CA1117841A

CA1117841A - Card index

Info

Publication number: CA1117841A
Application number: CA000339039A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Walter Koller
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1978-11-18
Filing date: 1979-11-02
Publication date: 1982-02-09
Also published as: FR2441497B1; GB2035216B; DK486679A; FR2441497A1; NL7908333A; SE437782B; DE2850186C3; ATA672879A; NL181567C; DK146846C; SE7909254L; GB2035216A; CH644799A5; DK146846B; DE2850186A1; AT382344B; DE2850186B1; NL181567B; BE880070A

Abstract

Abstract of the disclosure Card Index A card index comprises a housing containing a drawer which holds a stack of punched cards. All the cards have punched holes in which a row of dogs in the bottom of the drawer engage and the cards also have punched selection holes in which selection stop cams can engage. Each card has selection holes in register with all of the stop cams except one. To select a card, a button corresponding to the card is pressed and this rocks a key lever to move the corresponding stop cam downwards. The cam passes through the selection holes in all the cards until it reaches the selected card which has no hole in register with that cam. Accordingly, the selected card and the cards, if any, below are pressed downwards and are held on the dogs . The drawer is released by depression of the button and is opened by a spring.
As it opens, the drawer moves the cards which are pressed down on the dogs out of the housing with the selected card on top, but the cards above the selected card are retained in the housing by the stop cam. The arrangement has the great advantage over existing card indexes that it is not necessary to arrange the cards in any particular sequence in the stack in order for them to be correctly selected.

Description

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Walter Koller Card index mis invention relates to card indexes comprising a housing having a drawer which is biased by a spring into an open position and which holds index cards having punched selection 5. holes, selection key levers which have stop cams for engagement in the selection holes in the cards to hold some of the cards in the housing when the drawer is opened, a dog on the bottom of the drawer, all of the index cards having punched dog 10. holes in which the dog engages -to move those cards~
which do not have their selection holes engaged by the stop cams, with the drawer as the drawer is opened, and a catch which holds the drawer closed but is released to allow the drawer to open 15. upon operation of a selection key lever.
In one such card index~a dog is provided in the centre o~ the bottom of the drawer and projects into registering punched dog holes, one in each card. The single dog is not high and 20. has a relatively flatly inclined front edge. The stop cams are moved from below into the selection holes by pressing down the key levers so that the index cards which are to remain in the housing are held securely. The other index cards not held 25. by the stop cam are moved out of the housing in the drawer by the single dog. With this arrange-ment, it can easily occur that individual cards which should be mDved out in the drawer, get caught owing to the friction between the cards, or because ,, ' ~

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of deformationsO m ese cards are then not at all or only partially moved out of the housing, so that undesirable incorrect selections of the cards are obtained. Incorrec-t selections are also 5. obtained if there are any errors in the sequence or positioning of the cards. m is ~orm of card index is disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift no: 27 41 222.
e aim of the presen-t invention is to 10. provide a card index initially described in which incorrect selections of the cards are safely prevented. To achieve this, there are a row of dogs and these co-operate with the stop cams in a different way from that mentioned above.
15. According to this invention, in a card index as initially described there are a row of dogs; the stop cams are located closely in front ! of or between the dogs and are movable into the - range of movement of the dogs; the dogs have 20. inclined front edges facing in the direction in which the drawer opens to deflect the cards, which, in use, are engaged by a stop cam, upwards from the bottom of the drawer and all the index cards have selection holes which register with every 25. stop cam except one so that when this one stop cam is moved by its selection key lever, the card which does not have a selection hole in register with the one stop cam together wi~h the cards, if any, below it are held down by the stop cam on 30. t~e dogs.
When the stop cam associated with a certain selected index-card is moved downwards by ~7~

