Document feeding mechanism

Claim 2

A card feeding apparatus comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards, and having associated therewith a support surface, means defining a throat of a height to pass a single card and communicating with said support surface, feed means positioned to protrude from said support surface to engage the stack of cards generally centrally of the surface of the card next adjacent thereto, said cards, when engaged with said feed means, being supported on said feed means and thereby displaced by said feed means in said central portion thereof from the plane of said support surface and said cards tending to bow toward the plane of said support surface at the opposite ends thereof and the ends immediately adjacent said throat being received on and supported by said support surface, and means for selectively enabling said feed means to frictionally engage and feed the said next ajdacent card of the stack, initially to buckle the card in the portion thereof intermediate the feed means and the throat toward said support surface to break contact thereof with the successive card of the stack and thereby to facilitate feeding of the cards, individually and in succession, from the stack and through the throat.

Claim 3

Apparatus as recieved in claim 1 wherein said feed means comprises a roller mounted on a drive shaft to be driven in rotation thereby.

Claim 4

Apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein the surface of said feed roller includes a high friction material.

Claim 5

Apparatus as recited in claim 3 wherein said high friction material comprises polyurethane.

Claim 6

Apparatus as recited in claim 1 further comprising drive means for receiving and engaging each successive card fed through said throat by said feed means from said hopper and completing transport of said card from said stack and through said throat.

Claim 7

Apparatus as recited in claim 5, further comprising: means defining a lateral reference position for one longitudinal edge of said cards as engaged and driven by said drive means, and said drive means includes a positively driven drive roller and an idler roller engaged therewith, said drive and idler rollers receiving and engaging a card therebetween when fed through said throat by said feed means, and said idler roller being skewed with respect to the direction of transport of said cards by said drive means to urge each said card as engaged and driven thereby toward said reference position.

Claim 8

Apparatus as recited in claim 6 wherein said cards include indicia receiving areas thereon arranged in columns and positioned in relation to a selected lateral edge of each said card, and wherein said skewed idler roller urges the said selected edge of each said card to said reference position.

Claim 9

Apparatus as recited in claim 5 further comprising means for determining the engagement by said drive means of each card fed through said throat for actuating said selective enabling means to displace said stack of cards from said feed means as each card is engaged by said drive means, and for determining when passage of each such engaged card through said throat has been completed, thereupon to actuate said selective enabling means for engaging said stack of cards with said feed means for feeding a successive card through said throat.

Claim 10

Apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein said determining means comprises switching means and a sensing element, said sensing element being positioned to be cOntacted by a card when engaged and driven by said drive means and thereby to actuate said switching means.

Claim 11

Apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein said determining means comprises photoelectric sensor means for detecting when each card has been engaged by said drive means and producing an output signal to effect actuation of said selective enabling means to displace said stack of cards from said feed means until passage of a card through said throat has been completed.

Claim 12

Apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein each said card includes a predetermined number of timing marks disposed longitudinally thereof in accordance with the direction of transport of the card and there is further provided: means for sensing the timing marks from each said card during transport thereof by said drive means and producing an output timing pulse in response to sensing of each mark, means responsive to sensing of a first timing mark from each card by said sensing means to actuate said selective enabling means to displace said stack of cards from said feed means, counter means preset to produce an output signal upon accumulation of a count corresponding to the predetermined number of timing marks on each said card and responsive to said sensing means for counting the output timing pulses therefrom, and said selective enabling means being responsive to the output signal from said counter to release said stack of cards for engagement with said feed means.

Claim 13

Apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein said feed means comprises: a shaft and means for rotating said shaft at a constant rotational velocity, a feed roller rotatably mounted on said shaft and positioned thereby to protrude from said support surface, means coupling said feed roller to said shaft for rotation of said feed roller by said shaft, and providing relative rotation therebetween through a predetermined slack angle, said drive means transporting each said card at a greater speed than said feed roller, and said feed roller being rotated by each said card when engaged by said drive means at a greater rotational velocity than that of said drive shaft to advance through said slack angle and said feed roller terminating rotation upon engagement thereof with the successive card of the stack as said drive means withdraws each said card from said stack and through said throat, and said shaft, at said constant rotational velocity thereof, closing the slack angle of said coupler to thereupon again produce rotation of said feed roller by said shaft.

