US550382A - Combined tablet - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) B. F. STUART & F. W. WILLSON.

COMBINED TABLET, COPY, AND BILL HOLDER.

Patented Nov. 26, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN sTUART A D FREDERICK WILLIAM WILLSON, or wAco, TEXAs.

COMBINED TABLET, COPY, AND BILLHOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,382, dated November 26, 1895. 7

Application filed September 29, 1894. Serial No. 524,498. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STUART and FREnERIoK WILLIAM WILLsoN, citizens of the United States,residing atWaco, in the county of McLennan and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Combined Tablet, Copy, and Bill Holder, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a tablet and copy holder and bill-file, and the objects in view are to provide improved means for holding file-pins in their operative and inoperative positions, to provide simple and improved means whereby a tablet or bills may be covered when not in use or when carrying the device,to protect the same from dirt, &c. and, furthermore, to provide improved means for supporting the holder in position for transcribing.

Further objects and advantages of our invention will appear hereinafter, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device with the parts arranged in position to support a tablet during the taking of notes. Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the parts folded or arranged for transportation, with the covering-plate arranged parallel with and in front of the body portion of the holder. Fig. 3 is a similar view with the parts arranged in position to support a tablet durin the transcribin of notes. Fi 4 is a vertical section to show the means for securing the upper edge of the covering-plate to the rear side of the main plate or body portion. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view to show the means for locking the file-pins. Fig. 6 is a detail view of one end of the rock-shaft which carries the file-pins.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the draW- ings.

1 designates the main plate or body portion of the holder, at the upper end of which are arranged bearings 2 and 3, in which are mounted the extremities of a rock-shaft 4, carrying the file-pins 5. The bearing 2 is closed at its outer end, and arranged between said closed end of the bearing'and the adjacent extremity of the rock-shaft is a spring 6, adapted to move the shaft longitudinally and hold the transverse notch 7 in its opposite end in engagement with a locking-pin 8, which is disposed in or adjacent to the bearing 3. In order to disengage the rock-shaft to allowthe file-pins to be raised from engagement with the stationary studs 9, said shaft must be pushed longitudinally toward said spring, thus compressing the spring. It will be seen that the file-pins may be locked in either their open or closed position. Connected to said main plate or body portion by means of a bail 10 is a covering-plate 11, adapted to be arranged in front of and parallel with the main plate, as shown in Fig. 2, to protect the tablet or bills filed thereon. This plate prevents the soiling of notes in carrying them from place to place and holds the leaves of a tablet in contact and in proper position upon the main plate. The upper end of this coveringplate is provided with slots 12 to receive filepins when said plate is arranged in the position shown in Fig. 2,'and it is provided at its upper end between said slots with a keeper 14, which is adapted to engage a tongue 15, attached to the rear side of the main plate to hold said main plate in an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 3, to support a tablet during the transcribing of notes.

The bail is preferably formed of a continuous piece of wire bent to form the sides 16,

the connecting portion 17, which is mounted in a bearing 18 in the covering-plate, and the aligned terminals 19, which are mounted in a bearing 20 in the main plate.

It will be seen that the single notch in the end of the rock-shaft engages the single stationary locking-pin 8 and thereby secures the file-pins in either their operative or inoperative position. Furthermore, the covering-plate may be folded parallel and in contact with either the front or the rear surface of the main plate, the connection between said plates by means of the bail, the transverse portions of which are mounted in bearings located upon opposite sides of the transverse centers of the plates, providing for the arrangement of said plates with their contiguous edges even or flush with each other, said plates being coextensive. The advantage derived from this construction resides in the fact that the plates may be folded'into com- IOO pact form for transportation, as in carrying a tablet, and in order to still further provide for compact folding the springtongue 15 is countersunk in the rear surface of the main plate, which is provided with a shallow recess for its reception, and the bearings for the transverse portions of the continuous bail are countersunk in the plates. This also provides for using either surface of either plate as a writing-plane.

It will be understood that in practice various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed,and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a main plate provided at its upper end with bearings, one of which is closed at its outer end, a stationary pin arranged transversely in the other bearing, a rock shaft mounted at its extremities in said bearings and provided at the end contiguous to the transverse pin with a single slot for engagement therewith, a spring located in the other bearing between the closed end thereof and the contiguous end of the rock shaft, and file pins carried by the rock shaft and adapted to be locked in either their operative or inoperative position by the engagement of the notch in the rock shaft with said transverse pin, substantially as specified.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a main plate, adjustable file pins carried by the main plate and projecting perpendicularly from the front surface thereof, a co-extensive covering plate adapted to be arranged parallel and in contact with either the front or rear surface of the main plate and provided at one end with longitudinal slots to receive said file pins when in contact wit-h the frontsurface of the main plate, and a bail permanently connecting said main and covering plates, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with amain plate provided with means for engaging a tablet, of a covering plate, a bail connecting said covering and main plates whereby the former may be arranged in front of the latter, and means whereby the upper end of the covering plate may be attached to the rear side of the main plate to support the latter inan inclined position, substantially as specified.

4:. The combination with a main plate provided with means for engaging a tablet, of a covering plate, a bail connecting said covering and main plates, a tongue attached to the rear side of the main plate, and a keeper carried by the covering plate to engage said tongue, substantially as set forth.

5. A combined tablet, copy and bill holder having a main plate provided at its upper edge with adjustable file pins which project perpendicularly from the plane thereof,and at its rear side with a spring tongue countersunk or let into a shallow recess in the surface of the plate, a co-extensive covering plate provided at its upper end with longitudinal slots to receive said file pins when the covering plate is folded parallel with and in front of the main plate, said main and covering plates being provided, respectively, near their lower and upper ends with countersunk bearings, a continuous bail having parallel transverse portions mounted in said bearings, and a keeper projecting from the upper edge of the covering plate between the planes of its surfaces and adapted, when the covering plate is arranged in rear of the main plate, to enter the recess in which is located the spring tongue and engage the same, substantially as specified.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STUART. FREDERICK WILLIAM WILLSON.

\Vitnesses for B. F. Stuart:

J. T. SLUDER, S. S. PRESNALL.

\Vitnesses for F. IV. WVillson: JAS. A. CHALLENNER, O. E. DELNO.

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