U.S. patent number 3,738,486 [Application Number 05/140,154] was granted by the patent office on 1973-06-12 for card retrieval device.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Fuji Shashin Film Kabushiki Kaisha. Invention is credited to Shunkichi Igarashi, Takeshi Okano, Sho Takahama.
United States Patent |
3,738,486 |
Takahama , et al. |
June 12, 1973 |
CARD RETRIEVAL DEVICE
Abstract
A device for selectively drawing one of a large number of cards
by means of an electromagnet in which the cards are each provided
with an iron piece of a predetermined height at the leading edges
of the cards and at different positions from each other. In order
to provide selective drawal of the cards, a pressing means is
provided for holding those cards, pressing means is provided for
holding those cards which are not to be drawn. The operation of the
pressing means and the electromagnet is controlled by the use of a
microswitch.
Inventors: |
Takahama; Sho (Nishinomiya,
JA), Okano; Takeshi (Nishinomiya, JA),
Igarashi; Shunkichi (Tokyo, JA) |
Assignee: |
Fuji Shashin Film Kabushiki
Kaisha (Ashigarakami-gun, Kanagawa-ken, JA)
|
Family
ID: |
12620803 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/140,154 |
Filed: |
May 4, 1971 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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|
|
|
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May 18, 1970 [JA] |
|
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45/41888 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
209/609 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06K
21/04 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06K
21/00 (20060101); G06K 21/04 (20060101); B07c
003/16 () |
Field of
Search: |
;209/80.5,111.8,110.5 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Knowles; Allen N.
Claims
We claim:
1. A card retrieval device for selectively drawing a plurality of
cards, each said card including, at the front edge thereof, an iron
piece having a longitudinally extending projection and, at the rear
side edge thereof, a notch, said device comprising a plurality of
movable members selectively projected to or retracted from the
position of said iron piece to prevent the drawal of a card;
electromagnets which are movable towards the cards to a position
close enough to magnetically attract an iron piece and movable in
the opposite direction; and a hook member which is normally held in
engagement with said notches but disengages therefrom only for the
period when said movable members are in operation.
2. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein control
means is provided which controls the operational timing of the
respective members in such a manner that said hook member is
disengaged from the notches when said movable members are in a
position to selectively prevent the card drawal, and is brought
into engagement with said notches after a desired card has been
drawn to a position in which said hook member is not engageable
with the notch in said desired card.
3. A card retrieval device according to claim 2, wherein said
control means comprises an electric circuit including a plurality
of microswitches and the operation of said electromagnets is
associated with said microswitches.
4. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein the number
of said movable members is greater than the number of the cards to
be retrieved.
5. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein the number
of said electromagnets is greater than the number of the cards to
be retrieved.
6. A card retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein said
electromagnets are replaced by one elongated electromagnet, so that
the iron pieces on all of the cards are magnetically simultaneously
attracted by said electromagnet.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a retrieving device for cards or the
like, and more specifically to a device for selectively drawing a
desired one from a large number of microfilms, data cards, etc.
Various types of devices are known which automatically select and
draw either mechanically or electrically a desired card from a
large number of cards by making use of a retrieving code provided
on each card. These devices include, among many, one which
retrieves the cards by making use of punch holes or markings
provided in or on the respective cards, but the selecting means
employed therein is considerably complicated in construction. This
is because most of these devices are designed such that the codes
on the cards are detected while delivering the cards one by one
while shifting the cards, arranged in side-by-side juxtaposed
relation, in a lateral direction; therefore, the detecting means is
required to have a high electrical response speed and the sorting
or drawing means is required to have a relatively high operational
speed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a novel card retrieval device which
eliminates the above-described disadvantages of the prior art
retrieval devices.
Namely, the basic object of the invention is to provide a card
retrieval device which is simple in construction and easy to
operate.
Another object of the invention is to provide a card retrieval
device in which a desired card is automatically selected and drawn
by designating a code provided on said card externally and by
operating a push-button or the like.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a card
selecting and drawing device which comprises card drawing means
adapted to draw a desired card by attracting with the use of a
magnet an iron piece provided on said card and pressing means
adapted to retain the unnecessary cards.
The other objects of the invention will become apparent from the
following description of the embodiment of the invention.
