CA1169907A - Filing cabinet for vertically suspending documents - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT

A filing cabinet for vertically suspending documents having a plurality of laterally spaced horizontally extending document holding bar sets, each bar set comprising of two opposing stationary bars and a tele-scopically working smaller bar inbetween operated by a manual or pedal mechanism. The document holding bar sets are substantially coplanar and conjointly support documents, maps, drawings, sheets, etc. The tele-scopically working bar operates in one of the two stationary bars of the set and cooperatively engaging with the other bar it bridges the two members. For hanging documents a strip attachable to the edge of the documents and mountable to the bars of the filing cabinet through punched holes of the strip can be utilized. Filing cabinets can be constructed in different sizes and they have means of access to the interior from the top and sides. Large walkin types have flexible sliding doors at both sides of the cabinet. The filing cabinet resembling a box like closed container, provides a safe and efficient means of preserving a high number of documents orderly and clean without folding or bending. It provides instant access to the documents, it is compact, easy to use and operate. It is also economical, space saving and requires very low maintenance. Any stored document can be observed and/or removed without removing the other documents from the filing cabinet.
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Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Th7s invention relates to a filing cabinet for the vertically suspendlng documents, maps, drawings, etc.
Filing cabinets for ver-i-ically suspending documents disclosed In ttle prior art are of various types, some of which utilize curved or pivot0d-~ document holding bars or use male and female mating bar arrange-ments. Some others have horizontally extending suspension pins which are mounted to tne opposite supporting members of the cabinet. Most of the cabinets utilizing such suspension pins have practical inconvenlences and difftculties such as waste of storage space, having heavy and bulky parts to be moved, causing dam3geto documents, difficult and in some instances it Ts imposslble to remove a particular document without removing the others from the cabinet; such problems increase with the amount stored in the cabinet. It is difficult to remove a particular document from a cabinet using a maleifemale mating bar arrangemant furthermore the female member tends -i-o jam wlthin its male member.
The followlng references disclose fillng cabinets of ihe prior art for~storing documents, maps, draw7ngs, sheets, etc. ~ ~
Li;ncke, Canadian Pat. No. 285,214 dtsclosing a cabinet comprTsing a p~lurality of self-contaTned fTllng units and a palr of parallel carrying ; 20 members having mutually opposed suspenslon pins and counterpins.
McTavish,~Canadian Pat. No. 512,086 disclosing a cabinet having a;pl~ural~ity of spring-compressed vertically disposed pockets and transversally dlsposed members from which pockets are suspended.~

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Adams, U. S. Pat. No. 1,335,415 disclosing curved male/female bars.
Mobus, Canadian Pat. No. 669,273 disclosiny a cabinet which comprises a cupboard structure havlng a front panel and a rear panel with suspension means consisting of a pair of interfitting telescopic elements which constitutes a hanging rall when the front panel is closed.
Kitsche, U. S. Pat. No. 1,170,975 disclosing a pair of curved interconnectlng opposed supporting bars.
Rubissow, U. S. Pat. No. 39292,982 disclosing straight or curved telescoptc male/female supporting bars.
Lundberg, Canadian Pat. No. 957,584 disclosing a plurality of pivotal frames whlch are removable in or out of the cabinet.
Kohler, Canadian Pat. No. 929,200 discloslng a cabinet having a fall front and support ralls which are pivotably mounted at their ends znd ~ditionally suppor~ed on fixed disks.
Hornbacher, Canadlan Pat. No. 1,076~634 discloslng a cabinet comprising two telescopically engaglng frames and laterally spaced apart .
; groups of straight horizonatally extendlng cantilevered bars. In the latter system it is ;mpractical and dlfficult to move the telescopically engaging front frame which~is buiky and heavy. Furthermore, when it is fully loaded the bars tend to bend since they are relatively longer and their one ends are ~free. Consequently, the~bars may not engage with the corresponding openings of~the~strip attached to the documents when the front frame is pushed to close.
In~a`ddt~tlon, although the larger mode~s of the said system provide access to the~interior of the cabinet from the sides, the stored documents tend to block :, :
the:~passage, this depending on the number of documents ioaded on the front ~ frame.

