Note Pad Holder With Night Light

Abstract

A holder for a memo pad is provided with a night light which is operable by removing from a receptacle in the holder a pen or pencil for writing on the pad.

Description

This invention relates to note pad holders and, more particularly, to such a holder provided with a night light.

When a note pad holder is used at a bed-side table for making notes during the night, as by a doctor receiving a night call, it is generally necessary to turn on a room light before the pad can be seen for making notes. Not only is it frequently awkward to find or reach the room light switch but the intensity of the sudden light has a temporary blinding effect.

I have now devised a note pad holder which is provided with a night light automatically activated by withdrawing a writing implement, such as a pen or pencil, out of its receptacle in the pad holder. The illuminated note pad holder of the invention comprises a holder for supporting a note pad in substantially fixed position, a support for an electric light source mounted on said holder positioned adjacent and above one peripheral portion of the holder, a wiring circuit connected to the light for supplying a source of electricity thereto, a pressure-sensitive normally-closed switch interposed in said wiring circuit and adapted to be opened in response to pressure applied thereto, and a receptacle associated with said holder for supporting a writing implement, the switch being positioned with respect to and in communication with said receptacle so as to be activated into circuit-opening condition by the pressure of a writing implement positioned in said receptacle. In a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the receptacle for the writing instrument is an opening having its axis tilted from the vertical, and the pressure-sensitive portion of the switch communicates with the upper portion of the base section of the receptacle.

These and other novel features of the illuminated note pad holder of the present invention will be readily understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the illuminated note pad holder of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2--2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, partly broken away and in section, of the light-containing end of the pad holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation of the light-containing end of the holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic circuit diagram of an embodiment of the invention showing its operation by a writing instrument; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the head of the pad holder showing another modification of the writing instrument receptacle.

The apparatus of the invention comprises a note pad holder 10 of any conventional type or shape except that it is advantageously provided with a head or top body portion 11 adapted to contain the illuminating circuit and its components. A note pad 12 is appropriately mounted in or on the holder 10.

Pursuant to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the head body portion 11 of the note pad holder is provided with a raised front face wall 13 in which there is mounted a socket 14 for a light bulb 15. The body portion 11 of the pad holder is also provided with a writing instrument receptacle 16 extending through the top surface 17, or side surface 17a, of the body portion 11 and downwardly into the interior of the head body portion. The size of the receptacle 16 is advantageously slightly larger than that of that of the writing instrument, such as a pen 18, expected to be used with the pad holder, so that it will, by virtue of its own weight, drop fully into the receptacle 16 when placed therein.

Also positioned in the head body portion 11 is a conventional microswitch 20 of the type having pressure-sensitive tongue 21 which actuates the switch. The mircroswitch is so mounted in the head portion 11 that its tongue 21 extends into the writing instrument receptacle 16 and into the path of the writing instrument 18 when the latter is inserted into the receptacle. Although the receptacle axis can be vertical, I have found that, by tilting the axis of the receptacle 16 away from the vertical any by positioning the microswitch so that its tongue 21 is between the axis of the receptacle and a vertical line struck up from the base of the receptacle, the weight of the writing instrument 18, even though much smaller in diameter than that of the receptacle, tends to cause the lower end of the instrument to pivot upwardly against the microswitch tongue 21. Thus, the size of the writing instrument is not critical, and any instrument which will fit into or on the receptacle 16 will actuate the microswitch 20.

The light bulb can be powered by batteries 22 positioned in the head body portion 11, as sown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, or it can be powered from an extraneous source such as a conventional lamp cord attachment. In the case of a self-contained unit in which batteries are used, the batteries are advantageously mounted in a suitable receptacle 23 formed in the back of the head body portion 11 and covered by a sliding panel 24, or the like.

As can be seen by reference to the representative circuit diagram of FIG. 5, when the writing instrument 18 is in position in its receptacle, its lower end presses against the switch tongue and holds the switch in its open-circuit position so that the light bulb 15 remains unlit. But when the writing instrument is withdrawn from its receptacle preparatory to using it on the note pad, the spring loaded switch tongue 21 moves to the closed-circuit position and the light is energized by the power source 22.

An additional modification of a writing instrument-receptacle is shown in FIG. 6 wherein an appropriately shaped trough 25 is formed in the pad head with the microswitch 20 positioned in the bottom of the trough and with its actuating tongue 21 extending upwardly. When the writing instrument is placed in the trough 25, its weight presses the tongue downwardly to open the circuit and turn off the light 15.

It will be readily appreciated, accordingly, that the illuminated note pad holder of the invention guards against inadvertent removal of the writing instrument from the neighborhood of the pad because the light 13 will remain lit while the writing instrument is out of its receptacle. On the other hand, it will be seen that the pad is not illuminated when the writing instrument is in its proper place ready for use, and for concomitant illumination of the note pad, whenever the writing instrument is lifted from its receptacle.

Claims

I claim:

1. An illuminated note pad holder which comprises

a. a holder for supporting a note pad in substantially fixed position;

b. a support for an electric light source mounted on said holder positioned adjacent and above one peripheral portion of the holder;

c. a wiring circuit connected to the light for supplying a source of electricity thereto;

d. a pressure-sensitive normally closed switch interposed in said wiring circuit and adapted to be opened in response to pressure applied to actuating means operatively connected thereto; and

e. a receptacle associated with said holder for supporting one end of a writing implement and having its axis tilted away from the vertical;

f. the actuating means of said switch being positioned between the axis of the receptacle and a vertical line struck up from the base of the receptacle, and the diameter of the receptacle being larger than that of the writing instrument to cause the lower end of the instrument to pivot upwardly against said actuating means to actuate said switch into circuit-opening position.