FR2613855A1 - CARD SORTING APPARATUS - Google Patents

Abstract

A) CARD SORTING APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVELY SORTING CARDS 1 FEEDED ONE BY ONE ALONG A FEEDING PATH. B) APPARATUS CHARACTERIZED IN THAT IT INCLUDES CARD FEEDING MEANS 10 INCLUDING A PAIR OF ENDLESS BELTS 7, 17 DRIVING THE CARDS 1 BETWEEN THEM, CARD EXTRACTING MEANS INCLUDING PERMANENTLY ROTATING ROLLERS 8A, 8B ... 8F AND FREE PINCHING ROLLS 9A, 9B ... 9F, AND STACKING BOXES 12 FOR EXTRACTED CARDS. C) THE INVENTION APPLIES TO SORTING CARDS, DOCUMENTS OR PAPERS BEARING CODE MARKS.

Description

The invention relates to a device for sorting cards.

  cards, and more particularly a card sorting apparatus for sorting cards, documents or papers by reading coded marks-on a card, document or paper, and then sorting them according to the information contained in the marks. encoded readings and placing them in one of several battery boxes

sorting.

  In conventional card sorting devices, documents for cards, etc. have been sorted according to bar codes inscribed on the cards.

  documents and representing a group of destination

  In these conventional sorting devices, cards or documents were brought one by one, and some of these devices used a feed path change mechanism or a placed door. along the path of the cards or

  documents to guide a selected map or document

  born to a path separated from other maps or documents.

  In this case, the encoded information to be sorted is read by a bar code reader before a card is sent to a card feeder, and when the card arrives at a predetermined position defined by a program, change the power path of this card or open a door to send the card

  in a selected pile of cards.

  In a card sorting apparatus such as that described above, it is necessary to provide a predetermined number of feed path changing mechanisms, or gates along the card path, to guide the cards to the

  card stacking boots. This requires a mechanism

  me relatively complicated change of position of the feed path change plates, or a relatively complicated mechanism of opening and closing the door. So, the whole device

  becomes quite large. Due to the complication

  tion of the structure, the acceleration of sorting is not easy to achieve. In addition, experience has shown that

  these devices could have power failures

  cards because of the complication of their structure. The purpose of the present invention is therefore to create a card sorting device which is small and allows the cards to be sorted more quickly.

  without any power failure and card sorting.

  To this end, the invention relates to a card sorting apparatus for successively sorting a certain number of cards, documents or papers, characterized in that it comprises: means

  card feeders that form a feeder road.

  successive cards by moving a pair of endless belts in the same direction, one face of each of the endless belts coming opposite one face of the other

  belt and the maps, documents or papers are now

  bare and trained between endless belts; means for extracting cards, documents or papers,

  placed along the supply path of the succes-

  and comprising rollers in constant rotation and pinch-free rollers facing each other with an interval normally provided between them so that one end of each of the cards or of each of the documents or papers comes in between when the cards, documents or papers are fed by the pair of endless belts; the means for extracting cards pulling a card, a document or a paper by catching one end of it at the location of a card stacking box;

  card must be extracted from the car supply path

  when the free pinch roll of cards is

  pushed to cooperate with the permanently rotating roller

  corresponding node, and then to guide the map in a direction perpendicular to the feed path of the successive maps; and means for controlling the card retrieval means, said control means selectively driving the card retrieval means to pull the cards, documents, or papers out of the card supply path at a point sorting

of it.

  The card sorting apparatus according to the invention

  It comprises a detector which reads coded marks written on the surface of a card; means for

  bring the cards one by one along an alley

  carding; the cards being provided by a hopper containing the cards inside thereof, so that the long side of each of the cards is perpendicular, while feeding, to the feeding direction of the cards, the cards being

  provided intermittently so that we can stop

  per such cards in predetermined positions along the feed path, until one or more cards are drawn from the feed path; a card stacking device which can receive the cards fed by the card feed means; means for drawing a card from the card feed path by catching one end of a card between a permanently rotated roll and a pinch free roll when the card is brought by the

  card feeding means in the vicinity of a posi-

  predetermined pattern corresponding to one of the card stacking boots, and then to guide the card in the direction of its long side; and means for controlling the extraction operations of the card, said means transmitting a control signal to the extraction means, by virtue of an output signal of the detector corresponding to a predetermined program, and controlling the operations of the means of extraction and subsequent guidance means in synchronism with the operation

power supply.

  The invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: - Figure 1 (a) is a plan view of a form of

  embodiment of a card sorting apparatus according to the invention.

  section along the line B-B of Figure 1 (b); - Figure 1 (b) is a front view of the embodiment of Figure 1 (a), in section along line A-A of Figure 1 (a);

  - Figure 1 (c) is a view on the right side of the

  mera; and - Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the main part of the embodiment of the apparatus

  card sorting apparatus of Figs. 1 (a), 1 (b) and 1 (c).

  As shown in Figs. 1 (a), 1 (b) and 1 (c), the card feed mechanism 10 is placed in the central portion of the apparatus and provides cards 1. This feed mechanism of cards comprises drums 4, 6, 14 and 16, and endless belts 7 and 17, the endless belt 7 passing around the drums 4 and 6, and the endless belt 17 passing around the drums 14 and 16, so that that the drums 4 and 14 operate together being rotated by the gears 4a and 14a to rotate in opposite directions. The belts 7 and 17 thus hold the cards together to feed them. The card feeding mechanism 10 drives a pulley intermittently, by means of a motor 5 and via a belt 1, the pulley being connected directly to the drum 4 to thereby advance the

cards intermittently.

  In the vicinity of an input of the card feed mechanism 10 is a bar code reader 2 for reading a printed bar code on each of the cards 1. When the cards 1 are fed by the endless belts 7 and 17, one end of each of the cards 1 protrudes out of belts 7 and 17, as shown in Figure 1 (a). Along the path of the cards maintained between the endless belts 7 and 17 are placed a

  number of hourglass-shaped rollers Sa, Sb ...

  Sf driven by a motor 15 via a shaft Ss connecting the rollers Sa, Sb ... Sf to rotate them permanently. In front of the rollers Sa, Sb ... Sf are respectively placed free rollers

  Barrel-shaped 9a, 9b ... 9f. Rotating rollers

  Sa, Sb ... Sf and the corresponding nip rollers 9a, 9b ... 9f are normally spaced from each other and the projecting ends of the cards 1

  can pass in the intervals between these rollers.

  A pulley 8p mounted at one end of the shaft 8s is rotated in the direction of the arrow indicated in FIG. 1 (c) by the motor 15 associated with a pulley 15p and a belt V2, so that the rollers Sa, 8b ... 8f mounted on the shaft 8s are always driven in the same direction. In front of the rollers Sa, Sb ... Sf is placed a stacking device of

  cards 12 provided with respective boxes 12a, 12b ... 12f.

  The shape of the rollers has permanent rotation Sa, 8b ...

  8f is that of an hourglass, while the shape of the nip rolls is that of a barrel. Forms of permanently rotating rollers and rollers

  pinch are exactly complementary.

  The nip rollers 9a, 9b ... 9f are driven up and down by respective solenoids 11a, 11b ... 11f. Under the effect of the downward thrust of a solenoid, a corresponding nip roll is pushed downwardly so as to catch the projecting end of the card 1. Even if a card 1 is thin paper, this The card may be held slightly curved in the transverse (or short) direction of the card due to the complementary shape of the pair of rollers. As a result, the card can be held between the rollers in a position substantially straight with respect to the long side of this card, to come on a stacking stack of

cards wanted.

  We will now describe the extraction operation

cards 1.

  As indicated in FIGS. 1 (a), 1 (b) and 1 (c), the cards 1 contained in a card hopper 3 are fed one by one into the lower part of the card hopper 3 by a roll of card feed 3a, to come on a feed device 2a placed under the bar code reader 2 in which a bar code printed on the surface of a card 1 is read by the bar code reader 2. L information read is sent to a control circuit, not shown, to constitute an output signal of the code reader

of bars 2.

  Card 1 being passed on the device

  feed 2a is then sent to the feed mechanism.

  The cards I are fed intermittently by the card feed mechanism 10, while being held between the endless belts 7 and 17, such that the long sides of these cards 1 are perpendicular to the card feed mechanism 10. the direction of movement of the endless belts 7 and 17, as is

  clearly represented by the lines in broken lines

  from Figure 1 (a). A card 1 is fed intermittently so that the card 1 is driven for example from the position 7a to 7b position and then stopped in this position for a while to be then driven to a position 7c. At this point, one end of each of the cards 1, i.e. the lower part thereof in Fig. 1 (a) and its left side in Fig. 1

  (c) projects out of the belts 7 and 17. The ends

  The projections are brought into the gap between the permanently rotating rollers and the nip rolls. When a card 1 is stopped in front of a

  desired card stacking box of the stacking device

  12, a pinch roll placed just above the same end of the card 1, is lowered so that the end of the card 1 is held between the pinch roller and the roller.

corresponding permanent rotation.

