Untitled record

Application filed September 12, 1885. Serial No. 176,936.- (Model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Frank Rosewater, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State 5 of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Index-Books; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to io which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form apart of this specification, and in which—·

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an open 15 book provided with my strip and tabs. Fig. 2 is also a perspective view of a closed book provided with a flexible strip along the cover, and Figs. 3 and 4 are modifications.

The same letters refer to similar parts in all 20 the figures.

This invention relates to index-books, and has for its object to provide such a device as shall be simple, effective, and reliable.

With these ends in view the invention con25 sistsin tbeiniproved construction and arrangement of parts,as will be hereinafter more particularly described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A 30 represents a book in which the desired records are to be’kept, ami which may be of any desired size. .

B represents the strips, of which there may be two—one upon the inner side of each one 35 .of the covers—or there may be only one strip on one side. These strips are provided with vertical columns of suitable characters, the first of which is preferably of figures from 0 to 100, to indicate the pages of the book. The 40 second column has the characters that occur ou the first hundred pages; the third column the characters that occur on the second hundred pages, and so on for as many hundreds of pages as there are in the book.

The edges of the leaves are provided with tabs C, which represent each separate page,or any number of pages, if so desired, as every fifth one, up to one hundred, when another set of tabs are used commencing at the top and 50 extending to the bottom, as is done with the first row. There are as many rows of tabs as there are hundreds of pages in the book. Each row of tabs is made to indicate the particular hundred which it represents or opens to when in use. This cau be done by having 55 the first row plain, the second row stamped with one horizontal line, and the third row with two horizontal lines, and so on for each row of tabs; or the tabs can be of different colors,each color representing a different hun- 6: dred of pages, or they may have numerals stamped on the part that projects-beyond the edges of the leaves.

The top of each page is provided with a character or characters which indicate what 65 it is desired to put on that page. These characters correspond with the characters upon the strips on the cover of the book. When it is desired to find a given page, the desired characters are sought for. in the parallel columns 70 on the strip, the number of the column noted, and the corresponding row of tabs opened at the particular tab which corresponds with the position the said character occupies in the column, as the characters in the columns are 75 arranged to correspond with the tabs, consecutively, from the top of the page to the bottom. The first character in each of the columns corresponds with the first tab of the different rows of tabs, the second characters with the second 80 tabs of the rows of tabs, and so on to the bottom.

In Fig. 1 the book is represented as being open at page 200, at the top of which appear the characters ‘‘Mi to Mo.” The tab on the 85 opposite page has two stripes across it, thus indicating that it is iu the second hundred of pages. The first character in the third column at the left is “Mi,” thus corresponding with the character on the open page. The 90 corresponding figures in the “page” or figurecolumn, which column is not counted in deciding the rows of tabs from the number of columns are θ, thus indicating that the character is on either one of those pages of that particular hundred, while the first character in the corresponding column at the right-hand side is “Mo,” and the figuresin the figure-column are/ thus indicating that whatever ^IfOcommences with that character will be found upon those pages of that particular hundred. The same will be found true of all the other characters aud pages.

To find the desired page the above process 5 would be reversed—that is, the character first found in its appropriate column, and then the page from that.

_ In the above-mentioned figure it will be noticed that part of the last row of tabs are io marked with columns and the other with figures, which only illustrates the modification spoken of above. It will be seen how easily they could be of different colors.

Sometimes it is desirable to only use one of 15 the strips, which can be placed on the cover the same as where the two are used, and the other cover cut off even with the edges of the leaves. When this is done, the top cover, or the one without tlie strip, canbesupplied with 2c a flexible strip, D, along its outer edge, the use of which is to enable the book to be opened the more readily at the desired page, as the flexible strip will readily yield sufficiently.to enable the leaves to be turned up, as shown in ²5 Tig. 2. It will be seen that this flexible strip can be used without the tabs and index-strip, if desired, or with either of them separate. I do not confine myself to any particular width for the strip, but make it of a width corre30 spending with the size of the book.

In connection with the index-strip and tabs, I sometimes use a “cut-in” index—that is, one in which the leaves are cut away along their edges—showing the character which is on the 35 leaf that is underneath them, as is shown in Fig. 3; or the margin of each leaf may be provided with a row of characters down its entire margin, the characters corresponding with the characters on the index-strip at the edges of 40 the leaves. I prefer to make these tabs very short, so that they are not so liable to be torn oil the leaves in turning from one page to another, as the fingers readily· pass under the particular leaf, and the weight of pages is 45 borne by the pages themselves.

Another manner of using the index-strip is shown in Fig. 4, in which the strip is madeof such a width that when it is folded, as shown in the figure, it will be just wide enough for 50 the outer margin, E, to ibid over the top leaf and be secured in place by the top cover. This method makes a protector for the edges of the leaves and tabs out of the strip, and makes a more convenient book than the one shown in 55 2, in which the strip is secured to the projecting edge of the cover.

In special cases only one row of characters need be used with several rows of tabs, as where several indexes are combined in one.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, my invention will be understood without further description. It will be seen that by· its use the matter of indexing is rendered very 65 efficient aud reliable, and so simple as to be easily understood.

I show in my present application an indexed book having attached upon the opening edges of the leaves tabs arranged in oblique series or rows lengthwise or up and down the 70 book, which series or rows represent generic subdivisions or groupings of pages, and having also upon the inside edge of the back of the book a series of subdivisions or markings representing the pagings between the rows of 75 tabs, and placed opposite the tabs which they represent. I would have it understood, however, that I do not claim this subject-matter in this patent, as I have embodied such a claim ill a separate subsequent application, filed 80 September 11, 1886, Serial No. 213,838.

I am aware that strips have been used in indexing in which the characters referred to the pages through numerals, bub I do not claim such construction, broadly; but 85