THE CONSTRUCTION ARRANGEMENT OF AN IMPROVED LETTER PAPER, INVOICE, OR BILL BOOK
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Dixon, of the Town and County of the
AND
Town of Nottingham, for the Invention of "THE CONSTRUCTION
ARRANGEMENT OF AN IMPROVED LETTER PAPER, INVOICE, OR BILL BOOK
Scaled the 5th May 1865, and dated the 9th November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Dixon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
November 1864.
1, STEPHEN DIXON, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for. "THE CONSTRUCTION
AND ARRANGEMENT OF AN IMPROVED LETTER PAPER, INVOICE, OR BILL BOOK
FILE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of a spring or springs, or
equivalent contrivances in the construction and arrangement of a letter paper,
invoice, or bill book file for persons engaged in business pursuits. I employ
this spring or springs, or equivalent with their accessories in connection with a
Frod or frame, having on its surface perforations for the reception of pins, or
the like. This rod or frame is rivetted or otherwise secured to a board of
wood, pasteboard. papier mache, paper, or other convenient substance made in
imitation of the backs of book covers, having sides thereto so as to present
the external appearance of a book cover, and so arranged that the rod or
.frame may be drawn out, extended, or raised, to allow of a letter paper,
invoice, or other document being placed thereon, on the reception of which
the rod or frame falls back into its original position, and the pins or their
Price 8d.]

page_text: equivalent may have corresponding pins or their equivalent on the opposite
side of the book cover, but made hollow at the ends to receive their neighbours,
and in such case any letter, invoice, or other document required could be
removed with ease and accuracy. Or, I sometimes employ a spring hinge or
its equivalent in the centre of the back of the book cover to open outwards,
so that when the book cover is opened the pins or the equivalent will sepa-
rate from each other, and allow a letter, invoice, or other paper to be placed
upon it.
The advantages embraced in a spring book file are obvious, one is its
freedom from complication and the case with which letters, invoices, or other
documents may be referred to or removed from the file at pleasure. Another
of them is that the invoices or papers can be treated in like manner to a
day book or journal, and need not under ordinary circumstances be removed
after being placed on the file, as they can be folioed in a similar manner
to an ordinary day book.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Stephen Dixon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1. STEPHEN
Dixon, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth
year of er reign, did, for llerself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Stephen Dixon, Her special licence that I, the
said Stephen Dixon, my executors, administrators. and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Stephen Dixon, my exécutors. 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 Men, an Invention
for THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF AN IMPROVED LETTER PAPER,
INVOICE, OR BILL BOOK FILE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Stephen Dixon, my executors or administrators. by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immie-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stephen Dixon, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
According to my Invention I employ a spring or springs, or equivalent con-
trivance in the construction and arrangement of a letter paper, invoice, or bill book
file for persons engaged in business pursuits, (and especially for those engaged
largely in professional and commercial transactions.) I employ this spring or
springs, or its or their equivalent, with its or their accessories in connection with
a rod or frame having on its surface any required number of perforations for
the reception of pins or equivalent contrivances. This rod or frame is rivetted
or otherwise secured to a board or piece, or two pieces connected together,
made to imitate the back of a book cover, and having sides which present the
appearance externally of a book cover, and I purpose in this construction and
arrangement that the rod or frame may be drawn out, extended, or raised to
allow of a letter paper, invoice, or other document being placed thereon, on the
reception of which the rod or frame would fall back into its original position.
And the pins or their equivalents may have corresponding pins, or their
equivalents, on the opposite side of the cover made hollow at the ends in order
to receive their opposite pins. And in such case any letter, invoice. or other
document required could be removed with case and accuracy. Or, I some-
times employ a spring hinge or its equivalent in the centre of the back of
the cover to open outwards, so that when such cover is opened the pins or
their equivalent will separate from each other, and allow a letter, invoice, or
other paper to be placed upon them.
The advantages embraced by a spring book file are obvious, one advantage
is its freedom from complication, and the ease with which it allows of letters,
invoices, or other documents being referred to or removed from it at pleasure,
another advantage is that the invoices or papers can be treated like a day
book or journal, and need not under ordinary circumstances be removed after
being once placed on the file, as they may be folioed or paged in a similar
manner to an ordinary day book.
There are other modifications in the construction of this my Invention, but
they do not depart from the nature of the said Invention.
Having thus set forth the nature of my Invention, I proceed to describo
the manner of performing it with reference to the Drawings.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 to 13, Sheets 1 and 2, represent various examples of spring files
or apparatus constructed and arranged according to my Invention.
My first arrangement of bill book, letter, or invoice file is shown in plan,
Figure 1, and in end view Figure 2. In these Figures A, A, are the cover or
sides of the cover which form part of or are attached to two pieces B. B,
forming the back of the file, which as also the sides of the cover may be made
of wood, leather, papier mache, gutta percha, india-rubber (vulcanized or
otherwise), metal or other convenient material, and either plain or ornamented;
such sides or covers, and back may be connected together by any ordinary
method used by bookbinders when binding books; C, are springs of metal
or other material placed at the back of the covers, and having their ends
passed through perforations or slits in the cover or sides of the cover to the
inside of the same. To one end of each spring are rivetted or otherwise
secured pins or points of metal D, the ends or points of which enter sockets
formed in the ends of pins or pieces of metal E, which are rivetted or other-
wise secured to the opposite ends of the springs C, the whole forming a file
upon which when a number of letters, invoices, or other documents are placed
in position, they may be passed on to the pieces of metal E until the onc
sought for is found, when a slight pressure upon the sides of the back B, B.
will cause the metal points D to separate from the metal pieces E as shewn at
Figure 2, when the letter, invoice, or other document may be taken out, or
an additional letter, invoice, or other document inserted. When the pressure
on the back is taken off the metal pieces will resume their closed position as
shewn in Figure 1. Figure 3 is an end view of a file in which a number of
invoices are shown as filed, and the covers or sides as closed, the back B, B,
of this file is straight on the inside, and the pins D are somewhat longer than
those shewn in Figure 1, and take into studs E, which have sockets in them.
and are secured in the opposite ends of the springs C. In this modification,
and also in the arrangement shewn in Figure 2, the springs are rivetted to
the back B, but they may be attached thereto in other ways, the length and
number of springs and pins being according to the size of file.
A third modification is shown in plan Figure 4, and end view, Figure 5,
representing a file partly opened for the reception of a letter, invoice, or other
document; and Figure 6 is a plan, and Figure 7 end view of the file closed.
In Figure 5 the back B is hollow on the inside, and in Figure it is shewn
straight. In both cases however, the back B is one piece, the covers in these
Figures (4, 5, 6, and 7), and in the following illustrations are not shewn; at

