US2829831A

US2829831A - Record analyzer for accounting machines

Info

Publication number: US2829831A
Application number: US475519A
Authority: US
Inventors: James E Stewart
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1954-12-15
Filing date: 1954-12-15
Publication date: 1958-04-08
Anticipated expiration: 1975-04-08

Description

April 8, 1958 J. E. STEWART RECORD ANALYZER FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 15, 1954 #man INVENTOR JAMES E. STEWART MMM Zu'g ATTORNEY April 8, 1958 .1. E. STEWART 2,829,831

RECORD ANALYZER FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES Filed DSC. 15, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VFlcesI vFIC-3.4

INVENTOR. v JAMES E4 STEWART United States Patent Q RECRD ANALYZER FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES James E. Stewart, Endwell, N. Y., assigner to linternntional Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 15, 1954, Serial No. 475,519

9 Claims. (Cl. 23S-61.11)

This invention relates to record controlled accounting and statistical machines in general, and particularly to machines embodying the well known IBM system in which perforated record cards control the functioning of the machine.

Such machines, when of the electrical type, are usually equipped with a record analyzer composed of analyzingy or reading brushes which are as a general rule so constructed as to be readily removable as a unit without disturbing the connections. This feature is extremely desirable in order to permit the operator of the machine to remove torn record cardsy which are sometimes jammed while being fed under the brushes, and also to readily permit cleaning of the brushes and contact4 roller of the dirt and ne paper shreds which are produced by the constant rubbing between the cards and the brushes.

The brush holders are usually assembled as a unit and mounted upon a support, and the entire assembly may be removed as a unit from the machine by simply releasing the latch whenever it is desired to remove a damaged card, make repairs to the brushes or for any other reason.

The reading brushes, when the machine is in operating condition, are arranged to make contact with a common roller at an angle best suited for eicient operation. In inserting and removing the brushes, their direction of movement is toward and away from the surface of the roller. ln order to provide long life to the brushes, the tips thereof are hardened and, when inserted in the machine, the flexible tips tend Vto contact the roller before the unit is fully in place and, where the roller is of the lsoiter material, the hardened brushes tend to scratch and thereby impair the effectiveness of the roller.

ln accordance with the present invention, it is pro-l posed to so mount the brushes within their holder that upon insertion of the holder the brushes are brought to a position immediately adjacent to but not touching the roiler, and are then rotated through a slight angle to bring them in Contact with the roller in the direction of an are.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structural arrangement for sensing brushes whereby, when the brush holder is removed from the machine, the contacting ends thereof will be automatically retracted within the holder, so that they are protected against damage.

Other objects or the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

in the drawings: Y

Fig. l represents a brush holder positioned with respeci to the cooperating contact roller, with the holder in position prior to movement of the brushes into contacting relationship with the contact roller.

Fig. 2 shows the holder in the same position as Fig. l

Patented Apr. 8, 1958 but with the brushes rocked to bring their ends into contacting relationship withthe roller.

Fig. 3 is a view looking from the left of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is aV sectional View taken on lines 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, lil represents the bed of the card handling mechanism of an accounting machine across which record cards are fed in succession in the well-known manner to pass over a contact roller 11. A card guide 12 is positioned to present a suitable aperture to guide the card and is provided at its ends with a pair of upwardly extending side plates 13 each of which supports a plate 14 pivotally connected at 15a. As shown in Fig. l, between the plates 14 extends block 15 to which is secured a row of contacting brushes 16, of which there are usually provided to sense the 80 columns of the well known IBM record card.

Extending across and secured to the guide plate 12 is a cross plate 17, upon which U-shaped member 13 is arranged for vertical sliding movement, within the limits of the screw and slot connections 19 with springs Ztl normally urging the member 18 upwardly with respect to plate 17. The member 18 has secured thereto brackets 21 provided with openings 22 in which studs 23 in the brush block plate 14 can slide. The member 1S has its lateral extremities configured to slide within grooves 24 of the framework` 25 of the machine. To insert the holder in the machine, the member 1S is slipped into grooves 24, and the entire assembly connected thereto lowered into the position of Figs. l and 3, where it willbe noted that the spring 2t) will hold the parts in the relative positions shown, that is, the spring will hold member 18 in the upper position with respect to plate 17, thereby through bracket 21 holding the brush block plate V14 and brushes 16 with their contacting ends retracted within suitable slots 15b in the guide plates 12. Lips 26 extending from the side frame serve as a lower limit in the positioning of the unit.

Thereafter', with guide plate 12 held against further downward movement, member 18 is moved further in a downward direction against the action of spring Ztl, and in so doing its bracket 21 will be lowered therewith,

and the upper edge of the opening 22 will act as a cam` on stud 23 to vcause the brush holder plate 1d to rock in a clockwise direction about pivot 15a to bring brushes 16 into the position shown in Fig. 4. it should be noted that in moving to such position there is a substantially lateral movement of the brush ends against the contactk plungers are retracted and the withdrawal of the unit` begun along grooves 24. During the initial phase of this withdrawal, the tension of the brushes 16 against the roller 11 will overcome the force of the springs 2i) preventing any relative movement between guide plate 12 and member 18. This absence of relative movementprevents any longitudinal coaction between the tips of the brushes 16 and the roller 11, and continues until the tension of the brushes 16 is reduced to less than that of springs 20. At this time, the brushes 16 are free of contact with roller 11 and springs 20 will cause reversal of the move ments hereinabove described, so that as member 18 is elevated the parts will return trom the position of Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 1, wherein the brushes are retracted into the slots 15b in card guide plate 14 and protected against damage while out of the machine. Thereafter the entire assembly can be slipped out of the frame with the components thereof remaining in the relative position of Fig. 1.

