GB800804A - Electric contact device for actuation by the tabulating movement of a carriage of a typewriting, tape punching or accounting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

800,804. Selective punching machines. COMPAGNIE DES MACHINES BULL. July 23, 1956 [Aug. 2, 1955], No. 22763/56. Class 31 (2). [Also in Groups XVI, XIX and XXXVII] The invention relates to electric switch mechanism actuated by the tabulating movement of the carriage of a tape punching machine, whereby predetermined control circuits are closed in different positions of the carriage. Such apparatus may comprise an insulating panel 1, Figs. 1 and 4, secured to the carriage 4 and provided with columns of contacts 1C, 2C, 3C, &c. adapted to engage successively a single column of wiper contacts BA-BH secured to the machine framework. Selected adjacent contacts of a column are interconnected, as at 7, and the panel of contacts is removable from the machine carriage; and interchangeable for others having alternative patterns of interconnections. According to the invention, the interconnections 7 are formed by deposits of conducting material, e.g. a conducting ink or soft solder. The contacts themselves may be printed on the panel 1 and set flush with the panel surface by embedding them in thermoplastic material of the panel by the application of heat and pressure. Cavities may be formed in the panel for the reception of. the interconnecting material 7, so that this will not be liable to damage in handling. In changing the panel, the machine carriage is moved to the extreme right, whereupon a lever 16, Fig. 6, is rocked by abutment with the frame 15 and releases a catch 22 normally retaining the panel in position. The arrangement of contacts 2 may be varied from that shown in Fig. 1; alternate rows A-H may be replaced by continuous strips ; or groups of adjacent columns may be associated with tabular positions of the carriage, the column of wiper contacts BA-BH being supplemented by further adjacent wiper contacts. Modified forms of the apparatus are described in which the panel 1 is replaced by a rotatable disc or drum, carried by the machine framework and driven by the carriage. The contacts may be disposed in concentric rings, or arranged in a spiral or helically. Fig. 15, for example, shows a construction with wiper contacts 65 traversed over helically arranged contacts 61, 62 on a rotatable drum 63 by means of a screw-and-nut mechanism 64.