US576295A - Index - Google Patents

Description

(NO Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2q G. J. WATTS 8v F. J. WRAGG.'

INDEX No. 576,295. Ptented Peb. 2, 1897.

llNrTEn STATES PATENT GEEICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 576,295, dated February 2, 1897. Application filed March 1.8, 1896. Serial No. 583,745. (No model.)

To all whom t Duty concern.:

Be it known that we, CHARLES JOSEPH WATTS and FRANK JVRAG-G, citizens of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indexes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in indexes for blank books, as account-books, record-books, or books in which are kept lists of names, things, or facts, and the general object is to facilitate and lessen the labor of finding any name, fact, or other information recorded in any of such books in alphabetical order under the first alphabetical letter in the surname in the case of a person or the first letter in the case of a fact or other information. y

To this end the invention consists, essentially, of the letters of the alphabet in regular order from A to Z, inclusive, placed one group at, on, or near the back or cover of the book and the other group at, on, or near the front or cover of the book, so that when the book is open both groups appear to the eye, and a suitable number of book pages or leaves arranged between such alphabetical groups, and each page having one or more marginal tabs for each letter of said groups, the tabs being lettered on both of their respective sides, and the obverse side of each preceding tab being lettered correspondingly with the reverse side of the succeeding tab, so that no matter at what page the book is open an index appears at each side or marginal edge of the book, constituting what we term a double index, or a right and left hand index combined. This right and left hand index combination was made to effect a right and left hand reversible subdivided index and is the essential characteristic of the invention, and we construct it in the manner j ust stated, in which it will be seen that the alphabetical groups face each other, while the tabs are lettered on both their obverse and reverse sides, the letters on their obverse sides working in conjunction with the right-hand alphabetical group and the letters on their reverse sides working in conjunction with the left-hand alphabetical group, and the obverse side of the preceding tabs working in conjunction with the reverse side of the succeeding tabs. There are many advantages in practice derived from this double or right and left hand index, as we have ascertained, and we will herein mention one of them. It is this: It is a common experience that in searching for names in indexes one often, while engaged with a name occurring well down in the alphabet, needs to refer back to one or more names occurring earlier in the alphabet. In all single or merely right-hand or left-hand indexes it is necessary under such condition to turn the left-hand pages back to the right or left and then run the eye along the tabs or other form of index to find the name or names occurring in the earlier part ofthe alphabet while still trying to keep the place farther down in the alphabet. This is annoying and time-consuming. of ours it is only necessary to cast the eye to the left-hand side of the book, when the name or names occurring earlier in the alphabet can be readily found without any turning of the left-hand pages over to the right, or vice versa.

In the accompanying drawings, on which like reference letters and figures indicate c0rresponding parts, Figure 1 is a perspective View of an index-book embodying our invention; and Fig. 2 is a similar view of an indexbook embodying a modied form of our inven` tion, the modification consisting in lettering the tabs somewhat differently, as hereinafter more fully pointed out.

The letter A designates the back or cover of a blank book of any type and to be used for any purpose. Vithin this cover are placed and secured, in any of the usual. ways, a series of leaves B,constituting pages. These pages we have ruled into columns l, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as to the left-hand pages and into col* umns 6, 7, 8, and 9 as to the right-hand pages. There is nothing peculiar, however, about these columns, as they will vary with the different uses of the book. Over columns 2, 5, and 8, which are designated Name, we have placed the vowels A E I on the pages appearingin Fig. l, while on the reverse sides of these pages the vowels 0 U Y are similarly placed.' These vowels agree with the letters shown on the page-tabs, so that if A E I With this improved index are on the obverse sides of the respective tabs on the right and left hand pages then A E I appear on the obverse side of the page, and if O U Y appear on the reverse sides of the tabs then O U Y will appear on the reverse sides of the pages.

Within the cover A, or upon theinner face thereof, or on a special fiy-leaf C, we place alphabetical groups lO, each consisting of the letters A to Z, inclusive, in regular alphabetical order. These letters stand for the initial. in the surname of individuals or for the first letter in other names, as the names of things, or the first letter in the word designating the factrecorded. It will be seen, no matter at what place the book is opened, these alphabetical groups appear facing the eye, one to the right and the other to the left. This is the first element that enters into the arrangement or construction by which our index is a double index or a right and a left hand index.

Referring again to the sheets B, constituting pages of the book, it will be seen that each sheet has a tab ll, preferably made of leather and united to the pages in any convenient way, say by means of paste or some adhesive material. The peculiarity of these tabs is that they are lettered on both sides, or, as we term it, on the obverse and the reverse sides, regarding the obverse side as that which appears to the eye wherever the book is open and regarding the reverse side as that which does not appear to the eye wherever the book is opened. Another peculiarity of these tabs is that the lettering on the obverse side of any preceding tab is the same as the lettering on the reverse side of the next suoceeding tab. For instance, the obverse side of the first left-hand tag in Fig. l, namely a e i, is the same as the reverse side of the second left-hand tag in the first figure; and the obverse side, namely o u y, of the second left-hand tab is the same as the reverse side of the third left-hand tab, or, if the illustra-tion be given at the right-hand side of the gure the obverse side of the first right-hand tab, as the book is shown in said figure,

namely a c i, is the same as the reverse side of the second right-hand tab. Thus it results that one side of any two tabs opposite any one of the letters of the alphabetical group do present a e i o u y whether the page is turned to the left or the right, so that taking the letter M in Fig. l it will be seen that a e i appear on the left-hand side and o u yappear under them, if page B(shown in dotted lines) were carried over to the left, but if allowed to remain to the right then a e i o u y are still shown opposite M. These letters on the tabs designate the second letter in surnames of individuals or the like, and the second letter in t-he names of things or the second letters in words designating the fact. This, however, is what is known generally as the vowel arrangement, and is not a distinguishing feature of our invention, be-

cause it will be seen, by referring to Fig. 2, that the vowel arrangement is not preserved, though the primary feature of lettering both sides of the tabs is preserved, as well as the feature of making the obverse side of a preceding tab agree with the reverse side of the next tab, which latter is a feature of our invention. Referring, therefore, to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the same arrangement of alphabetical letters or groups lO is preserved and the same arrangement of tabs is also preserved, each tab being lettered from both sides, the only difference being that in Fig. 2 the vowel system is dropped and the lettering on the tabs is changed to a conventional division of the alphabet, which conventional arrangement will differ' with the different uses for which the index may be used. Thus in the modified form shown in Fig 2 the first left-hand tab, as shown, is lettered A to Z, inclusive, which means that all names or words beginning with A and having a second letter anywhere from A to 2, inclusive, will be placed on the page bearing that tab so lettered A to Z5 or, taking the second example on the left-hand page, the letter 13, wherein three tabs, each attached to a page, are placed opposite said letter, in which case a greater number of pages are devoted to B and the range of letters for the second letter in the name or word runs from A to Y, inclusive. In both forms, however, the essential feature of the two alphabetical groups, one at each side of the book, arranged to face the eye no matter where the book is opened, together with the tabs properly lettered on both sides, so that every tab can be read with each of the alphabetical groups, no mattei' which side of the tab is up or no matter whether the page is turned to the right or the left, is preserved. This is what constitutes our double or right and left hand index, which we regard as a great advance over what has preceded our invention in the way of indexes.

It will also be seen in Fig. 2 that the columns marked Surname have letters, as Il E or H J or II Z or Il L, agreeing with the letter of the alphabetical group and the lettering of the tabs corresponding to such letter; but this is not a necessary part of our invention.

In using the term alphabetical group we would have it understood that we include in such group the conventional designation Mc and any equivalent conventionality, such as Mac Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, ism Y l. In an index-book, a double index con sisting of a plurality of alphabetical groups arranged so as to face the eye no matter where the book is opened, a suitable number of leaves ruled to constitute pages, and tabs for each page lettered on their obverse and IOO IIO

reverse sides, there being one or more tabs for each letter of either alphabetical group,

f the obverse side of each preceding tab beingv lettered correspondingly With the reverse side of the succeeding tab.

2. In an index-book, a double index consisting of two alphabetical groups each placed at or near the inside oi the back or cover of the book and composed of letters A to Z, inclusive, and leaves ruled to form sheets each having a tab lettered on both sides, there being one or more tabs for each letter of either

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