Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Collecting and Arranging Postage Stamps and other similar articles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Collecting and Arranging
Postage Stamps and other similar articles.
I, HUGO KRÖTZSCH, of 22 Lange Strasse, Leipzig, Saxony, in the Empire of
Germany, Compositor, 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 :-
The present invention relates to an apparatus or receptacle for collecting postage
stamps and other similar articles, being intended to register and protect the same.
Its characteristic feature as compared with albums and collecting books hitherto
used for that purpose is its adaptability to all the requirements of the collector
in-as-much as it allows the completion and enlargement of the collection or of
supplementing it by new issues whereby its use is rendered permanent while at the
same time the stamps, &c., can be inspected with greater facility both in detail and
as a whole.
In order the more clearly to describe the invention I will proceed to do so aided
by the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a plan view of the stamp collecting receptacle when closed.
Figure 2 is an end view of the same.
Figure 3 is a cross section showing the interior of the closed receptacle.
Figure 4 is a plan of the receptacle with the lid opened.
Figure 5 is an end view showing the parts in similar position to Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a section on the line - of Figure 4.
Figure 7 is a section on the liue y-y of Figure 4.
Figure 8 is a side elevation of the part A nearest to the end A'.
Figure 9 is a similar view of the part A nearest to the end A".
The collecting receptacle is in the form of a box with a lid D and having sides
marked respectively A A' A" and a bottom B. The interior is provided with a
false bottom C having pins K at the front and hooks J at the rear end. The lid D
has guide pieces E which, on closing the lid, will enter into grooves E¹ of the side A.
F and G are rack shaped recesses formed in the sides A and adapted to receive the
bars H for supporting the false bottom C. L are toothed bars or racks engaging
with guide pieces M at the rear end A" and adapted to receive the tongues J of the
false bottoni C, the latter being supported at its front end by means of pins K
lodged in the rack bars N adjoining the end A. The toothed bars or racks N are
provided with hinges O. P P are notches in the rear wall A" into which enter the
aforesaid tongues J. Qindicates a small roller of gummed paper, which turns on a
fixed pin, and R is a spring knife by means of which the paper strip unwound from
the roller Q can be cut off while at the same time it also serves as a spring to hold
the end of the strip on the roller.
The stamps are gummed on suitable sheets provided with the proper printed or
written headings; they are the same size as the false bottom C, upon which they
are piled. A suitable register at A allows an easy inspection of the whole
collection. The supporting bars H of the false bottom C can be placed higher or
lower according to the number of sheets in use and the lid D is intended, when
closed, to press on the pile of sheets on the said false bottom C.
In order to place additional stamps or sheets into the collection it is only
necessary to lift the rear end of the false bottom C by means of the racks L, the
tongues J J being hooked into the notches P P. This causes the rack N to turn
on its hinge 0 and the false bottom C with the sheets lying thereon, being
supported by the pins K in the rack N and by the hooks J in the rack L, takes an
inclined position, as shown in Figure 7, so as to facilitate the manipulation of the

page_text: sheets. The loose sheets are prevented from slipping by being in contact with the
toothed bars or racks N but for the purposes of inspection they are turned over and
placed face downwards on the lid D between the plates E E". After having
finished the work or the inspection and all the leaves having been turned over and
piled on the lid D, the false bottom C should be placed back in its horizontal
position and fixed in order that the whole receptacle can now be turned over on to
the lid. By now pressing the latter tight against the receptacle and turning the
whole back so as to place the receptacle or file on its bottom B the collection will
remain in proper order.
The purposes and advantages obtained of the collecting receptacle or file are as
follows The collector may procure any desired number or sort of loose leaves and
afterwards easily complete or supplement the collection for which purpose the
adjustable false bottom is provided. The leaves for the oldest stamps need never
to be altered which gives the whole a permanent character. All the usual
re-arranging and altering in the order is obviated and only in exceptional cases
would it be required to renew any given leaf. Alterations accruing from the
establishment of new States with new stamps, or from the introduction of new
designs or issues for stamps in established countries, need only be interposed as sup-
plementary sheets without having to re-arrange the order of the original collection.
The extent of the collection is altogether unlimited as it is always easy to add new
sheets for certain parts of or for the whole world.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A receptacle or file A. A' A" having a false bottom C, which can be adjusted
vertically by means of cross bars H engaged in racks F G or inclined by means of
toothed bars or racks LN, for the purpose of containing and arranging a collection
of a large number of leaves with postage stamps and such like, substantially as
herein shown and described.
2. The improved arrangement and combination of parts forming a receptacle to
facilitate the collection, arrangement and inspection of postage stamps and such like,
substantially as herein shown and described.
Doted this 8th dow of Ma- 1009
Dated this 8th
8th day of May
1000
HUGO KRÖTZSCH;
By Harris & Mills,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.