US595085A - Royal lee vilas - Google Patents

Description

(N0 ModeL) R. L. VILAS.

CARD FILE.

No. 595,085. Patented 1360.7,189'1 WITNESSES:

' wrom/Er lhviTnn STaTns PATENT OFFICE.

ROYAL LEE YILAS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GLOBE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CARD-FILE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 595,085, dated December 7, 1897.

Application filed February 20, 1897. Serial No. 624,434. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROYAL LEE VILAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Files, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

31 y invention relates to tiles for index-cards for use in libraries, offices, and other places where cards are used for purposes of indexing or reference; and it has for its object the improved construction of such files, whereby their case of manipulation, security, and efficiency are increased.

The novelty of my invention will be hereinafter set forth, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a card-file embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same on the dotted line 00 cc of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the dotted line y y of Fig. 1, looking to the right and with parts removed to show the locking mechanism. Fig. 4c is a broken detail in perspective of a part of one of the filing-rods and its locking-bar.

The same letters of reference are used to indicate identical parts in all the figures.

In its preferred form of construction the file is a drawer, of which a series are usually employed and contained in a suitable case or cabinet. The drawer may have an interior width just sufficient for a single row of cards which standi on edge transversely of the drawer, or, as seen in the accompanying drawings, it may be wide enough to have two or more card-compartments side by side and extending from the front to the rear of the drawer.

In the drawings, A represents the bottom of the drawer; B, its side walls; O, its front wall, and D its rear wall, with a dividing-partition E to form two cardcompartments. Through the middle of each compartment, near its bottom and parallel therewith, is a filing-rod F, whose rear end, when the same is properly inserted in place, extends through a perforation a, Fig. 2, in the rear wall D, and its forward enlarged end extends through a perforation l) in the front wall O and is provided with a thumb-piece or operating-button c for the ready introduction and removal of the filing-rod.

In files of this character it is highly important and essential that only the custodians of the cabinet shall be able to withdraw any filing-rod to remove or replace any of the cards strung thereon and held thereby, and to that end I place in the front wall any suitable lock G, controlled by a removable key cl, whose vertically-movable bolt 6 has secured to it a transverse lockingbar f, provided with notches 9, (see Fig. 4B,) which when the bolt is lowered enter annular grooves h in the filing-rods and hold them securely locked from longitudinal withdrawal. I prefer to pivot the locking-bar f, as at 2', to the bolt 6, so that any filing-rod after removal can be inserted and pushed to place and become automatically locked in place by the tilting of the bar f without disengaging any other filing-rod of the same series, and to that end Ibevel or incline the enlarged part of the filing-rod just in rear of the groove h, as clearly shown at j, Fig. 4, so that this beveled portion will pass under the notch g and raise up the bar f until it comes over the groove h, whereupon the barf will fall by gravity with its notch entering the groove h to lock the rod in place, or, as I prefer it, the bolt 6 is a spring-projected bolt and the spring insures the engagement of the bar f with the filing-rod, as will be readily understood, and to insure the unlocking of all the rods of a drawer when its key is inserted and its bolt '6 raised thereby I provide pins or lugs Z, Fig. 3, over the bar f, which, should the bar tip at one end, would arrest it, and the further upward movement of the bolt 6 would cause its opposite end to be raised to release the rod on the side, as will be readily understood.

To insure the partial automatic projection of each rod the moment it is unlocked by raising the bar f, I provide a spring on on the rear wall D of the drawer, against which the ends of the filing-rods hear when properly inserted to place and which is thereby put under tension, as seen in Fig. 1, where a single flat spring receives the ends of both filingrods. Any suitable shields, as Gr, Figs. 1 and 2, cover the bolt mechanism and are preferably inclined, as shown, for convenience in inspecting the cards. The filing-rods are provided With sliding card-followers H,which may be of the usual or any suitable construction.

Where drawers with but a single card-compartment are employed, the bar f may be dispensed with and the lower end of the bolt 6 may be provided With a notch corresponding to the notch g to engage and lock the filingrod. In Wider drawers having, say, four compartments I prefer to employ two locks, one for each pair of filing-rods, with lockin g mechanism substantially like that shown in Fig. 3, and in drawers with three compartments'a single lock may be used by extending the locking-bar f, so as to engage all three of the filing-rods.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim 1. In a card-file, the combination of a filingcase provided with bearings for the filing-rod, a card-filing rod adapted to be inserted therein and provided with a lock-engaging shoulder, locking mechanism controlled by a key and adapted to engage said shoulder and lock place and adapted to partially project the rods when unlocked, substantially as described.

3. In a card-file, the combination of a filingcase provided with bearings for the card-filing rods, a plurality of card-filing rods F, having enlarged forward ends with inclines j, and grooves h, a spring locking-bolt 6, controlled by a key, a locking-bar f, with grooves g, pivoted to the bolt 6, and stops Z, therefor, substantially as described.

ROYAL LEE VILAS. Witnesses:

M. H. WINKLER, WILLIAM J. PEoK.

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