US3531106A - Floating throat knife - Google Patents

Floating throat knife Download PDF

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Publication number
US3531106A
US3531106A US754643A US75464368A US3531106A US 3531106 A US3531106 A US 3531106A US 754643 A US754643 A US 754643A US 75464368 A US75464368 A US 75464368A US 3531106 A US3531106 A US 3531106A
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
card
throat
stack
feed
knife
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US754643A
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English (en)
Inventor
Curtis A Larson
Richard J Ullmer
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
International Business Machines Corp
Original Assignee
International Business Machines Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by International Business Machines Corp filed Critical International Business Machines Corp
Priority to US754643A priority Critical patent/US3531106A/en
Priority to FR6923621A priority patent/FR2016993A1/fr
Priority to DE19691938258 priority patent/DE1938258A1/de
Priority to GB38211/69A priority patent/GB1216796A/en
Priority to JP6961748A priority patent/JPS5016198B1/ja
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US3531106A publication Critical patent/US3531106A/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
    • B65H3/02—Separating articles from piles using friction forces between articles and separator
    • B65H3/06—Rollers or like rotary separators
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
    • B65H3/46—Supplementary devices or measures to assist separation or prevent double feed
    • B65H3/56—Elements, e.g. scrapers, fingers, needles, brushes, acting on separated article or on edge of the pile

