Abstract:
A slotted cylinder contains a pair of first and second rollers extending within the cylinder between opposing gears carried by associated sidepieces at the opposing ends of the cylinder. A scroll of reading paper connects between the rollers such that rotating a knob at one-end transfers the reading paper in a first direction between the rollers. Rotating a knob at the opposite end transfers the reading paper in the opposite direction. The reading paper is viewed external to the cylinder through the cylinder slot

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The invention relates to a simple hand-held reading device that can be installed in a lavatory, restroom, waiting room and the like.  
           [0002]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,988 entitled “Document Supporting Apparatus”, describes an expansive display in the form of a large-sized arrangement of a pair of rollers whereby one of the rollers contains a roll of information in the form of text and pictures, which roll transfers to the other roller allowing the information to be viewed along a continuous plane.  
           [0003]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,625 entitled “Information Board” discloses a display arrangement of several rollers, each supporting a separate roll of information arranged within a rectangular container having corresponding viewing slots. The rolls are individually unrolled to allow the information to be viewed through viewing slots from a position exterior to the container.  
           [0004]    The size and arrangement of the prior reading devices makes it difficult for a single user to hold the apparatus in one hand while transferring the information from one roll to the other by the use of the other hand especially when the reader is in a sitting position without the presence of a desk or table for support.  
           [0005]    It would be ergonomically advantageous to have a single hand-held roller device whereby a pair of rollers within a small-sized enclosure can be manually manipulated to advance a roll of reading paper.  
           [0006]    One purpose of the invention is to provide a simple, hand-held “reader-roller” enclosure whereby a user can support the device in one hand while transfer-winding the reading paper from one roll to another without changing hands. Winding in a clockwise direction with the top right knob advances the reading paper in a first direction while winding the reading paper in a clockwise direction with the bottom left knob transfers the reading paper in an opposite direction without having to transfer the enclosure from one hand to the other.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    A slotted plastic or metallic cylinder contains a pair of first and second rollers extending within the cylinder between opposing gears carried by associated covers at the opposing ends of the cylinder. A roll of reading paper connects between the rollers such that rotating a driver wheel at one end rotates the associated gear and first roller to transfer the reading paper in a first direction between the rollers. Rotating a driver wheel at the opposite end rotates the associated gear and second roller to transfer the reading paper in a second direction between the rollers, opposite from the first direction. The reading paper is viewed external to the cylinder through the cylinder slot. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIG. 1A is a top perspective view of the roller reader according to the invention shown attached to a toilet paper holder;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1B is a top perspective view of the roller reader of FIG. 1 including a flexible strap for versatile location thereof;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is an exploded top perspective view of the roller reader of FIG. 1 prior to assembly;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is an enlarged top view of the roller reader of FIG. 1 with the outer cylinder removed to depict the inner rollers;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIGS. 4A and 4B are top views of one of the rollers of FIG. 3 in a clockwise and counterclockwise condition of rotation; and  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is an enlarged end view of the reader roller of FIG. 1 with one end of the outer cylinder removed to depict the travel of the paper scroll between the two rollers. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0014]    One embodiment of the reader roller  10  including a viewing window  14  according to the invention, is shown in FIG. 1A adjacent a roll of toilet paper  9  that is held by means of rod  8  that extends between a pair of support arms  7 A,  7 B. The reader roller is supported and held in position by means of an angulated strap  6  that includes a pair of off-set arms  5 A,  5 B that terminate at one end in a pair of larger support hooks  2 A,  2 B that hold the roller reader  10  and a pair of smaller support hooks  3 A,  3 B, at the opposite end that engage the rod  8 . The offset arms SA,  5 B are supported by means of a cross-brace, as indicated at  4 .  
         [0015]    A further embodiment of the reader roller  10 , is shown in FIG. 1B to comprise a hollow metal or plastic cylinder  11  having opposing side pieces  12 ,  13  containing a paper scroll  17  of written material which is visible by means of the viewing window  14  of a magnifying plastic lens arrangement. The reader roller is positioned near a seating arrangement by means of the strap  15 . The paper scroll is moved clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 1B, by rotation of the second roller drive knob  32 , which will be described below in greater detail. The first roller drive knob  25  (FIG. 2) is located on the opposite side of the cylinder  11 .  
         [0016]    The components of the reader roller  10  are best seen by now referring to FIG. 2 wherein the paper scroll  17  containing the reading information is arranged on a hollow paper or plastic roll  18 . The scroll  17  is positioned on a first roller  19  by placement over the end  19 A. The first roller  19  terminates at a plurality of first gear teeth  20  at the opposite end, and includes a hollow channel extending there thru as indicated at  19 B. The first roller  19  and paper scroll  17  are inserted within the cylinder  11  and the first inner cover  21  is positioned on the end  11 A of the cylinder such that the gear teeth  20  extend thru the opening  23  in the inner cover  21 . The opening  22  is positioned to receive the end  26 A of the second roller  26  which is next positioned within the cylinder  11  via the opposite end  11 B. The second roller  26  is similar to the first roller  19  and includes a plurality of second gear teeth  27  opposite the end  26 A and a hollow channel  26 B extending there thru. The second roller  26  is inserted within the cylinder  11  and the second inner cover  28  is positioned on the end  11 B of the cylinder such that the gear teeth  27  extend thru the opening  30  in the inner cover  28 . The opening  29  is positioned to receive the end  19 A of the first roller  19 . The sidepiece  12  is next positioned on the end  11 A of the cylinder  11  over the inner cover  21  such that the first post  36  extending from the first gear driver  24  extends within the opening  23  on the inner cover  21  within the end of the hollow channel  19 B to position the first gear driver  24  in engagement with the gear teeth  20  on the first roller  19 . The spring clip  33  extends from the inner surface of the sidepiece  12  to hold the gear  24  in engagement with the first gear teeth  20  to allow the paper on the paper scroll  17  to transfer from the second roller  26  to the first roller  19  by rotation of the roller drive knob  25  on the outer surface of the first sidepiece  12  attached to the post  36 A extending thru the sidepiece  12  and inner cover  21  in the manner to be describe below in greater detail. The sidepiece  13  is next positioned on the end  11 B of the cylinder  11  such that the second post  37  extending from the second gear driver  31  extends thru the opening  29  on the second inner cover  28  within the end of the hollow channel  26 B to position the second gear driver  31  in engagement with the gear teeth  27  on the second roller  26  to complete the assembly. The spring clip  34  extends from the inner surface of the second sidepiece  13  to hold the gear  31  in engagement with the second gear teeth  27  to allow the paper on the paper scroll to transfer from the first roller  19  to the second roller  26  by operation of the drive knob  32  on the outer surface of the second sidepiece  13  attached to the post  37 A extending thru the sidepiece  13  and inner cover  28  when the paper  17 ′ on the paper scroll  17  transfers from the first roller  19  to the second roller  26  by operation of the roller drive knob  32  on the outer surface of the second sidepiece  13  attached to the post  37  extending thru the sidepiece  12  and inner cover  28 .  
         [0017]    The positional arrangement of the first and second rollers  19 ,  26  relative to the viewing window  14  on the reader roller  10  and first and second sidepieces  12 ,  13  is shown in FIG. 3. The ends  19 A,  26 A of the rollers  19 ,  26  extend thru corresponding openings  22 ,  30  within the first and second inner covers  21 ,  28  with the ends  36 A,  37 A of posts  36 ,  37  within the associated channels  19 B,  26 B for positioning the gear drivers  24 ,  31  in association with the gear teeth  20 ,  27 . The spring clips  33 ,  34  hold the gear drivers  24 ,  31  in engagement with the gear teeth until and unless either of the drive knobs  25  or  32  within the associated recesses  12 A,  13 A formed within the sidepieces  12 ,  13  are rotated in the counter-clockwise direction to thereby overcome the retention force of the associated spring clips  33 ,  34  and move the associated gear drivers out of operative engagement with the associated gear teeth. This occurs due to the “one-way” configuration of the gear teeth  20 ,  27  with the associated gear drivers  24 ,  31  which allows rotation only in the clockwise direction to prevent “paper roll slack”, as defined herein as the loosening of the paper  17 ′ (FIG. 5) between the rollers  19 ,  26 , rather than the transfer of the paper from one roller to the other roller. It is noted that only one of the gear drivers and gear teeth can be engaged at one time to allow rotation of the associated roller. In the arrangement depicted herein, rotation of drive knob  32  in the indicated clockwise direction rotates the associated roller  26  to advance the paper  17 ′ associated with the paper scroll  17  (FIG. 5) onto roll  26  while the gear driver  24  and gear teeth  20  remain in contact due to the “one-way” gear configuration described earlier. Rotation of drive knob  25  in the indicated clockwise direction rotates the associated roller  19  to advance the continuous paper roll associated with the paper scroll  17  onto roller  19  while the gear driver  31  and gear teeth  27  remain in contact to thereby allow transfer of the paper roll in both directions under the viewing window  14 .  
         [0018]    The function of the spring clip  34  associated with the roller  26  and drive knob  32  is depicted in FIGS. 4A, 4B. With the drive knob  32  on post  37  within the recess  13 A within sidepiece  13 , as shown in FIG. 4A, the spring clip  34  urges the gear driver  31  into operative engagement with the gear teeth  27  whereby rotation of the drive knob  32  in the clockwise direction, as indicated, rotates the roller  26  in the clockwise direction. Moving the drive knob  32  in the counter-clockwise direction urges the drive knob out of the recess  13 A on the sidepiece  13  as shown in FIG. 4B to overcome the tension of the spring clip  34  and cause the gear driver  31  to move out of engagement with the gear teeth  27  by means of the “one way” gear arrangement thereby preventing rotation of the roller  26  in the counter-clockwise direction, as indicated, by moving the end  37 A of the post  37  towards the end of the hollow channel  26 B. Although the operative arrangement between the spring clip  34  and the directional rotation of the roller  26  and drive wheel  32  is depicted herein, the spring clip  33 , roller  19  and drive knob  25  shown earlier in FIG. 3 operate in a similar manner to control the directional rotation of the associated roller  19 .  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 5 depicts the reader roller  10  of FIGS.  1 - 3  with the sidepieces  12 ,  13  and gear drive arrangement removed to show the transfer of the paper  17 ′ on the scroll  17  from the first roller  19  to the second roller  26 .A paper guide  38  is positioned next to the viewing window  14  to maintain the paper in proximity with the viewing window for greater visual access. A pair of spring guides  39 , 40  are arranged intermediate the rollers  19 , 26  to maintain tension between the paper  17 ′ and rollers  19 ,  26  in transit.  
         [0020]    A reader roller has herein been described for ease in reading material in a sitting position, in the absence of a desk or table support.