US3746296A - Portable forms support - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable support for retaining groups of business or data cards in an upright inclined manner, permitting their being conveniently inspected, ''''thumbed'''' through and otherwise handled as necessary for varied business purposes. The support is of generally triangular cross section, constructed of high friction material such as rubber or plastic, and provided with plural raised projections near each apex.

Description

United States Patent 1 1 1 1 3,746,296 Dean et a1. July 17, 1973 1 PORTABLE FORMS SUPPORT 1,875,288 8/1932 Welk et a1. 4. 211/43 2,225,830 12/1940 Harris 211/42 UX [75] Invemm: Caru- Dean Swthbrldge; David 2,326,241 8/1943 Martin 248/441 x Wright, Shrewsbury, both of Mass. 2,651,927 9 1953 Mullins 248/373 x [73] Assignee: Barry Wright Corporation,

Watertown, Mass. Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz [22] Filed Oct 20 1971 Attorney-Milton E. Gilbert 21 A 119219109 7 l 1 pp 0 57 ABSTRACT 52 U.S. c1 248/441 211/43 211/50 A retaining business 51 1111.01 .A47 b 65/00 data cards in an upright inclined manner Permitting 58 Field of Search 211/42 43 49 R their being conveniently imputed 21 1/50. 248/37 through and otherwise handled as necessary for varied business purposes. The support is of generally triangu- [56] Referen'ces Cited lar cross section, constructed of high friction material such as rubber or plastic, and provided with plural UNITED STATES PATENTS raised projections near each apex. D26,3l9 11/1896 Wood 248/38 X 1,370,279 3/1921 Burzynski 211/43 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Pmzmmwm $076,296

HNVENTORS DAVID M WRIGHT CARL J. DEAN ATTORNEYS PORTABLE FORMS SUPPORT BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY This invention generally relates to supports used for the holding and retaining of groups of business data cards or forms, such as punched cards, whereby the cards may be selected, handled, and observed after being removed from file drawers in a convenient and simplified manner.

With the number of computers and data processors in use continuously increasing, the quantity of data cards being used has progressively proliferated. This increased application of cards has required that the data cards be made smaller in size to permit greater numbers of such cards to be stored in available space facilities.

However, the smaller cards are more difficult to manually handle and thumb through and require various aids to assist in their selection and handling.

Additionally, for the purpose of efficiently storing the maximum quantity of such small cards, it is preferred that the file drawers be filled to or near capacity with such cards. For searching or selecting purposes it is therefore necessary that groups of the cards be first removed from their storage drawer and then searched or thumbed through outside of such drawer, employing for example the flat surface of a nearby table or cabinet as a base support.

The present invention is for the purpose of providing portable upright supports for retaining groups of such cards in a stacked together and upright inclined position outside of their file drawer so that they may be readily and conveniently handled and searched.

Generally according to a preferred embodiment, the support is molded as an integral unit of rubber or other high friction and moderately dense material having a generally triangular shape in cross section and being provided with enlarged apex regions. Raised projections on each of the enlarged apices are provided to assist in retaining the data cards without slippage. These supports are symmetrically constructed with no preferred orientation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a similar perspective view and showing a pair of such supports retaining a group of business data cards for inspection, and

FIG. 3 is a further perspective view showing a singlesupport.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in FIG. I, a preferred filing card support according to the invention is formed of a solid member molded of rubber or other suitable high surface friction material, having medium or high density and weight, and having a generally triangular cross section.

The member 10 is generally symmetrical about its longitudinal axis and therefore can be universally arranged with apy two pair of its legs stabily resting on a flat support and with the third leg oriented upward as shown in FIG. 2.

The apex portions ll, 12, and 13 provided at the three ends of member 10 are preferably bulbous and enlarged, as shown. Therefore when an inclined stack of data cards 14 is supported against member 10, the cards contact the upper and lower bulbous apex regions only, leaving a space or recess between the cards and the central portion of the support member 10. This spaced region permits the insertion of the fingers behind the stacked cards so that the cards may be easily and quickly grasped to place them against the support or remove them from the support.

