US810293A - Paper-cabinet. - Google Patents

Description

'No. 810,293. PATENTED JAN. 16, 1906.

J. W. MEAKER.

PAPER CABINET. I

APPLICATION FILED APR.26,1904.

111/756 M to?" Witnesses:-

w7 1 A Jbhm IfJZeaker UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. MEAKER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO MEAKER SALES COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

PAPER-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. MEAKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper-Cabinets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a case or cabinet designed for holding writing-paper in form for the convenient use of type-writer operators and to facilitate the assemblage of the original sheets, carbon-transfer, or copyingpaper and sheets on which the carbon copies are to be made in such manner that they may be quickly and readily brought together in readiness for insertion into the type-Writing machine.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the ap pended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a case or cabinet embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view' taken upon line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the removable shelves of said cabinet. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail section of the lower part of the cabinet, taken upon line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

As shown in said drawings, A indicates a case or cabinet which consists of connected bottom, top, side, and rear walls and which is open at one end, the open end constituting the front of the cabinet. The top wall a of the cabinet is shorter or made of less depth from front to rear than the bottom wall a, while the front edges of the side walls a are inclined upwardly and rearwardly, giving an inclined form to the front end of the cabinet. Provision is preferably made for closing the front end of the cabinet, that herein shown consisting of a hinged flap or door B, which is hinged to the front edge of the bottom wall a and the side margins of which rest against or in contact with the inclined front edges of the side walls a a, when the said flap or door is closed, as seen in Fig. 2.

Within the cabinet, at the bottom partition thereof, is located a sliding paper-support C, which is adapted to be drawn outwardly from the interior of the cabinet, so as to project from the front of the same when in its operative position, as shown in Fig. 1. Above said sliding support C are located a series of superposed shelves marked D E F G II I, adapted to receive or support sheets of writ ing and carbon paper and thefront margins of which are arranged in stepped relation or with the front margins of the several shelves arranged on a rearwardly-inclined line. Six of these shelves are shown in the drawings, of which the uppermost three constitute one set of shelves and the lowermost three a second set. Of the upper group of three shelves D E F the intermediate shelf E is for support ing carbon paper, the top shelf 1) the sheets which are to form the originals, and the shelf F sheets which are to form carbon copies. Likewise of the lower group G H I the intermediate shelf II is to support carbon-paper, the top shelf G paper from which the originals are to be made, and the lower shelf I sheets from which carbon copies are to be made. The upper group of shelves D E F by reason of the inclined form of the case are shorter than the lower shelves G H I, and said upper set is designed to receive shorter sheets of paper, such as are used for short notes or letters, while the lower sets G H I are designed for longer sheets, such as regular letter-paper, or, if the case be sufliciently- The intermediate or deep, legal-cap paper. carbon-paper shelves E and H of each set are, moreover, arranged to slide freely in the case,

so that they may be drawn outwardly, and' are preferably provided with handles e h at their forward edges, by which they may be readily grasped. Said shelves E and H for carbon-paper are made to slide outwardly from the front of the case, so that the sheets of carbon-paper may be easily arranged thereon, it being obvious that inasmuch as said paper is usually thin and flexible, especially after the sheets have been once used, they could not well be arranged on the shelf by pushing them endwise into the front of the case, so that it is highly desirable that the shelf to receive them should be capable of being drawn outwardly, thereby enabling a number of sheets of carbon-paper to be piled or arranged-smoothly on said shelf.

forme The shelves D, F, G, and I for ordinary writing-paper may be either permanently or movably mounted in the case. Said shelves are not designed to be ordinarily drawn outwardly to place the paper thereon, inasmuch as a desired number of sheets of paper may be placed on each shelf by thrusting the pile of sheets into the case from the front thereof.

The side walls a a are shown as provided with horizontal grooves (1, a on their inner faces adapted to receive the side edges of the shelves D E F G H I, which shelves are shown as made of sheet metal. It will be understood, however, that the case and shelves may be made of any suitable material, either wood or metal, and the shelves, if arranged to slide, may have sliding support in any desired or preferred manner on said side walls.

The front edges of the shelves are arranged in stepped or inclined relation, as shown, in order to enable the top sheets of the piles of sheets resting on the several shelves to be easily removed from the several shelves, it being obvious that as the front edge of each shelf stands rearwardly from the front edge of the shelf below it the front edge of the top sheet is exposed and may be readily grasped by the fingers.

In order to provide for exposing the front edge of the top sheet of the pile resting on the top shelf D, which is beneath the top wall a of the case, the front margin of said top wall terminates some distance inwardly from the front edge of the said upper shelf D, and in order to enable the space between the front edge of the top wall aand the top of the hinged cover B to be closed to prevent access of dust the said top wall is provided with a hinged flap J, which may be turned back upon the top wall when the cabinet is in use, as seen in Fig. 1, but closed, as shown in Fig. 2, when the cabinet is not in use.

In order that the front edges of the piles of sheets on the several shelves D E FGH Imay be easily arranged in the same relation to the front edges of the shelves, said several shelves are provided at their inner ends with elevated strips or ledges d e f g h i, which strips or ledges form stops for the rear edges of the sheets, against which said rear edges may be placed in inserting the piles of sheets in the cabinet. Said stops or ledges may be either made adjustable or fixed. As shown in the accompanying drawings, the ledges d e f on the three uppermost shelves, designed for shorter sheets, are made adjustable with respect to the inner ends of the shelves, which latter are made of such length as to extend to the rear wall of the cabinet when the shelves are placed therein. In the case of the lower or lon er shelves G H I said ledges h h z' are by flanges on the rear edges of the shelves, suitable stops in this case being provided to limit the inward movement of the shelves, and thus insurethat the shelves will always be placed in proper position in the cabinet with their front edges in stepped relation.

