US2185763A

US2185763A - Large size vertical filing means

Info

Publication number: US2185763A
Application number: US118729A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lisle Harold L De
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1937-01-02
Filing date: 1937-01-02
Publication date: 1940-01-02
Anticipated expiration: 1957-01-02

Description

Jan. Y2, 194). l v DE |s|l E 2,185,763 LARGE SIZE VERTICAL FILINGVMENS Filed Jan. .2, 1937 4'Shets-Sheet l fw l Jan. 2, 1940.

H. l.. DE LlsLE A 'Y 2,185,763

n LARGE SIZE VERTICAL FILING MEANS Filed Jan. 2, 1937 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Jan. 2. 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IIJ. l I Il.

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Jamz, 1940. H, L, DE ,SLE I 2,185,763

LARGE SIZE VERTICAL ,FILING MEANS Filed Jan. 2, 1937 4 sheets-sheet 4 Patented Jan. `2, 1940 mais IARGIE SIZE VERTICAL FILING MEANS Harold L. De Lisle, Two Rivers, Wis.

Application January 2,

' 5 claims.

This invention relates to large size vertical filing means more particularly for drafting room equipment and the ling in vertical, unfolded position of drawings, tracings, prints, and the like.

Heretofore, these have been filed in open-top boxes, with or without covers. Since the average drawing, tracing or print led in this manner is about twenty-four inches by thirty-six inches and the iile, when loaded, weighs frequently as much as five hundred pounds, it will be appreciated that such boxes take up considerable floor space and cannotbe readily moved around.

For the reason that the tops of the boxes must remain accessible, the boxes must remain on the floor of the oiiiceor drafting room, the space thereabove being wasted.

Conservation of oor space is becoming more and more of a factor of importance and this heretofore known method is becoming increasingly costly, as well as subjecting the files to dust, and fire and water hazard, since even if a cover is provided for the box, the inconvenience of raising and lowering it encourages the leaving of the le exposed, at least for the greater part of the day. o

The present invention aims to provide means for housing the vertical le in the form of a drawer in a casing, while still permitting ready accessibility and affording utilization of the space lon the top surface or above the casing, for other purposes, and particularly active purposes such as other current files of various kinds.

been increased substantially, and the oor cost.

rental per sheet materially reduced, in addition to the many other advantages enjoyed.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings showing an illustrative embodiment, in which- Figure l is a perspective view showing a comparison between an old style le and the present Figure 2 is an enlarged front elevation ofthe structure of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the struclture of Fig. 1 taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2,

1937, serial No. '118,729'y (ci. 45-7) showingin broken lines the drawer partiallyy a' open;

Figure 4 is a view somewhat similar to Fig. 3 but looking inthe opposite direction along the line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

'Figure 5 is an enlarged detail, partially in section along the line 5 5 of Fig. 42;

Figure 6 is a sectional detail view of the control valve, taken onthe line 6 6 of Fig. 8;v

Figure 1 is a section on the line 1 1 of Fig. 6; and

Figure 8 is a perspective View, somewhat diagrammatic, of the air system in separated relation. y

Referring in detail tothe drawings,'1 have shown at I3 and I4 two ling units made in accordance with the present invention. It will be readily seen that the space above theold style ling box must be left accessible and is therefore of no further use lfor filing or storage space,

while the space above the units I3 and I4, in

accordance with the present invention, may be utilized for the additional filing facilities represented by the group of ling cabinets I5 and I6, each respectively disposed above vthe units `I3 and I4.

` In this instance, the base for each of the group of ling cabinets I5 and I6 is constituted by the casing I1, one of the units of the present invention. In the unit I3, the drawer I8 is shown partially withdrawn froml the casing, that is,l

open, and in the unit IIB the drawer is shown retracted into the casing, that is, closed. It willr walls 2l, top wall 22 Aand rear wall 23, the front of the casing being open for the reception of the ist,l

space 28 between the bottom of the drawer and the bottom of the casing, which space is occupied by antifriction means through the intermediation of which the drawer is movably supported in the casing. A dependent portion 29 for the front wall of the drawer may at least partially conceal the roller mechanism next described.

