Untitled record

Application filed April 16, 1924. Serial No. 707,012.

To dll whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Mary Alice Thompson and Ralph P. Thompson, citizens of the United States of America, residing at PrinI cess Anne, in the county of Somerset and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Time Files, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to filing devices, and especially to apparatus for filing memoranda that is to be brought to the attention at some future time. More particularly, the apparatus may be denominated as a time file 15 from the fact that through its operation the filed memoranda are brought forth and rendered accessible at a predetermined time, automatically, and without any mental effort or the necessity of making a search of the 20 files.

A very important object of the invention is to provide a mechanical device of the character referred to which may be considered as functioning auxiliary to the memory to ²⁵ such an extent that said device renders it entirely unnecessary for the memory to recall the time when any particular paper is to be consulted, or, in other words, the invention accomplishes by mechanical means what ³⁰ would otherwise devolve upon the memory. Viewed from a different aspect, the invention has for its object to provide a filing system that saves mental effort, conserves energy, eliminates worry, and may be extended 35 to many uses.

With a view to the accomplishment of the above and other important objects the invention comprises a manually operable device provided with a plurality of file hold40 ers, separated at intervals, a single point of discharge'for the contents of said file holders, and a system of numerals by means of which the contents of the several file holders may be brought each at a predetermined 45 time to the point of discharge. By the means described, a paper may be deposited in one of the file holding devices with the object of having the paper brought to the attention of the operator at a predetermined ⁵⁰ time in the future, as, for example, six days from the time that it is deposited. By manipulation of the apparatus, step by step, at stated inervals, the paper so deposited will be automatically brought to the point of dis⁵⁵ charge, and may be extracted on the date for which it was desired to be consulted at the time the paper was filed.

A simplified embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and ⁹⁰in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the filing elements, the outside casing being removed.

The device, as illustrated, comprises an enclosing casing of circular form having a top 10, a side 12, and a bottom 14. The top of the casing is provided with a plurality of radial slits or openings 16 which constitute the openings through which the papers are inserted as they are filed in the compartments of the movable filing device enclosed within the casing. The side 12 of the casing is provided with a discharge opening 18, which may be of circular form and is of a size sufficient to enable the thumb and finger of the operator to be inserted for extracting the papers as they are successively brought into position opposite such discharge opening.

The inlet openings 16 are as shown numbered consecutively from 1 to 7 inclusive around the cover of the casing, in a clockwise direction. Such openings are spaced equal distances apart, from 1 to 7, but the space separating the opening marked 7 and the opening marked 1 is twice as great as the space separating any other two adjacent openings, and at a point half way between the openings 1 and 7 the discharge opening 18 is located, the point of such discharge being indicated by zero.

A step 20 is secured centrally within the casing to the bottom 14 thereof, and seated in a suitable bearing in this step is a shaft 22. This shaft is provided with a flange 24 and the shaft extends centrally through a hollow drum 26 which is supported upon the flange, and is provided at the top with a recess 27. The shaft 22 is provided with a screw thread 28 which is engaged by a clamping nut 29 for firmly seating the drum against the flange 24. The file holders 28, in any number predetermined, consist each of parallel side members open at the top, and open discharge ends, which latter are preferably curved as shown at 30 for exposing the outer ends of the cards or memoranda, in order that the same may be grasped

G5

100

105

110

1,631.388 between the finger and thumb and removed from the discharge opening 18. Each file holder is preferably provided with oppositely extending flanges 31 at its inner end to 5 permit attachment to the hub 26. The file holders are projected radially from the hub, as shown, in the manner of the spokes .of, a wheel, and the distance between any two adjacent holders corresponds to. the distance, be: i tween any two of the slits or openings 16 in the top 10 of the casing. The shaft :22 extends upwardly through the top of the case and at this point, is formed rectangular to cross section. A disc 32 is provided with 15 a rectangular opening which fits the rectangular portion 134 of the shaft, said disc being provided with a plurality of radial notches 34, which agree in number with the numerals arranged about the top 10 of the casing and •20 are spaced apart distances which correspond radially with the spaces between, the slots 16, there being a notch 32 for, each of said slots and an additional notch to correspond with the discharge opening 0. A knob 36, pros'; vided with a shank 35 has an opening to fit over the shaft 22 above the disc, 32, the extreme upper end 38 of the shaft being reduced and threaded to receive a nut 40 which serves to retain the knob and disc in posi30 tion.

