Floating partition for filing equipment
AssigneeTab Products Company
InventorThomas A. Hoffmann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A floating partition provides a visual divide along a long section of boxes in a rack and box filing system. The floating partition has a thin panel with top and bottom fingers. The fingers rest on respective rails of the system rack. A bottom edge of the partition panel is spaced from a base cover. A tab on at least the top finger enables the floating partition to be installed anywhere along the rails. A three-dimensional contour along a front edge of the floating partition enhances the visual divide along the boxes and also increases panel rigidity.
Claims29
A floating partition useful for dividing a rack and box filing system into sections comprising:
- a. a flat planar panel having top, bottom, front, and back edges, the front edge being formed with a three-dimensional contour between the top and bottom edges;
- b. a top finger coplanar with the panel and cooperating therewith to form a first recess, the top finger having a top support edge;
- c. a bottom finger coplanar with the panel and cooperating with the panel back edge to form a second recess, the bottom finger having a bottom support edge that is at a predetermined distance from the top finger support edge and from the panel bottom edge;
- and
- d. a tab on at least the top finger, the tab being non-coplanar with the plane of the panel.
In combination:
- a. a rack comprising:
- i. a plurality of upstanding posts;
- ii. a plurality of rails extending in longitudinal directions between the posts, each rail having a lip with a predetermined thickness;
- and
- iii. a plurality of boxes suspended from the rails for storing selected media therein;
- and
- b. a floating partition mounted to the rack between selected boxes comprising:
- i. a flat planar panel having top, bottom, front, and back edges;
- ii. a top finger coplanar with the panel and having a top support edge that rests on the lip of a first rail;
- and
- iii. a bottom finger coplanar with the panel and having a bottom support edge that rests on the lip of a second rail,
- so that the floating partition provides a visual divide along the longitudinal lengths of the rails.
A rack and box filing system comprising:
- a. a rack comprising at least two spaced apart upright posts;
- b. at least two rails extending between said at least two posts, each rail having a lip with a predetermined thickness;
- c. a plurality of boxes suspended from said at least two rails for storing selected media;
- and
- d. at least one floating partition mounted to said at least two rails and comprising:
- i. a panel that defines a substantially flat panel plane and has top, bottom, back, and front edges;
- ii. a top finger coplanar with the panel plane and having a top support edge resting on the lip of one of said at least two rails;
- and
- iii. a bottom finger coplanar with the panel plane and having a bottom support edge resting on the lip of the other of said at least two rails,
- so that said at least one floating partition provides a visual divide along the boxes.
A method of providing a visual divide along a long section of boxes suspended from longitudinally extending rails of a rack having a base cover comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a floating partition having a flat planar panel with front, back, top, and bottom edges, and with top and bottom fingers;
- and
- b. resting the floating partition top and bottom fingers on first and second rails between selected boxes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.