US463640A - Method of indexing letters - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. B. NORDHEM. METHOD OF INDEXING LETTERS, &c.

No. 463,640. Patented Nov. 24, 1891.

0 CITY DI! "WI! MEMORANDUM FOR THE WRIYER MEMORANDUM NR 1'"! RECIPIENT APPROVED FOLIO g Q. c 5-2 MEMORANIJIM mR THE WRITER MEMORANDUM FOR THE FOL/0 m: nonms warns on, mom-mac wwmwrou, n, c.

NITED S'rarns PAT NT Brien.

JETLEE l3 NORDHE M, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters. Patent No. 463,640, dated November 24, 1891.

Application filed August 23,1890. Serial No. 362,869. (No model.)

To all w/wm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J ETLEE B. N ORDHEM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indexing; and Ido declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to printed blank forms for letter-sheets and bill and invoice headings to beused separately or put up in pads or bound in book form.

It consists, essentially, in providing the sheets of paper with a printed heading consisting of a series of letters, figures, and lines, by means of which each sheet contains a complete index to the name of the writer, besides much other data useful for purposes of reference.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a printed form for my improved letter and bill head ready for'use. Fig. 2 shows the same form filled out as an index and for reference purposes. Fig. 3 shows the indexing feature alone.

a is a printed form inclosed within a border in the upper left-hand corner of the sheet, designated and for use as a place for the memorandum of the writer. It contains the printed words Initials of Writer, Ap-

- proved, In Answering Refer to Press-Copy Book, and Folio, arranged consecutively on the left-hand side of the form, which is surrounded by a border. After each word or sentence is a blank line for the insertion of the indexing and reference matter, consisting of the initials of the writer and approver of the communication and the book and folio in which it is press-copied, as shown in Fig. 2. In the upper right-hand corner of the sheet are lines o for the name and address of the firm using the letter-head, which name and address may be either written or printed on said lines or in the space they occupy. To the right of the name and address is printed in plain bold type the initial letter (shown asA in the drawings) of the person or firm using I this form, and below this initial letter are numerals which indicate, respectively, the second, third, and fourth letters in said name, (Ayer in the drawing,) each numeral corresponding with the num ber of the place in the alphabet of the letter which it is designed to indicate. In this way may be indicated, if desired, all the letters in a name, though in most cases it will be sufficient for the purposes of indexing and filing to indicate by the appropriate numerals only the first three letters following the initial or first letter of the name. The lines o and the indexing. letter and numerals may be used independent of the memorandum forms.

Below the indexing letter and numerals is a blank memorandum form I), inclosed within a border and corresponding in size to the form a, but designed for the use of the recipient of the communication. Vithin this form are printed consecutively the words Received, Answered, Entered, and Folio, with a blank line after each word for the insertion of the dates of reception and answer and the number of the ledger and folio.

The business card of the firm or person using my improved index-sheet maybe printed on any part of the sheet; but it is desirable that it appear near the indexing letter and numerals.

The memorandum forms may be varied to suit different kinds of business, as I only illustrate forms found to be convenient in one kind of business.

It is my purpose to furnish these blank index-sheets to the trade, and I do not confine myself to any particular letter or monogram, nor to any special shape of blank.

The principle involved in my invention is alike applicable to letter-sheets, invoices, billheads, &c., and the printed forms may be applied to separate sheets or be bound in bookform, or put up in pads.

The advantages in the use of this form are manifold. A file-clerk in assorting for filing and in filing a large number of letters, for instance, can, by glancing at the upper right corner, where the initial letter is conspicuous, tell instantly under what letter of the alphabet the communication belongs. A glance at the numerals will indicate the exact position under the initial letter, so that the communition will be placed with others from the same party. When search is being made for the letter some timeafter it has been filed away, the name of the writer being remembered, it

5 will be only necessary to find his initial letter and turn to the place or compartment indicated by the numberof the second and third letters in his name, which in the case illustrated in the drawings would be A255, thus making a complete and efieetive index and a rapid alphabetical file. The data for reference, which if given at all heretofore, has been unsystematically applied, is here in compact and complete form, and search need not be made in but one placethe head of the original letter or the press-copy thereof-for the information needed.

In'answering a communication written on one of these letter-sheets the writer, by referring to the data in the upper left-hand corner, indicates who wrote the letter answered, who reviewed it, and where the copy may be found, and the contents of the first each-sheet the initial letter of the person or firm using the paper, and with such letter numerals indicating in their alphabetical order two or more of the letters following the initial, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a busi ness blank form composed of an initial letter and figures printed, embossed, or otherwise permanently impressed on or affixed to a sheet of plain or ruled paper, said letter and figures indicating the name of the user of the blank for the purposes of indexing and filing, as set forth.

3. Ablank letter or bill head having printed thereon the words Memorandum for the Writer, Initials of \Vriter, Approved, In Answering Refer to Press-Copy Book, and Folio, with lines for the insertion of appropriate initials and numbers, and the words Memorandum for the Recipient, Received, Answered, Entered, and Folio, with lines for the insertion of appropriate dates and numbers, and an initial letter and numerals indicating the name of the user of the form, all permanently placed thereon for the purposes fully described and set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JETLEE B. NORDHEM. lVitnesses:

M. E. FERGUSON, M. H. L. WING.

Images