Definitions

  • This invention relates to card feed mechanisms and more particularly to top feed mechanisms in which a stack of cards are biased against a card pick device overlying the stack, and in which the top card is fed forwardly through upper and lower knife members forming a throat gap which will pass a single card of given thickness.
  • Biasing means continuously load the card stack against card pick means whereby, regardless of stack depletion, the card picker is periodically actuated to feed the cards, one at a time, in serial fashion along a horizontal feed path.
  • a feed throat at the forward end of the pack which accepts the upper-most card, but rejects the next card thereunder.
  • the cards are fed from the top by either an oscillating picker or by a driven friction roller.
  • the picker may contact the cards at a localized area only, for instance to one side of the stack, causing the uppermost card to bow laterally during the moment of feeding.
  • the individual cards themselves may be warped and thus, the uppermost card may spring back into a warped position prior to feeding since it is no longer under restraint of the cards above it.
  • This invention is directed to the top feed mechanism for a card stack employing a throat knife assembly which readily accepts warped cards.
  • the throat knife assembly comprisin upper and lower throat knives to form a throat gap of constant dimension is pivotably supported on one side of the card stack for limited movement about an axis parallel to and generally aligned with the plane of card feed.
  • upper and lower pivot arms are coupled to the card stack hopper back plate by a piece of polypropylene plastic which acts as a pivot flexure.
  • the flexure In rest position, and in the absence of a card stack, the flexure allows the upper throat knife to move to a position slightly lower than the extreme card warp position. With a card stack in place, the upper throat knife contacts the top card and rests thereon. Therefore, regardless of card warpage from the plane of card feed, in either an up or down direction, the upper throat knife follows the warpage of the card to present the constant dimension throat feed gap in align ment with the leading edge of the card being fed.
  • the upper throat knife may be adjustably coupled to the upper pivot arm to allow initial variance in the throat gap dimension.
  • FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the floating throat knife of the present invention as applied to a top feed mechanism for a card stack.
  • FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the floating throat knife assembly of FIG. 1 in the absence of a card stack taken about lines 22.
  • FIG. 3 is a similar view of the floating throat knife to that of FIG. 2, with the upper throat knife resting on the top card stack whose edges are warped upwardly.
  • FIG. 4 is a similar view of the floating throat knife as that of FIG. 2, with the upper throat knife resting upon the top card of the stack whose edges are bowed downwardly.
  • FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the plastic flexure of the present invention for pivotably mounting the improved floating throat knife assembly.
  • a typical top card feed apparatus 10 includes a plate or other support 12 which carries card stack 14 consisting of a number of thin planar information bearing cards or the like 16.
  • the top or upper most card of the stack is identified at 16 and is in a position for forward feeding, the direction of card flow being indicated by arrow 18.
  • the card stack is biased upwardly against a card feed pick mechanism 20. Biasing is indicated schematically by coil spring 22 acting in the direction of arrow 24. While the plane of card feed may be stated as being generally horizontal, it is noted that the card stack 14 is slightly inclined downwardly in the direction of card feed.
  • the card pick mechanism 20 may comprise, for instance, an oscillating pick arm although, in the illustrated embodiment, a friction roller 26 has its periphery in contact with the upper surface of the top card 16. With the friction roller 26 being driven in a clockwise direction as indicated by arrow 28, the top card 16 will be fed forwardly, from right to left through throat knife assembly 30 at the forward end of the card feed apparatus.
  • the pick roller 26 is mounted for rotation about its axis and supported by hopper back plate 32 by means (not shown).
  • the present invention is directed to the floating throat knife assembly 30 which includes lower throat knife 34 and upper throat knife 36 defining a throat knife gap 38 of constant dimension W, preferably slightly greater than the thickness of one of the cards 16, but being less than the thickness of two cards.
  • the cards 16 are fed in serial fashion through the throat gap 38 which will allow passage of only one card at a time.
  • a common mounting plate 40 carries upper pivot arm 42 and lower pivot arm 44 which acts as a bracket to support respectively, upper throat knife 36 and lower throat knife 34. Since the card feed mechanism may feed cards of varying thickness the upper pivot arm 42 carries a guide pin 46 which projects,
  • the throat knife assembly 30 of the present invention is pivotally mounted for limited oscillation about an axis which is parallel to, and generally in line with the path of card feed through throat gap 38.
  • the pivot flexure 54 comprises a rectangular piece or block of plastic material such as polypropylene and includes an upper, rather thick rectangular section 56 separated from a lower, somewhat thinner, rectangular section 58 by a thin connecting strip 60.
  • Strip 60 is formed by longitudinally grooving the area of juncture between these two sections as at 62.
  • the weakened or reduced thickness section 60 defines the horizontal pivot axis which is generally in line with the plane of card feed indicated in dotted line fashion at 64 in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 and which also coincides with the position of the uppermost or top card 16' of the stack.
  • the contact edge 86 of the upper throat knife moves to its lowest point which is slightly lower than the lowermost position of a card in extreme card warped condition.
  • the card stack 14 is spring-loaded, in the direction of arrow 24, against the friction feed roller 26 of card pick mechanism 20, the surface of the card being fed such as card 16' at its front end, abuts edge 86 of the upper throat knife 36.
  • This causes the throat knife assembly 30 to pivot about the pivot axis defined by strip section 60 of the pivot flexure, moving the throat gap 38 into a generally horizontal position in the absence of card warpage.
  • the gap however, aligns itself with the card irrespective of any warped condition since the edge 86 of the upper throat knife 36 rides on the upper surface of card 16' as indicated in FIG. 1.
  • edge 86 of the upper throat knife 36 which rides upon the upper surface of card 16' moves through the plane 64 of normal card feed in a clockwise direction as the throat knife assembly pivots about section 60 of the flexure pivot.
  • the gap 38 is longitudinally aligned with the edge of the card being fed therethrough to allow only the single card 16' to be fed with the vertical, rear face 88 of the lower throat knife 34 acting as a card stop and preventing forward feeding of the remaining cards 16 of stack 14 which are at that 4 moment positioned below the plane of normal card feed indicated by dotted line 64.
  • the contact surface or edge 86 of the upper card throat knife again rests on the upper surface of card 16' but in this case, this contact edge 86 moves below the normal plane of card movement as defined by dotted line 64.
  • the gap 38 between the upper and lower throat knives is in alignment with the leading edge of the card 16' being fed, and will not obstruct that particular card although, the leading edges of the remaining cards of the stack again abut rear contact face 88 of the lower throat knife 34.
  • the illustrated embodiment employs a rectangular flexure strip or piece of plastic such as polypropylene it is obvious that plastic materials other than polypropylene may be substituted therefor, or alternatively a rubber strip may be employed.
  • a simple pivot axis may be defined for the fixedly coupled upper and lower pivot arms by employing a pivot pin or other element mounted for assembly pivot about a horizontal axis parallel to the axis of card feed.
  • the elements of the floating throat knife assembly 30, may be formed of metal or plastic material.
  • a card feed mechanism including means for biasing a stack of cards against a card pick device contacting the uppermost card of the stack, the improvement comprising:
  • a throat knife assembly including upper and lower throat knives defining a throat gap of constant dimension
  • said means for pivotably supporting said throat knife assembly comprises a bracket including upper and lower pivot arms, a fixed supporting member to one side of said stack and a strip of flexible material, one end of which is fixedly coupled to said supporting member and the other end being coupled to said bracket.
  • the card feed mechanism as claimed in claim 1 further including means for adjusting the position of one of said throat knives with respect to its pivot arm whereby, the dimension of said throat gap between said upper and lower throat knives may be readily varied.
  • a throat knife assembly including upper and lower knives forming a throat gap of fixed dimension
  • said throat knife assembly comprises bracket means having upper and lower pivot arms fixedly coupled to a plate lying laterally to one side of the feed path, and said pivot support means comprises a fiexure block, one end of which is coupled to said bracket plate.
  • the card feed mechanism as claimed in claim 6 further including; a fixed side plate defining the lateral limit of the card feed path at right angles to the bracket pivot arms, and parallel to the fixed side plate, and means for fixably coupling the other end of said flexure block to said side plate.
  • the card feed mechanism as claimed in claim 4 further including means for mounting said pivotable throat knife assembly such that the contact surface of the upper throat knife lies below the plane of card feed in absence of a card stack.
  • the card feed mechanism as claimed in claim 7 further including means for mounting said pivotable throat knife assembly such that the contact surface of the upper throat knife lies below the plane of card feed in the absence of a card stack.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
  • Conveying Record Carriers (AREA)
US754643A 1968-08-22 1968-08-22 Floating throat knife Expired - Lifetime US3531106A (en)

