Patent GB-601099-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to statistical machines
IPC: C01B21/082
Filed: 1946-01-07
Abstract: 601,099. Statistical machines. REMING- TON RAND, Inc. Jan. 7, 1946, No. 608. Convention date, Dec. 1, 1944. [Class 106 (i)] A statistical record comparing machine includes in combination a first sensing means for sensing records bearing data represented in one code, a second sensing means for sensing records bearing data represented in a different code, decoding means for converting the data sensed by the first sensing means into the code sensed by the second sensing means, a comparing device operative under the joint control of the decoding means and of the second sensing means to compare the converted data with the data sensed by the second sensing means, whereby two records respectively bearing data represented in unlike codes can be compared, and means operative under the control of the comparing device to determine the subsequent functions of the machine as a result of the comparison. The invention is described as applied to the machine described in Specifications 542,732, [Group VIII], 546,590, 546,602, 546,603, 546,604, [Group VIII], and 546,605. In the present machine " ninety column " master cards are compared with " eighty column " (Hollerith type) detail cards. The Hollerith detail cards are fed into a sensing chamber in which their perforated data is sensed and a set of pins are arranged, as described later, to make a mechanical representation of this data in the " ninety column " code. At the same time the ninety column cards are fed into another sensing chamber in which their perforated 'data is sensed and a second set of pins are arranged to make a mechanical representation of this data also in the ninety column code. The mechanical representations of the first and second set of pins are then compared by a mechanical comparing means which as disclosed in the abovementioned Specifications, controls the subsequent operations of the machine. The Hollerith eighty-column cards then pass to a punching chamber in which additional data set up from the "ninety column " card may be punched thereon and from which chamber they pass to a known sorting device, the ninetycolumn card having passed to a similar sorting device from the sensing chamber. Each eighty-column card, fed by rolls 160, 170, 175, Fig. 23, passes between a sensing platform 222 carried by cross-bars 221, and a stripper plate 225 which has the appropriate number of holes therein arranged in the " eighty column" code, A cam 85 on the control shaft 80, Fig. 37, causes, after a sensing operation, through the roller 242, arm 240, arm 238, arm 235, latch 237, a shaft 234 to rock clockwise, which shaft, through the arm 231, lowers the card stops 226 which are normally spring urged to their up closed position. If the latch 237 on the arm 238 pivotally mounted on the rock-shaft 234 is, by the comparing device and control device, disengaged from a pin 236 on the arm 235, the shaft 234 is not rocked by the cam 85 and the stops 226 remain in closed position to retain a card in the sensing chamber. When, however, the shaft. 234 is rocked by the cam 85, it causes a shaft 261, to which it is connected by linkwork, to rock to lift arms 260, Fig. 46, which lift the pressure rolls 175 out of engagement with the card and at the same time surfaces 254 on the arms 260 come into contact with the adjacent edges of the card to align it in the chamber. At the same time the card is pushed against the stop 226 by a finger 274, Fig. 23, also controlled through linkwork by the shaft 234. The aligning means are inoperative when the latch 237 is disengaged from the pin 236. When an eighty-column card is stopped and aligned on the sensing platform 222, Fig. 23, it is sensed by spring-pressed pins 285 mounted between guide plates 284 which are vertically reciprocated as a unit during each machine cycle by the cam 82, on the control shaft 80, in co-operation with rollers 293 and member 294. In the downward stroke, any of the pins 285 which sense a perforation will move down and the corresponding pendant pins 310, of a set arranged vertically above the pins 285, will assume a vertical position so that on the upward stroke the depressed pins 285 will, through the vertical pins 310, transmit the movement to the corresponding pins of a set 304 above the pins 310. The pins 304 are at that instant making a mechanical representation, still in the " eighty column " code, of the data on the sensed detail card. The pendant pins 310 are reset into their inclined position as described in Specification 401,012 by retract slides 316. A " no-card " sensing pin (not shown) cooperates with the slides 316 to keep them in a position in which they prevent any of the pins 310 from assuming a vertical position and so no movement is given to any of the pins 304. The machine is stopped if there is no card in the chamber in the manner described in Specification 546,590. Above the pins 304 is a set of decoding pins 380, Fig. 23, which are numbered from left to right as shown in Fig. 35 and having the end pins 12 and 9 connected to a bar 383. The pins " 8," " 6," " 4 " and " 2 " have projections 384. which can engage the bar 383 and are also provided with lugs 385 which engage adjacent pins " 7," " 5," " 3 " and " 1 " respectively. The arrangement is such that, on the upward movement of the pin box, the mechanical representation of the pins 304 in the " eighty column " code is transmitted through the pins 380, pins 392, Bowden wires 407 to a set of pins 397, but in such a way that the pins 397 make a mechanical representation in the " ninety column " code of the data in the detail card. This setting is transferred. directly to a set of pins 574 of a mechanical comparing device. During this time the corresponding ninety-column card has been fed to its sensing chamber, sensed and a mechanical representation of the data therein made in a group of pins 563, which representation is in the " ninety column " code, in the manner described in Specification 546,590. The setting of the pins 563 and 574 are then compared as in the previous case and the subsequent operations of the machine controlled in accordance with the result of the comparison. Beneath and in vertical alignment with the comparing pins 563 is a translating unit 600 having pins 613 which take the setting of the pins 563 in the "ninety column" code and transfer that setting through Bowden wires 403 to the pins 606, Fig. 24, from whence the setting is transferred to pins 625 slidably mounted in plates 623, 624. Four locking slides 627, 628, 630, 631 are interposed between each pair of adjacent longitudinal columns of pins 625 and have recesses which co-operate with projections on the pins 625 in such a way that when the pin box 620 is reciprocated the pins 606 which have been set transmit movement to the pins 625 and the slides 627, 628, 630 and 631 only lock the pins 625 which represent the data on the master card in the " eighty column " code. When' the pin box 620 is moved down by the control mechanism, the depressed pins 625 move the corresponding punches 708 arranged therebelow to perforate the detail card already in the punch chamber. The punches 708 are supported on cross-bars 707, Fig. 57, and guided in plates 710 and 711 of a rectangular frame. The plates 710 and 711 are rigidly connected together by reinforcing plates 717 to prevent distortion. In the punch chamber the detail card is fed against a stop 726, Fig. 24, by a pair of fingers and is aligned in the same way as in the sensing chamber, but the aligning means cannot be made ineffective. Each row of pins 625 is provided with a latch 671, Fig. 24, which may be moved so that a tooth 673 thereon, Fig. 56, engages a recess 675 in a cross-bar 661 which each cycle is moved forwardly by a cam 96 on the rear cam-shaft 90 which is operated as in the above-mentioned Specifications and causes, through the linkwork shown in Fig. 32, a slide 665 associated with the latch 671 to move the slides 627, 628, 630 and 631 forwardly against the springs 645 to release the pins 625 which have been set previously. If latch 671 is moved so that a tooth 674 thereon is engaged in a recess 676 in the cross-bar 662, the slides 627, 628, 630 and 631 are held forward and no setting of pins 625 is made during the succeeding cycle. If the latch is set so that neither of the teeth 673, 674 engage their respective recesses 675, 676, then the setting of pins 625 is retained. A manually-set lever (not shown) determines in accordance with the result of the comparison and in co-operation with the control mechanism whether the detail card is punched with additional data or not as described in Specification 542,732. The ninety-column and eightycolumn cards are then sorted in the known manner.