US2605102A - Protective device for sorting machines - Google Patents

Description

y 29, 1952 H. P. MIXER PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR SORTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 7, 1948 5 Sheet Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HAROLD RMlXEP BY 0m.

ATTORNEY July 29, 1952 M|XER 2,605,102

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR SORTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 7, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TOR. HAROLD P. MIXER BY L1 L-AtL ATTORNEY Patented July 29, 1 952 rao'rEorrvE DEVICE Fon sonrmo MACHINES q 11mm P; Mixer, Rockville Centre, N. Y., assignor to Remington Rand Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of. Delaware Application'August 7, 1948, Serial N0.'43,137

' .7 Claims. (01. 271-57) This invention relates to statistical machines operated by record cards, and more particularly to a device for stopping machines of the general character or type disclosed in Patent 1,315,370 to W. W. Lasker, dated September 9, 1919, when cards are abnormally fed into said machines.

For illustrative purposes, an embodiment of the present invention is shown as it would be applied to the machine described and illustrated in Patent 1,476,161 to W. W. Lasker, dated December 4, 1923. 1

Heretofore, and as disclosed in Patent 2,071,487 to Zennig et al., dated February 23, 1937, a stopping device has been provided for stopping a sorting machine upon the occurrence of 'a card jam in the transporting rolls, or beyond the analyzing chamber. However, no such provision has been made for stopping the machine when a card is fed aslant, or otherwise abnormally fed, into said analyzing chamber, and for responding efliciently to card jams which invariably result from said abnormal feeding.

Consequently, when a jam occurs a considerable number of cards are mutilated before the machine can be manually stopped; This results in card wastage and time losses, both in replacing said mutilated cards and in the'difficult task of removing them from the analyzing chamber. Also, it is imperative that amach ine operator be ever watchful and ready tostop the machine when such a jam does take place.

Therefore, it is the principal object of this invention to provide a stopping device capable of rendering a card operated business machine more automatic and eflicient. 1

Another object of the present invention is to provide a stopping device adapted to stop a card operated machine immediately upon the sensing of an impending card jam due to the abnormal feeding of a card into the analyzing chamber.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for reducing the amount of vigilance and attendance necessary during the operation of a sorting machine.

Another object of the invention is to produce a device of this nature which is simple in con struction and eflicient in operation.

Other objects and structural details of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a top plan view illustrating the manner in which the present inventionis'secured to the analyzing mechanism of a sortingmachine;

Fig. 2 is a. front elevational view with certain parts removed for the sake of clearness; and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section along the line 3-3ofFig.2. 1

In the machine described in the above mentioned Patent 1,476,161, cards are fed seriatim and parallelly by suitable feeding 'means to an analyzing chamber, in which theyare held while being sensed by a, reciprocating analyzingmechanism, one reciprocation of said analyzing mechanism being suflicient to analyze. the data in a card. As also described in saidpatent,-both the feeding means and the analyzing mechanism are actuated through a chain of driving elements and an electric motor, said motor being controlled by an electric switch. 1 Description herein of said-feedingxmeans and analyzing mechanism will" be brief,- since the present invention is fully applicableqto the machine described in the abovementioned patent. Referring to the drawing, and particularly to Fig. 1, it is seen that the present inventionand the mechanisms withwhich it associates, is housed between left and right handsupportingmembers I0 and II, respectively. ,Also, it is seen that a frame 12, for carrying an analyzing unit, not herein shown, is slidably mounted on posts l3 and I4 and is r'eciprocated, through the action of pitmans l5 and 'I4,;ec,centrically carried on shaft I! (Fig. 2),which shaft ,is mounted for rotation in supporting member s; ,l 0;;andg ll." ;At the left end of the shaft I1 is providedahand wheel with which said shaftrnaybe turned manually; The right end of saidshaft ll' enters a gear box l8 in which it is;-,geared to -,suitable motor driven means, not herein shown. This arrangement is such as to reciprocate vertically the analyzer frame 12: M 3 a As best seen in Fig. 3., arr-analyzing chamber [9 is provided tojreceivecards fed thereinto by the card feeding means. As'previously explained, said feeding means is effective'through driving elements and. motor means not; herein shown.

Through said driving elements an -arm"20 and a link 2| are adapted tooscillate a card picker plate 22 beneath a card .;magazine 23, which magazine isprovided to hold a stacked quantity of cards therein. Adjustably fixed to said plate 22 is a knife edge 24, andfixed in a like manner to said magazine 23 is a throat member 25.

In normal operation, the completion of the aforementioned motor circuit by switch operating means, to be hereinafter described, effects the oscillation of the plate 22. During one oscillation of said plate, the knife edge -24 thereon engages the rear edge of the'lowe'r'most stacked card in the magazine 23,.and feeds it through the throat member '25 to constantly rotating feed rolls 26, which rolls introduce the card to the chamber I9, into which it is fully fed by rolls l0. Repeated oscillations of plate. 22 effect a seriatim feeding of said cards which isin a timed relation with the reciprocations of the analyzer frame l2, while; the side walls of said magazine 23 assure a par'allelrelationbetween said cards as they are fed therefrom."

