GB1109758A - Telephone subscribers' index - Google Patents

Abstract

1,109,758. Filing papers. ERUMU INDUSTRY CO. Ltd. 31 Oct., 1966 [28 Feb., 1966], No. 48689/66. Heading B6E. An index for a telephone subscriber comprises a container 1 having a tray 2 slidably mounted therein which houses a stack of index cards 4, each card having an associated selection member which, when operated to select a card, is arranged so that as the tray 2 is withdrawn from the container 1 the selected card and any others below it are withdrawn with the tray, whilst any others above the selected card are retained by magnetic attraction in the container. Each card 4 has a U-shaped metal member (41, Figs. 7 and 8) clamped on its rear edge, and a permanent magnet 15 is arranged on the inside of the container to hold back all the cards not engaged by the selector. Card selection is made by a group of selectors 24, one selector for each card, arranged opposite an alphabetical index (13, Figs. 1 and 2). Each selector 24 is part of a bell-crank pivoted on a cross-shaft 28, the other end 26 of the crank having an upwardly-extending pin 27 adapted to engage perforations (42) in the front ends of the cards 4, and a leaf spring 30 on each selector holds it in a forwardly-inclined position. The perforations (42) in the cards 4 are so arranged that there is one only in the top card, two in the next, and so on. The bottom card has as many perforations (42) as there are selectors 24, i.e. twelve in the arrangement shown. With the tray 2 in the closed position and a selector 24 pulled towards the front wall 21 of the tray, the corresponding pin 27 of the selector will pass through all the cards beneath the selected card, and the selected card, and when the tray 2 is withdrawn, the pin 27 will pull these cards away from the permanent magnet 15. The tray 2 can only be withdrawn to a position limited by a stop arrangement (18, 19, Fig. 4), in which position the rear ends of the withdrawn cards support the front ends of the cards retained by the magnet 15. The container 1 has rubber feet 10, and the upper face is roughened to hold a telephone set (A, Fig. 1) in position thereon. The container 1, tray 2, and all the accessories, apart from the magnet 15 and the metal pieces (41) on the cards, can be made of plastics material.