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' Barker, Canadian Pat. No's. 832,898 through 832,902 and the Barnhart, U. S. Pat~ No. 1,416,661 filing system comprise of horizontally projected opposing bars which are attached to movable laths and vertlcal dividers, however, such arrangements greatly reduce the storage space and make it difficult to observe a particular stored document without removing it from the cabtnet. The previous designs do not represent safe, efficientJ
economical and practical means of storing large amounts of documents, whereas t-he present invention provides an integrated combination of these features.

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~": . ` :' ' :. , 3gG~7 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION-The present invention has many features for overcoming the disadvantages and the inconveniences of the previous designs. I-t represents an efficient and safe way of filing large amounts of documents, maps, draw-ings, sheets, etc. A filing cabinet of the present invention is of a compact and rigid construction, easy to operate, preserves documents orderly, neat, clean, provides easy access to any stored document, requires minimum main-tenance, has greatly reduced storage space and occupies very smali additional space. It has no heavy and bulky parts to be moved. Any particular document can be observed, removed or loaded without removing the others from the cabinet. The present invention eliminates all the practical difficulties faced in the prior systems when they are heavily loaded.
A filing cabinet according to the present invention mainly consists of a body frame standlng on swivel casters, composed of rigidly mounted bars, a means for ver-tically suspending the documants and auxiliaries.

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Means of suspending documents comprises a plurality, at least two, of laterally ; spaced horizontally extending straight bar sets, each set composed of two opposing bars rigidly mounted to the top inward faces of the cabinet and a~
rela-tively~smaller bar working telescopically inbetween and bridging the said two~c(antilèver~bars. The said smaller bar operates~telescopiçally in on of the 20~bars~and cooperativel~y engayes with the other~bar In such a way that the tip portion of the smalier bar~fits into the tip portion of the mating bar smoothiy and;~securely.~ As will~bbe descri~bed in t~he next sections in the prefe~red embodiment, sa~id bars~a~re round~;~straight rods and the telescopically operating bar is;spri~ng ~loaded.~ Byla self-locking manuai or pedal mechanism through wire 5.

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;9~1~7 ropes, the smaller bar is pulled inwards to open, it is separated from the mating bar so -that a small space between the distal ends of the said members is provided permltting access for removing or loading documents, and the compressed spring exerts a force in the opposite direction trying to push the smaller bar outwards and engage with the mating bar. When closed, documents can be easily slid from one bar to the other.
i~ocuments are conjointly suspended from the bars at one end of the document and an elongated strip with punched holes attachable along the edge of the document can be used for suspending the documents.
A ftling cabinet of the present invention, which can be con-structed in different sizes, has access to the in-i-erior from the top and sides. A large walk-in type cabinet comprises of flexible slid7ng doors at the sides in addition to its hinged top. In general, to operate the system, a manual mechanism is used in a large sTze cabine-i- which can be utilized at either sides of the cabinet according to space requirements and a pedal mechanism 7s used in smaller sizes. The body frame of the cabinet Is covered and finished by a suitable means to give a commercial appearance.
All the mentioned points and more including the advantages of the present invention will be discussed in or apparent from -the detailed description of the invention.

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' 96:17 DRAWINGS

In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a large size cabinet.
Figure 2 is a front view of the body frame of a large size cabinet.
Figure 3 is a side view of the body frame of a large size cabinet.
Figure 4 is a -i-op view of the body frame of a large size cabinet.
Figure 5 is a sectional view of the document holding bar set.
Figure 6 is a view of the smaller bar.
FTgures 7Aj 7B and 7C are sectional views of the manual mechanism for operating the smaller bar.
Figures 8A, 8B and 8C are views of the manual mechanism components.
Ftgure 9 is a stde view of Figure 8C.
Ftgure 10 ts a perspective view of the body frame of a small size cabtnet (pedal mechanism not shown).
Figure 11 is a simplified vtew of wtre rope assembly.
Figure 12 ts a front and stde vTews of the main pulley.
Figure 13 is a perspectTve vTew of the pedal mechanTsm.

