1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved file section dividers for office filing products, with particular applicability to portable, expandable filing cases.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional office filing products an office file is typically divided from front to back into separate sections or compartments by a plurality of laterally extending file section dividers. Conventional file section dividers are typically formed as generally rectangular, expansive sheets of stiff but somewhat flexible material. These sheets extend from one side of the file enclosure to the other and are generally equipped with labeling tabs that project upwardly from the normally horizontal upper edge of the divider. Labeling indicia are placed on or inserted into these labeling tabs so as to identify the contents of the compartment in front of or behind the particular file section divider bearing the labeling tab. File section dividers such as these have been used for many, many years and are standard articles of office supplies.
Conventional file section dividers are somewhat deficient in that they are designed to accommodate only papers of a uniform, standard size within the filing compartments or sections to which they relate. For example, many file section dividers are constructed in a size suitable for storing within their confining compartments papers that are eight and a half inches in width and eleven inches in length. While conventional file section dividers are quite adequate for this purpose, the need often arises for storing papers or other articles formed in a different size within filing compartments designed to receive papers of the particular standard size for which the file section dividers are designed. Smaller papers and articles can thereby easily become crumpled or overlooked when stored in compartments delineated by conventional file section dividers, due to their relatively small size. Smaller papers and other articles stored between conventional file section dividers can also easily overlooked.
This problem is particularly acute in the case of portable, collapsible files where the access to each file section compartment may be rather limited. Small notes and other papers can easily drop down between the larger papers for which the file is designed. The inability to locate such smaller documents and other articles within a portable, expandable filing case represents a course of continuing frustration and annoyance to persons utilizing such articles.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide file section dividers for office filing products that are equipped with pockets or pouches designed to receive articles that are smaller in size than the papers or documents that the file section dividers are designed to separate. By providing a pouch or pocket on the surface of improved file section dividers according to the invention, the user of the file is able to more quickly and expeditiously locate undersized documents and papers within a filing compartment.
In one broad aspect the present invention may be considered to be an improvement in a fill section divider formed as an expansive partition and having a laterally extending upper edge from which a file section label tab projects upwardly; an opposing, laterally extending lower edge parallel to the upper edge; and mutually parallel opposing side edges oriented perpendicular to the upper and lower edges. The improvement of the invention is comprised of a pocket secured to the expansive partition. The pocket has a top opening located beneath the level of the label tab.
The pocket may be formed in several different ways. In one preferred embodiment of the invention the pocket is formed by a rectilinear patch secured to the partition. The patch has mutually parallel closed side edges that are parallel to the partition side edges and located therebetween, and a closed bottom edge parallel to and located above the bottom edge of the expansive partition. The side and bottom edges of the patch may be closed by different securement systems, including sonic welding, adhesive, staples, tape, and many other conventional fasteners. Where the partition and pocket are both formed of thin sheets of plastic material, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, the side and bottom edges of the patch forming the pocket are most easily and economically secured by sonic welding throughout to the divider partition.
In an alternative embodiment, the expansive partition and the pocket may be formed from a common sheet of material folded at a bottom edge fold which defines the lower edge of the partition and creates a delineation between the partition and the pocket. The pocket is thereby formed as an extension from the lower edge of the partition. The pocket has mutually parallel side edges that are parallel to the side edges of the partition. Very typically the side edges of the pocket are spaced closer together than the side edges of the partition so that the partition is wider than the pocket. In such devices the side edges of the pocket are normally secured throughout their lengths to the partition so that the bottom of the pocket is closed by the bottom edge fold and the sides are secured by sonic welding or other conventional fastening means.
The pocket does not necessarily need to be formed from the same sheet of material as the partition. In other embodiments of the invention the partition is formed of a first sheet of material and the pocket is formed of a separate, second sheet of material. The second sheet of material has an anchored edge parallel to and secured to the upper edge of the partition. The second sheet of material may be folded back upon itself to form a pocket bottom fold parallel to the upper anchored edge. As a result, the pocket is delineated into an apron panel and a backing panel, both having opposing side edges parallel to the side edges of the partition. The side edges of the apron panel and the backing panel may reside in registration with each other, in which case they are sealed together. The pocket is thereby secured to the partition only at the anchored edge of the pocket, so that the bottom of the pocket may be swung away from the file section divider partition.
On the other hand, the side edges of the apron panel may extend beyond and may be located further from each other than the side edges of the backing panel, and closer to each other than the side edges of the partition. In this case the side edges of the apron panel are sealed to the partition laterally outwardly from the side edges of the backing panel. The pocket is thereby secured to the partition by the side edges of the apron panel, as well as at the anchored edge of the pocket. In such embodiments, the backing panel of the pocket is held against the partition.
The invention has particular applicability to portable document storage devices. The invention may also therefore be considered to be an improved portable document storage device. Such an improved device according to the invention is formed with a case including front and back covers and a plurality of file section dividers having mutually parallel upper and lower divider edges and opposing, mutually parallel divider side edges oriented perpendicular to the upper and lower divider edges. The file section dividers are joined at the divider side edges to delineate the case into a plurality of filing compartments. According to the improvement of the invention, at least some of the file section dividers are provided with upwardly opening pouches, and each of the pouches is secured to a separate one of the file section dividers between the side edges thereof.
