US2126644A

US2126644A - Paper spacing device

Info

Publication number: US2126644A
Application number: US171013A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clair D Lake
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1937-10-26
Filing date: 1937-10-26
Publication date: 1938-08-09
Anticipated expiration: 1955-08-09

Description

c. D. LAKE 2,126,644

PAPER SPACING DEVICE Filed 061'.. 26, 1937 6 SheefCS-Sheeil 1 /ll f- Aug..9, 1938. c. D. LAKE 2,126,644'

1 PAPER SPACING DEVICE Filed oct. 2e, 19:57 e sheets-sheet 2 FIG.2.

INVENTOR.

m ATTORNEY.

Aug. 9, 1938. c. D. LAKE PAPER SPACING DEVICE Filed Oct. 26, 1937 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR. e 24. BY M A TTORNEY.

Aug. 9, 1938. c. D. LAKE PAPER SPACING DEVICE Filed oct. 26, 1937 6 sheets-sheet 4 rllllll-Illllllll` y MMA A TTORNEY.

Mmmm@ 1938. c. D. mm ERGMM PAPER SPACING DEVICE 6 sheets-sheet 5 Filed 001'.. 26, 3.957

` C. D. LAME PAPER SPACING DEVICE Filed 001;. 26, 1937 6 SheelLS--Shet 6 FIG. e.' m

Mmmm M Patented Aug. 9, 1938 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2.12am. rma srnonro navloa clair D. rake, Binghamton. N. Y., mamar to f International Business Machines Corporation,V New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Applicants omni-Iza. iss-1, semi No. 171,01:

s claims. (ol. 10izen The invention relates to bill feedingl mechanisms for `printing machines and'more particularly to the type provided with a selective control whereby the bill may be fed to a predetermined extent to a selected printing line.

-The invention is preferably' adapted for use in machines wherein separate bills or ledger cards are successively fed'from a' supply! stack to the prlntinginechanism to thereby cause the printv ing of an item on a single line of the bill. Thereafter'the bill may be ejected from the platen and stacked in a storage hopper.

` The main object of the invention is to provide an improved "electrical control device for manuio, `ally selecting` the printing line of the ledger card.

Another object of the invention is to provide 'a stacking mechanism for the improved bill printing machine which is continuously operable so that by its continuous operation it will receive the printed 'bills 'and stack them by successive operations. yIn this manner themachine operates smoothly and vwithout jerks or shocks.

In more detail, bills or ledger cards are successively fed to a platen by successive cycles of oper or ation. At a predetermined point in the cycle of operation of the machine an electrical circuit is closed by cam-operatedcontacts tocause the energization of a magnet which unlocks the platen.

and closes contacts which close a circuit to a 3o coil of a magnetic'clutch. Themagnetically controlled'clutch is now engaged to cause platen rotation. By means of a commutator arrangement rotatable with the platen a selected livecommutator segment wiilwstopy the rotation of 3,-, the platen lby energizing a relay magnet which opens its relay contacts and which latter causes the opening of the circuit of the magnetic clutch coil. The latter is now deenergized and platen rotation terminatesv during which time the printf4() ing operation takes place and the platen is locked.

' fAfter the printingv operation; cam controlled contacts. again close to resume thev rotation of lthe vplaten byclosing the circuit to the magnetic clutch coil and the platen whichis again unlocked automatically rotatesv a 'supplemental extent to vfeed the -printed bill to the stacker mechanism.'

The initial feed of theiedger card to the selected printing line andthe supplemental' feed.

5,0 combines the same extent irrespective of the printing line selected. The stacker mechanism continuously rotates and since its extent of rota-- tion is always the same and corresponds to the combined feed given to the bill the feedlngoper- 5;', ations given to the platen permit the continuous operation of the stacker, and thus the machine runs smoothly and without shocks.

, Further objects ofthe instant invention reside in any novel feature of construction or operation or n'ovel combination of partspresent in the 5 embodiment of the invention described and shown in the accompanying drawings whether within or `without the scope of the appended claims and Fig.. 4A is a detail view of the magnetic clutch ior efecting platen rotation.

