US623857A - williams - Google Patents

Description

No. 623,857. Patented Apr. 25, I899. S. T. WILLIAMS.

CARD RECORD.

. (A lication fllod Nov. 8, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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NITED STATES PATENT rrron.

CARD-RECORD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,857, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed November 3, 1898. Serial No. 695,377. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN T. WILLIAMs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Card-Records, of which the following is a specification.

In my application, Serial No. 694,520, for United States patent, filed October 25, 1898, I have described and claimed record-cards'having duplicate indexes,of which the index characters are inscribed upon what I call twin tabs, which consist of two tabs on the same edge of each card similarly indexed, one on one side and the other on the other side. In such record-cards the space for indexing either facethat is to say, the front or back of the cardis limited to one-half the length of that edge of the card on which the index is placed, and therefore such card must be of considerable length to admit of the double indexing. The present invention gives duplicate indexes on opposite sides of the cards with cards shorter than any that would be practicable with the cards having twin tabs above mentioned.

The said inventionis mainly distinguished by the provision of a single tab on each of two opposite edges of each card of a group used in an index, the two tabs on said two edges being exactly opposite each other and having upon them similar. index characters, but the said characters being on opposite sides of the card, so that when any one of the cards of a group is reversed the corresponding index character on the back will occupy precisely the same position in the index as was previously occupied by a figure on the face. This and other features of the invention are fully represented in the accompanying drawrepresents a vertical section of a box and a face view of agroup of cards therein, exhibiting a modification of both cards andbox. Fig. 5 represents a similar view of cards and box, illustrating another modification. Fig. 6 represents a face view of a group of cards, illustrating a further modification and amplification of my invention. Fig. '7 represents a face View of a group of cards, illustrating a still further modification.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, which illustrate the simplest form of my invention, in which the cards A have a single index on each side, the index on the one side being at one edge and that on the other side being on the opposite edge, the said edges being respectively the top and bottom. Ten of these cards constitute a group,. and a complete index may consist of any number of such groups. Each card may be considered as having the greater part of its upper and lower edges divided into ten spaces, leaving an extra space a at each end. From one of these ten spaces there projects a tab 1). The duplicate tabs b projecting from the first of said ten spaces, counting from the left, have on the front card of the group inscribed upon them the index characters or numerals l 1. On the next card the duplicate tabs project from the two next spaces and have upon them the numerals 2 2 and on the third card the tabs project from the third spaces and are numbered 3 3, asillustrated in Fig.3, and so on to the tenth spaces, which are inscribed with 00. By reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 it may be understood that the duplicate indexnumerals on each edge are on one side only of the card, the said numerals on the top edge being represented in full outline and those on the lower edge in dotted outline and reversed, as though seen through, and it may also be understood by a comparison of Figs. 1 and 2, wherein the index is represented on one side and edge in solid numerals and on the other side and edge in skeleton numerals, so that whichever of the two edges of the card is at the top the same index-numeral will be presented in the same place, and hence that if the card be reversed by turning it over to change the positions of the upper and lower edges the same index-numeral will appear in the same place at the top of the card. The

indexes may be distinguished by different colors on the two sides of the card, as is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 by the solid numerals on one side and the skeleton numerals on the other side.

The parts a cat the ends of the index-spaces of the cards shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are formed as corner-tabs, which are represented as having a greater projection than the indextabs, so that when the cards are placed upright in a box or drawer B, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the index-tabs will be clear of the bottom thereof, and thus protected from injury or unnecessary wear. These corner-tabs are utilizable by the inscription upon them of any suitable characters, as indicated at S- such, for example, as the names or initials of persons whose account'the cards of a group or series of groups represent; They may, however, be without any projection, but terminate on a line with the points of the indextabs 1).

The cards represented in Fig. 4 only differ from those represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 in the absence of the projecting corner-tabs. For cards of this kind their containing box or drawer should be furnished on the bottom with small strips 0 of wood, upon which the cards may rest with the tabs a little raised from the floor of the box or drawer.

In the example shown in Fig. 5 the tab-indexes are on the side edges of the cards instead of at the top or bottom; but in every other respect the cards are the same as those described with reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The cards thus tabbed and indexed require a box or drawer B, open at one side or end, as shown in Fig. 5, to enable the index to be easily read. To reverse these cards, they require to be turned sidewise instead of over.

The tabs may beindexed on both sides, as illustrated in Fig. 6, which is a face view of a group of cards in all respects like that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, except that the tabs are each numbered on opposite sides with corresponding numerals, the numerals on the faces being indicated in bold outline and those on the backs in dotted outline and reversed,as though seen through the cards.

All four sides of the cards may be utilized for indexes by providing tabs on all sides, as illustrated in Fig. 7, wherein the tabs at the top and bottom of the cards are indexed by numerals, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, and the opposite side tabs by letters.

In carrying out my invention I generally, as in all the examples herein represented and described, make the cards of true squarethat is to say, quadrangular and with all the sides of equal length measured outside of the tabsthe object of this form being that they may fit a box or drawer whichever of their sides is so arranged therein as to be at the top or side thereof.

WVhat I claim as my invention is- 1. A reversible index-card having a tab on each of two opposite edges, the said tabs arranged opposite each other and having corresponding index characters, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. In a group of index or record cards or sheets in which the several cards of a group are consecutively indexed, two index-tabs upon each of said cards arranged exactly opposite each other on opposite edges of the card and having corresponding index characters inscribed on one face of one tab and on the other face of the opposite tab, substantiallyas and for the purpose herein described.

3. An index or record card having two tabs one on each of two opposite edges of the card and having corresponding index characters on said tabs, the said characters being of different colors one on one face of one tab and the other on the other face of the other tab, substantially as herein described.

4. An index or record card having indextabs on opposite edges and adapted to fit a box or drawer with either edge at the top or side thereof by being of true square form, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

5. An index or record card having indextabs on its edges and corner-tabs of greater projection than the index-tabs, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

6. A four-sided index or record card having on each edge a single index-tab, the tabs of any two opposite edges being exactly opposite each other and having corresponding index characters, substantially as herein described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 2d day of November, 1808.

STEPHEN T. WVILLIAMS.

Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, CHARLES J. EVERETT.

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