US2332606A - Filing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 26, 1943. R. P. \SCHOLFIELD 2,332,606

FILING APPARATUS Original Filed April 1, 1941 Patented Oct. 26, 1943 pir ' V rmi'No APPARATUS Richard P. Scholfield, New York, N: Y-'., assignor to Scholfield'Service, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York firiginalapplication April 1, 1941, Serial No.

386,326. Divided and this application 26, 1942, SerialNo. 456,252 r 7 (Jlaims.

The present invention relates to filing apparatus of the'type wherein a plurality of cards are secured upon th periphery of a rotatable filing drum, to facilitate access to'a great plurality of cards by an operator; The invention includes modifications of, improvements upon andadditions to filing apparatus of the types shown in the prior patent to Scholfield et al; No. 2,06,655, July '7, 1936 and in my application Serial No. 75,883, filed April 22, 1936, now Patent No. 2,231,029. This application is a division of my application Serial No. 386,326 filed April 1, 1941, since matured into Patent No. 2,316,489 dated April 13, 1943.

An object of the presentinvention is to pro vide improved card retaining rail structures, adapted to perform certain'new and improved functions.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved card retaining means, whereby a plurality of cardsmay be removed simultaneously or en bloc from the periphery of the drum.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved jcard retaining rail shapes and cards having novelslots therein adapted to cooperate with the rails, to secure the cards thereon in an improved manner. l

A further object of the invention is to provide a rotary filing drum wherein the cards may be placed upon the periphery of the drum and removed therefrom by movementalong a'line indined with respect to the drum axis, and held on the drum by meansengaging inclined slots in the cards and additional means engaging the ends of the cards, the last-mentioned means being adapted normally to prevent such com bined inclined'movement of the cards, but being mounted formovement to an inoperative position, to permit removal of the cards by such inclined, combined axial and radial movement.

With filing drums of the type. shown in the aforementioned applications, the cards are placed upon the card retaining rails by flexing the material of the cards adjacent the keyhole-shaped slots therein, thereby effectively but temporarily widening the opening at the narrow throats of the slots and permitting them to move over the rail heads. For a great many uses, drums-and cards of that type are entirely satisfactory, but, in some cases, it is desirable to remove, from a drum, a relativelygreat plurality of cards simul taneously, as a group. The present invention provides a number of different constructions wherein the cards may be readily removed from the drum periphery by combined radial and axial movement.

A number of preferred embodiments of the invention are shownin'theaccompanying drawing, but it must be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details of construction August shown" herein and described below, as many modifications will readily occur to one skilled in the art, from a consideration of the disclosure of this specification.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an enlarged sectional view through the rim and head of a filing drum in'accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a'similar view of a half section of the drum, showing amodified card and engaging member and,

Figure?) is a fragmentary sectional view of a further modification.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the filing drum comprises a rim I96 carried by circular shoulders formed integrally upon heads H6 and H6. The cards may be removed en bloc from the card retaining rails by movement on lines inclined with respect to the drum axis. The card retaining rails have surfaces inclined outwardly toward one end of the drum, and the cards have similarly shaped openings, so that they may be removed therefrom or mounted thereon by combined axial and radial movement.

In Figure 1 the rim E63 is provided with a pair of outwardly projecting circumferentially continuous ribs or rails till, each of which is inclined toward the end it? of the drum. The side faces I63, 104 of the ribs are on parallel lines, in section. Actually these faces are on concentric frusto-conica1 surfaces. 1 i I The cards have openings lllii adjacent their inner ends, the margins of the openings being sub stantially parallel with the adjacent margins of the ribs, except that the margin I66 is cut back somewhat to permit the cards to be swung rear- Wardly or forwardly foraccess to the material thereon. When in the inclined position, thear cuate edgeill! of eachopening rests upon and makes line contact with the outer end of the associated rib.

At one end, the drum head may be provided with a circumierentially continuous outwardly projecting flange Hi8, while at th other end, the head m2 is cut awayat one or more sections, where a radially movable end member or gate l is mounted. This member is urged outwardly by spring means H6 into position to engage the end edges ill of the cards, the spring being seated upon an appropriate ledg H2 associated with,

the drum head W2. If desired, the outer edge portion of the head I62 may be dispensed withv drum head is simply pressed radially or shifted axially inwardly, so as to be disposed out of line with the cards and out of contact with the end edges lll thereof. Thereupon, the cards may be withdrawn by combined axial and radial movement, on an inclined path, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 1.

