US2838175A

US2838175A - Distributing machine

Info

Publication number: US2838175A
Application number: US473944A
Authority: US
Inventors: Clair D Lake; Pfaff Wesley
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: International Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1954-12-08
Filing date: 1954-12-08
Publication date: 1958-06-10
Anticipated expiration: 1975-06-10

Description

June 10, 1958 c. b. LAKE ET AL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE s Sheets-Shet 1 Filed Dec. 8, 1954 S M FMdY .TE E NK EAM VLP O m. T D M E A ML AS E mw Y B mm mm June 10, 1958 Y c. D. LAKE ETAL 2,838,175

DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 8, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 2 SORT CHECKING INVENTORS CLAIR D. LAKE WESLEY PFAFF ATTORN EY June 10, 1958 c. D. LAKE ETAL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 8, 1954 owmm ommm llL-lllrll ZLIII llll .l-lll ommm CARD PASSED CARD LEVER I'll VII.

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I'Plln 00mm on Nmm INVEN CLAIR D- LAKE Pmmk mohom mmo 5 I mDmm omjm om NmN OWN omwvm mmm QWNON 00m? omNQ 0mm: onmz 00m omNw om QQNN 0O mmwmwma United States Patent DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Clair D. Lake, Binghamton, and Wesley Pfaif, Endicott, N. Y., assignors to International Business Machines Corporation, New York N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 8, 1954, Serial No. 473,944

14 Claims. c1. 209 110 This invention relates to record controlled record distributing machines and more particularly to a pocket selecting mechanism for selecting the proper pocket into which a record is to be deposited.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved selecting mechanism for selecting the distributing pockets to which the records are'to be conveyed.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved pocket selecting mechanism which can be operated at a high rate of speed.

' A further object of the invention is to provide an improved mechanism for operating sort checking contacts.

Briefly, the distributing mechanism of the present invention includes a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of the record cards to be sorted. A deflector lever having an abutment head is provided for each blade and is normally positioned with the head projecting into the path of an advancing card. A card lever is located behind each deflector lever and normally extends into the path of an oncoming card. The deflector levers are timed to move their heads out of the path of the card by. .cam action-at differential times. When a designation in a card is sensed by the sort sensing brush, a magnet is energized to move a locking plate beneath those deflector levers which have not been depressed, thereby locking them in place. The advancing card engages the abutment head of the first locked lever which defleets it over the related blade for distribution to the proper pocket. -Each' card lever behind the deflector levers is depressed upon engagement by the card to operice Fig. 5 is a timing diagram which can be followed to understand the operations of various mechanical and electrical devices shown herein.

The invention is shown as applied to a distributing machine of the electrically controlled type which is known as the IBM Electric Sorting Machine. This machine is well known in the art and its various details of construction and manner of operation are disclosed in Patent No. 2,615,569, issued October 28, 1952, to C. D. Lake et a1. Since the aforesaid patent describes the machine in detail, it is unnecessary to give more than a very brief description of the general features herein, except to point out wherein the improvements of the present invention are applied.

A group of record cards which may consist of the usual IBM cards designated 20 (Fig. l) is placed in a magazine and removed one at a time from the bottom of the magazine by a picker 21 mounted on a slide 22 and actuated by arms 23, the latter being fixed to a shaft 24 journalled in the frame work. A link 25 pivoted to one of the arms 23 is also pivotally connected to a crank pin 26 carried by a crank arm 27 on a shaft 28 which is driven at a rate of one revolution per card cycle through the usual spiral gearing (not shown) connecting shaft 28 and the main drive shaft of the machine. Each record card advance from the magazine by the picker 21 is engaged by a pair of feed rollers 30, driven by spiral gearing from the main drive shaft and is fed by these rollers to the left to pass a sensing brush 31 which coacts with a contact roll 32 to sense data designating perforations in the records.

As the record card passes beneath the sensing brush 31, it also passes over a series of deflector levers 33 and card levers 41 and beneath the upturned ends of distributing blades 34 leading to the usual receiving pockets (not shown) of which thirteen may he provided,

twelve to correspond with the 12 index point positions in the columns of the record cards and one for records having no perforations in the particular column sensed by the brush 31. The latter pocket is commonly termed the reject pocket. Suitable feed rollers, like 35 and 36 driven from the main drive shaft through suitable spiral gears, serve to convey the cards to the various pockets selected by operation of a magnet 60, such records being guided to the appropriate pockets by the distributing blades 34. The lower rollers 36 are secured on a shaft 29 which constantly rotates a camshaft 40 (Fig. 3) to make one revolution each card cycle through worm and worm wheel 56.

