IL50567A - Control mechanism for document handling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Control Mechanisms for Document Handling Apparatus The present invention relates to electronic control means and more particularly to novel electronic control means for use with document handling equipment as described in our co-pending Application No. 42699, for feeding, separating and stacking documents which electronic equipment monitors all phases of the physical operations to provide reliable and accurate feeding, counting and stacking.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Document handling devices are presently employed in a large number of different applications. Some examples of such document handlers are devices for counting checks, punch cards, food stamps, paper currency and bank coupons, to name just a few. The basic requirements of such devices are to provide reliable operation at relatively high operating speeds in the feeding, separating, endorsing and stacking of the documents being handled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND OBJECTS The rese t invention is characterized by providing a control means which has the novel capability bf increasing the flexibility and effectiveness of the document handling apparatus to perform a variety of document handling operations such as, for example, endorsing, batching and statistical sampling not heretofore capable of being obtained through document-handlers and control devices which have heretofore been available.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide novel electronic control means for document-handlers and the like having a capability of distinguishing between adjacent separated documents for counting purposes while ignoring perforations, punches, slits or mutilations within a document as an erroneous indication of a separation between documents.

Another object of the present invention is to provide novel electronic control means for document-handling apparatus and the like to enhance ; the capability of such apparatus to perform operations such as reliable high speed counting, batching, statistical sampling and is capable of retaining an existing count and resuming counting even in the event of jams or temporary exhaustion of the supply of documents being counted.

These as well as other objects of the present invention will become apparent when reading the accompanying description and drawing in which: Figure 1 is a simplified elevational view of a document handling device for feeding, separating, counting and stacking paper documents and the like.

Figure 2 shows a plan view of the various feed elements of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the compensating quantizing threshold device employed for counting documents separated by the document-handler of Figures 1 and 2.

Figures 4a-4f are schematic diagrams which form the control circuitry for the document-handling device of Figures 1 and 2.

Figures 5a-5c show waveforms useful in explaining the circuitry of Figures 3 and 4a-4f.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figures 1 and 2 show, in simplified fashion a document-handling device which is described in greater detail in co-pending application Serial No. 41445, filed Januar 31st, 1973 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The detailed structure of the document-handling device of the aforementioned U.S. application will be omitted herein for purposes of simplicity, it being understood that the structure described therein is incorporated in the present application by reference thereto.

The document-handling device has the major functions of providing means for feeding sheets of varying thicknesses, sizes, finishes and the like and of accepting such dissimilar sheet sizes without first collating sheets into groups having similar dimensional and^r surface characteristics and includes means for separating j and counting the sheets and stacking the sheets once separated^ Device 10 of Figures 1 and 2 is comprised of a housing 11 having a base portion 12 for supporting device 10 upon any suitable surface such as, for example, a table or counter. The relatively small size and light weight of the device greatly enhances its portability and facilitates handling of the device to enable its use in practically any desired location.

The housing 11 is provided v/ith a front face 13 at its upper end which may be fitted or otherwise provided with control panels incorporating controls to be more fully described hereinbelow for turning the machine on and off, providing for statistical sampling or batch counting and the like and providing visually observable means indicating the count of the number of documents handled by the device.

Face 13 forms a portion of the front of housing 11 which is further provided with an infeed hopper 14 consisting of a plate member 15 for stacking sheets or other documents S. The stack S has a portion of its weight resting upon resrward end 15a of plate 15 and the sheets have their forward edges resting against a plate 16a. The inclination of the infeed stacker 14 is such that the weight of the sheets within the stack serve to retain the sheets within the infeed hopper without providing any top weight upon the stack, as well as serving to facilitate feeding of the documents from the in-feed hopper, which features are described in detail in the aformentioned application and will be omitted herein for purposes of simplicity.

A picker wheel 19 mounted to rotate about shaft 20 is provided with an insert or raised portion 19a which protrudes through a suitable opening provided in plate 15a to engage the lowermost sheet within the stack and advance this sheet toward a drive wheel 23 mounted to rotate in a direction shown by arrow 26 about shaft 24. Positioned above the drive wheel is a stripper wheel 52 mounted to rotate upon shaft 47 and being resiliently mounted in a manner described in detail in the aforementioned U.S. application to perform a tripping operation. Wheel 52 rotates in the direction shown by arrow 54 and serves to move documents other than bottora÷most sheet in a rearward direction so as to permit only one document to pass between wheels 23 and 52 toward an acceleration wheel assembly to be more fully described.

