US371791A - Indexed book - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

F. ROSEWATER.

INDEXED BOOK.

No. 371,791. Patented 001;. 1s, 1 887.

INVENTOR W MRQ WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

UNITE STATES aTnNT rrrcni FRANK ROSEWATER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,

INDEXED BOOK.

PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,791, dated October 18, 1887.

Application filed September 17, 1886. Serial No. 28,838. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK ROSEWATER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain useful Improvements in Indexed Books, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to books which are indexed to promote ready reference to such pages as may be sought; and it consists in a book having arranged at its opening edge a series of tags arranged longitudinally with the book or up and down the opening edge in oblique rows, each of which rows repre' sents a section of pages-say in hundreds or other groups, which 1 term generic subdivisionsand the inner edge of the cover of which book has along itslength aseries ofsubdivisions of the leaves between the greater subdivisions, progressing from the top to the bottom, and indicating by their position, read transversely across the leaves, the fractional part of the space between said rows of tags, as will be more fully described in connection with the drawings.

Figure l is aperspective view,partly broken away, of a book embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of a portion of a book, showing a modification.

In the drawings, A B 6 represent three serics or rows of tags,which are arranged lengthwise of the book at its opening edgcs,the rows being arranged obliquely to the plane of the book and parallel to each other, and the tags of each row being attached firmly to the edges of the leaves of the book, so as to form a good hold for the fingers in opening the book.

Each row of tags represents a different sec tion of pages. Thus the row A will represent pages of one hundred and less than two hundred, and the tags of which bear, preferably, The row B represents pages of two hundred and less than three hundred, and the tags bear the figure 2, and so on. Now, to fix any number of pages between these divisions in hundreds, I arrange upon the inside edge of the rear back of the book a progressive row of markings in figures, as at F, which read progressively from O at the top to such number at the bottom as represents the number of pages between any two rows of tags.

It will be perceived that the series of numbers on the index columnF proceeds by twos. This is because it is not possible to open the book at any place without disclosing two pages at once, and this enables me to reduce the number of figures in the index-column F to one-half the number of pages between the rows of tags. N ow, as these figures of the column F proceed toward the bottom, any figure read transversely to the row of tags will indicate the place where such figure or figures occur between the rows of tags. In other words,the particular row of tags will indicate the hundreds, and the place in that row opposite the figure or figures of column F will give the other figure of the page sought. Thus to find page 240, the row B, representing 200, is selected, and the tag of that row opposite 40 in index-column F is seized, and the book when opened at that point discloses pages 240 and 24.1. To facilitate this transverse reading of the figures of column over the edges of the leaves to the tags transverse lines or colored bands lead from these figures across the edges of the book-leavesp In making use of my invention I may, as a modification, substitute letters for the figures, thereby making an alphabetical index instead of a numerical one. Thus the rows of tags A B O and so on may indicate persons of such initials, and the column F may be divided into as many columns as there are rows of tags, as shown in Fig. 2, in which each row :as it progresses down the page has the same initialletter as the tags, but different succeeding letters for the transverse readings. Thus the name Acton would be found in first row of tags 1 andsecondline; Brown, second row of tags and third line, and so on.

In defining my invention with greater clearness I would state that I am aware that it has been proposed to subdivide the opening edge of a book both longitudinally and transversely in a manner somewhat similar to mine, as shown, for instance, in English Patent No. 1,801 of 1877; but this was done by printing or marking the edges of the leaves of the book, which soon becomes so effaced or obliterated by use as to be ineffective.

My invention is distinguished by the fact that I use a mechanical devicethe tag--which is not affected by handling,and place theindex in column F, where it is not thumbed or soiled, but still has by its cross-readings full value in locating the tag until the tag itself sufi'ers no depreciation and instantly and aceurately turns to the page sought.

In rendering my invention still more distinct, I would state that the tags used by me are much shorter than those ordinarily employed, and barely extend beyond the edges of the leaves to give a dividing-point for the leaves, their function being in the main not that of a lettered or numbered tag, (for all the tags of each row have the same generic nun1- bering in hundreds or other groupings) but merely serve as mechanical means for dividing the leaves at the right place in opening the book, the specific number sought being read transversely from the column F.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 15-- An indexed book having attached upon the opening edges of its leaves tags arranged in oblique series or rows lengthwise or up and down the book, which series or rows represent generic divisions of paging, and having also upon the inside edge of the cover of the book a series of subdivisions or markings representing the specifie pagings of each of said generic divisions and placed opposite the tags which they represent, substantially'as shown and described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 8th day of'September, 1886.

FRANK ROSE'WATEB.

Wit nesses:

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