The features of novelty of the present invention reside in the construction and operation of the pocket selecting mechanism and checking device therefor. These devices are mounted in a sub-frame comprising end plates 57 and the'accompanying drawings which disclose, by way ofv examples, the principle of the invention and th e'best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle. a g

' In the drawings: Fig; l is a vertical longitudinal sectionalview of the portion of a distributing machine in which the invention maybe embodied.

58 (Fig. l) and bed plate 59 which supports the record cards advancing through the selecting mechanism. The deflector levers 33 and card levers 41 normally extend above the card line through openings located in bed plate 59. A deflector lever 33 having an abutment hen-:1.

eye.

is provided for each distributing blade These levers are pivotally mounted on a common rod 37 (Fig. 3) and are normally positioned with the abutment heads extending into the path of an advancing card above the card line.

Each lever 33 has aprojection 33b which is held against the surface of a related cam 38 under pressure of a spring 39. These cams are secured on the shaft 40 and are timed to allow their related deflector levers 33 to drop below the card line before being engaged by an advancing card. A card lever 41 is located behind each' deflector lever and carries an insulating block 42. The levers 41 are formed with bent over extensions 41a and are pivotally mounted on the rod 37. They are normally held against a stop plate 43 under pressure of springs 44 with their extensions 41:: in the path of an advancing card. Embedded in an insulating block 45 are two rows of contactors 46 and 47. Extending through rectangular openings 47a in contactors 47 are wire contact springs 48. The upper ends of these wires are hooked as shown in Fig. 3 with the hooks extending through separate holes 49:: in a plate 49. Plate 49 is positioned on the top of block 45 and held thereto by the upper screw Elli. The plate is provided with an elongated hole 4H), so that before the screw 59 is tightened, the plate 49 may be moved to the left or right to decrease or increase the pressure against the upper ends of the wires 43 With the plate 4? bearing against the left sides of the wires and the sides of openings 47a in contactors 47 also bearing against the left side of the wires, the lower or free ends thereof will bebiased towards the left with the lower ends of the wires engaging contactors The insulating blocks .2 on levers ii are provided with a hole 42a through which the wires extend. When a lever 41 is .roved counterclockwise fr m the position shown in Fig. 3

' the wire is engaged by the left side of hole 42a and pulled with cam follower arms 51:: which are held against a set of cooperating cams 55 under the influence of springs 54. These cams are secured on the shaft 4%) which is constantly rotated as previously explained and are so timedas to permit the related latches 51 to move upwardly into latching engagement with the co-rrespondingcard lever 41 which has been displaced counterclockwise as shown in the solid line position of 3. if the card lever has not been displaced, the latch points of both lever 41 and latch 51 remain in abutting position.

The deflecting action of the levers 33 is under control of the magnet 6d which has an armature 61. A locking plate 62 is carried by the armature on its upper end and is adapted to move under a series of proiections 33c extending from the undersidesof levers 33 upon energizetion of the magnet 6%. This plate 62 is moved under the deflector levers 33 remaining in the path of an advancing card as shown in Fig. 3 and prevents them from being displaced. The projections 33c are so formed that the displaced levers 33 do not interfere with locking movement of plate 62. When the card encounters the head 33:: of the first locked lever 33, it is deflected upwardly to pass over the related distributing blade 34 and directed to the selected pocket.

The armature 61 of magnet 6% is restored to normal position by a knockoff arm 63 having a camming surface 630: (Fig. 4). The arm 63 is fastened on a shaft 64 which is mounted for rotation in sub-frame plates 57 and 58' (Fig. l). A lever 65 is also fastened on shaft 64 to normally hold arm 63 away from engagement with the armature 61 by pressure of a spring 66. 'Lever 65 carries a stud 67 which cooperates with a stop member 63 (Fig. 3) extending from a support bracket 69 to limit the travel of arm 63 under influence of the spring 66. An actuating arm 76 is pivoted on a stud 71 and is pivotally connected to the lever 65 by a link 72. The constantly rotating shaft 239 carries a cumming member 73 which is positioned to engage a flange Ma projecting outwardly from the arm 70 near the end of each cycle. The shaft 64- is rocked by this engagement in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, and the surface 63a of arm 63 pushes the armature 61. away from the pole face of the magnet 60, thereby restoring the armature. A screw 74 extends loosely through an opening in the armature and is secured in a block 75 supported on a bracket 76. This screw is adjustable through a lock nut 77 and serves as a stop to limit the clockwise movement of the armature.

