US727186A - Card-index locking device. - Google Patents

Description

No, 727,186. PATENTED MAY 5, 190,3. c. MUEIKE. f DEED INDEX LOCKING' DEVICE.

APPLIOATIONYFILED AUG. 19, 1899. RENBWED PEB. 24. 1903'.

lo MODEL.

and lock and to disengage or release the cards UNITED STATES Patented May 5, 193.

PAT-*ENT QFFICR.

CURTIS MORIRE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIs/AssIGNOR TO. IupCKw'nLL AND RUPEL COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIs,A CORPORATION on ILLINOIS.

CARD-IN D E'x LooKlNq DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Pte'int N0.'727,186, dated May 5, 1903. Application filed August 19, 1899. Renewed February 24:, 1903; Serial No. 144,826. (No model.)

.To all 'whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CURTIS MCPIKE, of Chi-' cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illi-A nois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Index Locking Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the provision ofa card-index wit-h means' whereby the cards may be inserted, locked, released, and re' moved or shifted as to position quickly and by simple manipulations. To this end I pro-V vide the cardswith slots in one edge` thereof or with suitable projections from such edge. In the tray or drawer intended to hold the cards I mount two rods or bars upon journals supported in theend walls of the tray or drawer or in plates afxed thereto, said rods or bars being so disposed with relation to each other and to the cards and of such form as to interlook with the shoulders'formed by the slots therein or the projections therefrom. I also provide suitable means for rocking'said rods or bars upontheir journals, so as. to engage accordingly as the rods or bars are placed in one position or the other.

My invention may be embodied in a variety of forms of construction, the preferred construction and several modifications there of as to the form of the card and of the locking bars or rods being shown in the drawings, in. whiohg- Figure 1 is a broken perspective view of the tray or drawerhaving mounted therein the Card-locking mechanism, one of the cards and a follower-block therefor being shown. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the locking rods or bars and of the means for rocking them. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the locking-bars broken away, showing the locking mechanism in edge View, partly in section. Fig. t is an elevation of a sliding platel slotted to receive the bars and having a tongue or wedge to1 separate them. Fig. 5 shows the bars in. cross-section closed and a fragment Of` a card having a T- shaped notch therein. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the ends of the bars, showing their journals and apertures to receive the wedge of the sliding plate. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 show three modicatinos, Fig. 7 showing a card with a T- shaped projection and bars adapted to engage therewith, Fig. 8 showing a projection having a rounded end or eXtremity,*and Fig. 9v a cardfwith crescent-shaped slots providing between them a projection `rounded upon its upper surface with bars for engaging the same.

In the'drawings, 10 represents the tray or drawer ofany convenient form orsize and usuallyprovided in its bottom with a longi- -tudinal recess, as shown at 11, to-receive a rod 12,011 which is mounted a sliding follower-block' 13. I have shown aflixed to the Vrear end wall of the tray a plate 14 and to the front end wall a plate 15, and in said plates the rod 12 may be secured.

The preferred construction of locking-rods is shown inFigs. l to 5, inclusive, said rods being flat orin the form of thinbars, preferably of met-al and rounded upon their corners. Said rods are marked-16 17 and are provided at their ends mear' their adjacent edges with journals 18 19, whichrest within suitable .recesses -or apertures inthe end plates' 1415.' At their front'ends 'these rods have their adjacent edges notched, as shown at 20, to providean" aperture to receive an operating or Vopening wedge hereinafter described, ,."Obviously the journals 18 19might be extended through the end wall of the case forrocking the bars, or the bars might be turned by hand. I prefer, how- 'ever,`to provide means for moving thebars into the lockingy and releasing positions, and the preferred means comprise a sliding plate 21, mounted to slide in ways-formed by the angle-plates 22. The plate 2l is notched in its lower edge,the notch expande'ldand widening upwardly and outwardlyv to provide the operating-shoulders 23, which are just wide enoughjapartto admit-.the rbars 16 1 Zw,hen the latter are turned edgewi'se or intov'ertical position and' lie'in contact, said.. shoulders serving to maintain the barsin su'chposition. The sliding platelmaybeoperatedin any convenient manner, but is shown as provided with a stud 24, riding in a cam-slot 25 of a disk or cam-plate 26, said cam-plate being mounted to turn with a stem or short shaft 27, extending through the end wall of the tray and provided with an operating-knob 28.

When theknob is turned, the cam-plate will cause a reci procation of the sliding platel 21. If the bars be turned up, as shown in Fig. 4, and the cam-plate be turned in a direction to lower the sliding plate 21, the wedge-shaped point 21n will enter between said bars, separating their upper edges, and as the plate further descends said edges will come in contact with the curved walls of the slot, thus turning said bars into the position shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 6. When the knob is turned in the opposite direction, the sliding plate will be raised and the shoulders 23, which inthe downward movement of the plate have passed 4below the plane of the bars, will engage and turn them into the upright or vertical position.

For the purpose of covering the cam-plate and the operating mechanism connected therewith a block 29, triangular in cross-section and recessed upon its front side,as shown at 30, may be employed, being suitably aper tured to permit the operation of the lockingbars. The follower 13 will also be similarly apertured, as shown at 13, not only to permit the operation of the bars, but of its bein g moved forward and back tohold the cards in the upright position.

The cards will be of any desired or usual construction, except that for the purpose of my invention they are provided with slots or projections for engagement with the lockingbars. The card marked 3l (shown in Figs. l and is provided in its lower edge with a T-shaped notch 32, the narrowest part of which is adapted to receive the bars 16 17 when the latter are turned into a vertical po- Fig. 8 I have shown a slightly-modified construction, wherein the card is provided with a projection 35, rounded at its extremity instead of T--shaped, with bars 36 slightly curved transversely instead of L-shaped.

vaase Fig. 9 I have shown the card provided with rentering slots or apertures 37, said slots eX- tending toward each other and providing the semidetached projection 38, which is engaged -by bars 39 of appropriate form. In these several modifications it will be understood that the locking-bars are journaled so as to be rocked or turned to engage or release the cards and that they may be operated by means similar to those previously described or by any other adequate means.

When the cards are provided with projections, the locking-bars will preferably be arranged Within the groove or longitudinal recess in the bottom of the tray or drawer, and the locking projections will extend below the plane of the opening of this groove.- This construction has one desirable feature in that there are no parts projecting above the surface of the bottom of the box, and therefore articles, such as envelops, having straight or unsevered edges may be filed between the index-cards.

By reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 it will be seen that the cam-plate 26 has that portion outside of the cam-slot gradually widening toward the ends, so that the bars, both in the locked and unlocked positions, arev engaged by the edge of the cam-plate and are thus thereby locked in such positions. The camslot is sufficiently extended to permit the cam-plate being turned sufficiently to frictionally lock the bars after they are brought to their extreme positions.

I claim- In a locking device for a'card-index, the

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