 2 is mounted in such manner as to turn freelyin either direction.

Below the cylindrical shell 3 is a short cylinder 4, below which are two independentlyadjustable rings 5 and 6. Below the latter ring lies a short cylinder 7. Both of the rings 5 and 6, as well as the two cylinders 4 and 7, are composed ot' any suitable material and are placed uponl a supporting cylinder or shell S, made ot' thin metal or other suitable material, in such manner that they can be turned thereon or rotatably adjusted relatively one to another, and the longer shell or cylinder 3 and the upper cylinder 2 are likewise constructed in such a way that they may be turned independently upon their own axes and in either direction. The shells 2 and S may also be so arranged that they may be pushed within the longer shell 3, and when the device is combined with or mounted upon a pencil, as shown in the drawings, this construction will be found preferable.

Upon the exterior of the top cylinder 2 are letter or letters at the foot of that column. Ioo

For example, the numbers 1 and 1l, being found in the column having the letter S or the letters Sun. at its foot, indicate that the seventh and fourteenth centuries began upon Sunday, or, in other words, by the new style of reckoning the first day of January in the year G01 and in the year 1301 fell upon Sunday.

Upon the longer and larger cylinder 3, l arrange a series ot' figures from 1 to 100, in` elusive, the last year of each century being indicated by two ciphers, the digit being omitted. These gnres are placed in seven vertical columns, which are separated from each other by substantially similar intervals. These iigures represent the years in each ccntury, and the figures in each column are selected to show those years which began on the day of the week corresponding to such column, as found at the foot of the corresponding column on the cylinder 2.

The leap-years are designated by a star or asterisk, or in any other suitable manner. The leap-years occurring upon the last years of the centuries which are designated by a double cipher are an exception to this rule, no

distinguishing mark being attached thereto.

Upon the end of the short cylinder 4 the twelve months ot' the year are designated inv their order, the letters of designation being arranged parallel with the axis of the cylinder. Immediately under the letters or characters denoting the months are numbers ranging from 1 to 7, a single numbering placed opposite each month. These numerals denote the day of the week upon which the ensuing month will begin in ordinary years. Thus for the year 1888, for example, the first day of January fell upon Sunday, which is the first day of the week, and by examining the calendar the numeral 4 will be found opposite the mcnth of February, showing that this month will begin three days later than January, or upon the fourth day of the week, lVednesday, January having been ushered in upon Sunday in this year. The same-numeral also is set opposite the month of March 5 but in leap-years one more must be ad ded to the number on the band opposite each month except January and February. These numerals set opposite the names of the months are not intended to indicate the day of the Week or the number of the day of the week on which the month begins, but are intended to show that the day of the week upon which the month begins is in common years so many days ahead or in advance of the day of the week upon which the first of January fell, which number is always one less than the numbers set opposite the months in common years.

Upon the ring or band 5 are arranged the numerals from 1 to 7 in their order, and upon the independently-adjustable ring or collar 6 are arranged characters indicating the days of the week. Upon the short cylinder or band 7, at the lower end,the numerical tabu` lation of the days of the month is found in seven colun'nis of figures, reading from the left to right, and arranged in seven columns ol ligures corresponding to the indications of the days oi' the week upon the ring (i. rlhe two rings or collars 5 and (j are arranged relatively to each other in such manner that the number 1 on the former shall be brought t0 register with the day of the week upon which the year began. Thus in 1889 the first day of January fell upon Tuesday, and therefore the character denoting that day upon the ring 6 is brought immediately opposite the numeral 1 on the ring 5. lVhcn this adjustment is made, by looking at the cylinder l at the designation of any one of the months thereon and noting the numeral directly opposite said month, the day of the week upon which the first day of said month fell will be found by looking for the same number upon the ring 5 and noting the day of the week directly opposite on the ring (5. In the leap* years one vmust be added to every number standing opposite the names of the months on the band Lt, except the numbers opposite January and February, as already explained.

The calendar is set for the month by turning the band so that the numeral 1, indicating the first day of the month on the band 7, will fall opposite the day of the week upon the band G, on which said month begins. The calendar is now set for the month.

