Patent GB-519842-A (GB)
Title: Method and apparatus for renovating tabulating machine or like record cards
IPC: G06K21/08
Filed: 1938-09-30
Abstract: 519,842. Renovating statistical record-cards. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd. (Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Ges.). Sept. 30, 1938, Nos. 28521 and 31901. [Class 106 (i)] A method of renovating a perforated record card consists in closing the perforations in the card by applying to one face of the card a thin layer of a plastic or flowable filling material which is capable of hardening and of adhering to the card in the hardened state, subjecting the opposite face of the card to reduced atmospheric pressure to assist penetration, and thereafter hardening the filling material. The filling material may consist of cellulose ester or ether dissolved in a volatile liquid solvent for example a solution of acetyl cellulose in acetone together with methylic chloride; or a mixture of nitrocellulose, gum resin and methylene dichloride dissolved together approximately in the proportions of 18 parts by weight of nitrocellulose, 3 parts' by weight of resin and 79 parts by weight of methylene dichloride with the addition of approximately 55 parts by volume of acetone to 45 parts by volume of the mixture. Ether may be added to produce quick drying. Filling materials which harden upon chemical change may be used, for example, heat-hardenable resins such as phenol or urea aldehyde resins, polymerisable compounds such as the styrene vinyl or methyl methacrylate resins, and materials which form solid masses upon oxidation. The filling materials set forth in Specification 516,747 may be used. An apparatus for treating the cards is shown in Fig. 2. The cards are stacked in a magazine 12 within a casing 11 maintained in partial exhaustion by a vacuum line connected to a pipe 53. A picker 34 actuated from a power-driven shaft 22 through a friction clutch 21a feeds the cards successively from the magazine. The cards pass between feed rollers (which may consist of spaced discs), and are coated on the lower, side with filling material applied by a wick 43 dipping into a reservoir 35 which is raised and lowered at the .appropriate times by a cam 39. After coating, the cards pass to a chamber B containing a drum 46 formed with a ring of radial pockets each of which may support a card by its edges. A cam 70 closes contacts 69 and causes an escapement 58 to allow the drum to move step by step under the drive of a suspended weight 56 and bring the empty pockets successively into position. When the pockets have all been filled, a pin 63 on the drum closes contacts 62 and disengages the friction clutch 21a to stop the card feed. Hardening of the filling material is facilitated by the withdrawal of air and vapour through the pipe 53; the action may be expedited by passing warm air through the chamber B. The chamber may be replaced by an empty chamber, the coating chamber A being meanwhile maintained under sub-atmospheric pressure by a slidable air-tight gate 43. In a further embodiment, Fig. 4, the perforated cards from a magazine 112 are fed over a roller 118 dipping into the filling fluid, the upper surface of the card being covered by a hood 131 connected to an exhaust fan 135 so as to suck the filling material into the perforations. The quantity of material drawn into the perforations can be controlled by an adjustable pressure roller 121 and by an adjustable blade 120. The treated cards are fed into radial pockets in a drum 140 rotated step-by-step by a pawl 145. An air current through the hollow axle and radial pockets of the drum is maintained by the fan 135 to assist hardening of the filling material. When filling materials which are normally solid or semi-solid are used they are rendered fluid by heating means within the reservoir 35 or 119.