Patent Application
20080053855
This invention is in the field of portable filing boxes provided with a space for a drawer to be slid into a slot in the box.
Disclosed and claimed herein is storage box comprising a plurality of essentially vertical walls and a horizontal bottom wall defining a file retention space a drawer slot under the bottom wall of the file retention space, the drawer slot comprising a rear wall and a plurality of side walls. A drawer is slidably retained in the drawer slot; the drawer comprising one or more compartments sized to fit items useful in combination with the contents of the file retention space. The drawer can be slideably engaged with the drawer slot by a retaining means. The retaining means may be a horizontal drawer slot bottom wall and/or a rib formed along an inside surface of each side walls.
The storage box and the drawer slot walls can be arranged such that the weight of the storage box does not prevent the drawer from being operated when the storage box is resting on a surface.
The storage box may also have a removable cover engagable with the vertical walls and disposed over the entirety of the file retention space. One or more hinges may be used to attach a top edge of one vertical wall to the cover. Latch means for securely latching the cover to at least one vertical wall may also be utilized.
A cover may also be disposed over the drawer. This drawer cover may be transparent and can be slideable retained by the drawer. Alternatively, the drawer cover may simply be disposed over the drawer or attached to the drawer by hinges.
A portable filing box 10 comprises a storage space or file retention space 12 defined by a plurality of walls 14. The portable filing box may be provided with a cover 16 having a handle 18. Cover 16 is disposed over the entirety of file retention space 12 and may be attached to one wall by one or more hinges 20. Cover 16 may be securable to one or more other walls by a hinged clasp 22 or similar securement/latch device. The periphery 24 of cover 16 may engage the top of each wall 14 around the entirety of file retention space 12.
File retention space 12 has a vertical depth defined by walls 14 and may include a bottom wall (not shown). In a preferred embodiment, file retention space 12 has a width and breadth such that files of two different sizes may be accommodated. That is, the width of the file retention space may be chosen so as to accommodate legal size files and the breadth of the file retention space may be chosen so as to accommodate letter size files. File hanging rails 11 may be provided adjacent the file retention space walls to allow hanging files to be accommodated, as best disclosed in
Underneath the file retention space 12 and the bottom wall thereof, there is provided a set of slot walls. The slot walls comprise at least one set of slot side walls 30 and may optionally be provided with a slot rear wall 32 and slot bottom wall (not shown). The bottom wall of the file retention space and at least the slot side walls 30 define a drawer slot 34. Drawer slot 34 can also be defined by slot rear wall 32 and an slot bottom wall. Drawer 36 is sized to fit into drawer slot 34. Slot rear wall 32 need not necessarily be adjacent the rear file retention space wall. If drawer 36 is smaller than the bottom wall of the file retention space, slot rear wall 32 may be located between the front and rear file retention space walls, extending from the underside of the file retention space bottom wall.
Drawer 36 comprises one or more compartments 42, sized to fit various items that might be useful in combination with the contents of the file retention space. For example, if the file retention space is used to hold paperwork, the drawer compartments 42 may be adapted to hold pens, paper clips, sticky notes etc. The dividers 44 defining the compartments 42 may also be adjustable to provide for alteration of the sizes of the compartments in accordance with a users particular needs.
There is also interaction between the drawer and features associated with the drawer walls. If the optional slot bottom wall is provided, this slot bottom wall can support the drawer 36. Optionally a rib 38 on the slot side walls 30 may be provided to interact with either a lip 40 on the upper edge of drawer 36 or with the bottom 46 of drawer 36. The interaction of the drawer lip 40 or drawer bottom 46 and rib 38 will provide support in retaining the drawer in drawer slot 34. Typically, the slot side walls 30 bear the weight of the portable filing box 10. This being the case, it will be possible to slide drawer 36 in and out of drawer slot 34 even when the filing box 10 is resting on a surface. Drawer 36 may also be retained in slot 34 by interference between the back wall 48 of the drawer and a front slot wall 50. Thus, when slid out to a certain point front slot wall 50 prevents drawer 36 from being slid any further by blocking drawer back wall 48.
In a preferred embodiment, a clear plastic cover may be provided over drawer 36 and be attached to various portions of the drawer, e.g. hingedly or by latches. Such a clear plastic cover would enable drawer 36 to be removed completely from drawer slot 34 while minimizing the likelihood of spilling the contents of drawer 36.
While the particular example of the present invention as shown and described, it is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but it is intended to cover variations and modifications of the structures, characteristics and principles within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/822,721, filed Aug. 17, 2006.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60822721 | Aug 2006 | US |
