FILE CABINET CONSTRUCTION

CLASSEUR

English Abstract

FILE CABINET CONSTRUCTION




Abstract of the Invention



A file cabinet construction includes at least one
shelf mounted within a housing having parallel opposed side
walls and a rear wall. A number of guide rails are mounted
at predetermined positions along the shelf so that they are
parallel to the side walls of the housing. Each guide rail
has a longitudinal slot extending into the guide rail from
the end located nearest to the rear wall of the housing and
terminating at a point adjacent to the forward edge of the
shelf. A boxlike container which includes opposed parallel
longitudinal sides and a bottom having a longitudinal channel
is detachably mounted on each guide by a floating pin. The
floating pin is mounted so that the longitudinal axis of the
pin is transverse to the channel in the bottom of each con-
tainer. The channel is configured so that it fits over the
guide rail and the floating pin is arranged so that it will
slide into the longitudinal slot in the guide rail as the
container slides outwardly from the rear wall of the hous-
ing, thereby attaching the container to the shelf.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A cabinet construction including: a housing; at least one shelf
mounted within said housing; guide means mounted on said shelf, said guide
means including a rail member having its transverse axis perpendicular to
said shelf, and including a longitudinal slot extending into said member
from a first end and lying in a plane perpendicular to said shelf; at
least one container, said container including a bottom wall and two opposed
longitudinal side walls attached to said bottom wall; said bottom wall
of said container including a longitudinally extending channel configured
to fit slidably over said guide means; and mounting means attached to
said container, said mounting means including an elongated member which is
mounted transversely across said channel and arranged to cooperate with
said slot in said rail member to detachably mount said container on said
shelf.


2. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 1 in which said
container includes a rear wall having an aperture being substantially
aligned with said channel; and in which said mounting means includes a
bracket, said bracket including a first wall having a slot and flange means
connected to the periphery of said first wall, said slot extending through
a portion of said flange means; means to attach said bracket to said rear
wall so that said slot is aligned with said aperture, said first wall of
said bracket being spaced from said rear wall by said flange means to
define a cavity, and said elongated member being slidably mounted within
said cavity.


3. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least
the upper portion of said opposed side walls of said container is made of

a flexible material.


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4. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 1 wherein said
container further includes a front panel and wherein handle means are
attached to said front panel.


5. A file cabinet construction including: a housing having a first
and second opposed substantially parallel side walls and a rear wall; at
least one shelf mounted within said housing; a guide rail having a top
surface, a bottom surface and a longitudinal slot extending into said guide
rail from a first end; means for mounting said guide rail on said shelf;
at least one container insertable into said housing, said container including
two opposed longitudinal side walls and a bottom wall, said bottom wall
including a longitudinal channel configured to fit slidably over said guide
rail; and mounting means attached to said container, said mounting means
including an elongated member extending transversely across said channel,
said member being movable in a plane which is substantially perpendicular
to the axis of said channel, and said member being arranged to cooperate with
said longitudinal slot in said guide rail to detachably mount said
container on said shelf.


6. A file cabinet construction as claimed in claim 5 in which said
mounting means includes a plurality of tabs extending from said bottom
surface of said guide rail, at least one of a first type of said tabs
including a first portion which is coplanar with said rail, a second
portion which is substantially perpendicular to said first portion, and a
slot extending into said first portion in a direction parallel to the
longitudinal axis of said rail, and at least one of a second type of said
tabs said second type being substantially coplanar with said guide rail and
including a sloping surface extending downward from said bottom surface of
said guide rail; and in which said at least one shelf includes a plurality of
apertures arranged to cooperate with said tabs so that said guide rail is
mounted substantially parallel to said side walls.


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7. A file cabinet construction as claimed in claim 5 in which:
said top surface of said guide rail has a first portion which is substan-
tially parallel to said shelf and a second portion which slopes downwardly
from said first portion toward said shelf at said first end, and a second
surface forming an acute angle with said second portion of said first
surface, said second surface being spaced from said shelf to form a passage
which connects with said longitudinal slot in said guide rail, said guide
rail being mounted on said shelf substantially parallel to said opposed side
walls of said housing with said first end of said guide rail being adjacent
to said rear wall of said housing; and said elongated member being mounted
so that said member moves through said passage and into said slot as said
container is withdrawn from said housing.


8. A file cabinet construction as claimed in claim 7 in which said
guide rail includes a longitudinal slot having a first portion sloping
upwardly from said passage and a second portion which connects with said
first portion and extends substantially parallel to said shelf, said second
portion terminating at a point adjacent to the edge of said shelf spaced
from said rear housing wall; and in which the center of gravity of said
container will be beyond said shelf when said elongated member reaches said
point in said longitudinal slot of said guide rail causing said container
to pivot about said slidable member and said shelf edge when said container
is fully withdrawn from said housing.


9. A cabinet construction including: a housing having opposed
substantially parallel side walls and a rear wall; a number of shelves mounted
within said housing in superimposed relation; a number of guide rails, each
of which includes a longitudinal slot, said longitudinal slot extending
into said guide rail from a first end; said guide rails being mounted on
each of said shelves so that each of said guide rails is arranged substan-

tially parallel to said opposed side walls of said housing with said first
end adjacent to said back wall of said housing; a number of containers, each


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of said containers including first and second opposed side walls and a
bottom wall, said bottom wall having a longitudinal channel configurated to
fit over said guide rail, and mounting means attached to each of said
containers said mounting means including an elongated member extending
transversely across said channel said elongated member being movable in
a plane which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of said channel and
said member being arranged to fit slidably into said slot in one of said
guide rails when said container is withdrawn from said housing to detachably
mount said container on said guide rail.


10. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 9 in which a plurality
of sheetlike members are mounted on each of said shelves so that said
sheetlike members are substantially parallel to said opposed side walls of
said housing to form a plurality of compartments along each of said shelves,
one of said guide rails being mounted in each of said compartments and each
of said containers being configured to fit within one of said compartments.


11. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 10 in which each of
said continers includes a rectangular front panel, said front panel having
a height substantially equal to the distance between two of said overlapping
shelves and a width which is substantially equal to the width of said
compartment so that adjacent ones of said front panels abut to form a
substantially continuous surface across the front of each of said shelves.


12. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 11 in which handle
means are attached to each of said front panels.


13. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 9 in which at least one
of said side walls of at least some of said containers includes a bottom
portion adjacent to said bottom wall of said container and a top portion
spaced from said bottom wall of said container and in which said top
portion is composed of a flexible material.





14. In combination, a generally horizontal shelf extending between front
and rear limits a drawer enterable upon said shelf via the front limit and
substantially fully and slidably accommodated in the space between said
limits, said drawer having a downwardly open elongate bottom channel aligned
in the longitudinal direction of drawer entry and withdrawal from said shelf,
an upstanding elongate guide plate carried by said shelf and positioned for
guiding coaction with said channel in the course of longitudinal drawer
movement, said guide plate being characterized by an elongate generally
horizontal slot open only near the rear limit of drawer insertion upon said
shelf, and means including a transversely extending member carried by a
lower rear portion of said drawer and extending across said channel and
enterable in said slow only for a substantially fully closed condition of
said drawer, the forward end of the slot terminating within the body of
said plate at a forward location so offset upwardly and rearwardly of said
forward limit in relation to the effective vertical offset of said transversely
extending member from the drawer bottom that, once engaged in said slot and
for a withdrawal of said drawer, said transversely extending member will
limit full withdrawal while also retaining a downwardly inclined orientation
of said drawer, said orientation being further stabilized by drawer-bottom
engagement with the front limit of said shelf.


15. In combination, a generally horizontal shelf having spaced lateral
edges and extending longitudinally between front and rear limiting edges,
a generally rectangularly prismatic box enterable upon said shelf via the
front limiting edge, the bottom of said box including a downwardly open
elongate guide channel along the front-to-back center line of said bottom,
a locking pin at the rear end of said box and extending transversely of the
alignment of said channel, and a longitudinally extending upstanding guide
plate secured to said shelf between said lateral edges, said guide plate
having an elongate slot haying a rearwardly open end in register with the
elevation of said pin with respect to said box that, upon withdrawal of


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said box in the condition of pin-and-slot engagement, said pin will limit
full withdrawal while also retaining a downwardly inclined orientation of
said box, said orientation being further stabilized by box-bottom engagement
with the front edge of said shelf.


