US991348A - Prescription file. - Google Patents

Description

J. D. MULLOY. PRESCRIPTION FILE. APPLIOATION PILEI] DEC. 31, 19-10.

" 991 ,348. Patented May 2, 1911.

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.9 h I M E JOHN D. MULLOY, 0F PORTLAND, OREGON.

PRESCRIPTION-FILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1911.

Application filed December 31, 1910. Serial No. 600,240.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN D. MULLoY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented new and useful Improvements in Prescription-Files, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in filing cases and envelops, and the invention is primarily directed to that class of files employed by druggists for retaining physicians prescriptions.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a filing case wherein any desired prescription may be obtained with a minimum amount of time and labor.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description progresses, the invention resides in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings there has been illustrated a simple and preferred embodiment of the improvement and in which drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a filing cabinet constructed in accordance with the present invention, one of the containers or pockets being withdrawn from the casing so that the prescription therein may be removed. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken through the container guiding and sustaining members. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the containers. Fig. 4 is a central horizontally sectional view taken through one of the cabinets and through the containers positioned therein. Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the container illustrated in Fig. 4, a prescription being shown within the said container. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a modified form of the device.

The ordinary manner of filing prescriptions commonly employed by most druggists consists of a single strand of wire, having one of its ends curved in the form of a gooseneck and its opposite end provided with a suit-able enlargement. The prescription after having been filled by the druggist is simply slipped upon the gooseneck, the lowermost prescription resting upon the enlargement provided at the base or lower portion of the wire. The gooseneck is sustained from a suitable support, such as a nail or the like, and all of the prescriptions are filed one after another according to the time they are received. WVith this method it requires quite an amount of time and labor to find a certain prescription which is to be refilled. When the prescription has been located it is necessary to remove the same as well as the number of prescriptions positioned upon the wire above the said required prescription so that the ingredients to be mixed by the druggist may be readily discernible. In some cases the uppermost prescriptions are simply raised and any handy device placed between the prescription to be filled and the said raised prescriptions. Both of the methods above described are not only undesirable for the length of time required to locate the prescription, but in the first instance all of the prescriptions must be replaced in their proper order upon the file. This tends to mutilate the pre scription and renders the titles of some of the medicaments indiscernible, so that the said prescriptions become practically useless, and in some instances the druggist, endeavoring to decipher the medicament, may

arrive at a wrong conclusion and consequently the prescription is not properly refilled. This is, of course, very dangerous, as quite a number of medicines have titles differentiating by only a single letter, some of these medicines being harmless, while others are poisonous. When the druggist employs a support to sustain the upper prescriptions away from the prescription to be refilled, the said support possibly obliterates the titles of the medicines to be compounded and it will be readily perceptible that this method is not only crude but has a tendency to confusethe druggist as well as leading to errors in the proper refilling of the prescription.

It is the object of the present invention to obviate the deficiencies as well as the liability of the mistakes above enumerated and to accomplish this I have provided a cabinet or casing designated by the numeral 1. The said cabinet 1 is preferably of a rectangular formation and is also'formed with a plurality of compartments 2, two of which being shown in the drawings and deemed sufficient to set forth the structure. Each of the compartments 2 is normally closed through the medium of a suitable door 3 and each of said doors is preferably spring-pressed so that the said doors are normally in a closed position. Positioned within each of the compartments 2 is a pair of vertically projecting guide members 4, the latter being secured to the bottom of the casing 2 and extending upwardly and having their free ends positioned within suitable depressions 5 formed in the hinged top 6 of the casing. The members 4 are adapted to serve as guides for the plurality of containers 7. Each of the containers 7 is provided with longitudinally extending slots 8, the same being positioned adjacent each of the longitudinal edges of the said container. The container 7 comprises an upper and lower member designated respectively by the numerals 9 and 10. The said members 9 and 10 have all of their edges connected together so as to provide a suitable pocket. The upper member 9 adjacent the outer edge thereof is cut away as at 11 to provide a space whereby the finger of the operator may be inserted when any of the prescriptions positioned within the said pocket are to be withdrawn. The upper member 9 adjacent the said cut away portion 11 is slitted both longitudinally and transversely to provide the sealing flap 12, and projecting from the forward end of the said container is a tab 13, the same being provided with a designating numeral 14:.

The prescriptions within the container are all stamped with a suitable designating numeral and the said numerals are adapted to correspond with the designating numeral 14; upon the tab 13. For instance, the tab upon the container is provided with a designating numeral 5 and in this case the prescriptions adapted to be inserted within the pocket of the container are stamped with a suitable number commencing with the numeral 5. By this arrangement it will be noted that any desired prescription may be readily obtained by simply glancing at the number with which the said prescription is marked and the proper container may be readily slipped through the open doorway of the cabinet and the prescription easily and quickly withdrawn.

In some instances the solid doors of each of the compartments of the cabinet may be dispensed with and substituted therefor, is a plurality of resilient wire U-shaped doors or closures 15, the same being arranged upon the opposite sides of the compartments and having their extremities provided with springs 16, whereby the wire doors may be swung to form closures to prevent the accidental sliding of any of the containers 7. The closures 15 are adapted to sustain a given number of prescriptions, and as heretofore stated, any desired one of the numbered prescriptions may be obtained by opening the wire doors or closures 15.

Upon each of the pages when spread, are the indicating characters, designating in the device illustrated prescriptions from 1 to 8 and each of the pockets or compartments is provided with the number of the prescription, the name of the doctor and the date. The leaves are provided with tabs extending beyond the face of the book and these tabs are provided with designating numbers so that the book may be swung open to obtain a prescription of any desired number.

By this arrangement it will be apparent that the prescriptions within the compartments may be readily and quickly obtained by merely opening the book at the indicating tab, and it is believed that the simplicity of the structure as well as the advantages presented thereby will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains.

It will be noted that the structure is extremely simple, requires the use of no especial tools and may be constructed by any person acquainted with the details of the device. It is to be further noted that the tabs 13 are staggered so that all of the designating numerals will be perfectly apparent as soon as the door of the cabinet is thrown open.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, is

1. In a device for the purpose set forth, a cabinet, said cabinet having a normally open front and a normally open top, closures for the top and front, a plurality of containers slidably mounted within the cabinet, each of said containers being formed upon its upper face with a flap extending toward one end thereof, and a tab provided with a designating numeral secured to the container.

2. In a device for the purpose set forth, a cabinet, said cabinet being formed with a normally open top and front, doors for the top and front, guiding members secured to the bottom of the cabinet, the door for the top being formed with pockets adapted to receive the upper ends of the guides, a plurality of containers within the compartments, each of said containers being provided with a longitudinally extending cut away portion adjacent each of its edges, the upper face of each of the containers being slitted to provide a flap, the upper portion of the containers being still further cut away from the flap to provide a finger receptacle, the said containers having their longitudinally extending slotted portions passed over the guide members, each of the containers being formed with an outwardly projecting tab, each of the tabs being provided with a designating number, and all of the tabs being arranged in staggered re- 1 lation so that the numbers upon all of the tabs are discernible when the door is opened.

3. In a device of the class set forth, a cabinet, a plurality of longitudinally movable containers positioned within the cabinet, each of said containers being formed to sustain the containers within the. com- With a pocket a flap constructed upon the partments. 10 upper surface of the body of each of the In testimony whereof I aflix my signature containers normally closing the pocket, a in presence of two Witnesses.

; tab for each of the containers, said tabs be- JOHN D. MULLOY.

ing arranged in a staggered relation Where- Witnesses: by all the tabs are discernible, and oppo- CHESTER V. DoLPH, sitely disposed spring-pressed doors adapted B. B. MCCARTHY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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