US3634958A

US3634958A - Multiple menu selector

Info

Publication number: US3634958A
Application number: US836319A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ronald G Drowns
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1969-06-25
Filing date: 1969-06-25
Publication date: 1972-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 1989-01-18

Abstract

An apparatus for displaying menu indicia cards, containing segments of a meal, in aligned relation so that the relationship of courses and prices may be easily determined. A plurality of drums are mounted for rotation on a single shaft with each of the drums being releasably restrained in adjusted position. The drums may be moved axially on the shaft to permit the changing of menu indicia bearing cards secured to the surface of the drums. A modified form of the invention utilizes a plurality of superposed discs arranged so that an element on one disc maintains the indicia-bearing cards in their holders on the face of the superposed disc. The discs are releasably secured in adjusted position so that an aligned group of menu segments may be provided. Another modified form of the invention utilizes a plurality of sliding bars having a mechanism for securing the bars in an adjusted position with an aligned arrangement of meal segments visible.

Description

United States Patent Drowns [4 1 Jan. 18, 1972 [54] MULTIPLE MENU SELECTOR [72] Inventor: Ronald G. Drowns, Sheraton-Daytona,

Apt. 237, Box 3235, Daytona, Fla. 32018 [22] Filed: June 25, 1969 [21] Appl.No.: 836,319

Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell Assistant ExaminerL. Anten Att0rneyl(immel, Crowell & Weaver [5 7] ABSTRACT An apparatus for displaying menu indicia cards, containing segments of a meal, in aligned relation so that the relationship of courses and prices may be easily determined. A plurality of drums are mounted for rotation on a single shaft with each of the drums being releasably restrained in adjusted position. The drums may be moved axially on the shaft to permit the changing of menu indicia bearing cards secured to the surface of the drums. 'A modified form of the invention utilizes a plurality of superposed discs arranged so that an element on one disc maintains the indicia-bearing cards in their holders on the face of the superposed disc. The discs are releasably secured in adjusted position so that an aligned group of menu segments may be provided. Another modified form of the invention utilizes a plurality of sliding bars having a mechanism for securing the bars in an adjusted position with an aligned arrangement of meal segments visible.

4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENIEU Jun 8 m2 SHEET 1 OF 3 EIIIILPIIE Ill 1/1 I "VET KTOR OWNS,

ATTORNEYS PATENTEB m 1 8 mg SHEET 2 OF 3 ATTORFIIIXLfi MULTIPLE MENU SELECTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to multiple menu selectors and is intended primarily for the use of persons giving estimates for the cost of providing banquets and catering services. With this device the estimator can quickly align the meal segment indicia cards in accordance with the desires of the committee and then by adding up the individual prices on the cards, can give a final price per plate for the banquet. The individual indicia-carrying members may be arranged so that there is a separate member for each course to be served so that the committee and the estimator can easily see how the final cost is determined and what items of necessity have to be changed in order to change the cost of the meal. The invention may also be used by individual diners, in place of printed menus, to order his meal.

2. Description of the Prior Art In prior art banquet estimating the estimator was provided with long lists of complete meals and it was necessary for the estimator and the committee to pore over these lists until the meal closest to their desires, both as to the items served and as to the price, was found. Even after a meal is selected by this method, the committee quite often desires to have one or more items swapped or changed causing considerable confusion on the part of the estimator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to apparatus for holding a plurality of indicia cards with each card carrying a segment of a meal and with a plurality of cards arranged on each of a plurality of changeable members so that a wide variety of meals may be established by adjusting the members.

The members may be drums, discs, or sliding bars in accordance with three modifications of the generic invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a front elevation of the invention shown partially broken away and in section for convenience of illustration;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. I looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal cross section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. I looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is atop plan view of a modified form of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross section taken along the line 55 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detail cross section of the detent mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view shown partially broken away and in section of another modified form of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross section taken along the line 88 of FIG. 7 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse cross section taken along the line 99 of FIG. 7 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of the detent mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, the reference numeral indicates generally a multiple menu selector constructed in accordance with the inventron.

