FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to books, but especially to a book having a permanent magnet included in one of the book covers so that it can easily be displayed upon a metallic surface, and more particularly to a book which can function as a useful tool for posting notes onto a refrigerator door, metallic bulletin board, and the like, and at the same time contain useful information such as household hints, sayings, quotations, poems and the like, and a method of forming the book.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Heretofore, various efforts have been made to provide various holders for posting notes onto various metallic surfaces, such as metallic bulletin boards, refrigerator doors and the like. Generally, such holders embodied various ornate designs comprised of small inanimate and simulated animated objects such as fruit, dogs, flowers, which included a small permanent magnet by which the holder is attached and held onto a metallic surface. However, such holders are very limited in function, viz. to function as a pleasing holder for securing a note to a metallic surface. Such known efforts are disclosed in U.S. Design Patents 292,598; 292,599; 304,343; 321,211; and 323,680.

Also it is to be noted that books are conventionally stored and displayed on shelves. Placement of books on shelves, while convenient, permit only the end of the book or binder to be visible. Such displayed books limit the amount of visible information, as well as making it difficult to locate a desired book. Additionally, in order to view the book, the book must be removed from the shelf.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a book construction which may be miniaturized in size wherein at least one of its covers includes a permanent magnet by which the book is rendered magnetically attracted to a magnetically attractive surface. This is attained by providing a flat sheet of material generally rectangular in shape, to which there is adhesively secured a front cover blank, a rear cover blank and intermediate therebetween a book end blank. Attached to at least one of the cover blanks is a permanent magnet. The marginal portions of the flat sheet material are reversibly folded about the adjacent edges of the front cover, rear cover and book end blanks to form an integral book cover. Disposed between the front and rear cover blanks are a series of pages bound together whereby the first and last pages of the series of bound pages are adhesively secured to the inside of the front and rear cover blanks. The arrangement is such that the miniature book is readily

detachably connected to a magnetically attractive surface by the permanent magnet included in one of the book covers. In miniature size, the magnet book described can also function as a holder for a note, bill, and the like, to a refrigerator door. It will be understood that the pages of the book may contain suitable text, e.g. household hints, first aid information, recipes, quotations, sayings, jokes and other informative and/or amusing material.

The invention is also applicable for use in displaying and/or storing small and/or regularly sized books in a pleasing display at any convenient location that is readily available to the public, e.g. on a counter space, corner rack, or adjacent a check-out counter to attract a consumer's attention and to enhance impulse buying.

Another form of the invention comprises a spiral bound book or notebook which includes a permanent magnet incorporated into at least one cover of the spiral bound book so that it is rendered magnetically attracted to a metallic surface and having the other cover suitably weighted so that when the magnetically attracted cover is adhered to a metal surface with the spiral bound end disposed lower than the open end of the book, the weighted cover will automatically open due to gravity to expose the pages disposed between the covers. The weighted cover may be weighted by any suitable type of weight or by another magnet. The individual pages of the book may also

incorporate a light magnetic strip of material capable of maintaining the respective pages in any selected predetermined position. The pages of the book may have imprinted thereon any suitable copy, e.g. recipes, household hints, first aid information, blank pages for notes, a calendar, poetry, jokes, quotations, history facts, or any other copy of interest or theme.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a book that is readily displayed in a new and novel manner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a book that can be readily displayed with increased visibility.

It is yet another object of the present invention that the book can be amusingly displayed in any convenient location.

Another object of the present invention that the book can be easily removed and replaced onto its supporting surface.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel book construction that can be detachably secured to a magnetically attractive surface.

An object of this invention is to provide a miniature book which can function as a holder for securing a note or the like onto a metallic surface and at the same time include other useful information that can be of value in a given situation.

Another object is to provide a book having a permanent magnet included in at lease one of the book covers whereby the book cover can be secured to a ferrous metallic surface whereby access may be had to the text contained on the pages of the book.

