Abstract:
A painter&#39;s box including provisions for painter&#39;s supplies and being supportable on an easel, the box including both a base and lid, the base including opposed top and bottom portions interconnected by opposed side portions, the bottom portion being provided with a groove for interconnection with an easel, the lid including a female connection area for interlocking with a male connector mounted on the easel.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention, in general, relates to painter&#39;s boxes and more particularly to such boxes which are easily transported, accessorized for all of the artist&#39;s needs, and which may be supported directly on conventional easels. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Over the years, there have been many proposals to provide a structure which combine the canvas support of an easel with a painter&#39;s box which supports the painter&#39;s paints, brushes and other supplies. Such devices have generally combined, in one structure, both the box and canvas support, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,630. Others have combined the box with an easel through use of substantial modification of both the box and easel with the box including separate support legs and being substantially permanently attached to the easel. This type of device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,212,188. A number of other proposals have been made to removable connect palettes to easels as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,465,893 or D305,670, but without provision for artist&#39;s supplies or only for brushes as in U.S. Pat. No. 289,700. Finally, palettes have been combined with easels as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,651 or previously cited U.S. Pat. No. 1,212,188. 
     However, none of the prior art has provided a simple box-easel combination which does not require additional ground support, is easily mounted and demounted from a conventional easel and which contains provisions for all necessary artist&#39;s supplies. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a painter&#39;s box which is easily connected to standard artist&#39;s easels. 
     It is a further object of the invention to provide a simple interconnect between the painter&#39;s box and the easel which requires only minimal modification to the conventional easel. 
     Another object is to provide a mountable painter&#39;s box which includes provisions for both painter&#39;s supplies as well as a palette. 
     Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easel mountable painter&#39;s box which in its closed position easily stores internally all of the painter&#39;s premixed paints, the box being easily transported 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front left side perspective view showing the painter&#39;s box mounted on an easel. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the painter&#39;s box shown in FIG. 1 in the closed position without the lid-base support chain. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing details of the interconnection of the box to the easel and the attachment for painter&#39;s supplies in and on the box. 
     FIG. 4 shows the detail of the center post of the easel with an attachment pin which mates with a hole in the painter&#39;s box. 
     FIG. 5 is a view of the bottom of the painter&#39;s box including a mounting groove which insets into the canvas mounting block on the easel. 
     FIG. 6 is partial sectional view of a support leg of an easel showing the painter&#39;s box support block mounted thereon. 
     FIG. 7 shows, in detail, the rear of the support block of FIG.  6 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring primarily to FIG. 3, the painter&#39;s box, generally designated  1 , consists of a lid portion generally designated  3  and a rectangular base portion generally designated  2 , interconnected by a piano type hinge  4 . The base  2  includes right side wall  5 , left side wall  5 A, a top portion  6  and an opposed bottom portion  7 . A back portion  70  shown in FIG. 2 overlays the side walls and top and bottom portions. The lid  3  is of generally rectangular flat configuration of substantially the same size as the rectangular base and includes an upstanding painter&#39;s accessory support  8  extending from one side of said lid. The interconnection hinge  4  is positioned between the outer edge of the bottom portion  7  and the lid  3  as shown in FIGS. 1-3. 
     To connect the box to an easel, a hole  9  is provided in the top portion  6  of the box and a groove  15  is provided in the bottom portion  7  of the box, each of these features mating corresponding structure on an easel as now described. 
     The easel generally designated  10  in FIG. 1 comprises a number of standard features including a tripod structure including three legs  11  with telescoping extension  12  slidable therein. The extensions  12  are held in position by bolts with washers and wing nuts (not shown) which pass through slots  13  in the legs  11  and holes in an upper portion of the extensions. 
     Mounted on the tripod legs are blocks  16  with upstanding lips  17  which are matable with groove  15  (FIG. 5) in box base portion  2 . As shown in FIG. 6, these support blocks are also mounted on the legs  11  with a retainer bolt  50  with wing nut  51  passing through the block slot  13 . When the easel is not in use, the blocks are mounted at the upper end of slot  13  in order that the leg extensions  12  may be retracted into legs  11 . As shown in FIG. 7, the block  16  includes a central protrusion  16 A which fits, into the slot  13  to minimize lateral movement of the block. The hole through which the bolt  50  passes is shown in block  16  at  52 . 
     The easel legs are supported on a central post  18  which terminates at its upper end in a block  19  which has a slide groove  20  that supports an adjustable canvas retainer support  21  that is slidable in the slide groove  20  and locked in position by a locking pressure wing nut (not shown) on the back of block  19 . The canvas retainer support  21  includes an upper block  22  which includes a depending lip  22 ′ that grips the upper edge of a canvas and a lower support  57  upon which the lower edge of the canvas may rest. This structure is conventional in many easels and forms no part of the instant invention. The retainer support  21  is modified by providing at least one pin  23  depending from the lower end thereof as shown in FIG.  1  and in detail in FIG.  4 . The pin  23  is circular and is held in a counter bore in the retainer support  21 . The pin is so sized as to be insertable into hole  9  in the top portion  6  of box base portion  2 . 
     In the preferred embodiment, as detailed in FIG. 5, the groove  15  in the bottom portion of the box extends into a groove in the box side. Alternatively, the base piece may traverse the entire length of the box with the end of the sides bolted, nailed or screwed thereto, thereby eliminating the need for a groove in the side portions  5  and  5 A. 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the box contains or supports all requisite surfaces and containers that painters deem necessary for studio or field painting. 
