Punchcard Read-feed Mechanism

Abstract

A punchcard read-feed mechanism having a plurality of opposing pairs of card feed rollers wherein only one roller of each pair is directly associated with a main power source through appropriate gearing while the other rollers of each pair are not associated with any gearing and are driven by the first-mentioned rollers of each pair, making it possible where desirable to mount all of the nongear driven rollers on a separate carrier which is separable from the structure supporting the gear-driven rollers whereby cleaning and clearing the mechanism is greatly facilitated. A card switch mechanism as part of the punchcard read-feed mechanism having an actuator arm disposed at the center of the card read mechanism whereby the card read switch is operated by any card passing through the read-feed mechanism regardless of its column width.

Description

The first and most important requirement of the card transporting portion of a punchcard read-feed mechanism is that it deliver the punchcards passed through the one or more read stations at a uniform predetermined rate of speed with all portions of the card traveling at the same speed at all times to avoid cocking of the card while being transported. Prior to the present invention, this important requirement has been met by providing a plurality of pairs of cards feed rollers wherein both rollers of a given pair have associated therewith a gear which is connected by an appropriate transmission means to the main power source of the unit. More particularly, all of the feed roller gears intermesh with one or more of the other feed roller gears in order to assure a constant and uniform feed rate for cards transported by the feed rollers associated with such gears.

Provision of a separate gear for each of the feed rollers results in a relatively expensive power transmission means for the read-feed unit while increasing the possibility of malfunction due to a misaligned or broken gears. The present invention provides a punchcard read-feed unit having a card-transporting means comprising of a plurality of pairs of feed rollers wherein only one roller of each pair has a gear connected thereto while the other roller of each pair is free from any direct connection to the power source as through a gearing arrangement. By eliminating one gear for each pair of feed rollers, the present invention reduces the cost of the power transmission portion of the read-feed mechanism and at the same time reduces the possibility of malfunction due to gear failure.

A further disadvantage of prior art read-feed units having a gear associated with each of the card feed rollers resides in the necessity of maintaining precise alignment between all of the roller gears, which prevents the rollers from being easily separated from one another for the purposes of clearing a jammed card or cleaning the machine. In prior art devices, the rollers of a given pair are mounted in permanent juxtaposition such that to separate one roller of a pair from the other requires a trained mechanic and results in significant downtime of the machine.

By virtue of the teachings of the present invention, it is possible to mount one of each pair of feed rollers on a carrier frame structure which is readily separable from the main frame structure supporting the gear-driven rollers. The separation and relocation of the nongear-driven rollers is made possible by the elimination of gears which in the prior art require precise alignment for proper intermeshing. By the arrangement of parts taught by the present invention, it is possible for the operator of the machine, without the assistance of a trained mechanic, to clear jammed cards and expose internal parts for cleaning.

The card feed rollers described above function to pass punched cards through one or more reading stations wherein the data on the cards in the form of punched holes is transmitted into electrical pulses and transmitted to a data-receiving device, as is well known in the art. The card-reading stations comprise a plurality (normally 80) of individual brushes mounted in opposing relationship to a cylindrical read roller designed and equipped to carry an electric potential. As a card is passed between the brushes and roller, the presence of a hole in a card is detected by an electrical pulse on one of the brushes made possible by continuity between the roller and the brush through the hole in the card. It is a well-known practice to provide the roller with potential only during the times when a card is passing through the read station and for this purpose a card switch is normally provided to enable potential to be applied to the read roller only when operated by a card passing through the feed station.

Card switches of the prior art are mounted relative to the read roller and brushes such that the card switch actuating arm is disposed at a location to one side of the end of the read roller. While this arrangement works satisfactorily for a card read-feed mechanism designed to process cards of a fixed column width, a problem occurs when cards of a different column width are presented for processing through the mechanism. Cards having fewer columns than that for which the mechanism is designed will not extend beyond the end of the read roller and thus will not actuate the card switch and the read roller will not be properly energized. Thus prior art devices require that the read roller have a width which is specifically matched to the column width of the cards to be processed and are incapable of accepting cards of a different width unless a new read roller is supplied and the card switch relocated appropriately.

