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Construction

Office filing cabinets are typically made of sheet metal or wood. The drawers usually use a drawer slide to facilitate opening the drawer which includes an "outstop" to prevent the drawer from being pulled completely out of the cabinet. To open a drawer on most metal filing cabinets, a small sliding mechanism known as a "thumblatch" must be activated to release and open the drawer. Each drawer has a handle to grip and pull the drawer with. On the front face of each drawer, there is usually a label holder to allow the user to identify the contents of the drawer.

Many file cabinets incorporate a keyed lock to prevent unauthorized access to the documents being stored. There are two types of locks. A "cam lock" is activated with a key that rotates the lock. A "plunger lock" is opened with a key but can be closed by merely depressing the body of the lock. The plunger lock allows a user to quickly close and lock several cabinets in a short amount of time.

Some file cabinets have a metal plate or wire structure at the back of each drawer which is known as a follower block. The follower block can be adjusted forward to reduce the length of the drawer so that the file folders contained within remain upright and at the front of the drawer for easier access.

Horizontal file

Henry Brown, an American inventor, patented a "receptacle for storing and preserving papers" on November 2, 1886. This was a fire and accident safe container made of forged metal, which could be sealed with a lock. It was special in that it kept the papers separated.

Vertical file

A wooden Filing Cabinet with drawer open

The vertical filing cabinet (vertical file cabinet in the United States) more or less as in use today was invented by Edwin G. Seibels in 1898. He invented a vertical filing system in 1898 that revolutionized record-keeping. Previously businesses kept papers in envelopes in turn stored in arrays of pigeonholes often lining a wall. Finding and opening envelopes and unfolding papers was troublesome and inefficient. Seibels reasoned that folding was not necessary; papers could be kept in large envelopes standing on end vertically in a drawer.

The Globeernicke Company of Cincinnati made him five wooden filing boxes, and he applied for a patent; Seibels was told an idea was unpatentable; only a device could be patented. "It was pointed out that by simply varying the size, a filing box could be made which would not infringe my patent. Unfortunately, I overlooked the part played in setting the envelopes upright, and separating them by guide cards. This device, of course, could have been patented."

Thirty-nine years later, Globeernicke presented him a bronze plaque which said: "Business throughout the world has been helped by this idea and on it is founded an industry that provides employment for many men and women." In 1941 Seibels deposited one of the original boxes in the Smithsonian Institution's collection, at their request.

After World War II, the Home-O-Nize Company was established in Muscatine, Iowa to provide returning veterans with jobs. Founded to produce steel kitchen cabinets, the company soon encountered the reality of the limited availability of steel. So the company began to make products for others. Finally a small amount of steel was secured and the company started manufacturing steel index card boxes. Soon after, larger cabinets began to be produced including filing cabinets. By designing to minimize the amount of steel, the product was an extremely cost-effective design and had huge commercial success. Home-O-Nize never did make kitchen cabinets and in 1961, the company name was changed to HON. Today, The HON Company, a division of HNI Corporation is the predominant North American manufacturer and marketer of filing cabinets.

The demand for filing cabinets was greatly expanded as a result of the commercial distribution of Xerography machines starting in 1950. This event enabled office workers to "have their own copy" of printed materials. Another influence is the expansion of government regulations that require businesses to create and keep forms and other documents. Some prognosticators have suggested the future of the filing cabinet is in doubt as electronic filing systems proliferate and become lower in cost. Nevertheless, most businesses are still purchasing computer systems with printing capabilities. Unless this trend is reversed, filing of paper is still a viable practice.

In the US, these come in two sizes: for letter-size paper and legal-size paper. Most modern commercially-oriented vertical filing cabinets in the US are manufactured in two, three, four, and five drawer versions in depths of 25, 26 1/2, and 28 inches. The drawers are typically supported on a three-member suspension system that allows the drawer to be fully extended for complete access.

The four drawer vertical file, letter width, is the version purchased by most businesses. The two drawer file is sold mostly for use alongside a desk. The five drawer file is mostly purchased by Federal, State, and Local governments (in a 28 inch deep version) as it typically provides the lowest cost per filing inch. Three drawer files, the least popular version, have the advantage of being at "countertop" height so end users can easily retrieve files and use the top of the cabinet as a work area to examine file contents.

The drawers of most vertical filing cabinets are engineered to accept hanging file folders as these have come to dominate the way most users store information. Some files still have a "follower block" in each drawer. This is a device that adjusts the apparent depth of the drawer interior so that files are kept upright in the drawer. These are the legacy of a time when most filing was done with manila folders rather than hanging files.

For home offices or lighter use applications, vertical files are manufactured in 18 inch deep versions. These typically have two-member suspensions and the drawers do not fully extend.

Lateral file

Lateral files are typically 20 inches deep and manufactured in 30, 36, and 42 inch widths and 2, 3, 4, and 5 drawer versions. The 30 inch wide, 2 drawer version is popular for use inside cubicle workstations as it is engineered to fit under or alongside the cubicle work surfaces. Logic for the use of 3, 4, and 5 drawer files is similar to that of vertical files. Unlike vertical files, most lateral files allow for side-to-side or front-to-back filing.

For letter size files arranged front-to-back, the 30 and 42 wide files are the most effective as the maximum amount of filing per cabinet is enabled. A 36 inch wide file, with letter width filing front-to-back has no more capacity than a corresponding 30 inch wide file, as the additional space would be wasted.

Some users prefer side to side filing, as they can search index tabs from a seated position. All width lateral files can accommodate this configuration, though the capacity of the file is somewhat diminished.

An advantage for lateral files is that access and view of all files can be easier than with a vertical file because the drawers do not extend as far.

In most instances, the top "5th drawer" of a five-drawer lateral file is a flipper door with pull-out shelf, as most people would not be able to access the top of a drawer at this height.

Shelf file

A shelf file is a cabinet designed to accommodate folders with tabs on the side rather than on the top. The cabinet has no drawers, only shelves. Some shelf files come with doors that recede into the cabinet. These cabinets are typically 12" or 18" deep, for letter or legal size folders respectively. Like lateral files, they are made in 30", 36", and 42" widths but are usually only installed in 5-high and 6-high applications.

Side tabbed files often use color codes that represent an alpha-numeric filing system. This methodology is a way to ensure files which are frequently retrieved and returned are easy to find and do not get lost. Finding a file is easy as to color-coded tabs easily lead the human eye to the appropriate location in the filing system. Similarly, a misfiled folder is obvious as an out-of-sequence color code is obvious to the user.

Businesses such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, police, and government agencies use shelf files and end-tabbed folders to manage large filing systems.

Variations on traditional shelf files, designed to offer increased capacity for a given floor area, include Rotary Storage systems.

Filing outside the US

Non-US firms offer filing cabinets that permit A4 paper to be used in addition to letter-size. Double file cabinets have drawers which can each accommodate two racks for folders side by side.

Many European companies engineer filing systems that accommodate hanging folders only; there are no drawer bottoms. In the US, most file drawers still have bottoms in the drawers so materials of any sort can be stored.

UK file cabinets are slightly different from US in the width of the rails which support the suspension files, the US ones being narrower; the UK sizes are known as A4, foolscap and A3