Container for artist's crayons

An upwardly open box is provided with an inset cover of substantial thickness perforated by a plurality of orifices adapted in size and spacing to the reception and retention of artist's crayons. The peripheral wall of the box, generally rectangular in plan, extends above the upper surface of the inset cover and protects the protruding ends of the crayons against breakage. The vertical location of the cover within the box is variable to accommodate to the changing length of the crayons with wear, by manually adjustable means including projections and recesses for removably securing the inset cover or holder plate in selected vertical positions relative to the box. The manually adjustable means may comprise mechanical means removably securing the inset cover or plate relative to the side walls by means of adjustment elements having cam projection means engageable in slot recesses, or the manually adjustable means may comprise interengageable projections and recesses on the box end walls and on the inset cover or plate, so configurated and arranged that with the inset or holder plate in one endwise position it is supported at one height, and with the cover or plate in a second endwise position then plate is supported at a second height relative to the box.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The perspective view of FIG. 1 shows a crayon container 100 whose basic 
elements are represented by an upwardly open box 10 and a perforated 
holder plate or cover 12. The cover 12 is inset into the box 10 in such a 
manner that the periphery of the latter forms a palisade 14 protectively 
surrounding the protruding ends of crayons 20 seated in orifices 22 
passing through the thickness of the cover 12. Between the bottom of the 
box 10 and the base of the cover 12 there is a vertical space 16 into 
which the bases of the several crayons 20 intrude. 
A transverse partial section of the container 100 is provided in FIG. 2. 
Typical wax crayons 20a, 20b, and 20c are shown passing through orifices 
22. The embodiment of the container of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 
1 and 2 provides for the storage of sixty crayons in a rectangular array 
of five rows of twelve storage locations each; the number of such 
locations and their spatial arrangement, as well as the platform of the 
container are matters of choice for a given purpose, but the preferred 
form of the invention will provide for at least two dozen storage 
locations, suitably in a rectangular array. 
The orifices 22 are drilled through, or molded into, the thickness of the 
cover 12 which is preferably made of a translucent or opaque plastic 
composition, in contrast to the box 12 which is preferably of a 
transparent plastic, although other materials and transparencies may be of 
a translucent or opaque plastic composition, in contrast to the box 12 
which is preferably of a transparent plastic, although other materials and 
transparencies may be readily utilized without departing from the 
teachings herein. 
The orifices 22 are arranged to have a cross-section slightly larger than 
the corresponding external dimension of the crayons 20, so that a slip fit 
is developed upon the insertion of a crayon into an orifice and helps to 
retain the former in the container even if the latter should become 
inverted. 
Since crayons deposit part of their physical substance in use, their length 
will shorten with time. The container 100 is, therefore, arranged in such 
a manner that as the complement of crayons stored within wears, the 
relative elevation of the cover 12 with respect to the base of the box 10 
may be altered. 
To secure such an adjustment the cover 12 is arranged to be a sliding fit 
in the internal contour of the box 10 and to be supported above the base 
thereof by means of two cam projections 34 on adjustment elements arranged 
at either end of the box on a line bisecting its width. The cams or 
projections 34 are molded integrally with an elongated cylindrical shank 
36 each, with the latter secured in vertical bores passing through the 
cover 12. Adjusting and lifting knobs 30a and 30b are attached to the 
upper ends of the shanks 36 and permit the rotation of the cams 34 from 
above the surface of the cover plate. 
Support slots or recesses, adapted to be engaged by the cams 34, are also 
provided in the end walls of the box 10, two such slot recesses 32a and 
32b are shown in the container 100 and permit the locking of the cover 
plate 12 at two distinct elevations in the box 10. 
FIG. 3 is a detail view, in perspective, of a typical adjusting assembly, 
including a knob 30, a shank 36 and cam 34. 
FIG. 4 is an alternative embodiment 112 of the cover plate of the crayon 
organizer of the invention. The major difference with respect to the part 
12, with which the cover plate 112 is fully interchangeable, is the 
provision of a frustro-conical entry 121 in the upper ends of the orifices 
122 passing through the cover 112, to facilitate the entry of individual 
crayons 20 thereinto. 
The sectioned perspective view of FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment 200 of 
the crayon container of the invention. The container 200 is particularly 
adapted for the use of commercial artists where the rate of wear is so 
high for certain commonly used colors that, with time, the user may expect 
a completely random mix of relatively new and relatively old crayons. 
Because of the difficulty of accommodating such crayons in containers 
which are either non-adjustable in the elevation of the cover plate or in 
which the adjustment of necessity involves the entire cover, the container 
200 is provided with a single, non-adjustable cover 212 inset into a box 
210 in such a manner that a peripheral wall 214 protrudes above the upper 
plane of the cover and protects the crayons from mechanical damage, once 
stored in one of the orifices 222 passing through the cover plate 212. 
The base of the box 210 is molded in two sections 211 and 213 to such an 
effect that the section 213 is higher in elevation than the adjacent 
section 211. The cover 212 is suitably marked into two areas overlying the 
sections 211 and 213, respectively, so that the user is clearly directed 
to place long crayons into orifices 222 above section 211, and shorter 
crayons into similar orifices underlain by section 213. 
