Patent GB-930476-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to code converting mechanisms
IPC: H03M5/00
Filed: 1961-01-23
Abstract: 930,476. Strip-perforating machines; typewriters &c. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Jan. 23, 1961 [Jan. 22, 1960], No. 2554/61. Classes 100 (3) and 100 (4). [Also in Group XXXVIII] A mechanism for reading characters represented by holes punched in a first tape according to one code and punching holes in a second tape to represent the same characters according to a second code comprises a group of decoding slides movable longitudinally in code combinations representative of characters sensed by pins in the first tape, a group of encoding slides movable longitudinally between inoperative positions and operative positions in which they effect a punching of holes in the second tape, and a series of sensing members arranged along the slides at positions corresponding to different characters, the arrangement being such that for any character sensed, the decoding slides assume positions in which apertures therein are aligned at the position of only one sending member, which thereafter enters such apertures and also enters apertures in the encoding slides, some of which apertures are elongated, so that when the encoding slides are released by holding means from inoperative position, all such slides being yieldably urged towards operative position, those slides having elongated openings engaged by the sensing member move to operative position. An electric motor 54, Fig. 1, rotates a shaft 43 which rotates a shaft 52 carrying a cam 63 actuating a lever 61 carrying a pivoted dog 64 so as to rotate intermittently a ratchet 59 and feed a tape 2, Figs. 1 and 4, perforated in a sixchannel code, stepwise past a sensing mechanism comprising six pins 10 supported in a frame 12. A series of crank members 8 pivoted at 6 abut the pins and are urged clockwise by leafsprings 20, the pins being held in retracted position by a bail 15 engaging notches in the pins. A cam 18 and spring 17 control the bail so that at a predetermined time the pins are released, and those aligned with tape perforations move to the right, the corresponding crank members swinging clockwise and thereby moving to the left decoding slides 25. Each slide 25 is a few thousandths of an inch thick and is pivoted to one of the crank members, and the slides are accommodated in a channel in a support 27. Arranged above the slides 25 along their length are a series of sensing members 29, each located at an index position corresponding to one of the characters represented by a code line in the tape. The members 29 are pivoted on a shaft 30 and have finger portions 32 urged downwardly towards openings in the support 27 and towards the slides 25 by leaf-springs 35, but normally restrained by a bail 38 supported on studs 39 and carrying an arm 40 engaging a cam 42 on the shaft 43. Each slide 25, Figs. 1 and 5, is provided with an opening 46 at or slightly to the right of each index position, arranged so that when no perforations are sensed in the tape there is no index position at which all the openings 46 are aligned, while when any perforation or combination of perforations are sensed, the openings come into alignment at one index position only, so that when the bail 38 is released by the cam 42, one member 29 moves downwardly through the aligned openings. A series of five encoding slides 69, Figs. 1, 5 and 7, is accommodated in a second channel in the support 27 immediately below the slides 25, and the slides 69 are provided with slots 77 engaged by a pin 76 on a lever 75 pivoted between its ends and abutted by a latch 80, so as to hold the slides 69 in their inoperative, righthand positions, the pin 76 also passing through longer slots 78 in the slides 25, which are not impeded thereby. The slides 69 are provided with openings 70 or 71 at each index position, so that the operative member 29 passes through one such opening in each slide. When the bail 38 moves downwards, a flange 83 thereon releases the latch 80, and those slides which have a long opening 71 engaged by the member 29 move to the left into operative position, the remainder being restrained by the short openings 70. The slides 69 are urged leftwards by fixed spring arms 72 passing through openings 73 in the slides, each arm engaging only one slide and not being impeded by the others. Each slide is provided with a projection 100 in a laterally staggered position. A tape 3 to be punched in a five-channel code is fed stepwise through a punch mechanism 86 by means of an intermittently rotated sprocket 114 engaging a feed perforation made at each code line position of the tape by the punch mechanism. The punch mechanism comprises a recessed block 87, Fig. 3, accommodating five code punch pins 88 urged upwardly therein by springs 89, and having enlarged head portions 91 aligned with openings 98 in a fixed plate 92, and each pin corresponds with one of the projections 100, which rests on the pin if the slide 69 carrying it is in operative position. Bolts 93 secured to the plate 92 support the block 87 and a die-plate 94 in such a way as to allow them to be moved upwardly as a unit, the tape 3 passing between the block and the die-plate. A shaft 105 rotated by the shaft 43 carries cams 106 engaging in openings 104 in blocks 103 connected to the dieplate, so that the assembly 94, 87 is cyclically raised, and those pins 88 which underlie projections 100 are forced thereby downwardly relative to the block 87 so as to punch perforations in the tape 3, the feed perforations being produced in every cycle by a fixed pin 101. A cam 125 on a shaft 110 closes electrical contacts 124 after each operation to energize a solenoid 123 and cause the pin 76 to return all the slides 69 to inoperative position. In order that, for checking purposes, the number of perforations in the tape 3 may be always even, or always odd, as desired, an additional slide 69 is provided, having openings 70 aligned with index positions corresponding to character codes comprising an even number of perforations in the tape 3, and openings 71 aligned with the remaining index positions, or vice versa, the additional slide controlling an additional pin 88. Typewriters.-The projections 100 may, instead of controlling punches, each control a pair of electrical contacts for controlling the energizing of circuits for producing any function corresponding to the sensing of a character code in the tape 2, and the contacts may control a mechanism such as that described in Specification 930,475.