Abstract:
An indexing system for a book, the system comprising an enclosure for the book, the enclosure having a back wall and a top wall capable of pivoting relative to the back wall. The top wall carries a scale with a displaceable slide and the scale carries indications that correspond to specific pages in the book. The system also includes plurality of book tabs adapted to be attached to specific pages of the book. The slide is attached to at least one arm that includes a lug adapted to engage a tab. Actuation means cause the lug to move from a disengaged to an engaged position in which the lug engages the tab, whereby displacement of the slide to a selected page causes the arm and lug to be positioned adjacent a selected tab and activation of the actuation means causes the lug to assume the engaged position with the selected tab so that when the top wall is pivoted open the book is opened at the selected page.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to an indexing system particularly for use with large book.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     There is often a problem with large reference books such as encyclopaedias, dictionaries, manuals and finding a particular chapter. For instance, the Bible is composed of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. During Bible classes or Bible study groups or even worshipping in church there is often a need to select one of the 66 books quickly. This can be a particular problem to the old and infirmed including those with impaired sight.  
         [0003]     It is these issues that have brought about the present invention.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an indexing system for a book, the system comprising an enclosure for the book, the enclosure having a back wall and a top wall capable of pivoting relative to the back wall, the top wall carrying a scale with a displaceable slider, the scale carrying indications that correspond to specific pages in the book, a plurality of book tabs adapted to be attached to specific pages of the book, the slider being attached to at least one arm that includes a lug adapted to engage a tab, and activation means to cause the lug to move from a disengaged to an engaged position in which the lug engages the tab whereby displacement of the slide to a selected page causes the arm and lug to be positioned adjacent a selected tab and activation of the actuation means causes the lug to assume the engaged position with the selected tab so that when the top wall is pivoted open the book is opened at the selected page. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]     An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an enclosure incorporating an indexing system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the enclosure supporting a book in an open position;  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing the interaction between tabs on the book and engagement arms of the indexing system;  
         [0009]      FIG. 4  is perspective views of four arms, slides and tabs;  
         [0010]      FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the enclosure supporting a book, the book and enclosure being in a closed position;  
         [0011]      FIG. 6  is a plan view of the top of the enclosure;  
         [0012]      FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  are perspective views illustrating displacement of a slide;  
         [0013]      FIG. 8  is a cross sectional view of the enclosure illustrating engagement between an arm and a selected tab; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view of the enclosure in a partially open position. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]     The accompanying drawings illustrate an indexing system for a large printed publication such as The Bible. The system comprises a rectangular enclosure  10  formed essentially of a top wall structure  11  that sits against a bottom wall structure  12  to define the rectangular enclosure shown in  FIG. 1 . The top wall structure  11  has a top face  13  that is preferably manufactured of plastics with a bottom face  14  spaced behind the top face to define an enclosure  16 . The top and bottom faces are preferably made of plastics in solid colour but may be made to be transparent. A back wall  17  joins the top and bottom faces  13 ,  14 . The top wall structure  11  also has a front wall  18  that extends to the base of the enclosure as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  to define a second rectangular enclosure  19 . The bottom wall structure  11  shown in  FIG. 2  is in the form of a rectangular block  9  that has an upper face  8  spaced above the underside  7  with the block  9  terminating in a forwardly projecting rectangular flange  6  that has two upstanding spaced lugs  5  to engage in apertures  4  in the underside  3  of the forward enclosure  19  on the top wall structure  11 . It is understood that while two lugs  5  are illustrated, more lugs may be used in practice.  
         [0016]     Thus, as shown in  FIG. 9 , when the enclosure  10  is closed, the top wall structure  11  pivots down onto the bottom wall structure  12  so the lugs  5  extend into the apertures  4 . A centrally positioned locking tab  2  is positioned to interconnect the bottom structure  12  to the top structure  11  to hold the enclosure  10  in a closed and locked position as shown in  FIG. 5 .  
         [0017]     The interior of the top and bottom wall structures  11 ,  12  define a rectangular enclosure that can accommodate a comparatively thick book such as a bible. As shown in  FIG. 9 , the book (B) comprises a hard front cover (F) joined to a hard back cover (B) by a spine (S). The pages of the book are secured to the spine (S) and extend forwardly to define a front edge. The interior surfaces of the top and bottom structures  11 ,  12  are designed to accommodate the hard front and rear covers of the book and it is understood that a number of mechanisms may be incorporated to secure the book to the enclosure  10  such as profiled cut outs that accommodate the hard surfaces of the front and rear of the book and elastic or plastics sleeves into which the front or rear of the book (B) can be slid to ensure that the book is secured between the two halves  11 ,  12  of the enclosure  10 .  
         [0018]     In the example illustrated in the drawings, the indexing system is specifically designed for use with the Bible. The Bible is divided into 66 books and the indexing system is adapted so that once a book has been selected, the Bible is opened to the first page of that book. A slide  20  is arranged to be displaceable about parallel slide rails  22 ,  23  attached to the underside of the top face  13  of the enclosure  10  and movement of the slide  21  on the rails  22 ,  23  effects the selection of the desired book. However, since there are 66 books, it is not practical to have a vertical array of 66 books on one pair of rails so the indexing system has been split into two rail sets in four vertically spaced columns C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , C 4 . The right hand column C 1  represents books  1  to  20  of the Old Testament. The second column C 2  represents books  21  to  39  of the Old Testament. The third column C 3  represents books  1  to  14  of the New Testament and the fourth column C 4  represents books  15  to  27  of the New Testament.  
