Patent GB-869036-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in document handling devices
IPC: B07C3/06
Filed: 1957-12-20
Abstract: 869,036. Cheque-sorting machines. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. Dec. 20, 1957 [Dec. 31, 1956], No. 39745/57. Class 106 (1). [Also in Group XVI] In a cheque-sorting machine the cheques are fed along a predetermined path and a stationary inclined guide is provided to intercept the cheques and move them to one side of the path where they are received by skewed friction rollers which move them obliquely back towards the other side of the path and into contact with a guide whereby they are accurately located for sensing. The cheques, Fig. 10. A number of groups of digits or other characters comprising an account number, a transit number, a routing number and other data, 37 characters in all, are recorded on the cheque at a fixed distance from the top edge. The digits are printed in a top row and below each magnetic code bars are printed in second and third rows. In the lowest row the digit is expressed by bars representing values in the binary scale and in the middle row the bars appear wherever there is a " 0 " in the binary number, the second row being therefore the inverse of the third. The beginning of each digit group is indicated by a bar in both of these rows. The recording is self-clocking and self-checking. Additional check bits are added. An " end of record bit consisting of two adjacent double marks. Feeding cheques.-A stack of cheques is supported in an input hopper 14, Fig. 4, resting on sloping plastic rails 250 so as to slide downwardly against a pair of separating rollers 264. A follower plate 252 at the rear of the stack has a handle 256 whereby it can be withdrawn to add more cheques and when the cheques are exhausted it operates a switch 259. The end cheque bears against a pair of idle rotatable rollers 258 and against the separating rollers 264 which are rubber-covered and are driven so as to pass the cheques one at a time upwardly over a continuously running rubber-covered shaft 120 and along the underside of a guide 269. Air is blown through holes in the guide to blow the cheques downwardly on to moving transport belts 266 forming a pile from the bottom of which they are fed singly. A photo-cell PCl detects when the pile is sufficiently high and feeding from the hopper 14 then stops. The transport belts 266 are joggled by a rotating shaft 99 having two groups of four spaced rollers 296 which bear against the underside of the belts and raise and lower them as shaft 99 rotates. This assists in the separation and feeding of the cheques. Separating cheques.-Cheques, several deep, are fed along the belts 266 and at the end of the belt they are received by an upwardly-sloping guide 362, Fig. 6, which passes them to a moving belt forwarder consisting of belts 302a, 302b. As the cheques move up the guide 362 the upper ones tend to slip back assisted by the joggling of the belts 266, the bottom cheque alone being forwarded to belts 302a, 302b. These belts are spaced apart as shown in Fig. 7 and run over pulleys 300a, 306a and 304a. Between the pulleys is a friction-wheel 308 having a diameter equal to that of the belt where it passes round the pulley. Bearing downwardly on the belts and the friction wheel are three stationary belts 335 held on an adjustable unit 333. A cheque passing over the guide 362 is taken by the belts and friction wheel and forwarded thereby singly. If two cheques attempt to pass the top one is stopped by the stationary belts 335 and the bottom one continues alone. In the event that two cheques sticking together get past the stationary belt, a double feed detector lever 344 is lifted to operate switch 360 and stop the machine by a buckling of the top cheque due to the fact that further stationary belts 312 at the other end of the belts 302a, 302b stop the leading edge while the rear edge is still being driven. If no cheque is present on the guide 362 a photocell PC2 gives a signal to stop the belts, thereby preventing wear. A cheque passing along with belts 302a, 302b is forwarded, after passing under the stationary belts 312, to a guide 366 which passes it to a delay unit. This consists of further belt-forwarding system, Fig. 13, in which the cheque and the feed-belt pass between a shoe 412 and a clamp-plate 440. Upon energization of a solenoid the plate 440 grips the cheque and prevents further movement. A second solenoid releases the clamp plate. Card levers such as 414 are provided on each side of the clamp. If the machine is printing the data sensed on the cheques a buffer store passing the data to the printer gives a signal when it is ready for more data to allow the cheque in the delay station to be fed to the sensing station. Cheque alignment.-As the cheque passes through the delaying station it moves between guide flanges 516a and 517a, Fig. 15a, and is then displaced towards the left, as shown in Fig. 15b by an inclined guide 518 engaging the top edge of the cheque. The leading edge of the cheque passes under a guide 519, Fig. 16, associated with the sensing drum 460 and the cheque is engaged by skewed pairs of aligning rollers 426a, 526b which force it to move round the drum with its top edge in engagement with a flange 458 on the sensing drum 478. The cheque is pressed against the drum by a belt 571 running over idler pulleys. Cheque sensing.-The drum consists of two parts 458 and 460, Fig. 17, separately driven and mounted on either side of a stationary drum portion 478. As shown in Fig. 18, this part 478 is resiliently mounted and has two parts 482, 484 of which the latter carries the magnetic sensing-head assembly 494 and associated amplifiers 490. Two card levers are provided on the drum, one of which is shown at 576, Fig. 18. A cheque moving round the drum lifts the levers and closes contacts such as 576b. A flexible reed 574 holds the cheque closely against the drum as it passes over the sensing head. Feeding cheques to sorting pockets.-After leaving the sensing drum and belt 571 the cheques are taken by another belt conveyer consisting of a belt 588, Fig. 1a, passing above and below a line of pulleys 583 of which the end one is driven. The cheques move on the underneath side of the belt against which they are pressed by rollers 590. The belt carries the cheques to the sorting station, Fig. 19, where sorting gates 624 are operated to select the channel leading to the appropriate pocket. The top edge of the cheque slides up a ramp as it is carried towards the sorting gates and it passes over all the gates preceding the operated one, 624a. This intercepts the cheque and deflects it between the appropriate pair of blades 612. Card levers 606 and 608, Fig. 1a, are placed in advance of the sorting station to operate contacts which serve to time the energization of the gate-operating magnets. Fingers 616 ensure that the cheque passes under the operated gate. A plate 690, Fig. 1a, below the cheque path terminates in a turn-down 690a, Fig. 1b, in the first pocket 36-9. At this point, if the first pocket is selected, the cheque leaves the conveyer being deflected by the end of the selector blade 612 downwardly between the rollers 590 into the first pocket, the cheque being inverted by the turn-down and deposited on platform 692, succeeding pockets have similar guide members 691 which serve the same purpose. Platform control mechanism.-To prevent the cheques getting out of order, the platform is kept at such a height that it or the top of the stack remains near the guide-member 690a, Fig. 22. A lever 710 resting on the platform on the top of the stack of cheques senses its position and rotates a valve 726 controlling the application of air pressure below a piston 714 moving in cylinder 716 and connected to support the platform. A spring 720 biases the platform downwardly and the valve 726 controlled by lever 710 applies such a pressure that the top of the stack or the platform is always kept in the required proximity to the guide 690a. As the platform falls it engages a lever 760 to operate a mercury switch 764 common to 11 of the 13 pockets. Pockets designated " 0 " and " 1 " have individual switches arranged similarly. Machine operations.-The machine is capable of simple sorting of the cheques into pockets, of " posting," that is passing the data sensed on the cheques to store or to some processing-machine, and of " listing," that is passing the sensed data via a buffer store to a printer. Posting and listing, may be combined with sorting but if sorting is not required the cheques are directed to pockets " 0 " and " 1 " which are selected alternately as they fill up. Sorting is suppressed by making a plug connection which puts the normal sorting magnet control circuits out of operation and allows the cheques to pass to the reject pocket. Other plug connections can be made to suppress sorting on one or more digits, all cheques bearing those digits then passing to the " sort suppress " pocket. A cheque having a recording error or for which none of the sorting magnets are operated or more than one are operated is diverted to the reject pocket. Circuit.-The " 0 " and " 1 " row reading heads are designated 494-0 and 494-1, Fig. 27a. The marks sensed produce signals which are amplified at 490 and are applied to a skew gate and signal generator 850 which allows a skewed cheque to be properly read. The four output lines 852-858 represent combinations of marks sensed: " 0 " only, " 1 " only, " 0 " and " 1," and " 0 or " 1 " respectively. The " 0 " and " 1 " signal on line 856 is generated by the coincident marks indicating the beginning of a digit. The data signals pass to a sort register 859 consisting of two chains of four triggers corresponding to the 1, 2, 4 and 8 bit positions in each row of marks on the cheque. For a valid character the corresponding triggers of each chain are opposite. The data is entered serially and shifted along the chains and outputs on lines 890 and 892 from the corresponding pairs are gated together to check t