US3268136A

US3268136A - Data card and method of making same

Info

Publication number: US3268136A
Application number: US425417A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harold W Huffman
Original assignee: Hamilton Tool Co
Current assignee: Hamilton Tool Co
Priority date: 1965-01-14
Filing date: 1965-01-14
Publication date: 1966-08-23
Anticipated expiration: 1983-08-23
Also published as: DE1263475B; FR1455488A; GB1080510A; JPS4920559B1; DK117711B; SE332733B

Description

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United States Patent O 3,268,136 DATA CARD AND METHOD F MAKING SAME Harold W. Huffman, Hamilton, Qhio, assignor to The Hamilton Tool Company, Hamilton, (lhio, a corporation of Ghio Filed Jan. 14, 1965, Ser. No. 425,417 11 Claims. (Cl. 22S-2) This invention relates to data cards, such as businessmachine cards or the like, and to an improved method of producing such cards with great precision and efficiency.

Common practice has been to produce data cards by subjecting a high-grade paper web traveling at high speed, to punching and slitting means which perforate both side margins of the web, and line-cut the web at specified locations both longitudinally and transversely, to establish the length and width dimensions of the cards without destroying the continuity of the moving web. The perforations were equally spaced apart in lines running parallel to the sides of the web, and inwardly of each line of perforations the web was pierced through, by means of two .closely spaced lines of individual cuts, to define detachable trim strips at opposite sides of the web, substantially as shown `in FIG. 1. By subsequently removing the trim strips, t-he final length dimension of a card was established.

The production of cards necessitated, of course, transverse cutting of the web at intervals, and this was done during high-speed travel of the web, in a manner illustrated by FIG. 3. Here, the cutters produced four lines of individual cuts extending transversely across the web, the cuts being in pairs spaced apart to define an intervening removable cross strip, this strip being repeated at spaced intervals along the web so that removal of the cross strips established the final height, or widt-h, of the individual cards. Removal of the cross strips, and of the longitudinal trim strips, was effected by means of a process step commonly known as bursting whereby the paper remaining intermediate the lines of individual through cuts was torn or rent to produce the cards as individuals entirely separated from one another.

The bursting and disposal of the transverse cross strips during high-speed advancement of the web, have posed problems which were of great concern in the manufacturing procedure. If the mechanism for removing the detached cross strips failed to function properly, due to maladjustment or other causes, it sometimes became necessary lto interrupt the web advancement, with resultant loss of production and added labor expense. Moreover, the cross strips represented waste, of considerable magnitude in high-grade expensive paper.

One object of the present invention is to minimize waste of high-grade paper in the manufacture of cards of the character mentioned above.

Another object of the invention is to enhance the etlieiency of card production, with substantial savings of time and labor.

A further kobject is to produce with great efficiency, cards such as by way of example, I.B.M. mark-sensing cards or the like, with finished edges which are completely devoid of objectionable protrusions or irregular tufts of paper stock.

Another object of the invention is to produce individual cards from a continuous length of stock, wherein adjacent portions of adjoining cards have finished edges common to both such cards.

Another object is to teach a method of producing cards with finished upper and lower edges, without resorting to use of an intermediate cross strip, thereby to minimize waste and at the same time simplify and expedite the manufacturing procedure.

Patented August 23, 1966 ICC A further object of the invention is the production of cards having the hereinabove described characteristics and which permits the efiicient use of conventional concepts in collators and other standard printing equipment with precise accuracy by initially partially severing opposite edges by means of a plurality of aligned cuts, the adjacent ends of said cuts being spaced apart to form an uncut tie or tab interconnecting the adjoining cards. The aforesaid cuts extend transversely of the length of stock from which the cards are made, said cuts accurately defining the finished side edges of the cards.

Having thus provided the cards with iinished side edges while still interconnected at the uncut ties or tabs, the continuous web strip may be further processed if desired, or the individual cards may be separated from the strip without further processing.

