US1118165A - Card-index. - Google Patents

Description

A. C. WARREN GARD INDEX.

APPLICATION FILED Nov.1, 1913.

Patented N 0V. 24, 1914.

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ALEXANDER C. WARREN, 0F CHICAGOQILLINOIS.

CARD-INDEX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1914.

Application filed November 1, 1913. Serial No. 798,718.

T0 all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, ALEXANDER C. WAR- REN, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Indexes; and I do hereby declare the following to be aV full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to card indexes, its prime object being to provide an index in which the title or number of every card will be visible without moving thc cards adjacent thereto, and in which both faces of each card may be viewed, or may have notations made thereon, Without removing t-he card from the container portion of the index.

Other objects are to provide a simple and cheaply constructed mounting for the cards which will give consecutive cards the proper spacing for affording the desired exposure of the portion of the card bearing the title .or number, and which will permit the cards to be moved out of their overlapping relations without altering the said spacing; also to provide means for locking the said mounts of the cards in the container for the index, and for readily inserting or remov ing the cards from the said container.

I accomplish these objectsby the construction shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a fragmentary view of a portion of a drawer housing the card index of my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section through Fig. l along the line 2 2. Fig. 3 is a side view of a drawer and of the index members housed therein, with the nearer side of the drawer removed. Fig. 4 is an enlarged end view of a portion of one of the cards and of the preferred form v of support therefor. Fig. 5 is a vertical section through Fig. 4 along the line 5 5. Figs. Gand 8 show alternative designs of the supporting members for the cards. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary horizontal view showing the method of securing the retaining block. in operative position.

ln the embodiment of Fig. l, thev index of my invention consists of a drawer having a base l, a front Q and a plurality of partitions 3 extending longitudinally of the drawer and hence parallel with each other. The said partitions are equipped upon their opposed faces with channel formations formed by overhanging flanges which may be integral with the partition as shown at el, or detachably secured to the partition, as shown by the strip 5 which is secured to the partition 3 by spring fasteners 6.' Resting upon the base l of the drawer and extending transversely of the said partitions are supporting members 7 consisting of a pair of metal tubes each having overlapped portions affording a socket longitudinally of the tube for receiving one edge of a card l0, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4. The edge 8 of the overlapped portion or each metal tube is preferably normally spaced from the underlapped portion 9 of the tube by a distance less than the thickness of the card 10, so that when the card is inserted in position, the resiliency of the overlapped portions will cause the same to press against the card to retain the latter in the said longitudinal socket of the metal member. The underlapped portion of the metal tube is preferably equipped at its end with a stop formation l1 against which the end of the card l0 may abut to insure the insertion of the card into the said socket to a uniform distance, and the body of the tubes 7 is preferably substantially cylindrical with the overlapped formations so disposed as to hold the card l() substantially tangential of the said cylinder.

in the embodiment of Fig. 2, each of the metal supporting members 7 is somewhat shorter than-half the distance between the opposed faces of the overhanging ledges of the partitions, t'. e. of the-webs of the channel-shaped formations upon the said partitions, so that the said members may be slid toward each other to reduce the distance from their extreme ends to less than the distance between the said opposed edges of the said webs. By thus sliding the members secured to each card toward each other, the pair of supporting members may readily be moved past the said lateral flanges or overhanging ledges, and when the card has thus been inserted in the drawer, the members may be laterally separated so that the ends thereof will be housed in the said channel formations. When a number of cards have been placed in the drawer with the supporting members 7 contiguous to each other and with the end portions of the latter housed by the said channel formations, the cards mayreadily be tilted or rotated upon the said supporting ymembers as shown in Fig. 3 so as to permit access to either face of any card, and in doing so the interlocking of the ends in the said channel formations ,will prevent the. supporting members from becoming'displaced.

To insure an even spacing of the cards so as to maintain a uniform exposure of the end of each card projecting beyond the card underlapped thereby, I preferably provide a block forming a ledge 1Q approximately equal in height to the diameter of one of the supporting members 7 and approximately equal in width to one of the cards, inserting the said block between the front of the drawer and the most farwardly disposed one of the roller members 7. I also preferably position an adjustable partition member 13 just back of the most rearwardly disposed roller member 7, the said member 13 being preferably equipped at one or both ends with springs 1i bearing against portions of the adjacent partitions and thereby locking the said adjustable partition strip 13 against accidental displacement.

