589,653. Workmen's time recorders. TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET L. M. ERICSSON. Sept. 13, 1944, No. 17507. Convention date, Sept. 1, 1943. [Class 106 (iv)] Hand-operated time-stamping apparatus of the individual card type comprises a cardpunching mechanism, a feeler means co-operating with the card on its second and subsequent insertions in the card-holder, and means for preventing operation of the main handle initially until the card is fully inserted or subsequently until the feeler has entered a hole previously punched. As shown in Fig. 1, a handle 27, a toothed segment 25 and an arm 28 are fixed on a shaft 26 which is urged to rotate anticlockwise by a spring 48 until restricted by a fixed stop 47, in which position it is locked by the engagement of the serrations of the toothed segment 25 with a pawl 23 acting under its own weight and that of a link 21 pivoted thereto and to a disc 18. The disc 18 is fixed on a rotatable shaft 16 on which is also fixed a two armed lever 15 with a pin 44 at one end and a pin 14 at the other, which holds a two-armed lever 11 pivoted at 12 against a fixed stop 13. A spring 4 interacts between a two-armed lever 3 and a carrier 5 (for a feeler 42) pivoted on a shaft 8 and holds the lever 3 against the end of a guide 6 by the co-operation of the other arm of the lever within a slot 2 in the carrier 5. Upon inserting a card in a guide 1 for the first time the lever 3 is depressed until the feeler 42 contacts the face of the card and as the feeler cannot find a hole therein the card can be pushed down to rock the lever 11 and so rotate the disc 18 anticlockwise, thus lifting the pawl 23 and freeing the operating handle 27. If the card is lifted before the handle is operated the pressure on the lever 11 is removed and the pawl falls into position, locking the handle and preventing stamping with the card in the wrong position. When the handle is operated the stamping mechanism is actuated and a hole is punched in the card by a perforator 41, just below the feeler 42. Upon the second insertion of the card, the feeler 42 finds the hole previously punched, arrests the card just above its previous position and passing through the hole allows the carrier 5 to rotate further so that an arm 43 thereon co-operates with the pin 44 and so rotates the disc 18 anticlockwise and consequently unlocks the operating handle. If the card is lifted before the handle is operated the arm 43 is withdrawn and the pawl falls into locking position. The perforator 41 is slidably mounted in the guide 6 and is urged forward upon operating the handle 27 through the levers 35, 32, the lever 32 being rotated by engagement with a block 31, freely pivoted on the arm 28, until the block eventually rides over the end of the lever 32, it being then returned to the stop 47 by the spring 48. When subsequently released, the handle 27 is returned by a spring, the block 31 sliding under the end of the lever 32.