Credit card imprinter with card-sensing form insertion interlock

A data recorder for imprinting credit card data on to paper sales forms for credit card transactions. The recorder includes a printing bed and a platen mounted for movement across the bed, whereby, when the card and form are in position on the bed, a roller on the platen moves over indicia on the card so transferring the data to the form. A lever is pivotally mounted and has two fingers projecting through apertures in the bed. When a card is correctly positioned the lever is pivoted so that the fingers are retracted whereby a form can be correctly positioned without disturbance upon movement of the platen. When the card is not correctly positioned, the lever is biased so that the fingers stand proud of the bed whereby movement of the platen displaces the form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a data recorder for imprinting credit card 
data onto paper sales forms for credit card transations. 
In the use of credit card imprinters it has been found that a percentage of 
clerks fail to insert the credit card before making a transation. As a 
result, the credit transaction fails to identify the purchaser and the 
merchant makes a loss. 
A means of discouraging this practice is in current use which restricts the 
print head or platen from moving out of its parked position if a credit 
card is not in its correct imprinting located on the data recorder. 
This system has the disadvantage that since it involves a mechanical block 
it invites breakage, which is particularly likely to occur when the 
mechanism is employed in the light weight, inexpensive types of imprinters 
in common use in retail stores. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In the present invention, failure to insert the credit card leaves a 
preferably brightly coloured obstruction in a position which prevents 
insertion of the paper sales form. Upon insertion of the credit card into 
its correct location the obstruction to the insertion of the form is 
removed. 
The advantages to the present invention are that machine reliability is 
greatly improved because inadvertent forcing of the print head mechanism 
is eliminated and because the invention can be put into practice with a 
very simple mechanism which is ultra simple, involving only one moving 
part which at no time is subjected to undue force. 
According to the present invention a data recorder has a printing bed and a 
printing platen mounted for movement across the bed, whereby information 
may be transferred from a card to a form, the bed having stop means and 
form displacement means being located adjacent the stop and retractably 
mounted relative to the bed and normally biased into a print preventing 
position in which they displace the form into the path of the platen and 
retractable into a print permitting position where the form can rest out 
of the path of the platen, the said retraction being occasioned by 
location of the credit card in the correct position on the printing bed. 
In a preferred form of the invention the bed preferably defines a card 
holding region and a form holding region which partly overlap with each 
other, whereby a card carrying embossed indicia when located in the card 
holding region will have its indicia in the overlapping region and a form, 
when located in the form holding region, will have a space on which the 
said indicia can be caused to imprint, thereby transferring information 
from the card to the form, the stop being located in the form holding 
region. The platen preferably carries a printing roller adapted to press 
the form against the indicia on the card when the platen is slid across 
the bed. 
The form displacement means preferably comprise a form engaging finger 
extending up through the top surface of the bed, a card engaging finger 
preferably also extends up through the top surface of the bed and is 
located so as to be pivotable from a position in which its card engaging 
edge is just inside the card holding region to one where it is at the edge 
of the card holding region in which position it causes the form engaging 
finger to be retracted to a print permitting position. 
The fingers are preferably mounted on a common lever which is pivoted by a 
pivot on an extension of the lever beyond the card engaging finger remote 
from the form engaging finger. The common lever is preferably pivoted in a 
holder attached to the underside of the print bed and the fingers extend 
up through apertures in the printing bed. 
Preferably at least the aperture in which the card engaging finger is 
located is chamfered at least at its upper edge on at least that edge 
nearest the card holding region. 
The pivot preferably involves lost motion. This has the advantage that mere 
vertical depression of the card engaging lever as by depression by the 
roller (in the absence of the card) is taken up by the lost motion which 
prevents pivoting and this causes merely the same depression of the form 
engaging finger and not pivoted retraction of that finger. Thus, the 
holder preferably has a slot elongated transverse to the surface of the 
printing bed so that the lever pivots about an axis parallel to the 
surface of the printing bed. 
The fingers are preferably cranked towards the card holding region. Thus on 
pivoting they still face upwardly and moreover do not snag the apertures. 
The end of the fingers are preferably chamfered so as to be approximately 
parallel to the surface of the printing bed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows a data recorder with a data recorder bed 10 having a short leg 
at each corner. Each leg carries a rubber suction pad 11 to enable the 
recorder to be held firmly in position on the surface on which it is to be 
used. The data recorder bed 10 is adapted to hold a credit card and a 
transaction record form in predefined relationship so that the account 
number on the card can be imprinted onto the correct location on the form. 
To this end the bed 10 has a card holding region 13 and form holding 
region 15 which partly overlap, as can be seen from the cross hatching in 
FIG. 1. 