As shown in Fig. 3, the above mentioned switch break the current.

operates a switch arm 23, mounted on a pivot 36,

said member being adapted to be moved into l The timing between the feeding and analyzing engagement with the switch points by means of When the a manually operated plunger 3|. plunger 3| is depressed, and the switch member 29 is engaged with the switch points, it is heldin this position by means of a trigger lever 32 to which said plunger is connected, which lever is mounted on the pivot 33 and connected to the switch member by a spring 33, said lever '32 'out of engagement with the switch points 2-8.

On the switch arm 29 is a locking pawl #3 adapted to engage a notch 4| in the hand lever 36, and moved'in'to said engagement by a spring 42. This pawl 40 maintains the lever 36 in position to have the latch nose 34 on the lever 32 properly engage the notch 35. As also seen better in Fig. 2, an arm 43 extends from the locking lever 36 and is adapted to cooperate with an outer arm of a lever '44, fulcrumed as at 45 on the supportingmember it). When the inner arm of said lever is moved upward, the outer arm is moved downward, engaging the extending arm 43 of the locking lever 36, which operates'said lever 36 to release the trigger lever 32, and permit its spring}!!! to throw the switch arm 29 out of engagement with the points 28 and thereby With reference toboth Figs. 2 and 3, a lever 46, having a shoulder 41 and an extending arm 3, is pivoted as at '49 to a bracket secured to the supporting member [0. When the machine is operating andsaid l'ever 46 is rotated clockwise from the position shown in Fig. 3, in a mannor to be described hereinafter. the'shoulder 4'1 cooperates with the inner arm of the lever 44, to move it upward, thus effecting a clockwise rotation of lever 36 to release the trigger lever 32 and thereby break the circuit.

Secured to the sides of the analyzer frame l2, as at 5| and 52, is a'yoke-like cross member 53 (Figs. 1, 2, and 3), which member is so configured as not to interfere with the rotation of the feed rolls 26. A horizontal slide 54, attached to the cross member 53, by means of pin and slot connections 55, and resiliently urged to the left in Fig. 2 by a spring 56, is connected by a pin 51, through a' slot 58 in member 53, to a downwardly extending lever 59, pivotally mounted on said member 53 as at 66. Also mounted on the cross member 53 are sensing slides 6| having cam surfaces 62 at their upper ends, said slides being slidable in consequence of pin and slot connections 63, and resiliently urged downward by springs 65. Protruding through slots 66 in the member 53 and carried on the slide 54 are lrolls 61, which rolls are adapted to be cammed to the right by cam surfaces 62 on the slides 6| when relative upward movement occurs between eitheror both of said slides and the member 53 against the tension of springs 65. Through the above arrangement of elements the said relative movement effects the 4 leftward movement of an abutting end 63 on the aforementioned lever 59. j

In normal operation cards are fed seriatim and parallelly to the analyzing chamber ii), in which they are each held and operated on during one reciprocation of the analyzing frame i2.

mechanism is such that in normal operation no the feed rolls 26 and the mouth of the chamber -19 when 'said'frame l2 reciprocates downward V (Figs. 2 and 3).

Therefore, when a card jam occurs or when cards enter the chamber aslant, the cards or corners thereof will be engaged by one or both of the aforementioned slides 6| during the early part of the reciprocation of the frame l2. Thus, the slides 6| are held relatively still while the frame continues downward, causing the rolls 6'! to be cammed to the right and thereby moving the abutting end 68 of the lever 59 to a position over the extending arm '48 of the lever Q5. The slight distance more which the frame I2 travels to the bottom of its reciprocation is sufficient for effectively rotating said lever 46 clockwise to move upward the inner arm of the lever 44.

In this manner the arm 43 of the locking lever 36 is engaged, and said. lever is rotated clockwise to release the latch nose34 of the trigger lever 32 from the notch 35, thereby breaking the motor circuit to stop the machine.

While I have described what I consider to be a highly desirable embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that many changes in form .could be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I, therefore, do not limit myself to the exact form herein shown and described, nor to anything less than the whole of my invention as hereinbefore set forth, and as hereinafter claimed.

For'instance, it shall be obvious that the arrangement of elements can be modifiedand the reciprocation of the analyzing mechanism can still be effectively utilized in detecting abnormally fed cards and in the stopping of the machine. Also, the present invention is obviously applicable to machines in which cards are conveyed to means other than analyzing mechanisms and in which alternative means can be utilized for reciprocating the component elements.

What I claim as new, and desire to's'ecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with means for normally conveying cards seriatim along a common path, of a controlling means for said conveying means, locking means for said controlling means to 'maintain said conveying means effective, normally ineffective reciprocating unlocking means, and resilient slides reciprocating into said common path between normally conveyed cards and adapted for rendering efiective said unlocking means upon the engagement of an abnormally conveyed card to stop said conveying means.

