US695226A - Ledger-index. - Google Patents

Description

No. 695,226. I Patented Mar. ll, I902.

S. MCMILLEN.

LEDGER INDEX.

(Application filed May 21. 1901.)

lNvENT R S MUEL MOMILLEN Hvs ATTORNEYS TH: uonms l nens cu. PHOTO-LXTNO., msumsron. n. c.

NIIlE rates ATENT rFicE.

SAMUEL MOMILLEN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

LEDGER-INDEX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 695,226, dated March 11, 1902.

Application filed May 21, 1901. Serial No. 61,234. (No modelJ To aZZ whmn it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL MOMILLEN, of

The invention relates to an improved system of indexing for ledgers.

In aledger-index as usually made the names are placed in regular vertical columns under the second or third letter of the name, the initial letter being on the tab. In large sets of books there are frequently several pages of names, and as many of them have the same second or third letter it often happens that the bookkeeper is compelled to look through a column running over several pages to find the name under which a certain account is indexed.

The object of the invention is to provide a system of indexing under which the names will be irregularly arranged and the book keeper Will be able to quickly locate any name on an index-page, and hence be able to readily turn to any account.

The invention consists generally in a page having a tab bearing the initial letter, said page being provided with a series of vertical columns and a horizontal row'of letters arranged in groups in said columns at the top of the page, said groups representing combinations of two or more successive letters following the tab letter or letters of a name under which an account is indexed.

Further, the invention consists in various constructions and combinations, all as hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of a ledger-index page, illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is asimilar View of another page of the index.

In the drawings, 2 represents the indexpage having at its inner edge a flexible binding-strip 3, provided with eyelets at, permittingthe leaf to be loosely bound in book form. On the opposite edge of the leaf near the top thereof is the usual tab 5, upon which the initial letter of a name is placed. I also prefer to place in smaller type on said tab the letter following the initial letter of the name.

On this tab I have shown two letters I and O, the leaf to which the tab is attached being appropriated for names Whose second letters correspond thereto. Each page of the leaf is divided by horizontal lines 6 into a series of rows 7, wherein the names are written, and these lines are crossed at right angles by substantially vertical lines 8, forming vertical columns 9. In thesquares orspaces formed by the intersection of the lines 7and 8 I provide combinations ofletters corresponding to two or more successive letters following the initial letter of the tab. These combinations are such as are usually found in the names of individuals, firms, or business houses with which it maybe necessary in the course ofbnsiness to open a ledger account. Forinstance, at the left-hand side of the page I have provided combinations-such as ib, id, ie, ig, &c.being the second and third letters of the several names, the first orinitial letter being represented by the one on the tab.

In Fig. 1, as heretofore stated, I have shown a page appropriated for names having I and O for the second letter. Hence I have divided the page,appropriating the right hand for the names whose letter is 0 As will be noted by an examination of the figure, the names are, owing to the manner of indexing,

irregularly arranged on the page, so that a bookkeeper wishing to look up an account can readily locate the name in the index, although there may be several pages under the tab-letter. For instance, should he desire to look up the account of "the Livingstone Advertising Company he will turn to the page whose tab bears the letter L, and then, beginning at the top of the columns containing the letters IV corresponding with the sec= 0nd and third letters of the name he is looking for, willfollow down said column and be able almost immediately to locate the name on the page. Having found the page, it is of course a simple matter to determine the page of the ledger where the account is to be found. The second letters of the name, which I prefer to place on the tab with the initial letter, will correspond in all cases to the first letter of the'combinations at the top of the page,

and these second letters will indicate that the names whose second letters correspond to the alphabet letters between the letters on the tab will also be found on the tab-page or those following it. v

In Fig. 2 I have shown the M tab-page having the second letter a, the page being entirely appropriated for names whose second letter is a. In indexing a ledger many names will be found beginning with Sch, and these letters will be placed on the tab, while the combinations of the fourth and fifth letters of the names will be placed in the vertical columns. It will also be found in indexing that many names begin with St, in which case I prefer to make combinations of the second and third letters of the names. I am not, therefore, confined in my combinations to the second and third letters of the names, as it will be found convenient to index a great many names under the third and fourth or the fourth and fifth letters. As the pages will be ruled in exactly the same way and the combinations arranged in a corresponding manner to those which I have shown in the drawings, I have not thought it necessary'to illustrate pages showing combinations of the third and fourth or fourth and fifth letters.

I have shown the invention applied to the pages of what is known as a loose-leaf ledger-index; but obviouly the same system of indexing may be used in connection with a bound index.

As shown in Fig. 2, I prefer to appropriate several leaves for names such as those beginning with M and provide tabs thereon bearing the index-letter and one or more vowels, as Me, Mio, and soon through the vowels, the number of pages used depending upon the probable combinations required to index the names whose initial letter corresponds with the primary letter on the tab. Where the invention is employed in connection with a loose-leaf index, the bookkeeper may insert new pages as the others become filled and remove any of the pages whereon accounts are indexed that have been closed or balanced.

The principal advantage of my improved system of indexing lies in the fact that the bookkeeper, having the initial or index letter and the second letter of a name before him on the tab, can open the index to any group of leaves where the name will be found under which the desired account is indexed. Then finding the combination of letters corresponding to those of the name sought'he can follow down the column, although it may extend several pages, and very quickly locate the name.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Aledger-index, consisting of a page having a tabbearing theinitial letter of the names, said page being provided with a series of vertical columns and a horizontal row of letters arranged in groups in said columns at the top of the page, each of said groups representing a combination of two or more successive letters following the tab letter or letters of the name under which an account is indexed.

2. A ledger-index consisting of a page having a tab bearing a letter which corresponds to the initial letter of the names placed on the page, a series of vertical columns provided on said page, and a horizontal row of letters arranged in groups in said columns, there being but one group in each column, said groups representing combinations of the second and third letters of the name under which an account is indexed, whereby the names when written on'the page under the combinations corresponding respectively to their second and third letters will be irregularly arranged, for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of May, 1901.

SAMUEL MGMILLEN.

In presence of- RICHARD PAUL, M. O. NOONAN.

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