AN IMPROVED CALENDAR
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED CALENDAR."-A Communication from abroad by Jean
Marc Louis Parisod and Jean Eléonor Gustave Prochasson, both of
Paris, France.
Sealed the 30th May 1873, and dated the 18th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th December 1872.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CALENDAR," to be as follows:-
-
This Invention relates to a so called perpetual calendar for finding
any date, either past or future, in addition to the dates for the current
month.
The calendar consists of a plate or card on which are inscribed years,
months, and days of the month, and of a movable dial having marked
on it the days of the week and the first seven letters of the alphabet.

page_text: The dial is rotated on the fixed plate by the aid of a stud, or by a lever
arrangement mounted on the dial plate as hercin-after described. The
calendar illustrated in the accompanying Drawings is brought down to
the year 2000, but may be similarly continued beyond that date. At the
head of the calendar the months are arranged in three rows in the order
indicated in Figure 1 of the Drawings, with blank spaces intervening in
the manner shown. Beneath these are arranged in a circle the seven
first letters of the alphabet in one series, and the days of the week in
three consecutive series, as shown in the detached view of the dial,
Figure 3. Below the table of years and in proximity to the lower part
of the movable dial are arranged in five rows the days of the month
beginning at the top with number 1, the rest following in succession
from end to end of each row to the last three days which will be found
in the fifth row.
The above being the arrangement the calendar is used in the following
manner :-
1st. The dial is moved so as to bring the letter found on the table
above the year in question under a given month. To take the present
month for example of December 1872, it is first observed that in the
table of years the year 1872 comes under letter F. By rotating the dial
until this letter comes under the month of December the date for each
day of the week during the month will be given.
2ndly. In order to ascertain the day of the week on which a person
was born on the 4th May 1834, the letter E corresponding to that year
is brought opposite the month of May, and it is found that the 4th May
was a Sunday.
3rdly. If it is desired to ascertain on what day the year 1873 com-
mences, the letter E is brought opposite the month of January, when it
will be found that the 1st January will be a Wednesday.
Those years not included in the table on the front of the calendar
back to the year 1800, will be found on its other side under their corre-
sponding letters, see Figure 2, but any number of years may be given.
It will be observed that leap years are placed in two columns and are
therefore represented by two letters, the figures in italics in the one
column being applicable to the months of January and February_only,
and those in the other column to the remainder of the year. For
s

page_text: example, supposing a date to fall in January or February of the
year 1872, the letter G is employed, but for any other month the
letter F is to be used.
In Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, A is the movable dial; B, C, metal
plates attached at front and back of dial for holding stud G. D, E, metal
plates superposed at back of dial. F, Figure 5, is an edge view showing
the method of attaching the button G to the dial.
The dial may also be rotated as follows:-H, metal disc to which the
T
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Melville Olark, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
CALENDAR," a communication to me from abroad by Jean Marc Louis
Parisod, and Jean Eléonor Gustave Prochasson, both of Paris, France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YẺ, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Sheet
of Drawings hercunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to a so-called perpetual calendar for finding any
date, either past or future, in addition to giving the dates for the current
month, consisting of a tablet or card, on which are inscribed any
number of years, the months of the year, and days of the month
arranged in a certain order, and of a movable dial having marked on it
the days of the week, and the first seven letters of the alphabet; this
dial is rotated on the back of the tablet by the aid of a stud or by a
lever arrangement mounted on the dial plate as herein-after described,
apertures being provided in the tablet through which the indications on
the dial are visible.
The calendar illustrated in the accompanying Drawings is carried to
the year 2000, but may be similarly continued beyond that date. At
the head of the calendar the months are arranged in three rows in the
order indicated in Figure 1 of the Drawings, with blank spaces inter-
vening in the manner shown. Beneath these are arranged in a circle
on the dial the first seven letters of the alphabet, and the days of
the week in three series in succession, as shown detached in Figure 3.
In proximity to the lower part of the movable dial are arranged in
five columns the days of the month, beginning at the top with number 1,
the last
the rest following in succession from end to end of each row,
three days of the month being found on the fifth row.
The above being the arrangement, the calendar is used in the following
manner:―
1st. In order to find the date of each day during the month of
December 1872 for example, it will first be observed that in the table of
years the year 1872 comes under letter F. By rotating the dial until this
letter comes under the month of December, the date for each day of the
week during the month will be found at the bottom part of the
calendar.

page_text: is
2ndly. In order to ascertain the day of the week on which a person
was born, say 4th May 1834, the letter E corresponding to that year
brought opposite the month of May, and it will be found that the
4th May was Sunday.
3rdly. If it is desired to ascertain on what day of the week the year
1873 commenced, the letter E on the dial is brought opposite the month
of January on the tablet, when it will be found that the 1st of January
was Wednesday.
Those years not included in the table at the front of the calender
back to year 1800 will be found on the reverse side under their corre-
sponding letters, see Figure 2, but any number of years may be tabulated
in a similar manner.
It will be observed that leap years are placed in two columns, and are
therefore represented by two letters, the figures in italics in the one
column being applicable to the months of January and February only,
and those in the other column to the remainder of the year; for
example, supposing a date to fall in January or February of the year
1872, the letter G is employed, but for any other month in the year the
letter F is to be used.
It will be evident that the same results may be attained by varying
the arrangement of the calendar while retaining the rotary dial, as the
Invention consists not so much in any particular external form or
arrangement as in the composition of the calendar based on certain
calculations, and combined with the mechanism or means of applying
the same.
The utility of such a calendar will be obvious, and it may be made
wither of cabinet size or sufficiently small to be carried in a pocket.

page_text: A, Figures 1 and 3, is the movable dial; B, C, metal plates attached
to dial at front and back for holding stud G; D, E, metal plates placed
one on the other at back of dial; F, Figure 5, is an edge view showing
the method of attaching the button G to the dial.
The dial may also be rotated as follows:-H, Figure 9, metal disc to
which the dial is attached; J, small toothed wheel fixed thereto; K,
lever with toothed segment gearing with wheel J for rotating dial A.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the combination of a rotary disc having the days of the week
and seven letters of the alphabet inscribed thereon as described, with a
tablet or card on which the months and days of the month are suitably
arranged, together with columns of years classified under corresponding
letters, the whole substantially as herein-before described and shown, for
the purpose of instantly finding any date, either past or future, besides
forming a calendar for the current month.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.