US2726864A - Combined guide and table structure - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 13, 1955 J WAECHTER 2,726,864

1 COMBINED GUIDE AND TABLE STRUCTURE Original Filed Aug. 12, 1947 INVEN TOR.

United States Patent 1 2,726,864 COMBINED GUIDE AND TABLE STRUCTURE Harry 3. Waechter, Mount Healthy, Ohio, assignor to Paul Benninghofen and F. B. Dieshach, Hamilton, Ohio, trustees Origlnal application August 12, 1947, Serial No. 768,106, now Patent No. 2,657,051, dated October 27, 1953. Divided and this application December 22, 1952, Serial No. 3311,9534

1 Claim. (Cl. 2271-59) This invention relates to guiding apparatus and is particularly directed to a combined table and guide construction for use in guiding strips of paper as they are fed across the top of the table. This application is a division of my United States Patent application Serial No. 768,l06 which was filed August 12, 1947, for Combined Guide and Table Structure, and which is now issued as United States Patent No. 2,657,051. The guide means of this in vention has ready application to use in autographic registers wherein the guides maintain strips of paper for uniform guiding movement along the writing platen as they are fed through the register. In the past, structures of this general character have involved parts which were rather complex and extended, were in the way and, were diliicult to adjust or to remove. Adjustment has usually required the loosening of screws and the alignment of parts.

It has been the object of the present inventor to provide an adjustable guide element which can be quickly applied to an edge of the writing platen or the table and which can be readily moved in and out to any desired adjusted position through the simple procedure of gripping the guide element in such manner as to detach its securing means and to quickly move it to the desired position.

It has been a further object of the present inventor to provide a guide of this nature which can be applied to the table structure without a great deal of structural modification of the table. It is only necessary to provide grooves in the table surface in order to provide the necessary component attachment or locking means in the table.

It has been a still further object to provide adjustment guides which are of clip form and which can be readily manufactured from a single piece of metal by blanking out the metal and bending it to constitute the component members.

It has been a still further object of the present inventor to provide guides in which there is an inherent spring tension for holding them in the desired adjusted positions.

It has been a still further object to provide guides of this character which can be completely removed from the register in a matter of seconds so that if the user does not desire to have the guides on the machine they can be completely removed without destroying the appearance of the register or the structure.

Other objects and certain advantages will be more fully apparent from a description of the drawings in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view showing the guide clips of the present invention applied along a common side or edge of the table or writing platen.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22, Figure 1, detailing one of the guides of Figure 1 in position of use.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of a guide.

Figure 4 is a side view of the guide of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view looking at the back of the guide of Figure 3.

The guide of this invention, as stated, may be employed for a number of uses. It is shown herein applied to the edge of a table structure such as the writing platen of an autographic register for the purpose of guiding paper along the platen. The guide and table structure are designed so as to permit adjustment of the guides to accommodate various widths of paper.

The table in this instance incorporates a series of 2,726,864 Patented Dec. 13, 1955 grooves 25 on the upper surface thereof. These grooves are disposed in series adjacent the desired general position of the guide and are extended at right angles to the edge 26 of the table 27. They do not extend entirely to the edge 26, stopping short adjacent thereto. The guides include upper horizontally disposed guide flanges 2S spaced upwardly from the table a sufiicient distance depending upon the aggregate thickness of the sheets of paper being guided. They also include outer guide walls 29 for guiding the strips of paper against lateral displacement, these walls being vertically disposed. The upper guide flange 28 and the wall 5.9 are formed from and attached to the side edge 33 of the body ponion 31 of the guide. The body portion consists of a flat plate member resting directly upon the table. Each guide is made up of a single piece 0* metal appropriately cut and bent to provide the guiding attaching portions.

The spring holding means for this form of guide is constituted by bending the metal of the body portion 31 at right angles to form vertical portions 32 and spring arms 33 extending under the table in substantial parallelism with the body portion Thus, the body portions embrace the edge margin of the table as shown in Figure 4. The sprin arms contact the underside of the table under considerable pressure, that is to say there is an inherent spring tension which holds the body portion and the guide flanges firmly in position on the top of the table.

These guides are held against movement along the edge of the table by means of detent lips or hook edges 3-5 formed by punching out the central portion of the body members 31 and forming the displaced metal downwardly into a vertical plane for cooperation with any one of the grooves 25 (Figure 2). T ese detent or hook edges or lips are slightly less i length than the length of the grooves 25 and they will accordingly fit in any one of these grooves. Since the grooves stop short of the edge of the table, it is evident that lateral d Jlaceinent of the guides relative to the edge of the ta is prevented.

When it is dQCiLv-J. to change the position or" the guides, their upper portions are raised by gripping the horizontal flanges, thus displacing the detent or hook edges 34 from the grooves whereupon the guides may be moved along the edge to the selected groove. The same procedure is followed in completely removing the guides from the table. Thus, the guides may be brought together or moved apart to accommodate paper of different widths.

Having described my invention, i claim:

The combination of a table for an autographic register or the like and an adjustable guide unit engageable with an edge of said table for guiding strips of paper across said table in a direction at to said edge, said guide unit formed from a single piece of resilient sheet metal and comprising a U-shaped sprim clip adapted to embrace said edge with the respective upper and lower limbs of the U-shaped clip engaging the respective upper and lower faces of said table, a vertical wall extending upwardly from one side edge of the upper limb of said clip, a flange extending horizcntaliy from said wall to overhang said upper limb of said clip, the upper limb of said U-shaped spring clip having a longitudinally disposed lip depending from the underside thereof, a series of grooves in the upper surface of said table, said grooves being disposed at 90 to said edge in spaced parallel relation with respect to one another with the ends of the grooves adjacent to said edge terminating short of said edge, and said lip being adapted to be engaged into a pre-selected groove to lock said guide unit to said edge in pre-selected position within the range of the series of grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 442,255 Jones Dec. 9, 1890

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