US1955819A - Record card controlled machine - Google Patents

Description

April 24, 1934; M. MAul.

Y RECORD CARD CONTROLLED MACHINE Filed oct. 1o, 1930 :s sheets-*sheet 1 wnor:

.24, 1934. M'. MAUL RECORD CARD CONTROLLED MACHINE Filed oct. 1o. 1930 s sheets-sheet 2 AMW/4M Aprirfl', 1934. M MAUL 1,955,819

' n RECORD 4CARD GONTROLLED IIIACHINE Filed ocx. 1o, 1930 s sheets-sheet 3 Patented Apr. 24, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECORD CARD CONTROLLED MACHINE Michael Maul, Berlin-Johannistl'iah Germany Application October 10, 1930, Serial No. 487,833 In Germany November 27, 1929 9 Claims.

stop after the exhaustion of the card supply takesl place after a delaying period suicient to feed all cards from the feeding track to the card receiving means and to effect accordingly an automatic track clearing. ,i

While the invention may be applied to -any type of record card controlled machinery wherein cards are fed along a feeding tracklto card receiving means, it is of particular advantage for automatic sorting machines for perforated record cards in which the cards are fed to a plurality of sorting stations in accordance with the perforations provided in the cards.

v1t is already known to provide in card controlled tabulating and sorting machines automatic stop devices. In tabulating machines the stop device is under card controland keeps the machine in operation as long as there are cards passing past the analyzing means. If the last card has left the analyzing means, the stop device will become operative due to cyclically controlled contacts or other meansv and the machine will be stopped after the last card has left the analyzing means. Usually, however, the card must travel still a certain distance from its posit-ion beyond the analyzing station of the receptacle and in the known machines the operator must again depress the start key and must keep the same depressed until the last card has arrived in the receptacle. Similarly automatically effectivel stop means as in tabulating machines have been 'provided in sorting machines. The sorting machines now in use which are equipped with automatic stop means will automatically stop if the last card has passed beneath the analyzing means. At this time, however, still a number of cards are on the feeding track to the sorting stations and therefore after each automatic stop the operator hold the same depressed until all cards have arrivedfat the proper sorting station or in the sorting boxes. The restarting of the machine required, `though automatic stop means are provided, is due to the fact that said stop means permit only to stop the machine at the end of the machine cycle of the last card and that they do notpermit to cause a timedelay of more than one, preferably a plurality of machine cycles between the passagel of the last card past the anis compelled to depress again theY start key andY alyzing means and the automatic stop of the machine.

1t will be readily seen that'the advantages which the provision of an automatic stop device in card controlled machinery affords are im- 60 paired by the necessity to restart the machine .after each automatic stop and to hold the machine in operation as long as required by constant manual depression of the start key until all cards have arrived in the card receiving means. Since a considerable number of automatic stops occur with a certain machine during a day, the time and attention required by the operator for restarting the machine Will accumulate to quite a v considerable amount, setting aside the fact that great confusion is very likely to happen if the operatorforgets to restart the machine only once or if he overlooks that a card is still on the feeding track. Accordingly, the known automatic stop' devices not only require time and attention 75 of the operator but are also insucient insofar as there is no insurance that after exhaustion of the card supply all cards on the feeding track will have been fed into their receptacles before the cards are removed therefrom.

It is now the main aim of the present invention to provide a record card controlled machine with a stop device that will insure that after exhaustion of the card supply all cards are fed to their receptacle or sorting stations before the automatic stop takes place thus avoiding the troublesome necessity to restart the machine each time after'the automatic stop and permitting the operatorto remove the cards from the receptacles immediately after the stop of the- 9o machine/without requiring him to watch ythe feedingtrack as is necessary with the above mentioned known stop devices for yrecord card controlled machines. It is a further very important feature of the invention that the same insures that track clearing after exhaustion of the card supply will be properly eiected'under any circumstances so`that the operator may be absolutely lsure that automatic track clearing has taken place if the machine automatically stops. Now, broadly it is not new to provide in a perforated record card controlled machine automatic track clearing means. It has already been suggested in a prior patent specification to provide in a sorting machine for record cards automatic stop means which become only operative after a plurality of machine cycles after card exhaustion, thus clearing the card feeding track before the automatic stop oi' the machine takes place. However, said prior device cannot meet the practical requirements and necessarily could not do so due to disadvantages which are inherent to its principle of operation. If an automatic stop device with automatic track clearing shall be of practical utility, it is absolutely necessary that it insures that in any event automatic track clearing will take place and that all cards will be fed to the receptacles before the automatic stop occurs. An automatic stop device by which automatic track clearing will take place only under certain circumstances or whereinunder certain conditions which practically may occur, no automatic track clearing will be effected, is of less value than no automatic stop device at al1 and is even objectionable for the simple reason that such device may mislead the operator to believe that in any event automatic track clearing will have been effected before the automatic stop while in fact it has notbeen effected. This may again cause considerable confusion unless the operator watches carefully the feeding track which, however, would require more attention than a stop device without automatic track clearing. The known stop device for sorting machines with automatic track clearing belongs to the above indicated type of undesirable stop devices. If for instance in said known sorting machine the card feeding means are manually rotated as is frequently done for lubricating or controlling the adjustment of the machine while no cards are in the magazine, a member controlling the automatic stop will be moved from its home position and will not be ,returned to the same by the cards upory the start of the machine. The result is that the automatic track clearing period will not last long enough to feed all 'cards to their stations and after the automatic stop cards are left on the feeding track which leads to the above mentioned trouble or confusion.

It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide' an automatic stop device for track clearing which will under any circumstances insure that at the end of the card supply the machine will still be kept in operation long enough to feed all cards from the feeding track to their respective stationsv and thus th invention provides means which are of real practical utility and upon which the operator can rely under all circumstances.

in order to attain this purpose i provide in a perforated record card controlledv machine a stop device which includes a controlling member movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position; said controlling member controls the card feeding means in such a manner that the same remain operative if the controlling member is delaying position, but the operation of the card feeding means will be automatically stopped if said controlling member is in interrupting position; it is essential for the invention that means are provided which constantly tend to urge said controlling member from delaying position towards interrupting position, that, however, the controlling member is held against the influence of said urging means in delaying position under the control of track analyzer means if cards are passing on mid track analyzer; however, if the card run on said track analyzer has ceasedlthe controlling member may follow the inuence .of said urging means and will be'moved to interrupting position; it is, however, another essential feature' of the invention that during said movement the contrwolling memberl is subjected to the action of various type wherein a controlling member is constantly urged from a delaying position to an interrupting position, the movement of said delaying member being delayed by vsuitable delaying means if the member moves from delaying to interrupting position. According to the invention, however, the controlling member controls the card feeding track and is held under the control of' a track analyzer in its delaying position against the influence of the constantly acting urging means. Through this novel combination the above indicated advantages of the invention are obtained which had not been available heretofore thoughffor many years in record card controlled machines the necessity for reliable and satisfactory delaying devices was quite striking particularly' in sorting machines for which the invention is preferably adapted.

The above mentioned urging means include preferably a spring constantly tending to urge the controlling memberltowards interrupting position if it is held under the control of track analyzer controlled means in delaying position.

The track analyzer means are preferably provided as a track analyzer lever which is resiliently held in the feeding track and is engaged by the cards.'y

An essential feature of the invention consists therein that the delaying period may be varied, if desired or required. For that purpose the extent of the movement of said controlling membercan be varied; preferably, a stop screw for the controlling member is provided for said purpose which may be adjusted from delaying position towards interrupting position whereby the movement of the controlling member towards delaying position can be restricted.

Since various delaying devices of the above indicated type are known per se, it follows that any delaying device of the type referred to may be employed in the combination according to the present invention. The following specification and the annexed drawings refer therefore only to an illustrative, though a preferred embodiment of the invention wherein the stop device is provided in the form of a so called time relay.

in the drawings:

l shows a longitudinal sectional view through a known sorting machine provided with a so called card contact lever.

Fig. 2 shows in a partial sectional View perpendicular to Fig. l, the card lever and its coordinated contact.

Fig. 3 shows a view of the time relay being in operative connection with the card feeding mechanism of the lsorting machine; the protection cover of said relay is partly broken away to clearly illustrate theinterior mechanism.

Fig. 4 shows the diagram of the machine.

Fig. 5 shows a ks'ection through the controlling mechanism for the sorting chutes.-

Fig. 6 shows in an enlarged scale a view of the mechanism according to Fig. 5, however in released position.

Fig. 7 is a fraction of a perforated record card.

The sorter shown in the accompanying drawings comprises a card magazine in which a stack of cards 11(Fig. l) is inserted. The cards are gripped from the stack one by one by knives l2 of the continuously rotating knife drum 13 and are fed towards the feeding rollers 14. The feeding rollers 14 are spaced from each other about the width of a card and to each sorting box are coordinated two cooperating feed rollers on each of both sides of the machine. Immediately behind the magazine, however, there are no lower feed rollers coordinated to the upper feed rollers 14, but a contact cylinder 15 is provided in place of said rollers. The brush holder 18 for the analyzing brush is fast to an insulating block 17. The brush holder 18 is slidable along a current supply bar 19 and may be adjusted by means of worm 16 to any record column of the cards. The distribution of the cards into the various sorting boxes (being generally designated at 20) depends upon the time relation of the passage of a hole in the selected column between the analyzing brush and the contact roller 15. The well known sorting mechanism comprises a pluralityof narrow sorting chutes 21 terminating in superimposed sorting fingers 22. The ends of the fingers 22 are spaced in accordance with the distance of the hole positions of a record column; at their left ends the various sorting chutes 21 are fastened to holders 23 which on their part are fastened to the walls 24 of the sorting boxes. The cards will therefore be fed into different sorting boxes 20 depending upon their insertion between the fingers 22 at the sorting place. The cards coming from the card stack will therefore, after having been advanced by the knife 'drum 13, be fed towards the left by--the feed rollers 14 fas` tened to the shafts 25:1and will be distributed into their'receptacles. The upper and lower shafts 25 as Well as the knife drum are driven by a common worm 26 (Figs. 2 and 3) which in turn is A driven by the motor of the machine.

The sorting operation proper of the cards between the fingers 22 is effected in a known way and therefore said operation shall only be explained briey in connection with Figs. 1, 5 and 6. From Fig. 5 may be seen that the-sorting fingers 22 rest upon an angle plate 28 and due to their resiliency they will follow said plate upon lowering of the same in the slot being provided `in the card support plate 29. The angle plate is normally in the position shown in Fig. 5; if, however, a card hole passes the analyzing brush, the magnet 30 will be energized and will attract its armature 31 against the tension of spring `32. The armature 31 forms a stop pawl for the angle plate 28 so that the angle plate is permitted to rockabout its pivot 36 in clockwise direction after the armature 31 has been mos/ed to the left, until a side arm of said angle plate encounters the stop pin 33; thesorting fingers 22/Will therefore tend to follow the angle plate 28 into the slot of the support plate 29. As may be seen, however, from Fig. 6,-the time of release of the current impulse for the magnet 30 is dependent upon theposition of the hole in the record card 11. Depending upon the position of said hole, the record card will have been moved in the moment in which the magnet 30 is energized, .more or less far between the ends of fingers 22 and angle plate 28. Therefore, upon energization of magnet 30 only those sorting fingers 22 are permitted to follow the angle plate 28 downwardly under which the card 11 has not yet passed while the remaining sorting fingers are kept back by the card since the latter rests on its sides upon the support plate 29. In this way, all cards having a hole on the same position will be sorted between the same sorting fingers 22 and therefore they will be fed into the same sorting boxes, i. e. the cards will be properly sorted according to their perforation. At the end of each analyzing cycle the angle plate 28 being pivoted at 36 will be restored by the cam disk 34 fastened upon one of the shafts 25 and thereby all fingers 22 will be raised and restored to be ready for another sorting operation. During said restoring operation the armature 31. will return under the infiuence of spring 32 to its position for holding the armature plate 28 so that thelatter will be held in its raised position until magnet 30 is again l energized.