According to the teachings of the present invention, the various ties or tabs between adjoining cards are completely removed or excised by being punched out in such manner as to locate the periphery of each punch-out astride the transversely disposed cuts, that is, within the confines of the finished side edges of the adjoining cards. In this manner, the cards are provided with finished edges which are entirely free of protruding ties or tufts of paper stock.

The foregoing and other objects are attained by means described herein and as disclosed in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan View of an indeterminate length of card stock, illustrating one manner in which the various steps of the method of the invention may be practiced in producing the card of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view showing portions of three cards which embody the present invention, and illustrating the location of notches produced by punching.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a web perforated and slitted in accordance with a prior art procedure, ove which the present invention is an improvement. l

With reference to FIG. 1, the numeral 10 indicates generally an indeterminate web or length of card stock, which may -be considered rapidly moving continuously from left to right through a punching and slitting machine. Such machine will incorporate rotary punch rolls of known design, effective to form two lines of

perforations

12 and 14 marginally of the opposite edges 16 and 18 of the web, the lines of perforations being parallel to the line of travel -of the web.

The same rotary roll, or another roll similarly rotated, may be provided with knives or cutters operative to slit the web alongside and inwardly of both lines of perforations, to provide a line of spaced cuts 20, and a second line of spaced cuts 22, extending in parallelism with the lines of

perforations

12 and 14. The lines of cuts 20 may be referred to as the primary cuts, as they establish the exact length of the succession of cards A, B, C, D, E, F and G, when the cards are separated form the web as are the cards E, F, and G.

The remaining lines of cuts 22-22 may be referred to as the secondary line of cuts, and these are disposed closely adjacent to but spaced from the primary cuts throughout the length of the web. Each secondary cut 22 spans the space which separates two successive primary cuts; and similarly, .any primary cut spans the space which separates two successive secondary cuts. In either case, the length of a cut may preferably slightly exceed the length of a span, as the drawing indicates. Accordingly, when a longitudinal trim strip 24 of card E, for example, is bursted or torn from the card (see F), the trim strip will carry with it some of the paper of the card intermediate the ends of successive primary cuts 20. The trim strip tears off, therefore, carrying small keystone-shaped tabs or ties 26, leaving notches or voids 28 in the end edge of the card.

The formation of notches or voids 28 assures that the edges of primary cuts 20 will collectively constitute an end of the card, which end will be completely free of any objectionable protrusions or tufts of paper stock resulting from tearing off the trim strip. The effective length of a card such as F, therefore, may be very accurately dimensioned for precision high-speed data collation in business machines, it being understood that the lines of primary cuts are very accurately applied to the web.

Card G of FIG. l is a completely finished card, separated from the preceding and .succeeding cards of the web, and having been end-trimmed according to the procedure above described in connection with card F.

Reverting to the left portion of FIG. 1 wherein cards i A, B, and C are connected along their major edges, and are therefore still constituents of the traveling web, it

should be pointed out that the web in the course of ady vancement is subjected to knives or cutters which slit t-he web through, along transverse lines of cut 30. Each transverse line of cut 30 is constituted of several slits 32 disposed end to end in single straight line formation, with solid stock remaining intermediate successive slits as at 34. These solid portions may be considered connecting tabs or ties, and are quite limited in extent, though sucient to hold one card to another as the web advances. The lines of transverse cut 30, which may extend across the full width of the web, establish very accurately the width, or height, of all cards to be struck from the web.

When the cards as defined by the interrupted lines of ltransverse cut 30 reach a predetermined state of web advancement, the cards may be separated one from another in rapid succesison, by punching holes 36 through the web, with clean removal of small pads of stock, to excise completely the connecting ties or tabs 34. If desired,

.the punching may be directed to certain ties only, for ex- .of ties 34 by punching may be performed simultaneously upon all the ties of a line 30, thereby to completely and instantly achieve card separation in -a single operation. Such punching may be performed either before or after bursting of the trim strips 24-24 from the web. The punching may be performed by means of conventional punch roll apparatus.

