GB2213474A

GB2213474A - Card feeder

Info

Publication number: GB2213474A
Application number: GB8900186A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Allan Walter Sills
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-01-05
Filing date: 1989-01-05
Publication date: 1989-08-16
Also published as: GB8800129D0; GB8900186D0

Abstract

A card feeder has a carriage (6) reciprocatingly movable on a slide (4). The carriage has a card engager (19) and an actuator (27) for raising the card engager on forwards movement of the carriage and lowering it on return movement, the actuator (27) pivoting the drive member (18) about axis (16) to raise and lower the card engager (19). The upper cards in the stack (2) are preferably held up by presser (12) to relieve pressure on the lower cards in the stack. <IMAGE>

Description

Card Feeder The present invention relates to a card feeder, particularly though not exclusively, for feeding plastics material cards used in the production of credit cards through manufacturing machinery such as used for applying holograms to the cards.

When cards are fed through such machines, it is both important that they should be fed in a positive manner but also important that they should not be scratched by any drive member on its return stroke, where a reciprocating motion is used for feed of the cards.

A well known mechanism for uni-directional drive is that used in a metal shaping machine, in which a tool is pivotally connected to a reciprocating drive head in such a manner that during a forwards stroke a tool holder abuts a stop on the drive head and the tool is positively positioned and driven; whilst during a return stroke the tool holder pivots away from the stop and the tool is dragged back over the workpiece. This is not a suitable mechanism for feeding cards because of the inevitable rubbing of the cards by a freely pivoted drive member on the return stroke.

It is possible to arrange for a pivoted drive member to be spring biased into either of two positions - raised for drive and lowered for return - and knocked from one position to the other and vice versa at respective ends of the drive member's stroke. However, bearing in mind the heavy duty cycle of card feeders, such arrangements are susceptible of wear and unreliability.

The inventor's experience is that positive drive of the drive member between its raised and lowered positions is necessary.

In a prior feeder the inventor has provided a carriage on a slide, a drive member pivotally carried on the carriage and having a card engager, a main feed actuator arranged to drive the carriage and a subsidiary feed actuator arranged to act on the drive member, both actuators being grounded to a chassis of the machine, the subsidiary actuator being connected to the drive member at a pivotal connection remote from the card engager with respect to the pivot point of the drive member on the carriage and the subsidiary actuator being phased to lag the main actuator; whereby the card engager is raised during forwards feed and lowered during reverse return.

This feeder operates satisfactorily. However, it is limited in operational speed. Further, the setting of the actuators, which are pneumatic, is critical and not easily adjusted as a routine operation.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved card feeder.

A card feeder of the invention comprises: a carriage on a slide; a drive member movably carried on the carriage and having a card engager for engaging a card and feeding it forwards on forwards movement of the carriage along the slide; a feed actuator arranged to reciprocatingly drive the carriage along the slide; and a drive-member actuator carried on the carriage and arranged to raise the card engager of the drive member during forwards movement of the carriage and to lower the card engager during reverse return of the carriage.

Although the drive-member actuator is itself bodily moved in reciprocation, it can be physically smaller than in the prior feeder and its phasing is less critical. Thus the cycle time of the feeder can be increased and reliability enhanced.

Although actuators other than pneumatic actuators may be used both for the feed and drive member movement, pneumatic actuators are preferred. The card feeder may include phasing valves for timing the drive-member actuator to operate at pre-determined points in the reciprocating cycle of the feed actuator. However, the preferred card feeder includes respective switches positioned to be engaged by the carriage at opposite ends of its reciprocating steoke for operating the drive-member actuator. This arrangement allows a further increase in cycle time and reliability.

The drive member and its actuator can be arranged for translational movement in the carriage of the card engager between its raised and lowered positions. However, in the interests of reliability and fine adjustment, they are preferably arranged for pivotal movement, that is with the drive member pivotally connected to the carriage. the drive-member actuator can be a rotary actuator. In the preferred embodiment, it is a linear actuator arranged to act on the drive member at a advantageous displacement ratio with respect to movement of the card engager's displacement.

To help understanding of the invention, a specific embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front, cross-sectional side view on the line I-I in Figure 3 of a card feeder according t9 the invention; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of the card feeder with its carriage in its advanced position; Figure 3 is a plan view of the card feeder; Figure 4 is an underneath plan view of the card feeder with various components omitted for clarity; Figure 5 is a rear side view of the card feeder, also with various components omitted for clarity; and Figure 6 is a side view of a variant of the card engager of card feeder of Figure 1.

The card feeder shown in the drawings has a hopper 1 for cards 2 to be fed along a track 3. Beneath the track and parallel to it is a slide 4, comprising two round rods 5, on which is mounted a carriage 6. At the upstream end with respect to a card feed direction 7 is a carriage-drive or feed actuator 8 for moving the carriage between a withdrawn position shown in Figure 1 and a forwards position shown in Figure 2.

The hopper 1 has a light emitting sensor 9, which receives reflection when cards are present in the bottom portion 10 of the hopper. In the absense of reflection and cards, a solenoid 11 is activated to withdraw a presser 12 against the force of an internal spring (not shown) until cards fall and are sensed. The solenoid is then deactivated and the spring acts to clamp the presser against the cards just above the portion 10 of the hopper. These cards and those above them are then held up to allow those at the portion 10 to be fed without being compressed by weight of all the cards in the hopper and hence scratched as the bottom card 13 is fed forwards. The bottom card 13 rests in an upper guide 31 in the track 3.

The carriage 6 has a body 14 having an upper boss 15, see Figure 5, from which extends laterally a shaft 16 carrying a bearing 17 positioned in the central plane of the machine, that is mid-way between the two slide rods 5.

Mounted on the bearing 17 is a drive member 18, having at its upper end a card engager 19 and at its lower end a connecting rod 20. The card engager 19 extends to the return direction side of the bearing 17 and has a card engement face 21. In passing it should be mentioned that a 311 cover plate 22, slidable in lower guides 311 in track 3, surrounds the card engager 19 which later occupies an aperture in the cover plate 22, to avoid accidental dropping of cards from the hopper through to lower levels of the machine, should the cards not catch in the upper guides 31 on initial filling of the hopper 1.

The drive-member 18 extends down through a slot 23 in the body 14 and is limited in its pivotal movement about the shaft 16 by two stops 24,25 adjustably carried low on the body 14. The stop 24 to the left of the carriage limits clockwise movement as seen in Figures 1 and 2 and provides an adjustable abutment for the drive member 18 with the card engager 19 in its raised position as shown in these figures.

Adjustment of the stop away from or towards the drive-member 18 adjusts the raised height of the card engager with respect to the upper guide 31. In the raised position of the card engager, the bottom card 13 from the hopper is engaged by the card engagement face 21 when the carriage is moved forwards from its fully withdrawn position in Figure 1 to its fully forwards position shown in Figure 2. It should be noted that the face 21 has insufficient height to catch the next card above the bottom one 13, i.e. its height is less than the cards thickness.

In the Figure 2 position, the carriage engages a front limit switch 26 which causes a drive-member actuator 27, connected at the bottom of the carriage between its body 14 and the drive-member connecting rod 20 to shorten. The actuator has a displacement ratio advantage of approximately 5:1 with respect to the card engager. Shortening of the actuator moves the drive member 18 anti-clockwise about the bearing 17, thereby withdrawing the card engager 19 completely below the level of the top of the cover plate 22.

Adjustment to ensure this complete withdrawal is effected by adjustment of the stop 25 and if necessary by adjustment along the connecting rod 20 of a link 28 connecting the rod 20 to the shaft 29 of the actuator 27. With the engager 19 fully withdrawn, on return of the carriage by the feed actuator 8, the engager 19 and the cover plate 22 pass clear beneath the bottom-most card 13 in the hopper which rests in the track 3 on its upper guides 31 ready to be engaged and driven forwards as shown in Figure 1. On return, the carriage engages a second limit switch 31 which causes the drive-member actuator 27 to stroke thereby raising the card engager for picking up the card 13 on the next forwards stroke of the feed actuator 8.

An entire cycle of the feeder is as follows: (i) Preliminarily cards 2 are placed by hand into the hopper 1, with the solenoid 11 deactivating for support of all of them other than the lowest at the hopper portion 10 when the sensor 9 senses the presence of cards. The bottom card rests in the track 3 at the upper guides 31.

(ii) With the carriage 6 fully withdrawn, the limit switch 31 is contacted to cause the drive-member actuator 27 to lengthen and raise the card engager 19 behind the bottom card 13. This is engaged on stroking of the feed actuator 8 and moved forwards along the upper guides 31 of the track 3.

On subsequent cycles, already fed cards are moved further down the track by pressure from behind of the next card engaged by the card engager 19.

