US1372964A - Attachment for card-sorting machines - Google Patents

Description

C. D. LAKE.

ATTACHMENT FOR CARD SORTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED Aue.24.192o.

1,372,964. Patented Mar. 29, 1921.

C. D. LAKE.

ATTACHMENT FOR CARD SORTING MACHINES.

APPLLCATION FILED AUG.24 1920.

m3 Q m 0W w w i mm} 1/ 4 W3 C. D. LAKE. ATTACHMENT FOR CARD SORTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-24, 1920.

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Patented Mar 29, 1921.

UNITED STATES CIJAIR DENNISON LAKE, OF -BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE MACHINE COMIEANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PATENT OFFICE.

TABULATING ATTACHMENT FOR CARD-SORTING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentd M 29 1921 Application filed August 24, 1920. Serial No. 405,613.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, CLAIR D. L. AKE, a citizen of the United States,-res1d1ng at Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York; have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Card-Sorting Machines. of which the following is a full,-clear, and exact description.

The invention upon which this application-for Letters Patent is based resides in an attachment to the well known sorting machines for tabulator cards, such as are used in the Hollerith. system. Such sorting machines do not form any part of the present invention, but are or may be of the gpneral character set forth in the Patent to Hollerith, No. 1,237,646, dated Aug. 21, 1917, and, in general terms are characterized by the following peculiarities.

A bunch' of cards, which are to be sorted according to certain index holes punched therein, are successively brought 'into operative or control position, and set by means of the record which they contain, devices which determine the point of delivery of each card; which devices remain so set while the cards are in transit to' the sorting'stations, where their delivery into appropriate compartments is effected through the instrumentality of means controlled by such set devices.

The cards used in this system have a certain fixed number of columns in which theindex holes are punched, and this number is limited by practical conditions and considerations so that generally not more than The sorting machines when set and adapted for use operate upon a single column at a time, so that under ordinary conditions it .is permissible to punch but a single hole in a given column.

' It follows, however, from the possible number of figures or positions in each column for index holes, that the full capacity of the cards is seldom utilized, and it is manifest that if more than one index hole couldbe punched in a given column the possibility of sorting the cards according to the data required would-thereby be greatly increased.

It may also be desired to sort out from a mass of cards all having index holes above a certain point; for example, if each column bedesigned for ten index points, all cards that are known to be punched above and down to the fifth point may be sorted out and the others bunched.

These considerations make it desirable that the sorting machine be equipped with some device that will accomplish they desired results. Heretofore, special andv separate cams, contacts and switches have been added and used for the purpose'but the purposev of'my present invention is to use a standard construction of the sorting machine throughout, but to employ in connec tion' therewith an attachment which can be set at the will of the operator. either for straight sorting or for splitting the column at any desired point, so that only those cards which have holes above a certain position will be sorted and all others bunched and rejected. This device is known now *in the nature hereinabove set forth.

Figure 1 is a view of the improved attachment in side elevation the side plate bemg removed to show the interior mecha-- nlsm.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view with the cover removed.

Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation, the cover being removed.

Fig. 4 is a View in side elevation of a ratchet and pawl together with the set wheel.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the. drive shaft.'

mechanism and tripping cam.

Fig. is a section showing a reset'mecha nism. Fig. 8 is a detail of a cam and lever.

Fig. 9 is a rear view of a latch lever, and

iFig. 10 is a wiring diagram of the appara us. I Y

7 Fig. 6 is a sectional View through the latch The operative parts are contained in a operate contacts 6 and 7 in the manner hereinafter described and these contacts are properly secured to or supported by the frame of the device.

The purpose of the contacts (3 and 7 will be understood from the diagram Fig. 10. In this figure 8 is a contact brush in the sorting machine and the cards to be sorted are passed between it and a roller or metal plate 9, so that when a perforation in the card comes under the brush the current from a suitable source 10 flows through the contacts and the sorting magnet 11, and by the latter is delivered into its appropriate compartment or receptacle.

The cam 4 is so formed as shown in Fig. 1, that it raises the contact (3 only for a brief period at the end of each revolution or cycle; at all other times the circuit. which is completed by the contact coming into engagement with a stop 12, is open.

The contact 7 is flexibly connected with the frame at 13 and completes its circuit when it engages a fixed stop 11 on a rigid bar 15. It is normally locked up against the force of its spring by a stop 16 which it carries engaging with a latch on the lever 17 (Figs 6 and 7). is shaped The cam o to engage the tail of lever 17 during a given part of its rotation and therebythrows the latch and releases the contact 7. allowing it to complete its circuit.

