US 6,142,370 A · Card transport mechanism and method of operation

Abstract

The present invention is a card transport mechanism for transporting cards (114) along a transport path (108) and method of operation thereof. A card transport mechanism (180) in accordance with the invention includes a pair of spaced apart channels (186, 188), each channel engaging a different one of a pair of opposed edges of the cards; a carriage (196) for holding the cards at a fixed position relative to the carriage during motion along the transport path, the carriage having first (198) and second (120) card contacting elements spaced apart at different positions along the transport path and projecting into the transport path for contacting and holding a card in the fixed position during motion along the transport path, the first card contacting element being compliant to move orthogonally from within the transport path to permit movement of the card along the channels while the carriage is stationary prior to contact of the card by the second card contacting element and the second card contacting element being compliant along the transport path in response to contact with the card to produce contact and holding of the opposed edges of the card with the first and second card contacting elements in the fixed position; and a carriage support (120), connected to the carriage, for guiding the carriage along the transport path.

Claims54

Dependent claims

A card processing system for processing cards at a plurality of card processing stations disposed at spaced apart locations along a card transport with the card processing stations performing card processing operations on the cards during transporting of the cards along the card transport comprising:

a plurality of card supply stations located at an infeed side of the card transport with each card supply station for containing a plurality of cards to be selectively individually supplied therefrom to the card transport;
a plurality of card collection stations located at an outfeed side of the card transport with each card collection station selectively collecting individual cards from the card transport after processing by the processing stations;
and
a controller, coupled to the plurality of card supply stations, to the plurality of card collection stations and to the card transport, for controlling individual selection of a next card from any one of the card supply stations and supply thereof to the card transport, the transporting of the individually selected cards by the card transport to the plurality of card processing stations, processing of cards with the card processing stations which are fed from the plurality of card supply stations including processing of cards fed from different card supply stations with different card processing formats and the transporting of the individually selected cards, after processing, to any selected one of the plurality of card collection stations for collection therein.

1 more element

A card processing system containing a plurality of card processing stations disposed along a card transport path comprising:

a frame having a plurality of parts with each part comprising connected horizontal and vertical members, the frame extending along the card transport path and having a variable length extending along the transport path for supporting a variable number of the card processing stations disposed along the card transport path and at least two parts of the frame each having at least one pair of horizontal members having an elongated horizontally extending contact surface which horizontal members are connected to each other by at least surface contact of the elongated horizontally extending surfaces of the at least one pair of horizontal members;
each card processing station comprising at least one support plate to provide a rigid base for the card processing station with a plurality of the support plates being attached to the at least two parts of the frame in a plane having a top surface parallel to the card transport path, each of the card processing stations being attached to the top surface of at least one of the support plates;
and
each of the plurality of card processing stations having a card transport mechanism for transporting the cards parallel to the top surface along the card transport path.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Card transport mechanism and method of operation

Life of this patent

Card transport mechanism and method of operation

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims54