Film tray holder

Claim 1

A film tray holder for providing an orderly manner for storing and transporting a multiplicity of individual film containers, the holder comprising, in combination: a solid rectangularly elongated box shaped base member consisting of a flat horizontal bottom surface, a flat horizontal top surface spaced vertically from said bottom surface, opposed parallel front and back wall surfaces, and opposed parallel side wall surfaces; said front, back and side wall surfaces of said base member being spaced apart a dimension greater than the sum of a plurality of individual film containers to be stored therein; a plurality of identically shaped and configured vertically extending slots disposed in said base member in the form of rows extending parallel to said front and back walls and columns extending parallel to said side walls, each of said slots being dimensioned to have a length and width slightly greater than the length and width of the film container to be inserted therein so as to reAdily accept the insertion of the film container into the slot, the depth of each slot in the base member being less than the height of the film container to be inserted therein such that the film container projects vertically outwardly of the slot above said base member horizontal top surface when the container is inserted into the slot, each of said slots being, in cross-section, rectangular having square corners to receive a square cornered film containter therein; a web portion formed between each of the adjacentmost slots extending parallel to said base member front and back walls and within the opposite ends of the slots, said web portion fashioned to receive indicia bearing information thereon to identify the contents of the film container inserted into the adjacentmost slot; the width of each slot together with the web portion associated therebetween, in addition to the peripheral marginal portion of said base top surface extending along said front and back walls thereof defining the overall maximum width dimension of said base member; a rectangularly shaped box-like cover member having a flat horizontal top surface, vertically depending opposed front and back wall surfaces extending downwardly from front and back peripheral edges respectively of said top surface, and vertically depending downwarldy opposed parallel side walls extending downwardly from associated side edges of said top surface, said cover side walls and said cover front and back walls each extending an equal vertical distance and terminating in a bottom edge with the bottom edges thereof defining a horizontal plane parallel to said cover top surface and spaced vertically therebeneath; a compartment defined interiorly of said cover opening out of said bottom end thereof between said bottom edges, the compartment being of a width and length slightly greater than the width and length of said base member to receive said base member telescopically therein; a horizontally extending ridge formed integrally with the interior surfaces of said cover side walls, front wall and back wall and extending completely therearound to define an annular shoulder spaced inwardly of said cover bottom edges and extending horizontally thereabout parallel to said cover top surface, the spacing between said annular shoulder and the interior of said cover top surface being greater than the projection of said film containers above said base member horizontal top surface; said cover when telescopically placed on said base member engaging the peripheral edges of said base member top surface on said annular shoulder to support said cover thereon with an air gap existing between the top of the film containers and the interior surface of the cover top surface to prevent any squashing or pressure of the film containers by the cover; said annular shoulder forming with said cover side wall, back wall and front wall a dust tight seal extending continuously completely about the top surface of the base member to protect the film containers positioned therein to prevent dust, contaminants and other foreign matter from deteriorating the film stored in the film containers positioned in said base member; and a pair of rectangularly shaped recesses formed integrally in said cover front wall and said cover back wall and disposed in diametric alignment with each other centrally of said wall surfaces and formed contiguous with said bottom edge thereof, said recesses defining hand engaging recesses to facilitate ease of removal of said cover from said base member to gain access to the film containers stored therein.