16. The combination of claim 15 in which said pin is vertically
movably guided at the rear end of said box, the limits of guided movement
being a lower elevation in registry with the open end of the box slot when
the box is in the shelf and an upper elevation at least as high above the
box bottom as is the maximum elevation of the guide plate above the shelf.


17. The combination of claim 15, wherein said guide plate is one of a
plurality, at spacings which are substantially the lateral-width dimension
of said box, whereby said box may be one of a plurality of like boxes
similarly accommodated by said shelf, in side-by-side and independently
accessible array.


18. The combination of claim 15, in which said shelf and guide plate
are separate parts having coactive formations to lock the same in assembled
relation.


19. A cabinet construction including a housing; at least one shelf
mounted within said housing; guide means mounted on said shelf; at least
one container, said container including a bottom wall, two opposed longitu-
dinal side walls attached to said bottom wall and a rear wall; said bottom
wall of said container including a longitudinally extending channel configured
to fit slidably over said guide means and said rear wall having an aperture,
said aperture being substantially aligned with said channel; mounting means
attached to said container, said mounting means including an elongated
member which is mounted transversely across said channel and arranged to
cooperate with said guide means to detachably mount said container on said
shelf; said mounting means further including a bracket, said bracket


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including a first wall having a slot and flange means connected to the
periphery of said first wall, said slot extending through a portion of
said flange means, means to attach said bracket to said rear wall so that
said slot is aligned with said aperture, said first wall of said bracket
being spaced from said rear wall by said flange means to define a cavity
and said elongated member being slidably mounted within said cavity.


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Description

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Backqround

This invention relates to a file cabinet construc-
tion and, more particularly, to such a construction includ-
ing one or more shelves on which a number of boxlike containers
are slidably mounted.
Known file cabinets include a plurality of relatively
wide drawers which are mounted in tiers in a superimposed re-
lationship. These drawers are mounted within a file cabinet
housing so that each drawer can be individually drawn out of
the cabinet housing to an extended position in which the con-
tents of the drawer are accessible.
The individual sliding drawers in this type of
cabinet construction are relatively large and become quite
heavy when illed with iled material~ The size and weight
of these drawers make it difficult to draw them out of the
cabinet housing to their extended position. Elaborate sus-
pension mechanisms have been developed in an attempt to make
it easier to withdraw these drawers from the cabinet housing
but such m~chanisms are expensive to build and consume valu-
able filing space within the cabinet.
Because of the substantial weight of drawers of this
type when filled, the entire filing cabinet tends to become
unstable when more than a single drawer is in its extended
position because the center of gravity of the filing cabinet
is moved forward out of the housing. To provide greater




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stability cabinets of this typP axe customarily provided with
an interlocking system which prevents more than one drawer
from being withdrawn from the housing at any one time~ with-
out this interlocking system which adds expense and complexity
to the cabinet construction, cabinets of this type can fall
forward causing damage to the cabinet and its contents and
possible injury to those working in the area.
Utilizing the above described relatively large
drawers,which customarily occupied an entire tier of prior
art filing cabinets usually meant that several files relating
to different matters would be placed in the same drawer.
This required that either ~he entire conkents o~ a given
drawer had to be searched each time a worker went to the drawer
for filed material, or indexing means had to be provided with-

~ in the drawer to ensure that desired material could be locatedrapidly. If file material was removed from the drawer, the
worXer had to take great care to reinsert the material in the
proper place.
The relatively large unitary type drawers of the
! prior art cabinets slid out in a horizontal plane so that it
was di~ficult to conveniently examine filed material without
physically removing it from the drawer. This was especially
true when the material was fi1ed in one of the upper tier
drawers of the cabinet. For this reason it was difficult
to worX with the filed material while it was still in the



