IMPROVEMENTS IN DATE INDICATORS OR CALENDARS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DATE INDICATORS OR CALENDARS."-A communication to
him from abroad by John Cussons, of Glen Allen, Virginia, United States of
Amanian Printer
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th June 1882.
INDICATORS OR
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE of the firm of Haseltine Lake and Co, Patent Agents
DATE
" IMPROVEMENTS IN
Southampton Buildings London
CALENDARS A communication [to him from abroad by John Cussons, of Glen
Allen, Virginia, United States of America, Printer,]
This invention relates to improvements in dial and tablet date-indicators or
calendars, the object being to furnish a calendar that shall comprise the desirable
qualities of comprehensiveness in the range of dates, devices for giving prominence
to current dates, and such compactness in form and simplicity of construction as
will render it convenient in use, économical in cost, and neat in appearance.
This object is attained according to the said invention, by the use of three
pivoted dials one of which contains characters indicating the days of the week
while the other two contain respectively, ten, and three large figures or numerals,
which figures placed in proper relation, as hereinafter described are adapted to
exhibit jointly any required day of the month.
Heretofore a calendar has been made which shews the figures of the day of the
month on a single dial that necessarily contains fifty-three figures, while my two
dials have together but thirteen. They may therefore .be made relatively smaller
than would otherwise be required in order to give equal prominence to the figures
marked thereon.
In carrying the said invention into practice I provide a frame which is made of
a sheet of cardboard or similar material, preferably folded in long folio at a
If desired,
transverse line of perforations for the purpose hereinafter described.
However, the said frame may consist of a single thickness of any suitable material.
The face of the frame is provided with a circular or polygonal opening to the rear
of which is pivoted a disc or dial by means of an eyelet which is so arranged
above the opening that the abbreviations indicating the days of the week which
17

page_text: are printed or marked upon said dial, near its margin, may be made to appear
successively at the opening by turning the dial upon the pivot. The eyelet, besides
forming, the pivot of the dial, also serves as a convenient suspension ring for the
support of the calendar or indicator.
Below this opening, and in line with each other, are two circular or polygonal
openings to the rear of which are pivoted, by means of eyelets, two discs or dials
that together contain the necessary numerals to indicate the days of a month. One
of these two dials has a diameter equal to the width of the calendar or indicator
frame, while the diameter of the other dial is about twenty-seven fifty-ninths
(27/59) less. On the larger dial are printed the ten figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,
and on the smaller dial are printed the figures 1, 2, 3, a blank space being left
between the figures 1 and 3, in which blank space a simple dash or dashes can be
printed; it being important that these figures should be as prominent as possible,
I make them large enough to fill the space exposed by the two perforations or
openings, each of which perforations has a diameter equal to one fourth the width
of the calendar or indicator frame. The figures on the large dial are arranged
eighteen degrees out of perpendicular and the figures on the smaller dial are
arranged forty degrees out of perpendicular. In order to find the proper point for
pivoting the small dial a perpendicular and a horizontal line are run so that they
shall intersect where the large dial centres; a circle is then struck the radius of
which shall be one third the width of the calendar-frame and the proper pivotal
point will be forty-seven degrees above the horizontal and forty-three degrees to
the left of the perpendicular line. This will bring the pivoting eyelet of the small
dial close to one of the apertures while the periphery of the small dial will come
flush with the edge of the calendar frame, will just miss. the eyelet of the large
dial, will approach closely without touching the figure exposed at the other
opening and will conceal the dial figures on the large dial without exposure of the
small dial at the openings.
These proportions may be somewhat varied by using smaller figures, but in any
case the points above mentioned must be made to harmonize. It should here be
observed that when the calendar or indicator frame is made double and the over-
lapping dials enclosed therein the eyelet used for pivoting the small dial must be
fastened to the upper or front portion of the frame only. This double frame is
provided with perforations corresponding with the eyelets and has notches at the
top and sides for convenience in manipulating the respective dials which register
with said notches.
