IMPROVEMENTS IN HOLDERS OR FILES FOR HOLDING OR FILING LETTERS,
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William York Marston, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Merchant and Factor, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HOLDERS OR FILES FOR HOLDING OR FILING LETTERS,
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William York Marston
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th October 1874.
I, WILLIAM YORK MARSTON; of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchant and Factor, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HOLDERS OR FILES FOR HOLDING OR
FILING LETTERS, INVOICES, MUSIC, AND OTHER PAPERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a holder or file for holding or filing letters,
invoices, music, and other papers, the parts of which are constructed
and arranged in the following manner:-I employ a cover similar to
the side or sides of a book, and to the inner edge of the said cover and

page_text: parallel therewith I fix a bar or plate of metal, the said bar or plate
having upon it two (or more) spikes or pins standing perpendicular to
the said bar. The said spikes or pins are made of brass or other flexible
or pliable metal or alloy. These pins or spikes may either be made from
the fixed bar or plate of the holder or file, or be made separately and
rivetted or otherwise fastened to a bar of a different material from that
of which the spikes or pins are made.
The letters, invoices, or other papers to be filed are placed upon the
spikes or pins in the usual way of filing papers. On the top of the filed
papers a pressure or holding bar is placed, the said bar being provided
with cyeletted or other holes through which the upper pointed ends of
the spikes or pins pass. By compressing the filed papers together by
pressing down the said pressure bar, and bending in opposite directions
the pointed ends of the spikes or pins down upon the said bar the latter
is held very firmly upon the filed papers, and the said papers are securely
fixed in their places upon the spikes or pins.
To remove papers from or to place other papers on the file it is only
necessary to lift the bent upper ends of the spikes or pins in a line
perpendicular to the plane of the pressure bar, when the pressure bar is
released and may be lifted from off the spikes or pins.
:
When the cover of the holder or file is made of a stiff or rigid
material the fixed bar or plate carrying the flexible or pliable spikes
or pins may be omitted, and the said spikes or pins be secured in the
said cover.
Holders or files made according to my Invention are inexpensive, a
1
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William York Marston in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th March 1875.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William York Marston, Her
special license that I, the said William York Marston, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William York
Marston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HOLDERS OR FILES FOR HOLDING OR FILING LETTERS, INVOICES,
MUSIC, AND OTHER PAPERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William York Marston, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and.
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William York Marston, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and,
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a holder or file for holding or filing letters,
invoices, music, and other papers, the parts of which are constructed
and arranged in the following manner :-I employ a cover similar to
the side or sides of a book, and to the inner edge of the said cover and
parallel therewith I fix a bar or plate of metal, the said bar or plate
having upon it two (or more) spikes or pins standing perpendicular to
the said bar. The said spikes or pins are made of brass or other flexible
or pliable metal or alloy. These pins cr spikes may either be made
from the fixed bar or plate of the holder or file, or be made separately
and rivetted or otherwise fastened to a bar of a different material from
that of which the spikes or pins are made.
The letters, invoices, or other papers to be filed are placed upon the
spikes or pins in the usual way of filing papers. On the top of the filed

page_text: papers a pressure or holding bar is placed, the said bar being provided
with eyeletted or other holes through which the upper pointed ends of
the spikes or pins pass. By compressing the filed papers together by
pressing down the said pressure bar and bending in opposite directions
the pointed ends of the spikes or pins down upon the said bar the latter
is held very firmly upon the filed papers, and the said papers are securely
fixed in their places upon the spikes or pins.
To remove papers from or to place other papers on the file it is only.
necessary to lift the bent upper ends of the spikes or pins in a line
perpendicular to the plane of the pressure bar, when the pressure bar is
released and may be lifted from off the spikes or pins.
When the cover of the holder or file is made of a stiff or rigid'
material the fixed bar or plate carrying the flexible or pliable spikes:
or pins may be omitted, and the said spikes or pins be secured in the
said cover.
I will proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying
Drawing, the manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figures 1 and 2 represent in elevation an open holder or file provided
with my Invention, Figure 1 representing the pointed ends of the spikes
or pins before they are bent in opposite directions upon the pressure bar,
and Figure 2, the same after the said pointed ends have been bent down
upon the pressure bar for completing the filing of the papers; Figure 3.
is an edge view of the holder, Figure 1; and Figure 4 is an edge view.
of the holder, Figure 2.
Figure 5 represents the holder or file closed.
Figures 6 and 7 represent vertical sections of the holder or file taken
through the pressure bar, the pins or spikes being represented raised or
unfolded in Figure 6, and folded in Figure 7.
Figure 8 is a modification of the holder or file. a, b, are the rigid
sides or flaps of the holder or file, and c, d, are the flexible or pliable
metallic spikes or pins on which the papers are filed. The said spikes
or pins c, d, are made by taking a strip of metal marked e (best seen in
Figures 6 and 7) and bending its end c, d, at right angles, the said bent
ends being passed through holes in the flap or cover to the inner side
thereof, the strip e with the turned up ends or pins c, d, being fastened
to the flap or cover by a covering of cloth or other flexible material

page_text: applied to the outer side of the said cover; f is the pressure bar having
in it two eyeletted holes g, g, through which the pointed spikes or pins
c, d, are passed.
In using the holder or file the pressure bar f is lifted from the spikes
5 or pins c, d, and the papers or letters to be filed are placed. upon the
perpendicular spikes or pins c, d, in the usual way of filing papers.
The pressure or holding bar f is next placed upon the filed papers .as
illustrated in Figures 1, 3, and 6, the spikes or pins passing through the
eyeletted holes g, g, in the said bar. After the filed papers / have been
compressed together by means of the pressure bar f the pointed ends of
the spikes or pins c, d, are bent down in opposite directions upon the
pressure bar f, as illustrated in Figures 2, 4, 5, and 6, whereby the
pressure bar is held very firmly upon the filed papers, and the latter
securely fixed in their places upon the spikes or pins c, d.
)
:
To remove papers from or to place other papers on the file the bent
upper ends of the spikes or pins c, d, are raised in a line perpendicular
to the plane of the pressure bar f, as illustrated in Figures 1, 3, and 6,
so as to release the pressure bar, and the latter may be removed by
lifting it off the spikes or pins..
Instead of making the flexible or pliable spikes or pins from a strip
of metal, as described, they may be cut out of a bar or plate, as illus-
trated in Figure S, in which Figure 8 the pins or spikes are marked c, d,
and the bar from which they are cut is marked e. Or the flexible or
pliable spikes or pins may be made separately and rivetted or otherwise
5 fastened to a bar made of the same or of a different material from that
of which the spikes or pins are made.
When a bar is used it may either be fixed on the inner or outer side
of the flap or side of the holder. In Figure 8 the bar e is represented
fixed on the inner side of the flap or side b.
Holders or files made according to my Invention are inexpensive,
durable, and more easily used than ordinary holders or files.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention, the improvements in holders or files for holding
5 or filing letters, invoices, music, and other papers, herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, combining

page_text: with the cover or base of the holder or file two or more spikes or pins
made of brass or other flexible or pliable metal or alloy, in conjunction
with a pressure bar, upon which pressure bar the upper ends of the
spikes or pins are bent down in opposite directions for securing the filed
papers as described, whether the said flexible or pliable spikes or pins
be made from the ends of a strip of metal secured in the cover or base,
or be made from or attached to a bar secured in the said cover or base,
substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said. William York Marston, have lière-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
fivc.
WILLIAM YORK MARSTON. (L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.