Another object is to provide for a miniature book novelty having a magnet cover by which the book is attracted to and supported upon a ferrous metallic surface such as a refrigerator door.

Another object is to provide for a book construction that will permit the books to be more visibly displayed, in which the book can be quickly located and which will attract greater attention.

Another object is to provide novel book construction whereby it can be readily available for reference without having to remove it from a shelf.

Another object is to provide a method of constructing a magnetic book which is simple, inexpensive and positive in operation.

An object of this invention is to provide a book construction which can be readily displayed or supported upon a metallic surface by magnetic attraction and when so displayed or used, the book automatically assumes an open position so that the contents of the book are rendered visible to the reader.

Another object is to provide a book having a spiral binding and rendered magnetically attractive to a supporting or ferrous surface, so that in the displayed or used position, the book automatically assumes and maintains an open position.

Another object is to provide a spiral bound book which is magnetically attracted to a metallic surface and wherein the pages of the book can be selectively retained in any desired opened position by magnetic attraction.

A feature of the present invention resides in the manner in which a permanent magnet is incorporated in at least one of the covers of the book.

Another feature of the invention resides in the manner in which the book cover is uniquely formed to include a permanent magnet whereby the book is rendered magnetically attracted to a metallic surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. IA is a plan view illustrating the initial forming of the book cover utilized in the present invention.

Fig. IB is a plan view illustrating an intermediate stage in the formation of the book cover of the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a closed book of the present invention, having portions broken away.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a back elevational view of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a top elevational view of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 6-6 in Fig. 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an open book of the present invention.

Fig. 8 illustrates a sectional view of a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a magnetic spiral bound book embodying this invention, and having parts broken away.

Fig. 10 is a sectional end view of the book construction of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary detail of the invention taken along line 11-11 on Fig. 12.

Fig. 12 illustrates the magnetic spiral book embodiment of Fig. 9 in its normally open position when applied to a magnetically attractive surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated in Figs. IA and IB the plan views relating to the formation of the miniature book 10 embodying the present invention. As shown in Fig. IA, the cover jacket C is formed by a blank 9 of thin sheet foldable material, e.g. plastic, paper, or fabric which is generally rectangular in shape. The surface S of blank 9 may be coated with a with a layer of a suitable pressure sensitive adhesive. Adhesively secured in spaced relationship onto the surface S of the jacket blank 9 is a rectangular planar permanent magnet 24 sized to define the back cover 12 of the book 10. Also secured to surface S of the blank 9 is a blank of rigid material 9A, e.g. cardboard, generally equal in size to that of the planar magnet 24 to define the front cover 14 as will be herein described. Secured to blank 9 in spaced relationship between the magnet 24 and the rigid blank of material 9A is a relatively narrow blank 9B to define the book end 18. Blank 9B is also formed of a rigid material, e.g. cardboard. In the illustrated embodiment, the thickness of the blanks 9A and 9B are substantially equal, and have a thickness substantially twice that of the permanent magnet 24. Superimposed onto the magnet 24 and substantially coincidental therewith and adhesively secured thereto is a blank of rigid cardboard or the like 9C. The combined thickness of the magnet 24 and blank 9C is substantially equal to the thickness of blank 9A.

As shown in Fig. IA, the jacket blank 9 has a length and width which is greater than the length and width of the blanks 9A, 9B and 9C to provide circumscribing marginal flaps F _α , F ₂ , F ₃ and F ₄ , which are arranged to be reversely folded and adhesively secured to the respective rigid blanks 9A, 9B and 9C as best seen in Fig. IB. The arrangement is such that an integral book cover is formed to define a rear cover 12 and front cover 14 hingedly connected by folds 20- 20 relative the book end 18, defined by blank 9B. The spacing between the magnet 24 and blanks 9A and 9C defining the covers 12 and 14 is sufficient to provide an accordion fold 20-20 to permit the hinging of the front and rear covers 14 and 12 respectively relative to the book end 18.