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- . 1. -DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT~

In the previous and following paragraphs, including the attached drawings, assembly principles and details of the preferred embodiments of filing cabinets according to the present invention are disclosed, and it is believeithat these and further details are known or understandable by those of ordinary skills in the art.
A filing cabinet for vertically suspending documents disclosed herein can be constructed in different sizes or models, for example large, medium and small sizes, and the number of document holding means may vary but should be at least two, i.e. Iarge sizes ma~ have four document holding bar sets 9 and small sizes may have only two, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 10, respectively. It is preferred to have the same lateral distances ~etween the bar sets 9 irrespective of the s7ze of the cabinet so that any document stored in a smaller cabinet can be loaded in a larger cabinet without making any modification such as punching new orifices on the strip attached to the documents. The dimensions of the cabinets should be selected such that standard sizes and/or most commonly used sheets can be stored.
In the preferred embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1, a large size ~ cabinet 1 has a flexible sliding door 5 at its one side or at both sides and I a hinged top 2. A spring pulled arm 3 keeps the hinged top 2 open and a ~: :
spring loaded dampener 4 provides an easy and smooth shut. Dampener 4 is sl~ply comprised of two telescopically working round hollow bars, one being pi~vo+ed to the respective face of the hinged top 2 and the other to the body : : :
~ of the cabinet 1 and a compression spring in between the said two bars. Other :: ~:

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' ,~', " ' means for the purpose can of course be used instead of said arrangement composed ~f items 3 and 4 which is easily understandable by those of ordinary skills in the art, and various types of said arrangement are available in the commercial market. A swivel caster 8 is rigidly attached, for example by welding, at each bottom corner of the cabinet 1. The flex-ible sliding door 5 is the product available in the commercial market which is commercially called exterior roll shutters and is sold with ~t~i~
auxiliary parts, i.e. gulde channels. The flexible sliding door, or in other words shutters, run edgewise in between two guide channels, upper and lower channels, mounted rigidly to the corresponding faces of the cabinet, and is comprised of thin longitudional flat bars linked to each other. Making a quarter turn at the corner of the cab7net around the vertical supporting bar 18, the door 5 goes through the space between the rear outer and inner cove~s of the cabinet. It is advised to use roller means to facilitate the turn, for example by utilizing free running bearing rings mounted to the vertical supporting bar 18. It is also advised,practically, to furnish a tensing means for the flexible door for proper running since the door is composed of apart pieces attached to each other and such tensing means can be achleved by using a counter-weight which is proportional to the overall fric-tiona1 resistance of the sliding door system; door is pulled by the counter-weight through wire ropes attached to the upper and lower end corners of the door, the flexible sliding door 5 can be easily pushed sideways manually to ope:n, howeverj;said~counter-weight creates a resistive force in~the opposite sliding direction, to close the door. Thus,a handle means can be used to :: : : ~ : :