Operation of the device The ends of the blades 34 (Fig. l) are so disposed relative to the sensing brush 31 that when, for example, an 8 hole in the record card is sensed, the leading edge of the record card in which the hole appears will occupy a position approximately one-quarter the distance between the end of the blade 34 leading to the 8 pocket and the end of the blade leading to the 9 pocket.

Referring now to the timing diagram of Fig. 5, the leading edge of the card will ride over the abutment head of deflector lever 33 for the 9 pocket which has dropped below the card line by 19 when the lever drops from the rise of its cam 33 under pressure of its spring 39. In Fig. 5 the dotted lines-show the drop off points for the cams in each pocket position. At 29 the advancing card will start to depress the card lever 61 for the 9 pocket against the pressure of its spring 44- which holds the lever against the stop plate 43. The latch point ofv the lever 4i is thus moved counterclockwise (Fig. 3) past the latching point of the related latching member 5!. which moves upwardly at 34 under influence of its spring 54 to latch the'card lever 41. This latching action is completed by 38 and causes the wire 48 to be held out of engagement with the related contactor 46 until after the test impulse is made as explained hereinafter.

When the 8 hole in the card is read by the brush 31, the magnet 60 is energized and the armature 61 is pulled toward the pole face of the magnet. This movement of the armature positions the locking plate 62 under the projections 33b of all the levers 33 which have not dropped below the card line as shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 5 it is seen that the lever 33 for the 8" pocket has not dropped at the time that the 8 hole is sensed and this lever is locked in place along with the deflector.

levers for the pockets in the remaining index positions. When the leading edge of the card engages the abutment head 33a of this lever, the lever is held firmly in position by the locking plate and the card is deflected upwardly between the 8 and 9 blades 34. The

rollers

35 and 36 then convey the card to the 8 pocket. The card levers 41 following the 8 deflector lever will not be depressed because the card .is raised above the card line and their associated wires 48 remain in contact with the contactors 46.

v The checking contactors 46 and 47 are connected by wires78 and 79 respectively in a well known sort checking circuit of the type shown .and described in the aforementioned U. S. Patent No. 2,615,569 granted to C. D. Lake et a1. Attention is particularly directed to Fig. 48g of the drawings and columns 65 through 67 of the de: scription. After 12 time in the sorting cycle, a test impulse is supplied through the contactors 46 at approximately 28 8 and endures until 300 (Fig. 5). The con-- tactors 46 correspond to the contact segments a of the structure shown in the patent.

At approximately 305 the knock off arm 63 engages the magnet armature 61 to push it away from the pole face of the magnet 60. This restoring movement of the armature removes the plate 62 from the locking position beneath deflector lever projections 330 to release them for actuation on thefollowing cycle. The armature is fully restored by.330 of the cycle. All deflector levers 33 which have dropped are restored by positive action of their related cams 38 starting at 315 and being fully restored by 353. All latching members 51 which have been tripped by depression of their related card levers 41 are restored in a rippling movement by cams 53 beginning M330 and ending at 356 for the latching memher in the 9" pocket position as shown in Fig. 5. The restoring of a latching member causes it to disengage from its related card'lev'e'r 41, thereby allowing the card lever to restore under'pre'ssure of its spring 44. Each following latch meniber'and card lever is restoredin the next cycle of operation one cycle-point after the preceding member" and card levers is not shown in Fig. 5, it being understood that their movement is the same as the movement of the member and lever in the 9 position. This restoring action of the card levers 41 occurs during the time that the card levers are uncovered by the trailing edge of a card and the leading edge of the following card to prevent any lifting of the card above the card line while it passes beneath the distributing blades 34.

The sensing of a 9 hole by the brush 31 causes the deflector lever for the 9 pocket to be locked in position in a similar manner to that described above for the 8 pocket and the card is deflected upwardly to pass over the top blade for eventual deposit in the 9 pocket. In the instance where the card is blank and no perforation is sensed by brush 31, the magnet 60 is not energized and the card passes beneath all of the distributing blades 34 for deposit in the reject pocket.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment, 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. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only asindicated by the scope of the following claims.

' What is claimed is: V

1. In, a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing members with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record element to be sorted, means for feeding an element to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related members, means for supporting said deflectors so that each of said deflectors is normally located in the path of said element and is moved out of the path of said element when the element reaches the deflector, and means operable at a selected instant for locking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of said element, whereby said element is deflected for guidance by a selected member.

2. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related blades, a rod for pivotally supporting said deflectors so that each of said deflectors is normally located in the path of said card and is moved out of the path of said card when the card reaches the deflector, and means operable at a selected instant for locking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of said card, whereby said card is deflected for guidance over a selected blade.

3. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card to pass said ends, a plurality of movable levers, a deflector head carried by each lever,

means for supporting said levers so that each of said heads is normally located in the path of said card and is moved out of the path of said card when the card reaches the head, and means operable at a selected instant for locking a selected lever against movement to maintain certain of said heads in the path of said card, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade.

4. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing members with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record element to be sorted, means for feeding an element to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related members and normally located in the path of said element, means to move said deflectors out of the path of said element at differential times, and means operable at a selected instant for locking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of said element, whereby said element is deflected for guidance by a selected member.

5. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality ing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related blades and normally located above the card line in the path of said card, means to move said deflectors below the card line at differential times; and means operable at a selected instant for locking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of said card, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade.

6. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card to pass said ends, a plurality of movable de-' flector levers cooperating with related blades, each lever normally projecting above the card line into the path of said card, a series of cam elements for operatively engaging said levers to move them below the card line at dilferential times, and means operable at a selected instant for.

locking a selected lever against movement and in the path of said card, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade.

7. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card 'to pass said ends, a plurality of movable levers, a deflector head carried by each lever, said deflector heads normally projecting above the card line into the path of said card, means to move said levers at differential times, whereby said heads are lowered below the card line, and means operable at a predetermined time for locking said levers against movement to maintain cer-' I tain of said heads in the path of said card, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade.

8. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflector levers cooperating with related blades, each lever normally projecting into the path of said card, a series of cam elements for operatively engaging said levers to move them out of the path of said card at differential times, a movable plate for locking a selected lever against movement and in the path of said card, and means for controlling the movement of said plate, said means being operable at a selected instant to move said plate to locking position, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade.

9. In a machine for distributing differing record elements, means for sensing the differences in said elements, a plurality of distributing members with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of said elements, means for feeding said elements to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related members and normally located in the path of said elements, means to move said deflectors out of the path of said elements at diflerential times, and means responsive to the sensing of a difference on an element by said sensing means for locking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of said element, whereby said element is deflected for guidance by a selected member.

10. In a record card distributing machine, means to feed record cards having data representations, means for sensing said representations, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of said cards, means for feeding said cards to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related blades and normally located above the card line in the path of said cards, means to move said deflectors-below the card line at difierential times, and means responsive to the sensing of a representation on a card by said sensing means for locking certain of said deflectors of distribut g 7 against movement and in the'path of said card, whereby said card-is deflected over a selected blade.

11. In a machine for distributing record cards having a column of indic'ia positions, said positions being spaced at regular intervals along said column, means to feed said cards, means for sensing an indicium in said column, a plurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of said cards, a plurality of movable deflector levers cooperating with related blades and normally located above the card line in the path of said cards, means to move said levers below the card line at diflerential times, and means operable at a selected instant in response to the sensing of said indicium on a card by said sensing means for locking certain of said levers against movement and in the path of said card, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade.

12. In a distributing mechanism, a plurality of distributing members with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record element to be sorted, means for feeding an element to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related members and normally located in the path of said element, a plurality of movable levers, one lever being positioned near each deflector and normally projecting into the path of said element, a checking contact for each lever, means to move said deflectors out of the path of said element at differential times to permit said element to pass freely under said ends, means operable at a selected instant for looking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of said element, whereby said element is deflected over a selected member, means for holding said levers in the path of said element, certain of said levers being moved successively out of the path of said element upon engagement by said element until the element is raised by the locked deflector, whereby only certain related contacts are operated.

1-3. The mechanism as claimed in cl'aim 12, in whicha latch is-associated with each lever and dilferentially timed moving means is provided to operate thelatches seriatum, whereby the levers which have been moved out of the path of the element are held in latching engagement by arelated latch.

14. In a distributing mechanism having aplurality of distributing blades with their ends disposed progressively along the path of travel of a record card to be sorted, means for feeding a card to pass said ends, a plurality of movable deflectors cooperating with related blades and normally located above the card line in the path of the leading edge of said card, a plurality of movable card levers, one lever being positioned near each deflector and normally projecting above the card line in the path of the leading edge of said card, a checking contact for each lever, means to move said deflectors below the card line at diflerential times to permit said card to pass freely under said blade ends, means operable at a selected instant for locking a selected deflector against movement and in the path of the leading edge of said card, whereby said card is deflected over a selected blade, means for holding said levers in the path of the leading edge of said card, certain of said levers being moved successively below the card line upon engagement by the leading edge of said card until the card is raised by the locked deflector, whereby only certain related contacts are operated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS