US3647101A

US3647101A - Filing device

Info

Publication number: US3647101A
Application number: US59078A
Authority: US
Inventors: Earl John Hensch; Leroy Francis Ogilvie
Original assignee: General Fireproofing Co
Current assignee: General Fireproofing Co; GF FURNITURE SYSTEMS Inc
Priority date: 1970-07-29
Filing date: 1970-07-29
Publication date: 1972-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 1989-03-07

Abstract

A support member for hanging files is removably attached to the top portion of a drawer and includes a unitary device provided with transverse elements insertable within a channel at the top of the drawer sidewalls and one or more saddles adapted to rest upon the top of the sidewall channel. Means are provided at the forward end of the member engageable with the rear of the drawer head to insure lateral stability while snap fitting means are included adjacent the rear of the member to preclude accidental vertical displacement thereof.

Description

its Sttes tart Hensch et al.

....3l2/l84 Peebles..................................312/184 2,92'5'108'6 2/1960 Stark I 3,396,731 8/1968 1 Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance :AttomeyEmory L. Groff and Emory L. Groff, Jr.

[73] Assignee: General Fireproofing Company,

ABSTRACT A support member for hanging files is removably attached to f the top portion of a drawer and includes a unitary device pro- .-vided with transverse elements insertable within a channel at [22] Filed: July 29, 1970 [21] Appl. No.:

the top of the drawer sidewalls and one or more saddles adapted to rest upon the top of the sidewall channel. Means are provided at the forward end of the member engageable with the rear of the drawer head to insure lateral stability MOW w l 1: 3 3 RE 4 ,1 wma. H .14 6n. 7 MR 0 2 52 U.S.Cl. 511 im. :i............... [5s Fieldoisearch...

while snap fitting means are included adjacent the rear of the member to preclude accidental vertical displacement thereof.

m F m D 5 G 0 1 S T m Mm wEm T M E rTm S C C R m W a 5 2 7 5 l 5 6 7 r i l2 PATENTEDMAR 1 1912 3.647, 101

i* F/GZ. 57 2 7 265 z W D r i Hi v h 0 EARL J. Hgil s ga LEROY F. OGI LVI E ATTORNEY FILING DEVICE This invention relates generally to filing devices and more particularly to support means associated with drawers in order to permit the accommodation of hanging or suspended files.

Suspended files are well known in the art and include a file folder or other paper-containing member which is provided with a transverse bar or the like support at the top thereof such that the file may be vertically disposed within an open top receptacle such as a desk or file cabinet drawer in a suspended manner by resting the terminal portions of the support upon the top edges of the drawer sidewalls.

In the majority of instances, production models of cabinet or desk drawers are produced with side walls having a vertical height which is substantially less than the vertical height of the drawer head or the drawer opening within the enclosure so that, without any modification, it is impractical, if not impossible, to suspend standard letter or legal size hanging files within the drawer. By the present arrangement, a hanging file support member is provided which is adapted to be readily attached to the top of the sidewalls of existing standard drawers so that an elevated top rail is offered upon which the transverse bar of standard hanging files may be supported. A noteworthy aspect of the present device is the ease with which is may be attached and removed from a drawer construction without the use of any separate fastening members or the necessity of utilizing tools while, at the same time, a positive and rigid attachment of the device is achieved.

Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved filing device including a pair of support members adapted to be readily attached to existing file drawers without the use of any separate fasteners.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hanging file support member including saddle and flange means for engagement with the top portion of a drawer sidewall and additional integral fastening means engaging the rear of the drawer head for insuring vertical stability.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hanging file support member adapted to be snap fitted upon a compressor channel formed in the top of a drawer sidewall and which includes additional stabilizing means engaging the rear of the drawer head.

With these and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the filing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the filing device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the hanging file support member of the present invention as it appears when removed from a drawer.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIG. 1, the present invention will be seen to comprise means for adapting any suitable open top receptacle, such as the drawer D, for the reception of one or more hanging files F. The specific construction of the files F is not critical to the present invention inasmuch as such files are well known in the art and most of these files will rely upon a top file bar B for supporting the file by means of its terminal portions which are adapted to rest upon the top of the drawer sidewalls 1. In the case of the usual production model of file cabinet or desk drawers, the vertical height of the sidewalls l is substantially less than the overall height of the drawer head 2, and accordingly, additional means must be incorporated in order to adapt the drawer D to the use of the standard size hanging files F. The present invention proposes the adaptation of the drawer D by means of a pair of hanging file support members generally designated 3, one of which is shown most clearly in FIG. 5 of the drawings. It will be understood that the description of one of the support members 3 will suffice to describe both the lefthand and righthand support members, inasmuch as the two members are merely of reverse construction. The drawer or other open top receptacle will usually include a bottom 4 and rear wall 5 which, together with the drawer head 2, completes the basic construction of the drawer, it being apparent to those skilled in the art that the top wall 6 of the usual drawer sidewall is at a level substantially below the top 7 of the conventional drawer head.

By the application of the present support members 3, each. of which includes a top rail 8, it will be seen that a supporting surface is thus provided at a point substantially elevated above the top wall 6 of a conventional drawer sidewall but which is slightly below the drawer head top 7 so that conventional hanging files F may be utilized with the common type of drawer D.

Each of the hanging file support members 3 includes a longitudinally extending main body 9 which comprises the majority of the vertical extent of the support member and which is joined to an upper body 10 by means of an offset section 11 which is arranged to dispose the upper body 10 in a vertical plane slightly inwardly of the vertical plane of the main body 9. The lower portion of the main body 9 terminates in a transverse foot 12 projecting away from the outside face 13 of the main body 9.

