Patent GB-816434-A (GB)
Abstract: 816,434. Facsimile telegraphy; photo-electric control apparatus. EASTMAN KODAK CO. June 29, 1955 [Dec. 9, 1954], No. 18754/55. Class 40 (3). Relates to apparatus for printing visual representations of characters on a medium in accordance with code arranged on cards, the apparatus comprising a card feeding station, a card sensing station arranged beyond the feeding station, and a printing station adjacent the feeding and sensing stations. In accordance with the invention means are provided for driving the printing station from the drive for the card feeding and sensing stations through interconnecting means which is initiated in response to a card being moved through the sensing station and is broken in the event of lack of synchronism between the printing and card stations or a stoppage in the card feed, e.g. due to depletion of card supply or jamming. The invention is described as applied to facsimile printing apparatus for producing address labels and employs a multi-styli printer actuated by circuits for translating into facsimile signals from binary code representations of characters carried by punched cards as described in Specifications 711,497, 711,498 and 792,861. An apparatus, Figs. 3 and 4 (not shown), transfers the cards from a card feeding station to a card sensing station where the information carried in successive lines of apertures 11 in the cards 10, Fig. 1, is read out by photo-cells 65 (of which only one group of six out of a total of four such groups arranged in two positions A and B are illustrated) and transferred line-by-line to four groups of twenty-four memory units 94, the operation taking place under the control of ring-chain circuit 76 triggered by a photo-cell impulse generator 71, 72, 73 having a rotating apertured disc 71 driven from the card feed. The ring-chain circuit makes one complete cycle for each card and comprises fifty stages corresponding to the forty-eight code lines of a card and a spacing of two lines between cards. The recorded information in the memory units is then read out and transferred through facsimile synthesizing circuits to the printer under the control of a second ring-chain circuit 89 triggered by a photo-cell impulse generator 82, 85, 86, the rotating apertured disc of which is driven from the printer. The ring chain circuit 89 has twenty-seven stages corresponding to a line of twenty-four characters plus a spacing equal to three characters between labels, and is timed by the impulse generator to complete one cycle during the time of one cycle of ring chain 96. A second portion 80, 83 of the printer impulse generator produces seven pulses for each character and is employed in controlling the printing action. In accordance with the invention, the passage of a card through the sensing station is detected by a photo-cell co-operating with a light source 67 projecting through an aperture 66 and initiates the interconnection of the printer drive with card feed whereby the timing of operation proceeds as shown in Fig. 5. Aperture 66 is located so as not to be influenced by the normal code apertures and is placed thirteen lines before position A. Upon the passage of card over aperture 66, cell 69 is obscured. and the resulting signal releases ring-chain circuit 76 to commence cyclic operation. The first row of code apertures reaches position A by the time the thirteenth count is made and thereafter the code information is read out and transferred to the memory units under the control of signals from stages 13 to 36. The signal from stage 13 is also applied through amplifier 96 to a start relay which completes the control circuit for an electromagnetically-operated clutch interconnecting the printer drive with the card feed. The clutching operation is completed and the printer operating at correct speed by the time ring-chain circuit 76 reaches stage twenty-four. The readout then commences under the control of ring- chain circuit 89. Detecting loss of synchronism or interruption in card feed. This is effected by an amplifier 113 which receives a signal from the 6th stage of ring-chain circuit 89 and is gated to be unresponsive to signals by means of a flip-flop circuit 112 during a period extending from, say, the 31st to the 36th stages of ring-chain circuit 76. In the event of the signal from ring-chain 89 not falling within this period, which represents the limits of synchronization tolerance that can be accommodated by the apparatus, it passes through amplifier 113 and actuates a relay to cut off the power supply and stop the apparatus. Similarly, in the event of an interruption in the card supply, cell 69 is exposed and stops the cyclic operation of ring-chain circuit 76. Thus amplifier 113 is not gated off and the signal from 6th stage of ring-chain 89 stops the apparatus.