US3592463A - Transport means for record cards - Google Patents

Transport means for record cards Download PDF

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Publication number
US3592463A
US3592463A US832720A US3592463DA US3592463A US 3592463 A US3592463 A US 3592463A US 832720 A US832720 A US 832720A US 3592463D A US3592463D A US 3592463DA US 3592463 A US3592463 A US 3592463A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
fingers
card
edge
deck
picker
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
US832720A
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English (en)
Inventor
Robert W Bonnema
Lawrence V Cote
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.)
Uptime Corp
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Uptime Corp
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Filing date
Publication date
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Publication of US3592463A publication Critical patent/US3592463A/en
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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
    • B65H3/24—Separating articles from piles by pushers engaging the edges of the articles
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
    • G06K13/00—Conveying record carriers from one station to another, e.g. from stack to punching mechanism
    • G06K13/02—Conveying record carriers from one station to another, e.g. from stack to punching mechanism the record carrier having longitudinal dimension comparable with transverse dimension, e.g. punched card
    • G06K13/08—Feeding or discharging cards
    • G06K13/10—Feeding or discharging cards from magazine to conveying arrangement
    • G06K13/103—Feeding or discharging cards from magazine to conveying arrangement using mechanical means
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
    • B65H2301/40—Type of handling process
    • B65H2301/42—Piling, depiling, handling piles
    • B65H2301/423—Depiling; Separating articles from a pile
    • B65H2301/4232—Depiling; Separating articles from a pile of horizontal or inclined articles, i.e. wherein articles support fully or in part the mass of other articles in the piles
    • B65H2301/42322—Depiling; Separating articles from a pile of horizontal or inclined articles, i.e. wherein articles support fully or in part the mass of other articles in the piles from bottom of the pile
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2701/00—Handled material; Storage means
    • B65H2701/10—Handled articles or webs
    • B65H2701/19—Specific article or web
    • B65H2701/1914—Cards, e.g. telephone, credit and identity cards

Definitions

  • Transport means sequentially picks bottom cards from deck in supply hopper and moves them across platform bottom of hopper into engagement with drive rolls to pass them across the read station of the card reader.
  • Picking means reciprocated by carriage is made of resilient sheet metal with individual fingers extending in direction of recipro cation. Fingers normally extend above platform to engage card deck and yield to its pressure. Pickers at finger ends have detent portions to engage edge of bottom cards to pull them across platform.
  • Detents extend in line perpendicular to fingers to engage major portion of length of card edge and reduce unit loading to avoid tearing or chipping. Pickers and fingers yield individually in bending and torsion to accommodate cards which are bowed either convex or concave to produce maximum engagement.
  • This invention lies in the field of card-reading machines of the type which are provided with an input hopper to receive a supply deck of record cards such as punched tabulating cards, a platform to support the deck, picking means to sequentially engage the lowermost cards in the deck and move them across the platform, drive rolls to sequentially receive the cards and pass them across a card reader. and a stacking or output hopper to receive the cards after they are read.
  • the invention is directed more particularly to the picking means which ongages the adjacent edge of the lowermost card in the deck to separate it from the next card and cause it to slide under the deck to a position where it is gripped by the drive rolls and passed through the reading station.
  • Machines of the type referred to above are in rather general use and carry out their primary purpose very satisfactorily.
  • the card readers at the reading stations are capable of analyzing cards at extremely high rates of speed, such as 1,000 or 2,000 cards per minute.
  • One type of picking means which operates on a modified form of reading machine employs a vacuum cup on a swinging arm, the vacuum cup picking cards off the top of a deck and moving them some distance toward a reading station. As speeds in crease, the top card tends to pick up the next one or more succeeding cards because of their close facewise engagement. Thus, this type is limited to rather low speeds and cannot use the capacity of the card reader.
  • the more usual type is a picker having a hook or detent engaging the adjacent edge of a card and then reciprocating in an opening in the hopper platform to move the card into engagement with the drive rolls.
  • This type is capable of operating at high speeds but not very satisfactorily.
  • the picker is a rigid body with a very small hook or detent which engages a very short length of the edge of a card, in some cases as little as one-eighth inch.
  • the hook strikes such a small portion of the card edge at high speed, it has a strong tendency to dent or chip the edge so that it may not feed properly the next time it is used.
  • the small hook often fails to properly engage a card edge which has been previously damaged, and a stoppage results.
  • the hook will not engage them at all. If they are convex downwardly the hook may take tvto cards at a time or do considerable damage to the lower one.
  • the present invention overcomes the difficulties mentioned above by providing a transport mechanism which will engage every card as intended whether the edge is bowed or otherwise distorted or considerably damaged, and the nature of its engagement eliminates the possibility of edge damage.
  • a carriage or support which reciprocates in or beneath an elongate opening in the platform defining the bottom of the input hopper along a path generally parallel to the upper surface of the platform. and toward and away from a set of drive rolls located beyond an edge of the platform.
  • the picker means in its preferred form comprises a very thin sheet of resilient metal, such as spring brass, which is generally rectangular in form.
  • One margin which may be con sidered the leading edge, is attached to the carriage and constitutes a support for a plurality of slender elongate fingers lefined by slots cut through the sheet and extending to the opposite margin or trailing edge of the sheet.
  • picker fingers constitute individual pickers which are free to move independently up and down or about the axes of their respective fingers.
  • Each picker is terminated at the trailing edge by an upstanding detent portion sized and shaped to engage the adjacent edge of the lowermost card in the deck.
  • the slots are of substantial width in the intermediate porlon of the sheet but are mere parting slits at the trailing edge.
  • the pickers present a substantially conlimmu: flat late area to underlie the trailing edge of the deck, which is the edge remote from the drive rolls.
  • the detent portions are as wide as the pickers and therefore they present a substantially continuous detent.
  • the total width of the combined pickers and detents is equal to a major portion of the length of the adjacent edge of the card deck. Therefore the unit load on a card edge produced by contact of the detent at the beginning of the reciprocation is very low and damage is precluded.
  • the major portion of the detent will engage the undamaged remainder of the card edge.
  • the metal sheet is so mounted that its leading edge lies slightly below the upper surface of the platform and the remainder extends rearwardly and upwardly to a point above the platform surface.
  • FIG. I is a schematic view in perspective showing the transport means and its relation to the remainder of a card-reading machine
  • FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, showing the relation of the transport means to a supply deck of cards;
  • FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating the action of the transport means
  • FIG. 4 is a plan view ofthe preferred form of picking means
  • FIGS. 5 and 6 are end views of the picking means engaged by bowed cards
  • FIG. 7 is a plan view ofa modified form ofpicking means
  • FIG. 8 is a plan view of another modified form of picking means
  • FIG. 9 is a plan view of still another modified form of picking means.
  • FIG. 10 is a plan view of a picker finger having a picker movably attached thereto;
  • FIG. I is a sectional view taken on line llll of FIG. 10;
  • FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken on line 1242 of FIG. II.
  • FIG. 13 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 10 showing picker fingers of another configuration.
  • the invention is generally illustrated in its relation to a total card-reading machine in FIG. 1, where it will be seen that the transport means I0 is located in the upper portion of the machine casing 12, shown in phantom lines, and at one end thereof. Its function is to sequentially remove record cards from the bottom of a supply deck placed in the input hopper 14 and move them longitudinally into engagement with a set of drive rolls 16 which grip each card and pass it through a reading station 18 which includes a light source 20 and a reader 22 in the form ofa row of photosensors. After it leaves the reading station, each card passes through additional drive rolls 24 and then free-falls to a stack in output hopper 26.
  • a motor 28 drives a clutch mechanism 30 by means of belt 32 and pulley 34, and drives the drive rolls through additional pulley, belt and gear means not primarily concerned with the invention.
  • the input hopper 14 includes upwardly extending guide walls 36 and a platform 38 which defines the bottom of the hopper.
  • the cards to be handled are rectangular and somewhat more than twice as long as they are wide.
  • the platform is of the same shape as the cards di'itl is illl'ttllgLtl as shown in FIG. 1 so that the cards will be transported in the direction of their longitudinal axes toward the drive rolls to which are just beyond the one end of the platform. lliis at rangement is used in the machine because the crizorinatlon to be read is programmed along the longitudinal axes of the card.
  • the invention operates in the same way if used with a machine in which the cards are transported in the direction oftheir lateral axes. MOreover. the machine need not he set in the basically horizontal arrangement as show but may he at various angles so long as there is a vertical component to the movement ofthe card deck.
  • Platform 38 is provided with a generally rectangular opening 40 for receiving a carriage 42 as shown in FIGS 2 and 3. which reciprocates toward and away from drive rolls 16 as indicated by the arrows.
  • Picking means for sequentially trans porting the lowermost cards of the deck longitudinally into en gagement with the drive rolls is shown in its presently preferred form as a generally rectangular sheet 44 of very thin resilient metal, such as sheet brass.
  • fhe margin or support 46 nearest to the drive rolls and perpendicular to the direction of reciprocation is connected to the carriage by any suitable means and is considered as the leading edge.
  • I he opposite or free margin 48 remote from the drive roll sand also perpendicular to the direction of reciprocation is considered as the trailing edge.
  • FIGS. 1 2. and 3 the general operation of the device is illustrated in FIGS. 1 2. and 3. It will be seen that the remainder 50 of sheet 44 behind leading edge 46 is angled upwardly and rearwardly, and the sheet is mounted on .he carriage so that leading edge 46 is located slightly below the upper surface 52 of the platform while portion 50 is angled to such an extent that the trailing edge 48 is above surface 52 when not loaded by the card deck 54 seen best in FIG. 2.
  • Deient means 56 is provided at trailing edge 48 and comprises an upwardly eii tending formation sized and shaped to engage the adjacent edge of the lowermost card 58.
  • the spring rate of sheet -44 is low enough to allow it to yield readily under the pressuie of the card deck so that the deck Wlll lie directly on the platform with sheet 44 close beneath it.
  • Clutch mechanism 30 shown in FIG I is contiinii usly driven by motor 28 and is constructed in known manner to re peatedly or sequentially actuate its lever arm 60 to pull link 62 forward toward the reading station and return it to a pootioii of rest as shown in FIG lv
  • Link 62 is pivotally connected to arm 64 fixedly connected to and depending from carriage 42.
  • the carriage itself is slidably mounted on shaft 66 carried by brackets 68 depe ding from platform 38. Hence, each time the clutch mecharin cycles, carriage 42 recipiocates once along a path substantially parallel to the plane ofthe platform through a predetermined distance toward and away from the drive rolls l6 When the card deck 54 is lowered to the position of Flt).
  • the portion 50 of sheet 44 is pierced by slots 76, 72, '74 extending perpendicular to the leading and trailing edges and dividing the sheet into a plurality of elongate slender resilient picker fingers 7b 78, and 80, which are adapted to flex independently under the pressure of various parts of the card deck.
  • the slots are rela tively wide throughout most of their lengths but are very narrow adjacent to the trailing edge 48 to define individual pickers 52 which LDmblHC to produce a substantially continuour picker body across the width of the sheet.
  • Each picker is rovided with an upstanding detent portion 84 which likewise combine to produce a substantially continuous detent across the trailing edge ofthe sheetv
  • the graduated length ofthe slots with the shortest slot at the longitudinal center provides graduated resiliency in the fingers. those adjacent the margin being most resilient.
  • FIGS 5 and 6 illustrate how the individual fingers flex to accominodate cards which are bowed upward or downward about the longitudinal axes ofthe cards.
  • the resiliency of the lingers allows them to twist slightly about their longitu diiiiil axes so that the pickers will be in intimate facewise contact with the ⁇ JllOUb portions of the card bottoms. The amount of bowing has been exaggerated in the FIGS. to more clearly illustrate the problem and the solution.
  • sheet 44 is provided with slots 86 which are all of the same length and define fingers 88 which are all of the same length The slots extend almost the full length oi the sheet and hence the fingers are all more tciilllutll than any of the fingers in the form of FIG. 4
  • the slots 90 are substantially broadened at an intermediate locus and the outer margins 92 an; cut away to it corresponding extent so that each resulting linger '94 has a very narrow necked down portion 96 at an intermediate locus.
  • the resulting reduction in torsional re sisiiince assists the pickers to assume the attitudes shown in NUS. 5 and 6.