its key lever, in the region of the selection holes it comes up against the selected card since this card does not have a selection hole in register wi-th the associated stop cam. The stop cam thus 5. prevents this index card and those, if any, under it from sliding off the dogs over the inclined edges of the dogs. In other words, the stop cam ~-- securely prevents the selected index card from being able to move off the dog whereas the cards 10. lying above the selected card are stripped off the dogs without damage.
In one example, the drawer is provided with additional dogs which engage with the cards, which are nst engaged by a stop cam, after the 15. drawer has been partly opened. The additional dogs carry the card already selected and carried along by the first-mentioned dogs, completely out of the housing as the drawer is fully opened.
In another ex~npleg the dogs are supported 20. pivotally on the drawer and have parts which engage with the housing as the drawer is opened to turn .
the dogs until the initially inclined front edges of the dogs are vertical, the parts and the engagement being such ~hat the front edges become vertical 25. before the dogs have moved out of the range of influence o~ ~he stop cams.
In this second example, the same dogs, owing to ~heir pivoting, are made use of in order that when the index cards carried along by the 30. dogs have lef~ the range of influence of the stop cams th~y are further conveyed securely and completely out of the housing as the drawer is fully opened.

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The selection holes and the dog holes which are sensitive to wear are not formed in the edges of the index cards, but may be situated only near one end of the card'remote from the part of 5. the card carrying information.' It is very advantageous that the card index in accordance with -the invention tolerates greater deviations in the stiffness and _ - the flatness of the index cards, than is the case with existing card indexes. It is of particular 10. importance that the index cards no longer need to be in particular arrangement or sequence in the drawer. Thus~ the most frequent cause for incorrect card selections in card indexes is overcome.
Two examples of card indexes in accordance 15. with the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:-Figure l is a vertical longitudinalsection of one example in the closed position;
Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure l 20. after a key has been pressed but the drawer has not yet been released;
Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure i but with the drawer partially open;
E'igure 4 is a cross section of the first 25. example along the line A - A of'Figure l; -Figure 5 is a perspective view of thefirst example showing part of the housing cut away longitudinally;
Figure 6 is a perspective view of a 30. pack of eleven punched index cards;
Figure 7 is a longitu~inal section through the rear end of a second example with the drawer pushed right in;

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7f Figure 8 is a section similar to Figure 7, but after the pressing down of a key and after the drawer has opened slightly; and Figure 9 is a section similar to Figures 5. 7 and 8, but showing the drawer further open.
m e first, preferred example comprises ~: a housing 1 in which a drawer 5 is guided. The drawer is open towards the rear wall of the housing and is biased towards an open position by a tension . 10. spring 38. m e drawer 5 has in its front part a ridge 8 extending across the whole width of the :~ drawer and in its rear part, which lies lower in ~:, comparison with the raised front part, longitudinal slots g open towards the rear wall of the housing, 15. as well as dogs 10 and auxiliary dogs 11 aligned in the longitudinal direction of the drawer 5.
-~ ~ Pillars 12,are fitted to the bottom 3 of the housing in such a way that with the drawer ~ . 5 closed they engage in the longitudinal slots 9.
-, 20. m e pillars 12 are provided with bearing areas 13 ~ which lie higher than the tips o~ the dogs 10.
;~ The dogs 10 are preferably arranged one ~'~. at one edge of each of some or all of the longitudinal ,~. slots 9 and run at a short distance from and .
~:,, ' 25. parallel with the pillars 12. The front edges of the dogs 10 lie slightly behind.a stop 41 on each pillar 12 and their tips lie below the plane of ' the bearing areas 13. Auxiliary dogs 11 are moulded ., onto the bottom 6 of the drawer in a row parallel 0. with the pillars 12 -and offset forwards from the :, dogs 10. ................................ -By means of the front ridge 8 in the - , ~1784~