The construction shown in Figure 2 difiers from that just described only in that the continuous annular flange I i5 is secured to the drum head M6 by springs ll'l, mounted on the ends of the tie-bolts I I8, which secure the drum heads H6, H9 together. Thus, the card retaining flange H5 may be swung outwardly or depressed radially to the dotted line position in Figure 2, to clear the ends of the cards, at any point around the circumference of the drum, to permit cards to be inserted or withdrawn at will. This mounting is somewhat simpler than that shown in Figure 1. However, if the member I99 is in the form of a continuous ring, the cards at any position on the drum may be readily removed, or new card added, in both constructions.

In Figure 3, the cards may be removed by swinging outwardly a hinged, arcuate' gate I which is normally held in the operative card retaining position by a sprin 826. The end wall l2? adjacent the gate is provided with an inclined surface I28, so that the cards may clear the member when the gat is swung to the open position. Any desired number of such pivoted, arcuate gates may be provided as a substitute for one or more of the sliding gates shown in Figure l. The operation of the apparatus of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the foregoing description. Cards en bloc may be applied to or removed from the rims by a combined endwise and radial movement, when the card retaining end member has been moved to an inoperative position.

Although the invention has been described with considerable particularity by reference to the specific embodiments shownin the accompanying drawing, it must be understoodthat it is not limited to the detail described above and shown in the accompanying drawing, but covers all modifications coming within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

I claim: l. A filing drum comprising a cylindrical rim, a substantially continuous, non-headed card retaining rail associated therewith having a side face projecting outwardly ininclined relation toward one end of the rim, whereby cards having slots similar in shape to the rail may be removed therefrom by combined radial and axial movement toward that end of the rim, and outwardly projecting means adjacent said end of the rim,

positioned to engage the ends of the cards and to prevent such movement thereof, at least a portion of said means being movable to permit such movement and removal of cards en bloc.

, 2. A filing drum comprising a cylindrical rim, 2. pair of parallel, substantially continuous, nonheaded card retaining rails associated therewith, each having a side face projecting outwardly in inclined relation toward one end of the rim, whereby cards having pairs of slots similar in shape to the rails may be removed therefrom by combined radial and axial movement, and an outwardly projecting member adjacent said end of the rim and positioned to engage the ends of the cards and prevent such movement,

least a portion of the end member being movable to permit such movement and removal of cards en bloc.

3. A filing drum comprising a cylindrical rim,

a substantially continuous card retaining rail having parallel side faces projecting from the rim in inclined relation toward one end of the drum, whereby cards having slots therein may be removed from the rail by combined radial and axial movement toward that end of the drum, and an outwardly projecting end member posi tioned to engage the ends of the cards and prevent such axial movement, at least a portion of the end member being displaceable out of the path of movement of the cards, whereby a plu- I rality of cards may-be removed en bloc by such movement.

4. A filing drum comprising a substantially cylindrical rim, a substantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith and projecting outwardly therefrom in inclined relation, whereby cards having inclined slots adjacent their lower edges may be placed on and removed from the drum by combined axialv and radial movement on an inclined path, and abutment means atone end of the drum adapted to prevent such axial movement of the cards, said abutment means being movably mountedior displacement to an inoperative position, to permil; removal of a plurality'of cards by such movement.

5. A filing drum comprising .a substantially cylindrical rim, a substantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith and projecting outwardly therefrom in inclinedirelation, whereby cards having inclined slots adjacent their lower edges may be placed'on and removed from the drum by combined axial and radial movement on an inclined path, abutmentn'i'eans at one end of the drum adaptedto prevent such axial movement of the cards, said abutment means comprising a radially movable section, spring means urging the same outwardly .into card-end abutting position, an means whereby the section may be forced inwardly 'to permit removal of cards from the drum by said bined axial and radial movement.

6. A filing drum comprising a substantially cylindrical rim, a substantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith and projecting outwardly therefromin inclined relation,

whereby cards having inclined slotsuadj'acent their lower edges may be placed on and removed from the drum by combined axial, and radial movement on an inclined path, andv abutment means at one end of the drum, adapted'to prevent such axial movement of the cards, said abutment means including a hinged section, whereby the same may be swung to an inoperative'position to permit the removal of cards by such.

combined axial and radial movement.

7. A filing drum comprising asubstantially. cylindrical rim, a substantially continuous card retaining rail associated therewith and projecting outwardly therefrom in. inclined relation, whereby cards having inclined slots adjacent their lower edges may be placed on and removed from the drum by combined axial and radial movement on an inclined path, and abutment means at one end of the drum, adapted to prevent such axial movement of thecards, said abutment means comprising an annular flange and spring means connecting the flange to the drum,

whereby the flange may be moved to aninopera-v tive position, to permit removal of cards by ccm-l bined axial and radial movement. I

RICHARD P. SCI-IOLFIELD.

com-

Images