USRE22850E - Card fiijno equipment - Google Patents

Description

March 11, 1-947. (5, C, BRuEN I Re. 22,850

CARD FILING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April 1943 8 Sheets-Sheet l March 11, 1947. c}, BRUEN 7 Re. 22,850 I CARD FILING EQUIPMEQT Original- Filed April.5, 1943 8 Sheets-Sheet 2' iav iqe March 11, 1947. G. c. BRUEN Re. 22,850

CARD FILING E UIPMENT Original Filed April 5, 194.1 Sheets-Sheet 3 March 11, 1947. c, BRUEN Re. 22,850

GARD- FILING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April I5, 194$ 8 heets-Sheet 4 March 11, 1947. G. c. BRUEN Re. 22,

CARD FILING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April 5, 1943 s Sheets-Sheet 5 March 11, 1947. 5. c, BRUEN Re. 22,850

CARD FILING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April 3, 1943 8 Sheets-Sheeg 5 CARD FILING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April 3, 1943 8 Sheets-Sheet '7 26 v 1 26 56- 1 Q 42? 4 i l 2 March 11, 1947. G. c. BRUEN 22,850

CARD FILING EQUIPMENT Original Filed April 5, 1943 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Reloaded n, 1941;

I Rs. 22,850

22,856 g Y oaaommoliqmmtnr George C. Bruen, decea sed. late of/Chicago, lit,

by Sophie E. Bruen, executrix, Chicago, 111., as-

signer, by mesne assignments, of thirty-live per cent to Sophie E. Bruen, Chicago, Ill., five per cent to Edna V. Dickinson,v Highland Park,

IlL, 9 per cent to Sarah M. Ili ten and five-tenths per cent to G. A;

Bullock, Wilmette, Stuart,

Washington, D. (3., two per cent to Jay Fisher,

Chicago, 111., one per cent to Marie Thoenen, Elmwood Park, Ill., oneper cent to George H. Fredericksen, Chicago, Ill., and one per cent to E. M. Thoraen, St. Joseph, Mo.

Original No.

Sellll No. 481,710,

2,372,249, dated March 2 1945, April 3, 1943:"1pfii'catliin for reissue February 23, 1946, Serial No. 649,899

This invention relates to filing equipmentwhere records are kept on cards or the like and readily available to an operator for consultation thereof,

.or entries thereon, or both.

When'thc-usa.nds of cards must be available 'to one operator, it is impossible to place all of the cards'within the rather limited field wherein any card may be consulted within ready reading range without the necessity of the operator making fatiguing shifts of her body. For efflciency, from the standpoint of both speed and i the elimination of operator fatigue, it isdesirable that when there are more cardsto be made available than can be accommodated within that rather limited field, the other cards be brought into that field for consultation, that is, that the cards be brought to the operator instead of the operator to the cards.

In accordance with this principle, it has been a. practice to put the cards in a long tray which is longitudinally shifted through the operator's working field. That long card tray is shiftably mounted in a still longer cablnetthe cabinet usually three to five feet longer than the tray. when the trays are long enough to accommodate thousands of sizable cards, the length of the cabinet ma-y-be three to six times the length of the cabinet of an ordinary piece of filing equipment. Thus such cabinets are unwieldy-unwieldy-in crating,in shipping, in moving through doorways for installation, and also for floor plan lay-out for batteries of the cabinets.

But even more serious, it has not been feasible to house such equipment in fireproof cabinets, both' because the design does not adapt the cabinet to be effectively closed and because the weight of so large a single cabinet-if of fire proof construction-would be prohibitive.

, One object of the invention is to provide filing'equipment which makes thousands of sizable cards available to inspection by' an operator within her most convenient working field by this but where the above mentioned objections to present filing equipment are avoidedthat is, where the cabinet units are kept small for convenience in crating, shipping and handling,

where they are more flexible in battery lay-out in an office, where the cabinets are-feasibly made of fireproof construction which can be eil'ectively 2 closed off whenever the cards are not being consulted, and where the weight of the cabinet units, despite the fireproof construction, is not prohibitive for ready handling.