The multiple menu selector 20 includes a generally rectangular housing 21 having a bottom wall 22, a backwall 23, a front wall 24 arranged parallel to the backwall 23 and having a height substantially less than the backwall 23, and a pair of oppositely

disposed end walls

25, 26 connecting the opposite ends of the bottom wall 22, backwall 23 and front wall 24. A sloping transparent plastic wall 27 is secured to the front wall 24 by a plurality of hinges 28 and has a top wall 29 fixedly secured thereto to hinge therewith in order to completely open the top of the housing 21. A catch 30 on the top wall 29 cooperates with a detent 31 on the rear wall 23 to secure the top wall 29 in closed position. The sloping wall 27 has a plurality of spaced-apart narrow slots 32 formed therein for reasons to be assigned. The wall 27 is coated so am to be opaque leaving a plurality of rectangular visual windows W for reasons to be assigned.

A shaft 33 extends longitudinally of the housing 21 and has threaded ends 34, 35 which extend respectively through the

end walls

25, 26 and are secured thereto by nuts 36. A plurality of drums 37 are journaled on the shaft 33 and each is provided with a generally cylindrical surface 38 and a disc-shaped flange 39 having a diameter greater than the cylindrical surface 38. The flange 39 is provided with notches 40 in the peripheral edge thereof which extends through the slot 32 for engagement by the fingers of the user to rotate the drums 37 on the-shaft 33. A spring detent 41 is secured to the bottom wall 22 to underlie each of the discs 39 and is arranged to resiliently engage in the notches 40, as can be clearly seen in FIG. 2, restraining the drums 37 against rotary movement but being able to spring downwardly out of the notches 40 when the drum 37 is rotated by hand.

The cylindrical surfaces 38 of the drums 37 are provided with a plurality of transverse T-members 42 which are adapted to receive an indicia-bearing card 43 to secure its upper and lower edges holding the card 43 to the cylindrical surface 38. The cards 43 can be slid axially or laterally of the drum 37 away from the disc 39 to remove the cards 43 from the drum 37 when a change is desired, but are constrained against lengthwise movement about the drum periphery by the T- members 42.

A spacer washer 44 is positioned between each of the adjacent drums 37 to permit their rotation without undue interference with each other. A disc 45 is journaled on the shaft 33 adjacent one of the drums 37. A coil spring 46 is positioned on the shaft 33 and resiliently biases the disc 45 toward the adjacent drum 37. Other drums 37 on the shaft 33 are on the opposite side of the disc 45 and the spring 46 engages thereagainst to maintain them at their end of the shaft 33. Sufficient space is left adjacent the disc 45 between the drums 37 at the spring 46 to permit the drums 37 to be slid axially along the shaft 33 when it is desired to change the indicia cards 43 therein. The disc 39 retains the indicia cards 43 in the next adjacent drum 37 against sliding movement except when the drum 37 is moved endwise on the shaft 33 to allow space at the end of the indicia card 43 to permit its removal. The disc 45 holds the indicia cards 43 in the drum 37 adjacent the space and the disc 45 can be moved endwise on the shaft 33 to release the adjacent indicia cards 43. The drum 37 at the extreme end of the shaft 33 adjacent the end wall 25 has the indicia cards 43 held therein against endwise sliding movement by the end wall 25 and in order to change the indicia cards in the drum 37 adjacent the end wall 25, it must be slid endwise of the shaft 33 toward the disc 45 to provide sufficient space. Prior to moving any of the drums 37 endwise on the shaft 33, the

walls

27 and 29 must be swung to open position.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 through 6, a modified form of the multiple menu selector is generally indicated at 50.

The multiple menu selector 50 comprises a base disc 51 having an upstanding peripheral flange 52 formed thereon. A shaft 53 extends vertically through the base 51 and has a head 54 inset into the base 51 and secured thereto. The shaft 53 has a reduced diameter threaded upper extension 55 formed integrally thereon and adapted to receive a T-nut 56 on the upper end thereof for reasons to be assigned.