In order to attain the objects set forth above, the device
according to the invention comprises card stoppers for selectively
pressing cards, a retainer member for retaining unnecessary cards
after a desired card has been drawn by the length of an iron piece
provided on each card and magnets for drawing the desired card.
Since the device of the invention is constructed as described
above, the desired card is drawn while holding the other cards
stationary and thereby the construction of the device can be
extremely simplified.
The term "card" as used herein means card-like sheets having any
type of information recorded therein, such as microfiche, slide
films for projectors and data cards.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIGS. 1 - 4 illustrate the operation of the essential portion of
the device according to the present invention, of which;
FIG. 1 is a side view showing the state in which card
selecting-drawing electromagnets are located closest to iron pieces
provided on cards or the like;
FIG. 2A is a side view showing the state in which one of the
electromagnets has drawn the corresponding card by the length of
the iron piece;
FIG. 2B is a top plan view of FIG. 2A;
FIG. 3A is a side view showing the state in which the electromagnet
has drawn the card by a length greater than the length of the iron
piece;
FIG. 3B is a top plan view of FIG. 3A; and
FIG. 4 is a front view of the device in the position of FIGS. 2A
and 2B;
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the electric circuit of the
electromagnets, etc. used in the device; and
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the timed operation of the
respective elements in the device.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
As shown in FIG. 1, the device according to the present invention
is designed for selectively drawing a desired card out of a
plurality of cards 11, 12, 13 . . . 19 which have longitudinally
(in the left to right direction as viewed in FIG. 1) elongate iron
pieces 110, 120, 130 . . . 190 at the front edges and notches 111,
121, 131 . . . 191 in the rear upper edges (in FIG. 1, the right
side is referred to as front and the left side as the rear)
respectively. The iron pieces 110, 120 . . . 190 respectively
provided on each card may be the same shape and may be provided on
the cards at different positions from each other, or alternatively
may be of the type having two or more projections with the
positions of the projections being varied between the cards. At any
rate, the position or positions of the projection or projections of
one card is or are differentiated from the position or positions of
the projection or projections of the other cards. Further, the iron
pieces are not necessarily made of iron but may be of any material
which is magnetically attractive. In this specification, nickel
pieces or pieces of other materials are generally called "iron
pieces."
A hook member 1 is arranged above the card and is moved upwards or
downwards electrically for engagement with or disengagement from
the notch 111 formed in said card. The hook member 1 is operated
with the timing to be described later, to hold the card against
movement. The notch 111 may obviously be formed at the rear lower
portion of the card depending upon the location of the hook member
operating mechanism.
Provided in front of the cards is a set of vertically juxtaposed
electromagnets A1, A2 . . . A10, generally indicated by numeral 2.
The set of electromagnets A1 . . . A10 may be substituted by one
longitudinally elongated electromagnet, but in the description
herein reference is made to an arrangement in which 10 separate
electromagnets are provided. The set of card drawing electromagnets
2 is operated by a motor in such a manner that it makes a
reciprocal movement towards and away from the cards, and upon
completion of its onward stroke, the set of electromagnets is
located in a position close enough to attract the iron pieces. It
is preferable from the viewpoint of simplification of the mechanism
that the set of electromagnets is moved at an equal speed on both
the onward and return strokes.
A plurality of card stoppers 3 (31 . . . 310) are provided at right
angles to the card drawing direction, i.e. the moving direction of
the card drawing electromagnets A1 . . . A10, and may be
reciprocated to prevent the drawal of the cards. The card stoppers
3 are longitudinally reciprocated by stopper operating members 4
(41 . . . . 410) in the leftward or rightward direction as viewed
in FIG. 4. The stopper operating members 4 respectively have one
end thereof engaging a respective card stopper 3 and the other end
swingably held by a frame 5 for swinging motion in a
counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 2B, under the effect
of electromagnets B. Further, each of the stopper operating members
4 is biased in a direction opposite to the attracting direction of
the electromagnet B, by a leaf spring 50 which is secured at its
root portion. Thus, it may be understood that each stopper
operating member 4 moves the corresponding card stopper 3 to the
right as viewed in FIG. 4, only for the period when the associated
electromagnet B is energized.
With character C representing an electromagnet by which the hook
member 1 is lifted to be disengaged from the notch 111, the
electric circuit of the electromagnets A, B, C is as shown in FIG.
