Abstract:
A global time indicating calculator has a rotating dial for calculating global standard time and advanced time in various international time zones. Indicia printed on the face of the dial and corresponding sections of the face of the calculator can be easily referenced to determine time of day at selected locations throughout the world. The calculator is used by dialing present time and reading the indicia to determine time at a different local. The dial has an outer annular ring marked with numerical indicia and scale indicia along its circumference for measuring time at selected increments. The time indicia is matched with selected geographical region to calculate the time of day worldwide.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/291,786 filed May 17, 2001. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is in the art of timing devices, particularly time keeping devices which indicate international or global time. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Worldwide there are twenty-four different geographical regions within which a different standard time is used. In the United States there are four different time zones; Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern time zones. Often there is a need to determine time of day or night at various locations or geographical regions when traveling, or when making interregional telephone calls, e-mails, facsimiles and the like. Also, certain localities have advanced time or daylight savings time, which is a time usually one hour ahead of standard time at various times of year to maximize daylight hours. The global time indicator of the invention avoids the need for repeated calculation of time throughout the world. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The indicator of the invention is used to indicate international time by dialing present local time and reading indicia on the face of the indicator to determine time at a different locale. Repeated time determinations are fast and accurate. 
     The indicator is a hand held or bag tag member having a front wall and a back wall accommodating a dial used to indicate time. The dial has an outer annular ring marked with numerical indicia and scale indicia along its circumference for measuring time at selected increments. When the dial is manually rotated to indicate present local time, times at various other geographical regions are displayed. 
     A modification of the indicator is a wall mounted international time indicator having a clock mechanism rotating a dial for indicating time of day. The dial has numerical and scale indicia for measuring time. The indicia on the dial are compared to printed matter and line indicia on the cover of the indicator to determine time in other parts of the globe at one glance. 
     A second modification of the indicator is a desk supported time indicator having a time dial rotated by a clock mechanism. A base is used to support the indicator on a horizontal surface such as a desktop. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the global time indicator of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line  2 — 2  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a left side view thereof; 
     FIG. 4 is a right side view thereof; 
     FIG. 5 is a rear plan view thereof; 
     FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the global time indicator of FIG. 1 having indicia indicating advanced time; 
     FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of a first modification of the global time indicator of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is a right side view of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 9 is sectional view taken along line  9 — 9  of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 10 is a left side view of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 11 is a top plan view of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along line  12 — 12  of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 13 is a bottom plan view of FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 14 is a front elevational view of the global time indicator of FIG. 7 having indicia indicating advanced time; 
     FIG. 15 is a front elevational view of a second modification of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 16 is a side view of FIG. 15; and 
     FIG. 17 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line  17 — 17  of FIG.  15 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 to  5 , there is shown a time indicator  30  of the invention. Indicator  30  is used to indicate global time at various worldwide locations. Indicator  30  has a rectangular front wall  31  and rectangular back wall  32  accommodating a dial  33  having a generally circular outwardly projecting hub  34  having numerical indicia  38  and scale indicia  39  to indicate time of day. Numerical indicia  38  and scale indicia  39  indicate two equal 12-hour periods in 15 minute increments. Hub  34  has a shaded portion  47  to differentiate the afternoon and evening 12-hour period from the morning 12-hour period. It may be desirable to have numerical indicia indicating one 24-hour time period. Front wall  31  has an opening  43  for accommodating hub  34  of dial  33 . The center  44  of hub  34  may have advertising or a company logo imprinted thereon. Walls  31  and  32  and dial  33  are constructed of semi-rigid material, such plastic or cardboard joined with an adhesive  46 . Indicator  30  is preferably a three-piece laminated plastic or layered structure. Back wall  32  can be lined with magnetic material for attachment to magnetic attracting surfaces such as refrigerator surfaces. Back wall  32  can also have indicia and printed material similar to indicia  142  and printed matter  141  printed on wall  131  of indicator  130  to reference advanced time or day light savings time. Wall  32  can have a center opening to expose numerical and scale indicia which may be printed on the opposite side of hub  34  for calculating international time zones during advanced time periods. Indicator  30  can have other dimensions and be made of other types of semi-rigid materials. The opposite side edges of walls  31  and  32  have recesses or grooves  36  to expose the outer annular edge of dial  33 . Dial  33  is manually rotated to indicate present local time whereby the time of day of other international locations can be determined at one glance. Front wall  31  has uniform thickness with a flat top surface having line markings or indicia  42  forming a plurality of generally rectangular shaped vertically disposed sections or boxes  40 . Each box  40  represents a geographical region within which the same standard time is used. Horizontally disposed printed matter  41  located in boxes  40  identifies localities, such as major metropolitan areas, capital cities, and ports within each geographical region whereby quick reference may be made to determine the relative time of the various localities. Y-shaped angle bracket members  48  closing the ends of the boxes  40  are located adjacent time indicia  38  and  39  on hub  34  to facilitate alignment of the time indicia  38  and  39  with the corresponding box  40 . Indicator  30  has a slot  37  for accommodating a chain or strap for attachment to luggage or a briefcase. 
