US1795453A - Combined typewriting and card-perforating machine - Google Patents

Description

March 10, 1931. v J. A. B. SMITH 5 COMBINED TYPEWRIT ING AND CARD PERFORATING MACHINE Filed April 6. 1927 .3 Sheets-Sheet 1 //7 van for":

March 10, 1931. s I 1,795,453

COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND CARD PERFORATING MACHINE Filed April 6. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 10, 1931. J. A. B. SMITH COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND CARD PERFORATING MACHINE Filed April 6. 1927 I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Af/a may.

Patented Mar. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JESSE A. B. SMITH, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOOD ELLIOTT FISHER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE COMBINED TYPEWRITING AND CARD-PERFORATING MACHINE Application filed April 6,

This invention relates to card-feeding means for enabling. an operator to quickly place a card that is to be typed upon, around the platen of t-ypingmechaiiism. Although the invention may be usefully applied to feeding cards to any revoluble platen, it is herein illustrated as embodied in a combined typewriting and card-perforating machine of the type shown in'the pending application of Alfred G. F. Kurowski, No. 48,723, filed August 7, 1925 (now Patent No. 1,684,155, dated September 11, 1928). The machine described in said application is used for producing perforated record-cards having typed headings which are descriptive of the data which isrepresented bythe perforations in said card. The perforated record-cards are used in the various well-known methods of mechanical accounting.

The bottom edge of a blank card is inserted into a slit or pocket extending lengthwise ofthe typewriter-platen of said machine which includes a front strike typewriter. The platen is then rotated through a definite angle determined by a stop device, thereby bringing the upper margin of the card quickly and definitely to the printing line of the type writer; the heading being thus typed upon said upper margin. The slit or pocket in which the bottom edge of the card is inserted is, at the time of such insertion, at the front of the platen*and atabout the level of the printing line. Said slit or pocket is usually formed by a stepped margin of astrip that is curved agains'; the surface of the platen, the strip necessarily being of thin material, so as not to createan undue bulge in the platen-surface. Heretofore, a card was picked from a stack'by hand and inserted'into said slit by hand, a method obviously lacking in the dispatch usually associated with the operation of typewriter-mechanism. A s just stated, the slit itself is useful, once a card is inserted therein, for quickly and definitely bringing a portion of the card to be typed upon the printing line.

An object of the invention is to provide card-feeding means which will co-operate with said slit or similar device to the end that a card may be quickly picked from a supply 1927. Serial No. 181,371.

Powers card-perforator is of the type shown v in United States patent to W. V. Lasker, No. 1,305,557, dated June 3, 1919, and will hereinafter be called the card-perforator.

The card-perforator has a nest of punches arranged in denominationalcolumns. Above the punches and aligned therewith is a similar nest of index-pins which are individually settable by moving them endwise and latching them after they have beenthus moved. The index pins are settable, one column at a time, the selection of any pin or pins in a column being controlled by means of pinsetting plungers arranged in a denominationdetermining carriage, which, with said plungers, traverses the columns of index-pins step by step in unison with the letter-feeding movements of the typewriter-carriage. For the joint movements of said carriages the denomination-determining carriage is me-. chanically coupled to the typewriter-carriage by means of a rack on each carriage and an intermediate pinion. The carriages move in opposite directions, that is to say, while the typewriter-carriage advances in letter-feeding steps from right to left, the perforaton carriage advances in denomination-determining steps from left to right. By means of electro-mechanical connections, the pin-setting plungers are actuated by the operation of corresponding type-keys. Thus, as each character .is typed a corresponding index-pin is set in the proper denominational column.

A die-plate co-operates with the lower ends of the punches, the upper ends of the punches being opposite the lower ends of the indexpins. The lower ends of the punches are guided in aplate which is separated from the die-plate by a gap in which the card to be punched is received. The punches and their respective index-pins are arranged vertically and said card-gap is thus between two horizontal surfaces formed by the die-plate and punch-guiding plate. The usual perforator feed-rolls draw a card to be punched into punching position in said gap and simultaneously eject a previously-punched card. Guides are provided for directing and guiding a card as it is presented to the feedrolls to be drawn into punching position. The perforator is behind the typewriter and is so arranged'relatively thereto that said guides are in line with a card positioned in the typewriter-platen when said platen is at the end of the writing line. A card may therefore be passed directly rearwardly into said guides as it is removed from said platen.

The card is removed by rotating the platen in a direction contrary to the aforesaid rotation of said platen, which brought the upper margin of said card to the writing line. The extent of this contrary rotation is also determined by a stop, so that the aforesaid slit is at the front of the platen again and at a level with the writing line, when the card is removed and presented rearwardly to the feed-rolls of the perforator. The card is drawn into punching position at the beginning of a perforator cycle which is initiated by pressing a key. During the latter part of this cycle, the card is punched according to the index-pins which were set concomitant ly with the operation of the type-keys. The typewriter-carriage is then returned to its starting position for the insertion of another card around the platen. The perforator-carriage, by reason of its connection to the typewriter-carriage, is returned simultaneously and the index-pins are also at the same time, caused to be restored.