Another advantage of the invention is that whenever the cards are not being actively consulted they may bereadily locked up and stored within their fireproof and burglar-proof cabinets, and the inside lengths of the cabinets need not be any longer than the card trays, that is, the shifting of the card trays is effected in the invention without having to make the cabinet considerably longer than the tray. Another advantage of the invention is that the cabinet construction, when the cards are not I being actively consulted, may readily be converted into a'largeflat-topped desk; but whether or not the cabinet structure is thus converted, it always offers a sizable fiat counter-height sur-. face area within reach of the operator. The invention is adaptable to either longitudinal or crosswisefiling of the cards.

The. foregoing, together with furtherobjects, features and advantages of the invention are set forthin the following description of specific. embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive show one form:

Fig. 9 shows a slight modification of the first form, whereby the door of the insulated cabinet is hinged at the cabinet top;

Figs. 10 to 13 inclusive show a second form employing a drawer track rather than a. drawer suspension; 1

Figs. 14 and 15 show a third form using halfwidth drawers mounted side by side by individual drawer suspensions;

Figs. 16 to 19 inclusive show a fourth form in which the rows of cards are filed crosswise of the drawer and it is intended that the operator will sit with her knees under the drawers, the

. drawers being supported by drawer suspensions;

principle oi bringing the cards to the operator,

' Figs. 20 and 21 show a fifth form similar to the fourth form but with the drawers supported on tracks: and

Figs. '22, 2s, and 24 snows sixth form of the invention in which the removal of the cabinet closure opens the top as well as the front of the drawer compartment of each cabinet and where, 6

preferably, the compartment is not insulated.

tion of the adloining ends aasso More specifically: Fig. 1 shows a pair of cab-.

inets in the proper spaced relation to give efi'ect to the invention, the doors of the insulated compartments of the two cabinets being opened;

Fig. 2 is a similar viewbut with the drawers pulled out from the insulated cabinet compart- .ments and coupled together;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective taken on the line 2 of Fig. 2 showing the inter-front coupling for the drawers;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of one of the cabinets of Fig. 1 with the door of the insulated cabinet open;

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section through the upper part'of-one of the cabinets and its drawer;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical section through one of the cabinets and its drawer;

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of one of the cabinets of Fig. 1 but with the door of the insulated cabinet closed and locked;

Fi 8 is a floor plan lay-out of a battery oi pairs of cabinets such as shown in Fig. 1;

. Fig. 9 is a view'of one of the cabinets similar to Fig. '1 but modified to show the door hinged at the top; v

I Fig. 10 is a plan view of a pair of cabinets similar to the cabinets of Fig. 1 but showing another plan in which the cabinets ride on tracks and a removable track bridges between the cabinets;

Fi 11 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line I ll I of Fig. 10;

,Fig. 12' is a fragmentary transverse vertical section taken on the lines 12-12 of Figs. 10 and 11;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary plan section taken on the lines I3l3 of Fig. 12

Fig. 14 is a transverse vertical section of another form of cabinet similar to that of Fig. 1 but having a pair of side-by side drawers each with its individual drawer suspension;

Fig. 15 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line lS-li of Fig. 14;

Fig. 16 is a perspective view of a pair of cabinets I embodying another form of the invention;

Fig. 17 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 18 is a transverse vertical section taken through one of the drawers'on line lO-ll in Fig. 1

Fig. 19 (sheet 5) is a longitudinal vertical secof the cabinets in Fig.

Fig. 20 is a sideelevation ofa pair of cabinets showing another form of the invention similar to that of Fig. 1'7 but employing a track rather than a; drawer suspension;

Fig. 21 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 2i-2l in Fig. 20 looking'toward the en of one'cabinet;

is extensibly supported in the cabinet by a drawer fitted closure.

length of each cabinet. Each cabinet consists of an insulated cabinet section 20 set upon a noninsulated base section 21 to. bring the top oi the insulated section up to usual desk height. The

construction of the insulated section 2I preferably follows the construction of that type of safe .which employs inner and outer metal walls with an intervening layer of insulation and calculated to stand a one or two hour fire test. A similarly constructed door 28 is provided at the front end of the insulated section of-the cabinet. It is hinged at its bottom by external hinge brackets 29 pivoted on the under side of the insulated cabinet and balanced by a counterweight 30 working within the base section at the far side thereof. When the cabinet is closed, as shown in Fig. '1, the door is secured by a lock II. When it is opened, the counterweight 211 permits the door to swing to the dotted line position of Fig. 6, which is the horizontal position of Fig. 1.