     As shown in FIG. 6, indicator  130  has a template or front wall  131  having line indicia  142  and printed matter  141  referencing advanced time or daylight savings time. Wall  131  has grooves  136  to expose dial  133  rotatably mounted on indicator  130 . The hub  134  of dial  133  has numerical indicia  138  and scale indicia  139  to indicate time of day. Wall  131  has a center opening  143  to accommodate hub  134  and expose indicia  138  and  139 . When dial  133  is moved to indicate present local time, times of various other localities are indicated. The center  144  of hub  134  of dial  133  can be have advertising matter printed thereon. Slot  137  through indicator  130  can be used to accommodate a chain or strap for attachment to luggage and the like. The back wall of indicator  130  can have indicia and printed matter similar to line indicia  42  and printed matter  41  of indicator  30  referencing standard time. 
     A first modification of the indicator, indicated generally at  230 , is shown in FIGS. 7 to  13 . Indicator  230  is a wall mounted global time indicating device having a generally flat rectangular shape. Indicator  230  has a pan-shaped cover  231  having rearwardly extended side walls  233  and  235 , top wall  248  and bottom wall  249 . Cover  231  is joined to a relatively flat back wall  232 . Legs  239  and  240  of cover  231  overlap the outer edges of back wall  232  to hold cover  231  in assembled relation with wall  232 . The front of cover  231  has an inwardly directed recess  238  having a centrally located opening  242 . A dial  234  rotatably mounted on a clock mechanism  236  extends through opening  242 . A bracket  237  connected to clock mechanism  236  is mounted on back wall  232  to support clock mechanism  236  adjacent dial  234 . Dial  234  has an outer annular ring  241  having an outer surface with numerical indicia  243  and scale indicia  244  to indicate a 24-hour time period in 15-minute increments. Clock mechanism  236  has a gear down ration of 2:1 whereby dial  234  is rotated counterclockwise once in one 24-hour period. Numerical indicia  243  on ring  241  have two 12-hour periods. An inner portion of ring  241  has a C-shaped shaded portion  251  to differentiate afternoon and evening periods of time from morning periods of time. It may be desirable to have numerical indicia indicating one 24-hour military time period. It also may be desirable to have the center of dial  234  remain stationary while ring  241  rotates relative to dial  234 . As shown in FIG. 6, the center of dial  234  has a generally flat outer surface  252  extended outwardly from ring  241  and cover  231 . Advertising indicia or logos may be imprinted on outer surface  252 . A light (not shown) can be used to illuminate dial  234 . 
     As shown in FIG. 14, indicator  330  is a wall mounted global time indicating device substantially the same as indicator  230  having a cover  331  having printed matter  346  and line indicia  347  indicating advanced time or daylight time. Cover  331  is interchangeable with cover  231  of indicator  230 . Printed matter  346  and line indicia  347  are referenced with numerical indicia  343  and scale indicia  344  of rotating dial  334  to calculate international time zones during advanced time periods. 
     A second modification of the indicator, indicated generally at  430 , shown in FIGS. 15 to  17 , is used to indicate time of day at various worldwide localities similar to indicator  230 . Indicator  430  has a front wall or cover  431  having line indicia  447  forming boxes indicating a plurality of time zones throughout the world. Printed matter located on cover  431  (not shown) identifies localities within each time zone whereby quick reference may be made to determine time of day at a selection locale. Scale indicia  444  on dial  434  is used to indicate a specific time of day. Cover  431  is joined to a back wall  432 , sidewalls  433  and bottom wall  440  forming an inner chamber housing a clock mechanism  436 . A bracket  437  connected to back wall  432  supports clock mechanism  436  in an inclined relation adjacent dial  434 . Clock mechanism  436  is operatively connected to dial  434  and functions to rotate the dial counterclockwise once during one 24-hour period. Cover  431  has a centrally located recess  438  having an opening  442 . Dial  434  extends through opening  442 . Dial  434  has the same inclined relation as cover  431 . Indicator  430  has a pair of inclined forward lips  448  and  449  connected to cover  43 l whereby cover  431  and dial  434  slope rearwardly to facilitate visibility of indicia  444  and  447  and the printed matter located thereon. Indicator  430  has a stand or base  439  to support the indicator on a horizontal surface such as an office desk top, kitchen counter top, and the like. 
     There has been shown and described embodiments of the global time indicator of the invention. Changes in the materials, structures, markings, and arrangement of structures may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the invention.