IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTFOLIOS AND PAPER FILES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Tomlinson Bousfield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
· September 1865.-A communication from abroad by Henry Tillinghast
Sisson, of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, United States of
America.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTFOLIOS AND PAPER FILES," to be as follows:-
the
This Invention is designed to afford a convenient means for readily filing
letters or papers in book form for preservation or reference, and with a slight
modification the apparatus can be used as a file for news and other papers.
The Invention consists in the use of a case provided with hooks for retaining
papers in combination with a hinged spring, flap, or folder, for arranging
the same evenly upon the hooks and holding them in place. A contrivance is also
introduced for holding the folder back against the tension of its actuating
springs, while the sheets of papers are being placed in the proper position
preparatory to filing. A holder or case, made by preference of sheet metal, is
used, which may be semi-cylindrical in form, with the exception of a small
portion at the extreme ends, which is cylindrical, for the accommodation of
the springs which actuate the folding flap. The open or semi-cylindrical
portion should be of sufficient length to accommodate the papers for which
it is intended. To this holder are attached a series of hooks pointed at their
ends and curved to correspond with the arc which the edge of the folder flap
mill describes. These hooks may nearly span the open portion of the holder.

page_text: case, and need come short of touching the side of the case opposite to that to
which they are attached by a space sufficient only to accommodate the flap
when laid back and to allow of the convenient presentation of sheets of the
usual thickness for filing. The folding flap consists of a flat or slightly curved
strip of sheet metal or other suitable material, in length a little less than that
of the open portion of the holder and little more than one-half its width. In
this particular instance the folder is made with cylindrical ends, which are
fitted into the tubular ends of the holder case so as to turn freely therein, and
as the edge of the flap will overlap the edge of the case, it is necessary to cut
notches or openings in the same corresponding to the number of hooks, to
allow it to turn upon its axis without being interfered with by the hooks.
The folder is provided at its ends with coiled springs applied in any convenient
way, having each one end attached to the folder and the other to the cylin-
drical end of the holder, and operating to press the flap in a direction toward
the side of the holder upon which the hooks are attached. For the purpose
of holding the flap back for convenience in removing a paper from the file, or
in adjusting one to be filed, a spring latch and catch of well-known construction
is used, which may be arranged in various ways familiar to all mechanics.
The arrangement preferred consists of a spring latch attached to the interior
of the holder, within one of its cylindrical ends a stop is applied and so located
on the folder that it will engage with the latch and. hold back the folder.
The spring of the latch has attached to it a button which protrudes through
the shell of the holder, and which upon the application of pressure will liberate,
the folder and permit it to fly against the sheet of paper and file it the
hooks. I have instead of the latch and catch arrangement dispensed with
the cylindrical ends upon the folder, and use instead thereof a plain shaft
extending through the axis of the case, and upon this shaft at one end and
next the end of the case wound a spiral spring which will give to the shaft
and flap a tendency to make an endwise movement, but which will be
restrained by the head of the case at the other end until the flap is laid
completely back, when it will spring into a notch cut in the edge of such
circular head and hold the same until pressure is applied to the end of the
shaft which projects through the head and has a thumb-piece upon it, when it
will spring back as in the other arrangement.
upon
By another arrangement, instead of making use of coiled springs arranged
within a cylinder and the spring latch and catch above described, I simply
form the axis of the folder flap near its ends into the shape of a bell crank,
or instead of so doing I can make use of excentrics located at the same
positions, and underneath the same I place flat springs against which the

page_text: cranks or the faces of the excentrics will bear, and as the flap is turned back
will depress the springs. It is obvious that when the flap has been laid back
the cranks will be at their dead points, and the pressure of the springs will
be inoperative to move the flap, but when this point is passed by raising the
edge of the flap with the finger to commence its return movement the springs
will cause it to fly against the papers and file them upon the hooks in the
way already explained in the other modification of the Invention.
The apparatus above described in its various modifications is intended to be
provided with a suitable bookbinder's cover when the same is to be used as a
portfolio, and by attaching a handle to the holder and dispensing with the
covers the same can be conveniently used as a file for news and other papers,
and in the latter case instead of fastening the hooks to the barrel case they
may be fastened to the folder itself.