Patent GB-479667-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to card index cabinets
IPC: G06K21/02
Filed: 1937-07-27
Abstract: 479,667. Card indexes. AAGAARD, B. July 27, 1937, No. 20706. [Class 146 (i)] In a card-index cabinet, of the type in which the cards are contained in a drawer in a vertical or slightly inclined position, rotatable card tilting mechanisms are provided at each side of the drawer and are automatically driven in one direction or the other as the drawer is opened or closed, and are adapted to engage the edges of the cards to tilt them from a rearwardly to a forwardly inclined position, or vice versa, so that the faces of the cards are successively exposed without the necessity for handling them. The drawer, formed with cut-aways 24, Fig. 1, at the sides, and with a corrugated base 27, runs on runners 22, Fig. 2. in a cabinet 20. Mounted in slides 29 at the front of the cabinet is a tray 28, whose movement is limited by the engagement of a stop 30 with stops in the bottom of the cabinet. A pinion wheel 35 is carried by an axle 34 on the tray and engages a rack 36 on the drawer. being maintained in engagement by the interaction of guides 37, 38 on the drawer and tray. During outward movement of the drawer the tray 28 is drawn with it, and is held against return by a springy latch 73 engaging a nose 75 on the cabinet. Only at the end of the return movement of the drawer is the latch 73 disengaged by a prong 76 on the drawer, and drawer and tray then return together. Two plates 40, Fig. 3, are slidably mounted in transverse grooves 41 on the tray 28, and carry plates 44 formed with brackets 45, 46, 47. In the brackets 45 are journalled gear-wheels 42 carrying bevel gears 43 which normally mesh with bevel gears 39 on the axle 34. The gears 43 drive each a gear 53 carried by an upright axle 50 mounted in the brackets 46, 47, and the axle 50 drives, in the same direction and by gearing 54, two axles 51. Rotatable members 56, 55, 56 are fixed to the axles 51, 50, 51 respectively, and comprise an annular part 57 in which headed pins 58 are freely mounted, so that they can move outward under the action of centrifugal, force. As the drawer is moved out or in, and after the tray has been latched in its outward position, which preferably places the members 55, 56 just outside the cabinet, the first member 56 picks up the cards one by one with its pins, passes them to the larger member 55 land thence to the second member 55, in a direction corresponding to the movement of the drawer. To centre the cards for correct engagement by the pins, the bracket 46 is formed with round or bevelled corners 62 which engage the card edges. The mechanism may be thrown out of action by a push knob 83, Fig. 8, mounted on the front of the drawer and coupled to one of a pair of parallel links 81, carried by cross links 82 pivoted to the base of the drawer. When the knob is pushed, the links 81 engage lugs 48 on the brackets 45 and push the plates 40 outwards against the action of a spring 59, so that the bevel gears 43 no longer engage the gears 39, nor the pins 58 the edges of the cards. To facilitate moving the cards en bloc, the front of the drawer may be pivoted. Only one pin wheel may be provided at each side.