In carrying out the invention, a pack of cards is positioned above the platen in the starting position of the platen-carriage in such a way that the first card is directly in line with the slit into which the bottom edge of said first card is to be inserted. For thus holding a stack of cards, a magazine is provided, said magazine in the present embodiment of the invention holding the cards so that they stand vertically on their lower edges. The magazine has sides which serve to retain the cards endwise and also serve as uides in which a card-sliding member is tted for picking one card from the pack at a time and sliding it toward the platen. Said card-sliding member has a surface or face against which the front of the pack is pressed, the rear of the pack being pushed upon by a. suitable plate against which a suitable force is applied, as, for example, the force of a spring reacting upon said plate. The face of the card-slide member or card-slide as it may be called, against which the front of the pack is thus pressed, has a downwardly-extending tongue, which co-operates with a sharp-edged projection extending forward of the plate, which forms the bottom of the cardmagazine. Said projection and tongue thus form a gap or throat through which only one card at a time may be passed.

The card-slide is preferably a casting in the form of a plate reinforced by ribs to secure the necessary stiffness for maintaining the proper width of the throat through which each card is passed. The'surface of the cardslide'i against which the face of the pack is pressed may be relieved on each side of a strip which is retained to form the throat, or said surface may be an even plane. The cardslide has along its upper edge a picker-knife, which projects beyond the card-slide face and is normally somewhat above the upper edges of the cards, so as to insure that the edge of said picker-knife will pick off the first card when the card-sliding member is moved downwardly. The picker-knife is a flat blade of tool-steel having a sharp scraper-like edge, by means of which the upper edge of the first card of the stack is engaged. Said edge projects beyond the face of the card-slide to the usual extent, say, three-fourths the thickness of a card. A cross-member spans the upper edges 'of the sides of the magazine and is above the front portion of the card-stack, so that fingers depending therefrom may engage the upper front edge of said stack, as will be shown, and prevent its fallingcfoa ward as the card-slide is moved down to feed a card to the slit of the platen. Said crossmember also serves to support a latch, whereby the card-slide is held in its upward normal position. The card-slide is moved up and down manually, and the'latch is so devised that it may easily be manipulated to release the card-slide withthe same manipulation with which said card-slide is grasped to begin its downward card-feeding movement.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional side elevation showing enough of the typewriter and perforator to illustrate the invention. In said elevation there is included a typewriter-carriage and its platen, and the card-feeding means of the invention arranged over said platen.

Figure 2 is a top plan view, showing the typewriter-carriage and such portions of the typewriter and card-perforator as are necessary to illustrate the arrangement of the card-feeding'means in respect to said typewriter and card-perforator.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of some details of the card-feeding means, said view showing particularly the manner of providing the gap or throat at the bottom of the card-magazine forsecuring the passage of only one card at a time from said magazine.

Figure 4 is a front elevational View, showing the typewriter-platen with the means forming the card-receiving slit thereon, the card-feeding means above the platen, and the means whereby said card-feeding means are secured to a rear column of the typewriter.

Figure 5 is a side elevation showing the typewriter-platen and the card-feeding means above said platen. This view illustrates how the card-slide of the card-magazine, when moved downwardly, strips :1 card from the front of a pack in said magazine, so that the lower end of said card enters the aforesaid slit which extends longitudinally of said platen.

Figure 6 includes a fragmentary front elevation and cross-sectional side elevation of the card-magazine; said elevations serve to illustrate a latch for holding the card-feeding slide in its normal operative position.

F igure? shows means for taking up play in the guides for the card-slide.

Figure 8 shows how resilient members may be applied to the surface of the card-feeding slide to facilitate the entry of the lower edge of a card into the slit that extends longitudinally of the platen.

Figure 9 is a front elevation, showing the.

platen and the card-slide of the card-feeding means in its extreme downward position. This view also shows an arrangement of stops, whereby the downward movement" of said card-slide may be limited.

The combined typewriter and card-perforator has a platen 10 revolubly mounted in a platen-frame having sides 11 in which the platen axle 12 is journalled The platenframe is supported in a letter-feeding carriage 13 which runs in letter-feeding and re verse directions upon rails 14 and 15. A spring drum 16 urges the carriage in letterfeeding steps controlled by the usual escapement mechanism, generally indicated by the number 17 said escapement mechanism in cluding a letter-feeding pinion 18 which meshes with a letter-feeding rack 19 on the carriage. The usual printing instrun'1ent ali ties include numeral keys 20, alphabet keys 21 and type-bars 22, which are parts of the well-known Underwood type action indicated in Figure 1. The carriage-guide rails 14 and 15 are supported in the typewriter framework 23.

the punches for punching a card, and is separated from the lower punch-guiding plate by a gap 29 which receives the card to be punched. The card is drawn into punching position in said gap by means of the usual feed-rolls 30 which are geared to a main shaft 31 of the perforator.

Above the nest of punches and aligned endwise thereof is a similarly arranged nest of index-pins 33, one for each punch. The index-pins are movable endwise in the frames 32 and 32 which retain and guide them and may be set by such endwise movement to render their respective punches effective to punch a card. Each column of index-pins has a spring-pressed latch-plate 34 which cooperates with notches 35 in the index-pins to.

hold them down when they are set. The lower punch-guiding plate and die-plate 28 are parts of a card-frame, generally indicated by the number 24, which is movable upwardly to effect perforation of a card which may be in the gap 29 of said card-frame. Thus, punches which have their index-pins setare caused to penetrate the card as said card-frame is moved upwardly. The other punches over which no index-pins have been set are moved upwardly and idly as said cardframe is raised. Upon lowering the frame, the card is stripped from the punches as the downward movement of the punches, which have penetrated the card, is arrested when the shoulders of said punches encounter the upper punch-guided plate 26. The cardframe is moi'ed up and down for effecting punching of the card by means of the usual rockahle frame 36, each end of which is pivoted to a main frame 37 at 38. Said rockable frame 36 is rocked by means of the usual cam 39 which is .keyed to the main perforator shaft 31.

- The index-pins 33 are settable in one column at a time, and, for thus setting said pins, there is provided the usual column of pinsetting plunger-s 40. For moving the pinsetting plungers 40 from column to column of the index-pins, they are mounted in the usual denomination-determining-carriage 41, which runs upon guides 42 and 43.

To cause the denomination-determiningcarriage 41 with its column of pin-setting plunge-rs 40 to move from column to column of the nest of index-pins, said carriage 11 is positively connected to the typewritercarriage 13. The connections include, shown in the aforementioned application, a rack 49 fastened to the denomination-detern1ining-carriage and a rack 50 fastened to the typewritor-carriage. The r'acks'are connected by an intermediate pinion 51 which may rotate about a stud 52 conveniently mounted upon aplatform 53. Said platform 53 is fastened to the perforator framework 37 and also serves to direct a card to the first pair of feed-rolls 30, in a manner to be described presently.

The combined typewriter and perforator herein illustrated is used for typing headings along the upper margin of a card 54, which is placed around the platen 10 of the typewriter. As the heading is typed, corresponding index-pins 33 are set at each key operation. After the typing of the heading is finished';the card 54 is removed from the platen and its leading edge presented to the first pair of feed-rolls 30. The pressing of the usual trip-key (not shown) at. the typewriter keyboard initiates a cycle of the card-perforator during which its main shaft 31 makes just one revolution. During this revolution, the feed-rolls are rotated and draw the card which is presented to the first pair of said feed-rolls into punching position in the gap 29 under the punches 25. The extent to which the card is drawn into said gap is determined by means of the usual stop 55. The feed-rolls draw the card into punching position during the first portion of the perforator-cycle. In the latter portion of said cycle the card-frame 24 is raised and lowered to effect perforation of the card. At the end of said cycle, the card remains in the gap 29 and is ejected from said gap into a receptacle 56 when another cycle is initiated. By means of the usual devices (not shown), the stop is withdrawn long enough to permit the ejection of a card from the gap 29.

The typed heading along the upper margin of the card is descriptive of the holes which are punched in said card. In order that a card 54 placed around the platen 10 may have said upper margin quickly and definitely brought to the printing line on the typewriter, the lower edge of the card is inserted and bottomed in a slit 57 which is arranged tangent to the platen and runs lengthwise thereof. This slit is best formed by securing to the surface of the platen a strip 58 of thin material, say not over of an inch thick, so

. as not to create an undue bulge in the platen surface. The slit itself is formed by a step in the margin of said strip, as is best shown in Figures 1, 5 and 8, so that the slit is included between the surface of the platen and the stepped margin. The strip may be fastened to the platen by means of a number of screws 59, which are preferably threaded into the core of the platen. The slit 57, when a card is to be inserted therein, is at the front of the platen and at about the level of the printing line, as shown in Figure 5.

Instead of. 'nserting a card into said slit by hand in the manner practiced heretofore, the present invention provides a card-feeding device which will now be described in detail. It being the object of the invention to enable an operator to quickly pick a card from a pack of blank cards and insert it directly and quickly as possible into said slit, there is provided above the platen a magazine for holding, say, several hundred cards, said magazine being generally indicated by the number 60. As shown in Figure 1, the cards stand vertically upon their lower edges in said magazine, which includes a card-slide 61 which is movable downwardly for the purpose of picking off the first card of the pack which is pressed against the face of said card-slide. In picking off the first card of the pack, the card-slide 61 also moves said card toward the slit 57 of the typewriter platen. The cardmagazine has a base portion 62 and side portions 63. Each side portion 63 has near its front edge a groove 64 which forms a sliding bearing for the card-slide 61. For keeping the first card of a pack, or, in other words, the pack itself against the face of the card-slide 61, a plate 65 is provided toact as a pusher against the rear of the pack. Said plate pushes against said pack by means of a spring 66, one end of which reacts upon said plate, and the other end of which reacts upon a plate 67 extending upwardly from the rear edge of the magazine base. The plate 65 has a swivel connection 68 to .a rod 69, said rod serving to withdraw said plate from the pack of cards or the face of the card-slide as may be required. To facilitate said withdrawal, said rod may have a handle 70 fastened to the rear end thereof, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The purpose of the swivel connection is to enable the face of the plate 65 to always bear squarely against the rear of the pack of cards, and said swivel connection is preferably in the form of a balland-socket joint indicated in Figure-1. The side edges of the pusher plate 65 may be provided with rollers 71 which may engage grooves in the sides 63 of the card-magazine, said rollers thus serving to guide the plate in a horizontal direction relative to the magazine.

In order that only one card may be stripped off the pack at a time, there is provided at the base-portion 62 of the card-magazine a onecard gap or throat 72, best shown in Figure 3. The throat is formed by and between a sharp edge of a hardened block 74 which may be an insert or tongue projected beyond the frontedge of the magazine-base-portion and a tongue 75 which projects downwardly from the lower edge of the card-slide and across said front edge, said downwardly projecting tongue being best shown in Figure 4. It is a feature of the invention that one side of the throat is formed by a portion of the card-slide. On either side of the throat the card-passage is widened, as shown at Figure 3, to provide for the usual curvature or warping of the card passed therethrough. It will also be noted that the face of the card-slide is substantially coextensive with the face of a card, thus making it possible that one side of the throat may be formed by the face of said slide and also that said slide may be guided in the sides of the magazine. By thus forming one side of the throat as part of the card-slide and guiding said slide in the acard from the pack. Heretofore, in cardfeeding devices for comparatively thin cards, such as herein shown, the card-slide in stripping a card from a pack usually moved the card only part-way from the pack, or, in

other words, just far enough to bring the leading edge of the card that was being stripped between a pair of feed-rolls or a similar device whereby the stripping of the card from the pack was completed.

Fastened to the top of the card-slide is a picker-knife 7 6, which engages the upper edge of the first card and only said first card;-

Said knife therefore has a straight sharp edge that projects beyond the face of the card-slide to the extent of say three-fourths of the thickness of a card. -In order that this extent may be adjusted, the picker-knife may have elongated holes 77 through which pass screws 7 8 that secure the picker-knife to the top of the card-slide.

Inorder that the pack of cards may not fall forward when the card-slide is moved down, as in Figure 5 for example, there are provided fingers 79 whichoverlap the top front edge of the pack of cards. Said fingers have a horizontal portion 80 which prevents upward displacement of the front cards as the cardslide is returned to its normal position. The fingers 7 9 may be formed at the end of strips 81 depending from a cross-member 82 which spans the sides 63 of the card-magazine. said sides and may be fastened thereto by means of screws 83.

The top of the card-slide has, as shown in Figure 4, depressions 84 below the surface upon which thepicker-knife is placed, said depressions being formed to clear the packholding fingers 79 when the card-slide is in its extreme upper position. As already stated, the side edges of the card-slide are fitted in grooves 64 of the sides of the cardmagazine. In order that the card-slide may have a sufficient extent of bearing in said grooves, said slide is provided with upward extensions 85 which extend its sides. The sides of the card-magazine are also provided with downward extensions 86 along which the grooves 64 may be extended and said downward extensions may reach almost to the path described by the sides 11 of the platen-frame.

' The lower, ends of said extensions 86, however, must clear said sides of the platen-frame or whatever other projection of the typewriter-carriage might interfere with said ends as said carriage is moved to and fro.

The card-slide may be held in its normal upward position by friction which may be the friction occasioned by the pressure of the pack of cards against the face of the card slide or there may be enough friction between the edges of the card-slide and the grooves 64,

Said cross-member 82 serves to brace in which said edges are guided. Preferably, however, a latch for holding the card-slide in its upper osition is to be provided and is to be of such orm that it may easily be caused to release the card-slide as said slide is grasped to begin its downward movement. Figure 6 shows a suitable latch in both front and side elevations. The latch itself is a spring-' pressed swingable member 88 which is hinged to a member 89 which is fastened to the aforementioned cross-inember 82 that spans the sides of the card-magazine. A spring 90, coiled around the hinge-pin 91, servesto press the latch-member 88 toward the card-slide so that a hook-shaped end portion 92 of Said latch-member may engage the picker-knife edge and thereby hold the card-slide. The face of thecard-slide has a depression 93 which clears said hook-shaped portion. For

- turned to its upper position. The latch-releasing pin 94 extends forward sufficiently so that it may easily be manipulated by one of the fingers of the operators hand as said hand grasps the card-slide to begin its downward movement. For such downward movement, the card-slide may be grasped at the portion formed by the picker-knife and a ledge 96 of the card-slide. Said ledge is part of the ribbed portion 97 which is formed upon the outer surface of the card-slide to stiffen the same. The card-slide may be regarded as a plate re-enforced by said ribbed portion and said plate is preferably a casting which may be made of aluminum or aluminum alloy to secure lightness.

Figure 1 shows acard in position around the platen 10 of the typewriter so that its upper margin may be typed upon. This position is definitely and quickly determined by said position position the stop-pin 98 abuts the lower end of said fixture 99. The arrangement of said stop-pin 98 and fixture 99 is similar to that disclosed in the aforementioned application of Kurowski.

As the heading is typed upon the card the typewriter-carriage moves in letter-feeding steps toward the left, while the denomination-determining carriage of the perforator moves by reason of its aforesaid connections to the typewriter-carriage from left to right. When the typing of the heading upon the card is finished, the typewriter-carriage will have advanced to a position which ma correspond with the position of the usual le t carriage-stop, indicated at 100 (Figure 2). In such advanced position, the sides of the card in the platen of the typewriter will be in line with guides 101 upon the aforementioned perforator platform 53. The platen is now rotated contrariwise from the rotation which brought it to the position shown in Figure 1, so that it assumes the position shown in Figure 5. In this position, the card may be removed from the slit 57, which is now at the front of the platen, and may be slid over table-surfaces 103 of the typewritercarriage onto the perforator platform 53 and directly into and between the guides 101, for resentation to the first pair of perforatoreed-rolls 30. Upon pressing the aforementioned trip-key, a perforator-cycle is initiated during which, as already explained, the card is drawn into punching position and caused to be punched. The removal of the card from the typewriter-platen and its insertion in the perforator and the punching of said card must precede the return of the typewriter and perforator carriages, because, during said return, the perforator-index-pins 33, which were set during the typing of the heading, are caused, to be restored by the return movement of the perforator-carriage. It is obvious that if the carriages were to be returned before the punching was effected, the setting of the index-pins would be wiped out and would not be available for punching the card according to the heading which was typed. The restoration of the perforatorindex-pins 33 is effected by the usual means which include a roll 104 (Figure 1) on the perforator-carriage, said roll when properly positioned being effective through the medium of levers 102 to push aside the indexpin-latch-plates 34; during the return movement of the perforator-carriage, as fully explained in the aforementioned pending application of Kurowski.

In order not to obstruct the passing of a card from the typewriter-platen to the feed- 1 rolls of the perforator, the card-magazine is positioned to the right of the path of movement of the card from said platen tolsaid feed-rolls, or, in other words, said magazine is so positioned that it is above the platen when the typewriter-carriage is in its initial position. The position of the card-magazine is best shown in Figure 2. For supporting the card magazine in said position, there is provided a fixture, generally indicated by the number 105, said fixture being preferably secured to the rear right-hand column 106 of 'the typewriter-framework. The form of said fixture is best shown in Figures 1, 2, and 4. As shown in Figure 4 said fixture 105 has a crook to clear theright-hand bracket 107 of the pair of brackets which support the carriage-coupling rack 50 said crook being formed by the portions 108, 109, and 110 of said fixture. All of said portions are L-shaped in section to secure the necessary stiffness. The portion 110 has a surface 111 upon which rests the card-magazine, which is secured to said surface by means of screws 112, as shown in Figures 2 and 4. A portion 113 of said magazine-supportingfixture adjacent to the column 106 of the typewriter framework is also L-shaped in section, the ribs 114 of said portion 113 being formed to follow the outline of said column to which the fixture is attached by three screws 115.

When a card is to be stripped from the pack in the magazine and its lower edge inserted into the platen-slit 57, the card-slide of said magazine is gripped and moved downwardly until said lower edge bottoms in said slit, as shown in Fi ure 5. As will be seen in said Figure 5, tliecard is at this stage not fully stripped from the pack. The operator, when this stage is reached, is ready to turn the platen in the direction of the arrow and so turns the platen with one hand while the other hand still grips the card-slide and continues, with said other hand. to feed the card downwardly until the top edge of the card is flush with the top of the magazinebase-portion, as shown in F i ure 9. Further movement of the card-slide is now prevented by suitable stops which may, as shown in Figure 9, be in'the form of pins 116 and 117 projecting from the card-slide and the sides of the magazine, respectively. In the movement of the card from the position indicated in Figure 5 to the position indicated in Figure 9, the lower edge of the card will be slightly crimped or bent, due to the curvature of the platen-surface to which said slit thus conforms. Due to this bending of the lower edge of the card and the limited thickness of the slit 57, there is sufiicient gripping efi'ect upon the ortion of the card within the slit to draw t e card along as the rotation of the platen is continued until the card is gripped between the platen and the usual feed-rolls 118, which cooperate with said platen to complete the advance of the card to printing position. It is important that suflicient gripping action be assured by suitable proportions of the thickness and depth of the slit 57. Said thickness for a card of say six-thousandths of an inch in thickness should not be over say one-sixtyfourths of an inch and the depth of the slit should he say from three-sixteenths to onefourth of an inch. It will be apparent that notwithstanding the narrow thickness of said slit, a card may be-easily inserted therein by the card-feedin means herein shown, and that said card-feeding means co-operating with said slit and the platen-positioning device, embodied in-the stop-pin 98 -and stopfixture 99, serve to quickly pick a card from the pack in the magazine and position said card with its upper margin at the printingline ready for typing with practically one sweeping movement.

Referring to Figures 4 and 9, it is seen that the lower edge of the card-slide-side, except the throat-forming tongue projecting from said lower edge, is somewhat above thelower edge of the card to expose the leading margin of said card, so that it may be inserted in, and gripped by, the slit 57. Owing to this and depending upon the condition of the cards, it may be necessary to slightly deflect said loweredge of a card toward the platen as said card is pushed toward said platen and before it enters the slit 57, said deflection being desirable to assure that the lower edge of the card will not encounter the top of the strip 58 in which said slit is formed. Such deflection may be secured by means of resilient strips 119, preferably made of thin springy material. Said strips are recessed and fastened in grooves 120 (Figure 9) formed in the face of the card-slide. The resiliency of said strips should not be greater than isnecessary to deflect the lower edge of the card sufliciently to clear the upper edge of the strip 58. Such resiliency is easily overcome by the pressure upon the pack of cards so that the front of said pack will lie squarelyagainst th face of the card-slide when said slideis in its upper position. It is only when the card-slide is moved downwardly that the strips 119 become effective to deflect the lower edge of the card.

The strip 58, in which the slit 57 is formed, has a notch 121 that clears the throat-forming tongue 75 of the card-slide. The upward movement of the card-slide is limited by the striking of the upper ends of the extensions 85 of said slide against the under surface of the cross-member 82 of the card-magazine. When the card-slide is in its normal upper position, the edge of the picker-knife should be above the top of the pack to the extent of, say, one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch in order to assure that said pickerknife will pick ofl a card as the slide is moved downwardly. I j

In Figure 7 are shown details of means whereby the grooves in which the sides of the card-slide are guided may be adjusted to take up play between said grooves and said sides. It is important that this play be taken up in order that the width of the throat 72 be maintained. As shown in said Figure 7, the grooves in which the sides of the card slide are guided are formed between front edges of the modified card-magazine-sides and adjustable strips 123, which may extend along and overlap said front edges, as shown in said Figure 7. Said strips are secured to the sides of the magazine by screws 124 and may be adjusted to contract or expand said grooves by reason of enlargement of the clearance-holes 125 in said strips through which said screws pass.

Means (not shown) for moving the throat block 74 toward or away from the tongue 75 may be provided to adjust the width of the throat formed by said block and tongue. Such means for adjustment may, however, be dispensed with if the machine .is used for cards of uniform thickness. The width of the throat is made equal to one and onequarter of the thickness of a card.

The height of the card-magazine above the typewriter-platen may be varied from that shown in the drawings. For example, said height may be such that when a card is fully stripped off the pack, or, in other words, when the edge of the picker-knife is about flush with the top of the base-portion 62 of the magazine, the lower edge of the card will just have reached the bottom of the slit 57. Such an arrangementof the height of the magazine might be desirable in order to facilitate the use of one of the well-known devices for quickly rotating the platen to bring the portion of the card to be typed upon quickly to the printing point, it being desirable when operating such a device that the card be entirely free of the pressure impressed upon the pack.

It will be understood that a device for quickly rotating the platerr' may, however, also be used if the height of the card-magazine is as shown in the drawings. It is also understood that variation of the height of the magazine above the platen may be made within the scope of the invention.

The rod 69, whereby the pusher-plate pushing upon the pack of cards is withdrawn, may be prevented from turning by suitable means, as, for example, a slot 129 which extends lengthwise of said rod and which cooperates with a key 130 to prevent said turning of the rod. This turning is to be prevented so that, in the arrangement of parts 7 shown, the handle 70 on the end of said rod may not fall over and interfere with the free movement of the parts that couple the typewriter and perforator carriages.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card-receivingand gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, said slit being limited in its transverse thickness and curved in substantial comformity with the platen-surface so that it is self-acting in nipping and carrying along a card upon rota tion of the platen, and a card'feeding mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit, so that by rotation of the platen following upon said insertion, said card may be 'carried to printing position.

2. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein'described to the printing instrumentalities of a front-strike typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, said slit being limited in its transverse thickness and curved in substantial conformity with the platen-surface, so that it is selfacting in nipping and carrying along a card upon rotation of the platen, and a card-feed- .ing mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack above the platen and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen, so that by rotation of the platen following upon said insertion, said card may be carried to printing position.

3. A device for quickly presenting cards. of the character herein described? to the printing instrumentalities of a front-strike typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, said slit being limited in itstransverse thickness and curved in substantial conformity with the platen-surface, so that it is self-acting in nipping and carrying along a card upon rotation of the platen, a

card-feeding mechanism having means for advancin one of said cards at a time from a pack above the platen and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen, so that by, rotation of the platen following upon said insertion, said card may be carried to printing position, and means limiting the range of rotation of said platen between the position in which said slit is at the frontof the platen, as aforesaid, and the position in which the portion of the card to be typed uponwill have been brought to the printing line.

4. A card-feeding device'for a ty ewriting machine including a box-like car -magazine having a base-portion, sides rising from said base-portion for guiding a pack of cards laterally, a plate-like card-slide extending between, and guided by, said sides, said card-slide having a face substantially coextensive with the fare of a pack of cards in said magazine, said magazine having a throat to permit the passage of but one card at atime, said throat being formed by and between a sharp edge projected from the end of said base-portion and an opposite tongue extending from the card-slide and across said end, the surface of said tongue forming part of the face of said cardslide and extending beyond an edge there of which is short of the leading margin of a card, so as to expose and permit gripping of said margin, and a picker-knife forming part of said slide projecting beyond the face thereof for picking one card at a time from said pack and pushing it through said throat when said slide is operated and a typewriter-platen having a card-receiving slit of slightly greater width than the thickness of the card, effective after the card has been fed into the slit by the slide, for gripping said margin of the card and advancing the card into the machine.

5. A card-feeding device for a typewriting machine including a box-like card-magazine having a base-portion, sides risin from said base-portion for guiding a pac: of cards laterally, a plate-like card-slide extending between, and guided by, said sides, said card-slide having a face substantially coextensive with the face of a packof cards in said magazine, said magazine having a throat to permit the passage of but one card at a time, said throatbeing formed by and between a sharp edge projected from the end of said base-portion and an opposite tongue extending from the card-slide and across said end, the surface of said tongue forming part. of the face of said cardslide' and extending beyond an edge thereof which is short of the leading margin of a card, so as to expose and permit gripping of margin of the card and advancing the card into the machine. v

6. A card-feeding device for a typewriting machine including a box-like card-magazine having a base-portion, sides rising from said base-portion for guiding a pack of cards laterally, a plate-like card-slide extending between, and guided by, said sides, said cardslide having a face substantially coextensive with the face of a pack of cards-in said magazine, said magazine having a throat to perniit the assage of but one card at a time, said throat eing formed by a sharp edge projected from the end of said base-portion and an opposite tongue extending from the cardwhich is short of the leading margin of a card,

so as to expose and permit gripping of said margin, and a picker-knife forming part of said slide projecting beyond the face thereof for picking one card at a time from said pack and pushing it through said throat when said slide is operated, said card-slide being slidable from a normal position in which it is ready to begin feeding a card from said pack to a position in which it has moved sufliciently to completely strip a card from said pack, and a typewriter-platen having a card-receiving slit of slightly greater width than the thickness of the card, effective after the card has been fed into the slit of the slide, for gripping said margin of the card and advancing the card into the machine. g

7. A card-feeding device for a typewriting machine including a box-like card-magazine having a base-portion, sides rising from said base-portion for guiding a pack of cards laterally, a plate like card-slide extended between, and guided by, said sides, said cardslide vertically movable and having a face substantially coextensive with the face of a pack of cards in said magazine, said magazine having a throatto permit the passage of but one card at a time, said throat being formed by and between a sharp edge projected from'the end of said base-portion and an opposite tongue extending from the cardslide and across said end, the surface of said tongue forming part of the face of said cardslide and extending beyond an edge thereof which is short of the leading margin of a card, so as to expose and permit gripning of said margin,-a picker-knife forming'part of said slide and projecting beyond the face thereof for picking one card at a time from said pack and pushing it through said throat when said slide is v operated, said card-slide being slidable from a normal position in which it is ready to begin feeding a card from said pack to a position in which it has moved sufficiently to completely strip a card from said pack, means for holding the card-slide in its normal position against accidental displacement,and a typewriter-platen having a card-receiving slit of slightly greater width than the thickness of the card, effective after the card has been fed into the slit by the slide, for gripping said margin of the card and advancing the card into the machine.

8., A card-feeding device for a typewriting machine including a box-like card-magazine having a base-portion, sides rising from said base portion for guiding a'pack of cards laterally, a plate-like card-slide extending between, and guided by, said sides, said cardslide vertically movable and having a face substantially coextensive with the face of a pack of cards in said magazine, said magazine having a throat to permit the passage of but one card at a time, said throat being formed by and between a sharp edge projected from the end of said base-portion and an opposite tongue extending from the card-slide and across said end, the surface of said tongue forming part of the face of said card-slide and extending beyond an edge thereof'which is short of the leading margin of a card, so as toexpose and permit gripping of said margin, a picker-knifeforming part of said slide and projecting beyond the face thereof for pick ing one card at 'a time from said pack and pushing it through said throat when said slide is operated, said card-slide being slidable from a normal position in which it is ready to begin feeding a card from said pack to a position'in which it has moved sufficiently to completely strip a card from said pack, latching means for holding the card-slide in its normal position, said latching means including a releasing device operable to release said slide preparatory to feeding a card from said pack, and a typewriter-platen having a cardreceiving slit of slightly greater width than the thickness oflthe card, effective after the card has been fed into the 'slit by the slide, for gripping said margin of the card and advancing the card into the machine.

9. A card-feeding device for a typewriting machine including a box-like card-magazine having a base-portion, sides rising from said base-portion for guiding a pack of cards an opposite tongue extending fromthe card-' slide and across said end portion, the surface of said tongue forming part of the face of said card-slide and extending beyond an edge thereof-which is short of the leading margin of a card, so as to expose and permit gripping of sald margin, a plcker-knlfe forming part of said slide and projecting beyond the face I thereof for picking one card at a time from said pack and pushing it through said throat when said slide is operated, said'card-slide having a portion whereby it may be manually gripped to move it from a normal position in which it is ready to begin feedinga cardfrom said pack to a position in which it has moved sufficiently to completely strip the card from said pack, latching means for holding said card-slide in its normal position, said latching means including a releasing device adjacent said-gripping portion so that the slide may be released with substantially the same manipulation, whereby said slide is grasped to begin its card-feeding movement, and a typewriter-platen having a card-receiving slit of slightly greater width than the thickness of the card, effective after the card has been fed into the slit by the slide, for gripping said margin of the card and advancing the card into the machine. a

10. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a front-strike typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, and a card-feeding mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen, said card-feeding mechanism including a magazine for holding said pack and fixed in relation to the typewriter and above the path of platen travel in such position that the outermost card of the pack in said magazine is in linewith said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen.

11. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a front-strike typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, and a card-feeding mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen, said card-feeding mechanism including a magazine for holding said pack, said magazine having a card-ejecting slide and being fixed in relation to the typewriter and above the pathof platen travel in such position that the face of said slide against which said pack bears is in line with said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen.