  For example, a card 1 to be received in the box 12b is stopped in a position 7b and a solenoid 11b is actuated by a control signal from the control circuit, not shown, to push down the nip roll 9b of

  way that this pinch roll 9b maintains the end

  1 of the board against the roll 8b, as is clearly shown in FIG. 2. Since the roll 6b, exactly like the rollers Sa, 8c ... Sf, is always rotated in the direction of the arrow of Figure 2, the card 1, now held between the rollers, is pulled outward towards the stacking box 12b of the stacking device 12 in which it is housed. During the intermittent feeding, a number of cards 1 can be extracted and sent into the boots in a single operation, or even, in some cases, a

  card may not be sorted in a boot.

  The problem of determining which cards are to be sorted and at what point these cards are to be extracted from the feed path is resolved following a

  predetermined program using the control circuit

  of, not shown, which makes its decision based on the output signal of the bar code reader 2 and which

  operates solenoids 11a, 11b ... llf independently

  and in synchronism with the intermittent movement

  produced by the card feed mechanism 10.

  The extraction operation is triggered only by pushing down the associated solenoid to lower

  the corresponding pinch roll. Aisni, the extrac-

  cards is done very quickly. The cards 1 are fed one by one and so that the long sides of the neighboring cards are driven in the vicinity of each other. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a lot of room for other elements than the card feed mechanism 10, thus allowing the entire apparatus to be

  much smaller than conventional devices.

  The number of stacking boots, equal to six in the embodiment shown here, can

  be chosen at will by the users of the device.

  The card hopper 3 and the card stacking device 12 can be made in a detachable form of the body of the apparatus, which allows

  to easily perform the feeding and extrac-

cards 1.

Claims (2)

REVENDICATI 0 NS) Card sorting device for successively sorting a number of cards, documents or papers (1), characterized in that it comprises: card feeding means (10) which form a path feeding successive cards (1) by moving a pair of endless belts (7, 17) in the same direction, one face of each of the endless belts coming opposite one face of the other belt and the cards documents or papers (1) being held and driven between the endless belts (7, 17); means for extracting the cards, documents or papers, placed along the feed path of the successive cards and comprising rollers in permanent rotation (Sa, Sb ... Sf) and pinch free rollers (9a, 9b). 9f) facing each other with an interval normally provided between them so that one end of each of the cards (1) or of each of the documents or papers comes in this interval when the cards, documents or papers are fed by the pair of endless belts (7, 17); the means for extracting cards drawing a card, a document or a paper by catching one end thereof at the location of a card stacking box (12a, 12b ... 12f) o this card must be extracted from the card feed path, when the free pinch roll (9a, 9b ... 9f) is pushed to cooperate with the corresponding permanent rotation roll (Sa, 8b ... 8f), and for then guide the card (1) in a direction perpendicular to the supply path of the successive cards; and means for controlling the card retrieval means, which control means selectively drives the card retrieval means to pull the cards, documents, or papers out of the supply path of the cards at a point of contact. sort of it.   2) Card sorting device according to the   claim 1, characterized in that the means of supplying   card dispensing (10) drives the cards; documents or papers (1) successively one by one in the path card feed.   ) Card sorting device according to the   claim 1, characterized in that boxes of   pounding cards (12a, 12b ... 12f) are placed at the respective card sorting locations (1) to receive the cards, documents or papers respectively   extracts from the card feed path.   4) Card sorting apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the permanently rotating rollers (Sa, Sb ... Sf) has an hourglass shape, and in that each of the nip rollers (9a, 9b ... 9f) has a barrel shape. Card sorting apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the control means comprise a detector (2) which reads a code written on the surface of a card, document or paper, and transmits tun command signal according to a predetermined program, this signal constituting the output of the detector transmitted to the card extraction means, so as to control the operation of the different parts of the card extraction means, in synchronism with the operation of the means card supply (10). 6) Card sorting apparatus according to one   any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that   that the nip rollers (9a, 9b ... 9f) are pushed up against the permanently rotating rollers (Sa, 8b ... 8f) by respective solenoids (11a, 11b ... 11f) controlled by the control means, so as to pinch the end of a card (1) to extract.