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drawer. Because of this additional otherwise unnecessary
time was required to remove and replace filed material.
The present invention overcomes the above described
disadvantages of the prior art filing cabinet construction
by mounting a plurality of smaller individu~slidable, box-
like containers on each tier o the file cabinet. Each of
thèse containers is mounted so that it can be slid completely
out of the cabinet housing; and when fully extended, the con-
tainer will pivot downward over the forward edge of the tier
retaining itself at a predetermined downward slope, so that
filed material is easily seen and is easily accessible. Th~
novel arrangement whereby the container is mounted on the
tier permits the interior of the container to be completely
accessible while holding the container firmly on the shelf to
prevent it from becoming dislodged accidentally. This pro-
vides a convenient work station and will often avoid the need
for removing the container from the cabinet.
Since each of the individual containers utilized in
this filing cabinet occupies a relatively small portion of the
available filing volume of the tier, materials relating to one
or at most several files will ~e placed in each container.
The individual containers can then be marked to make ile re-
trieval rapid and efficient.
Because the containers utilized in this construction
are smaller and lighter than prior art file drawers, a far
,

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simpler and less expensive mounting means can be utilized which provides
more usable filing space since the suspension and interlock systems which
consumed large amounts of space in prior art cabinets are eliminated.
This inventive mounting means permits the individual containers to be
removed rom the shelf so that files can be removed to a remote work
area. Since an entire container is removed rather than an individual
file, filed materials are more likely to be kept together, and there is
less chance of misplacing or losing files. When the entire container
is returned to the cabinet, there is little likelihood of the returned
materials being misfiled.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention may be generally deEined as a cabinet
construction including a housing; at least one shelf mounted within said
housing; guide means mounted on said shelf, said guide means including
a rail member having its transverse axis perpendicular to said shelf,
and including a longitudinal slot extending into said member from a first
end and lying in a plane perpendicular to said shelf; at least one containerJ
said container including a bottom wall and two opposed longitudinal side
walls attached to said bottom wall; said bottom wall of said container
including a longitudinally extending channel configured to fit slidably
over said guide means; and mounting means attached to said container, said
mounting means including an elongated member which is mounted transversely
across said channel and arranged to co-operate with said slot in said
rail member to detachab]y mount said container on said shelf.




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Description of the Drawinqs

Fig. 1 is a partially cut away perspective view of
~he container used in the file cabinet construction of this
invention.
Fig. 2(a) is a sectional view of Fig. 1 taken along
the plane 2a-2a
Fig. 2(b) is a sectional view of Fig. 1 taken along
the plane 2b-2b
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the shel~ assembly
showing one of the containers mounted on the shelf assembly.
Fig. 4 ~5 a front view of the guid~ ra11 used to
mount the container on the shel~ assembly.
Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the shelf assembly
and container showing the container being inserted into the
shelf assembly.
Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the shelf assembly
and container showing the container in fully inserted position.
Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the shelf assembly
and container showing the container being withdrawn from the
shelf assembly.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the shelf assemhly and
container showing the container withdrawn as ar as possible
out of the shelf assembly.
Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the shel assembly
and the container illustrating the manner in which a container

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may be detached from the shelf assembly.
Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a file cabinet in-
cluding a number of shelf assemblies.
Fig. 11 is a perspective view of an enclosure for
the f70ating pin which forms a part of container shown in
Fig. 1.
Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken along the plane
12-12 in Fig. 1.

Description of Invention

Fig. 1 il.lustrates one o~ the containers 10 utilized
in the file cabinet construction of the present invention. The
container 10 is rectangular in shape and includes parallel
longitudinal sides 2 and 4 and a bottom 6. The container 10
ma~ also include a front panel 16 and a back wall 8. The
L;: bottom 6 of container lO includes a slotlike aperture 11 which
opens into a longitudinal channel 12. The channel 12 extends
from an aperture 13 in the back wall 8 of container 10 to a
point adjacent to the ront panel 16 of the container. The
channel 12 extends upwardly into container 10 to orm a raised
structure 14. The channel 12 is preferably aligned parallel
to and equi-distant from the side walls2 and 4.
An outwardly extending substankially rectangular
frame 50 is formed on the rear wall 8 of the contalner
surrounding aperture 13. ~n enclosure member 52 shown in detail
2~ in Fig. 11 is fitted over the recess formed by rame 50 to de-

