US2264119A - Indexed book - Google Patents

Description

M. LIGHTER INDEXED BOOK Nov. 25, 1941.

Filed Aug. 13, 1940 INVENTOR KEEP THIS TAB UNDER YOUR PHONE ZIGDEX ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 25, 1941 INDEXED BOOK Malw'n Lichter, New York, N. Y., assignor to The Stickless Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York 5 Claims.

side and which may be indexed in a convenient accessible manner.

My novel form of booklet may be conveniently employed for listing telephone numbers or addresses and has considerable application in homes and ofiices. As the booklet itself is particularly adapted for use with a telephone, it is evident that it will be constantly in view of the person at. the desk or at the telephon and thus it finds application as a souvenir or novelty upon which advertising or other descriptive matter may be printed.

Heretofore in the fabrication of small indexed note books, for telephone or address listings, a series of pages were bound together and the corners thereof were indexed alphabetically or numerically. The binding often consisted of a series of metal loops or spirals or metal staples or the like and reinforced stiffened covers were obtained by employing plastic or fibrous materials suitably fashioned in order that they might be bound to the individual pages.

Th indexing of the pages of most of the booklets heretofore manufactured was obtained by suitably notching or cutting away sections of the page in order to provide integrally formed tabs upon which the index ng figures were printed. As all of these indexing methods and binding methods involved a relatively large number of manufacturing operations, the final product was comparatively expensive and thus free distribution of these articles for home and office use by an organization interested in distributing advertising matter was prohibitive.

I have discovered that I may fabricate a booklet which may be alphabetically or otherwise indexed and is particularly adaptable for telephone use and which may be inexpensively manufactured with a relatively small number of manufacturing operations.

The pages of my booklet are fabricated from a single sheet of material suitably scored and folded. Essentially, a trapezoidal sheet of material is scored at equal distances, the scoring lines running parallel to the parallel bases of the trapezoidal sheet. At adjacent scoring lines the material is folded in opposite directions thus probooklet and thus provides accommodations for indexing numerals orletters. a v

The first and last pages are reinforced or stiffened to complete the booklet and advertising material may be printed upon the front cover or upon a portion of each page.

It is therefore an object of my invention .to provide for an indexed booklet in which the pages and the indexing means may be fabricated from a single sheet of material.

Another object of my invention isto'provide for an index suitable for home-or ofiice telephone or address listing in which the pages may be opened from either side of the. booklet and in which each of the pages may be suitably indexed.

Still another object of my invention is to provide for an indexed booklet which may be formed from a single trapezoidal sheet of material in which the index numerals or other index figures appear along the tapering edge of the trapezoidal figure.

A further object of my invention is to provide for an indexed booklet in which the pages. are formed from a single sheet of material and in which the cover is integrally formed from the same sheet of material. r V j These and other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my novel and zig-zag indexing means.

Figure'2 is a perspective view of my indexed booklet showing the manner in which the booklet is used.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a sheetof material indicating th manner in which this sheet is out and scored in order to provide for the pages of the booklet.

Figure 4 is a plan View of a modified form of scoring and cutting plan providing means for integrally forming a reinforced cover for the novel zig-zag index. a

Figure 5 is an end view of the trapezoidal sheet employed for the pages indicating the zig-zag manner in which this sheet is folded subsequent to scoring. 1 1

Referring now to Figure L'there is shown a plan view of my zig-zag booklet and indexing means. The covers of the small booklet have been made of a relatively stiff material and have been fastened to the pages to form the complete booklet.

The rear cover I! is a sheet of material made relatively larger than the pages of the booklet in order to provide the projecting tab l2 at the V booklet upper end of the booklet as viewed in Figure 1. The pages of the booklet ar formed from sheet material such as paper or a thin grade of cardboard which is inherently stiff enough to preclude excessive bending of the pages when in use for reasons which will hereinafter be pointed out. The pages are formed in a single operation from a single sheet of material in a manner indicated more clearly in Figures 3 and 4.

Figure 3 indicate a rectangular sheet of material I3 and the solid lines represent lines along which the material is cut and the dashed lines represent the lines along which the'material is scored to facilitate bending or folding thereof.

In a single cutting and scoring die, the rectangular sheet I3 as indicated in Figure 3 is out along the line I4 and scored along the parallel lines I5 which are in turn parallel to the ends I6 of the rectangular sheet I3. As a result of this single cutting and scoring operation, two iden tical trapezoidal pieces of material are formed, these trapezoidal sheets having suitable fold lines. The fold lines I5 are preferably equally spaced and as previously mentioned, parallel to each other and therefore the individual trapezoids which are formed between adjacent fold lines are similar. in all respects except that the trapezoids become progressively larger along the sheet in the dimension taken parallel to the fold lines.

To form the booklet, the trapezoid which has been cut and scored from the original rectangular sheet I3 is folded along the scored lines I5 so that the material is bent in opposite directions at adjacent fold lines as indicated in the end view of the folded material Figure 5.

