GB1426821A - Selector mechanism including cassette storage - Google Patents

Abstract

1426821 Card selector CUBIC INDUSTRIAL CORP 23 May 1973 [17 July 1972] 24665/73 Heading G4M Cards having notches and perforations along a rear edge aligned along parallel vertical axes are held in a container 12, the top front part of which is raisable by part of a selector mechanism to allow ejection of a selected card. The container has a groove in an upper surface by which it is guided along a table 100 of the selector to be locked in position by arm 130. Beneath the table are selector pins 104 passing through holes in arms 108 each pivoted about vertical axis 110 and spring loaded 112 clockwise. Solenoids 116 are arranged to move the pins between stops 106 to select either perforations 16 or notches 18 in the cards. Rotation of a solenoid 154 raises lid 32 of the container via arm 146 and raises the pins via arm 156 and support 158 and a slotted tube 160 in which the spherical ends of the pins are engaged, the ends of tube 160 being guided in slots 162. The pins engage perforations in all but the selected card and table 100 is raised and lowered and air from fixed tubes 168 or from a central tube (Fig. 8, not shown) is fed to the cards to separate them and eject the non retained card. The container has a weighted portion (Fig. 6, not shown) resting on the cards to hold them under fixed pressure and the portion retains dummy cards which have free ends facing the air pipes to reduce edge effects on the top cards. The cards may be microfiche cards and are supplied to a reader and returned to the top of the stack. The weighted portion has an inclined face for ease of entry of the returned cards. A photo-cell 208 and light source may detect ejected cards and microswitches 200, 202, 204 may detect table and pin positions for automatic control. The portions of the cards opposite the air tubes do not contain perforations or notches.