US2342361A

US2342361A - Statistical card system

Info

Publication number: US2342361A
Application number: US452529A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert A Niclas
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1942-07-27
Filing date: 1942-07-27
Publication date: 1944-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 1961-02-22

Description

Feb. 22, 1944.

-R. A. NICLAS Filed July 27, 1942 .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 L INVENTOR, T 6 29 9A I A T TOPNE K Feb. 22, 1944. c s 2,342,361

STATISTICAL CARD SYSTEM Filed July 27, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FL F k) nnnmnnnn l I I nunnnnnnnunnunnnnnnnnnnlfnnnnunnu 25d i I I uunnnugnunnuggnnngnunnn nllnnnnn INVENTOR,

5O w 7 15 A a W 8 95% ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 22, 19'

UNI ED STATES PATENT OFFICE s'ra'rrs'rrcar. calm s'rsnu Robert a. Niclas, Oakland, Calif. Application July 21. 1942, Serial No. 452,529 '1 claim. (or. 164-112) This invention relates to improvements in statistical card systems, and more particularly to novel means for providing record cards with index slots having predetermined informative signiflcance.

An object of my invention is to provide an improved machine for preparing record cards used in supplying statistical information.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved machine for slotting record cards in accordance with a prearranged index code,

whereby cards slotted in a particular manner will indicate that certain statistical information is contained thereon.

A further object of my invention is to provide an improved statistical card system by which record cards, slotted in a predetermined manner to indicate they have thereon certain statistical information, may be selectively isolated through the use of an implement adapted to be operated in association with their prearranged slots.

(pther and further objects of my invention will be pointed out hereinafter, or will be indicated in the appended claims, or will be obvious to one skilled in the art upon an understanding of the present disclosure. For the purpose of this application I have elected to show herein certain forms and details of a machine for providing statistical cards with index slots which is representative of my invention; it is to be understood. however, that the embodiment of my invention herein shown and described is for the purpose of illustration only, and-that therefore it is not to be regarded as exhaustive of the variations of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a card slotting machine embodying the preferred principles of my invention, showing the casing in section;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22'of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 34 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a statistical card made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a part of an implement used to segregate the statistical cards;

Fig; 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner in which the cards are filed and se r ated; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section of a number or statistical cards assembled in a file. showing the the purpose of lifting certain slotted cards from the file, and showing diagrammatically by the broken lines the position of certain lifted cards after the insertion of the said implement in the file.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l designates a base member upon which a casing 2 hava front opening is supported.

- Arranged in uniformly spaced position inside the casing and held apart by upper and lower spacing members 3, are a plurality of vertical panels I. The arrangement of the panels 4 in spaced relation with respect to each other provides a plurality of vertical openings or slots with in which a plurality of vertical plates or punch carriers 8 are mounted for forward and rearward reciprocating movement. The vertical plates rest on the lower spacing members 3 and are held in substantially vertical positions by the panels 4. The vertical panels 4 and the upper and lower spacing members 3 are secured together by elongated bolts 8 and nuts 1.

In order that the plates 5 may be manually engaged by an operator's hand when it is desired that they be returned to their forward positions after being moved rearwardly, the rear side of' the casin 2 is provided with a longitudinal opening 2:: which substantially coincides with cut out grooves 4a in the rear edges of the panels I. The forward movement of the plates 5 is limited by upper and lower flanges 2' at the front side of the casing,

Secured to the forward edge of each reciprocatory plate I is a tab 8 having a numeral or other designating character thereon. The pressing of any one of the tabs 8 in a rearward direction will cause its associated plate to be similarly moved in the same direction. The vertical panels 4 and the reciprocatory plates 5 are provided at their lower front edges with angular notches 9 and I0 respectively, and the said notches have substantially horizontal slotted extensions 9' and Ill into which a record card A may be inserted when a punching operation is to be carried out. Thgangular notches 9 and III enable an operator to better observe the upper surface of the card when it is being placed into the slots 9' and Ill.

The reciprocatnry plates 5 are provided with segregating implement about to be applied for which is slidably mounted in a vertical groove I 4 are capable of being moved rearwardly and forwardly as a unit. The punch blocks '2 are engaged at their upper ends by a horizontally disposed channel bar II which extends horizontally across the interior. of the casing through the rectangular openings ii in the said plates and through aligned substantially T-shaped openings IS in the vertical panels 4. The channel bar It is secured at its opposite ends to vertical reciprocatory rods I'I which extend upwardly through the upper wall of the casing and are secured to a horizontal member ll. Pivotally secured as at It to the central part of the member I8 is a hand lever 20 which is pivotally attached at its rear end to a protuberance 2i provided on the casing. By pressing the forward end of the hand lever 20 in a downward direction the punches l3 are simultaneously actuated into engagement with a record cardJi if one be then positioned in the slotted extensions 9' and M. The reciprocatory rods [1 are provided with adjustable nuts I I which engage with the channel bar l when the said rods are moved in a downward direction. The nuts H are slightly above the channel bar IE, but their positions may be adjusted relative thereto.

Connected as by brackets 22 to the reciprocatory rods I1 is a, longitudinally disposed rod 23 assassi which carries a laminated structure throughout its length composed of a plurality of contacting circular washers 24. The rod 23 and the laminated structure thereon extends transversely through the downwardly disposed parts of the T-shaped openings in the panels 4 and through horizontal slots l2 in the punch blocks l2. The upward movement of th hand lever 20, after it has been depressed to perform the card punching operation, causes the rod 23 to be actuated in the same direction, thereby moving the punch blocks l2 and their punches l3 upwardly to positions whereby the lower ends of the punches are withdrawn from the rectangular slots previously punched in the record card A. The horizontal slots l2 in the punch blocks l2 enable each of the plates 5, together with their associated blocks and punches, to be moved rearwardly and forwardly.

The lower spacing members 3 are provided beneath the grooves H in the plates 5 with channels 24 (see Fig. 2) through which the punched pieces from the cards A may be discharged.

Mounted on the lower rear bolts 8 and securely clamped against the end panels 4 are two lugs 25 upon each of which is rotatably mounted a cam 26 having a finger piece 21 connected thereto. The cams 28 are of the same shape and are positioned to intercept a record cardinserted into the machine for punching purposes. The cams 26 are each provided with arcuate edges of unequal radii. When the particular arcuate edges of the cams having the shorter radii are positioned to intercept a record card inserted into the slots 9 and ID, the rear edge of the said card will then be positioned so the punches I! are located at a predetermined distance in front thereof, thereby enabling the operator to slot the card at points farther removed from the said rear edge of th card than when the arcuate edges having the longer radii are forwardly disposed. As shown in Fig.7, the upper set of aligned per.

forations B in the record card were punchedwhen the arcuate edges of the cam members 20 having the longer radii were forwardly disposed and in contact with the card, while the lower set of perforations C were punched when the arcuate edges having the shorter radii were positioned to engage the rear edge of the said card. Stop members 23 limit the' rotary movement of the cams in either direction. It is contemplated that the lowerset of perforations be associated with a prearranged code wherein each perforation by its relative position indicates certain information about a particular subject or activity. The upper set of perforations in the cards may also be associated with a code, but preferably they are used in connection with a segregating implement to lift certain segregated cards from the file in which they were located.

Secured on the lower rear bolts 6 are side wings 29 which are separated one from the other by a distance substantially the length of the cards, the said side wings serving asguides for guiding the cards when inserted in the slots 9' and I0 and then holding them in their proper positions for the punching operation.

The cards are first punched at their top edges with horizontally aligned sets of slots, holes or perforations B. Each card is prepared with certain data relating to a particular subject, and in accordance with a prearranged code, a certain tab, or combination of tabs 8 is pushed rearwardly to move their associated punches iii to the rear of the others. The punches so moved to the rear of the other punches will, when the cards position in the slotted extensions 9' and I 0' is reversed, punch slots D at the lower edge of the card, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7, while the other punches not moved rearwardly will punch holes 0. During this latter selective punching operation the cams 26 are positioned so the arcuate surfaces having the shorter radii are in engagement with the rear edge of the card. The marginal slots D in the cards are indicative or certain statistical information or data about a particular subject being on the card. 'The particular location of the marginal slots D with respect to the others will indicate in accordance with the prearranged code what statistical information can be found'on the card. The marginal slots D will serve as an index to those understanding and using the system.

