Patent GB-328293-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to sorting machines for statistical or like perforated cards
Filed: 1929-01-21
Abstract: 328,293. Accounting & Tabulating Corporation of Great Britain, Ltd., and Brougham, L. E. Jan. 21, 1929. Statistical machines.-A machine for sorting perforated record cards comprises a sorting device employing loose sensing pins automatically locked or maintained free according as they are engaged or not by the perforations in the card. The pins are arranged in a plurality of column positions whereby all cards bearing the particular group of perforations are selected and delivered into one of a number of compartments by the operation of a timed deflector thereby leaving, undisturbed, the sequence of the remaining' cards. The machine shown has a sensing pin carriage guided on rails 2 secured to brackets 1, Figs. 1 and 3, and reciprocated by an eccentric 3 in synchronism with the feeding of a. card between perforated plates 4, 5, and is provided with a row of plungers 7 each connected by Bowden cable or other means 8 to the operating gear of a corresponding flap of a set of sorting compartments 10. According to the invention the carriage above referred to is moved out of position and an attach. ment is placed on the guide rails. This attachment comprises a box 17 with perforated bed plates 18, 19, Figs. 7 and 9, adapted to cover a " zone " of the card and to receive a number of loose pins B formed with notches B1 and shoulders B2. A latch plate or shutter 20 lying on the surface of the plate 18 is operated to engage the pins and lock them to the box 17 when the box is reciprocated by means of bell cranks 21 tripped by an abutment 23 on the machine frame A box like cover 25 with a number of spring pressed pins 27 is pivotally mounted at 26 and has ears 28 for engagement with spring pressed plungers 29 in which position the pins 27 maintain pressure on the pins B which have been set to the particular group of perforations it is desired to sort. The box 17 is secured in position on the rails 8 by means of spring controlled claws 32 one of which has a straight faced portion to engage teeth 2a on one of the rails, the other having a circular arm to embrace the rail. If it is desired to sort all cards bearing a number say 12345 pins B are inserted in the corresponding holes of the right hand columns of the plate 18 and the row of plungers 7 is set beneath any desired one of these columns so that only one of the set pins B is operative to control the movement of the appropriate compartment flap. The plungers 7 are mounted in a bed 6 adapted to be held in set position by means of a U-shaped latch 33. In operation when a card bearing the selected designation is in the sensing position and the carriage is reciprocated the set pins B pass through the perforations and are locked by the latch plate 20, the plunger 7 selected being depressed to operate the flap timing mechanism. If a card is presented to the pins in which one or other perforation is absent the corresponding pin B is raised to prevent movement of the latch plate thereby leaving the remaining pins B free and inoperative. By the provision of additional pins A shaped as shown in Figs. 7 and 9, the selection of cards within a certain range of numbers such as 51 to 57 can be effected. In this operation a pin B is set in the tens number position and pins A are set in the units column in the holes not required for selecton. With this arrangement the shutter is only effective to lock the pin B when the pins A are raised and the pin B is in its normal lowered position. The pins may be disposed to form a device or letter the counterpart of which has been punched on the card as an identification or selection mark. The timing devices of the sorting mechanism may be associated with printing counting mechanisms as described in Specification 328,294 for recording the number of cards entering a compartment.