A certain amount of labor and material may be saved by employing only a
single sheet of cardboard or other material for the calendar or indicator frame, and
either supporting the dials at the back by means of a strip, or leaving them
unsupported as may be desired. This strip may be arranged vertically or may be
placed diagonally or transversely across the back of the frame, the vertical position
being preferable as it is thereby less liable to become detached.
The advantage of the double card-board frame consists in the fact that it
encloses and protects the dials and so stiffens the whole structure, that a lighter
material may be used. The principle of construction is the same whether the
calendar or indicator be made of a single or double sheet of card-board, the latter
form, however, being deemed preferable for the reason stated. Attached to the
face of the calendar frame, directly beneath one of the openings, is placed a
monthly tablet composed of sheets that may be torn off in succession at the
expiration of each month. These sheets are each provided with a title line that
gives the name of the month and year the words or characters printed upon said
line having a proper relation in size and position to the conspicuous characters
displayed above it at the openings while the bottom or connecting sheet of the
said tablet is provided in the usual manner with a miniature calendar for the
whole year.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th December 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London "IMPROVEMENTS IN DATE INDICATORS OR
CALENDARS" A communication to me from abroad by John Cussons, of Glen
Allen, Virginia, United States of America, Printer.
This invention relates to improvements in dial and tablet date indicators or
calendars, the object being to furnish a calendar that shall comprise the desirable
qualities of comprehensiveness in the range of dates, devices for giving prominence
to current dates and such compactness in form and simplicity of construction as
will render it convenient in use, economical in cost, and neat in appearance.
This object is attained according to the said invention by the use of three
pivotted dials, one of which contains characters indicating the days of the week
while the other two contain respectively ten and three large figures or numerals,
which figures placed in proper relation, as hereinafter described, are adapted to
exhibit jointly any required day of the month.
Heretofore a calendar has been made which shews the figures of the day of the
month on a single dial that necessarily contains fifty-three figures while my two
dials have together but thirteen. They may therefore be made relatively smaller
than would otherwise be required in order to give equal prominence to the figures
marked thereon.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a face view of a calendar constructed according to this invention
Figure 2 is a section of the same on the line x x Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a view of the calendar frame unfolded
Figure 4 is a back view of the calendar showing a modified form of frame
Figure 5 is a plan of the disc or dial containing abbreviations of the names of the
days of the week.
Figure 6 is a plan of a small dial containing the first three numerals and
Figure 7 is a plan of a large dial containing the ten numerals or figures the
dials represented in the last two mentioned figures being used to designate the
days of the month.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
The frame A is composed of a sheet of cardboard or similar material which is
preferably folded in long folio at a transverse line of perforations a as shewn in
Figure 3 for the purpose hereinafter described. If desired, however, the said frame
may consist of a single thickness of any suitable material. The face of the frame
is provided with a circular or polygonal opening B to the rear of which is pivoted
the disc or dial B' by means of an eyelet b which is so arranged above the
opening B that the abbreviations indicating the days of the week, which are
printed or marked upon the said dial near its margin, may be made to appear
successively at the opening B by turning the dial upon the pivot, The eyelet b
besides forming the pivot of the dial B¹ also serves as a convenient suspension-ring
for the support of the calendar or indicator.