A plurality of tubular detent sockets 57 extend transversely of the shaft 53 in vertically equal spaced relation and have a reduced diameter terminal end 58 with the opposite end 59 internally threaded. A detent ball 60 is positioned in the socket 57 and is seated in the reduced end portion 58 by a spring 61 held in the socket 57 by a threaded plug 62.

A disc 63 isjournaled on the shaft 53 and has its peripheral edge terminating closely adjacent to but slightly spaced from the flange 52 on the base 51. An annular upstanding flange 65 is formed on the disc 63 spaced inwardly from the peripheral edge 64 thereof. The height of the flange 52 corresponds to the thickness of the disc 63 not including the flange 65. A disc 66 is journaled on the shaft 53 and has its peripheral edge 67 terminating adjacent to but spaced inwardly from the flange 65 on the disc 63. An upstanding annular flange 68 is formed on the disc 66 spaced inwardly from the peripheral edge 67 thereof. A disc 69 is journaled on the shaft 53 and has its peripheral edge 70 closely adjacent to but spaced inwardly from the flange 68. An annular flange 71 is formed on the disc 69 in upstanding relation thereto spaced inwardly from the peripheral edge 70 thereof. A terminal disc 72 is journaled on the shaft 53 and has its peripheral edge 73 closely adjacent to but spaced inwardly from the flange 71. An upstanding annular flange 74 is formed on the disc 72 providing a socket 75 to receive the T-nut 56 as can be seen in FIG. 5.

Each of the

discs

63, 66, 69, 72 on their upper flat surfaces between their respective peripheral edges and flanges are provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced L-shaped menu indicia card holders 76 which are adapted to receive a plurality of menu indicia cards 77. The menu indicia cards 77 are adapted to be slid radially inwardly from the outer peripheral edge of the respective disc into the L-shaped retainers 76 with the discs removed from the shaft 53. In the position illustrated in FIG. with the discs all in place on the shaft 53 and secured thereto by the T-shaped nut 56, the respective annular flange within which each disc is positioned retains the menu indicia cards in their respective retainer 76.

It should be noted that the top edges of the respective

annular flanges

65, 68, 71 and 74 may be notched to improve the finger grip when rotating the discs on the shaft 53. The

discs

63, 66, 69 and 72 are each provided with a plurality of detent sockets 78 for the respective detent balls 60 to engage so that the discs can be rotated to a desired alignment and will be then held in this position by the detents 60 until it is desired to rotate them to another desired alignment.

A stairstepped open aligning guide G is secured at its upper end to the nut 56 by a screw S and at its lower end to the edge of the base 54 by a screw 8. The aligned menu cards may be read through the guide Gv In FIG. 4 there is illustrated an arrangement of menu indicia card holders 76 such that there would be six menu cards on the disc 72, 12 on the disc 69, 18 on the disc 66, and 24 on the disc 63. However, it should be understood that any desired number of menu indicia cards 77 may be positioned on the respective discs.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 through 10, another modified form of multiple menu selector is generally indicated at 80. The multiple menu selector 80 includes a generally rectangular bottom wall 81, a longitudinally extending sidewall 82 secured thereto, and a pair of oppositely disposed end walls 83, 84 secured thereto in spaced parallel relation. A plurality of partition walls 85 extend across the bottom wall 81 perpendicular to the sidewall 82 and are arranged in spaced parallel relation and parallel to the end walls 83, 84. The end walls 83, 84 and the partition walls 85 form a plurality of compartments.