To assist in non-slipping support of the cards, these enlarged apex regions ll, 12, and 13 are also provided with outstanding projections 15 and 16 to engage the cards. As shown, these projections may be a pair, or more, of spaced apart ridges or ribs having a rectangular cross section with abrupt edges.

The use of such supports 10 on a base to retain a collection of business data cards is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Since the cards 14 are retained at an inclined angle to the supports there is a natural tendency for them to slide downward and away from the support 10. The high friction provided by the outstanding ribs 15 and 16 of rubber prevent this from occuring. Thus a pair of supports may be used as shown in FIG. 2. Where the cards are carefully set down to lean against both the upper and lower pairs of ribs only one support need be used as shown in FIG. 3.

It will be apparent that many variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Accordingly this invention should be considered as limited only by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantially non-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surface and providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said cards in an inclined upright orientation comprising:

a symmetrical elongated member of relatively high surface friction material and having in crosssection a substantially triangular shape with a projecting leg at each of its three apices, each of said legs being bulbous in shape and sized so that a recess exists behind a plane tangent to the surfaces of any pair of such apices,

and spaced projections extending from the surface of each bulbous leg to further prevent slippage of a data card resting against said support, said projections extending lengthwise of said member.

2. A support according to claim 1 wherein said spaced projections consist of spaced apart parallel ribs extending from the opposite sides of each leg, with the ribs on one leg disposed at an acute angle to those ribs extending from the next adjoining leg.

3. A support according to claim 1 wherein said member is molded of a rubber.

4. A portable support according to claim 1 wherein said member has a substantially uniform cross-section throughout substantially its entire length.

5. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantially non-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surface and providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said data cards in an inclined upright orientation said support comprising:

a symmetrical elongate member made of a relatively high surface friction material, said member having three apex portions and three side surfaces each extending between two of said apex portions, said apex portions and said side surfaces being arranged so that said member has a generally triangularly 3 4 shaped cross-section, said apex portions being bulribs formed integral with and projecting outwardly bous in shape so that a space exists between a plane of the opposite sides of each apex portion, said ribs tangent to any two of said apex portions and the being parallel and extending lengthwise of said side surface that extends between said any two member.

apex portions, said apex sections being of uniform 5 6. A support according to claim 5 wherein said ribs cross-section along substantially the entire length have abrupt longitudinally extending edges. of said member, and at least a pair of spaced apart

Claims (6)

1. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantially non-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surface and providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said cards in an inclined upright orientation comprising: a symmetrical elongated member of relatively high surface friction material and having in cross-section a substantially triangular shape with a projecting leg at each of its three apices, each of said legs being bulbous in shape and sized so that a recess exists behind a plane tangent to the surfaces of any pair of such apices, and spaced projections extending from the surface of each bulbous leg to further prevent slippage of a data card resting against said support, said projections extending lengthwise of said member.

2. A support according to claim 1 wherein said spaced projections consist of spaced apart parallel ribs extending from the opposite sides of each leg, with the ribs on one leg disposed at an acute angle to those ribs extending from the next adjoining leg.

3. A support according to claim 1 wherein said member is molded of a rubber.

4. A portable support according to claim 1 wherein said member has a substantially uniform cross-section throughout substantially its entire length.

5. A portable support for data cards adapted for substantially non-slipping detachable engagement with a table or other flat surface and providing a substantially non-slip surface for supporting said data cards in an inclined upright orientation said support comprising: a symmetrical elongate member made of a relatively high surface friction material, said member having three apex portions and three side surfaces each extending between two of said apex portions, said apex portions and said side surfaces being arranged so that said member has a generally triangularly shaped cross-section, said apex portions being bulbous in shape so that a space exists between a plane tangent to any two of said apex portions and the side surface that extends between said any two apex portions, said apex sections being of uniform cross-section along substantially the entire length of said member, and at least a pair of spaced apart ribs formed integral with and projecting outwardly of the opposite sides of each apex portion, said ribs being parallel and extending Lengthwise of said member.

6. A support according to claim 5 wherein said ribs have abrupt longitudinally extending edges.

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