Priority Applications (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US754643A US3531106A (en) 1968-08-22 1968-08-22 Floating throat knife
FR6923621A FR2016993A1 (fr) 1968-08-22 1969-07-08
DE19691938258 DE1938258A1 (de) 1968-08-22 1969-07-28 Zufuehreinrichtung fuer kartenfoermige Aufzeichnungstraeger
GB38211/69A GB1216796A (en) 1968-08-22 1969-07-30 Card feeding apparatus
JP6961748A JPS5016198B1 (fr) 1968-08-22 1969-08-06

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US754643A US3531106A (en) 1968-08-22 1968-08-22 Floating throat knife

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3531106A true US3531106A (en) 1970-09-29

Family

ID=25035701

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US754643A Expired - Lifetime US3531106A (en) 1968-08-22 1968-08-22 Floating throat knife

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US3531106A (fr)
JP (1) JPS5016198B1 (fr)
DE (1) DE1938258A1 (fr)
FR (1) FR2016993A1 (fr)
GB (1) GB1216796A (fr)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5826043U (ja) * 1981-08-11 1983-02-19 シャープ株式会社 給紙用カセツト
DE4004568A1 (de) * 1989-02-14 1990-08-16 Canon Kk Blattzufuhrvorrichtung
US6220511B1 (en) 1998-11-10 2001-04-24 Datacard Corporation Card issuance system and process
US6446832B1 (en) 1998-03-27 2002-09-10 Datacard Corporation Virtual multihopper card feeder
GB2403469A (en) * 2003-06-30 2005-01-05 Asahi Seiko Co Ltd A method and apparatus for dispensing flexible cards

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS53143756U (fr) * 1977-04-18 1978-11-13
US4635919A (en) * 1984-10-31 1987-01-13 International Business Machines Corporation Floating document throat
JP4800976B2 (ja) * 2007-01-09 2011-10-26 日立オムロンターミナルソリューションズ株式会社 媒体繰出装置

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3414258A (en) * 1966-12-12 1968-12-03 Ibm Record card feeding apparatus
US3421754A (en) * 1966-07-05 1969-01-14 Honeywell Inc Selection apparatus

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3421754A (en) * 1966-07-05 1969-01-14 Honeywell Inc Selection apparatus
US3414258A (en) * 1966-12-12 1968-12-03 Ibm Record card feeding apparatus

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5826043U (ja) * 1981-08-11 1983-02-19 シャープ株式会社 給紙用カセツト
JPS6312107Y2 (fr) * 1981-08-11 1988-04-07
DE4004568A1 (de) * 1989-02-14 1990-08-16 Canon Kk Blattzufuhrvorrichtung
US5145164A (en) * 1989-02-14 1992-09-08 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Sheet feeding apparatus
US6446832B1 (en) 1998-03-27 2002-09-10 Datacard Corporation Virtual multihopper card feeder
US6220511B1 (en) 1998-11-10 2001-04-24 Datacard Corporation Card issuance system and process
GB2403469A (en) * 2003-06-30 2005-01-05 Asahi Seiko Co Ltd A method and apparatus for dispensing flexible cards
GB2403469B (en) * 2003-06-30 2006-06-28 Asahi Seiko Co Ltd A method and apparatus for dispensing flexible cards

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2016993A1 (fr) 1970-05-15
GB1216796A (en) 1970-12-23
JPS5016198B1 (fr) 1975-06-11
DE1938258A1 (de) 1970-02-26

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