U.S. patent application number 11/262720 was filed with the patent office on 2007-04-05 for book end with saving-box.
Invention is credited to Thomas Yeh.
Application Number | 20070075027 11/262720 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37453431 |
Filed Date | 2007-04-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070075027 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Yeh; Thomas |
April 5, 2007 |
Book end with saving-box
Abstract
A book end with a saving-box includes two upright hollow bodies,
which are positioned with two planar inner sides thereof facing
toward each other to define a space between them for holding at
least one book therein. Each of the two upright hollow bodies
defines a coin collecting space, and is provided at a predetermined
position with a coin slot communicating with the coin collecting
space. Each of the two upright hollow bodies has a size-expanded
lower portion and has a bottom board connected to a lower end
thereof, and can therefore stand stably without the risk of tilting
over.
Inventors: |
Yeh; Thomas; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROSENBERG, KLEIN & LEE
3458 ELLICOTT CENTER DRIVE-SUITE 101
ELLICOTT CITY
MD
21043
US
|
Family ID: |
37453431 |
Appl. No.: |
11/262720 |
Filed: |
November 1, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
211/42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 65/00 20130101;
A47B 65/20 20141201; A45C 1/12 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
211/042 |
International
Class: |
A47B 65/00 20060101
A47B065/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 30, 2005 |
TW |
94217047 |
Claims
1. A book end, comprising: two upright hollow bodies, each of which
having a planar inner side and a shaped outer side; a coin
collecting space defined between said planar inner side and said
shaped outer side of each of said two upright hollow bodies; a coin
slot provided on said shaped outer side of each of said two upright
hollow bodies at a predetermined position communicating with said
coin collecting space; and a lying bottom board connected at an end
to a lower end of each of said two upright hollow bodies to extend
perpendicular to and beyond said planar inner side; whereby when
said two upright hollow bodies are positioned with said two planar
inner sides facing toward one another, and said two lying bottom
boards directing toward each other, a book-holding space is formed
between said two upright hollow bodies for holding at least one
book.
2. The book end as claimed in claim 1, wherein said shaped outer
side of each of said two upright hollow bodies presents a
three-dimensional animal design.
3. The book end as claimed in claim 1, wherein said planar inner
side of each of said two upright hollow bodies is provided at a
predetermined position with an openable cover.
4. The book end as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lying bottom
board is pivotally connected to the lower end of said planar inner
side of said upright hollow body.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a book end, and more
particularly to a book end with a saving-box adapted to collect
coins and hold books.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] With the rapid development of information industry, people
could obtain the knowledge of every branch from many other new
approaches other than published books. However, the functions and
values of the published books are hard to replace. This is because
books containing various texts and pictures are not only tools for
people to accumulate the knowledge of different fields, but also
important mental food for people's spiritual life. Books play a
very important role in helping children to develop good
personality.
[0003] However, when viewing from the angle of real life, books are
heavy and occupy a lot of space to store them. It has become a new
issue as how to ideally utilize the very limited space to manage
the educationally meaningful books.
[0004] Most of the currently available devices for storing or
holding books are in the form of book cabinets, book shelves, and
bookends. Since the bookends are more flexible in use and occupy
relatively small space, they are most widely accepted among the
consumers.
[0005] The conventional bookends have poor stability and tend to
tilt over, and are therefore not suitable for areas frequently
threatened by earthquakes.
[0006] FIG. 1 shows a pair of conventional bookends 1, which
includes two L-shaped bookends 1a, 1b, each of which has an upright
part 11a, 11b and a horizontal bottom part 12a, 12b. The bookends
1a, 1b have unstable center of gravity and tend to tilt over when
they are in use.
[0007] Moreover, the conventional bookends 1a, 1b have monotonous
appearance and fail to match with esthetic interior of a room. The
monotonous bookends 1a, 1b also fail to attract children who are
more interested in various shaped toys and novel articles, and
almost have not the possibility of drawing children's attention to
the books held between the bookends.
[0008] It is also known that most children envy other people's
progress in learning and good living conditions, while they do not
have correct concept about learning and saving. In other words,
children seldom or never know that knowledge and wealth are
accumulated little by little.
[0009] It is therefore desirable to develop bookends that are not
only structurally stable and safe for use, but also have beautiful
and attractive designs to provide multiple functions, such as
serving as saving-box and interior ornament with educational
meaning.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a
unique book holding device that is different from the conventional
bookends and has good stability for use safely.
[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
saving-box also functioning like bookends, which helps to remind
people in daily life that knowledge and wealth are accumulated
little by little.