     The lid portion includes a smooth upper surface  24  which functions as a palette. The lid side extension  8  includes a hinge  46  supporting a palette cup retainer shelf  25  to which may be attached palette cups  26  which are integral with a clip type holder  27  slidable over the palette cup retainer shelf  25 . In addition, a brush cleaning cup  28  may be attached to the side extension by bolt  29 , washer  30  and wing nut  31 . Although the nut is shown to be positioned inside the cup, the bolt may be positioned such that the wing nut is on the inside of extension  8 . 
     Depending from the lower surface of lid  3  is a towel holder including paper towel roll supports  32 . The paper towel holder would be attached by screws (not shown) and would include roll support arms which are pivotable into an upright position. The particular details of such paper towel holders are well known. 
     The side edge of lid  3  includes an screw eyelet  33  which supports a link at one end of a chain  34 . The other end of chain  34  may be connected to an eyelet  35  provided in the side  5 A of the box base. These eyelets are most clearly shown in FIG.  2 . The length of chain  34  between eyelets  33  and  35  may be varied to allow the painter&#39;s box to be adjustable supported in the open position with the palette surface level and can be removed when the box is closed during transit. 
     The upper portion of the box is provided with shelves  36  which are insertable in grooves  37  on the inside of upper side walls  5  and  5 A and a central wall  38  which extends centrally between top portion  6  and bottom portion  7  as shown in FIG.  3 . The shelves are held in place by rods  39  which pass through (the top portion  6 ) holes  60  in the shelves and rest in depressions in the bottom portion  7 . They are retained by retainer clips  61  on the outside of the top portion. The shelves may be removed or repositioned by rotating the retainers, whereby the rods are exposed and thereafter removed. After shelf replacement, the rods are reinserted and the retainers rotated back to overlie the rod ends. These shelves are used to support oil or acrylic based paints extruded in ribbons from paint tubes that can be used directly or pre-mixed to any desired shade. 
     The upper edge of the side  5  and accessory support  8  include strap holders  40  to which may be removable attached carrying strap  41 . 
     A latch  42  is provided on the lower surface of lid  3  which interconnects with keeper  43  on base  2  to latch the case closed during travel. 
     As shown in FIG. 4, after the palette cups  26  on the retainer clip  27  is removed and the box closed, the retainer shelf  25  may be pivoted on its hinge  46  to overlay the outer surface of the back of the box. Alternatively, before the box is closed, the shelf  25  may be pivoted 270° to lay flat against the inner wall  58  of the accessory support  8 . In the latter configuration, a gap of the depth of the shelf  25  is provided between the extension  8  and the right side wall  5 . 
     As shown most clearly in FIG. 3, to support a brush holder  45 , two L shaped brackets  64  are attached to the outer surface of right side wall  5  to mate with holes  65  in holder  45 . 
     When the painter&#39;s box is not being used all of the paints remain stored inside the box. 
     In using the box, the easel is first set up with its leg extensions positioned at the length desired whereafter the support blocks  16  are slid to a lower position on the slot  13 , as shown in FIG. 1, and the bolts  50  tightened. The groove  15  in the bottom portion  7  of the box base portion  2  is then placed in the upstanding lip  17  (FIG. 6) of the support blocks  16 . Thereafter, the canvas retainer support  21  is moved downwardly until the pin  23  enters the hole  9  in the top portion of the box and the retainer support  21  abuts the surface of the box. 
     Once the painter&#39;s box is attached and the chain  34  attached to eyelets  33  and  35 , the latch  42  removed from keeper  43 , the box opened and all of the accessories added as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. When it is desired to transport the box and easel, the above procedure is reversed. 
     Although the above describes the use of an upper pin and lower lip combination to support the box on the easel, it is possible that alternative holding and support means could be used. For example, an eyelet could be inserted in the position and in place of the hole  9  which could be secured to the easel by a hook suspended from the retainer support. 
     In addition, although the pin  23  is shown inserted into and maintained in retainer support  21 , it is contemplated that pin  23  may be removable or inserted into box top portion  6  prior to insertion into a mating hole in retainer support  21 . 
     Alternatively, two pins or hooks could be suspended from the lower canvas support as shown in phantom in FIG. 4 to mate with two of the holes  9  or eyelets positioned on the top portion  6  of box base portion  2 . This latter feature would be utilized in easels where the canvas retainer support  21  and the central post  18  are integral with both the support block  22  and the lower support  57  being adjustable in a central groove in support  21 . With this arrangement, sufficient length of the support  21  is provided below lower support  57  whereby a single block  16  may be adjustable mounted in the central groove of support  21  with the painter&#39;s box being mounted between the lower canvas support and the block. Specific easels which could include this feature are manufactured by Testrite Instruments Co., of Newark, N.J. and sold under the name “STANRITE” studio easel. 
     Similarly, the bottom mounting brackets although preferably utilizing lips, may instead use pins matable with the grooves or holes in the box. Additionally, as in the case of the upper pin support, it is further contemplated that the bottom of the box may include a raised lip as shown at  17  on block  16  in FIG. 6 which would mate with a groove such as  15  formed in the block  16 . 
     Of course, different managements of the accessory supports are contemplated and additional supports could be added, if desired. However, the specific configuration as shown in the drawings has been found most desirable for right handed artists. If desired, for left handed artists, all of the supports could be moved to the left side of the box. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the articles and methods of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.