Card telephone dialing machine

Claim 2

A telephone dialling device for use with a punched dialling card comprising a substantially vertical chute constructed and arranged to have said card dropped therethrough, an electromagnetically operated plunger for arresting said card in said chute, means for intermittently operating said plunger to cause said card to drop through said chute in a series of steps, and means for sensing successive rows of holes in said card as the card drops in successive steps through said chute to control the transmission of dialling code signals.

Claim 3

A device according to claim 1, wherein said sensing means comprise a plurality of photoelectric cells.

Claim 4

A device according to claim 1, wherein said plunger is normally positioned to arrest said card and comprising further sensing means arranged to sense the presence of a card arrested in said chute and to initiate a sequence of operations in which said plunger is intermittently retracted to cause said card to drop in the said series of steps.

Claim 5

A device according to claim 3, comprising circuit means responsive to sensing a row in which no holes are punched out to cause said plunger to be retracted long enough for said card to drop completely out of said chute.

Claim 6

A device according to claim 4, wherein said first-mentioned sensing means are positioned for sensing holes arranged in asymmetrically disposed columns, such that insertion of a card in said chute other than the correct way round causes a row in which no holes are punched out to be sensed immediately to cause said card to drop out of said chute.

Claim 7

A device according to claim 1, in combination with a card having a column of cut out portions adapted to cooperate with said plunger to arrest the card with successive rows of holes aligned with said sensing means.

Claim 8

A combination according to claim 6, wherein said cutout portions are holes.

Claim 9

A telephone dialling device for use with a punched dialling card comprising a substantially vertical chute constructed and arranged to have said card dropped therethrough, an electromagnetically operated plunger for arresting said card in said chute, means for intermittently operating said plunger to cause said card to drop through said chute in a series of steps, means for sensing successive rows of holes in said card as the card drops in successive steps through said chute to control the transmission of dialling code signals, and a binary counter having a plurality of stages corresponding to columns of holes respectively, said sensing means being arranged to set each stage in accordance with whether a hole is or is not punched out in the corresponding column, and means for applying pulses to restore said counter to a datum state and for simultaneously emitting dialling pulses.

Claim 10

A telephone dialling device for use with a punched dialling card comprising a substantially vertical chute constructed and arranged to have said card dropped therethrough, an electromagnetically operated plunger for arresting said card in said chute, means for intermittently operating said plunger to cause said card to drop through said chute in a series of steps, means for sensing successive rows of holes in said card as the card drops in successive steps through said chute to control the transmission of dialling code signals, and a binary counter having a plurality of stages corresponding to columns of holes respectively, said sensing means being arranged to set each stage in accordance with whether a hole is or is not punched out in the corresponding column, and means for applying pulses to restore said counter to a datum state and for simultaneously emitting dialling pulses.

Claim 11

A device according to claim 8, wherein said counter has four stages for setting to the complement with respect to 16 of the digit to be dialled and wherein the pulses applied to said counter count the counter up to 16.