A generally rectangular transparent plastic top wall 86 is releasably secured to the end walls 83, 84 by a plurality of screws 87 and is provided with a plurality of slots 88 which are arranged centrally of the compartments formed by the end walls 83, 84 and the partition walls 85 extending from adjacent the side edge of the top wall 86 opposite the sidewall 82 to a point intermediate the side edges of the top wall 86. The slot 88 has stepped side edges 89, as can be seen in FIG. 10, to receive a threaded tubular detent socket 90 having a T-head 91 secured to the upper end thereof. A detent ball 92 is seated in a reduced end portion 93 of the socket 90 and is held therein by a spring 94 maintained in its position by a threaded e top wall 86 has an opaque coating with a plurality of visual windows 96 formed therein for reasons to be assigned.

A bar 97 is positioned in each of the compartments for endwise sliding movement therein and the threaded detent socket 90 is threaded into the bar 97 so that the detent ball 92 extends through the lower surface thereof for engagement with a detent socket 98 formed in the bottom wall 81 underlying the slot 88.

The bar 97 is adapted to be slid in the compartment by means of the T-head 91 which is hollowed out at 99 to form a finger grip.

Each of the bars 97 can be adjusted longitudinally in the compartments and retained in adjusted position by engagement of the detent ball 92 in any one of the detent sockets 98 underlying each of the bars 97.

A plurality of transverse grooves 100 are formed in the top surface of each of the bars 97 and a menu indicia card 101 is adapted to be secured in each of the slots 100 by retainer beads 102 on opposite side edges of each of the grooves 100. With the bar in the position illustrated in FIG. 8, the menu indicia cards 101 are prevented from sliding from the bar by the sidewalls of the compartments within which the bars slide. When it is desired to make changes in the menu, the detent T- head 91 and threaded socket 90 is unscrewed and removed permitting the bar 97 to be slid out of the compartment so that the indicia cards may be slid sideways out of the grooves 100 and replaced.

In the use of the multiple menu selector 80 the bars 97 are slid endwise in the compartments until the desired indicia card 101 is exposed through its respective visual window 96 in the top wall 86.

Having thus described the preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A changeable exhibitor for multiple menu indicia cards comprising:

a plurality of movable supports for a plurality of menu indicia cards adapted to align a selected indicia card on each support with selected indicia cards on adjacent supm ans so mounting the indicia cards to the supports as to constrain the indicia cards against movement lengthwise of the supports while facilitating movement of the indicia cards laterally of the supports,

a single resilient means located on one side of said plurality of supports normally biasing the supports into adjacent relation relative to one another while permitting the separation of one support laterally from the adjacent support at least the width of an indicia card whereby an in dicia card may be removed and replaced through the space provided by the separation,

detent means resiliently holding each of said supports in indicia card aligned relation, and

means adjacent each of said supports for blocking removal of said indicia cards when said supports are in their normal position of use.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said supports are rotatable drums.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the means blocking removal of the indicia cards comprises a flange on an adjacent drum.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 and:

a shaft,

said drums being rotatably mounted on said shaft; and

said resilient means comprising a spring mounted on said shaft and engaging at least one of said drums to bias said one drum for movement on said shaft in the direction of the next adjacent one of said drums.

Claims

1. A changeable exhibitor for multiple menu indicia cards comprising: a plurality of movable supports for a plurality of menu indicia cards adapted to align a selected indicia card on each support with selected indicia cards on adjacent supports, means so mounting the indicia cards to the supports as to constrain the indicia cards against movement lengthWise of the supports while facilitating movement of the indicia cards laterally of the supports, a single resilient means located on one side of said plurality of supports normally biasing the supports into adjacent relation relative to one another while permitting the separation of one support laterally from the adjacent support at least the width of an indicia card whereby an indicia card may be removed and replaced through the space provided by the separation, detent means resiliently holding each of said supports in indicia card aligned relation, and means adjacent each of said supports for blocking removal of said indicia cards when said supports are in their normal position of use.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said supports are rotatable drums.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 and: a shaft, said drums being rotatably mounted on said shaft; and said resilient means comprising a spring mounted on said shaft and engaging at least one of said drums to bias said one drum for movement on said shaft in the direction of the next adjacent one of said drums.