Improvements in or relating to containers particularly card index containers

Abstract: There is provided a card index box having upstanding side and front walls (2, 4) and an open top adapted to be closed by a lid (14) capable of being moved from a closed position over the upper surface of the box to an open position where it is firmly retained in an open condition to the rear of the box.

Description: THIS INVENTION concerns containers and in particular containers for receiving index cards. Card indexes are used extensively in business and whilst their use has continued for many years, existing containers for the cards still suffer from numerous disadvantages. DE-U-6811858 discloses a card index box comprising a lid, a bottom container part and a pair of intermediate links each movable in a respective slot in a respective side wall of the bottom container part and in a respective registering slot in the corresponding side wall of the lid of the card index box, the links being directly pivoted to their respective side walls of the bottom container part and having, adjacent their upper ends, slots which receive pivot pins fixed in the respective side walls of the box lid. These slots, apparently, permit some limited sliding movement of the lid relative to the links after the lid has been at least partially opened. An object of this invention is to obviate, or at least reduce, the disadvantages referred to above. According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a card index box comprising a container part and a lid part, said container part having a bottom and upstanding side, front and rear walls, the lid part being so connected with the container part as to allow it to be swung upwardly and rearwardly from a closed position in which it extends across the opening to said container part defined by the upper edges of said side front and rear walls, said lid part being slidable relative to said container part after the lid part has been swung upwardly and rearwardly from said closed position, characterised in that the lid part is so connected with the container part that after the lid part has been swung upwardly from said closed position to an open position, it can thereafter be slid downwardly at the rear of the container part, means being provided to retain the lid part against pivotal movement at the end of such downward sliding of the lid, and thereby to retain the lid part in an open condition at the rear of the box until it is subsequently slid upwardly then swung downwardly and forwardly once more into its closed position. To facilitate use of the cards placed in the box the internal surfaces of the front and rear walls of the box may be designed to diverge outwardly and upwardly. According to another preferred feature, the internal under-surface of the box is inclined in the direction extending from the front to the back of the box - desirably in an upward direction extending from the front to the back of the box to facilitate movement of, and viewing of, cards placed in the box. The foremost surface of the box is preferably stepped to provide a ledge upon which to stand one or more cards when the box is in use. In order that the invention may be more readily understood a preferred embodiment of the box will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- FIGURE 1 is a top perspective view from the front and one side; FIGURE 2 is a rear elevation of the box of Figure 1; FIGURE 3 is an elevation of one side of the box of Figures 1 and 2; FIGURE 4 is an underneath plan view; and FIGURE 5 is a top perspective view from the rear and other side showing the lid in an open position. In this embodiment the box is formed as a rigid plastics material moulding which comprises a pair of spaced apart vertical side walls 2, 3 and outer front and rear walls 4, 5 extending substantially in spaced parallelism and being somewhat rearwardly inclined. Immediately to the front of said outer rear wall 5 is an inner rear wall 6. Immediately behind the outer front wall is an inner front wall 7 which is connected to the inner rear wall 6 by a floor 8 of the box. The floor 8 is inclined upwardly as it extends from the front wall 7 towards the rear wall 6 and is provided on its upper surface with a plurality of ribs (not shown) extending between the side walls 2, 3. The inner front wall 7 diverges upwardly and outwardly away from the floor 8 where it merges with the upper portion of the front wall. Accordingly the side walls 2, 3 and inner front and rear walls 7, 6, in conjunction with said floor 8 provide a substantially rectangular box into which a plurality of index cards (not shown) may be located with their lower edge portions lying against the ribbed floor 8 and with the front face of the front card lying against the inner surface of the inner front wall 7 and with the rear surface of the rear card lying against the inner surface of the inner rear wall 6. The ribs are provided to prevent the cards slipping from a generally vertical condition with the inclined floor 8 causing the cards to the rear of the stack to be located at a slightly higher level so that their upper edge portions may be seen and grasped more readily. The outward divergence of the inner surfaces of the inner front and back walls 7, 6 allow the stack of cards to be fanned and inspected. The outer surface of the outer front wall 4 is stepped to provide a ledge 9 upon which one or more cards may be temporarily lodged. The outer surface of the outer front wall may also be provided with a portion 10 to carry information indicating the contents of the box. The portions of the side walls 2, 3 which bridge the ends of the inner and outer rear walls are each provided with an upwardly and slightly rearwardly inclined straight channel 12, 13 which terminates slightly above the remaining edge portions of the side walls. A generally rectangular lid 14 with downwardly depending side walls 15 is provided - preferably of a transparent or translucent material - which is adapted to close the box. This lid 14 has wings 16, 17 extending rearwardly from its side walls 15 and projecting inwardly from these wings 16, 17, and engaging in the respective slots 12, 13, are hinge pins 18, 19 - ideally integrally moulded with the lid -which engage in the slot. The upper portion of the outer and inner rear walls merge together over a smoothly curved portion 20 and the arrangement is such that the lid 14 may be raised to a position where it is substantially parallel to the outer rear wall 5 which will result in the hinge pins 18, 19 being allowed to slide downwardly along their respective slots 12, 13 with the upper wall of the lid sliding down the outer rear wall of the box and being retained in position as a result of its engagement with the rear wall. In this way the box may be left open and the lid stowed to provide a stable product. To close the box the procedure is reversed with the lid being raised and then pivoted forwardly. The arrangement enables the lid 14 to be placed on to the container during manufacture by placing the lid into position over the outer rear wall 5 and sliding it upwardly and then hinging it downwardly on to the top of the container where it will be retained firmly for subsequent use once the box is placed on to a work surface. A stop member 21 serves to support and retain the lid 14 when in its open and stowed position. It will be appreciated from the description hereinbefore - which is by way of example only - that in accordance with this invention card index boxes of numerous sizes may readily be moulded each having a simple yet robust and stable construction with a captive lid capable of remaining in a closed or in an open and stowed condition and for the cards to be retained on edge in a condition where they may be readily fanned, searched, moved and, if desired, removed. Appropriate means (not shown) may be provided to retain the cards in a captive condition within the box. The provision of the ledge 9 on the front wall makes it convenient to rest a card whilst viewing or transferring information to or from that card.

