Improvements in Bill-files or the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Feb., 1896-Accepted, 4th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bill-files or the like.
1, WILLIAM OTTERBEIN GOTTWALS, of Ottawa, in the County of Carleton,
Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
Dature 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 :-
My invention relates to that class of bill files or paper or document holders
which comprise a file board or base and arches secured thereon and adapted to hold
papers or analogous articles by passing through perforations therein, said arches
being composed of stationary arch-members and movable arch-members, by the
separation of which parts the papers are permitted to be impaled or placed upon
them.
It is the object of the invention to simplify the construction of such a file and
attain great economy in its manufacture, both by reducing the number of parts of
which it is composed and by so shaping them that they may be manufactured with
few operations and readily assembled.
The invention relates more particularly to the means by which the movable
arch-members are permitted to oscillate, are kept parallel with each other during
such movement, and may be held in either their open or their closed position. The
invention further relates to the construction of the stationary members, ordinarily
called the receiving wires.
The invention consists in the parts and combinations thereof hereinafter set
forth and claimed.
In order to make my invention more clearly understood I have shown in the
accompanying drawings means for carrying it into practical effect, without limiting
my improvements, in their useful applications, to the particular construction which,
for the sake of illustration, I have delineated.
In said drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view on line I-1, Fig. 2, of a portion of a bill
file embodying my invention.
Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same, the file-board or base being removed.
Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line III-III, Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line IV-IV, Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the lower portion of one of the movable
arch-members or transfer wires.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the operating or controlling crank arm for the
same, detached.
in
Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view of said wire showing the crank arm
plan.
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the stationary arch-members or receiving
wires.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the pin forming a portion of the controlling
mechanism of the transfer wires.
Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken on a plane similar to Fig. 3, and showing
another form of such controlling mechanism.
Fig. 11 is a sectional view on line XI-XI, Fig. 10.
Referring to the drawings 1 indicates a file-board or base to which is adapted to
be secured by screws 2 or otherwise, a metallic plate 3, preferably of iron or steel,
but which may be of any suitable material, and which serves for the attachment
and support of the paper holding means and their controlling mechanism, the latter

page_text: being preferably enclosed within a metallic box or case 4 secured to the plate 3
in any preferred manner, as by malleable flanges or lugs 5 engaging perforations
or notches in the plate.
The stationary or receiving wires are indicated at 6, each consisting of a metallic
rod or wire bevelled at the side of its upper end as indicated at 7, to form a point,
and having drilled in said upper end a longitudinal socket 8. Formed integrally
with the lower end of the wire 6 is a peripheral flange 9 forming a shoulder
adapted to rest upon the top surface of the plate 3. Said flange is situated a short
distance above the lower end of the wire, leaving a cylindrical neck 10 adapted
to be inserted through a perforation 11 in the plate 3 and to be upset or riveted
upon the lower surface of the latter as shown in Fig. 1. I thus form a stationary
arch-member or receiving wire in a very simple manner, which is adapted to be
very securely held upon the base-plate without liability of becoming bent laterally
out of its proper relation to the movable arch-member, its stability being greatly
enhanced by the flange 9 above described. It is, moreover adapted at its upper
end to perfectly co-operate by lateral engagement with the downwardly extended
and pointed ends of the movable arch-member.
The movable arch-members or transfer-wires are shown at 12, their upper ends
being curved and pointed and their lower ends held in suitable bearings in which
they may oscillate relative to the receiving wires 6. L. conveniently form such
bearings by perforations 13 in the plate 3 and similar perforations 14 in the top
plate of the casing 4. The transfer wire is held in place in these bearings and
prevented from vertical movement by collars or washers 15 situated above and
below a crank arm 16 fixed on the wire and confined between said arm, the
casing 4 and the bottom plate 3. For the rigid attachment of the crank arm to
the transfer wire the latter is formed with one or more lateral recesses, or notches 17
forming flat faces, and the crank arm is provided with a longitudinal slot 18 of
such width as to neatly receive the notched or recessed portion of the wire 12.
