US624597A - Stephen t - Google Patents

Description

Patented May 9, |899.l S. T. WILLIAMS.

CARD RECORD.

(Application led Oct. 25, 1898..)

2v Sheets-Sheet I.

{No Model.)

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(no Model.)

` Paten'ted May 9, |8\99 4S. T'. WILLIAMS.

CARD RECORD;

(Apncntion med oet. 25, lesa.)

n: uonms PETERS ccAPNmmLITHo. wA-smuoau o c .NiTnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN T. IVILLIAMS, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

CARD-RECORDQ SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,597, dated May 9, 1899.

Application filed October 1 8 9 8.

i To a/ZZ whom t may con/cern.-

x 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 isa specication.

In the tab-card system of indexing or recording on cards filed in a drawer or box the cards when in place are-usually distinguished each from the other by what may be termed and will be hereinafter referred to as index characters, and which may be letters, numorals, or other characters or words printed or written on one side only of portions of the cards projecting from their upper edges and called tabs A complete set or series of these cards may and usually will consist of several groups, each group comprising a certain number of cards numbered or4 in any way indexed consecutively to form one complete index.

It is frequently the case that both sides of a card are required for records. In that case the card when removed from its group must loe turned over by the hand, and after the records have been made it must be turned back again in order that the index character may face the recorder or Searcher. If the card have only a single tab inscribed on the back with the same index character as, that upon the front of the tab, whenever the card 'is reversed as to face and back, but without reversing top and bottom, the tab will occuy a different position in the index order from its former one and disconcert the Searcher. lThis disarrangement of index order by such reversal of a card is unavoidable with any card group or series bearing but one index of consecutive letters or numbers. If every card of such a group is reversed whenever the consecutive order of the index characters on the, back of the card is consulted, the card must be taken from its place and turned over for inspection and turned back again when restored to its place in the file. The motions involved in this taking out and turning over consume time, and when many hundreds or thousands of cards are to be handled in a day, whether by one person or many, the wasted time and energy become a very sensible quantity. An y Serial No. 694,520. (No model.)

attempt to remedy this fault has been made in which the backsof the cardsare so ruled that records on the back begin at the bottom of the card and proceed upward, the intention being to enable inspectors to read the backs as Well as the fronts without removal from the file. Practically the plan is a failure, the inspector being obliged to bend his body or neck into unnatural positions to read the back of the card at all and obscuring the light necessary for rendering the records legible in a card-lilo. Again, with all tabcard indexes or records heretofore used in drawer or box files only the person in front of or facing the iile could conveniently read .the index characters and use the file at one time.

This invention has for its object, first,- the saving of wasted motions and time in reading and handling such card-indexes or recordcards, and, second, providing for or facilitating the lin g and inspection of such card-records, &c., by two or more persons at the same time.

I effect my purpose by providing two index` tabs upon the same edge of each card in a group, these tabs, which I term twin tabs, being' in the same relative position measured from the two ends. or two opposite edges of the card and so positioned that upon reversal of the card side for side and back for front the twin tabs exchange places in the index order. I indite the same index character upon the face of one tab and upon the back of its twin tab preferably in inks of different colors for the front and back of the two tabs. My object in using different-colored inks for this purpose is to have the changed color inform the inspector that the card has been reversed and that there are records on the reverse side. `Otherwise the inspector who 'wishes to know how much matter has been recorded and if the reverse side has been used must remove the card from its file and turn it over to ascertain the information..

To more fully explain the invention, I have illustrated it by drawings, in which- Figure/l is a perspective view of a box or drawercontaining the three groups of cards having my twin tabs. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a single group of such cards separated a little way apartto illustrate more clearly what I call the twin-tab system. Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively front and back views of the same one of the cards shown in Fig. 2. Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively front lviews of a card, illustrating a modilication. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a` group of cards, illustrating another modification of my invention.

Similar letters of reference designate corre` sponding parts in all the figures.

