Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
WO 95/01882 PCT/AU94/00365
A MULII-PAGE UNIT AND WRlTlNG INSTRUMENT COMBINAT~ON
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Illv~lllion
The present invention relates to a multi-page unit and writing i~llulllc~l
combinAtion, and, in particular, to ~-ot~pA~le and rAl~ with a writing i,lsllullle
15 Attar hr"l
2. Dc~ t;~ ~ of the Prior Art and Related Lfo....~ n
Quite often, people who attend l~ s ..-P~I;.~ or school remPmb~-r to bring a
20 llol~pad but s ...~ es forget a writing ill~llulllenl. Th~,lcfolc, many te~hniques have
been devised to co~ P~ one with the other. Where the l~o~A~l is part of a folder, U.S.
Patent No. 5,011,188 to Zoland et al. discloses a pen and folder combi.~AI ;o" The folder
has a hole ~ ose~ through both the front and back covers in an aligned o. :e.~l I ion A
clip typically found on a pen can thus be illsell~d into the hole to eim~ eo~ y secure
25 the pen to the folder and to dasp the covers of the folder togPthPr. Similar is U.S. Patent
No. 5,190,317 to Zoland which has a hole di~osed through just one cover of a folder
such that a clip typically found on a pen can thus be hlse.hd into the hole to
.~imlllt~ncously sccure the pen to the folder.
~imilz-rly, it is frequently desirable to have a pen or other writing i~llul,le~l
readily ~ ssiblc to a flat wall cZll~n~ r in order to make ~...ol;~;on~ thereon such as
birthdays, social events and the like.
WO 95/01882 PCT/AU94/0036
S~ IARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a novel combination of a writing instrument and
a notepad or c~lentlAr wL~cill the writing hl~ can be easily ~tt~çh~ to andS removed from the nntep~d or c~lPn-lAr. In a preferred emb~imrnt, the present invention
provides a through-hole located near an edge of the n-)tepAd or r~lPnrl~r The
through-hole is AdArted to receive a pocket clip typically found on many col.vclllional
pens, Alth- -gh, preferably, the clip has an upwardly curved end to fArilitAte insertion of
the clip into the hole, esper;~lly where the n<-tep~cl inrllldes a number of sheets of paper
10 ~ ;"g, in one embo~iimPnt~ that the hole pass through each of the shcets. Thus, a pen
or other writing ihl~lulllelll can be secured to the n~ tepA~l or c~len~lAr by inserting the clip
through the hole.
The plcîcl~.d embo~ provide a s1lperior mrth~l of holding the pen to the
15 lloh pad than the cc,llv~ ;onAl prArtire of simply clipping the pen to an edge of the
..ot~ l since the hole serves to limit muvclll~ of the writing iL~llullle.ll, reduçing the
likelihood of the writing i~ uluelll l~o..~ g dislodged. .CimilArly, with respect to a
r~lPn-l~r-writing hl~llull.e ~t combi~ ioll, the present invention is ~ ;or to clipping thc
pen to an edge of the c~lrT-~lAr or ;,1 .;ug the pen to the c~ Ar by a string since the
20 pen would be free to swing aS people waLk past the r~lrnrl~r~ possibly e~lxi.~g m~rking.c
on the wall on which the c~l~ntlAr is hAn~ing Further, the hole/clip combination can be
shaped so that there is a snug fit ~l..~en the clip and the hole thereby ...i..i...ic;..g the
chance of the clip "~ lly slipping out of the hole.
Accol.lillgly, the present invention provides a simplc .. Pr~ i.C.~ for AttA~'hing a
writing instrument to a noteE~ad or c~lenrl~r~ and a simple ~hi~for removing thewriting hl~llulnell~ from the ..olgpad or c~lentl~r.
BRIEF DESCRIP~ON OF THE DRAW~NGS
~ cr~ d embc~ x of the present invention are h~ l~ihlarl~,l rlesrrihe~l, by way
of example only, with reference to the accompallyi,lg dlawill~s, wherein:
WO g5/01882 PC~IAU94/00365
Figure 1 is a ~ ;ve view of a pre~,l~,d PnnhotlimPnt of thc present invention,
Wi~lCh~ a pen is clipped to a n~-tepA~l by hlse.ling thc clip of the pen through the
through-hole;
Figure 2 is a profile view of the notep~l and pen combination shown in Figure
S 1 clearly ~epicting thc clip and its rel~tiollchip to the l-nl~,p~d and the through-holc after
insertion;
Figure 3 is a ~-x~l;v~ view of an ~lte~n~te embodi~elll of the invention
wLe.tm the pen is clipped di~ lly to a ca~ oald or other l:~A~ g used to hold the
.~ot~ad on the ..nt~,pad side of the bA~ ;"~"
Figure 4 is a ~-~-I;~c view of an ~ltrrn~te embodiment of the ilvc;l-liol-
WhC1eL1 the pen is clipped dil~,clly to a c~dboard or other l~A.~ g used to hold the
notepA~1, on the side opposite the notepAd side of the bAr~ g;
Figure 5 is a side elevation view of a writing ill~lluLue.ll having an ~Itern~teclipping ...crl~A.~ for ~tt~l....r~.l to the ..ot~A~i; and
Figure 6 is a top plan of an AltPrnAte emboAim~nt of a .. nl~AA and writing
LIDI1 Ulll~,11l COm~ dtiOn.
DETAILED DESCR~ ON OF THE INVENTION
In the following ~lcs~ )n, ~Ull~C~us details such as s~~ mZltP.ri~lc and
confi~ .,.ti~ c arc set forth in order to provide a more complelt; .~ u~ g of the
present invention. However, the present invcntion can be pnctir~l without those specifi~
details. In other i.~ s, well-known el~ are not dçsrribe~l explicitly so as not
to obscule the present h.~lllio
Figure 1 shows a ~l~ll~ embodiment of the present invention. A ...~
is shown having a front 13 and an idçntir~l back which is not shown. The back may be
made of a stiff cardboard m~t-ri~l or it may simply be the last page of the notepad The
noter~l in~ dP,s a number of paper pagec and the optional ~.l~d back 14. Instead30 of a n-tep~-l, a wall e~l~ntl~r or other item having a rclatively small number of pages
having a ~ont and a back, with or without an optional cal.ll~ald back could also be used
to implem~.nt the invention.
wo 95/0l882 ~) PCT/AUgllon365
Unique in the present invention is a through-hole 15 disposed through the pages
of the notepad or c~ql~ontlqr and the optionql cardboard back 14, or as shown in Figure 3,
through just the c~.ll,Oa,.l back, which in the Figure 3 embo~1impntis not optional. Thc
purpose of the through-hole lS is to provide a point of qttq.~hmPnt for a writing
5 iusll.lluent 19. As shown in the pe,~pGc~;ve view of Figure 1 and Figure 3, the writing
iu~llumelll 19, here a pen, is coupk~ to the notepad 11 via the through-hole 15. The
coupling is ~qcrn...pliche~1 by a pocket clip 23, found on almost all cou~ nql pens and
mqrkp,~
Figure 2 provides a side view of the nstepq.~l and pen combination illnstrqtP~d in
Figure 1. As is f1P.t~ilPd in the drawing, the clip 23 of the writing iu~ lùelll 19 passes
through the through-hole 15. A distal end 28 of the writing i~llunlenl 19 lies against
the surface of the paper portion of~ p~d 13, or as sho~vn in the Figure 3 embo~im~nt,
against the surface of the cal.ll,o~ b~ L ;.~g 14. A ~lv~hl~al end 25 of the clip 23 rides
15 at the lip of the through-hole 15. To fqrilit,te insertion of the clip 23 into the
through-hole 15, çsper;qlly where the notep~qd in~lucles a mlmh~r of pages and/or a
car~boa~ back making the ~-- t~d relatively thick, the clip may be confi~lred to include
a portion 31 at the end of the clip which curves upward, away from the body of the
writing iu~llulu~ 19.
To implov~; durability, the present invention provides that the through-hole 15
may be l~ulrol~d with another layer of n~tçri~l 35 if ~r~ss~ or ~1 ;rr~ A with a metal
or plastic ring. Other techni~lues for stren~ g the through-hole 15 known in the art
can be applied here as well.
Figure 4 is similar to Figure 3 excepting that the writing iL~IIuu~ is dispose~
on the side of the b~cking opposile from the side used to hold the notepad
Figure S is an illl~ctr~tion of a mo lifi~d writing hl~llu~ t which instead of a clip
30 which is generally parallel to the body of the pen as best seen in Figure 2, has a clip
which is ~:nrr~lly perprn~ r to the body of the wIiting hlslluuu~lll as shown in Figure
S with two wing portions e~ g from the body of the writing hl~llullleùl. In thc
Wo 95/01882 PCTIAU94/00365
_ 5 _
Figure S cmbo~ r~, instead of a through-hole 15, thc c~dl~oa,d b~ in~, if present,
or paper, if there is no bA~L ;,~g, inrludes two pairs of slits or cuts 35a and 35b into which
thc two wing portions of clip 33 are hls~lled as shown in Figure 6.
Naturally, the through-hole can be located on various other locations of the
notep~d with the ~coc;~ d writing in~ co....ec~.,cl in various o,;r..~ . These
v ;il;o~ are within the scopc and spirit of thc prcscnt invcntion as rlcfinr(l in the
~ pC~ ~ claims.
