Weighing apparatuses which are utilised in a domestic environment are generally designed to function on a horizontal support surface; such surface is not always in proximity to the zones of use of the apparatus and thus it is often necessary to have a support surface and a further zone to store the apparatus after its use; in every case there is the necessity to find space for the apparatus when it is in use and to find space to store it when it is not in use.

Usually in environments where weighing apparatuses are used, particularly in domestic environments, there are other apparatuses with different functions, for example an instrument for measuring time, an instrument for measuring temperature, a sound reproducer, or the like. Each specific apparatus, that performs its own function, whether a single function or multiple combined functions, requires a support surface and a suitable working surface; in no case it is not known an apparatus which combines the functions of weight measurement with other functions for measuring different values such as time, temperature, etc.

As a consequence of the above, it would be really advantageous to unify many functions such as those described above into a single multi-function apparatus, but it would be even more advantageous to have an apparatus that can perform such functions not on a predetermined support surface but on any point of a vertical wall or however applied on a vertical plane.

In this case, the manufacture will be more economical and this would be consequently a cost advantage for the user, but above all, concerning the use, and particularly domestic use, great advantages would derive from a multi- function apparatus operating in a single work space not on a horizontal plane surface, which can not always be found easily in a domestic environment, but on a vertical plane which is more easily accessible and usable.

Also from an ergonomic point of view, great advantage would derive from the fact that the apparatus can be placed exactly at a height comfortable and useful for the user, apart from the various heights of the support surfaces.

Another advantage would derive from integrating or combining into the apparatus several multiple functions, useful in domestic environments, such as those obtained by small mechanical devices or by electronics.

Last, but by no means less important, advantage would be obtained from an apparatus that combines more functions, constituted by devices which are usually known as single devices, but adapted to fit its configuration, with the consequent easy industrial manufacture, as it would be an assembly work, without using a particularly specialised labour.

The principal aim of the present invention is to obtain a multi-function apparatus unified in a single case, applicable to a vertical plane and useable from the same position.

A further aim of the present invention is to obtain that, as said apparatus performs its main function as weighing instrument, it can either simultaneously or in sequence perform the functions of time measurement, of temperature measurement, of sound reproduction, or of any other useful function in a domestic environment and which can be achieved by means of a compact device and/or a miniaturized device, also by using electronics.

A further aim of the present invention is to carry out the apparatus through a hollow body in which it is easy to integrate the functions of weighing instrument with the other functions having different purposes; in such a way a double modality of use would be achieved, with less or more engaged space on the vertical wall in accordance with the requested function.

The last, but by no means less important, aim of the present invention is to obtain a multi-function apparatus that combines and adds the functions, but that does not combine and add the costs of the corresponding single apparatuses as the functions involved, with consequent advantages about the costs as well as about packaging, transporting, stocking and marketing.

These and other aims and advantages will more clearly arise in a

preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention in which a multi- function wall apparatus for weighing foods or the like includes a weighing device combined with at least a time-date measuring device, and/or a temperature measuring device, and/or a timer, and/or with a radio, even a digital radio, and/or with a sound reproducer, and/or with a vocal recorder, said devices are united in a single case provided with means to allow the fruition and the use of all the devices when the apparatus is applied to a vertical wall, said combination and said means having the aim to allow isolated or simultaneous use of each device either when the weighing device has the weighing pan ready for use placed in an orthogonal position to the wall or when the same pan is at rest against the wall or in a middle position between said orthogonal and said parallel positions according to the wall.

All the above will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a first axonometric view of the multi-function apparatus according to the present invention, with a section plane and in a parallel position with respect to a virtual vertical plane to which it is suspended; - Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the section plane of Figure 1 ; - Figure 3 is a second axonometric view of the multi-function apparatus in an intermediate position with respect to a vertical plane; - Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the portion of the section plane of Figure 3; - Figure 5 is a third axonometric view of the multi-function apparatus in an orthogonal position with respect to a vertical plane; - Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of the portion of the section plane of figure 5; - Figure 7 is an exploded view of the multi-function apparatus of this invention.

With reference to the figures, a multi-function wall apparatus for weighing foods or the like 1 comprises a weighing device 2, an instrument of time and date measurement 4, an instrument of temperature measurement 5, a

timer 6, a digital radio 7 and a vocal recorder 8 all housed in a single case 3.

The case 3, which houses all the above indicated devices and instruments, is constrained to a bearing bracket 15, fit to be applied in any zone of the vertical surface 10, like a wall or the frontal portion of a piece of furniture; said case 3 constrained to the bracket 15 can achieve different positions-following the direction 31-according to a clockwise direction from 0° to 90° degrees rotating from its own base according to the transverse axis 20.

Such rotation is shown respectively in figs. 1 and 2 as position"A"at 0° of the apparatus placed against the wall, in figs. 3 and 4 as intermediate position "B"at 45°, in figs. 5 and 6 as orthogonal position"C"at 90° to the vertical plane of the wall.

Said positions, herein represented as a purely way of example, allow the fruition of a plurality of functions : in the first position"A"a display 12, parallel to the user's visual plane, expresses the values of time measurement, of the date, of the temperature, etc... and of all the other functions provided in the apparatus and achievable in a visual modality; said display, due to the rotation on the transverse axis 30 is maintained parallel to the user's visual plane, as represented in figures 3 and 5.

When the body of the apparatus reaches the maximum rotation"C", that is at 90° in respect of the vertical plane, a horizontal plane surface 48 is obtained, fit for receiving upon itself the items intended to be weighed.

To achieve such functions, it is described, in the preferred but not exclusive embodiment of this invention, an apparatus that has inside two half shells 7 and 9 constituting the two specular valves of the case 3, a rotation device constituted by pulleys 11 and 13, moved by the transmission belt 14, a display 12 recessed in a rotating cylindrical body 16, two lateral masksl7 and 19 fit for receiving through the holes 27 and 29 the function keys, all that is connected to the wall bracket 15, constituted by the vertical element 25 and by an orthogonal body 26 comprising a rotation pivot.

The upper valve 7 of the case, of quadrangular shape, is frontally and rearwards rounded, and houses frontally between the two terminal parts 32 and

34, a semi-cylindrical translucent element 18 constituting the protection of the display 12 and rearwards in a corresponding position between the two terminal parts 32a and 34a the body 26 of the wall bracket 15; said upper valve has centrally a quadrangular hollow area 21 fit for housing a corresponding weighing pan 22 which rests upon a weight measuring instrument, of any known type, of suitable shape and housed in a central position inside the two semi-valves 7 and 9 of the case.

The lower semi-valve 9 has the frontal shape and the frontal profile as the upper valve 7, while rearwards it has-like the upper valve 7-laterally the housings 23 and 23 a for the rotating pulley 11, carrying the transmission belt 14 and between said two housings, a hollow space 24 fit for receiving the lower part of the body 26 of the wall bracket 15; said valve 9 has centrally a perforated quadrangular zone 33, which is the sound emission zone when into the multi- function apparatus there is a sound reproducer which emits the sounds of the devices included in the apparatus.

The rotation movement that allows the turning from 0° position until 90° position of the equipped case, is based on the use of a pair of fixed pins 35 and 37 placed at the two opposite terminal parts of the body 26 of the bracket 15, said pins centrally house two corresponding engagement pins 36 and 38, passing inside the pulleys 11 and 1 la, said engagement pins have two projecting ridges 40 and 42 which are engaged in corresponding seats 39 and 41 centrally placed in the body of the pulley, the position of said seats achieves the ledge which allows the wanted rotation arc.

An analogous pair of fixed pins 43 is placed axially to the two terminal parts of a cylindrical body 50, housing the display 12 and its frontal translucent shell 18 ; said pins positioned in front, have a projecting ridge 45 which is counter-shaped engaged in a suitable seat 44, centrally placed inside the front pulley 1 la. The position of the projecting ridge 45 on the cylindrical body of the display 12 and of the corresponding seat 44 in the pulley 1 la, cause that, by the rotation of the transmission belt from 0° to 90°, the plane of the display remains parallel to the vertical surface on which the plate 15 is applied,

constituting the relative ledge.

It is evident that from the combination of the weighing device 2 placed inside the case with the display that externally reports towards the user the visual feedback of numeric values necessary to the enjoyment of the other instruments inside the body of the apparatus, such visual feedback obtained also through digitalisation data treatment by using components and miniature electronic data carriers and cards, a plurality of useful functions can be obtained which are combined in a device such as a scale.

Numerous different embodiments are possible whether concerning the shape of the apparatus or the internal equipment, but the inventive principle remains unchanged which is based on a multi-function wall apparatus for weighing foods or the like constituted by a body rotating from 0° to 90° which, when rotated to 90°, allows the support of an item to be weighed and that in such position, as in all the other intermediate positions, it reports through the display useful functions obtained through electronic and digital instruments placed inside the apparatus, said instruments being readable through said display both when it is rotating or pivoting.