page_text: one side of the back B is secured a bar C, in which are fixed pins D, the points
of which take into socket studs E in a rod or bar F, the ends of which are
secured to two tubes G, sliding in loops of metal or other material attached to
or forming part of the back B. Those tubes are each provided with a
spring A in the inside, which spring or equivalent contrivance slides upon
a pin H, and occupies the position in which it is seen at the upper end of
Figure 6, which represents a file as closed by the action of such springs.
F is a thumb-piece, by means of which the file is opened, this thumb-piece F¹
is free to turn on the rod, and falls down on to the side of the back and
holds it open.
Figure 8, Sheet 2, is a plan of another modification of file made according to
my Invention, shewing the file open for the reception of letters, invoices, or
other documents; Figure 9 is an end view of the same, shewing it closed.
B is the back, which may be either curved or straight either on the outside or
inside thereof; C is a strip of metal or other material, in which are fixed any
required number of pins D or their equivalent contrivance, which keep the
position in which they are seen at Figure 9; the points are covered and pro-
tected by covering studs E secured in or on a bar F lying near each end in a
socket or loop G, in each of which is a spring secured to such socket and also
to the bar or rod F in such wise that they will pull or force the studs E into
the closed position shewn at Figure 9. The file is held in an open position
by a stud taking into a hole in a spring II or other equivalent contrivance
secured to the back B. The file is opened by either of the short levers or
handles I.
My next modification is shewn in plan, Figure 10, and in end view,
Figure 11. B is the back; C, a rod or bar having pointed pins D secured
in it, and held firmly down to the top of a bar E by the action of springs
attached to the rod or bar C, and to loops F. The file may be opened for
the insertion or removal of letters, invoices, or other documents by means of
the handles G.
My sixth modification is shown in end view, Figure 12, in which the pins D
when the file is closed have their points inserted into and protected by them
lying in slots in the bar E.
My seventh anodification is shown in end view, Figure 13, wherein the
pins D are curved, and have their points protected as shown at Figure 12.
The above files as well also as those herein-after mentioned may be made
either with or without covers or cases.
Figure 14 is an end view of a file, which is a modification of the one
shown at Figures 4 and 5, where the bar or rod F is drawn away from the

page_text: pins D, the points of which pins when the file is closed enter into holes in
the bar F, shewn by dotted lines. The same arrangement may be applied
to the file shewn in Figure 3. holes being made in the ends of the springs C
to receive the points of the pins D instead of such points being received by
short studs or sockets E.
Figure 15 end view, represents a modification of a file in which tubes I
and pins G are, substituted for the pins II and tubes G, shewn in Figures G
and 7, and instead of the spring A a piece of elastic material A is used, such
elastic is attached to the tubes H and pins G either inside the tube or out-
side thereof as shewn at A, Figure 15.
My eighth modification consists of a file having a solid wood or other
material for the back, and of the shape shewn in section at Figure 2,
Sheet 1, or similar thereto. The two halves being connected at. the back by
brass or other metal hinges, or by leather or india-rubber, or by woven or
textile fabrics, and having a coiled steel spring, or india-rubber or other
elasticated spring inserted in a recess at each end, such recesses being covered
with light brass or other metal plates the same shape as the ends of the back.
The pointed ends D and socketed pins E being rivetted into bars, or screwed
on to or inserted in the back, and standing up at right angles to the back of
the file, such pins being bent at a right angle or nearly so towards each other,
so that the pointed pin D may be received by the socket E when the file
is closed.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim, the improved
file constructed of parts arranged and combined substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Dixon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Office,
Nottingham.
STEPHEN DIXON. (L.S.)