Diskette storage container for storing a large quantity of diskettes

A diskette storage container is formed of molded plastic parts which are pivotally connected together. A substantially rectangular base member has upwardly rising side walls, and cams having cam apertures adjacent the side walls. A cover member is pivotally connected to the base so that the rear edge of the cover passes into the base and rests at a slightly obtuse angle against the cams. A diskette support member is pivotally mounted to said cover and includes camming surfaces which ride on said cams as the cover is rotated toward its open position. The pivotal connection is disposed rearwardly of the centroid of the diskette support member. A notch in said camming surface is positioned to engage the cams when the cover is fully opened. This allows the diskette support member to drop forward a predetermined distance which improves accessibility to the diskettes. A locking arrangement includes a locking arm near the forward edge of the camming surfaces for engagement with the cam apertures when the container is closed. The locking arrangement includes a latch mechanism that engages with a slot in the diskette support member and a key rotated bolt is positioned so as to hold the latch in the locked position. In an alternate embodiment, the closure member, base member and diskette support members are formed to provide a double width container in which two parallel sets of diskettes may be stored in a side-by-side arrangement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates generally to storage containers for magnetic storage 
diskettes of the floppy diskette type and more particularly, to a molded 
storage container which can be locked in the closed position and which 
provides separator compartments for classification and filing of the 
diskettes stored within. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Numerous configurations of diskette container devices are provided in the 
prior art. Among such devices are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 
Des.251,273, issued March 6, 1979, to R. A. Egly, and in U.S. Design 
Application Sn. 080,417, filed Oct. 1, 1979, by Jerry M. Long, et al., and 
commonly owned herewith. The problems with most such devices are that 
whereas they are designed to be primarily oriented toward storage, they do 
not provide easy access to the word processor operator, or where they are 
designed to provide easy access to the functional user, they are too bulky 
for convenient storage and they require a design which is complicated to 
manufacture. Further, such containers do not include dividers or separator 
elements having side walls to prevent or restrict transverse movement of 
the diskettes within the enclosure. Nor do they provide simple but 
effective means for locking the container in the closed position so as to 
prevent casual tampering. 
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a storage container for a 
large number of magnetic storage devices such as floppy diskettes. 
It is another object of this invention to provide compartmentalized 
diskette storage which permits separated stacking of diskettes of related 
subject matter to facilitate storage and retrieval. 
It is also an object of this invention to provide a diskette storage 
container having locking means to prevent casual access to the contents 
stored in the storage container. 
Briefly, the invention comprises a substantially rectangular base member 
including a bottom and upwardly extending front, back, left and right side 
walls with pivot apertures formed in the rear top portion of each side 
wall. A cam means is formed on the interior bottom surface adjacent to 
each side wall. The rear part of each cam means is located at a position 
forward of the plane of the pivot means, and the front of the cam means is 
open and forms a receptacle for accepting a locking tab. A closure member 
provides a lid for the storage container and includes pivot pins formed in 
downward extending side walls thereof for pivotal engagement with the 
pivot apertures formed in the side walls of the base member. A diskette 
support member includes a tray portion formed therein for supporting 
diskettes and separator elements. The rear portion of the tray has a 
V-shaped depression adapted to accept the ends of a separator holder which 
includes guide rails and guide slots that are adpated to align the 
separator elements. The separator elements have a tray section for 
supporting the diskettes and side walls which mate with corresponding side 
walls of adjacent separator elements to form separate compartments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, a single wide diskette storage container 10 in 
accordance with the present invention is shown in its closed position. 
Certain features of the diskette storage container 10 are evident in that 
a base member 12 includes a pair of upwardly extending side walls 
illustrated at 14, and a back wall 15 which is of a height that is 
slightly less than the side walls. Pivot apertures shown at 16 are located 
in the side walls adjacent to the top edge. The height of the front wall 
is substantially less than that of the side or back walls, and the 
portions 24 and 26 slope outwardly from the bottom of the base. A front 
wall 18 that is substantially verticle with respect to the bottom of the 
base forms a recess and includes an opening in which a lock cylinder 20 is 
mounted and a slot 22 in which a thumb wheel latch 23 is disposed. These 
elements will be described in more detail later. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, the diskette storage container of FIG. 1 is shown 
in its open position. Here the diskette support member 30 may be seen, and 
it should be noted that it forms a cradle-like structure for the support 
of diskettes (not shown) and a plurality of dividers 31. A flat tray 
portion 32 slopes forwardly and the side walls 33 extend rearwardly. The 
side walls 33 also extend downwardly forming camming surfaces 34 which 
terminate at the forward ends thereof in locking tabs 36. At the upward 
edge of the tray is a molded extension 38 formed in the lower surface 
thereof and which includes a locking slot 40. The function of slot 40 is 
discussed in more detail below. Tab slots 42 and a V-shaped depression 44 
are provided to accept the tabs 49 and guide rails 62 (FIGS. 5 and 6) 
respectively, of a holding member 60 as will be discussed in more detail 
subsequently. 