drawer 5 and the arrangement of the pillars 12 with the bearing areas 13 it is achieved that the index cards 7 lie in a hollow in the region between the pillars 12 and the front ridge 8. m e 5. selected index cards can thereby be bowed downwards by the pressure cams 21 and seized by the auxiliary dogs 11.
~' Above the index cards 7 with the selection punched holes 25 and dog punchings 26, the arrange-10. ment of which is explained in more detail below, there are arranged in the housing 1 a number of key levers 16 each of which consists of two two-armed levers 17, 18 coupled one behind the other elastically. m e levers 17, 18 can pivot about 15. two axes 14 and 15 respectively and the free ends of the lever 16 terminate at one end in a button 20 and a key nose 43 and at the other end in a pressure cam 21, a stop nose 22 and a guide fork 24.
e key leYers 16 consisting of the two two-armed , 20. levers 17 and 18 coupled elastically one behind the other, may be made in one piece out of suitable springy material. But it is also possible and in certain circumstances advantageous to connect pivotally two separate two-armed levers, one end ' 25. of one of which forms the button 20 and the key nose 43 and the one end of the other of which forms , the pressure cam 21, stop nose 2~ and guide fork 24.
' '' m e connections may be effected by means of an ,, adequately elastic connection piece 19, for example, 30. of metal. For the production of one piecé double levers rela~ively high quality material must b,,e -' employed i~ these levers are to stand up -to the ~7i~1 permanent loading so that where necessary, a separate connection piece of, for example, spring steel may effect a saving in cost.
A card hold-down 23 on a cover 2 of the 5. housing limits the free space for the index cards 7 and also, by means of the guide forks 24 on the key levers 16 guides the pressure cams 21.
-- m e dra~er 5 is kept closed by a bolt 32 which is guided parallel to the front edge of 10. the housing l and is acted upon by a compression spring 31 which engages resiliently in a catch 40 made in one side cheek 30 of the drawer 5. For withdrawal of the bolt 32 there is arranged in the path of motion of each key nose 43 an oblique cam 15. surface 28 the bottom end of which is made as a ~-~ footrest 29 limiting the stroke of the key.
f' In the index cards 7 there are elongated ~- selection punched holes 25 and also dog punched -~ holes 26, which are also elongated, in two parallel20. rows. The number of the selection punched holes - 25 under the pressure cams 21 is, on each index card 7, one less than the number of pressure cams 21, and in the row of selection punched holes of each index card 7 there is omitted the selection 25. hole corresponding to a code number or code letter.
The number of the dog punched holes 26 and the shape of these holes is the same in all of the index cards and corresponds with the number of auxiliary dogs 11.
30. To use the card index, the key 20 associated with ~he required index letter or symbol is pressed.
The vertical stroke of the key 20 pivots the double armed lever 17 so that the elastic connecting piece 19 moves upwards and the double armed rear lever 18 pivots correspondingly about the axis 15. The bearing of the rear lever 18 on the axis 15 is 5. made as an elongated slot to accommodate the slight longitudinal displacement which occurs. Thus the end of the key lever 16 which is guided downwards by the guide fork 27 against the card hold-down 2 drops under the key pressure and causes the 10. associated pressure cam 21 to engage and lock in the associated selection punched holes until it comes against the index card to be selected, which has no selection punched hole at this point. The cam thus forces the selected card and the cards 15. which happen to be lying underneath, over the auxiliary dogs 11. During the remainder of the stroke which the elastic deformation of the con~ection piece 19 allows, the drawer 5 is unbolted and owing to the spring ~8, the drawer starts to open.
20. The selected index card and the cards be~ow lt which are forced into engagement with the alnn~iary dogs 11 are drawn out by the dogs 11 from 1~der the index cards remaining in -the index, the rem~ining - index cards being locked in place by the pr~s~e 25. cam Zl.
The auxiliary dogs 11 preferably k~
the shape of a truncated pyramid with rounded corners. Index cards which are not held down by the actuated pressure cam 21, if they engage erroneously, for example, by sagging into ~ng~g2ment with the auxiliary dogs 11 lyi~g undernea~h, ~de off the dogs because the slope of the effecti~2 flanks of the dogs brings this about. ~he selected .

