GB661312A - Improvements in or relating to record card machines - Google Patents

Abstract

661,312. Statistical apparatus. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation). May 5, 1949, No. 12041/49. Class 106 (i). A sorting machine having a single sensing station and means for feeding cards to the sensing station, is provided with means for sortirig cards according to one set of data recorded in them, means for checking at the same time the sequence on successive cards of a second set of data according to which they having already been sorted, and means controlled by the checking means for stopping the sorting mechanism upon detection of a break in sequence. The sensing device comprises a pair of brushes 17s, 17c for sensing adjacent columns of a card, mounted so as to be manually adjustable in known manner, to read selected columns. Data in a particular column is first sensed by the brush 17s controlling the sorting mechanism which is of the known type in which channels for the cards leading to individual receptacles are opened by an electro. magnet when the sensing brush completes a circuit through the card hole. After sorting on the units digit the sorting brush 17s is moved over to sense the tens column and during the second passage of the cards through the machine the second sensing brush 17c traverses the units column and checks that the cards are in correct sequence so far as the units digit is concerned; and so on for successive passages. Sequence checking. The sensing of a hole by the brush 17c completes a circuit from the common contact roller 16, through wire 110, switch 44, commutator T1 and the wire 45 corresponding with the hole sensed to energize the pick-up coil of the associated magnet R1 ... R9. When any relay R2 ... R9 becomes energized it closes -AL contacts to establish a holding circuit, and -BU contacts to cause energization of all lower-valued relays in the chain R1 ... R9. If, in a file of cards arranged in ascending sequence, a lowervalue digit is sensed after a higher-value digit, a circuit is completed from the wire 45 concerned, -AU contacts of its associated magnet, -BL contacts of the next higher magnet, and wire 52 to energize a relay R20 which open contacts to stop the machine. To indicate the whereabouts of the last card to pass the sorting brush before the machine has been stopped by the sequence checking means, the value sensed by the sorting brush 17s is registered in one of a series of relays M0 ... M9 until the circuit of the holding coil is broken near the end of a cycle. Upon energization of the relay R20, a circuit is completed through its contacts R20AU and the -B contacts of the operated M relay for a magnet SO ... S9 which raises a flag 62 to indicate the pocket to which the last card was directed. Verifying. The sequence checking circuit also serves to detect a double punching in a column which should contain only one hole. For handling cards punched in accordance with a combination code in which any number from 0 to 99 can be represented in one column, a further circuit, Fig. 5 (not shown), is brought into operation by changing the plug connections 102 ... 105 and arranging for the cards to pass through the machine with the " X " and " Y " perforations leading, the reverse of the normal arrangement. Additional commutator, and relays are provided for interpretation of " X " and " Y " punchings. The code suggested is as follows:-