Referring now to FIG. 3, the base member 12 is shown in more detail in the 
partially broken drawing thereof. The interior of left side wall 15 and 
the pivot aperture 17 formed therein are shown in detail. A generally 
rectangular raised portion 27 formed in the bottom of base member 12 is 
more clearly illustrated and is provided with a pair of latching slots 54 
and 56 through which the thumb wheel 24 (FIG. 1) extends as shown and 
described below. 
A pair of cam members 48 are shown positioned adjacent the side walls 14 
and 15 and each cam member includes a camming surface 51 and an open face 
50 forming a receptacle for receiving the locking tabs 36 of diskette 
support member 30 (FIG. 2). The rear interior of the base is configured to 
include three support ribs 58 which serve to stiffen the rear wall 15. 
Referring now to FIG. 4, the association of the closure member 28 and the 
diskette support member 30 is more clearly illustrated. It may be seem 
that the side walls 27 of closure member 28 include pivot pins 29 adapted 
to fit into the pivot apertures 16 of the base member side walls (FIGS. 2 
and 3). The diskette support member 30 is pivotally attached to closure 
member 28 by pivot pins 31 formed in the upper rear portion of each side 
wall 27, and these pins are snapfitted into pivot apertures 31A formed in 
the bottom rear portion of the side walls 27 of the closure member 28. As 
will be further described below, a notch 37 formed at the rearmost 
extremity of the camming surface 34 of each diskette support side wall 33 
is designed to ride over the cam 51 and permit a downward and forward 
motion of the diskette support member 30 when the closure member 28 has 
been rotated to a predetermined open position. This allows the diskettes 
stored therein (not shown) to be fanned forward providing ready access and 
permitting more easy identification of the diskette to be selected. 
To provide compartmentalized storage, a holding means 60 is installed in 
the diskette support means 30, and such an arrangement including the 
separator elements 41 is illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. 
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, it may be seen that each of the separator 
elements 41 includes a tray portion 46 and side walls 47 which extend at 
right angles to the front and rear surfaces thereof. The forward extending 
side walls are positioned inwardly of the rearward extending side walls so 
that the adjacent separator elements nest as illustrated in FIG. 5 to form 
diskette storing pockets or compartments. In addition, the side walls 
prevent transverse motion of the diskettes during movement and opening and 
closing of the storage container. Guide rail engaging slots 45 at the 
bottom edge of each tray portion 46 fit over a guide rail 62 of the 
holding member 60, and in conjunction with separator tabs 49 and the tab 
slots 66 of holding member 60 cause the bottom end of each separator 
element 41 to be fixed in position but allowed to tilt along rails 66 so 
as to fan out for ease of storage and retrieval of floppy diskettes from 
the container. 
Referring now to FIG. 7, the holding member 60 and its rails 62 and tab 
slots 66 are illustrated in more detail. When the holding member 60 is 
installed in the correct relation with respect to the diskette support 
member 30 (FIG. 4), the tabs 64 fit into tab slots 42 as shown in FIG. 4 
and the forward ends of the guide rails 62 seat in the V-shaped depression 
44 (FIG. 4). Pins 68 are positioned for insertion into apertures 35 
provided in the side walls 33 of diskette support member 30 (FIG. 4) and 
in cooperation with tabs 64 and slots 42 lock member 60 in position 
relative to member 30. 
The manner in which the various elements coact to provide a compact and 
effective storage arrangement for floppy diskettes may be seen with 
reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. In FIG. 8, the closure member is shown in its 
most open position. The bottom of the rear downward wall of closure member 
28 is stopped against the back side of cams 48 which prevents further 
opening of closure member 28. The top counterclockwise arrow illustrates 
the direction of motion of the subassembly, consisting of closure member 
28 and diskette support member 30 and its associated components, as the 
storage container is being opened. The mating of camming surfaces 34 with 
cam member 48 causes the diskette support member 30 to be lifted up and 
maintained in a predetermined, spaced relationship with closure member 28 
until the cam notch portion 37 of camming surface 34 is reached. In FIG. 
8, the cam member is in cam notch 37 and the view is taken just prior to 
the time when diskette support member 30 will fall forward and downward as 
shown by the clockwise arrow. A stop 53 limits the forward and downward 
motion which fans out the diskettes and gives greater access to the 
storage compartment areas. Only one separator element is shown and it 
should be noted that the tray 46 extends above the diskette support tray 
32 and that the side walls 47 of separator element 41 have a length 
substantially the same as that of the tray portion of the diskette support 
member 30. Holding member 60 is shown in phantom where it is inserted in 
the V-shaped depression 44 and pivot pin 68 is installed in pivot aperture 
35 of the side wall 33 of diskette support member 30. 
In FIG. 9, the diskette support member 30 is shown in its closed position. 
Closure member 28 and the separator element 41 and holding member 60 are 
not shown in order to avoid drawing confusion. The pivot pin 39 at the 
upper rear of side 33 of diskette support member 30 is illustrated and 
this pivot pin fits into pivot aperture 31 as illustrated in FIG. 8. 
Locking arm 36 on the forward end of camming surface 34 is shown inserted 
in the locking position within the cam member 48. Note that the use of the 
locking arm 36 with the camming member 48 prevents removal of the diskette 
support system and the stored contents by the expedient of prying 
(popping) apart the pivotal elements at the rear of the storage container. 
