Portable adjustable reader's desk

1,996,191

April 2, 1935. s. s. cook ‘

PORTABLE ADJUSTABLE READER’S DES.K • Filed Oct. 22, 1934

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Patented Apr. 2, 1935

1,996,191

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

1,996,191 PORTABLE ADJUSTABLE READER’S DESK Seymour S. Cook, San Diego, Calif.

Application October 22, 1934, Serial No. 749,398 10 Claims. (Cl. 45—80)

My invention relates to a reader’s desk that is portable and adjustable, and the objects of my invention are:

First, to provide a desk in which several books, 5 papers, notes and the like may be placed in view of the reader and may be adjusted to a suitable height for the greatest convenience;

Second, to provide a desk of this class with novel means for raising and lowering the main 10 portion of the desk and holding it in varied raised or lowered positions;

Third, to provide a desk of this class in which the desk is made in two telescoping sections with simple means for shifting the one section rela15 tively to the other upwardly or downwardly;

Fourth, to provide a desk of this class in which the reading portion of the desk may be increased or decreased in size and width;

Fifth, to provide a desk of this class with an ex²⁰ tended portion for holding notes or an extra book at the front portion;

Sixth, to provide a desk of this class which is very compact and may be folded closely for shipping or transportation; and ²⁵ Seventh, to provide a desk of this class which is very simple and economical of construction, easy to operate, efficient in its action, and which will not readily deteriorate or get out of order;

With these and other objects in view as will ap³® pear hereinafter, my invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafter described in detail and'particularly set forth in the appended claims, reference being had ³⁵ to the accompanying drawing and to the characters of reference thereon which form a part of this application, in which:

Figure 1 is a front side elevational view of my desk showing one of the book supporting members ⁴⁰ folded on to the main portion and the other one opened up and showing a portion broken away and in section to facilitate the illustration; Fig. 2 is an end view from the line 2—2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view from the line 3—3 of Fig. 1 shown on a reduced scale and showing some of the parts in elevation to facilitate the illustration; Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through 4—4 of Fig. 2, and Fig; 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through 5—5 of Fig. 1.

The desk consists of' a lower base member I, supporting rod 2, upper elevating member 3, main desk portion 4, ledge 5, extension flaps 6 and 7, and fold back leaf 8.

The lower base member I is a rectangular hol⁶⁵ low box-shaped member open at its upper side. It is provided in its opposite ends with zig-zag slots la which are positioned in reverse relation to each other and each is provided with horizontal slot portions lb, ic, Id, le and 1/ and with vertical slot portions Ip, th, li, I? and Ifc. At the 5 lower side of each vertical slot portion is porvided a small downwardly formed portion in, all . as shown best in Fig. 2 of the drawing. These downwardly formed portions are to provide definite positions for the rod 2 to rest in at the oppo- 1° site ends of the member I in which this rod 2 is positioned. The rod 2 is provided with knobs 2a in its opposite ends to facilitate shifting the same upon its pivotal axis which is a cotter pin 2b which extends through a hole in the rod 2 and 15 up through the bottom 3α of the upper elevating member 3, shown best in Fig. 5 of the drawing, the cotter pin being spread as shown. Thus the' rod 2 may be shifted in the horizontal slots to aline with the vertical portions and then the ²® member 3 lowered to rest in-the lower form portions in the slot la, the slots la being reversed to provide for the reverse movement of the opposite ends of the rod so that when one end of the rod 2 is moved in the slot I a the other end will ²® move in the opposite direction until they reach a position so that the member 3 may be lowered or raised as desired relative to the member I. The member 3 is shaped to conform to the mem- . ber i and telescope therein with sufficient clear- ³⁰ance to permit ready upward and downward movement of the member 3 in the member I. Thus the member 3 may be raised and lowered relative to the member I to various positions as . desired by the shifting of the rod 2 in the slots ³⁵ia at the opposite ends of the member I as hereinbefore described. This member 3 is also hollow to provide a light shiftable member and its upper end is positioned on an incline, as shown best in _nFig. 2 of the drawing, and the lower edge is provided with a ledge 5 which extends slightly above the side of the lower edge of the member 4 which, forms the main desk portion and serves for holding books or the like from slipping off the inclined member 4, ^a

Hinged at the opposite end of the member 4 are additional desk flap members 6 and 7 which are . adapted to fold up over the member 4 and rest flatly thereon to form the desk surface when in its narrower form. The member 7 is shown folded on to the member 4 in Fig. 1, while the member 6 is shown in its unfolded position.. This practically doubles the length of the book shelf when the flans 6 and 7 are both in unfolded __ ... · 00 position.

1,996,191

Hinged on the upper back edge of the member 4 is a leaf 8 which is adapted to fold back against the back side of the desk when it is desired to use the same or may be positioned in alinement with 5 the desk member 4, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, and supported by means of longitudinally shiftable supports 8α one near each end. These supports 8α are supported in brackets 8b which are secured on the lower surface of the 10 member 4, as shown best in Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawing.

Though I have shown and described a particular construction, combination and arrangement of parts and portions, I do not wish to be limited 15 to this particular construction, combination and arrangement but desire to include in the scope of my invention the construction, combination and arrangement substantially as set forth in the appended claims.