US2176567A

US2176567A - Device for holding shingled record sheets

Info

Publication number: US2176567A
Application number: US122741A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert H Ellis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1937-01-28
Filing date: 1937-01-28
Publication date: 1939-10-17
Anticipated expiration: 1956-10-17

Description

Oct. 17, 1939. R ELL|s v 2,176,567

DEVICE FOR HOLDING SHINGLED RECORD SHEETS Filed Jan. 28, 1937 QMWJ | /7 a; f! /6 g 1 5 N 3 H v L \JVJ llw slvrok. EMEu/s,

A5 flrroEn/EK Patented Oct. 17, 1939 UNITED STATES ()FFIQE DEVICE FOR HOLDING SHINGLED RECORD SHEETS 9 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for holding shingled record sheets. Briefly stated, the device herein described is adapted to hold a very large number of overlapped record sheets, or

5 strips, so arranged that a margin of each sheet is exposed. An arrangement of sheets in this manner is said to be shingled because in some respects it corresponds to the arrangement of shingles on a roof, a margin of each sheet being exposed. These exposed margins usually contain information identifying the subjects of the respective sheets, as well as some more specific detailed information, which can be read at a glance, without disturbing the group of sheets. For example, in keeping pay-roll records, each sheet may have blank spaces for entries concerning the time of the employee, the amounts earned, and the kinds of different work on which he was engaged; while the exposed margin may show the name of the employee, and the totals of various items. Devices of this type are quite old, particularly in handling very large numbers of records, such as the pay rolls for numerous employees, and other work wherein a multiplicity of record sheets, or strips, is used.

In View of the extremely large number of sheets to be handled, an object is to reduce the time and labor involved in properly arranging the sheets in the holder, so as to expose a predetermined marginal portion of each sheet. Another object is to permit free removal and replacement of any selected sheet, without disturbing the remaining sheets. A further object is to readilyclose the marginal space that may be left by a permanent removal of any selected sheet.

The old devices of this kind are quite expensive, and they require a substantial amount of time in arranging the lapped sheets to properly expose the marginal portion of each sheet.

The simple device herein disclosed includes an alining member having a straight face forming an abutment for the upper edges of the sheets, and a few simple frictional elements which firmly secure the lapped sheets and permit free removal of any selected sheet.

In using devices for alining and securing shingled sheets, it is often necessary to employ a large number of the devices, and to have them available for frequent reference to the different subjects covered by the numerous sheets in the several devices. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to produce a simple device of this kind adapted to be filed as a page in a looseleaf binder. To illustrate this feature, I will hereinafter describe a device comprising a flexible backing sheet which may be regarded as a page for the binder, said backing sheet being provided with means for alining and securing the shingled sheets at one of its margins. Another marginal portion of the backing sheet is extended beyond the area of the shingled sheets and provided with means for attaching the entire device, including the alined shingled sheets, to a loose-leaf binder. This feature can be very conveniently employed during the periods in which the shingled sheets are in active service, and also when they are to be filed as permanent inactive records. The simple backing sheet also enables the operator to very readily handle the entire device in making entries on the sheets, and in copying selected in- 5 formation therefrom.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention comprises the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more specifically described and shown in the accompanying drawing, which illustrates one form of the invention. However, it is to be understood that the invention comprehends changes, variations and modifications within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

Fig. l is a top View of a device embodying features of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top view, drawn to a larger scale, showing some of the elements at the top of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on the line 33 in Fig. 2.

As a general illustration of the subject, Fig. 1 shows a series of record sheets numbered 1 to 10 inclusive, each number being at the top of a column at a side marginal portion of a sheet, and the several sheets being lapped to produce an arrangement of shingled sheets wherein the series of marginal columns is exposed. These exposed margins are adapted to receive entries relating to the subjects of the various record sheets. In actual practice, an extremely large number of sheets can be arranged in this manner, but the subject is illustrated by the relatively few sheets shown in Fig. 1.

The series of sheets may be assembled upon a suitable backing member ll, preferably made of thin sheet material. For example, said backing member may be an inexpensive sheet of flexible paper having a suitable alining device at one of 1 its margins to receive edges of the record sheets. The alining device herein shown is a strip of metal approximately L-shaped in cross-section (Fig. 2), having a bottom member l2 located below and secured to the backing sheet II, and

an alining member I?! which extends upwardly from said bottom member l2. This alining member l3 has a straight inner face which provides an elongated abutment for the adjacent straight edges of the shingled record sheets.