It should be noted here that punching out the ties 34 with excision of stock at the ties, results in clean side edges on the cards 'formed by the very accurately applied slits 32, so that the cards will have uniformly spaced side edges established with such precision as is required in the operation of modern high speed collators or business machines, Important also is the fact that the punch-outs are easily disposed of during rapid advancement of the web, and a maximum number of cards is obtainable from the web because there is no waste deductible form the length of the web.

p The foregoing advantages and savings may be compared with the prior art practice depicted by FIG. 3, wherein web 80 is shown to include the same type of side trim strips 82-82, formed in substantial accordance with the FIG. 1 structure as previously described, but wherein the transverse lines of cutitng are quite different. Whereas the FIG. 1 improved structure employs but a single transverse line of cut 30, and requires a punchingy operation for separating successive cards, the web structure of FIG. 3 employs four parallel lines of

transverse cuts

84, 86, 88, 90, arranged in pairs, to define a transverse waste strip 92 that must be bodily torn out and disposed of with certainty during rapid advancement of the web.

Detachment and disposal of waste strip 92 involves an operation which is awkward and difficult of performance, because of the relatively large size of the waste strip as compared with the punch-outs of FIG. 1, and because of the fact that displacement of the relatively large waste strip must be performed in a direction transverse to the direction of web advancement. Moreover, theproduction of waste strips 92 in great numbers, during the course of a run, decreases materially the number of cards that may be struck from a given yardage of web stock. The resulting waste is quite expensive when card stock of highquality grade is used. I

In practicing t-he improved method of the present invention, cards with precision dimensions may be produced at a high rate of speed, and with no waste whatever taken from the length of the web. The ease with which the small punch-outs may be disposed of by air movement or otherwise during advancement of t-he web, assurestroublefree continuous production without expensive Waste and machinery shutdowns. j

The oblique short lines indicated at 40 upon YFIG. l, indicate scores, cuts, or markings, not pertinent to the present invention, defining small corners of stock which may or may not be removed from the individu-al cards, as preferred.

It is to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the article and in the process disclosed, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of data cand manufacture, which comprises: rapidly advancing a long card-stock web of substantially uniform width; piercing the web transversely at predetermined intervals with a single succession of elongate cuts in end to end alignment, the ends of each cut being spaced from the ends of the next adjacent cuts to provide connecting ties maintaining continuity of the web; then excising the connecting ties by punching pads from the web wherein the transverse dimension of the pads are the same as the connecting ties, to sever the web along the succession of cuts.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the formation of the elongate cuts, and the excision of the connecting ties, are performed upon the web while the web is in continuous motion. l

3. The method of data card manufacture, which cornprises: rapidly advancing a long card-stock web of substantially uniform width; piercing the web transversely at predetermined intervals With a single line of individual elongate cuts arranged in end to end disposition, with the ends of each cut spaced fro-m the ends of the next adjacent cuts to provide connecting ties between adjacent cuts for maintaining continuity of the advancing web; then punching pads of stock from the web to include the connecting ties, each pad being of va dimension to extend from the end of one cut to the adjacent end of the other cut, thereby to nally sever the web along the transverse cuts.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3, wherein the pads of stock punched from the web are wider than the width of the cuts, resulting in the formation of notches in the web at both sides of the line of severance.

5. The method of data card manufacture, which comprises rapidly advancing lengthwise a long card-stock web of substantially uniform width; piercing the web at intervals marginally of a side edge to dene a detachable trim strip; piercing the web transversely at predetermined intervals with a line of individual elongate cuts arranged 1n end to end disposition, with the ends of each cut spaced from the ends of the next adjacent cuts to provide connecting ties between adjacent cuts for temporarily maintaining continuity of the web; then punching pads of stock from the web to include at least some of the connecting ties; then removing the detachable trim strip from the side margin of the web.

6'. The method as set forth in claim 5, wherein the pads of stock punched from the web are wider than the width of the transverse cuts, resulting in the formation of notches in the web at both sides of the transverse line of severance.