When these two parts are thus assembled the ends 19 of the crank arm situated at
the opposite sides of the slot 18 are bent together or towards each other as shown
in Fig. 7, thus producing with little labor a union between the wire and crank arm
which is perfectly rigid and of such nature as to prevent any turning of the arm
upon the wire.
The crank arms 16, which constitute a part of the mechanism for controlling the
transfer wires, are provided with apertures or bearings 20 engaged by a connecting
rod 21, the relative arrangement of the parts being such that the arches of the
transfer wire are parallel and are so inaintained by the rod 21 during their oscil-
lation from or towards the receiving wire 6 as the file is opened or closed. I am
thus enabled to oscillate the transfer wires while containing papers upon their
arched portions, and may apply papers to the transfer wires, instead of to the
ordinary receiving wires, while the file is open, which could not be done if the
arches were arranged to oscillate in opposite directions.
Various forms of controlling means may be applied to the arms 16 and rod 21,
or to one of them, all of said parts constituting a single connected mechanism, but
1 prefer that herein illustrated consisting of a thrust-pin operating upon the
connecting rod 21 and spring actuated. Such a pin is indicated at 22, having its
outer end mounted in a socket, recess, or aperture 23, in the casing 4 or other fixed
part, and having its inner end engaging the connecting rod. For simplicity and
security such engagement is effected by a bend or recess 24 formed in the rod 21
in which rests the notched or bifurcated end 25, of the thrust pin. The controlling
means is thus adapted to be moved by the connecting rod from one position to
another (see the dotted lines in Fig. 3), so that it may exert its thrust or force in
either of two directions, enabling the same controlling means to be utilized for
holding the movable arch-members in either their closed or open position.
A convenient mode of applying the spring to the thrust pin is indicated in Fig. 3,
in which a helical spring 26 surrounds the body of the pin and is confined between
the front plate of the casing 4 and a flange 27 on the pin. The thrust pin with its

page_text: bifurcated end and flange is preferably formed in a single piece of wire as indicated
in Fig. 9.
Another simple means of applying a spring to the thrust device is indicated in
Fig. 10, in which a leaf spring 28 of arched form bears at its ends upon the front
plate of the casing and engages the thrust device at the outer end of the latter.
This engagement is effected by forming the spring with an aperture 29 in which
is received the outer end of the thrust device. In this construction said device
may be made of sheet metal formed at its outer end with a projection 30 for
entering the aperture 29 and at its inner end with a notch 31 for receiving the
connecting rod.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is:
1. The combination with the paper holding arches of a bill file comprising
movable arch-members, of connections whereby the latter are maintained in
parallelism during their oscillation, and a controlling device for holding said
members in either their open or closed position, as described.
2. The combination of the movable arch-members, connections whereby they
are maintained in parallelism, and a controlling device adapted to be shifted in
position by the said connections whereby its direction of operation is changed and
said arch-members held in either their open or closed position, substantially as set
forth.
3. The combination of the movable arch-members, crank arms on the same
extending parallel and in the same direction, a connecting rod between said arms,
and a controlling spring connected with said rod, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination of the movable arch-members, crank arms and a rod
connecting said members, and a spring actuated thrust device connected with said
rod, substantially as set forth.
5. The combination of the movable arch-members, cranks and a rod connecting
the same, said rod being formed with a bend or recess, and a spring actuated
thrust device engaging said recess and adapted to be changed in direction by the
movement of the rod, substantially as set forth.
6. The combination with the movable arch-member, and its actuating mechanism,
said member being formed with one or more recesses 17, of a crank arm formed
with a slot at its end engaging said recesses and having its ends at the sides of said
slot bent together, substantially as set forth.
7. The combination with the movable arch-members, their connecting rod, and
the spring, of the thrust pin formed with a collar and bifurcated end, substantially
as set forth.
8. The combination with the movable arch-member and the bottom plate, of the
stationary arch-member laterally bevelled at its upper end and formed with the
socket 8, and formed at its lower end with the flange 9 and neck 10, substantially
as set forth.
Dated this 11th day of February 1896
W. O. GOTTWALS,
Per W. H. Beck,
115 Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.