Secured between the rear and front covers 12 and 14 are the book pages 16. As best seen in Figs. 6 and 7, the book pages 16 comprise a plurality of pages which are suitably bounded together at one end. The bound book pages 16 are secured between the front and rear covers 14 and 12 by adhesively securing the end most page 16A and 16B to the inside surface of the adjacent rear cover 12 and front cover 14 respectively.

It will be understood that the respective pages 16 are provided with suitable text conforming to any desired theme, e.g. famous quotations, household hints, recipes, first aid instructions, jokes, poems and the like. In miniature form, the book may be formed as small as one to two inches in

size. However, it will be understood that the construction described may be embodied in much larger sized books.

In its miniature form, the book makes an ideal and novel means for use as a tool or novelty for posting notes, pictures and the like onto a refrigerator door, in addition to being useful for the text contained in the book. Also, the described construction provides a novel means whereby the book 10 may be displayed at a point of sale by attachment to a metal surface as a result of the magnetic attraction provided by the permanent magnet contained in the rear cover 12 of the book 10. Thus, the permanent magnet included in the cover of the book 10 enables the book to be marketed in a unique manner, obviating the need of book racks or shelves. In miniature form, the book construction described provides an interesting and pleasing novelty as well as an informative and amusing article of commerce.

As an alternate construction, see Fig. 8. A permanent magnet 24, 24A may be included in both the front cover 14 and the rear cover 12 of the book 30. In the alternate form of the invention, the poles of the respective magnets 24, 24A in the respective covers 12, 14 of book 30 may be positioned so that the magnets will either attract or repel one another. Thus, in the alternate form of the invention, if the respective permanent magnets 24, 24A included in the respective front and rear covers are disposed to repel one another, the book 30 is maintained in a normally opened

position. If the opposed magnets 24, 24A included in the opposed covers of the book 30 are disposed to attract one another, the book 30 is normally maintained in a closed position.

A further alternate modification is to locate the magnet 25 in the book end portion 18, which is illustrated in Fig. 8.

The use of the magnetic material in both the back cover 12 and the front cover 14 permit book 30 to be attached onto a metal magnetic surface so that either the front or back of the book is displayed. For example, when the magnetic material is placed only in the back cover 12, as in Fig. 1, the front cover of the book is always displayed when the back cover 12 is attached to a metal surface. If the book end 18 contains a magnet, the book can be attached to a magnetic surface in a position to allow one to leaf through the pages. Also, when a magnetic material is contained in the book end 18, the magnetic field triggered by the magnetic material in the other portions of the book may be enhanced, thereby increasing the holding power of the book on a metal surface.

An additional feature of placing a magnetic material in both the front cover 14 and the back cover 12 is that by selectively positioning the different poles of the magnet, the book 10 can be configured so as the front and back covers attract each other, keeping the book closed, or repel

each other, forcing the book to remain open. For example, when the magnetic material in the back cover 12 is positioned such that a north pole is at the top of the book and a south pole is at the bottom of the book, and the magnetic material in the front cover 14 is positioned so that the north pole is at the bottom of the book and the south pole is at the top of the book, the opposing poles in the covers will be opposite each other and thereby attract, holding the book closed. Conversely, if the magnetic material in the back cover is positioned so that the north pole is at the top of the book and the south pole is at the bottom of the book and the magnetic material in the front cover 14 is positioned similarly such that the north pole is at the top of the book and the south pole is at the bottom of the book, like poles will be opposing each other in the front cover 14 and the back cover 12, resulting in the magnetic material in the two covers repelling each other, thereby forcing the book to remain open. It will also be noted in Fig. 8 that superimposed on the respective magnets is a sheet of rigid non-metallic material, e.g. cardboard 31, similar to that described with respect to Fig. 1.