7. The method of data card manufacture, which comprises: rapidly advancing lengthwise a long card-stock web of substantially uniform width; piercing the web at intervals marginally of a side edge to dene a detachable trim strip; piercing the web transversely at predetermined intervals with a line of individual elongate cuts arranged in end to end disposition, with the ends of each cut spaced from the ends of the next adjacent cuts to provide connecting ties between adjacent cuts for temporarily maintaining continuity of the web; then punching pads of stock from the web to include the connecting ties, thereby to complete severance of the web along the transverse cuts; and removing the detachable trim strip aforesaid.

8. The method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the pads of stock punched from the web are of greater width than the transverse cuts, and said pads are so located as to remove stock at both sides of the line of transverse cuts, resulting in the formation of notches in the web stock at opposite sides of the line of transverse severance.

9. The method of data card manufacture, which comprises: rapidly advancing lengthwise a long card-stock web of substantially uniform width; punching a straight line of perforations from the web marginally of each side edge of the web, to extend in the direction of web advancement; subjecting the web to cutters which slit the web alongside and inwardly of both lines of perforations aforesaid, to provide in parallelism with each of said lines of perforations a primary line of cuts and a secondary line of cuts, the primary and secondary lines of cuts being in closely spaced parallelism one with the other throughout the length of the web to define detachable trim strips each including one of the lines of perforations aforesaid; the primary line of cuts being constituted of a series of individual, straight slits in end to end alignment and separated by uncut ties of web stock; the secondary line of cuts being constituted of a series of aligned individual straight slits shorter in length than the slits of the primary line, said short slits being spaced farther from the adjacent line of perforations than are the longer slits of the primary line, and each of such short slits subtending a tie between two adjacent long slits of the primary line of cuts, whereby upon Ibursting of a trim strip from the web the ties are torn away leaving notches in the web stock remaining, while the longer slits define an end edge of a card constituted of said remaining web stock; then piercing the web transversely at predetermined intervals with a line of individual elongate cuts arranged in end to end disposition, with the ends of each transverse cut spaced from the ends of the next `adjacent transverse cuts to provide connecting ties between adjacent transverse cuts for temporarily maintaining continuity of the web; then punching pads of stock from the web to include the connecting ties last mentioned, thereby to complete severance of the web along the transverse cuts, and establish finished edges of two successive cards so struck from the web.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9, wherein the pads of stock punched from the web are of greater width than the width of the transverse cuts, and said pads are so located as to lremove stock at both sides of the line transverse cuts, resulting in the formation of notches in the web stock at opposite sides of the line of transverse severance.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein the application of all lines of perforations and all lines of cuts both longitudinal and transverse, as well as the punching operation and remo-val of ythe trim strips, are performed during continuous advancement of the web.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,532,538 4/1925 Langston 83-303 X 1,812,654 6/1931 Kirschbrauz 83-920 X 1,8 34,004 l2/l93l Overbury et al. 225-2 2,167,734 8/1939 Zonino 22S-2 2,624,597 1/ 1953 Winans 281-5 2,700,556 1/1955 Holmwood 281-5 3,114,565 12/1963 Sornberger 281-5 WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examinez'.

l. M. MEISTER, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. THE METHOD OF DATA CARD MANUFACTURE, WHICH COMPRISES: RAPIDLY ADVANCING A LONG CARD-STOCK WEB OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM WIDTH; PIERCING THE WEB TRANSVERSELY AT PREDETERMINED INTERVALS WITH A SINGLE SUCCESSION OF ELONGATE CUTS IN END TO END ALIGNMENT, THE ENDS OF EACH CUT BEING SPACED FROM THE ENDS OF THE NEXT ADJACENT CUTS TO PROVIDE CONNECTING TIES MAINTAINING CONTINUITY OF THE WEB; THEN EXCISING THE CONNECTING TIES BY PUNCHING PADS FROM THE WEB WHEREIN THE TRANSVERSE DIMENSION OF THE PADS ARE THE SAME AS THE CONNECTING TIES, TO SEVER THE WEB ALONG THE SUCCESSION OF CUTS.