The present hanging file support member 3 utilizes the conventional construction associated with many of the presentday file drawers for its attachment to the sidewalls thereof.

The top wall 6 of the drawer side wall actually forms a part of the file drawer compressor channel 13 found on many of the existing file drawers. This channel is further defined by means of the channel sidewall 14 and a channel bottom wall 15, while the downwardly extending top flange l6 completes the structure comprising the compressor channel.

From an examination of FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be seen that the transverse foot 12 of the support member is adapted to be disposed within the compressor channel 13 with its lower surface resting upon the channel bottom wall 15. Lateral stability is imparted to the major portion of the support member by means of one or more saddles l7 projecting from the outside face 13 and each of which includes a horizontal plate 18 and a downwardly extending vertical plate 19. Preferably, the distal portion of the vertical plate 19 terminates in an outwardly bent edge 20.

From the foregoing description of the support member, it will be seen that means are provided to insure adequate support along the entire axial extent of the member, which means also assist in insuring against lateral displacement of the support member. Additional means are provided adjacent both the rear edge 22 and the front edge 21 to prevent both vertical displacement of the support member as well as to provide additional lateral stability.

As will be seen more clearly in FIG. 5, at a point adjacent the transverse foot 12 a longitudinal flange 23 extends forwardly of the front edge 21 and is disposed in an offset manner in a plane extending parallel to and beyond the outside face 13 of the main body 9. The terminal portion of the offset longitudinal flange 23 includes a transverse end flange 24, the outer edge of which terminates in approximately the same plane as the outer edge of the transverse foot 12 for reasons which will become apparent immediately hereinafter.

During installation of the support member 3, the transverse end flange 24 is initially lowered into the interior of the drawer D and into the forwardmost area of the compressor channel 13. It will follow that the vertical height of the transverse end flange 24 cannot be greater than the distance between the bottom edge 16a of the top flange 16 and the top surface of the channel bottom wall 15. The rear face 25 of the drawer head 2 includes a vertically extending head flange 26 projecting outwardly towards the rear of the drawer and which is disposed within a vertical plane substantially corresponding to the vertical plane of the inner surface of the drawer sidewalls 1. The upper body of each of the hanging tile support members 3 projects well forwardly of the front edge 21 and includes an upper tang 27 and a lower offset tab 28 which is disposed in a plane parallel to and outside of the upper body 10. The space between the two planes of the tang 27 and offset tab 28 serves to permit insertion of the drawer head flange 26 therebetween immediately following insertion of the transverse end flange 24 into the compressor channel of the drawer side wall. It will be understood that the engagement of the head flange 26 by means of the tang and offset tab will occur simultaneously with the lowering of the rear portion of the support member and immediately prior to the flnal movement of the support member at which time the saddles 17 will straddle the channel top wall 6 and sidewall 14.

Alternatively, in the case of a drawer which is not provided with the illustrated head flanges 26, it will be apparent that other mating means may be included to laterally stabilize the upper portion of the support member. For example, the offset tab may be dispensed with and a vertical slot formed through the rear face ofthe head to accommodate the tang 27.

In order to positively retain the rear portion of the support member in its installed condition, an extrusion 29 is struck outwardly from the main body 9 at a point adjacent the rear edge 22 thereof. This extrusion includes a substantially horizontal top edge 30 which is positioned such that when the support member is installed as in FIG. 4, the top edge 30 will be seen to tightly engage the bottom edge 16a of the compressor channel top flange 16. The rearmost portion of the upper body 10 preferably includes a transverse stop flange 31 which projects inwardly and obviously will preclude accidental movement of any hanging files F past this point during use of the present invention.

We claim:

1. A support member for removable attachment to a filing drawer having sidewalls and a drawer head, including, a longitudinal body extending substantially the length of said sidewall, means adjacent the bottom of said member engaging the interior of said sidewall adjacent the top thereof, saddle means projecting outwardly from said body and overlying the top of said side wall, a front edge on said body, means on said body extending forwardly of said front edge and adapted to engage anchor means on the rear of said drawer head whereby, said support member is stabilized against both lateral and vertical displacement.

2. A support member according to claim 1 wherein, said body is a unitary element.

3. A support member according to claim 1 wherein, said sidewall includes an inwardly facing channel adjacent the top thereof and said means adjacent the bottom of said member includes an outwardly facing transverse foot.

4. A support member according to claim 3 wherein, said foot extends substantially the length of said member body.

5. A support member according to claim 3 wherein, said saddle means is disposed above said foot and includes a horizontal plate having a vertical plate depending from the outer end thereof.

6. A support member according to claim 5 including, a pair of said saddle means spaced inwardly from the front and rear edges of said body.

7. A support member according to claim 3 wherein, said forwardly extending means includes a pair of laterally offset elements engaging said drawer head anchor means.

8. A support member according to claim 7 wherein, said anchor means comprises a vertical flange rearwardly projecting from said drawer head.

9. A support member according to claim 3 including, an extrusion projecting outwardly from said body and adapted to engage the interior of said channel when said foot is positioned within said channel.

10. A support member according to claim 3 Including, a

transverse flange projecting from said front edge and extending into said channel when said foot is positioned within said channel.

Claims

10. A support member according to claim 3 including, a transverse flange projecting from said front edge and extending into said channel when said foot is positioned within said channel.