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g index card and the cards below it, are prevented by the actuated pressure cam 21 from sliding off the dogs 11 and hence are carried along positively by the auxiliary dogs 11 as the drawer opens. When 5. the selected index card, and the cards lying under it, are pressed down and move from the bearing areas 13 as the drawer opens 9 their ends bend down ~ to the lowest part of the bottom 6 of the drawer because they are placed under stress by the pressure 10. cams 21. m ey can then, when ~he auxiliary dogs 11 leave the hold-do~n region of the pressure cams 21, be engaged by the dogs 10 and move out with the drawer as the drawer opens. m e dogs 10, as is clearly shown in the drawings, are undercut so 15. that the cards are securely carried along by them and are held firmly. m e index cards 7 held by the pressure cams 21 can only move forward by the extent which is permitted by the clearance between ~' the rear edge of the selection punched hole 25 20. and the blocking edge of ~he p~essure cam 21. mis clearance is made smaller ~han the length of the bearing areas 13, so that the blocked index cards cannot slide off the pillars 12 and thus are held ; securely out of the field of engagement of the dogs 25. 1~ as the dogs pass under themO ~he distance bet~een the dogs 10 and the p~llars 12 is made so small that even sagging of ~he remaining cards between the bearing areas 13 on the individual pillars 12 cannot lead to their being engaged by 30. the dogs 10. For the sa~e p~lrpose the bearing areas 13 on the pillars 12 1; somewhat higher, than the tips of the dogs 10 beside them.

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-- 10 -- , By the construction of the card index in ac~ordance with the invention a considerable advantage is achieved as compared with known card indexes in that for the filing of the index cards 7 5. in the drawer 5 no definite arrangement or sequence ~` has to be prescribed and card may be employed for the index cards which allows greater deviations ~~ as regards stiffness and hardness than is the case with known indexes In this connection, it also 10. has to be taken into consideration that cardboard is a "living" material which, for example, in the case of change in the humidity in the air easily warps, which in the case of the known index may lead to difficulties in the selection of the cards.
~l 15. If the user removes his finger prematurely `` from the button 20 while the drawer is opening, the stop nose 22 on the pressure cam 21 catches under the rear edge of the selection punched hole 25 and prevents the blocking of t~e cards remaining ~, 20. in the housing from being released.
A predetermined elastic pre-stress of the connection piece l9 causes the neck 33 of each key and each pressure cam 21 with the guide fork 24 to rest against the housing cover.

2~. A container 36 for notes or other paper slips, which in the preferred example is moulded under a part of the ridge 8 and is closed by a pivoted flap ~5, and a channel 34 with a pencil . are accessible if all of the index cards remain in - 30 the housing when the drawer is opened. To do this, the pressure cam 21 on one of the key levers 16 engages through holes in all of the index cards ~7~4~

when the key is pressed~ A recessed handle 37 connecting the container 36 and the channel 34 enables both a note slip and also the pencil to be grasped easily.
5. Upon closing the drawer 5 after the selection of a card, the following series of operations occurs:- the index car~ 7 which ha~e remained in the housing 1 move back until their rear edges strike against the stops 41 on the pillars 12.
10. m e stop nose 22 of the key lever 16 just used is thereby released from the selection holes in the cards in the housing and then the neck 33 and the cam 21 move upwards again against the housing cover 2. The selected index card, with the cards, 15. if any, underneath it, while the drawer is still open, have their rear ends in the lower part 6 of the bottom o~ the dra~er. As the drawer is pushed in, the rear edges of the index cards 7 are raised by the oblique guide sur~aces 42 formed on the 20. pillars 12 on to the bearing areas 13 and are thus taken out of engagement with the dogs 10 and the auxiliary dogs 11. At the same time the spring 38 is stressed and the oompression spring 31 drives the bolt 32 into the catch 40 and thus locks the 25. drawer 5 shut. After this, the index is ready for the selection of a ~ew card by pressing ano~her button 20.
In the example of Figures 7 to 9, the same parts are designated by the same reference 30. numerals. This example is different from the first exa3ple essen~i~71~ ~n ~hat the dogs 10 are om~t~ed in the rear of the drawer~ Furthermore, no recess -~7~1 - is provided adjacent the rear of the drawer. I'he bottom 6 of the drawer is completely flat. Dogs lla are supported pivotally at 45. On each dog there is a swinging nose which, in the closed 5. position of the drawer (Figure 7) lies in a slot 44 in the housing. m e slot 44 is of such a length that the swinging nose 46 strikes against the end -- of the slot before the dogs ha~e moved past the stop cams Zl. In Figure 8, this position has not yet 10. quite been reached. In Figure 9 the dogs lla ha~e already been turned by the nose 46 engaging the ends of the slot 44 so that the edges on the fronts of the dogs have now moved from their previously inclined positions into vertical positions ;- 15. and after leaving the range of influence of the st~ cams the vertical edges of the dogs ensure the reliable carrying along of the selected index card and the cards below it, as the drawer is opened. After the pivoting motion of the dogs lla 20. has occurred, the key may be released.
In the example of Figures 7 to 9, the selected stop cam is moved downwards as in ~he first example until it comes into contact against the selected lndex card which has no selection punched 2~. hole in régister with the cam. If the drawer is then moved forwards this index card and those lying underneath it are prevented ~rom sli~ing up over the inclined front edge of the dog lla.
. The other index cards lying a~ove the selected 30. card (see Figure 8) are stripped o~f the dog ~la ~y the stop cam. When -this stripplng of~ ~s ~ ~2d9 the pivoting motion of the dog lla is brought abo~
so that t~e carrying along of the index cards is ensured by the ~ront edges of the dogs lla which are now upright.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-