The form holding region is defined by form stops 16, 17 arranged to hold 
the form against lengthways movement on the bed during imprinting and side 
wall stops 19 and 20 arranged to hold the form against sideways movement. 
The wall 20 extends as a further portion 22 beyond the card holding region 
13 and at both sides is provided with inwardly extending lips 21 under 
which the form must be inserted and which then hold it in place flat on 
the bed 10. 
In similar manner the stops 16 and 17 are shaped so as to afford lips 23 
and 24 beneath which the form must be inserted. If a longer form is being 
used it can be laid over the stop 17 and inserted beneath the lip 25 of 
the stop 26. 
The credit card holding region 13 is defined by outwardly turned ends 27 
and 28 of the walls 20 and 22 and by outer stops 29 and 30. The bed 10 is 
slightly built up at 53 adjacent the stops 29 and 39 so as to facilitate 
removal of the card after use by the operator. 
A platen 30 is mounted for sliding movement across the face of the bed 10 
parallel to the walls 19 and 20. The platen 30 carries a roller 31 
arranged to printingly engage the overlapping area common to the regions 
13 and 15 and thus imprint embossed indicia (e.g. the credit card number) 
onto the form. 
A source of loss in credit card transactions is when a form is apparently 
embossed but the card was not inserted in the recorder. The account number 
is thus not transferred to the form and the goods change hands without a 
record of the new possessor of them being made. 
The present invention aims to prevent this occurring by arranging that 
unless a credit card is correctly located in the region 13 the form will 
not be retained in the region 15 (and thus imprinted) when the platen 30 
is slid across the bed. 
To this end the recorder is arranged to displace the form into the path of 
the platen (which thus sweeps it out of the way) by means of a finger 
which extends above the surface of the bed 10 but is retractable into the 
bed under the agency of means which are engaged by the credit card when it 
is correctly located in the region 13. 
Thus the bed 10 has two apertures 32 and 33 extending through it and 
positioned opposite each other on either side of the bed 10, one 32 being 
adjacent the stop 16 and the other 33 being contiguous or nearly so to the 
region 13. Mountred below the bed 10 (as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) is the 
form displacing mechanism 40. This consists of an interlock lever 41 which 
has a pair of cranked fingers 42 and 43 projecting through the apertures 
32 and 33, respectively as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cranking being 
towards the region 13. 
It will be observed that the edge of the aperture 33 which faces towards 
the region 13 is chamfered so as to accommodate the cranking of the finger 
43. The lever has a fulcrum in the form of a spindle 45 which runs 
transverse to the card interlock lever 41. The lever 41 is mounted on the 
recorder by means of a holder 46 which has two legs 51, 52 and which is 
secured to the underside of the bed 10. Each end of the spindle 45 is 
mounted in elongated round ended slots 58 formed in the legs 51 and 52 of 
the holder. The slot has its axis transverse to the bed 10. The lever 41 
has a boss or abutment 48 on its lower face below the finger 43. 
A leaf spring 50 is attached to the underside of the bed 10 beneath the 
region 13. Its free end passes between the legs 51 and 52 of the holder 46 
and the spring presses against the abutment 48 on the underside of the 
lever 41. 
The spring biases the interlock lever 41 upwardly so that the fingers 42 
and 43 project through the bed 10. 
The shape of the lever 41 and its mode of mounting and biased result in the 
way in which the finger 43 is depressed causing the way in which the 
finger 42 is retracted to be significantly different. Thus if the finger 
43 is depressed by pressure applied to its top surface, e.g. by the roller 
31, the finger 42 is only retracted slightly as shown in FIG. 4. 
However, if the side face of the finger 43 is pushed away from the region 
13 as by being engaged by a credit card 54, then the finger 43 is 
substantially retracted as shown in FIG. 5. 
Thus in the position shown in FIG. 4 the finger 42 projects up above the 
top surface of the bed 10 to such an extent as to make it extremely 
difficult to insert the form under the lip 23 of the stop 16 and 
impossible to do so accidentally. (If desired the relative positions of 
the finger 42 and the stop 16 could be made closer together, e.g. by 
offsetting the finger 42 on the lever 41 or by moving the whole lever 41 
towards the stop 16 or vice versa). 
The form thus will project up into the path of the platen 30 and be swept 
aside by it when imprinting is attempted in the absence of the credit 
card. 
However, as shown in FIG. 5, when the credit card is in place the finger 42 
is retracted much further and permits the form readily to be inserted 
under the lip 23 so that proper imprinting will occur. 
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention 
are possible on the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be 
understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may 
be practiced otherwise that as specifically described herein.