Card input hopper

Claim 1

A card feeding device comprising: a hopper for receiving stacked cards, said hopper having a front and rear wall, said walls forming opposite ends of said hopper; a base support member for said hopper for supporting said stacked cards, said support member being fixedly attached at one end to said rear wall; driven means extending through a slot in said base support for contacting and advancing the cards in said stack seriatim; said base support member having a stepped portion extending beyond and being spaced below said front wall forming a throat passage between said base support member and the front wall, the vertical step of which is located rearwardly of said throat passage and forwardly of said driven means, and said front and rear walls further including lower guide portions angularly disposed in the direction of card feed, said front wall having a lip extending from an edge of said front wall adjacent said throat passage forwardly of said front wall and at an upwardly diverGing angle from said stepped portion; and means for introducing air under pressure through said base support located rearwardly of the throat passage and said vertical step and forwardly of said driven means and directed against the bottom most card in said stack to both cushion said card from frictional drag and to produce a Bernoulli effect at the throat passage on the leading edge of said card to draw the card through said throat passage.