Extending from front to rear, underneath the drawer and aixed thereto, adjacent each side thereof are the runners 3|), which are conveniently of irregular channel formation and upon which the drawer rests through the intermediation of transverse channel reinforcements 3|. To provide an integral structure, the channels 3| may be welded to the bottom 24 of the drawer running from side to side thereof and spaced apart from front to rear of the drawer, and the channeled runners 30 welded cross-wise to thechannels 3|. For this purpose, these channeled parts have horizontally extending ilanges 32, one each of which along the outer edge of the drawer as at 33 is extended to round the lower side corner of the drawer where it may be welded for further security.

In the present embodiment, a roller truck 34 extends beneath each of the runners 38 and supports the runners 3U (and thus the drawer)v on the rollers 35 which may be secured in pairs on axles 36 journaled in the side walls of the truck 34. Rollers 35 are therefore in direct frictional contact with the runners 30 and the bottom 28 of the casing. To maintain` the truck in lateral position, while permitting it to move relatively to the drawer and casing, each runner 36 may have secured along its bottom an inverted channel member 31 which receives with a snug sliding fit a keeper bar 38 secured longitudinally along the upper face of the truck 34. Similarly, along the floor of the casing is a channel member 39 which is slidingly embraced by the sides of the truck, the truck itself being again of inverted channel formation.

On their inner faces the runners 30 are desirably offset as at 4D to provide a rest surface for the yoke 4| xedly secured to the runner and on which is axled a roller wheel 42 of somewhat larger diameter than the rollers 35. Thus as the drawer is withdrawn from the casing, the rollers 35 which are thus of the so-called progressive type, will partially follow the outward movement of the drawer on the tracks I9, moving about half of the distance traveled by the drawer but suiciently to afford adequate support for the drawer in its outermost open position. Further support for the drawer in this position is also provided by the roller wheels 42, which move outwardly the same distance as the drawer since they are on an axis fixed with respect to the drawer. Upon retraction of the drawer to close it, the rollers 35 will move correspondingly inwardly back to their original position. So that the entire roller support will be offset somewhat rearwardly of the drawer, it desirably terminates as at 43 short of the front wall 21 of the drawer but may extend as at 44 beyond the rear wall 26. Thus the rollers are clear of the feet of the operator,

for example.

I will now describe a preferred form of power mechanism for operating the drawer. Mounted centrally along the bottom of the casing between the runners 30 is fixed an air cylinder 46 which may be supported by pedestal members 45 and 45a secuied to the casing, and to which the cylclusive of the piston rod 49 of suicient length to extend through the cylinder 46 at its forward end, when the piston 48 is almost at the rear end of the cylinder. At its forward end, the piston rod 49 is anchored to the depending front wall 29 of the drawer as by a nut 50 and cap nut 50a. At the forward end of the cylinder the cylinder head 5| accommodates the packing gland 52 through which the piston rod 49 moves. An internal shoulder 5|a. on the cylinder head may limit outward movement of the piston and therefore the drawer I8 in the casing. At this forward end also, the cylinder head 5| connects with the cylinder, through a nipple 53, the air pipe 54 which communicates with one branch 55 of a four-way valve 56. At its rear end, the cylinder head 51 connects with the cylinder, through a nipple 58, an air pipe 59 which communicates with the branch 66 of the valve 56. A third branch 6| of the valve is in communication, by means of the

pipes

62 and 63, with a supply of air under pressure which may be provided by any conventional means not here necessary to be described. Still a fourth branch 64 of the valve provides an adjustable escapement for the air. As here shown this includes a needle relief valve shown in detail in Fig. 7. For example, passage for the escaping air through the

ports

65, 66 is controlled by the screw needle 61 which in turn may be manually controlled by the rod 68 integral therewith and extending to the front face of the casing as at 69, where it may terminate in the screw head which may be adjusted as desired.

Similarly, an air supply valve 10, between the

pipes

63 and 62, may be controlled by a rod 1| terminating at the outer .face of the casing as at 12 and similarly adjustable.

The four-way valve 56 is shown in detailed cross-section in Fig. 6 and the valve proper, as is well known with respect to mechanisms of this type, includes a plug cylinder 13 through which pass the

non-communicating ducts

14, 15. Upon rotation of the plug cylinder 13, the duct 14 is adapted to place in communication either the ports 16 and 11 for the

pipes

62 and 59 respectively, or the

ports

16 and 18 for the

pipes

62 and 54 respectively. Similarly the duct 15 is adapted to place in communication either the

ports

18, 19 for the pipe 54 and escape port 65 respectively, or the ports 11, 19 for the pipe 59 and escape port 65 respectively.