In assembling the sheets, the desired alinement can be easily and quickly obtained by merely forcing the straight upper edges of said sheets onto the straight abutment formed by the simple alining device, and the shingled arrangement is produced by lapping the sheets to expose the predetermined marginal column of each sheet.

After the record sheets have been assembled on the backing member i i, with their upper edges in contact with the straight alining member 13, the entire series of shingled sheets can be firmly secured by means of a simple friction device which positively retains the predetermined arrangement of said sheets. To illustrate one form of this feature, I have shown friction members l4 adapted to force the mass of shingled sheets onto the backing member l l, and clamping members which detachably secure said friction members. Various different details may be employed to accomplish these results, so it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific forms of the friction members and clamping elements which will now be described.

Each of the friction members Hi shown in the drawing is an elongated hollow member having a flat bottom face (Fig. 3) adapted to extend over and press downwardly upon a group of the shingled sheets. This elongated friction member M is located adjacent to and parallel with the alining member 53, and it can be adjusted 1ongitudinally to selectively secure groups of the alined shingled sheets.

To illustrate a suitable means for detachably securing the friction members 14, I have shown yieldable clamping devices embracing the alining member l3 and engaging the friction members Hi to force them onto the alined shingled sheets. Each of these clamping devices may include a spring having a bottom member 55 (Fig. 3) located below the backing member and engaging the metallic member 52 of the alining device, and a yieldable top member i 6 located above the friction member Hi. If desired, this yieldable member l6 may be provided with a pivoted thrust lever i! (Fig. 3) having a lower end adapted to engage the friction member Hi to provide additional spring pressure. Operating handles 18 and I9 may be pivoted to the yieldable clamping device, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

As a detail, to aid in firmly clamping the assembled sheets, the slidable friction members may be wedged onto said sheets. For example, an inclined wedging member 28 may extend from the alining member 53 (Fig. 3) so as to lie direct- 1y above the record sheets, and each friction member 5 i may be provided With a correspondingly inclined upper face engaging said inclined wedging member 223. In this specific form of the invention, the friction member l4 acts as a Wedge in clamping the shingled record sheets onto the backing member.

This wedging friction member M (Fig. 3) may be made of spring metal, and the wedging flange 2E3 cooperating therewith may be yieldable.

When a series of sheets is to be assembled on the backing member H, the frictional clamping devices are removed to provide an unobstructed space leading to the alining abutment E3. The numerous sheets can then be very easily and quickly forced onto this simple alining member and arranged in the predetermined shingled condition. One or more of the elongated friction members I is then applied to the assembled sheets to detachably secure them to the backing member. The number of attaching devices employed will depend upon area occupied by the assembled sheets. However, each of these attaching devices can be adjusted transversely of the exposed margins of the shingled sheets, in opposite directions parallel with the alining member 53, so as to selectively secure any desired number of sheets.

To remove any selected record sheet one, or more, of the attaching devices can be adjusted transversely of the sheets to release the selected sheet, and to firmly hold the sheets at one or both sides of said selected sheet. Therefore, any sheet can be readily selected and pulled from the other sheets without disturbing the shingled arrangement, and after a sheet has been removed, the resultant space can be closed by releasing and shifting the sheets at one side of the space.

It will now be understood that the simple device herein disclosed, comprising an inexpensive backing member which may be made of flexible material having a simple upstanding alining membar at one of its edges, combined with a simple friction device to' secure the mass of alined shingled sheets, has a number of important advantages not obtainable from the more complex,

expensive and cumbersome devices ordinarily employed in this art.

Another feature of the invention lies in the production of a device for alining and holding shingled sheets having its elements so arranged that the entire device, including the mass of shingled sheets, can be very readily filed for convenient reference. For example, the device herein shown has a flexible backing sheet adapted to be filed as a page in a binder. One of the marginal portions of said backing sheet is provided with a suitable means for alining and securing the mass of shingled sheets, and another margin of the same sheet is provided with means for receiving the attaching devices of a binder. In Fig. l the means for alining and securing the shingled sheets appears at the top margin of the backing sheet, and this backing sheet has a binder-receiving margin at its left side, extending beyond the area of the shingled sheets. binder-receiving margin may be provided with a series of alined perforations 2i to receive the detachable attaching devices of an ordinary loose leaf binder. A group of the backing sheets with shingled record sheets attached to the respective backing members can be conveniently filed together, either as an active file or as a permanent file.

