Educational clock assembly

An educational clock assembly includes a clock mechanism, a circular face plate, and a fastening ring. The circular face plate is formed of a plurality of modular pieces and has a central receiving hole into which the clock mechanism is press-fitted, a plurality of first grooves which are spaced angularly and equally on the circumference of the face plate. Each of the first grooves has a hour-piece which engages detachably in the first groove and which bears a hour numeral. The fastening ring engages around the circumference of the face plate in order to bind the modular pieces together. The inner periphery of the fastening ring has a plurality of second grooves. Each of the second grooves is aligned radially with a corresponding one the first grooves of the face plate and has a minute-piece which engages detachably in the second groove and which bears a minute numeral.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a clock assembly, more particularly to an 
educational clock assembly. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
Usually, wooden frames are provided around conventional clocks in order to 
decorate the same. Such a wood frame has a receiving hole adapted to 
engage frictionally the conventional clock. However, forming the receiving 
hole by means of cutting the wooden frame is difficult. In addition, the 
conventional clock is liable to be damaged when the wooden frame is 
impacted or stricken. To overcome these problems, a clock assembly has 
been proposed, as shown in FIG. 1. The clock assembly comprises a clock 
mechanism 10, a frame body 20 and a dial plate 30. The clock mechanism 10 
includes a rectangular casing 101 and a spindle 11 which has a screw nut 
12, a hour hand 13 and a minute hand 14 mounted thereto in a conventional 
manner. The frame body 20 is made of a plastic foam material such as 
ethylene/vinyl acetate and is formed with a rectangular central hole 21. 
The size of the central hole 21 is slightly smaller than that of the 
casing 101 of the clock mechanism 10 so that the casing 101 can be engage 
firmly within the central hole 21. A mounting hole 22 may be provided in 
the upper portion of the frame body 20. The dial plate 30 has a plurality 
of clock numerals and the corresponding graduations. The spindle 11 of the 
clock mechanism 10 passes through a through hole 31 of the face plate 30 
in order to secure the dial plate 30 to the front side of the frame body 
20. Although the clock assembly can overcome the drawbacks in associated 
with the conventional clock, it can only be used for measuring time. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore a main object of this invention to provide an educational 
clock assembly which can be employed to help children to learn 
interrelated concepts of time measurement and to increase the children's 
assembling ability. 
Accordingly, the educational clock assembly of the present invention 
comprises a clock mechanism, a circular face plate, and a fastening ring. 
The circular face plate is formed of a plurality of modular pieces and has 
a central receiving hole into which the clock mechanism is press-fitted, a 
plurality of first grooves which are spaced angularly and equally on the 
circumference of the face plate. Each of the first grooves has a 
hour-piece which engages detachably therein and which bears a hour 
numeral. 
The fastening ring engages around the circumference of the face plate in 
order to bind the modular pieces together. The inner periphery of the 
fastening ring has a plurality of second grooves. Each of the second 
grooves is aligned radially with a corresponding one the first grooves of 
the face plate and has a minute-piece which engages detachably therein and 
which bears a minute numeral. 
In the preferred embodiment, each of the first and second grooves is formed 
of a bore for receiving the respective one of the hour-pieces and 
minute-pieces and a reduced slot connected to the bore. The slot of each 
of the first grooves is aligned and communicated with a corresponding one 
of the slots of the second grooves. Each of the hour-pieces has a 
connecting piece which is connected to the corresponding one of the 
minute-pieces and which is inserted into the slots of the first and second 
grooves in order to enhance the engaging force of the face plate and the 
fastening ring. The hour numeral of each of the hour-pieces corresponds to 
the minute numeral of the corresponding one of the minute-pieces. 
Preferably, the outer periphery of the fastening ring has a plurality of 
notches formed therein and spaced equally from one another. A fix ring has 
an inner periphery that engages around the outer periphery of the 
fastening ring and that has a plurality of projections extending radially 
and inwardly therefrom such that each of the projections of the fix ring 
engages frictionally a respective one of the notches the fastening ring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 2, a preferred embodiment of an educational clock 
assembly of the present invention is shown to comprise a clock mechanism 
40, a circular face plate 50, a plurality of numeral pieces 70, a 
fastening ring 60, and a fix ring 80. The face plate 50 engages around the 
clock mechanism 40 and the fastening ring 80 engages around the outer 
periphery of the face plate 50. The numeral pieces 70 are mounted between 
face plate 50 and the fastening ring 60. The fix ring 80 is disposed 
around the fastening ring 60. The face plate 50, the fastening ring 60, 
the numeral pieces 70, and the fix ring 80 are made of a plastic foam 
material such as ethylene/vinyl acetate, in order to engage frictionally 
and firmly one another by means of the resiliency of the plastic foam 
material. 
The clock mechanism 40 is similar to that of the conventional clock 
assembly and includes a rectangular casing 401, a spindle 41, a locking 
nut 42 which affixes a hour hand 43, a minute 44 and a second hand 45 to 
the spindle 41 as is known in the art. 