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facilitate closing the door 5, such as a handle mechanism 6, preferably work-ing in only one direction, mounted to the vertical supporting beam 17 which is a longitudinal beam of square hollow bar. ~Fhe flexible sliding door 5 is pulled to close by rotating the handle mechanism 6 through wire rope~i attached to the upper and lower front corners of the door. Said wire ropes, running along the said guide channels of the door 5, making 90 degree turn at the corners around pulleys positioned by screw 22 located in the both upper and lower portions of the vertical supporting beam 17, reakh to a double-grooved pulley 6-a keyed to the shaft of the handle mechanism 6. When the handle mechanism 6 is rotated, said wire ropes attached to the pulley 6-a are wound around the respective grooves of the pulley and consequently sliding door 5 is pulled. Since the outer diameter of the pulley 6-a located in the beam 17 slightly larger than the width of the beam and to facilitate mount-ing, a rectangularportion of the beam is cut out to obtain a wicket, on both respective faces of the beam, as seen in Fig. 2. It is advised to use the flanges having bush7ngs for the shaft of the handle mechanism 6 at both faces of the beam 17 for mounting the said mechanism.
Referring to FTgures 2, 3 and 4, staple components forming the body frame of a large size cabinet are a base frame, vertical and horizontal support-Ing members. In the preferred embodiment, members 15, 16, 17 and 21 are twoby two inches square steel tubes and member 18 is round steel tube or pipe of about one and a half inch diameter. A rectangular base frame is formed by welding pairs of the members 15 and 16. Vertical supportTng beams 17 are ; ~ rigidly mounted, for example by weldTng, to the upper rear corners of the base :
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9~7 frame. Swivel casters 8 are rigidly attached, preferably by welding, to the bottom corners of the base frame. At the top, vertical supporting members 17 and 18 are rigidly joined with horizontal supporting beams 21, means of mounting is preferably welding. Member 21 is mounted to member 18 through a L-head part 19 which is fixed to member 18. L-head part 19 has flat faces and a round lower portion, about two and one half inches long, rigidly and tightly fitting into the top portion of member 18, i.e. interference fitting.
Each adjustable supporting beam 20, which is preferably three quarters inch thick solid steel bar having a rectangular cross section, is bolted at the top portion joining each vertical supporting beam 17 with the corresponding vertical supporting beam 18. The upper front face of the beam 17 is cut out about one inch deep and a thin flat plate Is welded to provide a suitable flat surface for the beam 20 to be fastened. The other end of the beam 20 is fastened to the corresponding face of the L-head part 19. The said beam is fastened by bolts, although it could be welded, so that it can be ad-Justed to provide a means for the alignment of the bar sets 9; by cutting the holes of the beam slightly larger that the diameterof the bolts. The document holding bar sets 9 are rigidly mounted to the inward opposlng faces of the each respective beam 20.
Means ~or suspending the documents comproses a plurality of, at laast two, laterally spaced horizontally and long7tudinally extending coplanar strai9ht bar groups. The document holding bar group 9 is preferably comprised of round steel bars, the cantilever bars having one inch diameter. As shown n~Flg. 5, said arrangement has three bar components, a front bar ~ and a rear :~

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bar 25 rigidly mounted to the respective faces of the beam 20 and a smaller bar 24 telescopically operating in between the said two cantilever bars as seen in Fig. 5, and the free tip of it fits securely and smoothly into the counterbore of the bar 25 -forming a bridge between the said cantilever bars.
The clearance between the inner diameter of the bar 23 and the diameter of the bar 24 should be such that the said bars fit tightly and the bar 24 can slide smoothly, ~.e. a tolerance of about 0.005 inch may allow such a fit.
The compression spring 30 located in the bar 23 exerts an outward force on the bar 24. The bar 24 is pulled-in by a manual or pedal mechanism through a wire rope 31 to separate it from the mating bar. The wire rope 31, prefer-ably one sixteenth of inch diameter steel wire rope, is attached to the end of bar 24 at its centre by a bolt 29 which has a through hole along its longitudinal axis. The wire rope 31 passes through the said hole of the bolt and the tip of the wire rope is enlarged, for example by soldering. As seen in Fig. 6, the tapered head of the bar 24 has shoulders to prevent further progress of the bar than desired in both directions; maximum and minimum diameters of the tapered head are slightly larger than the inside diameter of the corresponding stationary bars, however they should be close enouyh to permit smooth sliding of the sheets on the bars.
The storage capacity of a cabinet, number of sheets storable, ~depends on the length of each of the cantilever bars 23 and 25 which have substantially the same length and diameter.
The number of document holdiny bar sets 9 differ, but at ieast two, accordi-g to 1he siz- of the cabinet. The bars 23 and 25 are rigidly 12.

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mounted by bolts 27 and 28, to the inward faces of the beams, respectively, using washers on the outward faces of the beams, as shown in Fig. 5. The holes on the beams 20 which the bolts 27 and 28 pass through should be slightly larger than the diameters of the bolts to permit the individual alignment of the bars 23 and 25. In large size cabinets, since relatively longer bars are utilized, it is advised to use flanges 26 to provide further strength and rigidity to the bars 23 and 25 against bending. The bolt 27 has a through hole along its long-itudinal axis to provide access for the wire rope 31. Substantiaily, the bar groups 9 are coplanar and the longitudinal axis of each bars of each group lie along a straight line. When bar 24 is pulled in through the wire rope 31, it separates from the mating bar and consequently a small space between the distal ends of the two bars is formed, however this space should be large enough to fac71itate loading and removing of the documents. The wire rope 31 passes through the bar 23 and the bolt 27, makes a 90 degree turn through a free run-ning guide pulley 14 as shown in Fig. 5, and reaches to the main pulley 12.
Guide pulleys 14, preferably plastic, are held by shaft 13 mounted to the beam 20 of a large size cabinet. Figures 10 and 11 show the same assembly principle.
Comparing Figures 10 and 12, the length of the shaft 13 varies according to the size of the cabinet. The shaft 13 can be mounted to the corresponding beam with 20 ~bearing supports 46, fastened by bolts, such a support can be of similar type as the support 47 shown in Fig. 13. The main pulley 12, preferably steel, is shown in Fig. 12; it has a hole 54 through which the wire 31 passes. Again, the ;wi~re rope is attached to the pulley by enlarging the tip of the wire rope. The puliey 12 is secured to the shaft 11 by set screws passing through the tapped holes 53. In the preferred enbodiment, the outer diameter of the pulley 12 is about three inches.

