Patent GB-541892-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for reproducing data records
Filed: 1940-06-14
Abstract: 541,892. Reproducing data records. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd. June 14, 1940, No. 10383. Convention date, June 16, 1939. [Class 98 (i)] [Also in Groups VIII, XVI and XL] Apparatus for reproducing on photographic film data records on cards comprises means for intermittently and synchronously feeding the cards past a data-sensing station and the film past exposure openings each of which corresponds to a record column of the card, together with means for projecting light on to the film through each exposure opening when a record in the corresponding column of the card is sensed, whereby the exposed areas on the film occupy relative positions similar to those of the records on the card. The apparatus, as in the form described, may also comprise means for reproducing a film record in the form of control marks on a card, in which each mark is produced by means controlled by a corresponding light-cell whenever an exposed area on the film cuts off the light from the cell. In the apparatus shown, perforated record cards are fed from a magazine M by a reciprocating slide 47 with a knife edge 48 which engages the bottom card, the slide being driven through a rack and sector gear by arms 46 on a shaft 45 which is rocked by a pair of arms secured to it and engaging cams on a rotating shaft 34. The cards are fed between intermittently moving pressure rollers 80, 81 and pass between the die and stripper plates 84, 85 of a perforating station which is employed when card records are reproduced from film. Intermittently-moving rollers 82, 83 then feed the cards to a sensing station where sensing brushes 116, one for each column of the record, make contact with a conducting roller 117 through the perforations. Finally, the cards are fed between a drum 120 and roller 121, and rollers 122, 123, all operated intermittently and synchronously with the preceding rollers, to a hopper N. The drum 120 is provided round each end with pivoted fingers (not shown) which are opened and closed by stationary cams as the drum revolves to grip the edges of the cards as they leave the rollers 121 and to release them as they are fed to the rollers 122, 123. The film 180 is fed by a sprocket 213, which is intermittently rotated in synchronism with the card feeding rollers, from a supply spool to a recording and sensing station where is passes in front of the ends of a row of light-conducting rods each leading from an individual lamp 175, each of which lamps is in a circuit controlled by one of the brushes 116. As each perforation in a given column of the card record reaches the sensing brush the corresponding lamp is lit and a spot is recorded on the film in a corresponding position in the corresponding column. The card feeding rollers and the film feeding sprocket are all driven by shafts geared to a common shaft which is rotated through a Geneva mechanism (not shown) from the main driving shaft to give the necessary step-by-step movement from one index point position to the next. The apparatus may be used for reproducing a film record as perforations on record cards. For this purpose the lamps 175 are continuously lit and the light from each after passing the film gate is led by lightconducting rods 182 to photo-electric cells 183 each connected to an amplifier. When a record spot on the film cuts off the light from a cell a relay in the circuit of the corresponding amplifier energizes a magnet 66, the armature of which through a wire 70 pulls forward a pawl 68 pivoted on the corresponding punch 65. A bar 67 carried by an oscillating bail 71 then engages a notch in the pawl and depresses the punch. The bail is oscillated by a turnbuckle connection to an arm 73 on a shaft 75 which is rocked by an eccentric 77 on the driving shaft 24. The operation of the machine is controlled by electric circuits, including switches rotated by rotary cams, relays and hand-operated switches for setting the apparatus for making film from card records or vice versa. These circuits control the energization of electromagnetically operated clutches which at appropriate times cause rotation of the shaft 34 from which the card feeding means are actuated, the film feeding sprocket, and certain of the switchoperating cams. The shaft operating the Geneva mechanism for the step-by-step feed of the cards is rotated through a chuck controlled by an arm operated by cams on the shaft 34, the latter making one rotation to feed a card at the end of each cycle and causing the Geneva mechanism to be clutched so as to advance the card intermittently. Means are also provided for recording on the film or the card data additional to that recorded on the card or film being copied. For this purpose, an impulse emitted is employed, in which a contact brush moves over contact segments synchronously with the step-by-step movement of the cards. By means of hand-set contacts any segment can be connected to the circuits controlling any of the lamps 175 or punches 65, whereby the impulses from the transmitter can be made to effect additional data records at any point of any column. The controlling circuits are designed so that two cycles of operation are first performed, in order to feed the first card to the operative position, the circuits then becoming automatically " conditioned for normal operation during the third and subsequent cycles, in which the operations effecting the reproduction of the records occur.