This zig-zag sheet of material is substantially flat when completely compressed and the individual trapezoidal pages may be referred to by opening the zig-zag sheet employing any particular fold line as the hinge about which this opening is accomplished. Obviously, therefore, depending on the side of the booklet on which the foldline exists, the booklet may be opened from either side.

The scoring process may be any of the well known paper weakening methods such as a cutscore, an indentation, perforation or the like but the method of scoring employed must ensure reasonable strength at the hinge and reasonable durability, that is, the scoring must provide for a foldable junction between two adjacent trapezoids which will not tear or otherwise be deformed as a result of repeated use. If the material employed to form the pages is such that repeated use may result in an ultimate fracture along the fold line,-it may be desirable to employ a reinforcement at each fold line which may be in the form of a hinge or tape or other flexible and durable material.

The pages are confined between two covers to form the complete booklet as indicated in Figures 1 and 2, that is when the series of zig-zag pages are substantially flat, the two covers 2I and II are fastened securely to the first and last pages respectively; Thus trapezoidal sections 22 and 23 which are the smallest and the largest sections of the series of trapezoids formed by scoring the large sheet of material are fastened to the front cover 2I and the rear cover respectively. This fastening process of course may be by any of the well known means preferably by gluing inasmuch as the glue is a stiffening agent and aids in maintaining the required rigidity of the front and rear covers.

Front cover 2| may be a rectangular sheet of material or may be trapezoidal to correspond exactly with the trapezoidal section 22 of Figure 3 and is of material sufficiently strong and durable to provide a satisfactory cover for the booklet. It is evident that any advertising or other printed material may be printed directly upon the outer face of the front cover 2 I.

If desired, of course, the cover 2| may be fastened to the zig-zag shaped series of pages by hinging it to the edge I6 of the series of pages. This hinge may again comprise a durable flexible material adapted to be secured to both members as, for instance, a length of fabric or paper tape.

The rear cover I I as previously mentioned is a relatively large sheet of material, that is, it may be rectangular in form of a width equal to the width of a. trapezoidal page but is large enough to provide the integrally extended tab I2 which serves as a means for securing the pad to the desk. A paper weight or in fact the base of the telephone with which the booklet is employed may be rested upon the extended tab I2.

The largest section 23 of the trapezoidal series of pages is fastened to the rear cover II either by gluing the entire rear surface of trapezoid 23 to the cover II or by hinging the edge I6 of trapezoid 23 to the edge of the cover II by means of a flexible material.

The complete assemblies of the booklet are illustrated by Figures 1 and 2. The plan view Figure 1, indicates the manner in which the pages and cover appear when the booklet is completely collapsed and Figure 2 illustrates the booklet when opened along the fold lines on one side of the booklet. It may be seen that each page when opened in this manner, such as the page 25, consists in this embodiment of two trapezoidal sections 26 and 21 each of which is folded along fold lines between adjacent trapezoids. If the material of which the pages are formed is relatively stiff and if the front cover is lifted as indicated in Figure 2, then there will be no tendency for the two individual trapezoids 26 and 21 to move apart in that they are being held together along the fold lines 25'.

If, on the other hand, the booklet were opened along the opposite edge to any particular page, the fold line 25 would remain in position along the edge II of the rear cover and thus the booklet may be opened from the other side, making each surface of the trapezoidal pages available to the user.

I have provided indexing means for my novel booklet withoutnecessarily increasing the number of operations required to manufacture the pages. The line I4 of Figure 3 which is the line along which the rectangular sheet of material I3 has been cut to provide the two trapezoidal sections is a line which is not parallel to either of the edges 3I of the rectangular sheet.

Thus when the individual trapezoidal sections are folded up as indicated in Figure 3 and are placed in a substantially flat position as indicated in Figures 1 and 2, a zig-zag line I4 corresponds to the original line I4 along which the sheet material has been cut.

This zigzag line provides in effect a series of pages which grow progressively larger when taken from the front section 22 to the rear trapezoidal section 23 and thus I employ the change in dimension between adjacent pages to afford the indexing or cataloging means for my booklet and I do not have to perform additional operations on the paper which usually entail a waste of material such as progressively notching pages to provide an indexing means. The simplicity of the booklet construction is evident and the additional simplicity in afi'ording indexing means will thus provide an article which is extremely inexpensive and may thus be employed for souvenir articles to be distributed with advertising matter printed thereon.

In the embodiment in the accompanying figures, the pages have been alphabetically indexed in a manner such that a person searchingthrough the indexed booklet will start by raising the hard cover 2| along the fold line opposite that along which the first letters of the alphabet or those letters of the alphabet desired are printed. Thus as illustrated in Figure 2, a person starting with the letter A will open the stiffened cover 2| as shown to the pages lettered AB. By raising the composite page having the letters AB as indicated, the page containing the letters CD are brought into view. This procedure is followed as determined by the number of pages in the index which of course is arbitrary until approximately half of the alphabet is covered.