Any suitable form of adjusting means may be employed for attaching the adjustable stops d c f to the shelves D E Fas, for instance, the device shown in Figs. 3 and 4 in connection with the upper shelf E may be employed. In this case the ledge 6 consists of a strip of wood secured to the shelf by means of screws 6 e, which pass throu h slots 0 6 formed in the said shelf in paral el relation with the side margins thereof.

The adjustable ledges d, e, and f will be so located on the shelves that when a pile of sheets of the particular length used. by the operator is arranged on the shelves with their rear margins in contact with said stops their front margins will be adjacent to the front margins of the shelves. When all of the sheets of paper of that particular size are used, the ledges need no adjustment; but in case the size of the sheets be changed then the ledges may be correspondingly adjusted.

The sliding paper-support C is provided with a front ledge c, a rear ledge c, and marginal or side ledges c at either side thereof, said ledges forming stops or guide surfaces for the edges of the sheets. In the construction illustrate wherein said paper-support is made of sheet metal it rests and slides upon the bottom wall a of the case and is provided with a central stiffening-strip 0 Fig. 5, which is secured longitudinally to the bottom of the support and slides in a guide-recess formed in the said bottom wall a for its reception. The rear ledge 0 will be arranged at such distance from the front ledge c that the longer sheets used may be placed between said ledges, the purpose of said front and rear ledges and the side guide-ledges c 6 being to enable the sheets to be readily and quickly arranged on the said support in proper superposed relation and with their side or end edges parallel. is not, however, strictly necessary to em loy both of the ledges c 0, because if one o the same is used in connection with the side guide ledges c c the sheets of paper may be readily and quickly arranged on the top of the suport with their margins in coincident relation. It will of course be understood that when the support 0 is drawn outwardly from the case if the cover B, hinged to the bottom wall, be employed, as shown, said support when drawn out will rest upon and be supported by said cover B.

In addition to the rear guide-strip c, the front guide-strip c, or either of said guidestrips when only one is used I employ an adjustable stop 0, adapted to control the position of the rear edges of shorter sheets. In the particular construction shown said stop consists of a short strip, which is secured to the support 0 by means of a screw 0 passing through a longitudinal slot c,.formed in the body of the support and in the strip 0 Said adjustable stop 0 will be located a distance from the front ledge c on the front margin of the support equal to the length of the shorter sheets of paper, which are placed upon the upper or shorter shelves D, E, and F. In the use of the device described the cabinet is filled by placing on the several shelves sheets of letter-paper and. carbon-paper, the carbon-paper being placed on the intermediate shelves E and H of each group of three shelves, as hereinbefore described. As these shelves may be drawn outwardly from the case, the carbon paper may be easily arranged thereon when the same are extended and the same then returned or put back into their places in the case. When the case is in use, the sliding support C will be drawn outwardly to the position shown in Fig. 1. To arrange a set of sheets and interposed carbon-paper on the shelf, a sheet may first be drawn from the lowermost shelf, as F or I of one of the sets of shelves, and placed in proper position upon the said support, a sheet of carbon-paper then drawn from one of the shelves E or H, and a second sheet of writing-paper then drawn from one of the shelves D or G. As the sheets are drawn outwardly from the shelves they are dropped upon the support C, and their rear edges may be quickly adjusted by bringing the same against a side and rear ledge c and c or against a side ledge c and the front ledge c or in case of shorter sheets by placing their rear edges against the adjustable stop 0.

The inclined or stepped arrangement of the front edge of the shelves described enables the sheets to be quickly drawn out together, if desired, it being obvious that the lowermost sheet of a group of three sheets may be first pulled out a short distance, the intermediate or carbon sheet then pulled out until its front edge is in line with the lower sheet, the top sheet then pulled out with its front edge in line with the two lower sheets, and the three sheets then grasped and pulled out together, when they will be allowed to drop upon the support C and further arranged to bring their side edges parallel, if this be found necessary.

Where the shelves, as those marked D F, which need not necessarily be arranged to slide in and out of the cabinet for the purpose of placing the paper thereon, are provided with adjustable ledges or guides for the inner margins of the sheets, said shelves will be made to slide out of the case to afford access to the said guides for the purpose of adjusting the same.

In the construction of a case or cabinet embodying my invention several parts may be made of wood, metal, or other material,

and the details of construction may be modi-- fied in various ways Without departure from my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. A paper-cabinet provided with a plurality of superposed paper receiving shelves, with a sliding paper-support provided with a lateral and end ledges and with an adjustable paper-stop.

2. A paper-cabinet provided with a plurality of shelves the front edges of which are arranged in stepped or overlapped relation, the cabinet having a top wall which terminates at the rear of the front edge of the upper shelf and is provided with a hinged flap.

3. A paper-cabinet comprising bottom, top, side and end walls and having an inclined front, a series of shelves in said cabinet having their front edges in stepped relation, a cover hinged to the front edge of said bottom wall and adapted to form a forward continuation thereof when in its horizontal position, and a horizontal paper-support located.

below the lowermost shelf above the bottom wall and adapted to slide into and out of the cabinet and to rest upon the said cover when the latter is in its horizontal position and the said paper-support is in its extended position.

4. A paper-cabinet provided with a series of superposed paper-receiving shelves, the front edges of which are arranged in stepped relation, and having a cover hinged to the front edge of its bottom wall and a horizontal paper-support located beneath said shelves and adapted to slide into and out of the cabi-, net and to rest upon the cover when the latter is in its horizontal position and said papersupport is extended, said paper-support being provided with end and side ledges.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 21st day of April, A. D. 1904.

JOHN W. MEAKERQ Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. HALL, GERTRUDE BRYoE.

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