  • the intermediate portion 50 of the sheet 44 la dispiici-il iftllTl a plane tontainiiig the leading edge 46 illld the trailing edge or iietcnt portion 48 or 56 iii a direction pill tll' :ltl lCFl' htii ril'lgl 'iteni ⁇ 1t)rti11- l hc displacement is sh wn as a smooth curve but ii may take any form which will pi'widi: a clearance space for the deformed cards and still locate the trailing edge and deterit high enough to engage the card edge.
  • FIGS. It A turthei modification is shown in FIGS. It) to l2 where a plurality ot'tapercil lingers 98 extend rearwardly from leading edge and support 46.
  • the nailing free end 100 is considerably wider than the intermediate portion to form tabs 192 which are bent downwardly and inwardly to form an oval tubular hearing
  • a separate picker is formed ofa rectangular foot sec- Ililfi 04 having an upturned flange 106 at its outer free end which defines a detent portion equivalent to those of the t'it'L.li1Uh forms.
  • ft iiiithcr riiodificatioii is shown in l'l(i L! where a plurality of fingers HR extend iezirwarilly from leading edge and support "6.
  • the fingers "8 are constructed from a cylindrically shaped rod and. as such. may flex easily whereby the ends thereof(not shown) may engage the end ofa card.
  • the fingers may be made individually and separately secured to the carriage or other support, but the integral type is preferably for ease of manufacture and continued accuracy in use.
  • Apparatus for sequentially transporting record cards from a supply deck to a receiving station of a card-handling machine comprising: an input hopper to contain a supply deck of record cards; the hopper including upwardly extending guide walls and having an exit end adjacent to the receiving station; a platform defining the bottom of the hopper; an elongate passage through said platform having a horizontal longitudinal axis extending toward and away from the receiving station; and picking means to remove cards sequentially from the bottom of the deck and transport them toward the receiving station; the picking means including a laterally ex tensive carriage having a relatively small fore and aft dimension and mounted for reciprocating movement within the passage and below the upper surface of the platform along the longitudinal axis of the passage through a predetermined distance toward and away from the receiving station; and a plurality of card-edge-engaging pickers connected to the carriage and extending a substantial distance rearward thereof in a direction opposite to the receiving station for reciprocation with the carriage; each picker having an upstanding detent portion at its free end
  • each picker being independently movable upward and downward and being resiliently biased to a normal position with its detent portion above the platform but yieldable to a position below the upper surface of the platform behind the carriage and within the passage;
  • the pickers. at the limit of their movement away from the receiving station being located to underlie the portion of a card deck remote from the receiving station with their detent portions beyond the edge of the deck; the resilient biasing force being slight enough to allow the pickers to yield under the pressure of the deck; and the detent portions being shaped and sized to engage the edge of the lowermost card in the deck and transport the card forward toward the receiving station upon reciprocation of the carriage.
  • each of said detent portions having a substantial length parallel to the edge of an adjacent-card and the combined lengths of said detent portions being a major portion of the length of the adjacent card edge to minimize the unit load on the card edge.
  • each picker having a substantially flat upper surface adjacent to its detent portion; and each picker being movable to a limited extent about an axis generally parallel to the direction of reciprocation to facilitate intimate facewise contact with the adjacent portion of a card which is bowed about an axis parallel to the direction of reciprocation and proper engagement of the detent portions with the card edge.
  • Picking means for use in the card transport mechanism of a card-reading machine comprising: a support; a plurality of slender elongate picker fingers connected to said support and extending parallel to each other away from said support with the fingers lying in a substantially common plane with each other and with said support; the free ends of said fingers being spaced from said support by distances equal to the lengths of said fingers; a picker at the free end of each finger; and an upstanding detent portion at the edge of each picker sized and shaped to engage the adjacent edge of the lowermost card to a deck of record cards; said detent portions being arranged in a straight line perpendicular to the axes of said fingers; and said fingers being formed of resilient material having a low spring rate to yield readily in bending and torsion to the pressure of a card deck; said fingers being yieldably movable to positions both above and below the plane of said support.
  • Picking means for use in the card transport mechanism of a card-reading machine comprising: a support; a plurality of slender elongate picker fingers connected to said support and extending parallel to each other in a generally common plane; a picker at the free end of each finger; and an upstanding detent portion at the edge of each picker sized and shaped to engage the adjacent edge of the lowermost card ofa deck of record cards; said detent portions being arranged in a straight line perpendicular to the axes of said fingers; and said fingers being formed of resilient material having a low spring rate to yield readily to the pressure ofa card deck; said picking means being in the form of a generally rectangular thin sheet of resilient metal; one margin of the sheet being the support, the fingers being integrally connected thereto; aid fingers being defined by elongate slots extending perpendicularly to the length of the support margin and dividing the opposite margin into discrete portions.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
  • Conveying Record Carriers (AREA)
  • Feeding Of Articles By Means Other Than Belts Or Rollers (AREA)
US832720A 1969-06-12 1969-06-12 Transport means for record cards Expired - Lifetime US3592463A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US83272069A 1969-06-12 1969-06-12