Now reference will be had to the card lever being arranged behind the sorting fingers 22 (Figs. l'and 2) which lever analyzes the card feeding track. On the rear wall 38 of the sorting machine isa bracket 39 provided in which the analyzer bell crank lever 40 is pivotally mounted. On this bell crank lever is fastened a projection 41 being drawn by the spring 42 against a pin 43 The left arm of the projection 41 controls the normally open 'contact 46. To prevent obstruction of the cards on the head piece 44 of the lever 40, the head 44 is slightly rounded on the front and rear end as may be seen from Fig. 1. The vertical arm of bell crank lever 40 is provided with a slot 48 through which passes the lower feed shaft 25 which in this way forms a guide for the bell crank lever 40. If there is no card over the bell crank lever 40 in the feeding track between the upper and lower feed rollers 14, the contact 46 is open. I f, however, cards are fed by the feed rollers over the bell crank lever 40 the head piece 44 will be pressed downwardly and the bell crank lever will be rocked in clockwise direction (Fig. 2) thereby closing the contact 46. The length of the head piece 44 in feeding direction is'slightly more than the distance between the two consecutive cards so that the bell crank lever 40 keeps the contact 46 always closed as long as immediately succeeding cards pass on said lever.

As will be seen from Fig. 1 the card lever is arranged immediately before the first right hand sorting box; from the following explanation will be seen that when starting the machine the start key must be depressed long enough until the first card has reached saidlever, whereupon the operation of the machine is automatically maintained. However, the contact lever could also be provided in the known way behind the card stack which would however only permit to depress the start key a little less long.

Now the delaying mechanism according to the present invention will be described more in detail. In order to permit, if desired, the adaptation of the relay for machines already in use, an embodiment has been preferred, providing the relay as an independent unit which can be fastened on a suitable place of the machine; the relay must be operatively connected with the driving elements of the machine and further it is only necessary to connect the relay with the current circuit of the machine.

In the illustrated example, the relay being provided with a casing is fastened on the rear wall 38 (Fig. 3) of the sorting machine along which extends the drive worm 26 for the feed 150 rollers 14; Fig. 3 shows a view of the rear side of the machine.

The time relay is mounted upon a plate 51 fastened on the wall 38 and is covered with a protection cover 52. Upon the plate 51 is a shaft 53 rotatably mounted having on its rear end a gear 54 and on its front end a bevel gear 55. The gear 54 is in mesh with a wheel 56 being fast upon shaft 25 for feed rollers 14, said wheel 56 extending into said casing through'a slot in the same. The bevel gear 55 is therefore continuously rotating if the machine is in operation. Since in the machine illustrated, it is assumed that the cards run from the left to the right, the parts will rotate as indicated by the arrows. Upon the plate 51 are bearings 57 fast, carrying a rotatable worm 58 having on its upper end a bevel gear 59; the bevel gearV V59 is in mesh with the bevel gear 55. The worm 58 at its upper end has one thread removed. The relay magnet 60 controls a lever 62 pivoted at 61 and carrying a controlling member 63.VV The spring 64 tends to draw the lever 62 normally to the left against the stop 65 and the springs 66 tend to draw the slide 63 downwardly in contact with the upper end of the adjusting screw 67. However, if the 4machine is in rest position the controlling member 63 is in its upper interruption position in which a finger '78 rests upon the uppermost thread of the worm, thereby preventing the springs 66 to draw the slide downwardly. The adjusting screw 6'7 extends downwardly through a slot of the casing 52 and may be adjusted by means of button 68 into diilerent positions, thereby limiting accordingly the downward movement of the member 63. The member 63 carries an linsulating pin 69 controlling a contact '70. In the rest position of the machine the relay is in the position shown in Fig. 3 in which the controlling member 63 being in interrupting position keeps the contact '70 open by means of pin 69. If, however, the machine is started the relay magnet 60 will be energized and, as will still be explained, the magnet will remain energized during the operation of the machine. If the magnet 60 is energized it will draw its lever 62 about the pivot 61 to theright so that the member 63--which until this moment has been kept by the projection '78 in the upper dead thread of the spindleis disengaged from the threads of the spindle and is drawn downwardly under the influence of springs 66 to delaying position. In the same moment the contact '70 controlling the motor circuit, will close; since the magnet 60V remains energized, also the controlling member 63 will remain in its lower delaying position since the projection '78 is disengaged from the threads of worm 58 and consequently contact 'I0 will remain closed. If, however, due to the exhaustion of the card supply the card lever which analyzes the feeding track interrupts its coordinated contact, also relay magnet 60 will be deenergized. Since already during the passage of the cards on Vthe track analyzer, the member 63 is constantly subjected to the influence of spring 66 which constantly tends together with worm 58 to urge the controlling member 63 from delaying to interrupting position, upon deenergization of magnet 60 said controlling member will be subjected to the action of said urging means which will move the controlling member to interrupting position.

If magnet 60 is denergized, the spring 64 will drawthe lever 62 to the left so that the projection '78 encounters the worm 58 which is contin- During the upward movement of member 63, the

worm 58 and springs 66 are coacting and form the delaying means for delaying the movement of the controlling member 63 from its lower de- Vlaying position to its upper interrupting position.

It will be clearly seen that the delaying period between the deenergization of magnet 60 and opening of contact '70 is determined by the number of revolutions of the worm 58 and the extent of travel of the member 63 is determined by the adjusting position of screw 6'7. In the illustrated example the screw 67 is adjusted to almost maximum delay and this adjustment of the relay would be sufiicient to feed the last card from the magazine over the whole length of the sorting machine to the most distant sorting box whereupon the machine would be stopped by interruption of contact '70. If the relay shall be applied to tabulating machines it is only necessary to limit the travel of member 63 by means of adjusting screw 6'7. A corresponding adjustment is only necessary if in sorting machines the cards shall be sorted only in one or more boxes near the magazine.

The'- arrangement of the time relay in the current circuit will now be briefly described in connection with the diagram shown in Fig. 4. If (provided main switch '71 is closed) contact '72 is closed by its coordinated start key, the relay magnet 60 is immediately energized and contact '10 will be closed in the above described manner, thereby connecting the motor '73 to both sides of the current source and simultaneously initiatin'g the card feed. Simultaneously with the energization of magnet 60 also relay '74 has been energized and if then the card feed has been started the contact 46 is kept closed by card lever 40 due to the successively following cards; if, therefore, the operator releases lagain the start key a circuit will be established leading from the left side of the current source over stopcontact '75, card contact 46, the contact 79 of relay magnet 74 now being closed which magnet establishes its own stick circuit, and relay magnet 60 to the right hand side of the current source. The cards are then advanced one by one in the above described manner and the distribution'of the .cards into the various sorting boxes is controlled by the sorting magnet 30. The cam contact '77 interrupts the sorting circuit each time if due to the distance between two subsequent cards no card is under the analyzer brush. If the card supply is exhausted, the contact lever 44 will berocked to its normal position and the contact 46 opens. Thereby also the circuit of relay '74and relay magnet 60 will be opened and said relays will be deenergized. 'I'he member 62 is then drawn to the left by spring 64. At this time, however, the controlling member 63 is in its lowermost position (delaying position)r permitted by the adjusting screw andthe contact '70 is still closed thereby causing the motor '73 to remain in operation and to feed the cards to their receptacles. How--A ever, upon rocking of the member 62 to the left.- 15

the finger '78 (see Fig. 3) comes into engagement with the groove of the worm so that the controlling member will be moved upwardly in unison with'the rotation of the card feed mechanism and at the end of this upward movement the insulating pin will interrupt the contact 70 thereby also interrupting the circuit of the motor 73 and nally stopping the operation of the machine.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentall novel featuresof the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In an automatic perforated reco-rd card controlled machine, a feeding track for the record cards, means for feeding said record cards along said feeding track to card receiving means, card controlled analyzer means on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer means and controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer means and movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position, means under the control of said controlling member for automatically maintaining the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and for automatically interrupting the operation of the card feeding means if said controlling member is in interrupting position, said controlling member being independently of the passage of cards on said track analyzer means always subjected to' the influence of means constantly tending to urge the controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position, delaying means permitting to delay the movement of said controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer means to said card receiving means, track analyzer controlled means for holding ,said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer means constantly in delaying position against the influence of said urging means andfefor releasing said controlling member upon interruption of the passage of the cards on the track analyzer means to the influence of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after the predetermined delaying period to interrupt the operation of the card feeding means.

2. In an automatic sorting machine for perforatedv record cards, a feeding track for the record cards, means for feeding said rcord cards along said feeding track to a plurality of sorting stations, card controlled analyzer means on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer means and` controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer means and movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position, means under the control of 'said controlling member for automatically maintaining'the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and for automatically interrupting the operation of the card feeding means if said convposition to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer means to the remotest sorting station, track analyzer controlled means for holding said controlling mem- I ber upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer means constantly in delaying position against the influence of said urging means and for releasing said controlling member upon interruption of the passage of the cards on the track analyzer means to the influence of said urging and delaying means to permit the con'- trolling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after `the predetermined delaying period to interrupt the operation of the card feeding if all cards on the feeding track have arrived at their sorting stations.

3. In an automatic perforated record card controlled machine, a feeding track for the record cards, means for feeding said record cards along said feeding track to card receiving means, card controlled analyzer means on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer means and controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer means and movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position, means under the control o f said controlling member for automatically maintaining the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and for automatically interrupting the operation of the card feeding means if said controlling member is in interrupting positionfsaid controlling member being independently of the passage of cards on said track analyzer means always subjected to the influence of means constantly tending to urge the controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position, said urging means including a spring to the action of which the controlling member is constantly subjected, delaying means permitting to delay the movement of said controlling member from delaying po'sition to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer means to said card receiving means, track analyzer controlled means for holding said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer means means to the influence'of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after the predetermined delaying period to interrupt the loperation of the card feel lg means.

4. In an automatic sorting machine for perforated record cards, a feeding track for the record cards, means for feeding said record cards along said feeding track to a plurality of sorting stations, card controlled analyzer means on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer means and controlling the operation of said card feeding means,

ing to urge the controlling member from delay-.

ing position to interrupting position, said urging means including a spring to the actiondf which the controlling member is constantly subjected, delaying means permitting to delay the movement of said controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer means to the remotest sorting station, track analyzer controlled means for holding said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said rtrack analyzer means constantly in delaying position against the influence'of said urging means and for releasing said .controlling member upon interruption of the passage of the cards on the track analyzer means to the influence of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching its interrupting position after the prede.- termined delaying period to interrupt the operation of the card feeding means if all cards on the feeding track havey arrived at their sorting stations.

5. In an automatic perforated record card controlled machine, a feeding track for the record cards, motor driven means for feeding said -rec ord cards along said feeding track to card receiving means, a card controlled analyzer lever on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer lever and controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer lever and movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position, a contact in a controlling circuit of the motor for said card feeding means, said contact being under the control of said controlling member and being closed to maintain the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and being opened to interrupt the operation of the card feeding means if said controlling member is in interrupting position, said controlling member being independently of the' passage of cards on said track analyzer lever always subjected to the influence of means constantly tending to urge the controlling member from' delaying position to interrupting position, delaying means permitting to delayl the movement of said controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer lever to said card receiving means, track analyzer lever controlled means for holding said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever constantly in delaying position against the influence of said urging means to keep said contact in the motor controlling circuit always closed while cards are passing on the track analyzer lever and for releasing said controlling member 1 upon interruption of the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever to the influence of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after the predetermined delaying period to open said contact in the motor controlling circuit thereby interrupting the operation of the card feeding means.