By such means it is possible to store crayons in a safe and readily 
organized manner regardless of the extent of wear of any individual 
coloring stick. 
While not specifically illustrated, it will be readily understood that 
embodiments analogous to container 200 may be provided with more than two 
levels of support base sections, and that they may be combined with 
compartments in which the cover is movable, in the manner of the container 
100 described above. 
FIGS. 6 through 11 illustrate another form of manually adjustable 
mechanical means for positioning the holder plate at selected heights 
relative to the box. A box 310 is similar to that of the form of FIGS. 1 
and 2, the box having side walls 314, 316 and having a first end wall 318, 
a second end wall 320, and a bottom wall 321, and a holder plate 312 is 
generally similar to that of the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 
and 2 except as hereafter described. Extending inwardly from the first box 
end wall 318 are relatively high rectilinear projections 322, 324 having 
upper edge surfaces 326, 328, respectively, and relatively lower 
rectilinear projections 330, 332 having respective upper edge surfaces 
334, 336. Extending inwardly from the second box end wall are similar 
projections, but in an array which is the reverse of those extending from 
the first end wall, as shown. Relatively high projections 338, 340 have 
respective upper edge surfaces 342, 344, and relatively lower rectilinear 
projections 346, 348 have upper edge surfaces 350, 352, respectively. 
Referring to FIG. 7, holder plate 312 has side surfaces 350, 352, a first 
end surface 354 and a second end surface 356. Defined in the first end 
surface 354 are relatively high rectilinear recesses 358, 360, having 
respective upper seating surfaces 362, 364, and defined in this surface 
are relatively lower rectilinear recesses 366, 368 having respective upper 
seating surfaces 370, 372. 
Defined in second end surface 356 are similar recesses in reverse array 
from the recesses in the first end surface, as shown, these comprising 
relatively high recesses 374, 376 having upper seating surfaces 378, 380, 
and relatively lower recesses 382, 384 having upper seating surfaces 386, 
388. 
The projections on the box end walls and the recesses in the holder plate 
end surfaces are interengageable so that with the holder plate inserted in 
the box, as shown in FIGS. 9-11, the holder plate is supported by the 
seating of recess seating surfaces on the upper edge surfaces of the 
higher projections, it will be understood from the geometry of the parts 
that with the first end surface 354 of the holder plate positioned 
adjacent the first box end wall 318, the holder is supported in the lower 
position shown in phantom outline in FIGS. 10 and 11 with the upper 
seating surfaces 362, 364 of the respective recesses 358, 360 seating upon 
upper edge surfaces 326, 328, respectively, of higher projections 322, 
324. As shown and as will be understood from the geometry of the parts, 
with the first end surface 54 of holder plate 312, with the removable 
holder plate 312 positioned in the reverse orientation, with its first end 
surface 354 adjacent the second end wall 320 of the box, the holder plate 
is supported in its higher position with the upper supporting seating 
surface 370, 372 of respective recesses 366, 368 supported on upper edge 
surfaces 344, 342, respectively, of the higher projections 338, 340. Thus, 
it will be understood from the foregoing that the holder plate may be 
manually positioned, by means of the mechanical adjustment means provided 
by the projections and the recesses, thus selectively to position the 
holder plate in a higher or lower position, in accordance with the length 
of crayons carried by the holder plate and supported on the bottom of the 
box. 
A plurality of detent means 390 may preferably be provided between the 
projections and the recesses walls for the releasible retention and 
securement of the holder plate 312 relative to the box 310. The detent 
means may be of the type shown in FIG. 12, comprising a plunger element 
392 in an appropriate opening and resiliently urged by a spring 394, or it 
may be a resilient plastic insert element or button. 
A modified form of the projection-and-recess mechanical means for 
selectively adjusting the position of the holder plate, is shown in the 
fragmentary perspective view of FIG. 13. In the modified form, projections 
extend from the end surface of the holder plate and recesses are defined 
in the end walls of the box. FIG. 13 shows fragmentary portions of a box 
410 including a first end wall 412, in which are defined recesses, and a 
portion of a holder plate 414 from a first end surface 416 of which 
projections extend. Longer or higher projections 418, 420 have edge 
surfaces 422, 424, respectively, and shorter projections 426, 428, have 
seating surfaces 430, 432, respectively. The opposite or second end of the 
plate (not shown) has similar projections in reverse array. The recesses 
in box wall 412 include longer recessed 434, 436 having seating surfaces 
438, 440, respectively, and shorter recesses 442, 444 having seating 
surfaces 446, 448, which recesses are engageable with the projections of 
the holder plate. It will be understood from the geometry of the parts 
that, with the projections shown on the first end surface of the holder 
engaged in the recesses of the first box end wall shown, the holder will 
be supported in a lower position, with the end surfaces 430, 432 of 
projections 426, 420, respectively, seating against the seating surfaces 
438, 440 of recesses 434, 436, respectively. It will be further understood 
that with the projections extending from the second end surface (not 
shown) of the holder engaged in the recesses shown in the box first end 
wall 412, the lower edge surfaces of the longer projections rest on the 
seating surfaces 446, 448 of shorter recesses 442, 444 to support the 
holder in its higher position.