Within each cabinet is a card drawer 22. It

suspension 33 employing mechanism which may be a substantial duplication of the better type of filing cabinet drawer suspensions employing floating bars which carry rollers engaging fixed tracks in the cabinet and tracks on the drawer sides. The drawer suspension is such as to suspend the drawer when, substantially fully withdrawn to make its entire capacity accessible from without. The drawer front 34, it will be understood, need not form a full closure as filing cabs inet drawer fronts usually do; the door 28 is a Each drawer front has a finger slot 35 with beaded edges into which the fingers may be inserted to pull the drawer out. Each drawer front 34- also carries the complementary half of a coupling (Fig. 3) which comprises a coupling strip 36 fixed to the inside of the drawer front and having a hooked end occupying a mid position of a hole 31 through the drawer front. Preferably the bottom of the hole is spaced down from the coupling by little more than the width of the'coupling strip; and the clearance between the top of the coupling strip and the top of the hole is similarly a little greater than the width of the strip. As shown in Fig. 3, when the two drawer fronts come together, this coupling mechanismpermits their being intercoupled. The arrangement is such that both drawers can be identical; one does not have to be a right and the other a left.

Fig. 22 is a side view of a pair of cabinets, one

of which is in longitudinal vertical section of a sixth form of the invention, the drawers being stored within their respectivecabinets and the closures being in closed position: I

Fig. 23 is a similar view but with both cabinets in vertical section, with the drawers extended and coupled together and with one closure in open position; and

Fig. 24 is a man view of the eiiuipment of Fig To transform the equipment from the two closed cabinets. one of which is shown in Fig. 7, to the card consulting arrangement of Fig. 2, the doors of the two cabinets are unlocked and swung down to the horizontal position of Fig. 1. where they underlie the level of the drawers. Then the drawers are pulled out until their drawer fronts .3! meet. Then the front end of one drawer is ers. If the cardsare still larger or are large.

sheets, they may be set in a single row. The

drawers are shown with divider plates 38 subdividing the cards at intervals. The dividers are hinged to'the bottom of the drawer as by projections extending into slots 29 in the drawer bottom.

In the form of Figs. '1 to a, occupy considerable depth beneath the cabinet tops, which are-preferably kept at about desk horizontally upon the cards. The spaced dividers II, although hinged, keep the cards from shiftingthroughout the length of theentire drawer under I such push'or pull. Also, shifting of the coupled drawers may be conveniently effected by engagin the thumb or fingers on the transversely fluted obliquely presented upward margin 40 ,of the drawer side-especially of the near drawer; side. The invention has the eil'ect of a long drawer full of cards shiftable past the operator tovbring 'the desired cards into-the zone of 'convenient inspection and manipulation by the operator without her having to move or substantially shift her body. Butyet no' structure of the equipment has to be much longer than half the length of the assembled cards.

The cards are readily put back in their fireproof housings by simply liftin the front of one drawer a half an inch or so to uncouple the drawer fronts, pushing the two drawers closed and closing the two cabinet doors.

two slghtly, self-contained, independent cabinets of convenient desk height and about the size of low conventional filing cabinets, with a clear space between them. Also, if it is necessary to inspect only cards in one of the drawers, that maybe, done without the necessity of opening the other cabinet.

The position of one of the cabinets in reference to the other need be only approximate. This avoids the necessityof fastening either cabinet to the floor and it eliminates the necessity of any spacing framework interposed be tween Ior connecting the two cabinets to insure a critical relative position. An error of-an inch or so in the spacing of the cabinets will not defeat satisfactory operation as described. Nor is it necessary that the cabinets be in either hori zontal or vertical alignment. The coupling between the drawer fronts affords something of a univerml joint. And each drawer is supported only by a drawer suspension carried wholly by its own cabinet. Therefore one cabinet may be set a few degrees out of alignment with the other cabinet, without serious consequences. And

the two cabinets may be set upon uneven floors so thatthey are not co-planar.