5. As seen, the electromagnets B and C are constantly connected in
parallel and the electromagnets A and B are electrically connected
such that A1 and B1, A2 and B2, . . . A10 and B10 can be switched
over. Therefore, A1 and B1 will not be concurrently energized. A
switch 6 for A and B is so arranged that the connection will be
switched, for example, from B3 to A3 when a signal representative
of "3" is fed. The circuit connecting the electromagnet C in
parallel with the electromagnets A or B is turned on and off by a
relay R. The relay R is of the type that it is closed by one ON-OFF
operation of a microswitch S2 and cut off by another ON-OFF
operation of the same.
This microswitch S2 is arranged such that it is turned on and off
twice by a microswitch operating member 7 during one reciprocal
motion of the electromagnets 2, i.e. once during the onward stroke
and once during the return stroke of said electromagnets 2. The
microswitch operating member 7 is secured to the electromagnets 2
as shown in FIG. 1. Another microswitch S1 is provided in
side-by-side relation with the microswitch S2, on the side closer
to the cards. The position of this microswitch S1 is such that said
microswitch S1 will be turned on only when the electromagnets 2 are
held closest to the iron pieces on the cards. The electromagnets 2
are energized with a strong magnetic attractive force upon the
actuation of the microswitch S1.
According to the device of the present invention constructed as
described above, the following operation can be obtained by
actuating the respective electromagnets with a predetermined
timing.
FIG. 6 shows a diagram illustrating the timed operational relation
of the respective elements, in which the abscissa axis represents
time. Namely, the chart at the upper portion of FIG. 6 shows the
operation of the electromagnets 2, with the ordinate axis
representing distance. In this chart, character X designates the
rightward distance from the tip end of the iron piece. Hereinafter,
the operation of the subject device will be described with
reference to the drawings.
When a signal representative of the code, e.g. "3," of the desired
card is fed to the device by means of a push-button or the like,
only A3 of all the electromagnets 2 and all of the electromagnets B
other than B3 are placed in a condition to be energized (see FIG.
5) and the card drawing electromagnets 2 are moved at an equal
speed towards the cards by the drive of the motor. When the
electromagnets 2 have been moved to a position a predetermined
distance away from the cards and the microswitch S2 has been turned
on and off by the microswitch operating member 7 carried by said
electromagnets 2, the relay R is closed and all of the
electromagnets B (B1, B2, B4, . . . B10) except for B3 are
energized, whereby the card stoppers 31, 32, 34 . . . 310 are
shifted to the right as viewed in FIG. 4. At the same time the hook
member 1 sets the cards free. As the electromagnets 2 move further
towards the cards, the microswitch operating member actuates the
microswitch S1, so that the electromagnet A3 is strongly energized,
attracting the iron piece 130 on the card 13. Then, the
electromagnets 2 start to move towards the right and the
microswitch S1 is turned off. The magnetic force of the
electromagnet A3 is somewhat weakened when the microswitch S1 is
turned off and continuously draws the card 13 is continuously drawn
to the right. The magnetic force of the electromagnet is
instantaneously intensified as stated above, for the purpose of
positively drawing the card while overcoming the static friction
between the card 13 and the adjacent cards (see FIG. 2B). As the
electromagnets 2 move further to the right and the microswitch S2
is again turned on and off, the relay R is deenergized, so that the
electromagnets B and C are deenergized and the card stoppers 3 are
moved to the left as viewed in FIG. 4. Also, at the same time the
hook member 1 is lowered to hook the cards. In this case, the card
13 is not hooked as it has been drawn by the length of the iron
piece 131. Therefore, the card 13 only is drawn out incident to the
rightward movement of the electromagnets 2 (see FIG. 3B).
As described above, according to the device of the invention a card
having a specific code only can be selected and drawn out, by
feeding a signal representative of said code externally to the
device by means of the push-button or the like.
It will be understood from the foregoing description that this is
possible by the well timed operation of the card stoppers which
press the cards selectively, the hook member which engages the
notches in the cards after one card has been drawn by the length of
the iron piece, and the other elements. The device of such a
construction as described herein is novel and of great practical
value.
With the device of the invention, it is also possible to
simultaneously draw more than one card, by simultaneously
energizing more than one of the electromagnets.
The device of the invention can be applied to an automatic
microfiche retrieval device by combining it with a microfiche
reader, and also to a data card retrieval device.
* * * * *