GB1166888A - Record Card Feeding Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,166,888. Feeding record cards. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. 24 Oct., 1967 [17 Nov., 1966; 12 Dec., 1966], No. 48252/67. Heading B8R. Record card feeding apparatus comprises card engaging means urging cards one at a time from a rest position, the card engaging means being drivable from a cyclically operable driving member through an electromagnetic coupling, the coupling having an armature with its associated electromagnetic coil, a yoke which is brought into contact with the armature once in every cycle of the driving member, and means for selectively energizing the coil. Hopper.-The hopper 10 has a side wall 12 and a rear wall 14, and is canted so that record cards are registered against the walls under gravity. Card engagement members 18 are oscillated to feed the bottom card through a throat 20, defined by an idler roller 24 and a knife 26 adjustably mounted on frame member 28, to pairs of delivery rollers 22. Drive mechanism.-The two card engagement members 13 are fixed to a shaft 60; also fixed to the rotatable shaft 60 is a yoke 44 which comprises two non-magnetic arms 76 joined by a soft iron cross member 48, and normally held stationary by a small permanent magnet 64 fixed to the main frame of the machine. Rotatably mounted on shaft 60 is an armature 46 comprising two arms 72 supporting two non- magnetic extensions 74 and a cam follower roller 56 riding on rotating cam 54 under the action of spring 52. An electromagnet coil 50 is associated with the armature and is generally stationary and concentric with shaft 60. In operation, the cam brings the yoke 44 and the armature 46 together once every cycle; if the coil 50 is energized, e.g. by a signal received from a card reader, the yoke 44 and armature 46 form an electromagnetic coupling; thus when the armature moves away under the action of spring 52 and cam 54, yoke 44 overcomes attraction from magnet 64, and also oscillates causing card engagement members 18 to feed a card (Fig. 1B, not shown). With this arrangement, the coil can be energized at any time in the cycle prior to the selected feeding cycle (Fig. 6, not shown).