(iii) When the carriage 6 reaches the limit switch 26, the drive-member actuator shortens pivoting the card engager below the cover plate 22, which itself is supported in lower 311 guide 311 in the track clear of the underside of cards in the upper guides 31. The feed actuator 8 then returns the carriage back for a repeat cycle.

Referring now to Figure 6, a variant 19' of the card engager 19 is shown. It has a card engagement face 21' similar to that of card engager 19 except that it is shallower because this card engager is intended for thin cards. Also in common with engager 19 it has an angled rear face 30 for lifting any card abnormally bowed beneath the 31 track 31 on the return stroke. Again in common with engager 19 it has downwards sloping - in the forwards direction top surface 31 in front of the engagement face 21' similarly to lift bowed down cards. In distinction from the engager 19, it has a flat 32 between the face 21' and the surface 31 31. This flat is parallel to the guide 31 in the raised position of the engager 19'. Opening through the flat 32 are a series of bores 33 to which vacuum can be applied to suck the bottom card to be fed firmly down onto the engager 19'. This reduces the risk of a flexible thin card riding over the engager, misfeeding and being scratched on its underside. The vacuum is applied during forward feed only in phase with raising of the card engager 19'.

Claims

1. A card feeder comprising: a carriage on a slide; a drive member movably carried on the carriage and having a card engager for engaging a card and feeding it forwards on forwards movement of the carriage along the slide; a feed actuator arranged to reciprocatingly drive the carriage along the slide; and a drive-member actuator carried on the carriage and arranged to raise the card engager of the drive member during forwards movement of the carriage and to lower the card engager during reverse return of the carriage.

2. A card feeder as claimed in claim 1, including a card supply means for supplying cards downwards in substantially horizontal orientation towards the slide, which is substantially horizontal.

3. A card feeder as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the feed actuator and the drive-member actuator are pneumatic actuators.

4. A card feeder as claimed in claim 3, including phasing valves for timing the drive-member actuator to operate at pre-determined points in the reciprocating cycle of the feed actuator.

5. A card feeder as claimed in claim 3, including respective switches positioned to be engaged by the carriage at opposite ends of its reciprocating stroke for operating the drive-member actuator.

6. A card feeder as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the drive-member is translationally mounted on the carriage for movement of the card engager between a raised position on forwards movement and a lowered position on return movement of the carriage.

7. A card feeder as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the drive-member is pivotally mounted on the carriage for movement of the card engager between a raised position on forwards movement and a lowered position on return movement of the carriage.

8. A card feeder as claimed in claim 7, wherein the drive-member actuator is a linear actuator arranged to act on the drive-member at an advantageous displacement ratio with respect to the card engager's displacement.

9. A card feeder as claimed in claim 5 as appendant to claim 2, wherein the drive-member is pivoted to the carriage on an axis at a high position in both, the drive-member actuator acts between them at a low position in both and the card engager is arranged above and on the return side of the pivot axis, whereby contraction of the actuator raises the card engager for abutment with the rear edge of a card to be fed.

10. A card feeder as claimed in claim 9, including adjustable stops at another low position in the carriage for limiting angular movement of the drive-member and adjusting the engagement height of the card engager.

11. A card feeder as claimed in claim 2 or any one of claims 3 to 10 appendant thereto, wherein the card engager has an engagement face arranged substantially vertically and transversely of the direction of the slide, the engagement face being not greater in height than the thickness of cards to be fed.

12. A card feeder as claimed in claim 11, wherein the card engager has a flat arranged immediately forwards of the engagement face; the flat has suction ports therein for sucking a card to be fed onto the flat; and means is provided for applying suction to the suction ports when the card engager is raised.

13. A card feeder as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12, including a downwards sloping top surface of the card engager forwards of the engagement face (and of the flat where provided).

14. A card feeder as claimed in claim 2 or any one of claims 3 to 13 as appendant to claim 2, wherein the card supply means is a hopper, and including both a clamping device close to the bottom of the hopper for supporting the cards in the hopper above the clamping device and a card detector for detecting presence of cards below the clamping device, the detector being arranged to signal absense of cards to the clamping device which releases to allow a small number of cards to fall whereupon it is reapplied.

15. A card feeder as claimed in claim 2 or any one of claims 3 to 14 as appendant to claim 2, including a two level track, the upper level being adapted and arranged for the cards to be fed along and the lower level supporting a cover plate movable with the carriage for catching any card accidentally falling from the card supply means without being supported by the upper level.

16. A card feeder substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 or as varied with reference to Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.