1. The Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to an improved stabilizer for so-called modular telephones, and in conjunction therewith, the utilization of the stabilizing means, by extension of its width and length, for home decoration or as a handy facility for the location nearby to the telephone of supplies for taking notes and displaying reminders, activities closely related to telephonic activities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is best demonstrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,166 to Barone which teaches only a note keeping device for attachment to a wall mounted telephone. That invention deals exclusively with so-called hard wired, permanent wall mounted telephone installations which were universally popular until the recent development of the so-called modular installations. Barone teaches a device of a type superficially similar to the present invention but which is limited to mounting only in a permanent wall installation by disassembling the telephone from the back-plate and re-assembly after the device is bolted on. Barone's device itself has no effect upon, nor does it address, a modular telephone installation which is, by its nature, unstable wherein the installed telephone base may move relative to the wall. Additionally Barone's teaching depends for its success in large measure on magnetic properties of the material used to fabricate the note board. The present invention addresses recently exposed problems created by flush mounted modular wall telephone installations which, after the telephone is installed, leave the modular telephone base raised away from the wall on a pair of pins or lugs which are part of the wall jack unsupported. This allows the telephone, because of overhang and loose fit, to rock about the pins unstably, to the inconvenience of the user and to the eventual damage of the equipment.
Current wall jack design represents a substantial, unanticipated change from the type encountered by Barone leaving the problems above-listed. Attempts to cure these problems have been confined, however, to simply constructed spacers made of a hard, noncompressible, non-yieldable plastic material such as Urethane. Attention is directed to Spacer Number CAC 228, a product of Communication Apparatus Company, a division of Superior Cable Corporation; instruction sheet number 0-304-001, issued August, 1978. Such constructions do not overcome small variations in wall surface adjacent to the wall jack and the region between the jack and wall, nor are these of such flexible design as to permit one spacer type to function for a variety of telephone styles or designs. The result is that the spacer installed does not properly function and the instability remains.
The present invention not only provides the conveniences of Barone but the additional added flexibility for use in note keeping or decor and eliminates in a new and novel way the instability associated with modular installations. Further, the combination of a compressible, yieldable, roomside surface and a rigid, wallside surface in the present invention provides an infinite array of optional mounting possibilities for the location of note keeping materials not available in Barone or for use in decoration.