When the statistical cards relating to a business or activity thereof have been prepared in accordance with my invention, they are placed in a filing case 30 (see Figs. 7 and 8) having a longitudinal opening 3| in its front side which is in registry with the lower perforations C of the said cards. The filing case 30 is preferably provided with one or more extenions 30' to which certain segregated cards may be successively transferred. In segregating certain cards from the others, an implement 32 having an inclined or beveled edge is used. The width and thickness of the blade of the implement is such that it may be inserted through the opening 3! in the filing case and into certain of the perforations C or D of the cards. If it, is desired that all of the cards having certain information bearing on a particular subject be segregated from the others, the implement 32 is inserted through the slot 3| and into the particular index opening or aperture .which the operator understands is keyed to the wardly aligned perforations C or some of the cards and hold them downwardly, and at the same time it will enter the slots D 01' the other of the cards which hapuen to have their slots in alignment with the index opening which the implement initially entered. Those cards having slots D whiclithe-implement 32 has entered will be raised upwardly by the beveled edge of the said implement as it is pushed rearwardly, as shown by the broken lines in Fig. '7. While the desired cards are held in a raised position by the implement 32, a second similar implement is inserted through certain of their aligned perforations B, after which the then engaged cards are lifted upwardly by means of the second implement and transferred to the extension file 30' Further segregation of the selected cards may be made in the manner above described.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a machine for the purpose described, a plurality of vertically reciprocatory punches normally positioned in horizontal alignment, the said punches being mounted for independent adjustment in a direction transverse to their normally aligned positi'ons, means for supporting a record card in a position where it may be acted upon by the punches, rotatable adjustable means which in one adjusted position maintains "the record card with one of its edges in a certain relative position with respect to the normally aligned position of the punches and which when in another adjusted position maintains the record card with another of its edges in another relative position with respect to the said normal position of the punches, and means for actuating the punches in a direction whereby they may engage the record card to perforate the same.

2. In a machine for the purpose described, a plurality of spaced reciprocatory punches normally positioned in alignment and mounted for independent adjustment to positions out of alignment with respect to one another, means for supporting a record card in a position whereby it may be engaged by the punches, adjustable means which in one adjusted position maintains the record card in a certain position with respect to the normally aligned position of the punches and which when in another adjusted position maintains the recdrd card with another of its edges in another relative position with respect to the said normal position of the punches, and means for simultaneously actuating the punches in a direction whereby they may engage the record card to perforate the same.

3. In a machine for the purpose described, a plurality oi. spaced punch carriers normally positioned in alignment and mounted for independent adjustment from and to their normal positions, a punch carried by each carrier, and mounted for up and down reciprocatory movement, card holding means associated with the carriers for supporting a record card in a position where it may be engaged by the punches, means for limiting the lateral movement of the card when it is in a position to be engaged by the punches, adjustable means which in one adjusted position engages with an edge 01' a record card and maintains it in a certain position relative to the normally aligned position of the punch carriers and which when in another adjusted position engages with another edge of the card and maintains the same in another relative position with respect to the said normal position of the punch carriers, and means for simultaneously actuating the punches in a direction whereby the record card is engaged thereby to perforate the same. v

4. In a machine for the purpose described, a plurality of vertically arranged spaced punch. carriers normally positioned in alignment and mounted for independent adjustment from and to their normal positions, vertical spacing panels having horizontally aligned card receiving slots, the said panels being interposed between the punch carriers, a punch carried by each carrier and mounted for up and down reciprocatory movement, and common means for simultaneously reciprocating the punches.

5. In a machine for the purpose described, a plurality of vertical punch carriers normally positioned in horizontal alignment and mounted for independent adjustment to the rear of their normally aligned positions, a vertical reciprocatory punch carried by each carrier, the said punches being also normally positioned in horizontal alignment, numbered means on each carrier for adjusting its positgm, means for supporting a record card in a position whereby itnray be engaged by the punches, means for simultaneously actuating the punches into engagement with the record card to perforate the same, and adjustable means which when arranged in a certain position maintains the record card with a particular edge thereof at a certain distance from the punches and which when arranged in a different position, maintains the said card with another of its edges at a greater distance from the said punches.

6. In a machine for the purpose described, a plurality of vertically arranged spaced punch carriers normally positioned in alignment and mounted for independent adjustment from and to their normal positions, each having an opening therein, punch carrying blocks mounted for vertical reciprocating movement in the openings of punch carriers, a punch secured to each punch carrying block, common means engaging with the punch blocks for simultaneously reciprocating them, and vertical spacing panels having horizontally arranged card receiving slots, the said panels being interposed between the punch carriers and the punch carrying blocks.

7. In a machine for the purpose described, a casing having a front opening, a plurality of sub stantially vertical punch carriers mounted in the casing for independent forward and rearward adjustment, a vertically reciprocatory punch carried by each plate, the said punches being normally arranged in horizontal alignment, and a plurality of fixed spacing panels interposed between the carriers, having slots at their front edges for receiving a record card to be punched.

ROBERT A. NICLAS.