The face plate 50 is formed of four modular pieces 51. Each of the modular 
pieces 51 is in the shape of a quarter of a circle and has a notch 52. The 
notches 52 cooperatively define a rectangular central receiving hole 57. 
The size of the central receiving hole 57 is slightly smaller than that of 
the casing 401 so that the clock mechanism 10 can be press-fitted firmly 
in the central receiving hole 57. Twelve first grooves 53 which are spaced 
angularly and equally on the circumference of the face plate 50 when the 
modular pieces 51 are combined together. Each of the first grooves 53 is 
formed of a bore 54 and a reduced slot 55 connected to the bore 54. In 
addition, three symbols "1/4 pass", "1/2", and "1/4 to" are printed 
respectively on the face plate adjacent to the connections of the modular 
piece 51, as best illustrated in FIG. 3. 
The fastening ring 60 is adapted to engage around the circumference of the 
face plate 50 in order to bind the modular pieces 51 in position. The 
inner periphery 601 of the fastening ring 60 is formed with twelve second 
grooves 61. Each of the second grooves 61 is aligned radially with a 
corresponding one the first grooves 53 of the face plate 50. Each of the 
second grooves 61 is formed of a bore 62 and a reduced slot 63 connected 
to the bore 62. The slot 55 of each of the first grooves 53 is aligned and 
communicated with a corresponding one of the slots 63 of the second 
grooves 61 when the fastening ring 60 is disposed around the face plate 
50. 
In this embodiment, there are twelve numeral pieces 70. Each of the numeral 
pieces 70 is formed of a hour-piece 71, a minute-piece 72 and a connecting 
piece 73 which is integrally connected to the hour-piece 71 and the 
minute-piece 72. Each the hour-pieces 71 has a corresponding hour numeral, 
i.e. one of the numerals of 1, 2, 3, . . . , 12 provided thereon. Each of 
the minute-pieces 72 has a corresponding minute numeral, i.e. one of the 
numerals of 5, 10, 15, . . . , and 60 provided thereon. The hour numeral 
of each of the hour-pieces 71 corresponds to the minute numeral of the 
corresponding one of the minute-pieces 72. The outer periphery of the 
fastening ring 60 has a plurality of notches 64 formed therein and spaced 
equally from one another. 
The inner diameter of the fix ring 80 is slightly smaller than the outer 
diameter of the fastening ring 60 so that the fix ring 80 can engage 
firmly around the outer periphery of the fastening ring 60. The inner 
periphery 81 of the fix ring 80 has a plurality of projections 82 
extending radially and inwardly therefrom such that each of the notches 64 
of the fastening ring 60 can engage frictionally a respective one of the 
projections 82 of the fix ring 80. Sixty dots 83 are spaced equally and 
angularly from one another on the front face of the fix ring 80, 
designating the minutes of an hour. The outer periphery of the fix ring 80 
has a mounting member 84 for hanging purposes. 
With reference to FIG. 4, in assembly, the modular pieces 51 are put 
together in order to form the circular face plate 50. The fastening ring 
60 then engages around the face plate 50. The numeral pieces 70 are 
mounted to the first and second grooves 53 and 61 in a proper sequence 
wherein each of the hour-pieces 71 is press-fitted into the respective one 
of the bores 54, each of the minute-pieces 72 is press-fitted into the 
bores 62, and each of the connecting pieces 73 is press-fitted into the 
slots 55 and 63 between the corresponding one of the bores 54 and the 
bores 62. Therefore, the engaging force of the face plate 50 and the 
fastening ring 60 can be enhanced. The casing 401 of the clock mechanism 
40 is press-fitted into the central receiving hole 57. Finally, the fix 
ring 80 engages around the fastening ring 60 such that the notches 64 of 
the fastening ring 60 engage frictionally the projections 82 of the fix 
ring 80 in order to increase the overall engaging forces of the clock 
assembly among the clock mechanism 40, the modular pieces 51 of the face 
plate 50 and the fastening ring 60. 
The educational clock assembly of the present invention may be used for 
telling the time when being hung on the wall. Alternatively, since each of 
the numeral pieces 70 has a hour-piece 71 and a minute-piece 72 which are 
connected integrally by a connecting piece 73 and which are provided with 
a hour numeral and a corresponding minute numeral, the educational clock 
assembly can be utilized in teaching the relationship between the hour and 
the minutes and teaching the time concepts to the children. In addition, 
the face plate 50, the fastening ring 60, the numeral pieces 70, and the 
fix ring 80 can be assembled in a proper sequence in order to enhance 
children's assembling ability and teach the concept of numeral sequence. 
Furthermore, since the face plate 50 is printed with "1/4 pass", "1/2", 
and "1/4 to" in a proper position, children can learn the concept of 
fraction and the meaning of "pass" and "to" for telling the time. It is 
noted that the numeral pieces 70 may have different colors which are 
arranged symmetrically and diametrically on the face plate 50 so that 
children can learn the concept of symmetry. 
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is 
considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood 
that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is 
intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and 
scope of the broadest interpretations and equivalent arrangement.