Claim 14

Apparatus as recited in claim 12 wherein said coupling means comprises: a hub fixed to said feed roller and having a pair of shoulders angularly displaced with respect to the axis of said drive shaft and defining therebetween the maximum lost motion angle of said coupler, and said drive shaft includes a pin positioned thereon for rotation therewith, said pin engaging one of said shoulders of said hub for effecting rotation of said feed roller and said feed roller, when rotated relative to said drive shaft in advancing through the lost motion angle, causing the other of said hubs of said coupling means to engage said pin, whereby said other hub limits the advance of said feed roller relative to the drive shaft to the maximum slack angle.

Claim 15

Apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein said drive means comprises a first drive roller and associated idler roller for receiving and engaging each successive card fed through said throat by said feed means, a second drive roller and associated idler roller for receiving and engaging each card following engagement thereof by said first drive roller, said second drive roller having a higher surface tangential transport speed than said first drive roller thereby to assure that each card in the portion thereof intermediate said first and second drive rollers and the respectively associated idler rollers is maintained taut during the transport thereof.

Claim 16

Apparatus as rEcited in claim 14 further comprising: means defining a lateral reference position for one longitudinal edge of said cards as engaged and driven by said drive means, and said idler roller associated with said first drive roller is skewed with respect to the direction of transport of said cards by said drive means to urge each said card as engaged and driven thereby toward said reference position.

Claim 17

Apparatus as recited in claim 15 wherein said cards include indicia receiving areas thereon arranged in columns and positioned in relation to a selected lateral edge of each said card, and said cards are driven by said drive means such that said skewed idler urges said selected lateral edge of each said card to each said reference position.

Claim 18

Apparatus as recited in claim 16 further comprising scanning means disposed to scan the indicia receiving areas of said cards in the region intermediate said first and second drive rollers and the respectively associated idler rollers and including a plurality of scanning elements positioned in relation to said reference position for scanning respectively associated ones of said columns of indicia receiving areas of said cards.

Claim 19

A card feeding apparatus comprising: a hopper for receiving a stack of cards and including a support surface and a throat communicating with said support surface, said throat being of a height to pass a single card therethrough, feed means positioned to protrude inwardly of said hopper relative to said support surface to engage a stack of cards received in said hopper generally centrally of the surface of the card next adjacent said feed means, said cards, when engaged with said feed means, being supported on said feed means and thereby displaced by said feed means in said central portion thereof from the plane of said support surface and said cards tending to bow toward the plane of said support surface at the opposite ends thereof and the ends immediately adjacent said throat being received on and supported by said support surface, said feed means being cyclically operable to frictionally engage and feed the said next adjacent card of the stack, individually and in succession for the plurality thereof, said feed means in each cycle of operation thereof initially buckling the portion of the card intermediate said feed means and throat toward said support surface to break contact thereof with the successive card of the stack and thereby to facilitate feeding of said cards through the throat, and drive means for receiving each card fed through the throat by said feed means for completing transport of the card from the hopper and through the throat to thereby define the timing of each successive cycle of operation of said feed means.

Claim 20

A card feeding apparatus comprising: a hopper for receiving a stack of cards and including a support surface and a throat communicating with said support surface, said throat being of a height to pass a single card therethrough, feed means positioned to protrude inwardly of said hopper relative to said support surface to engage a stack of cards received in said hopper generally centrally of the surface of the card next adjacent said feed means, said cards, when engaged with said feed means, being supported on said feed means and thereby displaced by said feed means in said central portion thereof from the plane of said support surface and said cards tending to bow toward the plane of said support surface at the opposite ends thereof and the ends immediately adjacent said throat being received on and supported by said support surface, said feed means being cyclically operable to frictionally engage and feed the said next adjacent card of the stack, individually and in succession for the plurality thereof, said feed means in each cycle of operation thereof initially buckling the portion of the card intermediate said feed means and throat toward said support surface to break contact thereof with the successive card of the stack and thereby to facilitate feeding of said cards through the throat, and drive means for receiving each card fed through the throat by said feed means for completing transport of the card from the hopper and through the throat to thereby define the timing of each successive cycle of operation of said feed means.