The tops of the two cabinetsare sufficiently near standard desk height and also so near the tops of the cards, that one of the cabinet tops may conveniently be used as an arm rest by the operator. The tops of both cabinets may also be used, for the convenient and nearby storage /of papers and other things to which the operator should have convenient access.

The interior of the base sections 21 of 'the cabinets may be used for the storage of supplies or less active records. Ready access tothe base interiors is provided by doors II on the near sides of the cabinets. The counter-weight .30

works on the far side of the cabinet where'it will not interfere with the contents nor with accesstothe doors 41.-

In Fig. 8 is shown a floor plan lay-out of a where the cards I This leaves sumcient to accommodate the operator's chair. and a small work table 43 where'on temporarily removed cards may be rested for entries; The far sides of cabinets maybe placed together as shown, making for a most concentrated use of available floor space. When th cabinets of such a battery are closed for the night,a free aisleway-is formed between the cabinet fronts; by

venience in cleaning the floors.

In Fig. 9 is shown a modification of the foregoing 'form of the invention, in which the door of the insulated section is hinged at the topandwhen opened is swung upwardly to lie flat upon the top of the cabinet.

Referring to Figs, 12 to 13, which show a secand form of the invention, instead of slidably supporting the drawers by the extension type of "drawer suspension the drawers have wheels whichrunon tracks.

Each drawer carries four wheels N-two on each side, onenear the front and one near the backof the drawer. Those/wheels, which are pulleyjshaped, run on rod-likeheads of channel rails, 45 fixed along the lateral bottom edges.

of the interior of .the insulated cabinet. when the drawers of this form are to be pulled out and coupled together the counter-balanced doors of the' two cabinets are first opened and swung down to a horizontal position and then a removable bridging frame 46 is set between the cabinets to bridge therebetween at the level of the tracks. The bridging track 48 carries a pair constitute aligned extensions ofthe fixed rails 45. Extensions 4! at each corner of the bridging frame are adapted to extend into the ,bight of the adjoining channel rail and to be registered 45-therewith by locating p ns or studs 49 which extend down into suitable holes in the web of' the .channe1 rails, as shown in Figs. 12 and 13. With the aid of the rails on the bridging frame 46, the drawer wheels, when the drawers are 50 pulled out, pass from the fixed rails 45 on to the bridging rails 41. Thus the coupled-together drawers may shift along a track which is about three times as long as one of the drawers.

An optional arrangement of dividers is shown in Fig. 11. vHere each divider 50 is rigidly, rather than hingedly, mounted (as by welding) in the drawer and extends as high as thecards-or a little higher--with a rolled upper edge presenting a convenient bead to be engaged by the operator's fingers for pushing and pulling the coupledtogether drawers to shift them.

It is considered that the arrangement in the first form of the invention 'to be preferable to that of Figs. '10 to 13 for most purposes, because the employment of the bridging track allows for less tolerance in the spacing apart of the two cabinets and in their alignment; because it involves the problem of storing the bridging frame when not in use; and because the inserting of the bridging frame involves more time in convertlng the cabinets from closed cabinets into operating position. But it is in advantage in supporting drawers which-are extra heavy or extra long, where the ordinary extension type.

of drawer suspension might not be so rugged.

ui atrate m shifting'back the chairs, whichis a practical cpnof rails 41 which, when the frame is in, position,

ReferringtoI 'Igs. 14 and 15. whichshow-athird-v form of the invention. the extension drawer suspension, rather than a bridging track, is employed. But here each cabinet has its drawers of half width, each with its own independent drawer suspension on both sides of the drawer. Thus each cabinet has a fixed case stripll at each side of its interior and a duplicate case strip I alon the middle of its interior, and there are four floatingextension bars 52 within each cabinet. For still smaller cards, three or more drawers may be mounted side by side in 'each insulated cabinet section. 1

The cards may be contained in two or more trays I: set in tandem in each drawer. A tray full of cards may conveniently be lifted out of the'drawer and carried to another desk or ofllce v for temporary inspection there..