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i''3~7 When shaft 11 is rotated~ the wire rope 31 is wound around the groove of the pulley 12 and consequently the bar 24 js pulled-in and separated from the mating bar. Means for rotating the shaft is either a manual mechanism 7, preferably for large size cabinets, or a pedal mechanism 44 as shown in Fig. 13, preferably for smaller sizes. In the preferred embodiment, the shafts 11 and 13 are solid round steel rods of a half inch diameter.
The manual mechanism 7, in the preferred embodlment, is disclosed in Figures 7, 8 and 9. The components of mechanism are, a support block 32, a face pla-i-e 33, a ma7n block 34, a handle 35, a positioning pin passing through the hole 36, a lock pin 37, which are preferably steel, and sprlngs 38 and 39. The support block 32 is not a complete round block as shown in Flg. 8A, and it is fastened on its flat side face to the correspond7ng slde face of the beam 17 by fastening bolts through the counterbored holes~ such that the outward faces of the said members lie on the same plane. Then, the thin circular face plate 33 is mounted on the outward face of the support block 32~by two flat head screws to provide a flat surface for the main block 34. Th:e handle 35 may have a round longitudinal arm with a ball head and has a bent portlon that fits into the slot of the main block 34. The said bent portion Is straight and~has flat faces mating with the slot. The said slot is along the radial axis of the block 34, and the handle 35 is positioned and ;mounted to the block with a pi~n passing through the hole 36. There should be ;a~clearance between the mating side faces of the handle and the slot. As best seen~in F7;g. 7C, the slot is inclined along the radial direc-i-ion outwards from the~centre to permit the handle to make a slight swivel motion with respect :: :

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to the positioning pin. The main block 34 is assembled, as its round flat face mating with the corresponding surface of the face plate 33, and secured to the shaft 11, which is passingthrough the longitudinal axis of the components 32 and 33, by a set scew through the counterbored and tapped hole 40. It is advised to flatten the end portions of the shaft 11 to provide a flat surface for the set screw to obtain a more secure means of installation. The diameter of the shaft 11 should be slightly smaller than the holes of the components 32 and 33 to reduce friction. It is advised to utilize further means of support for the shaft 11 against bending, for example using bearing supports, analogous to the support 47, fastened to the beam 20.
In the preferred embodiment, to the other end of the shaft 11 the components 32 and 33 and a solid round disc 10 having a tapered portion re-sembling the component 34 are attached. The said two parts 10 and 34 are inter-changable, therefore the manual mechanism 7 can be easily mounted and utilized at either sides of the cabinet 1. Obviously, the said dTsc 10does not have a functional purpose but ornamen-i-al.
~ The lock pln 37, having a disc head, positioned in the block 34 as shown in Fig. 7C fits to the corresponding holes of the components 32 and 33 to lock the mechanism. The lock pin 37 loaded by a compression spring 38 is held pressed since the other compression spring 39 is relatively stronger. When the handle 35 is pressed, manuaiiy, the saîd pin reieases and the block 34 can be rotated.
To provide anaccess for the documentsS handle 35 is rotated until the pln 37 locks itself, when iocked the spring loaded bar 24 stays open and ; 15.
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when released the spring 30 forces the bar 24 to engage with the mating bar 25. The spring 30 should of course appiy enough force to overcome the overall frictional force of the system and to ensure the said bars engage securely.
Referr7ng to Fig. 10, in the preferred embodiment, one inch square hollow steel bars 42 are used to construct the body frame of a smaller filing cabinet 41. Rectangular or square base and top frames are constructed through welding and the said two frames are joined with vertical members~ preferably by welding, to obtain a rigid body frame 41. Flat steel plates 43 are welded to the inward corners of the base frame and swivel casters 8 are rigidly mounted, preferably by welding, to the bottom faces of the said plates. A horizontal supporting beam 45, which is a three quarters inch rectangular solid steel beam or alternatively steel angle, is rigidly attached, for example by welding, at the top portion of the body frame between the vertical bars to the said bars and the top frame, the inward faces of all the said members being coplanar.
The document holding bar groups 9 are rigidly fastened to the corresponding faces of the beams 45 and the wire rope system is assembled as disclosed pre-viously for the large size cabinet. However, in a smaller cabinet perferably a pedal mechanism 44 is used instead of the manual mechanism 7, therefore the shaft 11 is mounted to the base frame through the bearing supports 47. The said supports, preferably having brass bushings, are fastened to the base frame by bolts, and the pedal mechanism 44 is installed at the mid portion of the shaft 11, between supports 47.
The pedai mechanism 44 in the preferred embodiment, is disclosed in Fig. 13. A notched rectangular bar 49 is positioned in the slot of another ~ 16.

