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US 6,279,901 B1Granted
Identification card inverter that maintains the card support plane
AssigneeFargo Electronics, Inc.
InventorGary B. Fulmer
Life of this patent
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AssigneeFargo Electronics, Inc.
InventorGary B. Fulmer
Estimating the term…
A card inverter or “flipper” is used in connection with card printers and laminators for inverting cards which are to be printed and/or laminated on two sides, so that after operations on one side have been completed, the card can be inverted and fed back to the processing stations for processing the second side of the card. This can be done with cards that are being programmed, for example, “Smart Cards” that will be moved to different stations for processing, and also can be used in connection with lamination stations where the card will be printed on two sides, and then a laminate film layer placed over both sides of the card The card inverter or flipper is supported about a central axis that bisects the plane of the card, and the inversion is about this axis so that the card plane is maintained in the first position of the card as well as the inverted position of the card.
A card handling mechanism for inverting a card about a central axis of the a plane of the card comprising a card support, a pair of mounting shafts, one on each side of said card support, said shafts having coincidental axes and lying along a central plane of a card support, first and second rollers rotatably mounted on the card support on opposite sides of the plane of the card support, the rollers clamping a card therebetween and driving a card when one roller is rotated about an axis, a first gear mounted on a first shaft of said pair of shafts, a second gear mounted on an end of one roller and engaging the first gear, a drive effective to drive the card support from a second of the pair of shafts to selectively rotate the card support about the axes of the shafts, the first and second gears being the same size so that the card support can rotate about the shaft axes without driving the one roller.
A card handling mechanism for turning an identification card about a central axis lying in a plane of the card, said card handling mechanism including a pair of spaced apart support walls, an assembly of a pair of card guides supported on first and second housings on opposite sides of the card guides, and each of the housings being supported by a separate mounting shaft extending through bearings on the respective spaced support walls, a single pair of drive rollers mounted in mid portions of said card guides, one on one side of a first card guide and the other on the other side of a second card guide, a drive gear on a first of said mounting shafts for driving one of said rollers, the rollers having shaft portions extending into and rotatably mounted on the housing supported by a second of said mounting shafts.
A card handling mechanism for inverting a card about a central axis of the plane of the card comprising a card support;
A card handling mechanism for turning an identification card about a central axis lying in a plane of the card, said card handling mechanism including first and second support members on opposite sides of a card path, each of the support members being supported by a separate mounting shaft, a single pair of drive rollers mounted on and extending between the support members, the drive rollers being positioned to engage and selectively hold and drive a card, a first selectively operated drive to one of the rollers to rotate the rollers about roller axes, and a second selectively operated drive to one of the support members, the second drive rotating the support members, the rollers and a card held between the rollers while the rollers remain holding the card between the rollers and do not rotate about the roller axes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.