By using a plurality of side-by-side drawers in each-cabinet, and by coupling the front of each drawer to the front of thedrawer aligned with it in the opposite cabinet, the cards are divided among two or more pairs of coupled-together drawers, each coupled-together pair being shiftable independently of the others. In this way the weight of the coupled-together drawers and the cards which the operator has to push or pull in order to bring a desired card into the field of her convenient inspection, is materially reduced, and consequently the operating fatigue.

In Fig. 16 the cabinets are shown with the false cover 56b bridging the space between the working surfaces of the tops of the cabinets. Fig. is a fragmentary viewshowing the comer construction of the false cover 5621 in this position.

False cover 56b has 9. depending flange 56c which fits outside the side wall of each adjacent cabinet,

and a corresponding y longer space between the cabinets. This materially increases the number of, cards which can be accommodated. Yet this does not necessarily-involve more effort on the part of the operator in shifting the coupled-together pair of drawers with theirincreased number of cards. and this form, where the operator sits facing the drawers with her knees under thedrawers, is feasible when thecards are smaller,

and consequently although there are more cards to be shifted in the drawers in this form than in the form of Fig. 1, the weight of the shallower drawers and shallower card is not necessarily greater.

When', as in this form, the operator sits facing the drawers. it is preferable that'the drawers be shifted by means of a tubular handrail II sup- .ported at least at the near side of each drawer a littlebelow the tops of the cards. This handrail also forms a convenient hand or arm rest in inspecting the cards. I e

As indicated in Fig. 1'7 each cabinet of this form carries a false top, that of one cabinet being identified as itafiand that ofthe other as "b. These false tops have shallow marginal flanges whereby they are seated upon the primary tops of the cabinets. One of these false covers or tops 58a is removed, inverted, and set with its ends supported in the lower reaches of the door frames of the insulated compartments, as shown in Figs. 16 and 19 to underlie-the extended drawers but above knee height. Thereby the false cover 56a but is too short to engage the side walls of the cabinets in the position of Fig. 16. Depending flanges 56c terminate at 56d short of the endof the false cover and the projecting-end portions 56c rest on top of each cabinet.

In Figs. 16 to 19 are shown a fourth form of the invention which is particularly adapted to cards of sufllciently low height'that the operator may conveniently place her knees under the drawers;' Therefore she can sit facing the drawers andthe cards may more conveniently be set in rows which extend transversely of the drawers. It is preferable, as shown, to set each transverse row of cards in an individual transverse tray 54 which in turn is removably set transversely of the.

drawer. Because relatively shal'owdrawers may housed in this form, the insulated cabinet section which contains them is also rather shallow. In consequence the'hinged insulated door is so small that it need not be counter-balanced and can, as shown, be swung down to vertical position against the front ends of the base sections of the cabinets.

When the operator faces the drawers, the field in which she can conveniently inspect and manipulate cards without having to shift her body is considerably larger than when she sits'sidewise of the drawers. This is partly because the drawers can extend on both her right and her left and also because she can conveniently use both right and left hands for' manipulating thecards.

s'ervesas a knee guard to prevent the drawers shifting inadvertently and catching on the operators clothing. And incidentally it serves to catch any dropped cards which might otherwise fall to the floor.

In a somewhat similar manner the false cover viitb of the other cabinet may be removed and set between the cabinets to lie substantially flush.

with the primary tops and thereby convert the two cabinets into what is virtually one long desk top. To accomplish this result, the end edge portions of the false cover 56b should rest on thetops of the adjacent cabinets 25, 25, which should be close enough together so that the depending side flanges on the false covers 581) have a substantial fit between the cabinets. This, of course, is done only when the cards are not being actively consulted but where it is desirable to have a large temporary working space at convenient desk height.

Because the insulated doors in this form are dropped down to vertical position where they lie against the fronts of the cabinets, they do not interfere with the operators knees.

In Figs. 20 and 21, which illustrate a fifth form of the invention, the drawers are sufficiently shallow to permit the'operator to' put her legs beneath the drawers and sit facing the drawers. And consequently the cards are preferably filed crosswise. of the drawers. suspensions shown in the form of Figs. 16 to 19, tracks are employed on'which the drawers run, somewhat akin to the form of Fig, 10. In the form of Figs. 20 and 21, however, the bridging frame is in the form of a removable false top 56a" which on its underside has a pair of depending rails 41'. When this false'top 56a is removed from its cabinet, inverted. and set to bridge between the cabinets, as shown in Fig. 21, the rails 41' constitute extensions of the fixed track within the cabinet on which the drawer wheels roll. This, therefore, ofi'ers a solution to the problem of the convenient storage of the bridging-frame But in 'lieu of the track llofl lg. 10,andatthe Referring to l 'igs. 22, 23 and 24, which show a sixth form of the invention, each cabinet has 5 an upper drawer compartment Bl. Each drawer compartment 58 is defined in part by a bottom 3|! and by the extension thereabove of the back and side walls of the cabinet; But the top and front end of each drawer compartment ii is open' except as they are closed bya closure 6!. Each closure I is L-shaped in side elevation and consists of a horizontal top closure portion Mt and a depending front closure portion Iii. To open the two cabinets for the withdrawal and oouplinQ- together of their drawers, the closure ii of one of the cabinets-the right-hand cabinet in the drawings-is lifted from its seat upon the cabinet,

turned end for end in a horizontal plane, and

again set upon the cabinet with its portion Blt closing the top of that cabinet but with its depending end-closure 8|! lying more or less fiat wise against theowiside surface of the end wall of the drawer compartment, as shown in Fig. 23.

Then the closure ll ofthe other cabinet-the left-hand cabinet in the drawingsis removed therefrom and carried horizontally, without turning it end for end,-to a position over the righthand cabinet where it is set upon the first closure 6 l, with the two top portions Ilt superposed and right-hand cabinet'is closed but the front is left open; the two closures are disposed of in such a manner as to be relatively inconspicuous and out, of sight and still preserve a working top surface on the right-hand cabinet which the operator may conveniently use for storing papers or even 40 for writing on them. And also by this shifting of the closures, both the front and top of the lefthand cabinet compartment is left open.

The respective'idrawers 60' are then pulled out asco I 10 place because of'excessive length or bulk, even though it may be heavily fireproofed. Also; in all of the forms of the invention here illustrated, the two cabinet units, with their That is, one does not have 'to be specially made as a right and the other as a left. -Even where the insulated doorhas a counterweight, as shown in Flg.'6, its shank has a detachable threaded connection III with a threaded stud on the hinge bracket 29 depending belowithe pivot pin bearing. Thus when the units are assembled for installation the counterweight may be attached to either one of the two hinge brackets 29 of the drawer. Thereby the counter-balance can be" put at that side of each cabinet base which will be remote fromthe operator, so that the swinging of the counterweight will not interferewith access to the interior of the base through the doors ll. The bases themselves need not be rights and lefts. The doors ll may be duplicated on the remote side. Or, if'the doors II are employed only on one side of each base, then the two ends will be made alike in that both ends will provide vertical slots for the door hinge brackets 29.

As previously explained, the inter-drawer cou-' pling members of Fig. 3 are so arranged that the dra'wer fronts need not. be made in rights and.

spirit of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Fireproof card'filing equipment comprising a pair of cabinets each having an insulated vaultlike upper section, a base section therebeneath and intercoupled in the manner previously der pp rting the vault-like section on the floor scribed.

This form of the invention has the advantage of exposing a region, longer than the gap between cabinets, within which the operator may examine cards. ond operator sits on the other side of the same cabinets and inspects cards in the drawers. k

The opening of the top of one of the drawer compartments in this form of the invention also of aroom, with itstop at desk height, and an insulated door for the vault-like section, a card drawer for each vault-like section, of length approximating the interior length thereof, and a Also,'it facilitates inspection where a secflOafi bar t p extensible drawer Suspension in each vault-like section and on its drawer for slidably supporting the drawer for horizontalre- -ciprocation whereby the drawer may be fully inserted'for closing of the door and withdrawn to facilitates the casual finding and inspection or expose substantially its length, the two cabinets removal by one, other than the attendant operator, who may walk up to'the file for that purpose without'sitting down at the file.

The drawer compartment is not shown in this a being set with their doored ends facing and spaced apart by a distance approximating the length of a drawer, and a releasable coupling temporarily'coupling the drawers with their front form of the invention as being insulated, because ends together whereby the two drawers may be of the burden on the operator of lifting and handling so large a closure were it of the weight required for fireproof construction, and also because of the long perimeter along which a fireshifted as a unit into and out of their respective cabinets each upon its own drawer suspension.

2. Cardfiling equipment according to claim 1 wherein the undersides of the extended drawers proof seal would have to be made in intersecting are high enough to accommodate therebeneath planes.

In all .forms of the invention illustrated, when the drawers are uncoupled and shifted back into their respective compartments and the doors the knees of a seated operator, and removable transverse-trays in said'drawers wherein cards may be arranged within the drawers in transverse rows, whereby the operator may directly closed or the closures put in place, the two cabi- 7o e the cards.

therefore does not appear conspicuously out of "[5 transverse trays in said drawers wherein cards 3. Card filing equipment according to claim 1 wherein the undersides of the extended drawers are high enough to accommodate therebeneath the knees of a seated operator, and removable made without departing from the scope and I 'tial angularity '01 cabinets. s

7. Record filing equipment comprising a pair r 11 may-be arranged. within the drawers in transverse rows, whereby the operator may directly iacethe cards, and wherein a removable horizontal knee 'guard is' temporarily interposed between the cabinets and closely beneath.;-but independent of, the extended, drawers.

' sauce 4. Card filing equipment'according'to claim 1,.

wherein each vault-like cabinet section receives 'a second drawer at the side or the first drawer;

wherein there are extensible drawersuspenslons for the second drawers whereby they reciprocate the second drawers are similarly detachably coupled together toreciprocate as a unit independently of the first drawers.

5. Card filing equipment according to claim l.

pendent of each other, save tor their resting on a common floor or a room and for theinter- I drawer coupling.

,6. Card filing equipment according to claim 1 wherein the inter-drawer coupling ajflcrds substantial pivotal ioint' movement'as between the drawers, whereby operatively to allow substan: position as between the two oi cabinets each having a drawer compartment opening through one side thereof, a drawer Ior 1 each compartment of a lengthapproximating'the depth of the respective compartment, a cabinetcarried drawer suspension ilor each.drawer supindependently of the first drawers, and wherein wherein the two cabinets are postionally indeporting same for horizontaLreciprocation into w and out of the compartment, the cabinets being set with their-openingstacing each other and spaced apart a distance of substantially adrawer length with the drawers in substantial alignment, a releasable coupling for detachably connecting the drawers together in end to end relation for shifting longitudinally as a unit, and closure means operative to close each compartment opening when'the drawers are disconnected from each other and moved fully within their respectivecompartments.

8. A illing equipment comprising a pair ofcabinets,.each 01' said cabinets being provided with 7 an opening in one of its vertical sides for receivinga drawer, and said openings being arranged 10.

in opposition to each other, with the'cabinets spaced by an amount substantially, equal to the 1 length of a drawer, a drawer in the opening ct each cabinet, and means for slidably mounting the drawers 'in their respective cabinets, said drawers being arranged in substantial alignment 'with each other, and connecting means carried by the abutting ends oi the drawers for temporaily connecting the drawers together and permitting a limited lateral movement and limited pivotal movement between said drawers whereby the two drawers may be caused to move in tan-- dem as a unit and the records carried by the two drawers are accessible in the space between the two drawers, said connecting means comprising a pair of oppositely disposed inter-engaging members, each having a, recess for receiving the edge of the other.

. -SOPHIEE.BRUEN, Emecutria: of the Last Will and Testament of George C. Bruen, Deceased.

REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file otthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,770,235 Hill July 8, 1930 Osborn July 28, 1891

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