If desired, the mass of alined shingled sheets can be riveted, or otherwise permanently attached to the flexible backing sheets, when the entire group of sheets is to be filed asapermanent record. However, the entire device including the attaching and alining means is so simple and inexpensive that all of its elements may be retained with the permanent records, after these elements have performed their functions in alining and securing the active record sheets.

.I claim:

1. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a backing member provided with alining means adapted to be engaged by edges of the shingled sheets, and a clamping device associated with said alining means to secure the aligned shingled sheets, said This extended I clamping device including an elongated friction member arranged approximately parallel with said alining means so as to extend over a group of the alined shingled sheets; said elongated friction member being adjacent to and adjustable in a direction parallel with said alining means, and a yieldable device to secure said elongated friction member in the positions to which it is adjusted.

2. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a backing member provided with alining means adapted to be engaged by edges of the shingled sheets, and a clamping device associated with said alining means to secure the alined shingled sheets, said clamping device including a wedge member adjustable transversely of the exposed marginal portions of said sheets in a direction parallel with the aligning means to selectively secure groups of the shingled sheets.

3. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a backing member provided with alining means adapted to be engaged by edges of the shingled sheets, and a clamping device associated with said alining means to secure the alined shingled sheets, said clamping device including an elongated wedge adjustable transversely of the exposed marginal portions of said sheets in a direction parallel with the aligning means to selectively secure groups of the shingled sheets, and a yieldable member cooperating with said wedge to prevent accidental displacement of the selected group of alined shingled sheets.

4. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a flexible backing sheet having a straight alining strip extending upwardly from one of its margins to provide a straight alining abutment for edges of the shingled sheets, an elongated friction member having a bottom face adapted to engage the alined shingled sheets, said elongated friction member being adjacent to and parallel with said alining member and adjustable longitudinally thereof to engage selected groups of the shingled sheets, and yieldable means whereby said elongated friction member is forced toward said backing sheet to clamp the selected group of shingled sheets.

5. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a flexible backing sheet having a straight alining strip extending upwardly from one of its margins to provide a straight alining abutment for edges of the shingled sheets, an elongated friction member having a bottom face adapted to engage the alined shingled sheets, said elongated friction member being adjacent to and parallel with said alining member and adjustable longitudinally thereof to engage selected groups of the shingled sheets, and yieldable means whereby said elongated friction member is forced toward said backing sheet to clamp the selected group of shingled sheets, said yieldable means including a yieldable device embracing said alining member and engaging said elongated friction member.

6. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a flexible backing sheet having a straight alining strip extending upwardly from one of its margins to provide a straight alining abutment for edges of the shingled sheets, a wedging member extending from said alining strip so as to lie directly above said edges of the sheets, an elongated wedge having an upper face engaging said wedging member and a lower face adapted to engage the shingled sheets, said elongated wedge being parallel with said alining member and adjustable longitudinally thereof to engage selected groups of the shingled sheets, and yieldable means whereby said elongated wedge is forced toward said alining member to clamp the selected group of shingled sheets.

7. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a flexible backing sheet having a straight alining strip extending upwardly from one of its margins to provide a straight alining abutment for edges of the shingled sheets, an inclined wedging member extending from said alining strip so as to lie directly above said edges of the sheets, an elongated wedge having an inclined upper face engaging said inclined wedging member and a fiat lower face adapted to engage the shingled sheets, said elongated wedge being parallel with said alining member and adjustable longitudinally thereof to en- 8. In a device for holding shingled record sheetshaving exposed marginal portions, a flexible backing sheet having a straight alining member extending from one of its margins to provide a straight alining abutment for edges of the shingled sheets, and a yieldable clamping device embracing said margin of the flexible backing sheet to secure the alined shingled sheets, said yieldable clamping device including a yieldable bottom clamping member extending under said alining member and a top clamping member extending over said alining member.

9. In a device for holding shingled record sheets having exposed marginal portions, a backing member having a straight alining member extending from one of its margins to provide a straight alining abutment for edges of the shingled sheets, and a yieldable clamping device embracing said margin of the backing member to secure the alined shingled sheets, said yieldable clamping device including a bottom clamping member extending under said backing member and a top clamping member extending over said backing member, so as to locate the alining abutment and said edges of the shingled sheets between the top and bottom clamping members, both of said clamping members being adjustable in a direction approximately parallel with said alining abutment.

ROBERT H. ELLIS.