Patent GB-969323-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to information storage equipment
IPC: G06F3/08
Filed: 1959-09-30
Abstract: 969,323. Record card apparatus. J. HANDLEY. Sept. 23,1960 [Sept. 30,1959; July 20, 1960], Nos. 33113/59 and 25229/60 Heading G4M. Records held vertical and spaced from one another in a stack by guides are selected for sensing by a sensing carriage having grippers which is movable into position over the desired record and operable to lift it into sensing position. The records have data recorded magnetically and are stacked in boxes 1, 2, 3, 4 Fig 1 The guides are slotted members forming the sides of the boxes. The boxes rest on a plate 43 which is displaced by pneumatic cylinders to position one of the boxes under the path of a movable reading head carriage 9. This carriage is displaceable on guides 82, 83 and its position is governed by cylinders 12-20 having strokes of graded length. The cylinders are supplied with air under pressure through solenoid controlled valves. The reading head carriage, Figs. 6 and 7 consists of one or two banks of magnetic heads 47-53 secured to brackets 108 and grippers 10, 11 mounted on vertically movable rods 58 sliding in guides 110 and controlled by a track and pinion 59 on shaft 55. The shaft is normally held stationary by spring loaded brake 54 released by solenoid 57 and is rotated through an electromagnetic clutch 64 by motor 65. The grippers are pivoted and normally held open by leaf springs 121 forcing the wedge-shaped rear ends 63 against wedges 62 on control rods 119. These are spring loaded upwardly but when air-pressure is applied to cylinder 60 they are moved downwardly to close the grippers, After the carriage has been positioned over the desired record by operation of the cylinders 44, 45 and 12-20, the brake 54 is released and the motor 65 energized so that the grippers 10 and 11 are lowered on to the record and air pressure is applied to cylinders 60 to close the grippers. The motor 65 is then energized to raise the record until the first character is detected by one of the sensing heads. The clutch 64 is then released and the brake is applied, further movement of the record being controlled by the printing machine to which the data is fed. The tail end of the record remains between the side guides in its box so that upon reversal of the motor, the record returns to its initial position. In the form of Figs. 9 and 12 the apparatus consists of a frame having a base 121 and end pieces 123, 124 supporting guides 131, 132, 133 for the movable sensing carriage 126. The guides are tubular and co-operate with shaped rollers. The records are held in a container 137. The carriage 126 is displaced to the desired position by operation of certain ones of a series of cylinder assemblies 127, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145 and 146 the strokes of which are weighted according to a binary scale. The cylinders are operated by compressed air through solenoid controlled valves CY1 to CY9 and flexible pipes. The cards can be pressed against the wall 240, Fig. 15 of the container 137 by tubes 238 and 239 to which air-pressure is applied. This ensures that they are properly aligned before being taken by the grippers 186. Further tubes 241, 242 act as cushions for records being returned to the container. The sensing head 247 Fig. 16 has ten magnetic heads and is displaceable transversely to one of four positions across the record box 137 by cylinders 253, 257. Specification 969,325 is referred to.