A New or Improved System of Indexing Letter Registers, Librarians' Records, and such like Books of Reference.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 27th June, 1899—Accepted, 30th Sept., 1899
A New or Improved System of Indexing Letter Registers, Librarians'
Records, and such like Books of Reference.
I, JOHN MACKIE, of 145, Upper Sheriff Street, Dublin, Ireland, Accountant,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
According to the present system of indexing letter registers, the usual practice.
is to write the name of the party to whom a letter is addressed on a horizontal
line in the index, after which on same line is inserted the page of the register
in which the copy of the letter appears.
This system is defective and inconvenient inasmuch as there is no simple
and ready way of indicating the date of the letter so indexed, and the incon
venience is all the more apparent when letters under one name reach a con-
siderable number,
Now my invention is designed to overcome this inconvenience and to produce.
means whereby, the date, and page may be inserted in the index, in a manner
so simple that these particulars will be visible at a glance.
To this end I first divide the index by a series of horizontal lines as at present.-
I. then mark off a sufficient space vertically on the left hand side for insertion
of the name, after which I draw a number of equidistant vertical lines from top
to, bottom towards the right hand side of the index..
There is thus a certain portion of the sheet divided into squares and these
squares I subdivide into four compartments by diagonal lines crossing at the
centre.
The idea is to utilize each of these compartments with (1) the date, (2) the
month, (3) the year, of the letter indexed, and (4) the page of the register in
which the letter will be found,-
Thus "9" may be inserted in the top compartment, "21" in the left hand
side compartment, "98" in the right hand side compartment, and "15" in the.
lower compartment, which particulars would indicate that the letter bears date
21st September 1898, and will be found at page 15 of the register.
Instead of subdividing the squares by diagonal lines they may be divided by
horizontal and vertical lines crossing each other, the idea being the same.
When my invention is used for librarians' records, the idea is to insert in
the four compartments the date, month, and year (as, in the case of the letter
register) and the number of the book borrowed.
1
1000
J. K. FAHIE & SON,
Agents for Applicant, 9, Westland Row, Dublin.

page_text: A New or Improved System of Indexing Letter Registere, Librarians'
Records, and such like Books of Reference.
I, JOHN MACKIE, of 145, Upper Sheriff Street, Dublin, Ireland, Accountant,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
According to the present system of indexing letter registers, the usual practice
is to write the name of. the party, to whom a letter is addressed, on a horizontal
line in the index, after which, on the same line, is inserted the page of the
register in which the copy of the letter appears.
This system is defective and inconvenient, inasmuch as there is no simple
and ready way of indicating the date of the letter so indexed, and the incon-
venience is all the more apparent when the letters under one name reach a con-
siderable number.
Now my invention is designed to overcome this inconvenience, and to produce
means whereby the date and page may be inserted in the index, in a manner so
simple that these particulars will be visible at a glance.
To this end, I first divide the index by a series of horizontal lines, as at
present.
:
I then mark off a sufficient space vertically on the left hand side for insertion
of the name, after which I draw a number of equidistant vertical lines from top
to bottom towards the right side of the index. There is thus a certain portion
of the sheet divided into squares, and these squares I subdivide into four com-
partments by diagonal lines crossing at the centre.
The idea is to utilize each of these compartments with (1) the date, (2) the
month, (3) the year, of the letter indexed, and (4) the page of the register in
which the letter will be found,-
Thus 26" may be inserted in the left hand side compartment, "6" in the
top compartment, "99" in the right hand side compartment, and "250" in the
bottoni compartment, which particulars would indicate that the letter bears
date 26th June 1899, and will be found at page 250 of the register.
Instead of subdividing the squares by diagonal lines, they may be divided by
horizontal and vertical lines crossing each other, the idea being the same.
When my invention is used for librarians' records, the idea is to insert in the
four compartments the date, month and year, (as in the case of the letter register)
and the number of the book borrowed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
-
1. To have produced means whereby, the date of a letter and the page on which
it is copied in a letter register, (or more commonly "letter book") may be
associated in the index to said register, in a manner so simple that these par-
ticulars will be visible at a glance.
2. To have produced means whereby, in the case of a library, the date on
which a volume is borrowed and the number of the volume, may be associated
in the librarian's record, in a manner so simple that these particulars will be
visible at a glance.