The present invention teaches a universal card switch assembly which is located at the midpoint of the read station whereby any card which is transported through the read station by the card feed rollers will actuate the card switch regardless of the particular width of the card. By virtue of this improvement, a read roller can be employed which has a width great enough to enable 80-column cards to be read and at the same time receive and process 22-column cards without requiring a substitution of read rollers or a relocation of the card switch.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved card read-feed mechanism which eliminates one gear for each pair of feed rollers whereby the rollers not associated with a gear can be mounted on a separate carrier for easy separation from the main supporting frame carrying the gear driven rollers.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a universal card switch in connection with the read stations of a punchcard read-feed mechanism whereby cards of various column widths can be processed without requiring any internal modifications of the machines.

Further and more specific objects and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent in the following specification wherein a preferred form of the invention is described by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the punchcard read-feed mechanism of the present invention wherein certain portions have been broken away to more clearly disclose the internal mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the card read-feed mechanism of the present invention taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the card read-feed mechanism of the present invention taken along the line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side sectional view of a card read station showing the novel card switch assembly taught by the present invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a punchcard read-feed mechanism 11 operates to transport punched card 12 from a card hopper 13 through card-reading means such as stations 14 and 16 where the data in the form of holes in the cards is transmitted into electrical impulses, as is well known in the art. Since the impulses which occur at the card-reading stations must be properly timed with relation to a data-receiving mechanism (not shown), it is imperative that the card be transported through the card read-feed mechanism at a constant, uniform rate of speed.

A motor 17 which provides the source of driving power for the read-feed mechanism, operates through a gear mechanism 18 to rotate a shaft 19 having a pulley wheel 21 secured to the end thereof. Pulley wheel 21 carries a drive belt 22 which engages a second pulley wheel 23 secured to the read-feed mechanism's main drive shaft 24 through a clutch 25 whereby the motor 17 operates to drive the shaft 24 at a predetermined rate of speed.

Secured to shaft 24 is a card hopper feed lever mechanism 26 which operates in a conventional manner to deliver cards, one at a time, from the hopper 13 to the read-feed mechanism which transports the cards through the read stations 14 and 16, to be described in detail below.

Also secured to main drive shaft 24 is a main drive gear 27 which operates to transmit driving power to the several gear-driven rollers comprising a portion of the read-feed mechanism.

A plurality of pairs of card feed rollers 31, 32, 33 and 34 operate to transport cards from hopper 13 to a card catcher 36 and in so pass the cards through the read stations 14 and 16. The card feed roller pairs include gear-driven rollers 31a, 32a, 33a, and 34a which are standard card feed rollers of generally cylindrical configuration having spaced apart annular card engaging portions. The rollers 31a, 32a, 33a, and 34a are all mounted for rotation on a main support frame 41 comprising a pair of spaced apart main frame side members 41a and 41b in which the rollers 31a, 32a, 33a, and 34a are journaled for rotation.

Each of rollers 31a, 32a, 33a and 34a include a portion which extends through member 41b and to which feed roller drive gears 51, 52, 53 and 54 are secured, respectively.

The card feed roller pairs also include nongear-driven rollers 31b, 32b, 33b, and 34b which are cylindrical in geometry and formed of a resilient material such as rubber. These rollers are mounted on a separable roller carrier 56 which is hinged to the main roller support frame 41 as by pivot connection 57. The ends of rollers 31b, 32b, 33b, and 34b are journaled for rotation in the carrier 56 but unlike the rollers 31a, 32a, 33a, and 34a do not have any drive gears associated therewith.