35~7 rectangular bar 50 welded to the shaft 11 and the two components are joined by a pin 51. A 90 degree bent flat plate 4~ having a rectangular slot on its horizontal por~ion through which the bar 49 passes is rigidly mounted, pre-ferably by welding, to the base frame of the cabinet. A spring 52 attached to the components 48 and 49, pulls the bar 49 7nwards. Due to its structure, when the bar 49 is pressed down the shaft 11 is rotated to open an access for the documents as described previously and the pedal mechanism 44 is locked as the notch co-operates with the slot. To release -the mechanism, the bar 49 is pressed down further and slightly outwards, and due to the spring force of the document holding bar sets 9 the mechanism takes its initial position. A
pedal, for example a thin flat plate, is welded on to the top of the bar 49.
In general, it has been practically experienced that utilizing a pulley 12 of about -three inches outer diameter, approximately a quarter -turn of the shaft 11 creates a sufficient access for the documents at the document holding bar sets 9.
Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that variations and modifications of the described embodiment can be provided without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

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Claims (5)

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

1. A filing cabinet for vertically suspending sheets comprising:
a rigid body frame, outlining a square prism geometrically, embodying a rectangle or square base frame to which upright bars are rigidly mounted and upper ends of said upright bars being rigidly joined by horizontal bars;
a body having means of access to the interior of the cabinet from the top and/or sides;
means for movably supporting the cabinet in a horizontal supporting surface such as a floor;
means for supporting the sheets comprising at least two laterally spaced substantially coplanar straight bar groups, each said group comprising two horizontally and longitudinally extending cantilever bars rigidly mounted along the same longitudinal axis at the upper portion of the cabinet to the mutually opposing inward faces of the cabinet and a third bar relatively shorter and telescopically operating in between the canti-lever bars engaging with the mating cantilever bar;
means for operating the telescopically working bar.

2. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means of access to the interior of the babinet from top and/or sides embodies hinged, pivoted or sliding lid or door or any combination of these.

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3. A Filing cabinet as claimed in claim 1, in which said means for movably supporting the cabinet on a supporting surface comprises swivel casters rigidly mounted to the bottom of the cabinet.

4. A filing cabinet as defined in claim 1, in which said third bar operates telescopically in one of the cantilever bars and the free end portions of the third bar and the other cantilever bar cooperatively engage to relatively close and open the space between the two cantilever bars of the bar group so that when the third bar is relatively separated from the mating cantilever bar there becomes a space between the distal ends of said engaging bars permitting access for removing or loading of the sheets, and substantially the third bar operates along the mutual longitudinal axis of the two cantilever bars which is substantially perpendicular to the plane of a suspending sheet.

5. A filing cabinet as defined in claim 1 and claim 4, in which said means for operating the third bar comprises a self-locking manual or pedal mechanism or system to relatively separate and combine the third bar and the engaging cantilever bar.

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