Abstract:
A board book is provided with an at least one moveable object subassembly which is more appealing than the conventional plain hard cover. Each moveable object may be adorned with illustrations and the like to represent the contents of the book.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     This invention relates to the field of books and, more particularly, it relates to the construction of books for children of the type known as “board books” having at least one moveable object implanted therein.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Background Art  
         [0004]     Board books are manufactured primarily for small children who would have difficulty turning the pages of a conventional book. These books are designed in such a way that each page comprises two layers of cardboard-like material which are cemented together. These books normally just have text and illustrations and lack playthings such as moveable objects. It would be advantageous to provide a book which has playthings to attract and hold the attention of the child reader. In addition, such moveable objects could be amenable to the application of representations of the contents of the book.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     The present invention is designed to overcome the above limitations that are attendant upon the use of “prior art” devices, and toward this end, it contemplates the provision of a novel board book with moveable objects implanted therein.  
         [0006]     It is an object of the present invention to provide such a board book in which the moveable objects are readily viewable as the entire book is being read.  
         [0007]     It is also an object to provide such a board book in which the moveable objects have representations of the contents of the book thereon.  
         [0008]     It is a general aim of the invention to provide such a board book which may be readily and economically fabricated and will have long life in operation and significantly greater flexibility in use.  
         [0009]     It has now been found that the foregoing and related objects can be readily attained in a board book which includes front and back cover members separated by a spine member, a plurality of folded sheets intermediate the front and back cover members thereby forming interconnected multiple pages spaced from the spine member, at least one of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages defining at least opening therein, and a subassembly having at least one moveable object thereon and spanning across the at least one opening. Each of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages can be made from cardboard.  
         [0010]     Preferably, the at least opening is an opening defined in each of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages and the subassembly having the at least one moveable object thereon spans across one of the openings in one of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages. The subassembly can extend into all of the openings in each of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages when the book is in a closed position. In the preferred embodiment, the subassembly having the at least one moveable object thereon spans across the opening in one of the interconnected multiple pages.  
         [0011]     In a second embodiment, the at least one opening is defined in the front cover member and the subassembly having the at least one moveable object thereon spans across the opening in the front cover member.  
         [0012]     Ideally, the subassembly has an elongated cylindrical stem with a flange on each end, each flange being implanted in the at least one of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages defining at least opening therein so that the elongated cylindrical stem spans across the at least one opening. The at least one moveable object is rotatably mounted on the elongated cylindrical stem which can be made of two pieces joined at ends thereof. One of the pieces of the elongated cylindrical stem has a reduced diameter end portion which is matingly received within an opening defined in the other piece of the elongated cylindrical stem.  
         [0013]     Conveniently, the subassembly includes spacers engaging each moveable object to keep them spaced from one another and the at least one opening.  
         [0014]     According to the invention, the subassembly having the at least one moveable object thereon and spanning across the at least one opening is implanted in the at least one of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages defining the at least opening therein. The subassembly can have two flanges which are implanted in the at least one of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages defining the at least opening therein. The at least one of the front and back cover members and the interconnected multiple pages defining the at least opening therein has cutouts dimensionally sized to hold the two flanges.  
         [0015]     Also, the at least one moveable object may faces which illustrate representations of the contents of the book. These faces can be on a wooden block.  
         [0016]     In still a further feature of the invention, each at least one moveable object has a geometrical shape and the geometrical shape of each at least one moveable object matches a geometrical shape of its corresponding at least one opening.  
         [0017]     The invention will be fully understood when reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.  
         [0018]     The invention will be fully understood when reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a book of the present invention in a closed position and having at least one moveable object implanted therein;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a front view of the book of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a right side view of the book of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a book of  FIG. 1  in an opened position and having parts of its middle page broken away to illustrate internal structure;  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is an exploded perspective view of the at least one moveable object subassembly;  
         [0024]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a portion of the middle page of the book of  FIG. 1  having parts broken away and exploded to illustrate internal structure;  
         [0025]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the book of the present invention shown in its open position and having parts broken away to illustrate internal structure; and  
         [0026]      FIG. 8  is an exploded perspective view of one of the at least one moveable object subassemblies of  FIG. 7 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0027]     Turning first to  FIGS. 1-4  of the drawings, therein illustrated is a board book generally designated by the numeral  10  and comprised of a substantially rectangular pivoted front cover  12 , an elongated spine  14  and a substantially rectangular pivoted back cover  16  with a plurality of pages  18 A - 18 E therebetween, all with generally rectangular die-cut apertures  20  therein.  
         [0028]     The phrase “board book” arises from the fact that books of this type have very stiff, thick pages which can be turned more easily by a very small child than can conventional thin paper pages. In a well known manner, the covers  12 ,  16  and pages  18 A- 18 E are each formed from two layers of stiff material such as cardboard sheets folded to produce substantially similar front and back covers  12 , 16  separated by the spine  14  and a plurality of folded sheets intermediate the covers  12 , 14  thereby forming the interconnected multiple pages  18 A -  8 E spaced from the spine  14 . Thus, each of the covers  12 ,  16  and pages  18 A- 18 E is a composite made up of multiple layers which are cemented together. The middle page  18 C is relatively thick as it has an extra middle layer  22  ( FIG. 6 ) and has an at least one moveable object subassembly  24  in its aperture  20  therein.  
         [0029]     As best illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the front cover  12  is hinged to the spine  14  by a front hingeline  26 . The back cover  16  is similarly hinged to the spine  14  by a back hingeline  28 . To account for the thickness of the board book  10 , the back cover  16  includes a secondary hingeline  30  which prevents the book  10  from binding when it is opened.  
         [0030]     Referring to  FIGS. 4-6 , the at least one moveable object subassembly  24  has a pair of molded plastic support members  32 A,  32 B, each with a T-shaped flange  34 , a disk-shaped spacer  36  and an elongated cylindrical stem  38 . The disk-shaped spacers  36  can be a separate element or integral with the support members  32 A,  32 B. The support member  32 A has a reduced diameter portion  40  which is matingly received within an opening  42  in the end of the cylindrical stem  38  of the support member  32 B. The at least one moveable object subassembly  24  also has three moveable objects  44  in the form of wooden blocks with thru bores  46  dimensionally sized to be rotatably received on the elongated cylindrical stems  38  of the support members  32 A,  32 B. The faces of the objects  44  can be used to illustrate representations of the contents of the book  10 . Two plastic washers  48  are also dimensionally sized to be received on the elongated cylindrical stems  38  of the support members  32 A,  32 B intermediate the objects  44 . During the assembly of the at least one moveable object subassembly  24 , adhesive can be placed on the reduced diameter portion  40  to secure the support members  32 A,  32 B together once the reduced diameter portion  40  is matingly received in the opening  42 .  
         [0031]     As seen in  FIGS. 4 and 6 , the middle layer  22  of the middle page  18 C has two cutouts  50  into which the T-shaped flanges  34  are inserted. The opposed layers  52 ,  54  of cardboard sandwich the middle layer  22  to hold the at least one moveable object subassembly  24  in the middle page  18 C by means of the flange  34 .  
         [0032]     The support members  32 A,  32 B and the washers  48  are preferably molded from a plastic resin material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, high impact polystyrene, impact modified acrylic or the like. The objects  44  are preferably wooden. It should be to those skilled in the art that these components may be manufactured from other suitable materials.  
         [0033]     In use, the reader can view and rotate the moveable objects from each page as the book  10  is read from front to back and can also view and rotate the moveable objects  44  when the book  10  is closed. Since such moveable objects  44  can have representations of the contents of the book  10  thereon, the objects  44  attract and hold the attention of the child reader.  
         [0034]     Turning now to  FIGS. 7 and 8 , another embodiment of the book is illustrated therein and generally indicated by the reference numeral  110 . This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the front cover  112  is thickened by a middle layer  122  and three moveable object subassemblies  124 A- 124 C are implanted therein.  
         [0035]     As best seen in  FIG. 8 , the moveable object subassembly  124 A has a pair of molded plastic support members  132 A,  132 B, each with a T-shaped flange  134 , a disk-shaped spacer  136  and an elongated cylindrical stem  138 . The disk-shaped spacers  136  can be separate elements or integral with the support members  132 A,  132 B. The support member  132 A has a reduced diameter portion  140  which is matingly received within an opening  142  in the end of the cylindrical stem  138  of the  132 B. The subassembly  124 A also has a single moveable object  144 A in the form of a circular wooden disk with a thru bore  146  dimensionally sized to be rotatably received on the elongated cylindrical stems  138  of the support members  132 A,  132 B. The faces of the object  144 A can be used to illustrate representations of the contents of the book  110 . During the assembly of the moveable object subassembly  124 A, adhesive can be placed on the reduced diameter portion  140  to secure the support members  132 A,  132 B together once the reduced diameter portion  140  is matingly received in the opening  142 . The moveable object subassemblies  124 B,  124 C are identical to moveable object subassembly  124 A except for the shapes of the objects  144 A,  144 B,  144 C. The shapes of apertures  120 A,  120 B,  120 C match the shapes of their corresponding objects  144 A,  144 B,  144 C.  
         [0036]     To use the book  110  of  FIG. 7 , the reader would fold out the front cover  112  as shown in order to be able to view and rotate the moveable objects  144 A,  144 B,  144 C as the book is read.  
         [0037]     Thus, artisans skilled in the art will appreciate that the book of the present invention as described herein can be employed advantageously to attract and hold the attention of child readers in an efficient and convenient manner. It will, therefore, be seen from the above that the invention described admirably achieves the objects of the invention. However, it will be appreciated that departures can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is limited only by the following claims.