For operating the plug cylinder 13, it may have xed thereto a hollowcontrol member of non-circular formation, here shown square, to receive the square rod 8| telescopically but with a sliding fit. The rod 8| is fixed to a valve lever 62 carried on the right-hand upper corner of the front wall 21 of the drawer I8. By means of this telescopic arrangement, the valve lever 82 is always operatively connected with the plug cylinder 13 whether the drawer be in its innermost or outermost positions, the telescoping interengagement of the member 80 and rod 8| being of suicient extent to accommodate any normal movement of the drawer. The valve 56 and its associated pipes is conveniently supported by an L-shape bracket 83 secured to the rear wall 23 of the casingin alignment with the valve lever 82 on the drawer.

The operation of the device is as follows:

When it is desired to open the drawer, the valve lever 82 is moved downwardly from the position shown on the closed drawer in Fig. 1 to that shown on the open drawer. This places the

pipes

62 and 59 in communication so that the e, rsa-16a air forces the piston '548' outwardly, an,d',}moving withit, the'drawer'l. Ati this time the-'pipe'54 and escape port 65 are injcommunication andthe air at the forward end ofthe-cylinder escapes past the needle valve '61. 'By regulating this needle valve, the movement of the drawer may be made more or less'rapid, and at the same time an air cushion is provided which progressively slows the drawer down as it approaches the end of `its outer movement as limited'by movement of the piston 48 in the cylinder-when it contacts the shoulder 5| a or some other suitable stop means. Even when the piston reaches theend of its forward movement, however, rand continuously until reversal of the valve lever 82, the piston is desirably under pressure sothat the dra-wer has no tendency'to roll back until so actuated by the operator.

When it is desired to close the drawer the valve lever is moved upwardly again, placing the pipes G2 and 54 in communication so that the piston is retracted, drawing with it the drawer. At this time also, the pipe 59'and escape port 65 are in communication so that a similar air cushion is provided on the return movement of the drawer.

Should the air supply fail for any reason, it is of course desirable tobe able to open the drawers by hand and for this purpose I have shown a heavy bail-like handle 84 extending nearly the entire width of the drawer so that it may be conveniently grasped by say two persons whose combined strength may be necessary to move the drawer by hand. In this operation, it may be desirable, in order to avoid the air cushion already referred to and permit easier hand operation-to move the valve lever 82 to just the opposite respective positions which would be used for compressed air operation of the drawer. Thus it will` be seen that by placing the

pipes

62 and 54 in communication when hand operation is resorted to, an air cushion at the forward end of the cylinder will be avoided. Again upon closing the drawer by hand, by placing the pipes 59 and G2 in communication an air cushion at the rear end of the cylinder will be avoided.

The handle 84 is desirably swingingly mounted on the front wall 21 of the drawer and in this instance its ends each are received between a hifurcated bracket 86, the bifurcations of which have vertical elongated slots 8T,v a pair of trunnions 88 on the handle playing in these slots. When the handle is not in use, by this last menfinned connection it may be not only swung upwardly toward the face of the drawer but also may be moved rectilinearly upwardly a sufficient distance to pass onto the hooks 89 carried along the upper edge of the drawer where it will remain until removed by first being lifted rectilinearly upwardly and then swuny forwardly and downwardly.

Reverting now to the representative contents of the drawer I8 typied by the vertically disposed flat unfolded drawings, tracings, or blue prints |2, Fig. 4 illustrates conventional examples of this type of vertical filing. As is well known in the art and as will be very briey pointed out, the interior of the drawer is divided into a plurality of compartments disposed from front to rear of the drawer and defined by the spaces between two adjoining oppositely spring-pressed flexible strips 99 which hang vertically in the drawer on cross-wise hangers 9|. There may be three or four pairs of these strips supported by one of the hangers 9| and spaced apart crosswise ofrthe drawer. .The hanger also supports a center strip .92 between a lpair of stripsjl99 and between the strips 90 are located coil springs 93 which press apart the strips 98 vof the same hanger. Each of the hangers 9| may be of folded formation to clampthe'center strip 92 and two of thek flexible strips 90 together at their tops while permitting the strips 99 to be pressed apart therebelow. While the strips 99 advantageously hang freely within the drawer except as infiuenced by the springs 93 and the drawings l2, the center strips themselves are preferably anchored tothe bottom of the drawer as at 94.