[0012] A further object of the present invention is to provide a
book end that presents three-dimensional and lovely animal designs
to also serve as an ornament.
[0013] To achieve the above and other objects, the book end
according to the present invention includes two upright hollow
bodies, each of which has a planar inner side and a shaped outer
side to define a coin collecting space between the inner and the
outer side. The upright hollow body has a size-expanded lower
portion and has a bottom board connected to and horizontally
extended from a lower end thereof, allowing the upright hollow body
to stand stably without the risk of easily tilting over.
[0014] The upright hollow body is also provided with a coin slot
communicating with the coin collecting space, and a key-controlled
openable cover for removing saved coins from the coin collecting
space.
[0015] When the two upright hollow bodies having the horizontal
bottom boards are positioned with the planar inner sides facing
toward each other, a book-holding space is formed between the two
upright hollow bodies for holding books.
[0016] The book end of the present invention has unique structure
and attractive appearance, allowing it to also function like stable
bookends for orderly holding books on a horizontal surface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in
the art by reading the following description of a best mode of the
operation of the method, with reference to the attached drawings,
in which:
[0018] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of conventional
bookends;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a book end with a saving-box
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a planar inner side of an
upright hollow body of the saving-box of FIG. 2;
[0021] FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;
and
[0022] FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the book end of the
present invention is used to hold a plurality of books between two
upright hollow bodies of the book end.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0023] Please refer to FIG. 2 that is a perspective view of a book
end 2 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
As shown, the book end 2 includes two upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b
and two lying bottom boards 2c, 2d.
[0024] The upright hollow body 2a includes a planar inner side 21
and a shaped outer side 22 to define a coin collecting space 23
between the inner and the outer side 21, 22. A coin slot 24 is
provided on the shaped outer side 22 at a predetermined position
corresponding to and communicating with the coin collecting space
23. Similarly, the upright hollow body 2b includes a planar inner
side 21' and a shaped outer side 22' to define a coin collecting
space 23' between the inner and the outer side 21', 22'. A coin
slot 24' is provided on the shaped outer side 22' at a
predetermined position corresponding to and communicating with the
coin collecting space 23', as can be clearly seen from FIG. 4,
which is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2.
[0025] The two shaped outer sides 22, 22' may present, for example,
a three-dimensional animal design.
[0026] A coin inserted into the coin slot 24 or 24' would fall into
the coin collecting space 23 or 23' and be saved therein.
[0027] It is noted the upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b all have a
size-expanded lower portion, and can therefore more stably stand on
a horizontal surface without the risk of tilting over due to a high
center of gravity.
[0028] Please refer to FIG. 3 that is an elevational view of the
planar inner side 21 of the upright hollow body 2a. As shown, an
openable cover 25 is formed on the planar inner side 21 at the
lower portion of the upright hollow body 2a, and a key-controlled
lock 26 is provided on the cover 25 at a predetermined position.
The cover 25 may be pivotally connected at an edge to the planar
inner side 21, or slidably mounted to the planar inner side 21.
[0029] In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the cover 25 is
pivotally connected to the planar inner side 21. The lock 26 may be
a cylinder lock embedded in the cover 25, or a padlock externally
hung on the cover 25. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the
lock 26 is a padlock. A user may use a correct key to open the lock
26 and the cover 25 to collect or remove the coins from the
saving-box. Since the planar inner side 21' has the same structure
as the planar inner side 21, it is not repeatedly described.
[0030] The lying bottom boards 2c, 2d may be pivotally connected at
an end to a lower end of the upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b,
respectively, so that the two lying bottom boards 2c, 2d may be
folded to or extended from the upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b
depending on actual need. The lying bottom boards 2c, 2d may be
further provided with at least one slot each for a partition board
to insert thereinto.
[0031] Please refer to FIG. 5 that shows the book end 2 of the
present invention is used as bookends to hold a plurality of books
between the two upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b. When the book end 2
is used to hold books, the two upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b are
positioned with the two planar inner sides 21, 21' facing toward
one another, and the two lying bottom boards 2c, 2d fully extended
from the two upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b, respectively, to direct
toward each other, so that a book-holding space is formed between
the two upright hollow bodies 2a, 2b for holding a plurality of
books 3.
[0032] With the size-expanded lower portions of the two upright
hollow bodies 2a, 2b, the bookends provided by the book end 2 of
the present invention are more stable than the conventional
bookends 1 shown in FIG. 1.
[0033] While the invention has been described in connection with
what is presently considered to the most practical and preferred
embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be
limited to the disclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is
intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangement
included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *