Abstract: A rack that may readily be installed in the trunk or cargo compartment of a vehicle, the rack including at least one raised horizontal bar from which one can suspend in a row several loaded plastic-film grocery bags so that the bags then rest on the floor of the trunk or cargo compartment in an upright position with their mouths closed. The plastic film bag has an open mouth and is provided with a pair of upwardly-extending handle loops integral with the opposing sides of the bag. The raised bar has a series of hooks anchored thereon at spaced positions, each hook being formed of a resilient spring wire having a U-shaped bend therein that defines a dilatable clamp. When the loaded grocery bag is carried in one hand by a shopper by its handle loops, the loops then bunch together to form a tail. This tail is pushed into the dilatable clamp of a hook on the bar.

Abstract: A card filing assembly in which file cards are accommodated in a tray or other holder dimensioned to store a stack of cards, each of which at its lower edge has a stripe or band of ferromagnetic material attached thereto. The file card holder is provided with opposing side walls to confine the stack of cards to the holder and a pair of parallel rails each defined by a transversely-polarized permanent magnet strip running the length of the holder and sandwiched between opposing pole pieces. The cards stored in the holder bridge the rails, with their lower edges resting on the pole pieces, whereby the cards are held to the rails by magnetic attraction, yet the cards so held may be angled to facilitate their inspection or slid along the rails, or removed from the rails without, in doing so, in any way mutilating the cards.

Abstract: A multi-channel transparent jacket having top and bottom panels joined by ribs to define parallel channels loadable with microfilm strips to create a reproducible microfiche master, the jacket having entry slots adjacent the front end of the channels to facilitate insertion of the strips. The lowermost channel is pre-loaded with a removable dummy strip to stiffen or somewhat thicken this channel and thereby prevent a partially-loaded jacket from buckling or sliding under when a stack of jackets is stored in a file drawer. The ends of the dummy strip are notched to facilitate the later loading of the lowermost channel through the channel entry slot with a film strip which displaces the dummy strip.

Abstract: A random-access card file system formed by card-storing cartridges, each capable of accommodating at least one deck of cards, and an automatic card selector adapted to extract any desired card therefrom regardless of its location in the cartridge. Each card in the deck includes an upstanding tab whose longitudinal position is related to a particular point on an incremental linear scale extending the full length of the deck. The selector includes a carriage movable to a position in registration with any desired incremental point on the scale, the carriage supporting a crane having a card picker thereon, whereby when the carriage is set to a particular scale point and a switch is actuated, the crane completes an operating cycle in the course of which it bows down over the cartridge to enable the picker to engage and clamp onto the tab of the selected card and to then lift the card to withdraw it from the cartridge.

Abstract: A multi-channel transparent jacket to accommodate microfilm strips having a given thickness. The jacket is constituted by top and bottom rectangular panels of flexible synthetic plastic material and plastic ribs formed in situ along parallel lines between the panels and integrally bonded thereto to maintain the panels in spaced relation and to define open-ended channels whose width is substantially equal to the width of the strips. The thickness of the ribs is substantially equal to that of the strips whereby when the strips are held within the channels.

Abstract: A multi-channel transparent jacket to accommodate microfilm strips having a given thickness. The jacket is constituted by top and bottom rectangular panels of flexible synthetic plastic material and plastic ribs formed in situ along parallel lines between the panels and integrally bonded thereto to maintain the panels in spaced relation and to define open-ended channels whose width is substantially equal to the width of the strips. The thickness of the ribs is substantially equal to that of the strips whereby the strips are snugly held within the channels.

Abstract: A reader-filler machine adapted to insert a discrete strip of microfilm having a series of image frames into a selected channel of a microfiche jacket. The jacket is provided with parallel channels each having an entry slot adjacent the front end. The machine includes a film drive mechanism which cooperates with an optical viewer. The film strip is advanced by the mechanism along the track of a track block which terminates adjacent the front end of a pivoted table which is spring-loaded. The block includes a pair of pressure fingers projecting from either side of the track exit and a pair of flat locating guides flanking the fingers. In operation, the user first tilts the table downwardly with respect to the track exit and places the jacket thereon to cause the guides to enter the channels on opposite sides of the channel to be loaded, thereby orienting the selected channel with respect to the track exit.

Abstract: A method for producing a multi-channel transparent jacket to accommodate microfilm strips having a given thickness, the jacket being constituted by top and bottom rectangular panels of flexible synthetic plastic material and plastic ribs formed in situ along parellel lines between the panels and integrally bonded thereto to maintain the panels in spaced relation and to define open-ended channels whose width is substantially equal to the width of the strips. In the method, extruded molten streams of polyester material compatible with the material of the panels are directed onto the surface of a first web of panel material in parallel paths thereon, the first web being advanced concurrently with a second web of panel material into combining rolls which act to compress and flatten the streams to produce the in situ ribs, the combined web then being sectioned into individual jackets.

Abstract: A flip-type album for protectively storing and displaying photos in an orderly sequence. The album has a pair of front and rear covers which are hinged together, the covers having a tray-like configuration such that when the front cover is superposed over the rear cover, it forms an enclosed box therewith. Each tray-like cover includes parallel side walls whose spacing substantially matches the width of the photos, a series of holes being formed at corresponding positions along the inner surfaces of these walls to define a set of bearings at each position. Supported by the bearing sets are flexible swing bars having a length greater than the width of the photos, the opposing ends of the bars being inserted in the bearing sets by first bowing the bars to shorten the distance between the ends.

Abstract: A reader-filler machine adapted to cut and insert sections of microfilm into the channels of a multi-channel microfiche jacket, each channel having an entry slot adjacent its rear end. The jacket to be loaded is placed on a platform that is shiftable stepwise with respect to a film trackway guiding a film web, the trackway being parallel to a film pusher station. In the insertion mode, after a section of film of a desired length is extended from the trackway for insertion in a given channel through its entry slot, an automatic three-phase insertion cycle is initiated. In the first phase, the section is cut to produce a film chip whose tail projects beyond the entry slot. In the second phase, the platform is indexed one forward step to align the next empty channel with the trackway and the tail of the chip with the film pusher. In the third phase, the film pusher acts to engage the tail and push it into the channel, thereby loading the chip in the channel.

Abstract: A structuring mechanism for a reader-filler machine adapted to cut and insert sections of microfilm into the channels of a multi-channel microfiche jacket, each channel having an entry slot adjacent the rear end of the jacket. The jacket to be loaded and structured is placed on the inclined platform of a carriage that is shiftable stepwise in a path at right angles with respect to a stationary film trackway. A retractable film pusher operates at a pusher station parallel to the trackway. After a section of film is inserted in a channel and is cut from the film on the trackway to produce a film chip whose tail extends outside of the channel entry slot, the platform is then indexed to bring the next empty channel into line with the trackway, the tail of the chip being brought by this step into alignment with the film pusher which acts to engage the tail and push it into the channel to complete the insertion.