Material or article handling – Process – Of moving intersupporting articles into – within – or from...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-19
2003-08-05
Krizek, Janice L. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Process
Of moving intersupporting articles into, within, or from...
C271S160000, C271S166000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06602043
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card issuer, more particularly to a card issuer which is capable of selecting and supplying magnetic cards (optionally having embosses or magnetic strips) one by one from a stack of a plurality of cards.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Apparatus for selecting and supplying one card from a large number of cards in a stack is known. For example, in the gazettes of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. Sho 56-45196 and Hei 7-35210, a card issuer
100
shown in
FIG. 8
is disclosed. The card issuer
100
is slidably equipped with a press plate
130
in a hopper
120
having a length L in width, which is slightly shorter than a length of a card
110
. At a card outlet
180
of the hopper
120
, a feeding roller
140
is disposed in a state where a part of the circumferential surface of the feeding roller
140
projects inside the hopper. A separator
150
is disposed in the hopper
120
, and this separator
150
is disposed in such a manner that a tip thereof is separated from an outer circumference of the feeding roller
140
, spaced with an interval equivalent to a thickness of one card. The card
110
is inserted in the hopper
120
to a wall
120
a
along a card feeding direction of the hopper
120
in an orientation where a tip thereof contacts the feeding roller
140
. The card
110
is always pressed toward the feeding roller
140
by a press plate
130
. A pressure imparted to the press plate
130
is obtained by disposing springs
160
between a wall portion of the hopper
120
and the press plate
130
.
When the feeding roller
140
rotates, the card
110
at the uppermost portion is sent out by a frictional force of the feeding roller
140
. In this case, as shown in
FIG. 9
, as the card
110
is sent out, it begins to rotate with its contact point with the feeding roller
140
as a rotational center. Finally, the card
110
is discharged through a feeding path
170
.
The above-described card issuer
100
adopts a system in which the card
110
at the uppermost portion is selected from a large number of the cards
110
stacked in a vertical direction. Further, there is known another card issuer in which a card at the lower most portion is selected one by one. In the card issuer of this system, a card located at the lowermost portion is made to contact a feeding roller (or a feeding belt) similar to that of the card issuer
100
. Thus, one card is selected by a frictional force or extruded by use of an extrusion member.
Also in the gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-53068, a card issuer
200
shown in
FIG. 10
is disclosed. In the card issuer
200
, a feeding roller
221
of a cassette
220
is rotated by a motor
222
in a direction where a card
210
is drawn to a floor surface
224
(arrow direction in the drawing). Then, among the stacked cards
210
pressed with a pressure P by a press member
225
, the forefront card
210
contacting the feeding roller
221
is extruded by the frictional force of the feeding roller
221
with an angle in a direction of a floor surface opposite from the press member
225
. The card
210
passes under the feeding roller
221
bending in J-character shape as shown in
FIG. 11
, advances forward along a floor surface
224
and is discharged from a feeding port
226
.
Both of the above-described card issuers
100
and
200
feed cards by frictional forces of the feeding rollers (
140
and
221
). Besides these, a card issuer adopting a system called a suction system is put into practical use. This card issuer suctions a card at the uppermost portion of stacked cards to take out the card.
There are a variety of cards handled by the card issuers. For example, there are a prepaid card, a cash card, a credit card and the like. The prepaid card does not have embosses on a surface thereof. Accordingly, the prepaid card can be easily separated and issued by the above-described conventional card issuers. However, in the case of the cash card and the credit card, each of which has embosses formed on a surface thereof, it is not easy to select one card from a plurality of stacked cards. Such embosses are typically made so as to mark a serial number of the card. Accordingly, in serial numbers of cards adjacent to each other in a stacked state, only the respective last numbers are different from each other, and the embosses forming the other characters overlap each other. For this reason, such overlapped embosses interlock and present resistance, and it is not easy to select one card from stacked embossed cards.
In the card issuer
100
shown in
FIGS. 8 and 9
, which is disclosed in the gazettes of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. Sho 56-45196 and Hei 7-35210, it is assumed that a plurality of the cards
110
rotate keeping an overlapped state with a contact point thereof with the feeding roller
140
as a center. In this case, it is necessary to apply a considerable feeding force at the feeding roller
140
in order to release an overlap of the plurality of cards
110
. However, this force also increases card to card friction due to the overlap of the embosses. Moreover, even if the overlap can be released, since the cards
110
are rubbed with each other by a strong frictional force, the surfaces of the cards
110
may be scratched. Furthermore, in the case where the overlap cannot be released, a plurality of overlapped cards
110
cannot pass through the narrow card outlet
180
, leading to a malfunction of the card issuer
100
.
In the above described system in which a card at the lowermost portion among stacked cards is selected by a feeding roller and the like, there exists a problem similar to the above. A card weight is one of the factors causing card to card friction due to the overlap of the card embosses. Since a load applied to the cards in the lower layer becomes larger when the number of the stacked cards is increased, the overlap friction becomes significant due to the increased load. When the number of the stacked cards is reduced, the overlap friction of the embosses becomes light, thus the problem that the card issue is disabled due to the overlap of the embosses is avoided. However, in this case, there occurs another problem, that is, troublesome maintenance that the frequency of replacing cards for the card issuer must be increased.
Moreover, in the card issuer
200
shown in
FIGS. 10 and 11
, which is disclosed in the gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-53068, it is a precondition that the card
210
is bent in a J-character shape. Accordingly, the card issuer
200
is not suitable as a card issuer for cards having high rigidity, such as a cash card and a credit card. Even if the card issuer
200
is applied to the cash card or the credit card, a feeding force of the feeding roller
221
must be considerably increased. This added force also functions to increase the overlap friction of the embosses similarly to the previous example. Even if the overlap can be released, since the cards
210
are rubbed with each other by a strong frictional force, the surfaces of the cards
210
can be scratched.
The card issuer of the suction system has a basic problem that a suction system thereof is large. The overlap friction of the card embosses may be caused by the card weight as described above. Specifically, since the load applied to the cards in the lower layer becomes large when the number of the stacked cards is increased, the overlap friction becomes significant due to the increased load. Since the card issuer of the suction system suctions the card at the uppermost portion of the stacked cards, an overlap of a card at the upper layer in a state of just being stacked is light. Since the card issuer of the suction system makes a suction force function to the card at the uppermost portion, there is no problem due to the overlap of the embosses where the card located in the upper layer is suctioned. However, since the overlap friction of the embosses is significant in the cards located in the lower layer, there is a possibility to suction a plurality of c
Campbell John E.
Gonzalez Floyd A.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Krizek Janice L.
LandOfFree
Card issuer, card processor and card stacker method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Card issuer, card processor and card stacker method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Card issuer, card processor and card stacker method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3094975