The connection, therefore. between the brush 8 and the sorting magnet 11 cannot be made except at the end of a cycle through contact 6, unless the latch has been tripped and contact 7 allowed to drop.

The cam 5 has a single projection. It is secured by set screws to a hub 18 which is mounted free to turn on the shaft 3. It is adapted, however, to be rotated by a pawl ing point.

19, Fig. 4, which engages with a ratchet wheel 20 fast or keyed to shaft 3.

The hub 18 has a flange, the periphery of which is provided with gear teeth 21 and tothis flange by screws 23 is secured an index wheel 22. In the frame of the device and mounted parallel with the shaft 3 is a shaft 24 which carries a sleeve 25 with an. arm in which is set a toothed thumb wheel 26. Rigid with said shaft 24 is an arm or lever 27, Figs. 2 and 8, with a button 28 at its end and having a projection 29 thereon.-

If thislever be depressed and the shaft 3 turned by hand until a notch 30 in a disk 31 fixed to the shaft comes under the projection 29, then the thumb wheel 26 will be brought into gear with the teeth on the flanged hub 18, and by turning the thumb wheel, the index wheel will be set to expose any desired number at the zero or register- This means that the cam 5 will be set so that. its high point will trip the latch} 17 at any given point in the cycle which is represented by the figure on the wheel 22 at the zero point, and as the figures on this wheel correspond with the horizontal rows ,of numbers on the card, or to the numbers which may be punched out from such card, it follows that the machine may thus be set to sort all cards having holes beyond such point. but none below it.

For example, if a column is to be split between 5 and 6 the index wheel is turned to expose 5 which will so adjust the cam 5 that no hole punched in a number greater than 5 will have any effect on the operation of the machine. It will be understood that the positions for the holes are numbered consecutively from the top of the card downward, and that the cards move over the brush downward.

\V hen the device has thus been set it may be operated indefinitely to sort all cards punched in that part of a column determined by the adjustment, but by each rotation of the shaft 3 the latch is not only released but locked. The latter function is performed by a cam 32 on which rides a roller 33 on a pivoted lever 34, having a spring 35 connecting it to the frame. When the lever is raised by the cam a pin 36 thereon engages a part of the contact 7 and 6 may be disregarded but its purpose is to close a circuit from the brush to the sorting magnet for a brief interval near the end of the cycle, and immediately after the circuit through contact 7 has been broken. This is a feature not new in this connection and is intended to give ample time and opportunity for the operation of the machine when the brush is passing over the last horizontal line of holes or index points on a card.

This device may be attached to any cardsorting machine without change or modification of the latter. It forms a highly useful and efficient means of utilizing to greater advantage the possibilities of the cards and apparatus as heretofore constructed.

What I claim is 1. A universal split attachment for card sorting machines, comprising,'in combina tion, a circuit controller in the path of the circuit which includes the brush contact and a sorting magnet, and means for closing the same by the operator of the machine at any predetermined part of the cycle of operation.

2. A universal. split attachment for card sorting machines, comprising, in combination, a circuit controllerin the path of the circuit which includes the brush" contact and a sorting magnet, and an adjustable cam for closing said controller atany predeterm ned point in the cycle of operation.

3. A universal split attachment for card sorting machines, com rising, in combination, a circuit control er normally locked out of operation, and means for-unlocking the same at any predetermined point in each cycle of operation and thereby permitting it to close a break in the circuit to a sorting magnet.

, 4. The combination with the card sorting circuit of a card sorting machine, of a circuit controller therein, means for normally locking the same in inoperative condition, an adjustable cam which, by its adjustment, operates to unlock said circuit controller at any predetermined point in the cycle of operation' and permit 1t to 0 rate, and, means -for relockingvsaid control er in inoperative condition at the end of the cycle.

5.- The combination with the cardsorting Q circuit of a card sorting machine, of a circuit controller therein, means for normally looking a cam, an index wheel and means for setting the latter to point'on the cycle of operation and permit it to operate, engage with same at the end'of each cycle.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflixmy signature.

CLAIR DENNISON LAKE.

the same in inoperative condition,

adjust the cam to unlock the circuit controller at any predetermined and a second cam adapted to said controller and relock the

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