When the read-feed mechanism is conditioned for processing cards 12, the carrier 56 is rotated about pivot connection 57 to a closed position in which a spacing means in the form of a boss 58 contacts an upper edge 59 of the main roller support structure 41. The carrier is then secured in that position as by locking screws 61. By careful machining of boss 58, the location of the gear-driven feed rollers relative to the resilient, nongear-driven rollers, is accurately determined. The boss 58 is machined to a thickness which produces an interference clearance of approximately 0.005 inch between the rollers forming a feed roller pair. Thus, when the gear-driven rollers are driven (as will be described in greater detail below) the resilient rollers in engagement therewith are also driven. It is essential, of course, that the roller 31b, 32b, 33b, and 34b be formed of a resilient relatively high friction material such as rubber in order to allow for the interference clearance specified above.

In addition to the gear-driven feed rollers, the main support frame 41 also carries read rollers 61 and 62, the ends of which are journaled for rotation in the side frame members 41a and 41b. Each of rollers 61 and 62 includes a portion which extends through side frame member 41b and carries a read roller drive gear 63 and 64 respectively.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 2, a continuous drive train is formed by the serial intermeshing relationship between main drive gear 27, roller gear 51, feed roller gear 64, roller gear 52, transfer gear 71, roller gear 53, read roller gear 63 and roller gear 54. As the main drive shaft 24 is driven, the gear-driven feed rollers and read rollers are all operated at the same rotational speed by virtue of the various intermeshing gears (other than gear 27) being of identical diameters. It will be readily appreciated by reference to FIG. 2 that the elimination of drive gears for each of rollers 31b, 32b, 33b and 34b greatly simplifies the gear drive train thus reducing the cost of the mechanism and also minimizing the possibility of mechanical failure due to a misaligned or broken gear.

In operation, cards 12 are fed, one at a time, by feed mechanism 26 between rollers 31a and 31b which are rotating clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively. As mentioned above, roller 31b is positioned to have an interference clearance with roller 31a of approximately 0.005 inch and is thus driven by roller 31a. When a card is introduced between the rollers, an additional 0.005 to 0.007 inch interference is established by the thickness of the card which further increase the driving engagement between the rollers forming roller pair 31. The presence of a 0.010 to 0.012 inch interference between roller 31a and 31b assures a smooth, uniform, and constant speed delivery of the card between the rollers into the first card guide 72.

Card guide 72 comprises an upper guide member 72a and a lower guide member 72b which form a diverging passage between roller pair 31 and the first read station 14. The diverging passage formed by guide 72 assures proper entry of the cards into the first read station where, as mentioned above, the data on the card is detected and transformed into electrical pulses. Immediately prior to a card exiting from between rollers 31a and 31b, the leading edge of the card enters between rollers 32a and 32b comprising feed roller pair 32 providing for continued transportation of the card. Rollers 32 have the same driving relationship as that described previously with respect to rollers 31 whereby the cards are transported in a smooth continuous manner to the feed rollers 33 which similarly operate to secure and carry the card forward. As the card emerges from between rollers 33, it is directed into a second card guide 74 comprising an upper guide member 74a and a lower guide member 74b which together form a diverging passage between rollers 33 and the second card read station 16. As the card passes through read station 16, the data contained thereon is one again transformed into electrical signals as previously described with reference to read station 14.

Just prior to the card exiting from between rollers 33, the leading edge of the card enters between rollers 34 which rollers operate to direct and deposit the cards into a card catcher 36. While the particular read-feed mechanism described employs two lead stations giving the mechanism a comparing mode capability, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that read-feed mechanisms having a single read station are also in common use and the present invention applies equally with regard thereto.

If during the course of processing cards 12 a card should become jammed in the feed mechanism described above, it can be easily and quickly cleared by separating the nongear-driven rollers from their associated gear-driven feed rollers by separating roller carrier 56 from the main support frame 41. In addition to being readily cleared of jammed cards, the read-feed mechanism taught by the present invention is also easily cleaned since access to the internal parts is greatly facilitated by the easy separation of the upper feed rollers from their associated lower feed roller counterparts.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, read stations 14 and 16 each comprise a plurality of brush holders 81 (only one of which is shown), each of which supports a brush 82 which is held in position as by a screw 83. The holders 81 are mounted in a bracket assembly 86 in a well-known manner to position the brushes 82 longitudinally with respect to a read roller 84. A slotted comb member 87 (which also serves as a lower guide member) is secured to bracket 86 and positioned such that the brushes 82 extend between the slots 88 formed therein. Prior art devices provide a card switch having an actuator arm disposed outboard of one end of the read roller 84 to avoid contact with the roller such that only cards having a sufficient column width to extend beyond the particular read roller 84 are capable of actuating the card switch. Thus with prior art devices, it is impossible to process cards having a smaller number of columns. If a read roller 84 is provided, for example, for reading 22-column cards, it is not possible to process 80-column cards since the length of roller 84 would not be sufficient to span the entire card.