1. A card index comprising a housing having a drawer which is biased by a spring into an open position and which holds index cards having punched selection holes, selection key levers which have stop cams for engagement in the selection holes in the cards to hold some of the cards in the housing when the drawer is opened, a dog on the bottom of the drawer, all of the index cards having punched dog holes in which the dog engages to move those cards, which do not have their selection holes engaged by the stop cams, with the drawer as the drawer is opened, and a catch which holds the drawer closed but is released to allow the drawer to open upon operation of a selection key lever, wherein there are a row of dogs; the stop cams are located closely in front of or between the dogs and are movable into the range of movement of the dogs; the dogs have inclined front edges facing in the direction in which the drawer opens to deflect the cards, which, in use, are engaged by a stop cam, upwards from the bottom of the drawer and all the index cards have selection holes which register with every stop cam except one so that when this one stop cam is moved by its selection key lever, the card which does not have a selection hole in register with the one stop cam together with the cards, if any, below it, are held down by the stop cam on the dogs.

2. A card index according to claim 1, in which the drawer is provided with additional dogs which engage with the cards, which are not engaged by a stop cam, after the drawer has been partly opened.

3. A card index according to claim 2, in which the additional dogs are at the rear end of the drawer.

4. A card index according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, in which the drawer has at the rear end of its bottom a row of longitudinal slots in which, when the drawer is closed, a row of pillars fixed to the bottom of the housing engage, the pillars having bearing areas which support the rear ends of the index cards when the drawer is closed, the additional dogs being adjacent to the pillars and in a row parallel to the row of pillars and the front edges of the additional dogs being slightly behind, when the drawer is closed, stops with which the rear edges of the cards engage and the additional dogs having their tips below the level of the bearing areas.

5. A card index according to claim 1, in which each key lever comprises two two-armed levers, pivotally coupled together, the two two-armed levers being pivotable about two axes perpendicular to the direction of movement of the drawer and the free ends of one two-armed lever carrying one of the keys and the free end of the other two-armed lever carrying one of the stop cams.

6. A card index according to claim 5, in which the two two-armed levers are connected together by a resilient flexible member.

7. A card index according to claim 1, in which the dogs are supported pivotally on the drawer and have parts which engage with the housing as the drawer is opened to turn the dogs until the initially inclined front edges of the dogs are vertical, the parts and the engagement being such that the front edges become vertical before the dogs have moved out of the range of influence of the stop cams.

8. A card index according to claim 7, in which the said parts of the dogs are noses which extend into slots in the housing when the drawer is closed, the noses engaging with the ends of the slots to turn the dogs as the drawer is opened.

9. A card index according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, in which the stop cams and the dogs are arranged symmetrically between the sides of the drawer and the index cards are provided on their undersides with ruled lines extending in the direction of movement of the drawer.