US1680687A - Bill fold - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 14. 192 1,680,687

C. L ENF' ANT BILL FOLD Filed April 16, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l l a y I I WATTQR EY Aug. 14, 1928. 1,680,687

C. L ENFANT BILL FOLD Filed April 16, 1926 2 Shuts-Sheet 2 lllllllHI-IIHHH INVENTOR (72601612 gip a/zi ,hi/s ATTOR EY Patented Aug. 14, 1928.

UNITED STATES CHARLES LENFANT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BILL FOLD.

Application filed April 16,- 1926. Serial No. 102,409.

This invention relates to bill folds or similar foldable articles receiving cases, and has for its primary object to provide such a case of simplified construction which may be compactlyfolded when filled without buckling or wrinkling of the leather or other material of which the case walls are formed and which will therefore, possess greater serviceability than bill folds or cases of the usual construction heretofore known in the art."

More or less satisfactory results have been obtained from certain constructions heretofore suggested wherein the inner wall of the case consists of two sections secured to the outer wall along their lower and outer end edges and having their inner edges spaced aparton opposite sides of the fold line, and then bridging this space by a separate piece of leather extending between said inner wall sections andthe fabric linings on the inner faces thereoflsaid leatherbridging piece being unattached at its lower edge to the outer case wall and connected at its outer ends'by extensions of the "fabric lining on the inner face of said bridging piece with the connected ends of the inner and outer case walls, or with the inner walls of the case. This arrangement permits the ends of the leather piece bridging the gap between the inner ends of the inner case walls to move freely between said Walls and their linings, thus permitting of the relative movement of the two sections of the inner wall and also of their movement with respect to the outer wall of the case when'the latter is folded and thereby avoiding the formation of wrinkles or undulations in the inner wall sections, especially when thecase is filled with bills, memorandzuor other papers to a point approachingits full capacity. The constructions just referred to, however, involve several more or less tedious and time consuming operations in the prop-- I er assemblage and connection of theseveral parts of the bill fold or case, and it is the purpose of my present improvements to secure the same advantageous results with a reduced number of parts and with fewer manufacturing operations which may be more easily and rapidly executed than heretofore. I thereby aimto greatly expedite the production of such bill folds or cases r and to thereby correspondingly reduce manufacturing costs.

With the above and other objects in view,

the invention consists in the improved bill 7,

fold or case and in the form, construction andrelative arrangement of its several parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims. I

In the drawings, wherein I have illustrated several simple and practical embodiments of my present improvements, and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,-

Figure 1 is an inner face View of a single fold case showing the same open and illustrating one practical embodiment ofthe invention; 1 v

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating an intermediate step in the method of assembling parts of the case;

i Fig. 3 is asimilar view showing the next succeeding step in the method of assemblage;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. .5 is a detail section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3; v

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary edge view of the central portion of the case at the open edge thereof; 7

Fig.7 is a similar view showing the case folded,

Fig. 8 is an inner face view similar to Fig. 3, showing a modified case construc-. tion having two folds instead of the single fold as in Fig. 1, and

Fight) 'is'asectional view taken 'on the line 9-9'of F ig, 8.

Referring in detail to the drawingsand for the present more particularly to'Figs.

1- to 7 thereof, the article case or bill fold embodiesthe usual outer wall indicated at 5, the inner side of which is lined with silk orother relatively thin' fabric. The inner case wall consists of the two sections 6 and i nil t of the case walls.

a case having a bill receiving pocket having a depth equal to the full width of the case so that the marginal edges of the case will not be distorted or wrinkled when the case is folded.

Before attaching or securing the inner wall sections 6 and 7 to the edges of the outer wall 5, I secure upon the'inner face of each wall section, by means of a suitable adhesive, a thin fabric lining sheet 8, and the inner end edge of the leather wall is preferably turned over and adhesively secured upon this fabric lining as indicated at 9. The lining sheet 8 is of a length equal to substantially twice the width of the inner wall section, and said wall section adja'ent its upper edge is adapted to be folded over as indicated at 10 in Fig. 5 of the drawings, upon the extending end portion of the lining sheet 8 which provides an inner pocket wall 11 for the leather inner wall section of the case. Upon the pocket walls 11 and on the faces thereof which are opposed to the outer case wall 5 a thin sheet of silk12 is secured by a suitable adhesive. This sheet of silk is also preferably secured to the turned over edges 10 of the walls 6 and i by the lines ofstitching indicated at 13. The two inner wall sections are thus in this manner connected with each other by the flexible silk sheet12 which bridges the gap between the .inner spaced end edges 14 of these walls, said inner end edges of the walls (5 and 7 being located respectively on opposite sides of the central fold line of the case.

From reference to Figs. 6 and 7 ofthe drawings, it will be particularly observed that there is an excess of the silk inaterial 12 extending between the inner end edges 11 of the wall sections 6 and 7 or in other words, the linear mcasureinent of this intermediate part of the silk shcet lfl exceeds the distance between the spaced end edges 14 Thus, adjacent to said end edges 14, folds indicated at 15 form in the silk 12. The reason for tl'iisconstruction will become apparent from the following description. i

Before the silksheet 12'is attached to the pocket walls 11 as above explaii1ed,'a relatively short length of thin silk or other fabric shown at'16 is secured to said silk sheet 12 midway between the opposite end edges of said silk sheet by the single line of stitching indicated at 17. There is then secured upon the outer side of this silksheet l(3,a leather bridging sheet 18 of the same dimensions as the silk sheet 16. It will be noted from reference to Figs. 2 and 3 that thelower end edges of thesilk sheet 16 and the bridging sheet '18 are slightly spaced above thecorresponding edges of the pocket walls ll'and the silk sheet 12. In this IIIILI1- ner, it will be apparent that the bridging the inner side of the outer wall sheet of leather 18 entirely conceals the line of stitching 17. The free portions of the leather bridging piece 18 at opposite sides of the stitching 17 overlie the pocket walls 11 as shown in Fig. 2.

The wall sections 6 and 7 of the case are then turned over and downwardly upon said free end portions of the bridging piece 18 and said wall sections are then applied upon The wall Section 5 is then connected along its lower and outer end edges with the C(HIGSI'JOIltlll'lg edges of thein ner walls 6 and T and with the lower edge of the silk-sheet 12 in the manner disclosed inuny pending application above referred to. It will be understood, however, that the lower end edge of the bridging piece 18 remains free or unattached at its lower edge with respect tothe outer wall 5 of the case.

In this manner, it will be seen that when the assemblage of the several parts is completed, the free end portions of the bridging piefe 18 and its attached lining sheet 16 project'laterally beyond the end edges 14- of the inner walls 6 and Tand into the pockets formed between these walls and the fabric walls 11 and which pockets may receive cards, menioranda and the like. The end edges of the bridgin piece 18 extend to a point substantially midway of the depth of saidpockets sothat there is no likelihood of said end portions of the bridging piece 18 being accidentally pulled out of said pocketsin the extraction of the contents thereof. However, these ends of the bridging piece 18 remain entirely free or noconnected in any manner with the case walls 5, 6 and 7. It will therefore, be apparent that when agreatnumber of bills are placed within the bill fold between the outer wall 5 and the inner walls (5 and 7, the provision of the excess material 12 between the inner and edges of the pocket walls 11 to which said material is secured admits of the free shifting or sliding movement of the end portions of the bridging piece 18 relative to the inner-case walls notwithstaiuling the fact that this bridging piece is conncz'tcd with the connecting sheet '12 between said pocket walls. then the bill fold or case is empty, and then folder] to closed position, the folds 15 will form in the intermediate :portiono'f the. sil k sheet 12 substantially in the manner indicated in Fig.- 7 of the drawings. vIn yiew, howcrer, of the fact that this'sheet 12 isexcecdingly thin, though of great durability, these folds 15 will not increase the blllk of the folded case.

It will be understood that in Figs. 4 to 7 ofthe drawings, the thickness of the several parts of the bill fold or case is greatly exaggerated.

In Figs. 8 and 9, I have shown a bill fold or article receiving case having two folds ill) lll)

therein. In this construction, the bridging piece 18 is attached to the silk sheet 12 in the manner above explained, at one side of the center of said silk sheet and extends into the pockets provided on the inner walls 6 and 7' for movement relatively to the case walls as heretofore described. Between the outer end edge of the small case'wall 7 and thepocket wall 11 thereof, one end edge of the additional leather bridge piece 19 is interposed. Before said end edge of the leather wall section 7"is Secured to its lining sheet 8, the lining sheet is secured to the end edge of the bridge piece 19 and the pocket wall 11 by the line of stitching indicated at 20. It will of course, be understood that in this case the outer wall 5 is of somewhat "greater length than in the single fold construction shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The additional inner wall section 6 secured to one end edge and the lower edge of the outer wall has its inner end edge spaced from the attached end edge of the bridge piece 19, said bridge piece extending freely into the pocket formed between the wall 6 and its pocket wall 11*. Therefore, in this construction,

it will be understood that the case is folded along the line of stitching connecting the bridge piece 18' with the silk sheet 12 which connects the several pocket walls with each other, and secondly along a line slightly spaced from the line of stitching 20 which connects the wall 7 and the bridge piece 19 with the silk sheet 12'. These fold lines are indicated in Fig. 9 of the drawings by the broken lines A and B, respectively.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that the inner opposed ends of the inner wall sections of the 7 case may freely move relative to each other even when a relatively large number of bills are placed between said walls and the outer wall 5, and the case then folded without buckling or wrinkling of the inner wall sections, owing to the fact that the ends of the bridge piece 18 may freely shift or move with respect to the inner case walls. By the elimination of theflexible fabric connection between the ends of this bridge piece and the inner wall sections and connecting said bridge piece only at a single central point with the flexible fabric sheet 12 extending between the inner pocket walls, it

will be apparent that I have appreciably reduced the number of manufacturing operations. Also, it has been found that in the use of such a flexible connection between the bridge piece and the case walls, in the insertion of cards and other articles into the pockets, the flexible connections with the ends of the bridge piece are quite likely to be cut and torn, and thereafter constitute obstructions to the free insertion of the cards into the pockets. Also, small articles may find their way through these cuts in theflexible connecting members between the same and the inner walls of the ockets from which said articles cannot be extracted. Itwill, therefore,-be seen that I- have not only provided a structure whereby production maybe greatly expedited and manufacturing costs reduced, but my improvements also result in an article of increased durability in comparison with prior art devices of other types mentioned.

I have herein shown several embodiments of' my presentimprovements which I have found to he of excellent service in practical use. Nevertheless, it is to be understood that the essential features of my present improvements might also be incorporated in other alternative structures, varying more or less in the form, construction and relative arrangement of the detail parts thereof. Accordingly, I reserve the privilege of resorting to all such legitimate changes there in as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the invention as'claimed.

I claim:

1. A foldable case comprising an outer.

wall, a relatively short inner wall attached to the outer wall along the bottom edge thereof,'said inner wall provided with a pocket having an open end extending between the bottom and top edges of said wall, a thin sheet of flexible material secured to the inner side wall of said pocket and attached to said outer wall along each end edge and the bottom edge thereof, and a flexible part foldable with said inner and outer walls attached to said sheet of material at a point spaced from the open end of said pocket and having an unattached portion extending into the pocket and freely movable longitudinally between and'relative to the pocket walls when the case is folded.

2. A foldable case comprising an outer wall, a relatively short inner wall attached to the outer wall along the bottom edge thereof, said inner wall provided with a pocket having an 0 en end extending between the bottom an top edges of said wall, a thin sheet of flexible material secured to the inner side wall of said pocket and attached to said outer wall along each end edge and the bottom edge thereof, a flexible part foldable with said inner and outer walls attached to said sheet of material at a point spaced from the open end of said pocket, said material having an expanding fold therein between the latter end of the inner pocket wall and the point of atta hment of said part, and said part having an unsecured portion extending into said pocket and freely movable longitudinally between and relatively to the pocket walls when the case is folded.

heretofore I 3. A foldable case comprising an outer wall and two inner wall sections longitudinally spaced apart and attached along their outer end and bottom edges to said outer wall, each of said inner wall sections having a pocket open at the inner opposed ends of said wall sections, a flexible sheet of material attached to the lower edge of said outer wall and fixed upon the inner side walls of said pockets and bridging the space between the open ends of the pockets, and a flexible part. attached to said sheet of material between the open ends of said pockets and having unsecured portions extending in opposite directions from the point of attachment thereof and into the respective pockets for free movement longitudinally between and relatively to the pocket walls when the 7 case is folded.

l. A foldable case comprising an outer wall and two inner wall sections longitudinally spaced apart and attached along their outer end and bottom edges to said outer wall, each of said inner wall sections having a pocket open at the inner opposed ends of said Wall sections, a flexible sheet of material fixed upon the external faces of the inner side Walls of said pockets and bridging the space between the open ends of the pockets, a flexible part attached to said sheet of material by a single line of stitching extending across the width thereof and located substantially midway between the open ends of the pockets, said part being foldable along said line of stitching and havin g unsecured portions extending longitudinall in each direction therefrom into the respective pockets for free longitudinal movement between and relatively to the pocket walls when the case is folded.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name hereto.

CHARLES LENFANT.

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