Patent GB-712377-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to record card reproducing punches
IPC: E01F15/00
Filed: 1952-08-08
Abstract: 712,377. Selective punching machines. MAUL, M. Aug. 8, 1952 [Aug. 10, 1951], No. 20041/52. 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 similar multi-deck card comprises means for feeding both the pattern and receiving cards through the machine, a row of analysers b, Fig. 3, common to all the decks for analysing simultaneously a line of hole positions in adjacent columns of the pattern card and correspondingly controlling punches 29 operative upon the receiving card, and a group of presettable column selectors provided for each deck of perforations for determining whether or not the transfer for any particular column may be effective, the various groups of selectors being automatically and' successively brought into operative relation as the corresponding perforation decks of the cards are fed through 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. The machine comprises two magazines 12, 13 Fig. 3, at opposite ends for containing, respectively, the pattern cards which are to be analysed and the receiving cards which are to be punched in accordance with this analysis. Each set of cards is fed into the machine one by one by a knife 59, Fig. 6, on a slide 53 which is reciprocated on guide rods 55 by a lever 69 loosely mounted on a shaft 67; this shaft is actuated from an intermittently-rotated shaft 52 through gearing, a crank 61 and links 65, 66 and carries fixedly a lever 68 connected by a screw 71 with the lever 69. The shafts 52 of the two feed mechanisms are driven by pawl- and-ratchet gearing controlled by a cam driven through gearing from a motor 118. Feed of the cards in the machine is effected by pairs of feed rollers 42 driven from the corresponding shaft 52. Between each forward movement of the pattern card, a line of hole positions extending across the card is analysed by a set of brushes b, Fig. 3, disposed across the machine and arranged so that when a brush registers with a hole in the card it engages a contact plate and completes a circuit to energize solenoids W controlling the operation of a punch 29 on the receiving card. These punches 29, which extend across the machine'above the receiving card, are actuated by the rocking of a yoke 24, Fig. 6, by means of a push-rod 25 operated by a cam 26 driven by the motor 118; the yoke acts upon the punches through selector bars 23 but no punch is operated unless its selector bar has been moved to the right in Fig. 6 by the energization of the appropriate solenoids W by an analysing brush b. The contact plate 19, which is engaged by the brushes b when they register with holes in the card, is connected in a circuit as shown in Fig. 14. including the motor 118, a handoperated switch a and switches d, i controlled by motor-driven cams: the switch disclosed only between deck and card changes and the switch i is closed only while each set of hole. positions is under the brushes b and punches 29. The electrical connection between the brushes b and the solenoids W is provided by means of a plug board which is divided into as many sections as there are card decks. For a twodeck card, the board comprises, as shown in Fig. 11. two sets of transverse bars crossing and insulated from a set of longitudinal bars. The longitudinal bars are each connected to a brush b and each bar in each transverse set is connected through a switch u to the solenoids W of a punch. Sockets are provided at the crossing points of the bars for the reception of plugs to provide electrical connection. The switches u are grouped in two sets. one for each section of the board and the two sets are operated automatically by a motor-driven cam so that the two sections of the board are. alternately included in the circuit. In operation, with the motor 118 operating to feed the cards in steps through the machine and controlling by its cams so the timed operation of the switches, the lines of hole positions in the uppers deck of the first pattern card are successively analysed so that. the brushes b simultaneously control the punches through the effective half. of the switchboard; by appropriate insertion of the plugs in the sockets of the switchboard any particular. brush operative on the pattern card may control a punch in the same or different column of the receiving card. As the cards pass through the machine, the switches u automatically transfer operation from one half of the plug board to the other according to which deck of the card is being dealt with. The action continues for successive. cards which, when they have been analysed and punched drop on to spring-supported carriages 110, Fig. 3, in chambers 16, 17; when sufficient cards have passed to these chambers, it is arranged that the carriages should have dropped to an extent sufficient to open switches m<1>,m<2> to break the motor circuit. If desired, the analysers may be arranged so as to analyse simultaneously the hole positions in one perforation deck of the pattern card and the punches may similarly be capable of simultaneously. punching all the hole positions of the corresponding deck of the receiving card. Specification 219,687, [Class 31 (ii)] is referred to.