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fine a cavity 60 as best seen in Fig. 12 between the enclosure
member 52 and the rear wall within the rectangular frame 50
as best seen in Fig. 12.
As seen in Fig. 11 the enclosure member 52 includes
s a rear wall 51, and top 1ange 66 and a bottom flanye 54
extending substantially perpendicularly to the rear wall.
Lateral flanges 64 and 68 extend substantially perpendicu-
larly to rear wall 51 so that they abut the inner side walls
of rectangular frame 50. Additional flanges 70, 72 and 73
extend substantially perpendicularly outward from lateral
flanges 64 and 68 and upper flange 66 respectively. Slots 74
and 76 are provided in tlte side walls of rec~angular ~rame 50
and an additional slot 78 may be provided in the upper wall
of rectangular frame S0.
The enclosure member 52 is attached to the rear wall
8 of container 10 by sliding it upward into the recess defined
by rectangular frame 50. As it is slid upward flanges 70, 72
and 73 are inserted respectively into slots 74, 76 and 78 in
the rectangular frame. The bottom flange 54 is then attached
to the bottom 6 of the container 10 to hold the enclosure mem~
ber securely to the rear wall of the container 10. Screws can
be inserted through holes 54a and 54b and into the bottom 6
of the container to hold the enclosure member in place.
A slot 62 extends through the flange 54 and through
a substantial portion of the back 51 of enclosure member 52.
The enclosure member must be mounted on the back wall of con-

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tainer 10 so that slot 62 will be aligned with aperture 13
in the rear wall 8 of the container 10 and with slot 11 in
the bottom wall 6 of the container.
A cylindrical pin 22 is arranged within the cavity
60. The pin 22 extends transversely to slot 62 and us con-
iyured so that it is freely movable along a line defined
by slok 62 upward and downward within the cavity 60.
Fig. 3 shows the above described container 10 mounted
within a shel assembly 24. The shelf assembly 24 includes
side walls 25 and 26, a rear wall 27 and a shelf floor 28.
A number of separater panels 30 are attached ~o the rear wall
27 and to the ~loor 28 o~ the shelf assembly to divide the
shelf assembly into a number of compartments 32~ Three
apertures 31(a), 31(b) and 31(c) are formed in the floor 28
in each o compartments 32. Two o the separator panels 30(a)
and 30(b) are shown partially broken away in Fig. 3 so that
the mounting apparatus for container 10 can be seen. This
mounting apparatus includes a guide rail 33 which is attached
to the floor 28 of shelf assembly 24. In practice a similar
?~ guide rail 33 would be mo~ted on the shelf floor 28 of the
shelf assembly 24 within each of the compartments 32, but
for simplicity only one guide rail 33 is shown in Fig. 3.
container 10 is attached to each of the guid~ rails 33 in
a manner to be described below.
~' The guide rail 33 is shown in detail in ~ig. 4. The

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undersurface 29 of the rail 33 includes projecting tabs 34,
35, 36 and 43. Tabs 34 and 36 include a first portion, 34a
and 36a extending downwardly from the rail 33 and a second
longer portion, 34b and 36b, which exten~ substantially per-
pendicularly to the rail 33. Slots 80 and 82 extend respectively
into portions 34a and 36a of the tabs 3~ and 36. The tab 35
extends downward from the rail member 33 and includes a slop-
ing surface 35a and a surface 35b substantially perpendicularly
to the bottom surface 29 of rail 33. Tab 35 is shorter than
tabs 34 and 36 as can be seen in Fig. 4.
Rail 33 is m~unked on shelf 28 by inserting portions
34b and 36b o tabs 34 ~nd 36 into shelf aperkures 31a and 31c
and sliding the ~abs in~o theix respective apertures until
portions 34a and 36a axe resting within apertures 31a and 31c
respectively. Guide rail 33 is then moved forward on shelf 28
so that the shelf extends into slots 80 and 82 and the pro-
jecting portion 35b of ta~ 35 snaps into aperture 31b. The
combination of slots 80 and 82 and tab 35 prevent the rail
fr~m moving forward or backward on shelf 28 while the per-
pendicularly extending portions of tabs 34 and 36 which are
in contact with the underside of shelf 28 cooperate with tab
35 to maintain the rail 33 substantially perpendicular to
the surface of the shelf 28. The slots 31a, 31b and 31c are
aligned so that each of the rails 33 is substantially parallel
to the side walls 25 and 26 of the shelf assembly when attached




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16~3E30
to shelf floor 28~ The additional tab 43 extends downward
from the bottom surface 29 of the rail at a point where the
rail 33 extends outward beyond the forward edge of the shelf
28 so that tab 43 does not interferewith the mounting of the
rail. The ~unction of this tab 43 will be discussed below.
The guide rail 33 includes an upper surface 38 which
is substantially parallel to shelf assembly floor 28 when the
guide rail is mounted. Surface 40 of the guide rail forms
an obtuse angle with upper sur~ace 38 at the re~ar portion o
the guide rail and slopes downwardly toward the 100r 28 of
the shelf assembly. ~ third surface 39 connec~s with surface
40 at point 370 the guide rail 33 and is sub-
stantially parallel with the floor 28 of the shelf assembly
when the rail is mounted. Surface 39 is spaced from the shelf
floor 28 to provide a passage 41 extending forward from point
37 along the shelf assembly floor 28.
A slot42 in the guide rail 38 extends ~rom the passage
41 to a point adjacent to the forward edge 48 of the gùide
rail 33. The slot 42 includes a first sloping portion 44, one
end of which opens into passage 41 and the other end of which
connects to a straight slot portion 46 which is substantially
parallel to but spaced from the floor 28 of the shelf assembly
when the guide rail 33 is mounted. The rail thickness between
slot portion 46 and the bottom surface 29 provides mechanical
strength for the rail.

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Referring to Fig. 5, the manner in which container
10 is mounted on the guide rail structure 33 will be described
in detail. The ~ontainer 10 is inserted into the shelf assembly
24 so that the guide rail structuFe 33 passes through slot 62
and aperture 13 into the channel 12. Pin 22, which extends
across channel 12 transverse to slot 62 is moved upward with-
in cavity 60 by the forward end 48 of the guide rail 33, as
the guide rail 33 passes through slot 62 and aperture 13 into
the channel 12. As the container 10 is pushed into the shelf
assembly 24, the pin 22 is ne~r the top of cavity 60 and moves
along the top edge 38 of the guide rail structure 33 as shown
in Fig. 5. When the rear portion of the container 10 which
includes cavity 60 and pin 22 reaches the rear sloping surface
40 of the guide rail structure 33, the pin moves downward along
surace 40 within cavity 60 due to the force of gravity. When
the container 10 has moved past the inner end 37 of the guide
rail 33 and is fully within the shelf assembly 24, the pin 22
has dropped to the bottom of cavity 60 as shown in ~ig. 6.
In this position the front surface of the guide ~ail structure
48, which is substantially perpendicular to the floor of the
shelf, is resting against the oxward end 58 of the channel 12.
As shown in Fig. 7 as the container 10 is withdrawn from the
assembly 24 the pin 22 m~ves under surface 39 of the guide
rail 33 and into passage 41. The pin 22 is then guided upward
within the cavity 60 by the sloping portion 44 of the guide

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slot 42. As the container 10 is pulled further out of shelf
assembly 24, the pin 22 moves along the horizontal portion 46
of the guide slot 42. When fully extended as shown in Fig. 8,
the center of gravity of container 10 is moved outward beyond
S the forward edge of the shelf floor 28 causing the container
10 to pivot about the forward edge of the shelf. The pin 22
is held within the guide slot o rail 33 so that the rear of
the container 10 is securelyattached to the guide rail 33 while
the container is retained in a predetermined sloping position.
,0 The angle of slope of the container aan be adjusted according
to horizontal distance between the forward end of slot ~2 and
the forward edge o~ shel~ 28. Since the ~ully extended con-
tainer 10 slopes downward from the horizontal line defined by
the shelf floor 28, the contents of the container become access-
l~ ible even when the shelf floor 28 is at a grea~ vertical height.
When it is desirable to remove the container 10 from
; the shelf assembly 24, the container 10 is reinserted into theshelf assembly 24 to a point where the pin 22 is beyond the
point 37 where surfaces 39 and 40 of the guide structure 33
meet. During reinsertion the pin 22 moves along the horizontal
portion 46 of the slot 42 and the container 10 pivots about the
forward edge of the shel assembly so that the bottom of the
container 10 is again brought into a horizontal orientation
against the floor 28 of the shelf assembly. As the container
2') 10 is further inserted into the shelf assembly, the pin 22 moves