Claim 21

Apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein said feed means comprises: a feed roller, a shaft for said feed roller adapted to be driven at a constant rotational velocity, means coupling said feed roller to said shaft for rotating said feed roller in response to the rotation of said shaft, and affording a slack angle through which said feed roller is rotatable relative to said shaft, and said drive means transports each said card at a rotational velocity in excess of that of said shaft, such that each card, when engaged and driven by said drive means, rotates said feed roller to advance the same through said slack angle of said coupling means until said feed roller engages the next successive card of the stack and thereupon terminates rotation substantially immediately, and said shaft closes said slack angle of said coupling means while rotation of said feed roller has terminated, to reinitiate rotation of said feed roller for feeding a successive card of the stack.

Claim 22

Apparatus as recited in claim 18 wherein there is further provided: separating means selectively operable to separate said stack of cards from said feed means to interrupt feeding of the stack of cards.

Claim 23

Apparatus as recited in claim 20 wherein said separating means comprises: a plate mounted adjacent said feed roller, and an actuator for moving said plate to displace the stack from said feed roller to interrupt further feeding of cards therefrom.

Claim 24

A card feeding apparatus comprising: a hopper for receiving a stack of cards and having associated therewith a support surface and a throat communicating with said support surface, said throat being of a height to pass an individual card therethrough from said stack, a feed roller positioned to protrude inwardly of said hopper relative to said support surface to engage a stack of cards received in said hopper, generally centrally of the surface of the card next adjacent thereto, said stack of cards when engaged by said feed roller, tending to bow toward said support surface, said feed roller frictionally engaging and feeding the said next adjacent card of the stack through said throat individually and in succession for the plurality of cards of the stack, and, for each card, initially buckling the card in the portion thereof intermediate the feed means and the throat toward said support surface to break contact of the card with the successive card of the stack and thereby to facilitate feeding of the successive cards, and means for selectively displacing the stack of cards from said feed roller to interrupt the feed operation thereof, said selective separating means including means for detecting engagement of each successive card with said drive roller to separate the stack of cards from the said feed roller and to determine completion of passage of each said card through said throat to deactivate said separating means and enable engagement of the next successive card of the stack with the feed roller for initiating a successive feed cycle.

Claim 25

A card feeding apparatus comprising: a hopper for receiving a stack of cards and having associated therewith a support surface and a throat communicating with said support surface, said throat being of a height to pass an individual card therethrough from said stack, a feed roller positioned to protrude inwardly of said hopper relative to said support surface to engage a stack of cards received in said hopper, generally centrally of the surface of the card next adjacent thereto, said stack of cards when engaged by said feed roller, tending to bow toward said support surface, said feed roller frictionally engaging and feeding the said next adjacent card of the stack through said throat individually and in succession for the plurality of cards of the stack, and, for each card, initially buckling the card in the portion thereof intermediate the feed means and the throat toward said support surface to break contact of the card with the successive card of the stack and thereby to facilitate feeding of the successive cards, and means for selectively displacing the stack of cards from said feed roller to interrupt the feed operation thereof, said selective separating means including means for detecting engagement of each successive card with said drive roller to separate the stack of cards from the said feed roller and to determine completion of passage of each said card through said throat to deactivate said separating means and enable engagement of the next successive card of the stack with the feed roller for initiating a successive feed cycle.