While there have been shown and described and pointed o ut the fundamental novel features of theinvention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and vsubstitutions 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. It is the intention, therefore,`to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a record card machine, a brush holder frame, insertable in said machine, a plate carried on said frame and movable relative thereto, a plurality of slots in said plate, a brush block pivotally carried on said plate, a plurality of brushes on said block each aligned with one of said slots, means on said frame effective upon relative movement between said frame and plate to pivot said block on the plate, means interconnecting said frame and plate to bias said frame and plate to a position in which the brushes are retracted in the slots, a contact roller, means for guiding said frame and plate thus positioned for linear insertion toward said contact roller, and means for limiting the extent of insertion of said plate to render continued insertion of said frame against the action of said biasing means effective to pivot said brush block and cause the brushes thereon to be moved in an arc through said slots into Contact with said contact roller.

2. In a record card machine, a brush holder frame insertable in said machine, a plate carried on said frame and movable relative thereto, a pluralityof slots in said plate, a brush block pivotally carried on said plate, a

plurality of brushes on said block each aligned with one of said slots, means on said frame effective upon relative movement between said frame and plate to pivot said block on the plate, means interconnecting said frame and plate to bias said frame and plate to a position in which the brushes are retracted in the slots, a contact roller, means for guiding said frame and plate thus positioned for linear insertion toward said contact roller, means for limiting the extent of insertion of said plate to render continued insertion of said frame against the action of said biasing means effective to pivot said brush block and cause the brushes thereon to be moved in an arc through said slots into contact with said contact roller, and means for locking said frame after complete insertion to hold the parts in this position with the brushes vcontacting said contact roller.

3. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a brush holder frame manually insertable in said machine, a plate carried on said frame and having a plurality of slots, a brush block pivotally carried on said plate and carrying a plurality of brushes each aligned with one of said slots, means for biasing said block to cause said brushes to be retracted in said slots, means for guidingr said frame for linear insertion toward said contact roller, and means effective upon insertion of said frame in the machine for pivoting said block against the action of said biasing means to cause said brushes to be moved in an arc through said slots into contact with said contact roller.

4. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a brush Aholder frame manually insertable in said machine, a

plate carried on said frame and having a plurality of slots, a brush block pivotally carried on said plate and carrying a plurality of brushes each aligned with one of said slots, meanstor biasing said block to cause said brushes to be retracted in said slots, and means effective upon insertion of said frame in the machine for pivoting said block against the action of said biasing means to cause said brushes to be moved in an arc through said slots into contact with said contact roller. t

5. In a record card machine, a brush holder fram manually insertable in said machine, a brush block movably carried on said frame, a plurality of brushes on said block, a contact roller, means for guiding said frame for linear insertion toward said contact roller, and means for limiting the extent of linear insertion of said brush block to cause continued insertion of the frame to be effective to move the brush block and brushes carried thereon through an arc to bring said brushes into contact with said contact roller.

p 6. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a removable brush holder frame lockable in an operating position in said machine, a plate carried on said frame and movable thereon, a plurality of slots in said plate, a brush block pivotally carried on said plate, a plurality of brushes on said block each aligned with one of said slots and with the frame locked in the operating position contacting said vcontact roller, and means interconnecting said frame and said plate effective upon unlocking said frame to move said block on said frame to a position in which the brushes are retracted in said slots.

7. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a removable brush holder frame lockable in an operating position in said machine, a plurality of slots in said frame, a brush block carried on said frame and movable with respect thereto, a plurality of brushes on said block each aligned with one of said slots, said brushes with the frame in the operating condition extending through said slots and contacting said contact roller, and means interconnecting saidr frame and block effective upon removingsaid frame from the machine to move said block relative to said frame to cause said brushes to be retracted in said slots.

8. In a record card machine, a ybrush holder frame manually insertable in said machine, -a brush block pivotally carried on said frame, a plurality of brushes on said block, means for guiding said frame for linear insertion toward said contact roller, and means operable upon insertion of the frame beyond a given point to pivot the brush block and move the brushes through an arc into contact Vwith said contact roller.

9. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a brush holder frame manually insertable in said machine, a plate carried onv said frame and movable with respect theretoa brush block pivotally carried on said plate and conected to said frame, a plurality ot` brushes on said block, and means operable upon insertion of said frame in the machine to eect relative movement be tween said plate and frame and thereby cause said brush block to be pivoted and said brushes moved through an arc into contact with said contact roller.

Stuivenberg Oct. 28, 1952 i