Referring first to Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4, in which d d are cards, each having on its upper edge the pair of tabs b b', which I call the twin7 tabs, equidistant one from one side edge and the other from the other side edge of the card. Ten of these cards constitute a group. The upper edge of each card may be considered as divided into twenty spaces,fro1n two of .which project the twin tabs, which on the front card of a group are in the spaces next the side edges and have inscribed on them the numerals l l and on the next card are in the next spaces and have inscribed upon them the numerals 2 2, and so on to the tenth spaces, which are inscribed with O 0. The said numerals from l to 0, counting from one side edge, are on one side of the card, which may be considered as the face, and those counting from the other side edge are on the other side of the card, which may be considered as the back, as may be linderstood by reference to Figs. I and 2, wherein the numerals counting from the left are represented in fulloutline and those counting from the right in dotted outline and reversed as though seen through the card. The faces of the tabs or the numerals thereon should be distinguished from the backs of the tabs or the numerals thereon in some way-as, for example, the numerals on the face and back Vmay be of different color, as may be understood by reference to Figs. 3 and 4, the tabs being of the same color as the body of the card on both sides, or the faces of the tabs may be ot one color and the backs of another color, as may be understood by the shading of the tabs in Figs. 5 and 6, the numerals being of the same color on both sides of the card.

The different groups in a series may be distinguished one from the other by different colors of the tabs regardless of the similarity or dissimilarity of the index colors on the two sides of the tabs, as may be understood by reference to Fig. l, where the tabs of the three series aredifferently shaded toindicate differences of color. While I preferably apply this indexing to the upper edge of the card, I may apply it to one of the side edges, as illustrated in Fig. 7. In that case the box or drawer in which the cards are filed should be of skeleton form or open at one side to permit viewing the index and the withdrawal and replacement of the cards in a lateral direction.

It is plain that in one complete group of my twin-tab system having every tab indexed as desc bed such group will contain duplicate indexes upon a single edge, one complete index reading from the front of the iile and the other complete index reading from the back of the file at the same time. In this system no two tabs in a complete consecutiveindex group will lie one behind the other; but every index character on its face or on its back may be read at the same time by persons placed in front or at the back of the drawer or other receptacle containing the led cards.

A com plete group in my system is thus seen to possess duplicate indices upon one edge instead of a single index, as in the old system'. A complete group of my cards pre* sents the same consecutiveindex characters whether viewed from the back or front.

In practice when the face of a card of my system has been filled by records and the back of the card is required for additional records the original position of the card is reversed side for side and back for face, the right-hand twin tab thus exchanging place with that on the left and presenting to the inspector at the front of the file a duplicate of the index character shown on the former tab in its proper index order. The changed color of the index character notifies the inspector of reversal of the card. The records last made-on the card are thus at once seen by the inspector at the front without the neces-A sity of removing the card from its iile and turning it over. The index order is not disturbed, and the index characters can still be read in their proper order from the rear, as before.

In the old and single-tab system if the index-tab should have the same index character inscribed upon its back the card could not be so reversed, because its tab would fall out of its proper indexed order and confuse the liler and Searcher.

It is obvious that the twin-tab system of indexing is not confined to the decimal numeration of the indices, but that the indexing may be by the days of the week or the months or the letters of the alphabet and, in fact, by any index character that may be suitable, according to the nature of the record which is to be kept. Y

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a group of index or record cards or sheets consecutively indexed in opposite directions, twin index-tabs provided upon one edge ot' each of such cards or sheets, so positioned that by reversal of a card side for side and back for front, the twin tabs are caused to exchange places in the index order, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. A group of index or record cards each having upon one edge two tabs with the same index character inscribed upon one side of one of said tabs and upon the opposite side of the other one, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. A reversible index-card having on one roo IIO'

edge tWo index-tabs bearing one on its face l and another coloron the baokof the card, suband the other on its back corresponding instantially as and for the purpose set forth. dex-signs and having the faces of the index- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as tabs distinguished from the backs thereof by my invention I have signed my name, in pres- 5 different Colors, substantially as and for the .ence of two Witnesses, this 21st day of Octo- 15 purpose set forth. ber, 1898.

4. A reversible index-Gard having on one STEPHEN T. WILLIAMS. edge two index-tabs bearing one on its face Witnesses: Y and the other on its back corresponding in W. L. MURRAY,

1o dex-signs which are of one color on the face CHAS. J. EVERETT.

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