Below this opening B, and in line with each other are two circular or polygonal
openings, C, D to the rear of which are pivotted by means of the eyelets c d, the
discs or dials C, D¹ which together contain the necessary numerals to indicate
the days of a month. The large dial C¹ has a diameter equal to the width of the
calendar frame while the diameter of the dial D' is about twentyseven fifty ninths
(7/0) less. On the larger dial C are printed the ten figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8, 9, 0

page_text: and on the smaller dial D' are printed the figures 1, 2, 3 a blank space being left
between the figures 1 and 3 in which blank space a simple dash or dashes can be
'printed. It being important that these figures should be as prominent as possible
I make them large enough to fill the space exposed by the two perforations or
openings C, D each of which perforations has a diameter equal to one fourth the
width of the calendar or indicator frame. The figures on the large dial C¹, as
shewn in the drawing, are arranged eighteen degrees out of the perpendicular as
shewn by the dotted line in Figure 7 and the figures on the smaller dial D¹ are
arranged forty degrees out of the perpendicular, as shown by the dotted line in
Figure 6. In order to find the proper point for pivoting the small dial D¹ a
perpendicular and a horizontal line are drawn so that they shall intersect where
the large dial C₁ centres; a circle is then struck, the radius of which shall be
one-third the width of the calendar frame and the proper pivotal point will be
forty-seven degrees above the horizontal and forty-three degrees to the left of the
perpendicular line. This will bring the pivoting eyelet d of the small dial D¹ close
to the aperture D while the periphery of the small dial will come flush with the
edge of the calendar frame, will just miss the eyelet c of the large dial C¹, will
approach closely, without touching, the figure exposed at the opening C, and will
conceal the dial figures on the large dial without exposure of the small dial at the
openings B and C. These proportions may be somewhat varied by using smaller
figures, but in any case the points above mentioned must be made to harmonize.
When the calendar or indicator frame is made double, and the overlapping dials
enclosed therein, as shewn in figures 1, 2 and 3, the eyelet d used for pivoting the
small dial D' must be fastened to the upper or front portion of the frame only.
This double frame A, is provided with perforations corresponding with the eyelets b
cd and has notches c at the top and sides as shewn in figure 1 for convenience in
manipulating the respective dials.
A certain amount of labor and material may be saved by employing only a
single sheet of card-board or other material for the calendar or indicator frame,
and either supporting the dials at the back by means of a strip E or leaving them
unsupported as may be desired. This strip may be arranged vertically as shewn
in Figure 4 or may be placed diagonally or transversely across the back of the
frame, the vertical position however is preferable, as it is thereby less liable to
become detached.
The advantage of the double card-board frame consists in the fact that it
encloses and protects the dials, and so stiffens the whole structure that a lighter
material may be used. The principle of construction is the same whether the
calendar be made of a single or double sheet of card board, the latter form however
being deemed preferable for the reason stated. Attached to the face of the calendar
frame directly beneath the openings C, D is placed a monthly tablet F composed of
sheets that may be torn off in succession at the expiration of each month. These
sheets are each provided with a title line that gives the name of the month and
year, the words or charecters printed upon said line having a proper relation in
size and position to the conspicuous characters displayed above it at the openings B.
C. and D, while the bottom or connecting sheet of the said tablet is provided in
the usual manner with a miniature calendar for the whole year. It is obvious.
that the calendar when constructed as described may be adjusted instantly, as it is
only necessary to turn the dials B and C one point each day to turn the dial D
one point or figure each tenth day, and to tear off a tablet sheet at the expiration
of each month. The blank space on dial D¹ between figures 1 and 3 will be
brought opposite the opening when figures below ten on the larger dial are
exposed. It will be seen that the parts of my improved calendar are so arranged
as to give great prominence to the letters and figures indicating the current day,
intermediate prominence to the letters and figures of the current month and minor
prominence to the letters and figures of the current year. Besides being thus
comprehensive and discriminating in its range of dates it is also compact in form
and neat in appearance

page_text: Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I claim.
First a calendar or date indicator constructed substantially as described and
adapted to shew the figures indicating the day of the month through circular or
polygonal openings formed in the face of the calendar-frame for the said purpose
by means of two dials, one of which is smaller than the other and carries three
figures and a blank, while the larger dial carries ten figures, the dials being
arranged substantially as described, so that the smaller one shall partially over-lap
the other, and while exposing its own figure at its own aperture shall conceal the
figures on the larger dial which would otherwise be exposed at the aperture of the
small dial, another figure of the larger dial being exposed at a second aperture.
Second. The combination in a calendar or date indicator of a frame of card-board
or similar material doubled in long folio, and provided with perforations and
notched edges, dials, provided with characters for indicating the days of the week,
and the days of the month pivoted within the said frame and adapted to coincide
with the openings formed therein, and a tear off tablet attached to the face of the
frame, substantially as described.
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Sixth day of December in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.