It should readily be appreciated that the book of the present invention can easily be displayed on any metal surface such as a refrigerator door. Additionally, the book can be more easily displayed at point of sale locations, e.g. at the counters near check-outs. Also, the book can be

readily placed and/or removed quickly and easily, making a handy reference.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a relatively simple method is provided for forming a book construction which includes as a portion thereof a permanent magnet whereby the book may be detachably connected to a suitable magnetic attractive surface.

Figs. 9 to 12 illustrate a spiral bound book or notebook 110 embodiment of the invention disclosed therein. As shown, the book or notebook includes opposed covers 111 and 112 and a plurality of pages 113 disposed therebetween. The book covers 111 and 112 and the pages 113 therebetween are spirally bound in any well known manner by a suitable coiled wire 14 which may be formed of metal or plastic.

In the embodiment of Figs. 9 to 12, at least one cover, e.g., cover 111, has incorporated thereon a permanent magnet 115. The magnet 115 may be imbedded within the cover 111, or may be adhesively or otherwise secured to the inside surface of cover 111. Alternatively, the magnet material may be physically incorporated as magnet particles into material of the cover 111. The arrangement is such so as to make the cover 111 magnetically attractable to a suitable metallic surface "S", e.g., a refrigerator door, a magnetically attractable bulletin board, display rack and the like.

The other cover 112 has incorporated therein a suitable weight 116. The weight 116 may be comprised of any suitable material having sufficient weight so as to enable cover 112 to be influenced by gravity, as will be hereinafter described. The weight imparted to cover 112 may also comprise a permanent magnet similar to that attached to cover 111.

The arrangement is such that when the book or notebook 110 is utilized in its intended position and the cover 111 is rendered magnetically attracted to a metallic surface S, e.g., a refrigerator door, in the position illustrated in Fig. 12, the other cover 112, being weighted by weight 116 or by a magnet similar to that in cover 111, due to gravity, will automatically assume an open book position as shown in Fig. 12.

To prevent the individual pages 113 from being randomly influenced by gravity when the book or notebook is attracted to a magnetically attractive surface S, as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, each page 113 has incorporated therein a small permanent magnet 113A. Alternatively, the pages 113 of the book 110 may have incorporated therein magnetic particles that will render the pages magnetically attracted to one another. With each of the respective pages rendered magnetically attractive to its adjacent page, the reader can open the book to any predetermined page setting, and that setting can be maintained in its selected open position, as

seen in Fig. 12, automatically due to the magnetic attraction between the adjacent pages 113.

As shown, the page magnet means 113A are disposed along a respective complementary marginal portion of the respective page so as to overlap one another as best seen in Fig. 11. Thus, to change the page setting, the reader can flip the magnet pages 113 to a desired predetermined open position, and that position will be maintained until a new open position is selected or a page turned. It will be understood that the respective pages 113 may be provided with any suitable text or subject matter of interest, e.g., recipes, poetry, household hints, first aid subjects, a calendar, or any other information or text of a particular given interest. Alternatively, the pages 113 may be blank for notes or shopping lists.

Where the cover 112 is weighted by a non-magnetic weight and cover 111 magnetically attracted to surface "S" with the spirally bounded side of the book disposed horizontally as shown in Fig. 12, the weighted cover 112 is automatically flipped to the open book position. If the opposed covers 111 and 112 are each weighted by a permanent magnet, the book covers can be maintained in the open position in either a vertical open position (not shown) or in the horizontal open position as shown in Fig. 12 by magnetic attraction.

It will be understood that the text 118 imprinted on the respective pages 113 will be placed thereon in the manner in which the book is intended to be used in the open position, so that the text can be readily read by the reader.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the magnetic spiral bound book or notebook 110 can be readily applied, e.g., to the front of a refrigerator, and maintained automatically to any predetermined page setting at the selection of the user. The construction comprises a novel kitchen aid and depending upon the text contained therein, constitutes a source of information in a manner not previously contemplated, and which is rendered readily accessible at all times.

While the present invention has been described with respect to various embodiments, modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.