US2244242A

US2244242A - Printing machine

Info

Publication number: US2244242A
Application number: US204525A
Authority: US
Inventors: Buhler Eugen
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1938-04-27
Filing date: 1938-04-27
Publication date: 1941-06-03
Anticipated expiration: 1958-06-03

Description

5 Sheets-Sheet l June 3, 1941. E. BUHLER PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 27, 1958 A'ToRNEY June 3, 1941. E. BUHLER PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 2'7, 1958 5 Sheets-SheetI 2 INVENTOR ATTORN EY June 3, 1941. E. BUHLER 2,244,242

l PRINTING MACHINE Filed April 27, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 3.

FlG. 4. 96

JOHN 00E o H r: 5 F'\.35

JOHN

' VATTQRNEY E. BUHLER 2,244,242

June 3, 1941.

PRINTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 27, 1958 IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY I.l'une 3, 1941. E. BUHLER PRINTING MACHINE 5 sheets-sheet 5 l Filed April 27, 1938 FIG. e.

B/IVENTO'R Patented June 3, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE y rit-mmc MACHINE Eugen Buhler, Binghamton, N. Y., mmm u rn- .ternational Business Machines Corporation,

New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April a7, risas, serial No. 204,525

s claims. y(ci. .m1-veus)l This invention relates to a printing machine and more particularly to a printing machine controlled by perforated cards of the well known Hollerith type. l

One oi' the objects of the present invention is to provide a machine for printing data on a card to interpret a plurality of perforations appearin the path of the movement ofsaid card and in which a deflecting device deiiects the card over the stopping device to cause it to resume its feed from printing position.

A still further -object of the invention is to' provide a printing machine for printing data on a card controlled by perforations therein and in which provision is made to selectively control the position on the card at which said data may be printed.

Further objects of the instant invention reside in the novel feature of construction or operation or novel combination of parts present in the embodiment of the invention described and shown in the accompanying drawings Whether within or without the scope of the appended claims and irrespective of other specific statements as to the scope of the invention contained herein.

Y In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows an elevation of the mechanism.

Fig. 2 shows a detailed view4 of the storage mechanism.

Fig. 3 shows a detailed view of the deector mechanism and ejector mechanism.

Fig. 4 shows a section of a card illustrating the different positions on the card in which printing may be eiected.

Fig. 5 shows a diagrammatic illustration oi the Y gear trains and driving mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on lines 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 shows the coding for the diierent type characters.

Fig. 8 is a wiring diagram of the machine.

In order to clearly understand the timing of the different elements of the machine, the driving mechanism/and its associated gear trains as shown in Fig. 5 will rst be explained. The shaft Ilis the drive shaft which may be driven directly from a prime mover by any suitable method. The general practice ln accounting machines of this type is a belt pulley connection to an electric motor. To the drive shaft are iixed gears II, I2, and I3. Gear I3 meshes with gears I4 and I5 and through gear I4 drives gears I6, I1, I8,- I9, and 20 which are connected in train. The gear II meshes with gear 2| with a 4 to 1 reduction so that the gear 2I makes one revolution for four revolutions of the drive shaft I Il. The ratio of gearing to the feeding mechanism and machine cycle operation is such that gear 2I makes one revolution per machine cycle. Fixed to gear 2I is a gear 22 which meshes with a gear 23 which in turn drives

gears

24, 25, and 26. The gears I6, I9, 20 and 26 carry feed rollers on their respective shafts and the gear 25 carries a contact roll 2'I (Fig. 8). The feed rollers Aon the shafts of the gears I6, I8 and 20 rotate at a higher speed than those on the

shafts

25, 24, and 26 so that they move away from printing position more rapidlythan they approach it.