In the present invention, a card switch 91 is mounted to bracket 86 midway between its end so as to dispose its actuator arm 92 immediately below the midsection of roller 84. An actuator arm assembly 93 comprising an actuator arm bracket 94 and an insulated actuator arm operating lever 96, which is pivotally connected to bracket 94 as by pivot pin 97, is also mounted on bracket 86 in direct opposing relation to switch 91. The unpivoted end of lever 96 rests on actuator arm 92 while a portion of lever 96 extends up through comb 87 below roller 84 and slightly to one side of the roller axis. The lever arm 96 is thus disposed in the path traversed by cards passing through the read station such that the leading edge of each card operates to pivot lever 96 in a clockwise direction causing actuator arm 92 to be depressed and operate switch 91. The switch remains operated until the trailing edge of the card has completely passed through the operative portion of the read station thus assuring the existence of an operating potential on roller 84 during the time period in which the card is read (the switch being electrically associated with roller 84 in a well-known manner to apply voltage thereto when operated).

The presence of lever 96 at the midsection of roller 84 assures that cards of any column width will operate the card switch and thus energize the read station for proper operation. By providing a read roller 84 of a length sufficient to span a card of greatest column width for which the read-feed mechanism is designed, it is possible to accommodate cards of any smaller number of columns that may be introduced into the mechanism.

Claims

I claim:

1. In a punchcard read-feed mechanism the combination comprising:

a main support frame;

a roller carrier pivotally connected to said main support frame and having a closed position in which said carrier is at its closest position relative to said main frame and an open position in which said carrier is pivotally positioned at a spaced apart location from said main support frame;

a plurality of gear-driven feed rollers mounted on said support frame at spaced apart locations; and

a plurality of resilient, nongear-driven rollers mounted on said roller carrier, wherein each of said resilient rollers is mounted to be disposed in juxtaposition to one of said gear-driven rollers and in driving engagement therewith when said carrier is pivoted to its closed position whereby rotation of said gear driven rollers causes rotation of said nongear-driven rollers.

2. The read-feed mechanism of claim 1 further comprising: mechanical spacing means disposed between said main support frame and said carrier to accurately determine the positions of said nongear-driven rollers relative to said gear-driven rollers when said carrier is pivoted to its closed position.

3. The read-feed mechanism of claim 2 wherein said spacing means is dimensioned to produce at least a 0.005 inch interference clearance between said gear-driven rollers and said nongear-driven rollers when said carrier is pivoted to its closed position.

4. The read-feed mechanism of claim 2 further comprising; latching means disposed on said support frame structure and operative to secure said carrier in its closed position.

5. In a punchcard read means characterized by a cylindrical read roller, a plurality of brushes disposed longitudinally along the roller, a slotted comb between the roller and brushes through which the brushes extend, and a bracket for holding the roller, comb and brushes in their relative positions, the combination comprising;

a card switch for directing electric potential to the roller, having an actuator, disposed on the bracket on the brush side of the comb;

a card switch actuator lever disposed on the bracket at a location approximately midway between the ends of the roller and including a portion which extends through a slot in the comb to a position adjacent and beyond the roller portion closest to the comb whereby a card passing between the roller and comb will engage said lever, said lever operatively associated with said switch actuator to operate said switch when engaged by a card.

6. The read means of claim 5 further comprising; a pivot means for supporting said lever on the bracket whereby said lever is pivoted into operative engagement with said switch actuator when engaged by a card.

7. The read means of claim 6 wherein said actuator is formed of an insulator material.