#744: Filefoot

If we must continue to store paper, rather than bits, then filing cabinets do a reasonably good job.

The standard mechanism used to help avoid a cabinet toppling over, however, is a neat mechanical interlock which allows only one drawer to be open at any time.

This is fine until the higher drawers are crammed with paper and all the others are, for some reason, emptied.

Then, opening eg only the top drawer can still cause the whole thing to topple forwards in a potentially dangerous way.

Today’s invention consists of a simple (if inelegantly pictured) mechanism which ensures that opening any drawer also opens the bottom one. This lowermost drawer, once extended, acts as a brace which stops toppling, irrespective of how the contents are distributed within the cabinet. Closing the bottom drawer closes all the others simultaneously.