7 2. The combination with means for normally conveying cards seriatim along a common path, of a controlling means forsaid conveying means including an electric circuit and means for looking said circuit closed to maintain said conveying means effective, means adapted to reciprocate perpendicularly to said common path, normally ineffective unlocking means carried on said reciprocating means,f'and resilient means also carried on said reciprocating means for entering said common path between normally conveyed cards and movable relative to said reciprocating means upon the engagement of an abnormally fed card, said unlocking means being rendered effective by said relative movement to open said circuit.

3. In combination, means for normally conveying cards serially and parallelly along a common path, a transverse member reciprocating perpendicularly to said common path, means for controlling the conveying means and the reciprocating transverse member, a locking means for said controlling means and normally maintaining said conveying means and transverse member operative, a lock release, a pair of sensing slides mounted resiliently on said reciprocating transverse member and adapted to pass through said common path between normally conveyed cards and to be arrested by the engagement thereof with an abnormally conveyed card, and a normally ineffective lock release operating member mounted on said transverse member and rendered elfective'by an arrestation of said sensing slides and the reciprocation of said transverse member.

4. In combination, means for normally conveying cards serially and parallelly along a common path, a transverse member reciprocating perpendicularly to said common path, means for controlling the conveying means and the reciprocating transverse member, a locking means for said controlling means and normally maintaining said conveying means and transverse member operative, a lock release, a pair of spaced apart sensing slides mounted independently and resiliently on said transverse member and adapted to pass through said common path between normally conveyed cards and to be arrested by the engagement thereof with an abnormally conveyed card, a cross slide resiliently mounted on said transverse member and associated with said sensing slides, said cross slide being laterally actuated by an arrestation of either or both of said sensing slides, and a normally ineffective lock release operating member mounted on said transverse member and rendered efiective by a lateral actuation of said cross slide and the reciprocation of said transverse member.

5. In a sorting machine, the combination of means normally conveying record cards serially and parallelly along a common path, a card analyzing unit adapted to reciprocate perpendicularly to said common path, means controlling path, means controlling the operation of said the operation of said conveying means and said analyzing unit, a locking means for said controlling means and normally maintaining said conveying means and analyzing unit operative, a lock release, sensing slides reciprocating with said analyzing unit and adapted to pass through said common path between normally conveyed cards and to be arrested upon the engagement thereof with an abnormally conveyed card, and a normally ineffective lock release operating member reciprocating with the analyzing unit and rendered effective by an arrestation of said sensing slides and the reciprocation of said analyzing unit.

6. In a sorting machine, a card chamber, the combination of means normally conveying cards serially and parallelly along a common path to said chamber, a card analyzing unit adapted to reciprocate perpendicularly to said common conveying means and said analyzing unit, a locking means for said controlling means and nor-,

mally maintaining said conveying means and analyzing unit operative, a lock release, a transverse member carried on said analyzing unit, a pair of spaced apart sensing slides resiliently mounted on said transverse member and adapted to pass through said common path just forward of the chamber mouth and between normally conveyed cards and to be arrested independently upon the engagement thereof with an abnormally fed card, a cross slide resiliently mounted on said transverse member and associated with the sensing slides, said cross slide being laterally actuated by an arrestation of either or both of said sensing slides, and a lock release operating member mounted on said transverse member and normally ineffectively positioned for operating said lock release, said operating member being effectively positioned by a lateral actuation of said cross slide.

7. In a sorting machine, the combination of, a card chamber, means normally conveying record cards serially and parallelly along a common path to said chamber, an analyzing unit adapted to reciprocate perpendicularly to said common path and operate on said cards in said chamber, means controlling the operation of said conveying means and said analyzing unit, a locking means for said controlling means and settable for maintaining a continuous operation of said conveying means and analyzing unit, a locking means release, a transverse yoke mounted on said analyzing unit above the chamber mouth, a pair of substantially vertical spaced apart sensing slides having camming portions formed thereon and being resiliently mounted on said transverse yoke, said sensing slides being adapted to pass the lower extremes thereof through said common path between normally conveyed cards during a downward movement of said analyzing unit and to be arrested independently during an early part of said movement upon an engagement with an abnormally fed card or portions thereof, a horizontal cross slide resiliently mounted on said yoke and operatively associated with the camming portions on said sensing slides, said cross slide being laterally actuated by an arrestation of either or both of said sensing slides, a substantially vertical lever pivotally mounted intermediate the ends on the said yoke and having the upper end thereof associated with said cross slide, the other end of said lever being an abutment normally ineifectively positioned for operating said locking means for release during a downward movement of the analyzing unit and effectively positioned by a lateral actuation of said cross slide.

HAROLD P. MIXER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,991,729 Brougham Feb. 19, 1935 2,151,177 Aluine Mar. 21, 1939 2,154,022 Backhouse Apr. 11, 1939 2,325,774 Hohl Aug. 3, 1943

Images