Claims: A card index box comprising a container part and a lid part (14), said container part having a bottom (8) and upstanding side (2, 3), front (7) and rear walls (6, 7), the lid part (14) being so connected with the container part as to allow it to be swung upwardly and rearwardly from a closed position in which it extends across the opening to said container part defined by the upper edges of said side front and rear walls, said lid part (14) being slidable relative to said container part after the lid part has been swung upwardly and rearwardly from said closed position, characterised in that the lid part is so connected with the container part that after the lid part has been swung upwardly from said closed position to an open position, it can thereafter be slid downwardly at the rear of the container part, means (21) being provided to retain the lid part against pivotal movement at the end of such downward sliding of the lid, and thereby to retain the lid part (14) in an open condition at the rear of the box until it is subsequently slid upwardly then swung downwardly and forwardly once more into its closed position. A card index box according to claim 1 wherein the lid part is connected with the container part by hinge pins (18, 19) on the lid part, defining a horizontal pivotal axis, engaged in slots (12, 13) in the container part, said slots being elongate in an upwardly extending direction transverse to said pivotal axis and such that, when the lid has been swung upwardly and rearwardly from said closed position about said horizontal pivotal axis, said downward sliding of the lid part at the rear of the container part is permitted by sliding of said hinge pins (18, 19) along said slots (12, 13). A card index box according to claim 2 wherein said lid part (14) has, on either side thereof, at its rear, rearwardly projecting wings (16, 17) and each said hinge pin (18, 19) extends from the inner side of a respective one of said wings (16, 17) towards the other of said wings (17, 16) and wherein each said slot comprises, in a respective said side wall (2, 3) of said container part, adjacent a rear edge of the side wall (2, 3), a respective elongate channel (12, 13) extending downwardly from adjacent the upper edge of the respective side wall and, open along the outer face of the respective side wall, each said channel (12, 13) receiving the said hinge pin (18, 19) of the said wing (16, 17) on the same side, each said channel (12, 13) being closed at its upper end to prevent complete upward separation of the lid part from the container part. A card index box according to claim 3 wherein said means provided to retain the lid part against pivotal movement at the end of such downward sliding movement comprises a stop member (21), on the rear wall (5) of the container part, provided with an upwardly open channel to receive a rear edge of a top wall of the lid part, which rear edge is downwardly presented in the open position of the lid part. A card index box according to any preceding claim wherein, to facilitate use of cards placed into the box, the internal surface of the front (4) and rear (6) walls of the box diverge outwardly and upwardly. A card index box according to any preceding claim wherein the internal undersurface of the box is upwardly inclined from the front to the back of the box to facilitate movement of, and viewing of, cards placed in the box. A card index box according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the foremost surface of the box is stepped to provide a ledge (9) upon which to stand one or more cards when the box is in use.

Inventors: COCKS DAVID, COCKS, DAVID
Applicants: ACCO REXEL GROUP SERVICES PLC, ACCO-REXEL GROUP SERVICES PLC
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B42F17
IPC codes: B42F17