716,839. Selective punching machines. MAUL M. Aug. 8, 1952 [Aug. 9. 1951], No. 20040/52. Class 31(2) A machine for automatically transferring data recorded on one card in the form of a plurality of perforated decks on to a second multi-deck card comprises means for feeding the cards one by one through the machine, a row of analysers b common to all the decks for analysing simultaneously a line of hole positions in adjacent columns of one card and correspondingly controlling punches 227 operative upon the next card in the machine, and a group of pre-settable column selectors 220 provided for each deck of perforations for determining whether or not repetition in any particular column may be effected, the various groups of selectors being brought into action automatically in succession as the cards pass though the machine. The invention is described as applied to the punching of cards having two perforated decks each consisting of thirty columns with six hole positions in each. From a magazine 212, Fig. 3 the cards are fed into the machine one by one by a knife 245 carried by a slide 238 reciprocated on guide bars 240. Levers 253 freely mounted on a shaft 251 which is rocked by crank mechanism from a motor 291 are actuated to operate the slide by levers 252 fixed on the shaft, the levers 253 being urged by springs against screws 254 on the levers 252. In the machine the cards are fed forward intermittently a distance equal to the spacing between hole positions by feed rollers 214 driven from a ratchet wheel which is moved in steps by a pawl 298 carried on a spring- pressed lever 299 rocked by a cam 296 driven from the motor 291. The punches 227, of which one is disposed over each column of a card, are actuated by the rocking in counter-clockwise direction in Fig. 3 of a yoke 222 by means of push-rods 225 operated by cams 224 driven from the motor 291. The yoke acts upon the punches through selector bars 221, no punch being operable except when its selector bar has been moved to the right in Fig. 3 by the energization of solenoids W consequent upon an analyser in the form of a brush b having engaged the corresponding hole in the preceding card and therefore contacted its contact 216. This action is, however, dependent upon whether or not the corresponding column selector key 220 has been depressed. As shown in Fig. 3, sixty of these keys are arranged on the machine casing in two banks corresponding respectively to the columns in the upper and lower perforation decks, the contacts to, tu, Fig. 10, of the respective sets of keys in the two banks being alternately placed in the operative circuit by the action of a multiple switch u controlled by a cam driven by the motor 291. In operation, the closure of a hand-operated switch an, Fig. 10, energizes the motor 291 so that the various crank and cam mechanisms drive the card-feeding and punch-operating yoke 222 in timed relation. When a card has been correctly located for analyzing by passing between two brushes pbI, pbII and their contact plate 216, a relay A is de-energized to close a switch a, and just before the first hole position of a card registers with the brushes b, a second switch i is closed by a cam driven from the motor 291; analyzing of the card can then take place for each hole position between the intermittent feed movements of the card, the switch i being closed only at such times. When dealing with the upper deck of perforations of the card, only the upper bank of keys 220 is rendered effective by the switch u so that any hole analyzed by a brush b is repeated in the next card by the automatic action of the punch provided that the corresponding selector key 220 has not been depressed to cut its contact to out of circuit. The lower deck of perforations is similarly analyzed and punched, the switch u having been moved by its cam to bring the lower bank of selector keys 220 into operation. The cycle then continues until sufficient cards have been delivered to a carriage 274, which is movable downwardly against a spring 275, to cause the opening of a switch m in the motor circuit. The motor is also stopped when the supply of cards stops since each card as it is fed to the analyzing brushes acts upon a lever to close a switch k which by-passes the momentarily-closed starting switch an. All the selector keys 220 can be moved as a unit to the opened position by a handoperated stirrup 260. If desired, the analyzers may be arranged so as to analyze simultaneously all the hole positions in one perforation deck of one card and the punches may similarly be capable of simultaneously punching all the hole positions of the corresponding deck of the next card. Specifications 268,850, [Class 31 (ii)], and 460,025 are referred to.