Data card and mailer data match/inserter system

An inserter system for automatically attaching pre-coded cards of generally planar, rectangular configuration to respectively corresponding, pre-coded mailer forms at predetermined card attachment locations on each said mailer form, by inserting first and second diagonally opposite corners of each card associated with the form into corresponding first and second card-corner receiving apertures provided in the associated form and defining the said card attaching location of said form, said apertures being spaced apart by a distance less than the diagonal dimension of the card between the said first and second diagonally opposite corners thereof, said mailer forms being supplied in a continuous fan-fold strip with each said mailer form pre-coded in accordance with the code of cards to be received therein and the number of such common-coded cards to be attached to said form, and said cards being provided in succession as to code and number thereof, in accordance with the succession of mailer forms, comprising:

• a card inserter mechanism including means for receiving and releasably retaining in a first position, at least one card,
• means for advancing said fan-fold strip supply of mailer forms for selectively positioning each said mailer form, in succession, with the card attachment location thereof aligned with and substantially parallel to and displaced from said first position of the releasably retained, at least one card to be inserted therein,
• means for reading the pre-printed code of said mailer form for identifying the card code and the number of cards to be attached to each said mailer form, prior to said mailer form being advanced to said aligned position,
• means for picking cards, in individual succession, from said supply thereof,
• means for transporting said picked cards,
• means for reading each individual card, in succession as picked from said supply, said transporting means transporting each successively picked card past said reading means,
• control means for comparing the code read from each card and the number of cards bearing a common code picked in sequence from said supply thereof with the pre-printed code and card number read from a corresponding mailer form, to determine compliance of the picked cards as to code and the number of cards of a common code with the card code and number of card requirements of each said form, in individual succession for each of the plurality of forms and each of the successively picked cards,
• said transporting means transporting and supplying to said receiving means of said card inserter mechanism each successive said card which satisfies the requirements of a corresponding mailer form,
• said inserter mechanism further including means for supporting each said card received therein in a central portion of the card and means for engaging said cards adjacent said first and second diagonally opposite corners for deflecting said corners beyond said first position and towards said form, and
• means for actuating said receiving and releasably retaining means to release said card and for actuating said deflection means to deflect said diagonally opposite corners of said card about said central support means to enable insertion of said first and second diagonally opposite corners of said card into said corresponding apertures of the card attachment location of the mailer form aligned therewith, and for thereafter displacing said central support means to permit said card to flex to its original planar configuration with the said diagonally opposite corners thereof projecting through the said corresponding apertures and underlying the form, thereby attaching the card to the form,
• said control means controlling said actuating means in accordance with the codes read from said cards and the number of cards bearing that code complying with the preprinted card code and number of card requirements of the associated form.

An inserter system for automatically attaching pre-coded cards of generally planar, rectangular configuration to respectively corresponding, pre-coded mailer forms at predetermined card attachment locations on each said mailer form, by inserting first and second diagonally opposite corners of each card associated with the form into corresponding first and second card-corner receiving apertures provided in the associated form and defining the said card attaching location of said form, said apertures being spaced apart by a distance less than the diagonal dimension of the card between the said first and second diagonally opposite corners thereof, successive said mailer forms being supplied in a continuous fan-fold strip with each said mailer form pre-coded in accordance with the code of cards to be received therein and the number of such common-coded cards to be attached to said form and said cards being provided in sequence as to code and number thereof, in accordance with the succession of mailer forms, comprising:

• a card supply station containing a supply of plural cards arranged in sequence in accordance with the card code number and number of cards of a common code number to comply with the pre-printed code and number of coded cards of said successive pre-printed mailer forms,
• a pick station for picking cards from said supply station, in succession,
• a transport station and an inserter station, said transport station transporting cards from said pick station to said inserter station,
• a form supply and transport station for transporting the forms of said fan-fold strip individually and in succession into an aligned position at said inserter station,
• means for reading a code on each said card,
• said card transport station transporting each card in succession past said reading means,
• said form supply and transport station including means for reading the card code and number of cards pre-printed on each said form,
• an inserter station for attaching cards to a form aligned therewith at the inserter station, and
• control means for selectively controlling the operations of said pick station, said transport station, said form supply and transport station, and said inserter station to permit operation of each thereof in asynchronous relationship with respect to the others, said controlling means comparing the card code and number of cards read from each said form, in succession, with the code and number of commonly coded cards read by said card reading means for the successive cards to determine compliance of the sequence of cards with the requirements of each of the sequence of forms, in succession and for supplying the cards in individual succession to said inserter station for each card which satisfies the requirements of a corresponding form, and for actuating said inserter station to insert said cards into the corresponding form when said form is positioned at said inserter station,
• said inserter station including an inserter mechanism for receiving the cards supplied thereto and for deflecting diagonally opposite corners of the cards supplied to and received by said inserter mechanism into said receiving apertures of said form thereby to attach the appropriate cards to the corresponding form.

A method for attaching a card of generally planar, rectangular configuration to a mailer form at a predetermined card attachment location thereon by inserting first and second diagonally opposite corners of the card into corresponding first and second card-corner receiving apertures provided in the form and defining the said card attaching location thereof, said apertures being spaced apart by a distance less than the diagonal dimension of the card between said first and second diagonally opposite corners thereof, comprising:

• receiving and releasably retaining a card in a first position,
• positioning a mailer form with the said card attachment location thereof aligned with and substantially parallel to and displaced from said first position of the releasably retained card to be inserted therein,
• supporting said card in a central portion thereof and engaging said card adjacent said first and second diagonally opposite corners for deflecting said corners beyond said first position and towards said form, thereby to insert said first and second diagonally opposite corners of said card into the said corresponding apertures of the card attachment location of said mailer form aligned therewith, and thereafter terminating the support of said card in said central portion thereof to permit said card to flex to its original planar configuration with the said diagonally opposite corners thereof projecting through the said corresponding apertures and underlying the form, thereby attaching the card to the form.

A method for automatically attaching pre-coded cards of generally planar, rectangular configuration to respectively corresponding, pre-coded mailer forms at predetermined card attachment locations on each said mailer form, by inserting first and second diagonally opposite corners of each card associated with the form into corresponding first and second card-corner receiving apertures provided in the associated form and defining the said card attaching location of said form, said apertures being spaced apart by a distance less than the diagonal dimension of the card between the said first and second diagonally opposite corners thereof, said mailer forms being supplied in a continuous fan-fold strip with each said mailer form pre-coded in accordance with the code of cards to be received therein and the number of such common-coded cards to be attached to said form and said cards being provided in succession as to code and number thereof, in accordance with the succession of mailer forms, comprising:

• receiving and releasably retaining a first position, at least one card,
• advancing said fan-fold strip supply of mailer forms for selectively positioning each said mailer form, in succession, with the card attachment location thereof aligned with and substantially parallel to and displaced from said first position of the releasably retained, at least one card to be inserted therein,
• reading the pre-printed code of said mailer form for identifying the card code and the number of cards to be attached to each said mailer form, prior to said mailer form being advanced to said aligned position,
• picking cards, in individual succession, from said supply thereof,
• reading each individual card, in succession as picked from said supply,
• comparing the code read from each card and the number of cards bearing a common code picked in sequence from said supply thereof with the pre-printed code and card number read from a corresponding mailer form to determine compliance of the picked cards as to code and the number of cards of a common code with the card code and number of card requirements of each said form, in individual succession for the plurality of forms and picked cards,
• placing each successive said card which satisfies the requirements of a corresponding mailer form in alignment with a selected, card attachment location of the corresponding form,
• supporting each said selected and placed card in a central portion and engaging same adjacent said first and second diagonally opposite corners for deflecting said corners beyond said first position and towards said form, and
• releasing said card while maintaining said central support thereof and deflecting said diagonally opposite corners of said card about said central support position to enable insertion of said first and second diagonally opposite corners of said card into said corresponding apertures of the card attachment location of the mailer form aligned therewith, and thereafter terminating said central support thereof to permit said card to flex to its original planar configuration with the said diagonally opposite corners thereof projecting through the said corresponding apertures and underlying the form, thereby attaching the card to the form.

A method for automatically attaching pre-coded cards of generally planar, rectangular configuration to respectively corresponding, pre-coded mailer forms at predetermined card attachment locations on each said mailer form, by inserting first and second diagonally opposite corners of each card associated with the form into corresponding first and second card-corner receiving apertures provided in the associated form and defining the said card attaching location of said form, said apertures being spaced apart by a distance less than the diagonal dimension of the card between the said first and second diagonally opposite corners thereof, said mailer forms being supplied in a continuous fan-fold strip with each said mailer form pre-coded in accordance with the code of cards to be received therein and the number of such common-coded cards to be attached to said form and said cards being provided in succession as to code and number thereof, in accordance with the succession of mailer forms, comprising:

• supplying plural cards in sequence in accordance with the card code number and number of cards of a common code number to comply with the preprinted code and number of coded cards of each of said sequence of preprinted mailer forms,
• picking cards from said supply station, in succession,
• transporting the forms of said fan-fold strip individually and in succession into an aligned position for card insertion,
• reading a code on each said card,
• reading the card code and number of cards pre-printed on each said form,
• comparing the card code and number of cards read from each said form, in succession, with the code and number of commonly coded cards, as read from the successive cards to determine compliance of the sequence of cards with the requirements of the successive forms,
• placing the cards in individual succession in aligned positions for card insertion, for each card which satisfies the requirements of a corresponding form,
• inserting said cards into the corresponding form when said form is positioned in aligned position for card insertion by deflecting diagonally opposite corners of the placed cards into said receiving apertures of said form thereby to attach the appropriate cards to the corresponding form, and
• selectively controlling said pick, said form supply and transport, and said inserter operations to occur in asynchronous relationship.

An inserter device for attaching flexible cards of normally planar, rectangular configuration to respectively associated forms, said forms having spaced-apart apertures for receiving diagonally opposite corners of the cards when said corners are deflected toward said forms, comprising:

• means for selectively positioning at least one form from a supply of plural said forms, in succession at a predetermined position for attaching a card thereto;
• means for receiving and releasably retaining cards to be attached to a corresponding form when selectively positioned at the predetermined card attaching position;
• means for selectively providing to said receiving and releasable retaining means, from a supply of plural cards, at least one card to be attached to a corresponding form, and
• means for actuating said releasable retaining means to release said selectively provided card and for deflecting said card to project the diagonally opposite corners of said at least one selected card into the receiving apertures of the associated form, and thereafter to terminate the deflecting of said at least one card to permit same to flex to a planar configuration with the card corners projecting through the apertures and underlying the opposite surface of the form thereby to attach the selected at least one card to the form.

A transport apparatus for transporting forms of a serial, continuous supply thereof, comprising:

• means for engaging said serial form supply for feeding thereof in simultaneous, serial succession,
• motor means for driving and engaging means,
• encoding means associated with said motor means and driven thereby for establishing in each rotation thereof a basic timing cycle of said apparatus,
• further encoder means driven by said motor and having a predetermined ratio of rotation with respect to said first encoder means and producing an output in each complete rotation there of corresponding to transport of said serial forms by a distance corresponding to an individual one of said serial forms,
• form alignment means associated with said transport means for initial alignment of a top edge of a first form of said serial supply thereby to establish initial alignment of said serial form supply in synchronism with said further encoder means associated with said motor means,
• control means for initialing said transport apparatus to drive said motor for positioning said further encoder means at a top of form position, corresponding to initial alignment of a top of a first form of said serial supply with said top of form alignment position of said transport engaging means, and having further associated therewith means for supplying cards,
• an insert mechanism for inserting said cards into specially configured apertures on respectively corresponding, individual forms as each said form is positioned in said inserter mechanism,
• said form transport apparatus advancing said forms in individual succession into said inserter mechanism for insertion of cards into the apertures thereof, thereby attaching cards to corresponding forms, for plural association of said forms and cards in respectively corresponding succession.

An apparatus for attaching data cards to corresponding carrier forms for a plurality of accounts, each said card having account information encoded thereon, and said carrier forms being supplied as a continuous web of successive forms, each said form having account information thereon and information on a predetermined number of cards to be attached thereto for the respective account, comprising:

• (a) means for supplying a continuous web of said carrier forms;
• (b) means for supplying a plurality of said data cards in individual succession;
• (c) means for reading account information from said data cards;
• (d) means for reading information from said carrier forms of the continuous web, including account information and the predetermined number of cards to be attached thereto for the corresponding account;
• (e) means for comparing information read from said data cards and from said forms of the continuous web and identifying said data cards for attachment to an associated form of the continuous web having corresponding account information, for each form in succession;
• (f) data card collecting and attaching means for collecting data cards identified by said comparing and identifying means for attachment to an associated form of the continuous web and then simultaneously attaching said predetermined number of data cards to the associated form on the continuous web in response to said predetermined number of cards having been identified and collected for the associated form;
• and
• (g) control means for stopping the supply of a data card from said data card supplying means to said data card collecting and attaching means when said comparing and identifying means determines that there is a mismatch of the information read from a data card and the associated carrier form of the continuous web.

An apparatus for attaching data cards to corresponding carrier forms for a plurality of accounts, each said card having account information encoded thereon, and said carrier forms being supplied as a continuous web of successive forms, each said form having account information thereon and information on a predetermined number of cards to be attached thereto for the respective account, comprising:

• (a) means for supplying a continuous web of said carrier forms;
• (b) means for supplying a plurality of said data cards in individual succession;
• (c) means for reading account information from said data cards;
• (d) means for reading information from said carrier forms of the continuous web, including account information and the predetermined number of cards to be attached thereto for the corresponding account;
• (e) means for comparing information read from said data cards and from said forms of the continuous web and identifying said data cards for attachment to an associated form of the continuous web having corresponding account information, for each form in succession;
• (f) data card collecting and attaching means for collecting data cards identified by said comparing and identifying means for attachment to an associated form of the continuous web and then simultaneously attaching said predetermined number of data cards to the associated form on the continuous web in response to said predetermined number of cards having been identified and collected for the associated form;
• and
• (g) control means for stopping the supply of a data card from said data card supplying means to said data card collecting and attaching means when said comparing and identifying means determines that there is a mismatch of the information read from a data card and the associated carrier form of the continuous web.