1-2. A device for quicklypresenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a front-strike tvpewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, a card-feeding mechanism in cluding a magazine having a card-ejecting slide for feeding one card at a time from a pack and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit. and resilient means carried by said card-slide for deflecting the aforesaid leading margin of said card toward the platen sufficiently to facilitate the entry of the card into said slit.

13. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a front-strike typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, :1 ca rd-feeding mechanism having means for advancing one of' said cards at a time from a pack and inserting the leading margin thereof in said'slit whe'nflsaid slit is at the front of the platen, said card-feeding mechanism including a magazine fol-holding said pack, said magazine having a cardejecting slide, and means for supporting said magazine in such'fixed position relative to the platen that the face of the card slide is in line with the printing line of theplaten.

14. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a front-striketypewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, a letter-feeding carriage for said platen, a card-feeding mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen, said mechanism including a magazine for holding said pack, said magazine having a card-ejecting slide, and means for supporting said magazine in such fixed position relative to the platen that the face of card-ejecting slide is in line with the printing line of the platen, and so that the typewriter-carriage with said platen is in cardreceiving position when said carriage is in position for beginning a line of writing.

15. A card-feeding device for typewrit'ing machines, including a card-magazine having a support upon which cards in a pack rest edgewise, a card-ejecting slide, means for guiding said slide in a range of movement sufficient to completely strip a card from said pack, athroat permitting the passage of only one card at a time, said throat formed by and between the face of the card-slide against which said pack bears and a sharp edge of a surface projected beyond said support, said surface being part of a substantially central tongue-like extension projected beyond said support to form with said card-slide and the ends of said support a card-passage constricted at its middle portion by said throat and substantially wider at each side of said throat to allow for the usual warping and curvature of the cards passed therethrough, and a typewriter-platen having a card-receiving slit of slightly greater width than the thickness of the card, effective after the card has been fed into theslit by the slide, for gripping the card and advancing it into the machine.

16. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrumentalities of a typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriterplaten having a card receiving and gaging slit substantially tangent to its surface, said slit being limited in its transverse thickness and curved in substantial conformity with the platen-surface, so that it is self-acting in nipping and carrying along a card upon rotation of the platen, feed-rolls co-operating with said platen to draw and hold the card around said platen, and a card-feeding mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack above the platen and inserting the leading margin thereof in said slit when said slit is at the front of the platen, so that, by rotation of the platen following upon said insertion, said card may be carried to the feed-rolls and then, through cooperation of said feed-rolls, be carried to printing position, said slit in its card-receiving position being ahead of said feed-rolls and arranged to pass said feed-rolls as the platen is rotated.

17. A device for quickly presenting cards of the character herein described to the printing instrulnentalities of a typewriter, said device including a revoluble typewriter-platen, a card receiving and gaging device forming part of said platen for holding and gaging the leading margin of a card against said platen, feed-rolls co-operating with said platen to draw and hold a card therearound, and a cardieeding mechanism having means for advancing one of said cards at a time from a pack above the platen and presenting the leading margin thereof to said card-receiving device when said device is at the front of the platen, so that, by rotation of the platen following upon said presentation, said card may be carried 'to the feed-rolls and then, through cooperation of said feed-rolls be carried to printing position, said card-receiving device in its card-receiving position being ahead of said feed-rolls, and being arranged to pass said r'eed-rolls as the platen is rotated.

18. A typewriting machine including a 20. In a typewriting machine, a platen, a card-holder longitudinally located thereon to receive the edge of a card to be typed, a magazine to hold cards prior to typing, means to feed the cards individually to the platen, including guides on the end of the card-maga- Zinc and a plate effective to slide in said guides having means to engage a card to be fed, a bottom for said magazinehaving a front cardgaging edge, and a downward extensiontongue on the plate of less width than the plate, a recess being included in said cardholder effective to receive said tongue, said tongue effective to co-operate with said edge,

whereby only one card can pass therebetween at a time, said plate efiective by a downward motion to insert the lower edge of the engaged card in the cardholder ready to be typed.

21. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a card-magazine having a bottom against which the cards may rest, a slidable card-feeling plate forming one end of the magazine, having a tongue depending therefrom, forming a space between the same and the end of the magazine bottom, whereby one card at a time may pass therethrough, said plate having card-engaging means to feed. a card through said space, and a platen having a card-holder to receive the engaged card for typing when depressed by the plate, said card-holder having a recess to receive the tongue when the plate is depressed.

JESSE A. B. SMITH.

card-holding magazine, a sliding front plate for the same, effective to feed a card therefrom, a bottom member for said magazine for the cards to rest upon, and a depending portion of said plate forming a gaging space therebetween to permit the cards to pass singly, means included in said plate to engage the top of the card to be fed, and a platen having a slot efiective to receive the lower edge of said card, under pressure, from said means, said depending portion of the plate effective to hold the lower end of the card against the platen when the card is being pressed into the slot.

19. A typewriting machine including a card'holding magazine, a sliding front plate for the same, efi'ective to feed a card, a bottom member for said magazine and a depending portion of said plate forming a gaging space therebetween to permit a single card to pass, means on said plate to engage the top of the card to be fed, and a platen including a cardholder to receive the lower edge of said card ready to type, said card-holder having a notch to receive said depending portion when the plate is depressed to insert the card in the holder.

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