         [0019]     The mechanism that interconnects the pointer  20  on the rails  22 ,  23  with the desired book is the same for each column and thus for ease of description a single column is described though it is understood that this is then duplicated a further three times to provide the four columns described above.  
         [0020]     The last page of each book of the Bible has a book mark or tab  50  positioned on its front edge. The tab  50  as shown in  FIG. 6  is adhesively secured to the edge of the page and has a forwardly projection flange  51  terminating in an eyelet  52 . The tabs  50  are tabulated in a staggered fashion down the books of the Bible to provide four rows of tabs  50  as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0021]     The top face  13  of the enclosure has four slides  25  that can be displaceable up and down the rails  22 ,  23  as shown in  FIG. 5 . Each slide  20  is connected to a rectilinear arm arrangement  30  that has a main elongate beam  31  joined mutually perpendicularly to a side flange  32  that is, in turn, perpendicularly attached to a return  33 . The return  33  is in turn coupled to an upturned lug  35  that is arranged to engage the eyelet  52  of the tab  50 . Thus displacement of the slide  20  along the rails  22 ,  23  moves the arm assembly  30  and lug  35  to the desired position so that the lug  35  engages in the eyelet  52  in the selected bookmark or tab  52 .  
         [0022]     The elongate beam  31  of each arm  30  extends across the page of the book from the slide  20  to the front edge of the book (B). As shown in  FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  a pair of seat members  40 ,  41  project upwardly from the end of the beam  31  to be engaged by the underside of the slide  20 .  
         [0023]     Each slide  20  comprises a transparent rectangular plate that sits on the top face  13  of the enclosure. The plate  20  is interconnected to grooved seats  40 ,  41  on the arm through parallel slots  45 ,  46  in the top face  13 . Each rail  22 ,  23  is an L shaped plastics strip that is secured to the rear of the top face  13  to define a vertical channel in which a disc  60  is a sliding fit. The disc  60  is attached to the end of the beam  13  via a spring  61 . Each slot  22 ,  23  has nodules  48  that runs down the column. In the neutral position shown in  FIG. 7   a  the spring  61  holds the slide  20  against the top face  13  with the grooves seats  40 ,  41  engaging the slots  45 ,  46 . The lugs  35  and tabs  50  are disengaged and the slides  20  locked against movement. To release the slides  20  and engage the lugs  35  and tabs  50  the grooved seats  40 ,  41  are released from the slots  45 ,  46  and the slide  20  moved to the selected book at which the spring  61  urges the slide  20  and arm  30  upwardly thus engaging the lug  35  with the eyelet  52  on the tab  50 . This position is shown in  FIG. 7   b.    
         [0024]     As shown with particular reference to  FIGS. 4 and 8 , since the columns C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , C 4  are spaced across the top face  13  and the assembly for each column is the same it can be seen that the beams  31  vary in length across the top cover and the flanges  32  in depth down the front edge. The returns  33  also vary so that, as shown in  FIG. 8 , all four arm assemblies  30  can be accommodated in the enclosure  10  without one arm impeding the motion of the other. The relationship between the slides  20  and the rails  22 ,  23  and the interconnection with the arms  30  are accommodated in the enclosure  16  defined by the underside of the top wall structure  11  and the flanges  32  and returns  33  including the engagement lugs  35  are accommodated in the enclosure  19  of the top structure  11  that is formed forward of the front edge of the book as shown in  FIG. 8 . The reason that the bottom structure  11  has a rectangular block  9  to raise the book above the base of the unit is to ensure that when the book is open at its middle, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the front (F) and rear (R) covers of the book are in substantially the same plane.  
         [0025]     The movement of the arms  30  to engage the eyelets  52  in the tabs  50  as described with reference to  FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  provides only a small degree of vertical movement. Since there may be a large number of chapters in some of the books, if planar tabs  50  were secured to the selected pages there could be a considerable difference in height between the tab on the first chapter and the tab on the last chapter. To accommodate this change in height, it is understood, as shown in  FIG. 4 , that the tabs  50  could have an angled structure whereby each tab comprises a planar portion  55  that is secured to the page of the book that merges in a downwardly projecting portion  56  that in turn has extending forwardly therefrom the flange  51  with the eyelet  52 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , this then allows the eyelets to remain in substantially the same plane whilst accommodating for the vertical spacing between chapters of the books.  
         [0026]     Use of the indexing device is shown with particular reference to  FIGS. 1, 6 ,  7 ,  8  and  9 . The lock at the front is first released and then a chapter is selected which, as shown in  FIG. 6 , is book  45  of the Old Testament. The slide is pushed down as shown in  FIG. 7   a,  releasing the seats  40 ,  41  from the nodules in the slide and allowing the slide to move down to the selected chapter. At the same time, movement of the slide has caused movement of the arm  31  so that the lug on the return of the third arm is positioned under the eyelet on the tab of the selected book. When the slide is released, the spring urges the arm upwardly so that the lug engages the tab as shown in  FIG. 8 . The front cover is then pivoted open using the spine of the book as a pivot and the partial pivoted position is shown in  FIG. 9  where the engagement of the arm into the eyelet on the tab means that the book is opened at the selected page to finally assume the position of  FIG. 2 , where the selected chapter can be referenced. In order to take the pivoting load off the spine, the device may include supports. To repeat the exercise, the book is then closed, the slides are returned to the neutral position shown in  FIG. 1  and the selection process repeated.