Supports – Easel; book – copy or music score holder – Including transparent viewing portion
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-27
2001-06-26
Ramirez, Ramon O. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Easel; book, copy or music score holder
Including transparent viewing portion
C248S444100, C248S445000, C248S447200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250599
ABSTRACT:
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is directed to an improved book holder which allows a person to read from any position, such as sitting up, reclining, supine, or lying down and facing sideways. This is achieved by providing a structure which holds the reading matter securely in all positions while allowing easy removal and insertion, and a suitable stand for supporting it.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention is concerned with a book holder which allows persons to read equally well from standing, sitting, reclining and supine positions, as well as lying down in left or right sideways facing positions. Two concepts which are useful in this description are the EYE LINE and the LINE OF SIGHT of a person.
The eye line is an imaginary line passing through both eyes of a person. The line of sight is an imaginary line which extends forward from a person's eye line along the direction of his or her versions.
For instance, the line of sight of someone driving a car would extend forward in a generally horizontal direction from the driver's eye line which is also horizontal. However, if that driver were to look at the speedometer, his or her eye line would remain horizontal, but the line of sight would then slope downward toward the speedometer. If the driver were to stop at an intersection, lean back and look to the left, for instance to check for oncoming traffic, his or her eye line would slant downward rather than stay horizontal, with the line of sight tilting accordingly.
THE PRIOR ART
When a person wishes to read a book held in a book holder, the lines of the text should be aligned with his or her eye line, and the plane of the text should extend generally perpendicularly to his/her line of sight. The commercially available models such as table easels, cookbook holders, cantilevered bedside tables and recliner readers were designed for users whose eye lines are horizontal, and who can move the book holder or in some cases tilt it about a horizontal axis to position it relative to their line of sight. Such book holders cannot be used by persons who read lying on their side facing sideways with their eye line slanting downward, or by many others who prefer to read while reclining in the armrest corner of a sofa, where their eye line and their line of sight slant obliquely. For these reasons Applicant believes that there is a need for a truly universal book holder which can be used in all of the situations described above, especially by those who like to change their reading posture from time to time, for instance from sitting in a recliner to lying down on a sofa, or by several members of a household who have different reading habits.
The patent literature on book holders goes back more than a century, and the field has been active, even crowded, ever since. However, the only reference to Universal Book holders in the art cited against the parent applications was one foreign patent. A US patent did issue in April 1997, but both of these patents approach the problem of reading in oblique positions in too complex a way to be useful, in Applicant's opinion. Applicant has reviewed US patent classes 248/444.1, 445, 452, and 454 for patents issued since the date of the parent application, but found no other applicable art. It is true, of course, that some structural members employed by Applicant have been used before, but the Applicant believes that no useful combination of these components been suggested in any of the references.
THE INVENTION
Recently most of the work has been concerned with the problem of page turning which inverted book holders pose. However, since all of these designs can only be used in certain reading situations as explained in the paragraph above, Applicant has analyzed the reading habits of persons who read lying down in supine and sideways facing positions and has concluded that, at least for recreational reading by persons who are not seriously handicapped, the problem lies in the fatigue of holding and flattening the book for the minutes it takes to read two facing pages, rather than in the few seconds of effort required for page turning, especially if the book holder design allows a page to be easily separated from the adjacent pages before it is turned.
Accordingly, the present invention addresses the design of book holders that can be used in all situations of reading by:
1. Providing a book holder that facilitates the insertion and removal of books of all types—hard covers as well as new or work paperbacks, magazines and newspapers.
2. Providing means to place a book holder in a great many reading positions so as to align it properly with the user's eye line and line of sight in all situations.
3. Providing means to move a book holder easily from one of the aforementioned reading positions to another.
4. Providing means to flatten any type of book, magazine, or newspaper in the book holder and to prevent it from moving within or falling out spontaneously, without depending on the type, quality, or presence of book covers.
5. Providing means to permit the reading of any lines of text that could be optically obscured by certain members of the book holder.
6. Providing a method of separating a page from adjacent pages before page turning.
SPECIFICATION
REFERENCES:
patent: 485471 (1892-11-01), Morrison
patent: 2337675 (1943-12-01), McNeil
patent: 3350150 (1967-10-01), Schwarm
patent: 4239171 (1980-12-01), Huls et al.
patent: 4496126 (1985-01-01), Melton et al.
patent: 4553728 (1985-11-01), Corsello
patent: 5161766 (1992-11-01), Arima
patent: 5259581 (1993-11-01), Goldberg
patent: 5458312 (1995-10-01), Goldberg
patent: 5489079 (1996-02-01), Goldberg
patent: 5615856 (1997-04-01), Simington
patent: 77700 (1949-02-01), None
patent: 14937 (1896-07-01), None
Le Tan
Ramirez Ramon O.
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