Gear 2| drives gears29 and 29 in` train. The shaft 30 represents one end of a split shaft and '30a the other endl both shafts being in axial alinement. The

gears

29 and 3| are fixed to the shaft a. Gear 3l meshes with gear 32 with a 2 to 1 reduction so that gear 32 makes one-half a revolution per machine cycle. Gear 32 is fixed to a counter shaft 33 to which is also xed a gear 34 meshing with gear 35 with a 1 to 1 ratio, and gear 35 is xed to the shaft 30. It will be seen therefore that one of the split shafts makes one revolution per machine cycle and the other makes one-half revolution per machine cycle. These shafts are cam shafts on which various cams for operating contacts are mounted and will hereinafter be designated as the one cycle cam shaft and the half cycle cam shaft. The gear4 trains above described are located on the right hand side of the machine as one faces the card magazine or picker mechanism to be described later.

The gear 2i is fixed to a shaft 36 which extends across to the left hand side of the machine and is journaled in the supporting frames. A gear 3l is xed to the left end of said shaft and meshes with a gear 38 which in turn drives

gears

39 and 40. The gear ratio is such that

gears

39 and 40 make one-half revolution per machine cycle. Gear 39 is iixed to its Supporting shaft as is also a cam 4I. Gear 4Il is fixed to its supporting shaft as is also a box cam 42.

Turning now to Fig. 1, a hopper 4l is provided in which a stack of cards 44 may be placed. 'Ihese cards are perforated record cards such as is welLknown and widely used in the Hollerith type of accounting and sorting machines. The cards are fed one by one from the bottom of a stack by means of a picker 45 which is oscillated back and forth once per machine cycle. The cards are fed between feed: rollers 46, through the card guide 41, between the contact roll 48 and sensing brushes 49, between the printing hammer 50 and the type wheel 5i and against a gate 52 (Figs. 1 and 3) which projects slightly into the card guide 54. Feeding and conveying mechanism of this type is old and well known in the art and is fully disclosed in the United States patent to E. A. Ford, No. 1,684,389, dated September 18, 1928. The picker 45 is oscillated back and forth once each cycle by means of an arm 56 fixed to a shaft 51 which is journaled for rotation in the frame structure of the machine. An arm l is fixed to another end of the shaft and pivotally connected to a connecting rod 59 the opposite end of which is pivotally connected by a stud to the Vgear 29 which makes one revolution per cycle as previously explained. It will be seen therefore that the rotation of the gear 29 transmitted through the foregoing linkage will cause the picker 45 to oscillate once each machine cycle.

The type wheel 5I is the .same as that shown in my United States Patent No. 2,036,016, dated March 31, 1936, with the exception that there are a few more characters added as will be seen from the code designation shown in Fig. '1.

In this figure the first two columns represent the index points that must be perforated to effect printing of the corresponding character appearing in the third or left hand column.

The conveying rollers feed the cards frictionally, one of said rollers being journaled in a fixed bearing and the other cooperating roller being on the end of a spring-pressed bell crank as indicated by the reference character 60 in Fig. 1, so that when a card is halted against the gate 52 the feed rollers continue to rotate frictionally against the face of the card. The location of the feed rollers with respect to the cards is the same as shown in United States Patent 1,684,389 previously mentioned in which the rollers bear on the end extremities of the cards, whereas the gate 52 projects into the path of the card at a central point between the rollers.

The gate 52 is fixed to an angular support 6| (Fig. 3) which is mounted to a supporting bracket 62 slidably mounted on the side support of the machine. The bracket 62 has mounted thereon a magnet supporting structure 63 to which is mounted a magnet 64. The magnet 64 has -a hollow core with a solenoid plunger extending therein and pivotally fastened at one end to a pin 65 in one arm of a bell crank 66 which is pivotally mounted to the bracket 62 at 61. The other arm of the bell crank terminates in a ball-shaped structure 66 which engages an aperture in a bail 69 which is iocated adjacent and parallel to the gate 52 and is slidable up and down so that the top edge of the bail when in its raised position will project slightly above the upper edge of the gate 52, and will be below the upper edge 52 when in its lowered position as shown in Fig. 3. At a spring normally biases the bell crank 66 in a clockwise direction, therefore normally holding the bail 69 at its loweredposition. When the magnet I4 is energized. its solenoid plunger is pulled tothe lei't as viewed in Fig. 3 turning the bell crank 46 to raise the bail Il.

Fixed to the side frame of the machine ls strip 1I having a number of locating holes thereon which may be engaged by a bolt 12 (Fig. 1) slidably mounted in the supporting structure 63. A manual 13 is flxed to the bolt to slide it in. and out of engagement with the locating holes 1I.

Three of these locating holes 11a, 1lb, and 1lc are shown in Fig. 1, the bolt 12 is engaged with another one, and two others spaced the same distance apart, as 1Ia and 1lb, are hidden from view behind the manual 13. The purpose of this movable gate assembly is to locate the vcard relative to the type and printing hammer to properly locate the printing on the card. In Fig. 4 the various positions for printing on the card are shown. As the lower edge of the card is the leading edge while passing through the machine, it may be readily understood that the top line registers over the printing hammer 59 when the gate is positioned with the bolt 12 engaging the extreme left hand hole 11a as viewed in Fig. 1. It will be noted that the printing is located between the index point locations, only one column of which is shown in Fig. 4. The horizontal rows of index points run parallel to the long edges of the cards. In this way. perforations throughout the card will not obliterate the printing. Such a type of card is shown in the patent to C. D. 'Lake, No. 1,772,492, dated August 12, 1930.

The cards are fed along the guideway 41 and it will bc seen in Fig. 3 that the lower guide of the guideway is provided with a camber 15. The purpose of this camber is to deiiect the following edge of the card upwardly when the leading edge is against the gate 52, and the motion of the card is halted for receiving the printed record. It will be understood that the card feeding mechanism is not interrupted at this time so that the following card continues to approach the now arrested card. By deflecting the following edge of the arrested card upwardly, the leading edge of the following card will slide underneath the arrested card.

.As previously stated, the card is fed along the guideways until the leading edgev strikes the gate 52 at which time its feeding movement is arrested to place the card in proper printing position; printing is then effected in a manner to be described later, after which the magnet 64 becomes energized, causing the ball 69 to be raised, thus lifting the leading edge of the card over'the top of the gate.

The card continues to be fed and is soon gripped by the rollers driven by the gear I6 which rapidly takes the card away to clear the path for the following card to be positioned for printing. The cards are fed out of the machine and dropped into the pocket 16.

When the gate 52 and its associated assembly is moved so that the bolt 12 engages either the hole 1| b or 1Ic, the following edge of the card will have cleared the camber 16 so that it will not be held turned upwardly when .the card is halted by the gate. The leading edge of the following card, however, would be passing over the camber and so have a tendency to ride along the top of the guideway and so pass on top of the foregoing card. To direct this leading edge under the following edge of the foregoing card a bail 6D is provided fixed to an arm 8| which in turn is fixed to a. rotatably mounted shaft-82. Also xed to the shaft 82 is a bell crank 83 which is biased in a counterclockwise direction by a spring 84 and which is held against the end of an armature 85 pivoted at 86 and biased in a clockwise direction by a spring 81. The other arm of the bell crank carries a cam roller 88 which cooperates with a cam 89. A magnet 90 is associated with the armature 85 so that when energized the armature 85 is swung to the right (Fig. 3) removing the end of the amature from the path of the arm of the bell crank. A latch member plvotally mounted at 9| has one end 92 engaged with the armature and another end 93 disposed under the bell crank arm. When the armature moves to the right the latch member is rotated clockwise so that the end 93 kicks the bell crank 83 counterclockwise. This operation depresses the bail 80 to press the leading edge of the card, under it at the time, downwardly to pass under the following edge of the preceding card. This operation only occurs when the gate assembly is located with the bolt engaging holes 1lb and '||c at which positions a contact fixed to the slidable assembly engages a contact fixed to the machine to throw the magnet 90 into circuit with cam operated contacts driven in cycle with the machine to cause the operation of the bail 80 downwardly when the leading edge of a card is being fed under it. This operation will be explained later in connection with the circuits. When the bell crank 83 has been released by the armature to rock counterclockwise the roller 88 engages the cam 89 which restores it prior to the leading edge of the next card being fed under the bail 80. The cam 89 has a high point 94 which rocks the bell crank 83 clockwise. The end of the arm, when so rocked, strikes the end 93 of the latch member rocking it counterclockwise and positively kicking the armature 85 to the left (Fig. 3) and into the path of the arm of the restored bell crank 83 to hold it there until the next time the magnet 90 is energized. 'Ihe magnet 90 is only momentarily energized and is deenergized when this restoring action is effected.

When the slidable gate assembly is positioned with its bolt engaging the last hole Ila the card is located to receive a printed record at the top edge of the card as shown at 95 (Fig. 4). 'I'his edge, when arrested, is so far in advance of the following card that it is released and fed out of the way before the following card can interfere with it.

Printing mechanism The type wheel 5| is provided with xed type around its periphery and is fixed to the shaft 55. A gear TI (Fig. 5) also fixed to said shaft is driven bythe gear I2 on the drive shaft l0. The ratio of the gearing is such that the type characters pass the printing hammer 50 in synchronism with the passing of the teeth on ratchet wheel 'I8 past a xed point. The ratchet wheel 18 is fixed to the shaft |0. A casing '|9 surrounds the type wheel with an opening at the bottom adjacent means and in a manner to be explained later. The member- 96 has an extension 98 which is connected by means of a spring 99 to the printing hammer 50 pivotally mounted at |00, thus biasing member 96 clockwise and member 50 counterclockwise. upper end and provided with two arms |0| and |02. The arm |0| is provided with a shoulder on which a projection |03 integral with the hammerI 50 normally rests. The arm |02 is provided with a cammingv surface which cooperates with a camming surface on the arm |02. The printing hammer 50 has a projection |04 adjacent to the ratchet wheel 18 and adapted to be moved into .the path of the teeth of said ratchet wheel. When the member 96 is kicked in a counterclock.. wise direction, the shoulder in arm |0| is removed from under the projection |04 and the spring 99 pulls the hammer counterclockwise which moves the projection into the path f the teeth of the rapidly rotating ratchet wheel '|8. The teeth strike the projection |04 ring the hammer 50 against the type wheel. As the hammer 50 is projected clockwise, the camming surface on the projection |03 strikes the camming surface on .the arm |02 to move the member 96 clockwise to restore it so that upon the rebound of the hammer 50 the projection will rest on the shoulder of the arm |0|.

The movement of the member 96 in a counterclockwise direction to cause the printing operation just described is effected in the following manner: a lever |06 pivotally mounted at |01 is provided with a pawl |08 pivotally mounted on one end and biased in a counterclockwise direction by a spring |08 (Fig. 1). The pawl is provided with two projections having a V-shaped relation to each other and the lower end of the lever 96 terminates within the notch formed by the .two projections. One of the projections eX- tends towards and resides in the plane of a circular rack |09 which is slidably mounted on a wheel ||0 fixed to a shaft which in turn has a gear xed thereto which meshes with the gear 2| and is driven thereby. When the lever |06 is caused to rock clockwise one of the projections on the pawl |08 is engaged by one of the teeth ||2 ofthe rack which causes the pawl |08 to be rocked clockwise. This action of the pawl causes the other projection to strike the lower end of the member 96 to move it counterclockwise.

The operation of the zoning mechanism for selecting the time that printing is effected, which includes the rack |09 and associated parts, will be described later.

Storing mechanism As it takes two card cycles of the machine from the time that the cards are read by the brushes 49 to the time the card is positioned for receiving a printed record of the data read, it is necessary to provide a means for storing the readings made by the brushes until the card has reached printing position at which time these readings may be utilized to control a printing operation. Such storage mechanism is shown in Fig. 2 in which two cams 4| and 42 make one revolution for every two card cycles as previously explained. The box cam 42 has associated therewith a cam follower ||3 which is connected by means of a connecting rod ||4 to a crank ||5 fixed to a shaft ||6 which extends across the mechanism and is journaled in the side supporting plates of the storage mechanism. A gear ||8 is fixed to said shaft and meshes with two gears ||9 and |20 which are The member 96 is bifurcated at its f fixed to the shafts |2| and |22 respectively which are likewise journaled in the side supporting plates ||1. A series of collars are keyed to the shafts |2| and |22 on which are frictionally mounted ratchet disks |23 and |24, The sectional view in Fig. 6 clearly shows this construction in which the collars |25 are fixed to the shai't |22 by the key |25 and the disk |24 is frictionally held against the collar by a spring |21. The disks |23 and|24 are provided with twelve ratchet teeth corresponding to the twelve index point positions in a card column (Fig. 4). Projections |28 and |29 integral with the ratchet disks cooperates with limit stops v| and |3| respectively to limit their distance of rotation in one direction. Outwardly turned lips |32 and |33 extend from the periphery of the disks |23 and |24 (Figs. 2 and 6). Springontacts |34 and |35 are mounted on a bracket |36 and are located in the plane of the orbit of rotation of lips |32 and |33 respectively. One blade of the contacts is provided with a piece of insulation which rests on the lip of the ratchet disk when lsaid disk is in its home position as shown by the ratchet wheel |23, lip |32 and contact |34 (Fig. 2) in which these parts are shown in their home position. The contacts |34 and are held in closed position when their respective cooperating disks are in their home position. Associated with the ratchet disks |23 are pawls |31 and |38 which are adapted to engage the teeth in the ratchet disks to halt their rotation against the friction drive.

The action of the box cam 42 as it rotates is to oscillate the gear ||8 back and forth, thus oscillating the ratchet disks back and forth turning them in one direction during one card cycle and in the reverse direction during the succeeding card cycle. It can be readily seen from the drawing (Fig 2) that the pawl |31 is adapted to engage the teeth of disk |23 to stop it only when it rotates in counterclockwise direction and the pawl |38 is adapted to engage the teeth in disk |24 only when said disk rotates clockwise. 'Ihus one disk may be stopped during one card cycle and the other disk during the succeeding cycle.

The number of teeth on the ratchet disks |23 and |24 correspond to the number of index point positions in a column of the card (Fig. i) and as the index point positions pass under the brush 49 the teeth pass in synchronism with the passage of these index point positions by the ends of the pawls |31 and |38 so that when the brush 49 encounters a perforation in the card at some index point position it creates a circuit through the magnet |54 to cause the pawl |31 or |38 as the case may be to engage that particular tooth in the disk corresponding to that index point position.

Zoning mechanism The combinational perforations for the cards preferred is shown in Fig. '1. The one to nine positions represent the corresponding point positions and are therefore represented by a single hole in their respective positions. The characters and are taken care of by special plugging in the machine and printing of these characters is effected only if the machine is set up for it when the machine is using numerical characters requiring no zoning. The selector for controlling the printing operation comprises the circular rack |09 (Fig. 1) previously referred to, its carrier i0 and associated parts for moving the ratchet relative to the carrier. As the circular rack is rotated past the end of the projection y on the pawl |08 the type wheel 5| is also being rotated and their relative speeds of rotation are such that four type characters on the printing wheel pass through printing position during the time that the selector wheel moves a distance between two teeth ||2 relative to the projection on pawl |08. It is obvious then that the relative time at which this projection hits the tooth ||2 determines which one of the four type characters is going to be in printing position to record on the record receiving medium. For this reason the circular rack` |09 is movable relative to the wheel H0 and this movement is accomplished by momentarily arresting the rotation oi.' the rack |09 while the wheel I0 continues to rotate. The rack |09 is arrested by the engagement of a stud bar |10 integral with the rack by a stepped arm |1| which is moved into the orbit of rotation of the stud bar |10 at the proper time. The amount of displacement of the rack |09 is dependent on which one of the three notches is engaged, which connected toa bail |15 which oscillates back and forth in synchronism with th'e feeding of the cards so that the three notches |14 pass the projection of a pawl |18 adjacent thereto syn' chronously with the passage of the index point positions 0, "11 and "12 of the card under the sensing brush 49. The arm |1I-|12 is moving in a counterclockwise direction at this time. A general description of this structure is being given at this time as a more detailed description as well as more detailed drawings are already disclosed in my United States Patent No. 2,036,- 016, dated March 31, 1936, in Fig. 3 oi' which the teeth ||2 of the circular rack |09 in this application correspond to notches 98 of the rack 86 in the above mentioned patent, and those members referred to by reference numerals |10, 1|, |12, |13, |14, |15, |16, |11 in this application correspond respectively to the members-referred to in Fig. 3 of my above mentioned patents by

reference numerals

95, 94, 81, 85, 93, 84, 92, and |I.

The engagement of a notch 14 by the pawl |16 is determined by a perforation appearing in either the 0, 1 1 or 12 index point positions of the card. If such a perforation does exist, a circuit is completed through a magnet |18- when the perforation passes under the brush 49 energizing said magnet to attract its armature |19 to .withdraw the latch member |80 from engagement l with pawl |16 so that it engages the notch |14 corresponding to the index point position perforated and thus arrest the movement of the arm |1| in a position so that the corresponding step on said arm will engage the stud |10 to shift the position of rack |09 relative to the wheel H0. I'he shifted position of the rack is maintained by a pawl |11 mounted on the wheel ||0 which engages notches in the rack ||2. The pawl `|11 is restored by the bail I8I operated by the cam follower |82 cooperating with a cam on the shaft ||I. This bail corresponds to the bail |00 in the above mentioned patent and the bail |83 for restoring the pawl |16 corresponds to the bail |05 in said patent.

As previously mentioned, printing is effected by dropping the lower projection oi' the pawl |08 into the orbit of rotation of the teeth II2 to turn the pawl clockwise and so eiect the member 96. The control for dropping this pawl |08 is the magnet |84 which is connected by means of a link |85 connected from its associated armature |86 to a latching member |81. This latching member is provided with a shoulder |88 which holds the pawl carrier |06 so that the pawl |08 is clear of the rack |09. When the magnet |84 is energized it attracts its armature |86 and by means of the link 85 moves the latch member |81 counterclockwise about its pivot |89 to release the pawl carrier |06 which rotates clockwise under the biasing action of the spring |90 and so places the pawl |08 into the path of rotation of the teeth ||2 to eect a printing operation. The latching member |81 is biased in a clockwise direction .by a spring 9| A bail |92 restores the pawl carrier |06 to its latched position after printing is eiected. This bail corresponds to the bail |3| (Fig. 2) of my previously mentioned patent which acts upon the pawl 'D carrier I|2 corresponding with pawl carrier |06 just described.

The contact |93 shown in Fig. lis a card lever contact operated by a lever extending into the path of the cards which is kept closed as long as cards are being fed. This is 01d in the art and requires no further illustration. Such contact and'lever, for example, is shown in the United States patent to lil. A. Ford, No. 1,684,389, previously referred toend is designated therein by reference numerals |56 and |51 in Figs. 4 and 11 of that patent. v

'I'he zero suppression mechanism generally shown at |95 (Fig. 1) is old and plays' no part in the present invention 'and it is therefore believed no description is necessary. An identical mechanism is shown in my United States Patent No. 2,030,427 in Fig. 7 of that patent.

Operation Turning now to the wiring diagram in Fig. 8, the manner in which the structure just described cooperates through the medium of the circuits in the machine will be explained. A switch |95 when closed connects a suitable source of powcr to the machine. To start the machine lin operation, the start key-is pressed, closing contacts |98 which starts the motor M operating through a circuit starting from one side of the supply line |91, through contacts |96, relay coil |98. motor M and back to the other side of the supply line |99. If record cards are in the magazine, they will start to feed through the machine and in the rst part of the machine cycle, the leading card will cam the card lever contact |93 closed and said contact will beheld closed as long as cards continue to be fed through the machine. When the, card lever contact |93 closes, a circuit is established through the card lever relay magnet 20|) as follows: from one side oi' the supply line |91, through wire 20|, 202, 203, 204, card lever contact |93, card lever relay coil 200, resistance R,

wires

205, 206, 201, 208, 209, to the other side of the supply line |99. The energization of card lever relay magnet 200 causes card lever relay contacts 2|0 and 2|| to close. Motor relay contacts 2| 2 the `magnet |98 when the start key contacts are closed so that the closure of relay contacts 2|| will establish a holding circuit through relay magnet |98 and keep the motor M running as long as cards continue to be fed and after the start key contact |96 is opened. This holding circuit is from one side of the supply line |91, through wire 20|, stop contacts 2|3 (normally closed), relay contacts 2|| and 2|2 (now closed), magnetA |98, motor M, to the other side oi' the supply line |99. When the card magazine is emptied and no further c ards are fed, card lever contact |93 will open, deenergizing relay 200 and therefore opening contact 2|| which will break the holding circuit to stop the motor. If it is desired to stop the machine while cards are still feeding, the stop key may be depressed to open contacts 2|3 which will likewise break the holding circuit. A v

The card lever, diagrammatically indicated at 220 (Fig. 8) is of suflicient length to bridge from the following. edgeof the leading card to the leading edge of the following card so that it does not open at the space between cards. When the last card leaves the card lever contacts |93 will open but that would normally stop the machine before the last card has passed the sensing brushes 49. To avoid this a cam contact 22| is are closed by provided which is operated by a cam 222 geared to the driving mechanism and so timed as to close the contact 22| just prior to the following edge of each card leaving the card lever and opening afterthe card has fed far enough to clear the sensing brushes.' Contacts 22| bridge extended to the brush 2|4 which wipes on the contact roll 21. 'I'he cards are fed between the contact roll 21 and the brush 49. A plug wire 2|5 is connected between plug sockets 2li and 2|1 to further extend the circuit through the sensing magnets |54 and through the cam contacts 2|9 to the other side of the power supply line. The cam contacts 2|9 act as circuit'breakers to break the circuit from the brushes and it is operated by a cam 2|! which causes the contacts to open and close at each index point position of the card as it passes under the brush 49 and holds the contact 2|9 open during 'the gap between the cards when the brush 49 would be resting directly on the contact roll. Let it be assumed for the purpose of explanation that the card beingV fed has one column perforated to represent the letter S. While the description throughout is confined to a single type wheel, it will be understood that a plurality of type wheels are mounted side by side on the shaft |55 and thatthe same mechanism as described cooperates with each type wheel. 'Ihere may be as many type wheels and associated controlling and printing mechanisms as there are columns in the card and they all operate in the same manner as described herewith for a single type wheel unit. For the letter S there would appear in the selected column a perforation at the 3 index point position and another perforation at the "12 index point position. AAs this column passes under the brush 49 the teeth of the disk |23 (Fig, 2) will be passing the end of pawl |31 in synchronism with the index point positions of the card as they pass the brush. u As the bottom edge of the card (Fig. 4) leads, the seventh index point position will be the 3 index point. Therefore, when the brush encounters a perforation at this point it will make a contact with the roll 21 closing a circuit through the sensing magnet |54 which will allow the pawl |31 to engage the seventh tooth on the disk |23 (Fig. 2). When the disk |23 starts to move counterclockwise the contact |34 opens. Obviously, it will take as much time in the following cycle for the disk |23 toreturn from its arrested position to close contact |34 as it has taken from the time it opened said contact to arrive at its arrested position. This should be kept in mind for the latercxplanation of the final printing operation. The circuit which is closed through the magnet |54 is as follows: from one side of the supply line |91, through wires 29|, 292, 293, 294, contacts 2|9, brush 2|4, contact roll 21,

brush 49, plug socket 2|6, plug wire 2|5, plug v When the pawl |31 drops into the tooth it closes contacts |45 to connect the zoning magnet |13 in circuit. Cam contact 223 is controlled by the cam 223 and only closes as the 0, 11" and 12 index point positions pass the brush 49 so that the magnet |19 is energized when the perforation at the l2 index point position passes the brush 49 (according to the example set forth) to select the last-notch |14 (Fig. 1) corresponding to said perforation. With the passage of the last index holes "12 past the reading brush 49 the reading of the card is completed and reading is stored in the ratchet disk |23 (Fig. 2) and the circular rack |99 is displaced relative to wheel ||9 and held by the' pawl I 11 (Fig.,1). During the next cycle the readings of the following card are being set up on the ratchet disk |24 and contacts |49 are connected in circuit with magnet |19 in the same manner as just described. During this second cycle, however, the ratchet disk |23 reverses its direction of rotation and returns in timed relation to the rotation of the type wheel 5| and the circular rack |2 so that when it returns to its home position to close the contacts |34 the proper tooth |I2 in the circular rack |99 will be in a position to act upon the pawl |99 (Fig. 1). When the contacts |34 close, a circuit is set up to the printing magnet |94 as follows: from one side of the supply line |91, through wires 29|, 292, 293, cam contact 224, contacts |34, plug wire 225, printing magnet |94, circuit breaker 226, wires 298 and 299 to the other side of the power supply. The energization of printing magnet |94 releases the pawl carrier |99 and printing is effected as previously explained. The

