While residing in Yonkers, New York, Thomas Sharlow invented a new and useful container for phonographic records. The United States Patent Office issued Thomas a patent (1,316,395) on September 16, 1919. The design’s objective was to provide a simple, compact, inexpensive container to phonographic record disks, constructed in such a way that a maximum holding capacity is achieved in a minimal area.
According to the patent, the invention consisted of…
… nesting a plurality of hinged disks receptacles, each of a different size, in a common casing, for the accommodation of different sizes of disks records, etc., – certain of said hinged receptacles being positioned in the casing on a side thereof opposite to the side on which the others are position so as to utilize and economize space…
At the time there were four standard sizes for phonographic disks on the market. The smallest being five inches in diameter and the largest being twelve inches in diameter. Intervening sizes being nine and ten inches in diameter. The objective of the invention was to accommodate all four sizes of these sizes as well as a container for parts such as phonographic needles or a disk brush.
The container had a flat top to be used as a stand or to support the phonograph. The container had three receptacles to hold disks. As such the largest of the receptacles, labeled as L in the drawings, was made to hold the two largest disk sizes.
Thomas Sharlow applied for this patent on May 19, 1919, roughly nine years after he patented his film reel and lantern slide carrier. You can see and read more about Thomas’ invention here: Thomas Sharlow Container for Phonographic Records.