For supporting the hangers 9|, these may terminate at the sidesof the drawer in flanges 95 Awhich 'rest'upon a ledge 96 which extends along the side of the drawer interior. Therefter aplate 91 slotted as at 98 to pass over the hangers may be 'spot welded as at 99 to the drawerr sides. The drawings l2 may be enclosed by a large folder |2a of heavy paper or the like, for protection.

`As best shown in Fig. 4, when reference isy madevto one of the drawings 2, the group of these drawings vcontaining the one wanted is pulled up'and'fanned out by dropping some of the drawings rearwardly and so-me forwardly as shown in dotted lines at |88 and IDI, the drawing wanted being conveniently the then uppermost drawing in the group IUI. It may not be necessary in every case to remove the drawing entirely from the file, this being avoided wherever possible while still permitting observation of or reference to what the drawing contains. In such cases, the bail-like handle 84 may be made to serve the function of a rest for the drawing coo-perating with the drawer itself, when the drawings are in the farmed out position referred to. For this purpose the extensions |82 of the lower ends of the handle arms are extended beyond the trunnions 88 so that when the handle is inclined forwardly as shown in broken lines in Fig. 4, these extensions, as best shown in Fig. 5, may be received in notches |03 in the rear wall of brackets 86 which cooperate with the stop |94 extending between the bifurcations of the bracket, to support the handle in this position. An enlargement of the slots 81 laterally together with an inclined surface |05l in these slots permits the handle to be canted into and out of inclined position, while being maintained in stable inclined position for supporting the drawings as mentioned.

For the purpose of providing ample clearance between the sides of the drawer and the casing margin, the drawer sides are desirably spaced inwardly from the outermost side edges |06 of the front `face 21 of the drawer. This also permits the drawer to clear a bracket 80acarried on the inner side face of the casing to support the air valve control member 89 at its forward end. The inwardly offset portion |91' which provides the ledge 98, also contributes still further to this necessary clearance for the moving parts.

Manifestly, the invention is not limited to details of construction described for purposes of illustration. Furthermore, it is not necessary that all features of the invention be used conjointly, as various combinations and subcombinations may be advantageously employed.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. In filing means of the class described embodying heavy large size filing equipment, the combination with a drawer casing adapted to rest on the door of an oiiice or the like, of a relatively heavy large drawer received in said casing and adapted to be moved in and out thereof, and a permanent track co-planar with the oor of said casing projecting from said casing beneath said drawer in its withdrawn position wherein the drawer is operated by compressed air mechanism and carries a valve lever movable with the drawer for manually controlling said mechanism.

2. In filing means of the class described embodying heavy large size filing equipment, the combination with a drawer casing adapted to rest on the floor of an oice or the like, of a relatively heavy large drawer received in said casing and adapted to be moved in and out thereof, and a permanent track co-planar with the floor of said casing projecting from said casing beneath said drawer in its withdrawn position wherein the drawe-r is operated by compressed air mechanism and carries a valve lever movable with the drawer for manually controlling said mechanism, and wherein the valve lever is connected with a pair of valve control members keyed to rotate together but relatively slidable longitudinally, one of which members is carried by the casing and the other of which is carried by the drawer.

3. In filing means of the class described, the combination of a casing, a drawer movable in the casing, a cylinder mounted on the casing, a. piston therein connected with the drawer mechanism for admitting compressed air selectively to opposite ends of said cylinder for mechanically opening and closing the drawer, and a valve lever carried by and movable with the drawer for controlling said mechanism.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein the casing carries a four-way Valve controlled by said lever and air pipes communicate with opposite sides of said valve and with the opposite ends of said cylinder, and wherein telescoping members of non-circular cross-section respectively connect with said valve and said lever.

5. The structure of claim 3 wherein the casing carries a four-way valve controlled by said lever and air pipes communicate with opposite sides of said valve and with the opposite ends of said cylinder, wherein said Valve has an inlet duct and an outlet duct oppositely disposed between said pipes, -and wherein needle valves control the passage through said ducts, said needle valves being connected with adjustment rods carried by the front of the casing.

HAROLD L. DE LISLE.