Improvements in Card-index Locking Devices.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 18th Aug.,
1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Card-index Locking Devices.
I, CURTIS MCPIKE, of 701, Estes Avenue, in the City of Chicago, in the County
of Cook and State of Illinois, United States of America, Manager, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the 'following
statement;-
-
My invention relates to the provision of a card index with means whereby the
cards may be inserted, locked, released and removed or shifted as to position
quickly and by simple manipulation.
To this end I provide the cards with slots in one edge thereof, or with suit-
able projections from such edge. In the tray or drawer intended to hold the
cards I mount two rods or bars upon journals supported in the end walls of the
tray or drawer or in plates affixed thereto, said rods or bars being so disposed with
relation to each other and to the cards and of such form as to interlock with
the shoulders formed by the slots therein or the projections therefrom. I also
provide suitable means for rocking said rods or bars upon their journals so as
to engage and lock and to disengage or release the cards accordingly as the rods
or bars are placed in one position or the other. My invention may be embodied
in a variety of forms of construction, the preferred construction and several
modifications thereof as to the forms of the card and of the locking bars or rods
being shown in the drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a broken perspective view of the tray or drawer having mounted
therein the card locking mechanism, one of the cards and a follower block therefor
being shown;
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the locking rods or bars and of the means
for rocking them;
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the locking bars broken away, showing the lock-
ing mechanisms in edge view, partly in section;
Figure 4 is an elevation of a sliding plate slotted to receive the bars and
having a tongue or wedge to separate them;
Figure 5 shows the bars in cross section closed and a fragment of a card having
a T-shaped notch therein;
Figure 6 is a plan view of the ends of the bars, showing their journals and
apertures to receive the wedge of the sliding plate;
Figures 7, 8 and 9 show three modifications; Figure 7 showing a card with a
T-shaped projection and bars adapted to engage therewith; Figure 8 showing a
projection having a rounded end or extremity; and Figure 9 a card with crescent
shaped slots providing between them a projection rounded upon its upper surface
with bars for engaging the same.
10 represents the tray or drawer of any convenient form or size and usually
provided in its bottom with a longitudinal recess, as shown at 11 to receive a
rod 12 on which is mounted a sliding follower block 13. I have shown affixed
to the rear end wall of the tray a plate 14 and to the front end wall a plate 15
and in said plates the rod 12 may be secured.
The preferred construction of locking rods is shown in Figures 1 to 5 inclu-
sive, said rods being flat or in the form of thin bars, preferably of metal and
rounded upon their corners. Said rods are marked 16, 17 and are provided
at their ends, near their adjacent edges with journals 18, 19, which rest within
suitable recesses or apertures in the end plates 14, 15. At their front ends
077

page_text: these rods have their adjacent edges notched, as shown at 20, to provide an
aperture to receive an operating or opening wedge hereinafter described.
Obviously the journals 18, 19 might be extended through the end wall of the
case for rocking the bars, or the bars might be turned by hand. I prefer,
however, to provide means for moving the bars into the locking and releasing
positions, and the preferred means comprise a sliding plate 21, mounted to slide
in ways formed by the angle plates 22. The plate 21 is notched in its lower
edge, the notch expanded and widening upwardly and outwardly to provide
the operating shoulders 23, which are just wide enough apart to admit the
bars 16, 17 when the latter are turned edgewise, or into vertical position and
lie in contact, said shoulders serving to maintain the bars in such position.
The sliding plate may be operated in any convenient manner, but is shown as
provided with a stud 24, riding in a cam slot 25 of a disc or cam plate 26, said
cam plate being mounted to turn with a stem or short shaft 27 extending through
the end wall of the tray and provided with an operating knob 28.
When the knob is turned the cam plate will cause a reciprocation of the
sliding plate 21. If the bars be turned up, as shown in Figure 4, and the cam
plate be turned in a direction to lower the sliding plate 21 the wedge shaped
point 21 will enter between said bars, separating their upper edges and as the
plate further descends said edges will come in contact with the curved walls of
the slot, thus turning said bars into the position shown in Figures 2, 3 and 6.
When the knob is turned in the opposite direction the sliding plate will be
raised and the shoulders 23, which in the downward movement of the plate
have passed below the plane of the bars, will engage and turn them into the
upright or vertical position.
For the purpose of covering the cam plate and the operating mechanism con-
nected therewith a block 29, triangular in cross section and recessed upon its front
side as shown at 30, may be employed, being suitably apertured to permit the
operation of the locking bars. The follower 13 will also be similarly apertured,
as shown at 13 not only to permit the operation of the bars but of its being
moved forward and back to hold the cards in the upright position.
The cards will be of any desired or usual construction, except that for the
purpose of my invention they are provided with slots or projections for engage-
ment with the locking bars. The card marked 31, shown in Figures 1 and 5,
is provided in its lower edge with a T-shaped notch 32, the narrowest part of
which is adapted to receive the bars 16, 17 when the latter are turned into a
vertical position, and the widest part of which is adapted to permit said bars to
be turned into a horizontal plane, as shown in Figure 2. When so turned said
bars engage with the card and prevent its being withdrawn until released by the
manipulation of the bars.
In Figure 7 I have shown a card 32 provided with a T-shaped projection 33
and L-shaped bars 34 adapted to engage therewith.
In Figure 8 I have shown a slightly modified construction wherein the card
is provided with a projection 35, rounded at its extremity instead of T-shaped,
with bars 36 slightly curved transversely instead of L-shaped.
In Figure 9 I have shown the card provided with re-entering slots or aper-
tures 37, said slots extending toward each other and providing the semi-detached
projection 38, which is engaged by bars 39 of appropriate form.
In these several modifications it will be understood that the locking bars are
journalled so as to be rocked or turned to engage or release the cards and that
they may be operated by means similar to those previously described or by
any other adequate means.
When the cards are provided with projections the locking bars will prefer-
ably be arranged within the groove or longitudinal recess in the bottom of the
tray or drawer and the locking projections will extend below the plane of the
opening of this groove. This construction has one desirable feature in that there
are no parts projecting above the surface of the bottom of the box and therefore

page_text: articles such as envelopes having straight or unsevered edges may be filed between
the index cards.
By reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3 it will be seen that the cam plate 26 has
that portion outside of the cam slot gradually widening toward the ends so that
the bars both in the locked and unlocked positions are engaged by the edge of
the cam plate and are thus thereby locked in such positions. The cam slot 25
is sufficiently extended to permit the cam plate being turned sufficiently to
frictionally lock the bars after they are brought to their extreme positions.
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. In combination with a tray, two flat bars pivoted at their adjacent sides
and means for turning and holding said bars, said means being adapted to engage
the non-adjacent sides or edges of the bars eccentric to their pivots, substantially
as described.
2. In combination with a tray, flat bars pivoted at their adjacent edges in said
tray and having transverse slots in their adjacent edges, of a vertically movable
plate having a slot with a divided and diverging upper end and a wedge portion
between the diverging portions of said slot, and means for operating said plate,
substantially as described.
3. In a card index, in combination with a series of cards having T-slots, flat
bars pivoted to turn with their flat sides vertical to pass through the vertical
part of said slots and to turn with their flat sides in the same horizontal 'plane
to enter the horizontal part of said slots 'and means for turning and holding
said bars, substantially as described.
4. In a card index, the combination with flat bars each hinged at one edge in
end supports and adapted to stand side by side in parallel planes or to be moved
into the same plane, of a slidable plate with a slot in its lower edge to receive
said bars, and provided with means whereby said bars may be moved from one
to the other of said positions, substantially as described.
J. The combination with a card having a T-shaped notch, of longitudinal
end-hinged bars and a reciprocable plate provided with a T-shaped slot having
a downwardly projecting wedge, substantially as described.
6. A card index locking device, comprising the combination with cards having
integral shoulders to afford locking provisions, of locking devices therefor com-
prising two bars pivoted at their adjacent longitudinal edges and adapted when
turned in one position to engage by their non-adjacent longitudinal edges the
shoulders of said cards, and means for rocking said bars upon their pivots, sub-
stautially as described.
7. In a locking device for a card index, the combination with a card having
integral locking provisions, a pair of locking bars journalled upon the parallel
axes and means for rocking said bars upon their journals comprising a sliding
plate, a slotted cam for sliding said plate, the latter having a pin travelling
in the cam slot and the cam plate impinging the locking bars at their extreme
positions whereby to frictionally hold them, substantially as described.
8. In combination with a tray, two flat bars pivoted at their adjacent sides.
and provided with crank portions at the sides opposite their pivots, and means
for turning and holding said bars engaging the said crank portions, substantially
as described.
Dated this 16th day of December 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.