Fig. 4B is a detail view of a selective gear clutch device. I i Fig. 5 is a central sectional view of the bill feed mechanism.` y i v Fig. 6 is an electrical "wiring diagram of the' machine. v

.Fl-g. 'i' is a timing diagraml of certain cams adapted to eifect closure of .electrical contgctlsi Purely as a matter of convenience in d tion, the bill feeding and printing mechanism has been shown in the drawings as Vapplied to an elec 3 5 trical accounting and statistical machine now well known in the art as the International electric accounting machine." The basic principles of operation of this machine are vdescribed in numerous patents 'to -Herman Hollerith and 4o others, and the machine shown in general out-l line in Fig. 1 may be the same one as described in the LettersPatent Nos. 1,822,594, 1,782,145 and 1,379,268 which are merely representations of v many patents disclosing this type of machine. As 45 the mechanism of the machine forms no part of the bill feeding attachment, except as particulai-ly pointed out hereinafter, only a few details of such type of machine will be given herein to enable those skilled in the art to understand how 60 the bill feeding attachment may be applied to a conventional accounting machine.

The present bill feeding and printing mechanism is an improvement over that shown in the ,patent to W. P. Scharr, No. 2,046,001 and is particularly relied upon for showing certain details of the mechanism not involved in this invention.

Numeral 20 (Fig. 1) indicates the base of the accounting machine which is provided with the usual Hollerith printer control magnets 2|. The magnets 2| control the elevation of the type bars 22 in the manner described in the cited patents; the selected type being impeiled to printing position by the usualhammers 24 against a ledger cardorbillsurroundingapiaten 22.

Bhaft 20 (Flg. 2) may be considered as the main driving or listing shaft of the bill printing unit and drives a gear 20 attached thereto. 'Ihe gear 20 drives a gear 21 which is attached to a shaft corresponding to the similarly designated shaft in Patent No. 2,046,001.

'lhe means for removing the bills from the supply hopper is precisely the same as that shown in Patent No. 2.040.001 to which reference should be had for further details of construction and operation but this mechanism is generally described herein. v

lhe bills or ledger cards 40 (Fig. 5) are removed from a'supply hopper 20 (Fig. 5) by a picker 04 carried by picker slides 02. the movement of the slides 02 to the left removing the lowermcst card to feeding rollers to be later referred to. 'lhe slides 02 carrying pickers 04 are operated by means of gea'x sectors 10 mounted arm lllvoted to a gear 14,' which is 10. by a screw-stud which is threaded intoy the hub of the gear 14. described in Patent No. 2,046,001 the slides 02 ersnowtobedescribedindetail.

'lhenrstsetofrollersreceivingtheeiected bill or ledger card comprises rollers 00 and 00 (Pig. 0). These rollers are intergesred by pinions 04 and 01 (Hg. 2) and the latter meshes with an idler gear |04. 'nais arrangement is the same as Patent No. 2.040.001 and the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

However, in the present arrangement gear |04 meshes with a pinion |00 attached to a gear |00 meshing with the driving gear 14, and by such gearing drive the feed rollers 00-00 to conveytheledgercardorbilltothesecondset of rollers 00, 00 (l'ig. 0) correspondingly designated in the Patent No. 2,046,001. 'Ihe rollers 00, 00 are intergeared by pinions i0| and |00 (Pig. 2) and the lower pinion |00 as stated' meshes with the gear |04, thus constituting the driving means for rollers 00, 00, and 00, 00.l

Diii'ering from the Patent No. 2,046,001` the next set of rollers constitute a feeding roller ||2 (Fig. 6) composed of insulating material .and lower cooperating metallic contact and feeding roller ill. The roller ||2 is grooved or slotted circumferentially so that each slot receives an analysingbrush iilwhichbearsuponthecontact roller lil. Pinions |I0 (lig. 2) internal' the rollers ||2,\i|0 andthelower gear ||0 is attached to a gear ||1 (dotted in l'ig. 2) which meshes with the gearI 14. Boththe upper and lower roller |i2. ||0 serve a dual purpose, one for feedingtheledgercardandtheotherforthepurpose oflnllyling the cardbeing'fed. nie gear 14 drives the pairs of feeding rollers 00, 00; 00, 00;

H2. lil; in synchronom relationship with the tabulating card, that is. correfeedingofthe sponding index points of the tabulating card and ledger card are analyzed so as to eil'ect by means not involved in' this invention a comparing operation to compare the perforations on the tabulatlng card 'with the perforations on the ledger card.

The platen 22 is attached to a shaft I i0 and is provided with the usual knobs ||0 (Fig. 4) secured to the shaft ||0 to turn the platen manually. Extending parallel with the platen and beneath it is a shaft provided with a number of rollers |2| and between the platen 22 and rollers |2| the ledger card is fed so that a subsequent rotation of the platen will cause the feeding of the ledger card to the printing line. The

vmagnetic clutch for causing the rotation of the vable forl certain types ofaccounting work. For

feeding bills or'ledger cards by the rotation of the platen 22 a higher speed is required and this is selected by a selective gear drive now to be described. f

Referring to

l'igs

'lothegear |20thereissecuredacasting |20 which is recessed to receive a magnetic coil |20. The ends of the winding of the coil |20 are electrically connected to insulated collector rings 21 carried by thecasting |00 and against these rings |21 brushes |20 (see l'ig. 2) continually bear. By these brushes |20 and coliectorrings |21 current is supplied to the coil |20 so that when the coilisenergizedthecasting |20wiilbemagnetisedand magnetically attracted to a disk |20 attached to the platen supporting shaft |10. The gear |20 and casting |20 will slide on the shaft ||0 to eifect thev desiredv magnetic clutch contion of rollers |2| fore the first bill in the supply hopper reaches the platen.` After leaving therollers |06i|01 of said patent the card is fed between the platen 23 and rollers |2| and the ledger card 48buck1es las shown in Fig. 5. prior to the rotation of the platen. This buckling is eiected because the feed .rollers and platen runat different speeds andis la preferable mode of operation as it corrects any inaccuracies in the location ofthe ledger card due `to slipping or other'conditions which may occur while the card is passin'gthrough the feed rollers.

attachent@ the shaft ne is a gear an which through an'idler gear 3| ydrives a gear 32 (Figs. 3v

u and 1) which is attached to a stub shaft 33. .At-

t line of the cardtoprinting position.

taehed to the shaft33 is aline spacing control disk 34 having seventeen integral teeth 35 and a tooth 35 adjustably mounted on the disk 34. In the home positionoi' the disk 34 the adjustable tooth 38 is engaged by a recess 31` of a latch arm 38.

`An armature 40 is part `of the latch arm 38 so `that whenamagnet 4| is energized it will attract the armature 40 and rock the latch arm 38. to remove the recess 31 from engagementwith the adjustable clutch tooth 36. 'I'he platen is now unlocked so that it'can be'rotated by the magnetic clutch to feed `the card a predetermined amount by the rotation oi.' the platen to bring a selected The card has preferably seventeen printing i lines and to conform to the selection of one of these lines the disk 34 is providedwith seventeen teeth 35. The tooth 38 is adjustable so `thatby adjustment of this tooth the location of the first printing line' of the ledger cardin relation to its top edge can be changed.

` When current is applied to

lines

42 and 43 by the closure of switch S (Fig. 6) a' circuit is closed from line 42 through relay contacts |1b of relay .magnet R.|1, (not involved in the present inf vention) through contacts 44 which are closed when 'the'magnets 43a are deenergized, magnets "b 43a, to the line side 43.' The energization of magnet'43a will attract itsarmature -and rock a. .latch arm 45 whereby a pin 46 carried thereby will per- Y mit the opening o! contacts 44. However, a re- Referring t0 Fig.

rotates certain cams. such as a cam 50 for closing sistance 4Ref-M0 will provide a shunt for contacts l44to retain lmagnets 43a energized. The 4latch arm' 45 is similar to latch arm 38 and as long as magnets 43a are energizedthe latch arm 45 is in shifted position to permit a tooth 41o! a constantly. turning disk 48a to'pass by the latch arm 45 without ,being caught. The gear 3| drives a gear 49 (Fig. 3) to which the disk 48a is secured andsince the latter turns with the disk 34, since both aredriven by gear 3|, the tooth 41 ywill not interfere withV latch arm 45 as long as magnet 43a is retained energized, and therefore disk 34 will be the controlling instrumentality in connection with latch arm 38. The disk 48a is used for other control purposes not involved in thepresent Ain vention and the means just described renders it a inoperative. i

3 vit wlll'be seen that shaft 15 contacts at predetermined times. 'When cam contacts CC--4 (Fig. 6) close early in the cycle a circuitis closed from line 42 through contacts CC-4,

through normally closed relay contactspR-b, contacts 54 which are now closed because magnet 4| is deenergized, magnet 4| to the line side 43. By the energization of magnet 4| latch arm 38 will now be rocked to cause the opening of contacts 54, but these contacts will be shunted by a resistance R|15 to keep the magnet 4| energized and keep contacts 54 open, and by means of a pin 55 carried by the latch arm 38 close contacts 56. The platen is now unlocked for rotation and which rotation effected by the energization of coll |36 bya cir uit control means now to be described.

Cam contacts CC-I close `shortly' after cam contacts CC-4 close to close a circuit'described as follows: linev side 42,.can1 contacts CC`4, CC-| CC-f3 which are already closed when cam contacts CC--I close, contacts 56 now closed,

magneticfclutch coil |38, to the line side 43. l'lhe magnetic clutch now being engaged the platen will rotate to the selected line position, the line being selected by means now to be described.

u A dial switch |48 (Fig. 2) is provided with a switch arm |41 settable to contact a selected one of `a series of contact points |48 which are wired as shown in Fig. 6 to the segments |45. An indieating disk'i43 (Fig. 2) has the numerals 1-17 to conform' to the number of printing lines of the ledger card'and by setting the switch arm |41 to the numeral corresponding to the printing line selected the extentoi the necessary rotation ofv the platen will be controlled and determined.

The circuit to energize the clutch coil |36 was previously described and since cam contacts CC--4 and CCI-2 are now closed the circuit extends from line side 42 to the ring |44, brush |43,

brush |42, the latter rotating with the rotation ofthe platen until brush |42 strikes a segment |45 conforming to the setting of` arm |41. In Fig. 6 the arm |41 is shown at the l0 position so that`when" the th segment |45 is engaged by brush |42 the circuit will extend from'arm |41 to relay magnet R--I6 to the other line side 43. Relay magnet R-it will open its relay contacts R--ibso that the magnets 4| will be deener-I gized thus permitting latch arm 38 to be rocked by its spring (Fig. 3) to engage the tooth 35 corresponding to the selected printing line.` Of course, since contacts 56 now open the circuit to y the magnet clutch `coil |36 will be opened, thus stopping the rotation of the platen.

Attention is directed to the `fact that the coil |36 is deenergiaed just prior to the time that thelatch arm 38 strikes the top oi" a tooth 35 preceding the selected tooth and as the drop is not sumcient to open contacts 56 the magnetic clutch remains energized until the recess 31 of latch arm 38 drops to engage the adjacent tooth. The disk 34 then coasts to latchlng position. p

Cam contacts CC--4 and CC--2 remainclosed 'during the printing operation which is effected by the printing bars 22 of the tabulatlng machine thereby printing the information printed under control of the tabulating card on the ledger card or bill. It will be noted that the holding circuit to eect this is from the line side 42,cam contacts (2C-4, cam contacts (2C-2, wire lli, relay contacts n-ita now closed, vrelay magnet Ri-Ii to the line side Il.

After the printing operation at 228 cam contacts CC-I and cam contacts CC-I open the latter breaking the holding circuit for relay R-,it thus causing the closure of the relay contacts B ib, andvopening of relay contacts E c. The closing of relay contacts IIb cause magnets Il to be energized rocking latcharm to unlock the platen, and to close contacts Il.

The closure of these contacts It will when caxnv contacts CC-I again clo after they have opened cause the energlsatlon of the magnetic clutch coil Itland the platen will lnow rotate after' the printing operation.

Brush il! will eventually contact with the last or` home" segment Il! and by a wire III ca'xlimse' the energisation of relay magnet It-II. circuit for relay magnet R-ii is held by the relay contacts R-Ila and cam contacts CC--i and' CC-l until cam contacts CC-I and CC-l break about 357. When relay magnet R-il energizss it causes relay contacts Rf-IIb to open to deenergize magnets Il and cause the' latch arm 8l to be rocked by spring ill to open contacts Il thus deenergizing the magnetic clutchcoil I It. Thelatcharmalrocksiustpriorwthe timethe adjustable tooth comes to home position, and as the disk Il' coasts to home position the recel t1 of the latch arm Il engages the tooth Il. me parts are now at normal position ready for the nextledgercardcr'billmlzvefedtotheplaten.`

The ledger card or bill stacking mechanism is the same in general comtruction as in the aforementioned Patent No. 2,046,001 differing in the driving mechanism therefor. In the patent the stackerisdriven throughaGenevadrivebythe main drive shaft and is operated in a step-by-step fashion, whereas in the present arrangement the stacker drum rotates continually. This is provided for by having the sum of the feeding and electing movements of the platen during each cycle of operation to be the same of the selected printing line of the ledger card orbill. In this manner the stacker drum can rotate continually and obiectionable shocks due to starting its rotation from :est is avoided. thus providing a smoother operating machine than has been possible heretofore.

'I'he stacker drum 2li is secured to ashaft I" and the drum is provided with two setsl of resiliently urged stacker fingers 2l! corresponding to those designated 221 in the Patent No. 2,046,001. These fingers 2l! are adapted to engage a bill Il (see Ali'lg. 5) when the latter has been ejected by the platen 2l.- Rollers 2 as best shown in Fig. 4 lare intergearcd by gears 2",.2 attached in the ahaftl carrying the rollers 2li. 'Ihe shaft carrying the forward rollers III has secured thereto a gear 25| meshing with a gear Ill secured to the platen shaft lil. Thus it is evident that the rotation of the platen Il will cause this simultaneous rotation of rollers Il! to elect a bill beneath one of the sets of ngers 262, as shown in Fig. 5.

, Themeansforoperatingtheflngers lllsoas to press the bill against the stacker drum 2li comprises the same mechanism shown in the Patent No. 2,046,001 and for this reason is not amaca described herein. If so desired, the fingers Il! may be resiliently held against the drum.

` the drum rotates it carries the'bill with it an "eventually the top edge 'of the bill will be brought into contact with lugs lll iFlg; 5) thus shipping the bill from the drum and stacking it in a supply hopper lll.

Attached to the shaft Ill is a gear I" (Fig. 2) meshing with a pinion 20| to which is secured a gear Il! meshing with the aforementioned gear ill. thus communicating in the stacker drum a continuous rotation to successively stack the ejected printed bills in the storage h per 2li.

While there has been shown anddescribed and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification it vwill 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.

' for said platen, means initiated in operation by means in said machine for causing said driving meansl to be effective to rotate said platen. means for determining the extent of rotation of said platen comprising a movable contact means mov-v able with said platen and commutator contacts contacted by said contact means, means for selectively connecting a contact in an electrical circuit, a relay magnet in said circuit and energized when the lselected contact and said contact means closes said circuit, and means controlied by said magnet for rendering the driving means ineffective to rotate said platen.

2. InraV machine of the class described, having printing means, the combination of a platen. a l

driving means "therefor, a magnetic clutch interposed between said platen and saldiv driving means. means to energize said clutch to cause said driving mans to rotate said platen, a commutator comprising a series of contacts and a contact device rotatable with said platen to successively engage said contacts, means to selectively place one of the contacts in a circuit, means in said circuit for deenergizing said magnetic clutch when said contact device contacts with a selected contact to interrupt the rotation of said platen, and means for retaining the deenergi'sation of said magnetic clutch during the printing operation of the aforesaid printing means.

3. In a machine of the class 'described the comf bination with a platen, locking means therefor, v magnetic means for releasing said locking means,

a driving means for said platen, a magnetic clutch for causing said platen to be driven by said driving means, electrical contact closing means for closing a circuit to said magnetic means to release said locking means, circuit closing means operable by said magnetic means for closing a supplemental circuit to energize said magnetic clutch to thereby initiate the rotation of said platen by said driving means, a commutator having a plurality of contacts, means to selectively place one of the contacts in an electrical circuit, a relay magnet in said circuit, means operable with the rotation of said platen to successively engage with said contacts to close the last-named circuit through the selected contact w energize said relay magnet, and means controlled by said relay magnet to deenergize said magnetic clutch to interrupt the rotation o! said platen by said driving means.

4. In a machine of the class described, a platen, a driving means therefor, a notched disk movable with said platen and provided with locking teeth, an arm normally engaging a tooth of said disk, circuit closing means operated by said machine for causing the operation of magnetic means to actuate said arm to release said disk whereby said driving means rotates said platen, a control means for determining the extent of rotation of said platen comprising a contact device rotatable with said platen and said disk and successively contacting with contacts insertible in an electric circuit, means for selectively inserting a contact in said circuit, and means in said circuit for causing said magnetic means to be ineifective to thereby release said arm for engagement with a tooth of said disk to lock said platen against further rotation.

5. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a platen, a driving means therefor, a control means for determining the extent of rotation of said platen comprising a contact making device rotatable with said platen and contacting with a series of contacts, means for selectively placing one of said contacts in an electrical circuit, magnetic means in said circuit for causing the operation of devices for interrupting the rotation of said platen by said driving means, means for automatically causing said driving means to supplementally rotate said platen, and a supplemental contact in said circuit and engageable by said contact making device when said platen has been rotated a supplemental extent for causing said magnetic means to cause the operation of said devices to interrupt the rotation of said platen by said driving means.

6. In a machine of the class described, a platen, a driving means therefor, a clutch interposed between said platen and said driving means, a commutator comprising a contact making device and a series of contacts selectively placed in an electrical circuit, means for selectively placing a contact in said circuit to close said circuit when said contact making device engages therewith by the rotation of said platen, means in said circuit and energized by the closure thereof for disabling said clutch for interrupting the rotation of said platen, means for thereafter automatically causing said clutch to rotate said platen a supplei mental extent and to an extent dependent upon the contact selected, and means comprising a contact of said commutator engageable by said contact making device for closing a circuit to cause the operation of magnetic means for disabling said clutch to interrupt the rotation of said platen after its supplemental extent oi rotation.

7. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a platen, a normally idle driving means for said platen', means initiated in operation by means in said machine for causing said driving means to be eifective to rotate said platen, means for determining the extent of rotation of said platen comprising a movable contact means movable with said platen and contacting commutator segments, means tor selectively placing a segment in an electrical circuit, a relay magnet in said circuit and energized-when the selected segment and said movable contact means closes said circuit, means controlled by said magnet for rendering the driving means ineffective to rotate said platen, means for retaining said relay magnet energized during a printing operation, means for automatically rendering said driving means effective at the completion ot the printing operation to supplementally rotate said platen, and means for subsequently terminating the rotation of said platen comprising a segment in said circuit and contacted by said movable contact during the supplemental rotation o! said platen for energizing said relay magnet to cause the operation o1' the means controlled thereby for rendering the driving means ineffective.

8. In a machine of the class described, a driving means therefor, a rotatable stacker drum for bills and continually rotatedby said driving means, a platen carrying said bills, means for causing said driving means to rotate said platen, means to control the last-named means to determine the extent of rotation of said platen for selecting the printing line, means for thereafter causing said driving means to supplementally rotate said platen to an extent dependent upon the printing line selected, both of said rotations of said platen feeding said bills a constant extent irrespective of the printing line selected to feed the bill to said stackerr drum.

CLAIRD. LAKE.