Patent GB-929764-A (GB)
Title: Record material feeding devices for accounting and similar record-keeping machines
IPC: B41J11/46
Filed: 1961-12-06
Abstract: 929,764. Record-feeding mechanism for accounting &c. machines. NATIONAL CASH REGISTER CO. Aug. 25, 1961 [Oct. 13, 1960], No. 30657/61. Class 100 (4). [Also in Group XXIV] A record-feeding mechanism for an accounting or similar record-keeping machine includes a constantly-rotatable input shaft, and an output shaft driven from the input shaft in either direction of rotation to feed the record material in either of two opposite directions, the gearing between the two shafts being controlled by selectively-operable devices so as to cause the output shaft to be rotated and the feed of the material to be effected in the required direction. The output shaft 151 carries an auxiliary platen or feed roller 150, Fig. 2, forming part of the record-keeping machine and is employed to effect the movement of a ledger card in an electronic computing machine as described in Specification 909,781. The recordkeeping machine includes the usual main platen 80 with type members, including amountprinting type, adjacent thereto, a transparent front-feed shoot 126 pivoted at 128, and spring- pressed pressure rollers 124 engaging the platen as described in Specification 680,992. By operating a handle 115, and through links 118, 119, cam on the shaft 121 of the platen can be rotated so as to move the rollers 124 and shoot 126 from the open-throat position shown to closed-throat position and vice versa. Brackets 127 at each end of the shoot 126 have rollers 133 co-operating with slots 134 in the casing to guide the movement of the shoot, and toothed sectors 129 pivoted on the shaft 121 and meshing with gears 131 ensure parallel movement of the ends of the shoot. The throat is opened to insert a ledger card into the machine, and then closed, and when the front edge of the card is adjacent to the feed-roller 150 it operates switches as described later so as to set in operation mechanism which causes the card to be fed a predetermined distance into a guideway 136 and then reverses the movement of the card to eject it or move it back to the next posting line. The mechanism is so arranged that if one of the platens 80, 150 is being rotated, the other one cannot be rotated. Journal-sheet guiding.-If a journal sheet providing a record of all transactions is employed, it is led around the platen 80 on either side of a V-shaped guide 137. Spring-pressed rollers 145 hold the journal sheet against the platen and are carried by brackets 142 adjustable laterally on a square bar 141 carried by plates 138 pivoted at 139. To insert a sheet, the rollers 145 are lifted by pivoting the plates 138 upwardly by means of a toggle-lever arrangement 147, 148. Feed-roller and platen drive.-The main driving motor 200, Fig. 15, is geared to a shaft 214, Fig. 20, to which is fixed a sun gear 215. Engaging the gear 215 are two planet gears 216, 217, carried by discs 220, 221 fixed to one another. On the shafts of the gears 216, 217 are secured two gears 224, 225, engaging a sungear 226 freely mounted on the shaft 214 and fixed to a disc 227. A ring gear 228 engages the gears 216, 217. To the disc 221 is fixed a gear 231 rotatable about the shaft 214 and meshing with idler gears 232, 233, the latter being coupled to the shaft 151 of the auxiliary platen 150. The discs 220, 221 and 227 and the ring gear 228 have ratchet teeth, Figs. 21 . . . 24 around their circumferential edges. Co-operating with the teeth are pawls 236, 239, 241, 244 controlled by cams 248, 249, as shown in Figs. 21 . . . 24. In the position illustrated, pawls 239, 244 engage the teeth on the discs 220, 221 and hold the discs stationary whilst the shaft 214 rotates so that gear 231 is stationary and there is no rotation of roller 150. The cam 248 is rotated clockwise when a solenoid L2, Fig. 15, is energized, in which case disc 227 remains free, the pawls 224, 239 are lifted to allow rotation of discs 220, 221 and the pawl 241 engages ring gear 228 to prevent anticlockwise movement thereof, the roller 150 now being driven in a clockwise direction. If the cam 249 is now rotated anticlockwise by the energizing of a solenoid L1, Fig. 15, the pawl 236 engages the disc 227 and prevents its clockwise movement, and the pawl 241 is lifted from the ring gear 228 which is now free to rotate. The roller 150 is now rotated in the reverse direction, i.e. anticlockwise. The other idler gear 232 coupled to the gear 131 meshes with a sungear 274 free on a shaft 275 and having fixed thereto another sun-gear 276. A disc 278 carries planet gears 277 engaging the gear 276, and also a gear 280 rotatable on an'extension of gear 274. A ring-gear 279 fixed to the shaft 275 engages the planet-gears 277. The gear 280 is coupled by an idler 281 to a gear 284 on a shaft 288, Fig. 15, carrying a fixed disc 312 and a circumferentially set knob 301 both having conducting members thereon engaged by brushes 315-320. A second circumferentially set knob 309 not rotatable with the shaft 288 is mounted adjacent to the knob 301 and is electrically coupled thereto by a brush 323 on one face and has a brush 321 engaging a conducting member on its other face. The knob 301 is initially set to correspond to the maximum number of posting lines available on a particular ledger card, and the knob 309 is set to position a card automatically in the carriage of the machine on the posting line required, the brush contacts serving to control the movement of the roller 150 to effect this. The shaft 275 carries at its leftward end, Fig. 20, a gear 285 coupled by an idler 286 to a gear on the main platen shaft 121. Thus the gear 284 remains stationary as long as both platens are stationary, but rotation of either platen causes the gear 284 and shaft 288 to be rotated in the same direction. Card-feed and alignment.-As a card is inserted into the machine its front edge engages fingers 153, 154, Figs. 3, 6, closing switches S7, S8, so as to cause energization of a solenoid L6 thus turning a shaft 76. Through a link mechanism including a dash-pot arrangement rotation of the shaft causes delayed slow rotation of a cam-shaft 160. During the initial part of such rotation, and through cam-and-lever mechanism, plates 183a . . . 183d move leftwards, Fig. 4, to engage the leading edge of the card to align it. Elongated slots in the front edges of the plates slide over a shaft 161 and permit the plates to be raised at the end of their leftward movement, in which raised positions they are retained by the energization of a solenoid L5, Fig. 6. Upon continued rotation of the shaft 160, cams 165a . . . 165d therein and cams 165e, 173 on an extension 166 of the shaft allow rollers 163a . . . 163e and a magnetic reading head 169 carried by levers on the shaft 161 to be lowered into contact with the card. Solenoid L2 is now energized to cause clockwise rotation of the roller 150 and feed of the card into the guideway 136 during which the magnetic heads derive data, line find and synchronizing information from the magnetic channels on the card. After the card has been fed a predetermined distance, brush 318 engages its associated conducting member on knob 301 and the solenoid L1 is energized to cause reversal of the rotation of roller 150 and movement of the card to the left, Fig. 2, either to eject it or to feed it back to a predetermined position determined by the setting of knob 309, i.e. to the next posting line or, in the case of a " magnetic line find " operation, to the line following the posting line indicated by the knob 309. The rollers 163a . . . 163c, Figs. 3, 6, are also lifted, but in the second case, the roller 163 e and magnetic head 169 remain in contact with the card due to the energization of a solenoid L4 controlling the connection between the shaft 160 and its extension 166.