Claim 26

Apparatus for automatically and selectively feeding cards individually and in succession from a stack of cards, and providing precise spacing between the trailing and leading edges of the successively fed cards, comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards to be fed, said receiving means including defining a throat of a height to pass a single card fed from the stack, said throat defining means comprising a stop against which the leading edges of the cards are positioned and a support surface adjacent said stop, said stop being spaced from said support surface to define said throat, and said support surface receiving thereon and supporting said stack of cards, and positioning the card immediately supported thereon in alignment with said throat for being fed therethrough, a shaft and means for rotating said shaft at a constant rotational velocity, a feed roller rotatably mounted on said shaft and positioned thereby in fixed axial relation to said receiving means to support a stack of cards received in said receiving means, by engaging said stack at a position displaced from the leading edges of the cards of said stack, means coupling said feed roller to said shaft for rotation of said feed roller thereby, for feeding a card of the stack engaged by said feed roller through said throat, said coupling means providing relative rotation between said feed roller and said shaft through a predetermined slack angle, drive means for receiving and engaging each card as fed through said throat for completing transport of said card from said stack and through said throat, said drive means transporting each said card at a greater speed than the feed speed of said feed roller when coupled to said shaft for rotation at the constant rotational velocity thereof, said feed roller, while engaged with a card being transported by said drive means, being rotated at a greater rotational velocity than that of said drive shaft to advance through said slack angle of said coupling means, and terminating rotation upon engagement thereof with the successive card of the stack as the trailing edge of the card being transported by said drive means is withdrawn from engagement wiTh said feed roller, said constantly rotating shaft thereupon closing said slack angle of said coupling means while rotation of said feed roller has terminated, to reinitiate rotation of said feed roller for feeding a successive card of the stack, and said slack angle of said coupling means being selected in accordance with the rotational velocity of said shaft, the radius of said feed roller, the displacement of the feed roller from said throat, and the card transport speed of said drive means so as to effect the reinitiation of rotation of said feed roller to feed each successive card of the stack with a fixed spacing between the trailing and leading edges of successively fed cards.

Claim 27

Apparatus for automatically and selectively feeding cards individually and in succession from a stack of cards, and providing precise spacing between the trailing and leading edges of the successively fed cards, comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards to be fed, said receiving means including defining a throat of a height to pass a single card fed from the stack, said throat defining means comprising a stop against which the leading edges of the cards are positioned and a support surface adjacent said stop, said stop being spaced from said support surface to define said throat, and said support surface receiving thereon and supporting said stack of cards, and positioning the card immediately supported thereon in alignment with said throat for being fed therethrough, a shaft and means for rotating said shaft at a constant rotational velocity, a feed roller rotatably mounted on said shaft and positioned thereby in fixed axial relation to said receiving means to support a stack of cards received in said receiving means, by engaging said stack at a position displaced from the leading edges of the cards of said stack, means coupling said feed roller to said shaft for rotation of said feed roller thereby, for feeding a card of the stack engaged by said feed roller through said throat, said coupling means providing relative rotation between said feed roller and said shaft through a predetermined slack angle, drive means for receiving and engaging each card as fed through said throat for completing transport of said card from said stack and through said throat, said drive means transporting each said card at a greater speed than the feed speed of said feed roller when coupled to said shaft for rotation at the constant rotational velocity thereof, said feed roller, while engaged with a card being transported by said drive means, being rotated at a greater rotational velocity than that of said drive shaft to advance through said slack angle of said coupling means, and terminating rotation upon engagement thereof with the successive card of the stack as the trailing edge of the card being transported by said drive means is withdrawn from engagement wiTh said feed roller, said constantly rotating shaft thereupon closing said slack angle of said coupling means while rotation of said feed roller has terminated, to reinitiate rotation of said feed roller for feeding a successive card of the stack, and said slack angle of said coupling means being selected in accordance with the rotational velocity of said shaft, the radius of said feed roller, the displacement of the feed roller from said throat, and the card transport speed of said drive means so as to effect the reinitiation of rotation of said feed roller to feed each successive card of the stack with a fixed spacing between the trailing and leading edges of successively fed cards.

Claim 28

Apparatus as recited in claim 23 wherein said stack of cards is urged against said feed roller and said support surface and wherein said feed roller is positioned relative to said support surface such that the said stack of cards tends to bow about the feed roller.

Claim 29

Apparatus as recited in claim 23 wherein: said support surface extends in a generally common plane toward said feed roller for at least a portion of the distance between said feed roller and said throat, and said feed roller, when rotation thereof is reinitiated, initially causes the card with which it is engaged to buckle in the portion thereof intermediate the feed roller and the throat and toward said support surface to break contact of that card with the next successive card of the stack, thereby to reduce frictional engagement therewith and facilitate feeding of the card from the stack.

Claim 30

Apparatus as recited in claim 25 wherein said feed roller is positioned to protrude from the plane of said support surface, thereby to space said cards in the portion thereof engaged by said feed roller from the plane of said support surface.

Claim 31

Apparatus for automatically and selectively feeding cards individually and in succession from a stack of cards, and providing precise spacing between the trailing and leading edges of the successively fed cards, comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards to be fed and defining a throat of a height to pass a single card fed from the stack, said receiving means including a surface defining said throat and supporting the stack of cards received in said receiving means adjacent the leading edge of the card of the stack which first passes through said throat during feeding of said cards, in succession, from said stack, a feed roller positioned in fixed axial relation to said receiving means and displaced from said throat to support a stack of cards received in said receiving means, said feed roller being positioned relative to said support surface to cause said cards, when engaged therewith, to bow toward said support surface from the location of the engagement thereof with said feed roller, and drive means for receiving and engaging each successive card fed through said throat by said feed roller and completing transport of each said card from said stack and through said throat, and means for selectively enabling said feed roller to feed the next acjacent card of the stack in timed relationship to the passage of the trailing edge of the next previously fed card through said throat.

Claim 32

Apparatus for automatically and selectively feeding cards individually and in succession from a stack of cards, and providing precise spacing between the trailing and leading edges of the successively fed cards, comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards to be fed and defining a throat of a height to pass a single card fed from the stack, said receiving means including a surface defining said throat and supporting the stack of cards received in said receiving means adjacent the leading edge of the card of the stack which first passes through said throat during feeding of said cards, in succession, from said stack, a feed roller positioned in fixed axial relation to said receiving means and displaced from said throat to support a stack of cards received in said receiving means, said feed roller being positioned relative to said support surface to cause said cards, when engaged therewith, to bow toward said support surface from the location of the engagement thereof with said feed roller, and drive means for receiving and engaging each successive card fed through said throat by said feed roller and completing transport of each said card from said stack and through said throat, and means for selectively enabling said feed roller to feed the next acjacent card of the stack in timed relationship to the passage of the trailing edge of the next previously fed card through said throat.

Claim 33

Apparatus for automatically and selectively feeding cards individually and in succession from a stack of cards, and providing precise spacing between the trailing and leading edges of the successively fed cards, comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards to be fed and defining a throat of a height to pass a single card fed from the stack, said receiving means including a surface defining said throat and supporting the stack of cards received in said receiving means adjacent the leading edge of the card of the stack which first passes through said throat during feeding of said cards, in succession, from said stack, a feed roller positioned in fixed axial relation to said receiving means and displaced from said throat to support A stack of cards received in said receiving means, drive means for receiving and engaging each successive card fed through said throat by said feed roller and completing transport of each said card from said stack and through said throat, means for selectively enabling said feed roller to feed the next adjacent card of the stack in timed relationship to the passage of the trailing edge of the next previously fed card through said throat, said feed roller exerting a longitudinal force on the card of the stack with which it is engaged to effect feeding of said card to said throat and exerting a transverse force on said card tending to buckle said card away from said stack, and restraining means intermediate said throat and said feed roller for limiting the extent of buckling produced by said transverse force, thereby to direct the engaged card to move through said throat in response to said longitudinal force.

Claim 34

Apparatus for automatically and selectively feeding cards individually and in succession from a stack of cards, and providing precise spacing between the trailing and leading edges of the successively fed cards, comprising: means for receiving a stack of cards to be fed and defining a throat of a height to pass a single card fed from the stack, said receiving means including a surface defining said throat and supporting the stack of cards received in said receiving means adjacent the leading edge of the card of the stack which first passes through said throat during feeding of said cards, in succession, from said stack, a feed roller positioned in fixed axial relation to said receiving means and displaced from said throat to support A stack of cards received in said receiving means, drive means for receiving and engaging each successive card fed through said throat by said feed roller and completing transport of each said card from said stack and through said throat, means for selectively enabling said feed roller to feed the next adjacent card of the stack in timed relationship to the passage of the trailing edge of the next previously fed card through said throat, said feed roller exerting a longitudinal force on the card of the stack with which it is engaged to effect feeding of said card to said throat and exerting a transverse force on said card tending to buckle said card away from said stack, and restraining means intermediate said throat and said feed roller for limiting the extent of buckling produced by said transverse force, thereby to direct the engaged card to move through said throat in response to said longitudinal force.