This will bring the searcher to the end of the booklet. Immediately then the searcher may shift the line along which the pages are folded to the edge ll of the rear cover and thus the opposite surfaces of the pages will be brought into view and the pages may be turned as previously described, except that the binding or effective binding has been shifted to the opposite side of the booklet. The indexing is entirely arbitrary and may be assigned to the various pages as required by the specific application thereof.

As a further convenience for the person employing this booklet as an index such as a telephone number index, I provide a visual means for determining the direction in which the booklet must be opened to arrive at a page containing the desired indexing letter or number. Thus as indicated by the lower portion of the zig-zag pages illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, I shade by distinctive color or other visual means the edges corresponding to one particular direction of opening and leave the other edges blank or shade them with another distinct color. Thus the first half of the alphabet as indicated in Figures 1 and 2 are printed upon the shaded portions of their corresponding pages while the second half of the alphabet has been printed upon a blank lower edge.

As previously discussed, the exact number of pages is determined entirely by the purpose of the index. The individual trapezoidal pages may be ruled as illustrated in Figure 2 or may be blank and may if desired, contain advertising matter along an upper or lower band of the page.

If the booklet is employed as a telephone number index, the person searching for a particular number will lift the edge containing the initial of the name in question and will thus automatically arrive at the page containing the name and telephone number in question.

To further facilitate manufacture of the article illustrated and therefore to further reduce the cost of manufacture, I have provided a modified form of blank which may be out and scored to form the pages. As indicated in Figure 3, a single rectangular blank of paper may be employed to form the two series of pages that is the pages required for two of my novel zigzag booklets.

However, in this embodiment it was necessary to provide an individual series of front and rear covers. In this modification illustrated in Figure 4, the rectangular blank 34 is out along the line 35 again to provide two identical blanks of material. 'However, the line 35 is such that the two ends of the line 35' are parallel to the outer edges 36' of the rectangular blank while the inner section of the line 35 is at an angle thereto.

The lines 35' which are parallel to the end lines 36 may be of a length which corresponds with a plurality ofindividual page sections but as illustrated are not trapezoidal but are rec'- tangular. 7

Thus if after the blank 34 has been cut and scored the rectangular sections 37 are folded over each other and are glued along the overlapping surfaces, a reinforced and stiffened member will be formed which may serve as a reinforced front cover which in Figures 1 and 2 is the additional piece of relatively stiif material 2|.

The larger rectangular sections 38 may be employed when folded and glued to each other to afford additional strength to the rear cover. However, this alfords no integral projection such as l2 in Figures 1 and 2 which may be employed to secure the booklet upon a desk by means of a weight while still allowing the booklet to be opened. However, if some waste material is no serious objection in the manufacture of these booklets, a blank may be formed which will correspond exactly with the developed booklet indicated in Figures 1 and 2 including both front and rear covers and may afford additional flaps of material which may be glued after folding to stiffen both front and rear covers.

The booklet described above and illustrated is but one modification of my novel indexing means. Many other modifications will be evident and other means may be employed by those skilled in the art for forming the pages and covers thereof; Therefore, I do not wish to be bound by the specific disclosures hereinabove described and illustrated but only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A booklet comprising a plurality of pages, each of said pages being attached to its following page along an adjoining edge, said attached edges being oppositely disposed for adjacent pages throughout the booklet; and means for stiffening the first and last of said pages, said stiffening means forming front and rear enclosing covers for said booklet, and a tab, integral with said rear cover and extending beyond said front cover.

2. A booklet comprising a plurality of pages, each of said pages being attached to its following page along an adjoining edge, said attached edges being oppositely disposed for adjacent pages throughout the booklet; said pages each having a trapezoidal shape and progressively varying in dimensions, the edges of the pages normal to the attached edges terminating along a single unbroken line for each series of edges, said dimensional variations providing integral extensions on each of said pages.

3. A booklet comprising a plurality of pages, each of said pages being attached to its following page along an adjoining edge, said attached edges being oppositely disposed for adjacent pages throughout the booklet; said pages each having a trapezoidal shape and progressively varying in dimensions, the edges of the pages normal to the attached edges terminating along a single unbroken line for each series of edges, said dimensional variations providing integral extensions on each of said pages, all of said extensions being visible when said booklet is closed.

4. A booklet comprising a plurality of pages, each of said pages being attached to its following page along an adjoining edge, said attached edges being oppositely disposed for adjacent pages throughout the booklet; said pages each having a trapezoidal shape and progressively varying in dimensions, the edges of the pages normal to the attached edges terminating along a single unbroken line for each series of edges,

said dimensional variations providing integral extensions on each of said pages, and indexing characters upon said extensions.

5. A booklet comprising a plurality of pages, each of said pages being attached to its followin page along an adjoining edge, said attached edges being oppositely disposed for adjacent pages throughout the booklet; said pages each having a trapezoidal shape and progressively varying in dimensions, the edges of the pages normal to the attached edges terminating along a single unbroken line for each series of edges, said dimensional variations providing integral extensions on each of said pages, indexing characters upon said extensions, and means for visually characterizing extensions corresponding to pages opening from a single side of said booklet.

MALVIN LIGHTER.

Images