GB905243A - Improvements in or relating to record card stackers and collators incorporating the same - Google Patents

Abstract

905,243. Record card collators. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. May 24, 1960 [June 24, 1959], No. 18225/60. Class 106 (1). A collator including hoppers 10, 14 for primary and secondary cards, a pocket for receiving merged cards and pockets for receiving unmerged primary and secondary cards means for sensing and comparing data on primary and secondary cards to control the routing of cards to the pockets and card-arresting means in the merge pocket controlled by the sensing means to temporarily support the primary card so that it can form a support for following secondary cards and releasing means to allow the cards to fall together into the pocket. The cards are master and detail cards which are to be grouped. If there are no detail cards to go with a primary card it is delivered to pocket 38 but if there are corresponding detail cards it will pass to " merge " pocket 40. Similarly, a detail card without a corresponding master card passes to pocket 62 and matched secondary cards go to pocket 40 with their corresponding master cards. The master cards 12 are forwarded to pocket 40 by rollers 61, Fig. 2, which shows a known radial stacker to which the invention is applied. When released from the sorting blades 36, 37 the cards fall at an angle, being held up on one side by a member 66. The other edge engages a guide plate 68 and falls down to the point 70. A horizontally slidable stepped pusher 72 operated by cam 86 then displaces the lower edge of the card to the left so that the upper edge can move under the member 66 and under a flipper 88 and the cards are stacked against a support 90 which moves to the left as the pocket fills up. The temporary support means is provided when detail cards 16, smaller than the master cards, are used, to prevent cards turning over and jamming. It consists of a pair of bowed springs 98, Fig. 3, to which are connected tension springs 106 tending to straighten them so that they do not project into the path of the cards falling into the pocket. When a magnet 114 is energized the pivoted armature 110 pushes the cross-pin 104 opposing the tension of springs 106 and allowing the springs 98 to bow out, as shown in Fig. 3, to support cards entering the pocket. The magnet is energized by circuitry controlled by the sensing means which detects master cards having accompanying detail cards, i.e. groups which are to enter pocket 40, so that the master card 12 of such a group will be supported on the springs 98 and the following detail cards 16 will fall on top. At the end of matching detail cards the magnet 114 is deenergized and the group of cards falls into the magazine. To prevent a following master card falling with the preceding group, an extra magnet may be provided having an armature extending into the pocket and energized to hold up the next card as soon as a change of group is detected. This is de-energized as soon as the magnet 114 is re-energized. Instead of requiring energization to make the supporting springs 98 operative, the arrangement may be reversed so that the magnet is pulsed to release the cards. In another form, the supporting members are pivoted and formed integrally with the armatures of the magnets. The supporting members may be withdrawn when they are not required, e.g. when the detail cards are the same size as the master cards, by a rotatable cam member acting through bell-crank levers.