US2697021A - Filing cabinet - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 14, 1954 A. w. BUCK FILING CABINET Filed Jan. 19, 1950 United States Patent Ograph Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application January 19, 1950', Serial' No. 139,469

1 Claim. (Cl. 312i-320)` This invention relates to filing cabinets and is directed particularly to improvements in cabinets designed to have particular value in the tiling of X-ray films, though not restricted to such use.

In the present method of tiling X-ray lms, sliding drawer cabinets are used in which the length of the drawer extends out from the wall and the films in their envelopes are put in through the top of the drawer and stand up in a solid mass from front to back. Due to the weight of such ilrns the drawer when pulled out carries a great weight forwardly of the cabinet structure with the result that the entire cabinet is likely to tip forward, particularly when the top 4unit drawer is in use.

In addition to the foregoing, the lilm envelopes will not remain upright unless a follower is used and this then packs the envelopes tightly together making selection of a particular one difficult. Also a tile clerk, unless she is of considerable height, has difficulty in selecting a desired envelope from the back of the drawer.

A particular obect of the present invention is to provide a sliding drawer cabinet in which the drawer is designed to have the contents acessible from the side and which is movable into and out of the cabinet sideways so that the length of the structure may be disposed paralel to a wall, thus providing a cabinet which takes up less room space outwardly from a wall and in which the drawer needs to be extended from its housing not less than three inches or more than nine inches as against an extension of about twenty-six inches for a cabinet of the customary type.

Another object is to provide a tiling cabinet accessible from the side and having a roller supported, side opening drawer, with means for moving the drawer in and out which mechanically locks the drawer or carrier in place when extended to its approximate limit.

A further object is to provide a lm ling cabinet cornprising a housing or shell, accessible from the side and enclosing a iilm carrier supported by rollers travelling on tracks, wherein the carrier has its front-to-back center of gravity, when extended, located back of its forward support.

Another object is to provide a filing cabinet of the character set forth, wherein the film carrier is divided from front-to-back by partitions which are narrower at the top than at the bottom, with the front edges at a receding angle, which. when the height of the partitions is kept lower than the film envelopes, promotes easy access to the printed indicia on the corners of the envelopes apart.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description of the same proceeds and the invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described since obvious modiiications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a front elevation of a cabinet constructed in accordance with the present invention, showing the doors thereof open.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, on an enlarged scale.

Figure 3 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary detail showing a roller mounting.

lce

Referring'v more particularly to the drawing, the nu-L meral 10 generally designates the cabinet casing or shell which comprises the top andbottom wallsl 11 and 12 respectively,A the end walls 13,- back wall 14, and front 15 in whichy is the door opening 16.

The opening 16 is closed by the two side hinged doors As shown the frontof the casing is of a length greater than the depth from frontto back and ateach side there is secured uponl the bottom, a track- 18iwhich` extends from the front to the back and lies relatively close to a side wall 13. The tracks 18 are preferably formed of T irons, inverted so that the free edge of the web is directed' upwardly;

Positioned within thencasing'lis the .iilm carrier which is generally designated- 19. This carrier comprises a bottorn 20, side walls 21 and back wall 22. Across the front of the bottom is a low upstanding wall or llange 23.

As shown the carrier is of a height materially less than the inside height of the casing and of a width less than the front opening 16. Thus the carrier can be easily moved into and out of the casing as necessary.

Secured to the outer sides of the side walls 21 of thecarrier 19 are two grooved wheels or rollers 24. These are here shown as rotatably mounted to turn on pivots 25 carried by mounting bracket plates 26 which are secured in a suitable manner to a wall 21, and each roller receives the track flange in the groove thereof as shown in Figure 4. Thus the carrier is supported in spaced relatiocrli 3with the casing bottom 12, as shown in Figures l an As shown in Figure 2 one roller 24 at each side of tnt,l carrier is located close to the back 22 while the other roller is set back a substantial distance from the front of the carrier, so that when the carrier is extended from the casing to its extreme position the center of gravity from front to back is located back of its forward support and the carrier when loaded will not cause the structure to tip forward.

In order to limit the forward movement of the carrier and also lock it in its position there is provided an operating and locking linkage comprising a long thrust link 27 and a short crank or lever bar 28, located in the space between the carrier bottom 20 and the casing bottom 12.

The link 27 is pivotally secured at one end at the point 29, to the center of the back wall 14 of the casing, to swing horizontally while the lever bar 28 is pivoted at 30, at a point inwardly from one end to a spacer block 31 secured to the underside of the carrier bottom at the front center part thereof, also to swing horizontally.

The link and bar have two ends in crossed relation, as shown in Figure 2 and are joined by a vertical pivot 32 and when the carrier is in its in or closed position, the link 27 is in a forwardly and laterally extended position while the lever bar 28 extends laterally and rearwardly, with its forward end projecting beyond the llange 23. This forward projecting end has an upturned lip 33 which provides a finger hold to facilitate swinging the crank or lever bar.

[t will be seen that when the bar 28 is swung by pulling out on the lip 33 a forward thrust will be imparted to the carrier to move it out of the casing, thus bringing the link and bar into parallel relation, as indicated in dotted outline in Figure 2.

In order to stop the link and lever in the parallel relation, one thereof has an edge notch cut therein as at 34 and the other carries a stop pin 35 which engages in the notch.

The carrier is divided from front to back by a number of vertical partitions 36, which are the same height as the ends 21 and these ends and the partitions have their front edges cut at a receding angle as at 37 so that lm envelopes when stood up in the spaces between the partitions will have their top front corners exposed, making it easy to see the printed indicia which such envelopes carry.

The front of the flange 23 may have index card holding plates 38, secured thereto in front of each of the envelope holding spaces.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there is provided a filing cabinet of unique design having many desirable advantages over the type of cabinet at present in use, as hereinbefore' pointed out;

l claim:

A filing cabinet comprising a casing having a greater length than depth with one long side open to provide a front door opening, a carrier disposed within said casing, means for supporting said carrier for inward and outward movement relative to said casing, said carrier when in outermost position having its front-to-back center of gravity located inwardly of the front of said casing and operating means for said carrier comprising a link and a bar having overlapping ends pivotally connected together and disposed beneath said carrier, the opposite end of said link being pivotally connected to the back wall of said casing, said bar being pivotally connected inwardly of the opposite end thereof to the bottom of the carrier adjacent the forward end thereof, a finger grip on the opposite end of said bar disposed outwardly of said carrier in all positions and inwardly of said door opening References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 567,693 Smith Sept. 15, 1896 1,144,882 Whitaker June 29, 1915 1,547,627 Thomas July 2S, 1925 1,696,327 Rosentreter Dec. 25, 1928 1,821,247 Thomas Sept. 1, 1931 1,929,095 Hutchings Oct. 3, 1933 1,961,332 Burch et al. lune 5, 1934

Images