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US3592463A true US3592463A (en) 1971-07-13

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US832720A Expired - Lifetime US3592463A (en) 1969-06-12 1969-06-12 Transport means for record cards

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US (1) US3592463A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS5038040B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE2027647A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR2050164A5 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3715115A (en) * 1971-03-15 1973-02-06 Harris Intertype Corp Sheet feeding apparatus
US3905293A (en) * 1973-01-26 1975-09-16 Addressograph Multigraph Plate feed mechanism
US20100123283A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yuji Hayakawa Sheet feeding apparatus, image processor and sheet feeding method

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1150210A (en) * 1914-07-25 1915-08-17 Samuel M Langston Co Sheet-feeding mechanism.
US1797692A (en) * 1929-11-05 1931-03-24 Samuel M Langston Co Sheet-feeding device
US2270871A (en) * 1940-10-12 1942-01-27 American Can Co Feeding device
US3380732A (en) * 1966-05-18 1968-04-30 Continental Can Co Sheet feeding apparatus

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1150210A (en) * 1914-07-25 1915-08-17 Samuel M Langston Co Sheet-feeding mechanism.
US1797692A (en) * 1929-11-05 1931-03-24 Samuel M Langston Co Sheet-feeding device
US2270871A (en) * 1940-10-12 1942-01-27 American Can Co Feeding device
US3380732A (en) * 1966-05-18 1968-04-30 Continental Can Co Sheet feeding apparatus

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3715115A (en) * 1971-03-15 1973-02-06 Harris Intertype Corp Sheet feeding apparatus
US3905293A (en) * 1973-01-26 1975-09-16 Addressograph Multigraph Plate feed mechanism
US20100123283A1 (en) * 2008-11-18 2010-05-20 Yuji Hayakawa Sheet feeding apparatus, image processor and sheet feeding method
US8020854B2 (en) * 2008-11-18 2011-09-20 Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Sheet feeding apparatus, image processor and sheet feeding method

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2050164A5 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-03-26
DE2027647A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1970-12-17
JPS5038040B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1975-12-06

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