Referring to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, the relationship of the pivotal 
connections, the camming surfaces and the cam-stop members can be more 
readily understood. Although actually shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the 
generalized diagram of FIG. 10 is helpful in explaining the design rules 
that should be followed in designing a storage container for various 
quantity storage embodiments. If the diskettes to be stored may be 
contained in a volume represented in cross-section by the rectangle ABCD, 
then the various pivot points may be located as follows: 
(1) bisect ABCD by drawing a line from A to C; 
(2) bisect line CD with a line EF which is normal thereto, the intersection 
of EF and AC locating a first pivot point G. 
(3) construct a horizontal line QR passing through point G; 
(4) using the distance DG as a radius H, swing an arc intersecting QR at I, 
and AD at J thus defining secondary pivot points at I and J; 
(5) select a point K between A and J along line AD to locate the forward 
extremity of a first cam surface N (member 48) defined by swinging an arc 
of radius L (line GK) about point G, such arc being continued in the 
clockwise direction to define a second cam surface S for sliding 
engagement with the cam N; 
(6) using the line GJ to define a radius M and swing an arc T about point J 
to located a point U at the intersection of arc T and line OR; 
(7) using the radius L located as shown at L', swing an arc V to locate the 
position of the cam surface S after point G has been moved to point U, 
such arc also defining a first stop surface W on the cam member 48; and 
(8) a second stop surface X is located at the position P' of the rear edge 
P when the closure member 40 has been rotated into the full open position. 
The center of mass or centroid of ABCD will be located at Y, FIG. 10, which 
is at the intersection of the diagonal line AC connected between points A 
and C and the diagonal line BD which is connected between B and D. As may 
be seen from the diagram, the above-described design rules for setting the 
relationship of the pivotal connections, the camming surfaces and the 
cam-stop members is effective in locating the centroid rearward of 
cam-stop 48, when the cover member is in the fully opened position. Thus, 
a rearwardly acting force will be applied to hold the cover member in the 
open position. 
The latch member 70 prevents inadvertent opening of the closure member by 
locking the forward edge of the diskette support member 30. One end of the 
latch locking finger 74 extends from latch pivot 71 through aperture 56 
and into locking slot 40. The other end of finger 74 extends into a thumb 
wheel portion 72 which is accessible via slot 22 at the front wall recess 
18. Lock 20 can be operated by a key which causes rotating member 76 to 
move the locking element into position so as to prevent movement of the 
thumb latch once it is inserted in locking slot 40. Operation of the thumb 
wheel latch and locking member may be more clearly seen by referring to 
FIG. 11, in which a top view of the base element with closure and diskette 
support elements removed is shown. 
Thumb wheel latch 70 has a thumb wheel like structure 72 attached at the 
end which extends through the slot 22 of the front wall recess of base 
member 12. A pivot aperture 75 is pivotally connected to latch pivot pin 
71 and by moving the thumb wheel portion of the structure, the latch 
locking finger 74 can be moved to engage with or disengage from locking 
slot 40. As shown, the latch locking finger 74 is in the locking position 
and the lock rotating member 76 has been turned so that locking element 78 
is adjacent a side of the thumb wheel type portion 72 of thumb wheel latch 
70 so as to prevent clockwise motion. It is clear from the configuration 
of the slots 54 and 56 that when the latch is in the locking position, 
counterclockwise motion is limited by the sides of the slots 54 and 56 
which are adjacent to the latch. FIG. 12 is a front view of the base 
member showing the recess including the lock aperture and lock and the 
thumb wheel slot in more detail. 
The structure as described hereinabove readily lends itself to an increase 
(doubling of) capacity by the expedient of extending the width of the base 
closure members and by forming the diskette support member and the holding 
member in a different manner. The manner in which the holding member is 
structured is shown in detail in FIG. 13 where it may be seen that a pair 
of holding members have been formed side by side to provide a double wide 
holding member 80 which includes a first pair of guide rails 82, a first 
set of separator guide slots 84 and a first pair of diskette support 
member tabs 85. A second set of guide rails 86 are formed on the same 
structure and associated therewith are a second set of separator element 
tab slots 88 and diskette support mounting tabs 87. The holding member 80 
then fits in the diskette support member as shown in FIG. 14 in which the 
guide rails 82 and 86 match, respectively, with V-shaped depressions 90 
and 94 with the tab slots 92 accepting the tabs 85 and the tab slots 96 
accepting the tabs 87 of the associating holding member 80. Pivot pins 68 
will be mounted in the side walls of the diskette support member in an 
arrangement which is similar to that shown in FIG. 8. The separator 
elements will be as shown in FIG. 6 and these will ride along their 
separate set of guide rails providing the compartmentalization in a 
side-by-side relationship so as to double the capacity of the storage 
container. 
Although the present invention has been described herein, in terms of 
preferred embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in 
the art that alterations and modifications thereof may readily be made to 
suit particular needs and applications. It is therefore intended that the 
following claims be interpreted as covering all such alterations and 
modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.