6. In an automatic perforated record card controlled machine, Ia feeding track for the record cards, motor driven means for feeding said record cards along said feeding trackto card rey ceiving means, a card controlled analyzer lever on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer-lever and controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer lever and movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position, a contact in a controlling circuit of the motor for said card feeding means, said contact being under the control of -said controlling member and being closed to maintain the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and being opened to interrupt the operation of the card feeding means if said controlling member is in interrupting position, said'controlling member being independently of the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever. always sub- `jected to the influence of means constantly tending to urge the controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position, said urging means including a spring to the action of which the controlling member is constantly subjected, delayingmeans permitting to delay the movement of said controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position for a period corresponding at Yleast to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer lever to said card receiving means, track analyzer lever controlled means for holding said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever constantly in delaying position against the influence of said urging means to keep said contact in the motor controlling circuit always closed while cards are passing on the track analyzer lever and for releasing said controlling member upon interruption of the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever to the inuence of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after the predetermined delaying period to open said contact in the motor controlling circuit thereby interrupting the operation of the card feeding means.

7. In an automatic sorting Amachine for perforated record cards, a feeding track for the record cards, motor driven means for feeding said record cards alongsaid feeding track to a plurality of sorting stations, a card controlled analyzer lever on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer lever and controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer lever and movable into a delaying position and an interrupting position, a contact in a controlling circuit of the motor for said card feeding means, said contact being under the control of said controlling member and being closed to maintain the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and being opened to interrupt the operation'of the card feeding means if said controlling member is in interrupting posi on,

said controlling member being independently of the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever always subjected to the influence of means constantly tending to urge the controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position, delaying means permitting to delay the movement of said controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer lever to the remotest sorting station, track analyzer lever controlled means for holding said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever constantly in delaying position against the influence of said urging means to keep said contact in the motor controlling circuit always closed while cards are passing on the track analyzer lever and for releasing said controlling member upon interruption of the passage of cards on said track analyzer lever to the influence of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after the predetermined delaying period to open said contact in the motor controlling circuit thereby interrupting the operation of the card feeding means if al1 cards on the feeding track have arrived at their sorting stations.

8. In an automatic perforated record card controlled machine, a feeding track for the record cards, means for feeding said record cards along said feeding track to card receiving means, card controlled analyzer means on said feeding track, an automatic stop device under the control of said track analyzer means and controlling the operation of said card feeding means, said stop device including a controlling member being under the control of said track analyzer means and movable into a delaying position and an int terrupting position, means under the control of said `controlling member for automatically maintaining the card feeding means in operation if said controlling member is in delaying position and for automatically interrupting the operation of the card feeding means if said controlling member is in interrupting positon, said controlling member being independently of the passage of cards on said track analyzer means always subjected to the inuence of means constantly tending to urge the controlling member from delaying position to interrupting position, delaying means permitting to delay the move` ment of said controlling member from'delayingA position to interrupting position for a period corresponding at least to the feeding movement of a card from said track analyzer means to said card receiving means, means for varying the extent of the movement of said controlling member for permitting adjustment of the delaying period, track analyzer controlled means for holding said controlling member upon the passage of cards on said track analyzer means constantly in delaying position against the influence of said urging means and for releasing saidr controlling member upon interruption of the passage of the cards on tlie track analyzer means to the influence of said urging and delaying means to permit the controlling member upon reaching of its interrupting position after the predetermined delaying period to interrupt the operation ofthe card feeding means.

9. A machine as specified-in claim l8 whereii. said means for varying the extent of the movement of said controlling member include a stop screw adjustable from delaying positiong of said controlling member towards interrupting position of the' same. Q

MICHAEL MAUL.

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