Pencil Case

This invention relates to a pencil case and more particularly to a case for colored pencils, which facilitates freely picking up individual colored pencils therefrom and discriminating them from each other by color and can benefitably be used as a saving box after a complete use of the pencils.

Hitherto, a dozen of corored pencils are packaged in a rectangular flat hexahedral case which may be made of paper or synthetic resin and provided with separate pockets or spaces for adapting individual colored pencils. Therefore, the pencils must be packaged with a single file arrangement; this has defects in that the case requires a broad area when carrying or preserving them, must be discarded after a complete waste and is inconvenient in use on a thing such as a desk.

The object of the invention is to provide a new case for colored pencils which has eleminated all drawbacks encountered in prior art pencil cases and has utility as a saving box.

The object and the advantages of the invention can be attained by providing in accordance with the invention a pencil case comprising a cylindrical main case with the circumferential grooves formed at the upper and the lower end portions of the inside of said case; a cone-shaped upper cap, said upper cap being removably adapted in said upper end circumferential groove; and a pencil lifting and lowering control cap, said control cap being provided with a threaded protrusion around the outside surface thereof, and a upright top-end open cyrindrical protrusion formed at the center of said control cap and having an inner base surface higher than that of said control cap.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view partially cut away of the pencil case in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the pencil case as shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a bottom plane view of the pencil case as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 3, a plastic cylindrical case 1 is provided which functions as a case for packaging colored pencils. The case 1 is provided with grooves 2 and 3 which are independently formed circumferentially on the inner surfaces of the upper and the lower portions of the case. The case 1 is also capped resilently with a cone-shaped cap 4 at the upper mouth thereof. The cap 4 can removably be capped to the case 1 by means of an engagement of the groove 2 and a protrusion 5 formed intermitently around the skirt of the cap 4. At the lower mouth of the case 1, a bottom cap 6 is screwed. The cap 6, which can lift and lower the position of the pencils contained in the case 1, is provided with a threaded protrusion 7 around the outer circumference thereof which is engaged with the grooves 3 when screwing. From the center of the inner surface of the cap 6, there is protruded upright a short cylindrical protrusion 8 which may be preferably divided vertically into two half portions. 8a, 8b, in such a manner that the height of the inner base surface 9 of the protrusion 8 can be positioned at the higher level than that of the inner base surface 10 of the cap 6. The cap 6 is also provided with a coin slit 11. Numerical FIGS. 12 and 13 denote a knob for turning the cap 6 and pencils contained in the cap 6, respectively. In accordance with the invention, the lower mouth of the case 1 is screwed by the bottom cap 6. Thereafter, a desired number of pencils, preferably a dozen of pencil is put into the case 1 and, then, the case 1 is covered with the upper cap 4. When picking up any colored pencil 13, one can open the upper cap 4 and, then, grasp the case 1 by one hand, turning the bottom cap 6 clockwise by means of the know 12, so that the pencils 13 contained in the case 1 can be lifted upward. By doing so, the tips of the pencils 13 are exposed out of the upper edge of the case 1. At that time, the pencils positioned upright on the open-end cylindrical protrusion 8 can, as shown in FIG. 2, be raised higher than those positioned upright on the groove 10 around the protrusion 8. Therefore, it is possible to readily pick up only any selected colored pencil from the case 1.

After having wasted all of the pencils, one can use the case 1 as a coin saving box by securing the upper cap 4 and the bottom cup 6 to the case 1 by aid of an adhesive. For the purpose, coins can be put into the case 1 through the coin slit 11 provided in the bottom cap 6.