Patent ID: 7063013

Claim:
A card-flipping device for turning a card over in a card printer, comprising: a card-carrier unit for transporting the card in a vertical direction, the unit slidably attached to a vertical guide rail mounted to the frame of the printer, and the unit including at least one rotatable flip guide for holding the card; a motor driven means coupled to the card-carrier unit for moving the unit in ascending and descending directions along the vertical guide rail; and an actuator assembly, comprising: (i) a rotatable cam arm connected to said rotatable flip guide, the arm being capable of moving in ascending and descending directions with the card-carrier unit, (ii) a spring biasing means, (iii) a pair of sliding flip stop members, the members being in a first position, wherein the ascending cam arm engages a flip stop member and a force exerted by a spring means causes the cam arm to rotate 180 degrees, thereby turning the card over; and (iv) a pair of sliding flip stop actuator levers, wherein the descending cam arm of the card-carrier unit engages an actuator lever, thereby causing the flip stop members to slide from the first position to a second position.