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down the sloping portion 44 of the guide slot 42 and then
through the passage 41 beneath guide rail surface 39. ~hen
the pin 22 is beyond point 37, the forward edge of the container
10 which extends beyond the forward edge of shelf 28 is tilted
do~lnward so that the container 10 pivots on the forward edge
of the shelf floor 28 causing the rear of the container 10 which
includes cavity 60 and the pin 22 to move upward above point 37
on the guide rail structure 33. If the container 10 is then
pulled forward and outward from the shelf assembly 24, the pin
22 will ride upward along the rear sloping surface 40 of the
gui~le rail 33 and then along the horizontal sur~ace 38 of th~
guide rail 33. In this way the pin 22 is freed from guide
slot 42 and the container 10 can be removed from the shelf
~sembly 24,
A file cabinet 100 constructed in accordance with
~his invention is shown in ~ig. 10. The cabine~- includes a
number of vertically arranged tiers 102 through 112 each of
which is constructed as described above with reference to the
shelf assembly 24 of Fig. 3. For purposes of illustration one
of the containers has been removed from tier 104 so that the
emp~y compartment 32 and guide rail 33 can be seen. A con-
tainer 10 in tier 106 is shown in its fully extended position
sloping downward. The configuration shown in Fig. 10 can be
varied by employing more or less tiers and by mounting more
or less containers on each tier. Irhe size and capacity of the

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file cabine~ can be easily designed to conform to the needs
of the user.
The tab 43 shown in Fig. 4 as extending downward from
the bottom surface 29 of rail 33 at the forward edge 48 o
the rail is used as an indexing means to accurately align the
individual containers 10 in a cabinet such as that shown in
Fig. 10. As seen in Fig. 1 the inner surface of the top
side of the front panel 16 of container 10 includes a recess
15. This recess 15 of a container on a lower tier such as
tier 108 mates with the projection 43 extending downward from
the rail 33 mounted vertically above that container on tier
106. This indexiny arrangement provides proper vertical align-
ment of the containers 10 in each column.
If desired the front panel 16 o each container 10
can be conigured so that it covers substantially the entire
opening of the shelf compartment 32 in which it is mounted.
In this way the adjacent edges of adjacent containers on each
shelf will fit closely together providin~ the appearance of
a unitary front panel covering each tier of the shelf assembly
as best seen in Fig. 10.
Handle means such as the ~orward sloping portion 50
of front panel 16 as seen in Fig. 3 can be provided to acilitate
the withdrawal of individual containers 10 rom the cabinet
assembly. If desired label holder ~1 in Fig. 10 can be pro-
vided on the front panel 16 o each container 10 so that a
~6 label can be afixed to each container for easy identification.



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If desired the side walls 2 and 4 of container 10
can include a lower rigid portion such as 4(a) in Fig. 1 and
an upper flexible portion such as 4(b) which is attached to
rigid portion 4(a). Flexible portion 4(b) may be constructed
of any suitable ~lexible material such as plastic or rubber.
The provisions o~ 1exible side portion 4(b) ~acilitates the
fanning material filed within container 10 making it easier
to locate specific documents.
Although the present invention has been described
in conjunckion with preferred embodiments, it is to be under-
stood thak modifications and variations ma~ be resorked to
without departin~ from the spirit and scope oE the invention
as those skilled in the art will readily understand. Such
modifications and variations are considered to be within the
1' purview and scope of the invention and the appended claims.