The invention also has particular applicability to an expandable filing case. Such a filing case has a front cover and a back cover, both having a top and a bottom. The filing case also has a plurality of filing section dividers having opposing, mutually parallel, upper and lower divider edges and opposing, mutually parallel divider side edges oriented perpendicular to the upper and lower divider edges. The divider side edges are coupled to the front and back covers with a plurality of accordion folding pleated connections. The bottom edges of the section dividers are closed, thereby forming a plurality of filing compartments between the section dividers and the front and back covers. At least some of the file section dividers are provided with filing pockets secured thereto and located between the divider side edges. Each of the filing pockets has an upwardly opening mouth located no higher than the upper divider edges.
The invention may be described with greater clarity and particularity by reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the embodiment of the portable, expandable filing case 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1–3, the filing case front cover 12, bottom panel 16, back cover 14, and folding flap 18 are all formed as parts of a single sheet of stiff paperboard material or of a stiff sheet of plastic material, such a polypropylene or polyethylene. This stiff base sheet is folded to delineate the filing case back cover 14 and the filing case foldable flap 18 and also an articulated top panel 28 located between the filing case closure flap 18 and the filing case back cover 14. A fold at the top edge 20 of the back cover 14 delineates the back cover 14 from the top panel 28. An articulated fold at 30 delineates the top panel 28 from the closure flap 18. The top panel 28 has a series of articulated folds so as to better accommodate various thickness of documents stored within the filing case 10.
The filing cases 10 and 10′ are each provided with a pair of mutually opposing side panels 36, which are each formed of separate sheets of flexible material folded with upright accordion folded pleats. The filing case side panels 36 have narrow, upright, folded margin strips at their forward ends that are secured by adhesive or sonic welding to the inside surface of the front cover 12 from top to bottom. Likewise, the pleated side panels 36 also have narrow, upright margin strips at their rear ends that are similarly secured to the inside surface of the back cover 14 just within the lateral edges thereof. The sides of the filing case 10 are closed by the side panels 36. The plurality of vertical accordion folds in the panels 36 permit expansion of the top of the filing case 10 when the covering flap 18 is opened as illustrated in
The filing case 10′ illustrated in
Both the filing case 10 and the filing case 10′ may employ all of the different embodiments of file section dividers according to the invention, including those illustrated in
Each of the dividers 38 has outboard side edges 39 and 41. Edge margin strips 43 are formed immediately adjacent the outer edges 39 and 41 by folding the divider partitions 40 longitudinally along the fold demarcations 48 and 50, which then become the partition side edges. The marginal strips 43 of the dividers 38 are secured by adhesive, heat sealing, or sonic welding to the facing surfaces of the accordion pleated folds formed in the filing case side panels 36.
According to the improvement of the invention, the file section divider 38 is further comprised of a pocket 50 secured to the expansive partition 40 of the file divider 38. The pocket 50 has a top opening at its upper edge 52 that is located beneath the level of the label tab 44. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in
As illustrated in
Each file section divider 70 differs significantly from the file section divider 38, however, in that the pocket panel 72 thereof is formed as an extension panel projecting from the divider partition 40 at the lower edge 74 thereof. The extension forming the pocket panel 72 is narrower in width than the partition 40 delineated by the upper portion of the folded sheet forming the index divider 70. The pocket panel 72 has opposing pouch panel side edges 76 and 78 that are located inboard from the partition divider side edges 48 and 50 and are oriented perpendicular to the lower edge 74 of the partition 40. As indicated by the directional arrow 77 in
The pocket or pouch 90 is formed of a second sheet of flexible, expansive material distinct from the first sheet of material forming the partition 40. The pocket or pouch 90 of the file section divider 80 differs significantly from the pocket panel 50 in its construction, however. Specifically, the second sheet of material is initially flat, but is folded along a pouch panel bottom edge 92 along a fold line that is parallel to and located above the lower file section divider edge 46 of the partition 40. The second sheet forming the pocket or pouch 90 is folded at the bottom edge fold line 92 upwardly, as indicated by the directional arrow 93, so as to form a backing panel 94 separate from the partition 40 and also an apron panel 96. The backing panel 94 and apron panel 96 are laterally coextensive so that the backing panel 94 defines straight, linear backing panel side edges 98 located inboard from the partition side edges 48 and 50. The apron panel 96 defines opposing apron panel side edges 100, which are also straight, linear, and are spaced from each other the same distance that the backing panel side edges 98 are spaced from each other. Each pouch panel bottom edge 92 is thereby located above the corresponding lower partition divider edge 46. The backing panel side edges 98 and the apron panel side edges 100 are all parallel to and located laterally within the divider partition side edges 48 and 50. The backing panel side edges 98 and the apron panel side edges 100 are aligned in mutual registration and are sealed to each other by linear sonic welds 102, as illustrated in
The backing panels 94 of the file section dividers 80 have top, anchoring margins 104 that are sealed to the divider partitions 40 by linear, laterally extending sonic welds 106, as illustrated in
Like the file section divider 80, the backing panel 114 of the file section divider 110 has an anchoring margin 104 that is sealed to the partition 40 proximate its upper edge 42 by a laterally extending sonic weld 106. The pocket 115 is thereby secured to the file section divider partition 40 both at its top anchoring upper edge margin 104 of the backing panel 114 and at the side edges 118 and 120 of the apron panel 116.
Undoubtedly, numerous variations and modifications of the file section divider and portable document storage device of the invention will become readily apparent to those familiar with office filing products and office supplies. For example, while the backing panel 94 and the apron panel 96 are formed of a sheet of material separate from the sheet forming the partition 40 in the embodiment of
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