Mounted on the cover 10 at a point preferably between the slotted openings 1 and 7 is a casing 42 which receives a sliding bolt 44, which is normally urged forward by a 35 spring 46 in a direction to enter one of the notches 34 in the disc, thus maintaining the file, holders as a unit in any one of the-several positions in which it may be located during the operation of the device. The bolt .10 is operated by a .suitable, handle, 48, the stem of.which is guided in a slot in the casing 42. A pawl 440 is pivoted to the casing 10 and a spring 46 acting thereon holds the pawl in any one of the notches 34 to prevent re15 verse movement of the disc and hence of the file holders. The movement of the file holders is reversely to that of the arrangement of the numerals applied to the slots 16, or contra clock-wise, and such movement is ef50 fected in the device herein illustrated by turning the knob 36. the bolt 44 through its handle 48 being first withdrawn from engagement with one of the notches 34 to permit such rotation, the pa.wl 440 at all times 55 preventing rotation of the. disc and file holder in an opposite direction.

Referring to Fig. 1, with the parts positioned as therein shown, the series of file holders will be positioned in alignment with CO the slots 1.6, one of said holders occupying the space between the slots 1 and 7 with its outer end opposite the discharge opening. 18 in the casing. The numerals on the cover being arranged in clock-wise order and the ⁸⁵ direction of travel of the file holders when moved relatively being in the opposite direction mill cause each holder to start at the highest number and approach the zero position by traveling from a loading position of a higher number to .a. loading position of the 70 next lower number, at every indexed movement of the knob 35. This feature is of the essence of invention, as the time unit of operation· which is the ..average interval between movements from one loading position to 75 the next, when .multiplied by the mimbor of the loading position at which any certain filing was made will equal the time of repose of the memorandum until it is presented for withdrawal at the discharge opening 18. —

The practical operation of this time file is accordingly as follows:

Assuming that a daily withdrawal of the memoranda, is desired, the ferob 36 would be turned sufficient to . move the file holder a distance corresponding to one space between notches ,34 every day as a matter of . routine. The interval of a. day .would then become a unit of operation.

The first act.in the operation of the lime ' > file, would be to predetermine the future time at which any particular memorandum is to be inspected,.; as for example, we will say that a memorandum deposited in ths time file is desired to be seen five days hence, f 5 This memorandum is deposited in the holder through! the slot 16 which is indicated by the numeral. 5. On the next day after the memorandum is deposited the knob 36 is turned one. notch in, a contra clock-wise direction. 100 Possibly on this date a memorandum will be written that is desired for inspection fort? days hence, and if so, it will be. filed in the slot indicated by the numeral 4. As the holder. 28. that was arranged under the slot 105 marked ,5,yesterday is, under the slot marked 4 today there will now be two memoranda in the same holder 28. At the second movement of the knob 36 these memoranda will reach the loading position 3, at the third tlO movement they will reach position 2, on the fourth day position 1, and on the fifth day or at the predetermined time for the discharge of both memoranda, they will reach the zero position and may be withdrawn 11-5 from the opening 18.

The physical characteristics of the device consist of file holders made to move in an endless path along which periods of rest are marked, a position .of rest at which the con- ¹-¹·’ tents of the files are drawn, and numerals arranged consecutively to denote the positions of .rest of the files at which filing may be done, the numerals being arranged in reverse order to the direction of travel of the ¹²’ files.

It will accordingly be obvious that the invention is not confined to the simple form of the device shown, as other arrangements of parts which embody the elements referred ¹³⁰

1,531,358 to could be made for performing· the same operations, without departing from the principles of the invention.