cam contacts

224 and 221 are alternately opened and closed during alternate machine cycles to conneet the contacts |34 in circuit during one cycle and the contacts |35 during alternate cycles.

It is sometimes desirable to use the characters or In such cases, however, a definite column in the card is allocated to this use and it willv therefore always print in the same relative position on the card. This is accomplished by plugging up the brush coinciding with that card column directly to zoning magnet. As, for example, the brush 49' may be connected up by a plug wire 239 directly to the zoning magnet |19'. The brush 49' would be the brush corresponding -to the column on the card that designated these characters. As there would be a perforation in only one of the three positions 0; 11, or 12, and as the circuit breaker 222 only closed at those positions the `zoning magnet |18' would be energized directly from the sensing brushes.

The magnet 99 which controls the ejection of the card over the gate 52 is in circuit with a cam operated contact 23| which is controlled by the cam 232 to close ,the contact after each printing operation to eject the card.

As previously stated, the bracket 62 (Fig. l) carrying the card gate and ejection assembly is slidable along the machine vand is located by the engagement of the bolt 92 with holes lla, 1lb, 1|c, etc., and as also previously stated a suitable sliding contact having one member fixed to the frame and one to the bracket 62 is provided so that a contact is made between the contact members only when the frame 62 is located by the holes 1lb and 1|c for the purpose of actuating the deector 89 (Fig. 3) for the reasons previously set forth. Such a sliding contact is diagrammatically shown at 233 (Fig.

8) and it is connected in series with a cam operated contact 234 which is controlled by the cam 235 to close said contact to energize magnet 90 to operate the deflector 8U just after the leading edge of the card passes said deflector,y

While I have shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification 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. I intend to be limitedl therefore by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a card controlled printing machine, a

plurality of type elements, a single sensing station, means for feeding cards past said sensing station, means for continuously moving said type elements, a printing hammer, means for im-y pelling said printing hammer against said elements to eiect printing thereby, storing means controlled by said sensing station for storing data read from said card when passing said station,

'means controlled by said storing means to render said impelling means operative and means in .having data indications thereon, a plurality of type elements, means for continuously moving said type elements, a single sensing station for reading the data indications on said cards, means for feeding said cards to said station, a printing 3. A printing machine controlled by `record cards -having data representations perforated therein, including a single sensing station for reading said representations, means for feeding a plurality of record cards successively past said sensing station, a plurality of continuously moving type elements, means operable by said feeding means for moving said record cards from said sensing station to a position adjacent said type elements, a printing hammer, means to impel said printing hammer against one of said type elements to effect printing thereby, storing means contro11ed`by said sensing station for receiving and storing data as read thereby from the data representations on said record cards,`and means controlled by said storing means to control the operation of Vsaid impelling means to effect a printing operation on said record cards Whe positioned adjacent said type elements.

4. The invention as set forth in clainr 3 in be effected at selected locations on the record` card.

5. A printing machine controlled by record cardsA having data representations perforated thereon, including a sensing station for -reading said representations; means for feeding a plurality of record cards successively past said stas tion, a plurality of continuously moving type elehannner, means to impel said hammer against one of said type elements to eiect printing threby, storing means for receiving and stor'- ing the data read by said sensing station from the data indications, and means controlled by said storing means -to control the operation of said impelling means to effect'printing of the data. stored therein while said elements are in motion.

ments, means operable byl said feeding means for moving said record cards from said sensing controlled by lsaid storing means to control'the operation of said impelling means to effect printing of the data retained in said storing means on said card While said storing mechanism is receiving and retaining data-read by the sensing station from the next succeeding card.

EUGEN. BUHLER.