From the construction and tabulation of the shell 2 and large cylinder 3 it is apparent at a glance not only what centuries,from the iirst up to and including the twenty-rst, began on Sunday, Monday, rluesday, &c., but it is also easily ascertained what years in each century began on Sunday and what years were ushered in on the other days of the week. In accordance with the information thus obtained, the rings 5 and (j are adj usted in the manner already set forth, from which the initial day in any one of the months of any year in the past may be located with reference to the week-day upon which such initial day falls. \Vhen this has been done, it is a simple matter to set the monthly calendar on the rin g 7 in such a way as to read correctly for the whole month. It is easy then to locate any day in the month or week. In similar manner the day of thel week may readily be ascertained for any given year, month, and day of the month, and by knowing the year, the day of the month, the day of the week, and the season of the year the name of the month may be ascertained.

If the month, the day of the month, the day of the week, and a series of live consecutive years containing the correct year be given, in order to ascertain the month the operation is as follows: Upon bands 6 and 7 the week-day is ascertained, showing the first of the month, and from band 4 the number opposite said month. The number on band 5 is then taken corresponding to the number opposite the month, and it is so placed as to IOO IIO

be opposite the day of the week on band (5, on which the month began. Then opposite the figure l on band 5 I find upon band G the first day of the year, if it be a common year; but if itbe aleap-year and if the month is subsequent to February I must gn back one day in the week in order to find the Iirst of the year; but as I am to iind the year, and do not know that it is leap-year, I must ascertain this fact by inspecting the five years containing the correct year on cylinder 3, when set for the century containing the year.

I will also explain how to iind the month, having given the year,the day of the month, the day of the week, and the season of the year, and then how to ascertain the day of the month, knowing the year, month, and day of the week, and within three days of the day of the month. In the former case I find on bands (S and 7 the first day of the unknown month by placing the day of the month on band 7 directly under the day of the week on band 6. Then above the figure 1 on band 7 will be found the week-day on which the first day of the month falls. The first of the year is then found from cylinder 3, when set for the correct century, and I then note the same day ofv the week on band G, turning said band so as to bring said day opposite the gure 1 on band 5. Then on said band 5 note the number opposite the day of the Week on which the month began on band G, and this number found on band 5 must be found opposite one of the three months containing` the season of the year, and the month opposite which said number is found will be the month sought for in common years. If it is a leap-year, and the month is subsequent to February, one must be added to the number opposite each month, as already explained.

To find the day of the month when the year, month, and day of the week vare known and'within three days of the day of the month, I proceed as follows: Find, in the manner heretofore explained, the first of the month and then set the calendar for said month with the given day of the week on vband 6; then by examining band 7 directly By reason of the change made by the brief of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 the calendar for that year, from October 15th to December 31st, inclusive, is the same as itis for the corresponding part of 1880, and for the period from the year 1583 to 1G00, inclusive, it is the same as for the years 1183 to 1200, inclusive.

That I claim is- 1. In a perpetual calendar, the combination, with a cylindrical support containing a tabular arrangement of the days of the month in seven columns, of the shifting ring or collar containing characters indicating lthe days of the week, a shifting-collar containing the numerals from l to 7, inclusive, arranged beside the first ring, a cylinder containing the years of a century, arranged with reference to the initial week-day, a band containing figures from I to 21, inclusive, indicating tlie centuries and arranged under the initial week-day of each century, and a band containing -the names of the months, substantially as described.

2. In a perpetual calendar, the combination, with a cylindrical body or support, of a band containing numbers indicating the days of the month arranged in seven columns, a shifting-ring containing characters denoting the seven days of the week, a second shifting-ring containing the numerals from 1 to 7 in consecutive order, and a band containing the names of the months of a year, and having opposite each a figure denoting the day of the Week in advance of the Weekday ushering in the 1st of January, upon which the Iirst day of said month will fall in ordinary years, substantially as described.

8. In a perpetual calendar, a tabular arrangement of the centuries from one up to any given number, arranged in seven columns with reference to the week-day upon which each century began, and a similar arrangement of the years of a century, from one to one hundred, arranged With reference to the initial week-day, each tabulation being mounted upon a cylindrical body or support capable of closing in or upon the other support, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have aixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. BILLINGS.

Witnesses:

JAMES PILE, J. F. BURLEY.

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