Instead of making each roller member 7 of two portions secured to the same card and slidable to and from each other, each roller member may consist of a single member 7 as shown in Fig. 5, in which case I make the upper web or ledge portion 5 of at least one of the partitions detachable to permit the insertion or withdrawal of the members supporting the respective cards. `Where a single drawer is equipped with a number of partitions so as to house a plurality oit rows ofindex cards, a single overlianging ledge or strip 5 may serve as a web or retaining member for anchoring the adjacent ends of two rows of the supporting members, as shown in Fig. 1. Moreover, one of the partitions may be made integral with the side of the drawer, as is also shown in Fig. 1.

While I have shown and described the supporting member secured to each card as consisting of a substantially cylindrical metal tube, I do not wish to be'limited to this construction, nor to other details as herein disclosed, since the same might be varied in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention. For eX ample, Fig. 6 shows a supporting roller 15 consisting of a cylinder of wood having a central perforation and a longitudinal slot leading thereto, thus permitting a card to be anchored thereto by bending an end portion oit the card into a shallow U-shaped formation and sliding the said end into the said slot and perforation lengthwise of the roller. Likewise, Fig. 3 shows a construction in which the roller or supporting member is integral with the card itself, being made by equipping the card with a widened portion at its upper end, which portion is then rolled into a cylinder. In any case, it

will be evident from the drawings that this method of mounting the cards will permit each index card to expose an edge portion substantially equal in width to the supporting members, since the abutting of the adj acent supporting members will limit the extent of overlap of the overlapping of the cards carried by the said members. It will also be evident from Fig. 3 that each card may easily be manipulated so as to expose either surface thereof and to permit the making of notations upon either side of the card without removing either the card or the holder attached thereto from the drawer or container housing the same.

I claim as my invention:-

1. In a card index system, a support for each card comprising a substantially cylindrical member equipped with means for securing an edge portion of a card thereto, the said securing means so disposed as to hold the card substantially tangentially of the said cylindrical member.

2. A card index system comprising a plu-I rality of cards, a drawer equipped with a pair of parallel partitions separated by a distance approximately equal to the length of one of the said cards, the said partitions equipped with opposed overhanging `flanges, and a plurality of supporting members resting upon the bottom of the drawer and extending transversely thereof, the respective ends of the said supporting members being.

overhung by the said flanges, each of the said cards being secured to one of the said supporting members along an edge transverse of the said partitions. at least one of the said iianges being detachable to permit the insertion or removal of the said supporting members.

3. A. card index system comprising a drawer equipped with a pair of parallel partitions longitudinal thereof, a plurality of cards substantially equal in length to the spacing between the said partitions; a block adjacent to the :forward end of the drawer and approximately equal in width to the width of one of the cards, an adjustable partition member interposed between the said longitudinal partitions and extending transversely of the latter; and a plurality of contiguously disposedd supporting members resting upon the bottom oi the drawer transversely thereof and interposed between the said block and the said transverse'member, each of the said supporting members being substantially equal in length to the said spacing between the said partitions and each thereof secured to an edge portion of one of the said cards.

4. A card index system comprising a drawer equipped with a pair of parallel partitions longitudinal thereof, the said partitions equipped with opposed overhanging flanges; a plurality of cards substantially equal in length to the spacing between the said partitions; a block adjacent to the or- Ward end of the drawer and approximately equal in width to the width of one of the cards, an adjustable partition member interposed between the said longitudinal partitions and extending transversely .of the latter; and a plurality of contiguously disposed supporting members resting upon the bottom of the drawer transversely thereof and interposed between the said block and the said transverse member, the ends of each of the said supporting members housed respectively by the said over-hanging flanges; and each thereof secured to an edge portion of one of the said cards.

5. In a card index system, a plurality of cards; a plurality of rollers, eaoh thereof secured substantially tangentially thereof to an edge portion of one of the said cards and having its end portions projecting beyond the card to which it is secured; and a support for the said rollers equipped With means for housing the said end portions thereof.

ln testimony whereof l have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALEXANDER C. WARREN. 'Vitnesses:

AMY A GBITZBAUGH, ALBERT SCHEIBLE.

Copies of this patent may he obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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