The coefficient of friction of the periphery of wheel 23 is greater than the coefficient of friction of the periphery of wheel 52 so that when only a single sheet passes between these wheels (as the result of either a stripping operation or the feed of only a single sheet), drive wheel 23 exerts the major influence upon the sheet causing it to be fed in the forward feed direction toward acceleration wheel 60 mounted to rotate in the direction shown by arrow 62 about shaft 61. The acceleration wheel 60 cooperates with free-wheeling rollers 64 mounted to rotate about shaft 66. The acceleration wheel 60 rotates at a speed greater than the rotating speed of wheel 23 causing the sheet to be fed between wheel 60 and free-wheeling roller 64 to be advanced toward a stacking location at a speed greater than the speed achieved by a sheet passing between wheels 23 and 52. This operation causes a small gap to be formed between the trailing edge of the sheet fed between wheels 60 and 64 and the leading edge of the next document being fed toward wheel 60 by wheels 23 and 52. This gap is sensed by means of a light source 65 cooperating with a light-sensitive transistor 72 or other suitable light-sensitive device which generates a count pulse when the "gap" is in the region betweeen light source 65 and transistor 72. Obviously, plates 15a and 16a are provided with suitable openings (ηο^^' shown) to permit the passage of light between devices 65 and 72 when the "gap" is in this region.

Sheets advanced by acceleration wheel 60 are "kicked" into a stacker mechanism comprised of a stacker plate 81 and a kicker wheel 84 mounted to rotate about a shaft 85 in the direction shown by arrow 91 so as to neatly stack counted sheets within the stacker mechanism. The stacking plate 81 is urged in the direction of arrow 97 by suitable bias means described in greater detail in the aformentioned U.S. application. As the number of sheets in the stacker is increased, the sheets urge plate 81 in the direction shown by arrow 98 against the force of the biasing means to firmly retain the sheets within the stacker.

Figure 2 shows the driving mechanisms employed for operating the various wheels described hereinabove in connection with Figure 1. The apparatus is provided with a motor having an output shaft 129 extending through machine frame F to which motor M is securely fastened. A pulley 130 is rigidly secured to shaft 129 and drives the acceleration wheel shaft 61 by meand of a belt 63 entrained about pulley 130 and a pulley 62 mounted to acceleration wheel shaft 61. The opposite end of shaft 61 is provided with pulleys 133 and 134. Pulley 133 is locked to shaft 61 and drives the kicker wheel shaft 85 by a belt 132 which is entrained about pulley 133 and a pulley 89 locked to shaft 85. Belt 132 is a resilient 0-ring type belt and is looped in a "figure-eight" fashion to rotate shaft 85 in a direction reverse from that of shaft 61. Thus, whenever motor H is energized, shafts 61 and 85, which are directly coupled thereto, are rotated.

Shaft 61 is further provided with a clutch mechanism 131 which, when energized, causes the pulley 134 mounted upon clutch 131 to rotate. When deenergized, clutch 131 causes pulley 134 to be free-wheeling relative to sijaft 61. Belt 135 is entrained about pulley 134 and a pulley 136, locked to one end of drive feheel shaft 24. The opposite end of drive wheel shaft 24 has two pulleys 25 and 138 locked to the shaft. A belt 142 is entrained about pulley 25 and oulley 21, which is locked to the picker wheel shaft 20. Belt 140 is entrained about pulley 138 and idler shaft pulley 42 which is locked to the idler shaft 39. Shaft 39 serves to impart rotation to the stripper wheels 52, 52 by means of a belt 45 entrained about pulleys 44 and 38, respectively, locked to shafts 39 and 31. A second pulley portion of pulley 38 imparts rotation to a pulley 51 mounted to stripper wheel shaft 47 by means of a belt 50. This "floating mechanism" for the stripper wheels 52, 52 serves to impart rotation to stripper wheels 52, 52 while freely permitting the stripper wheel assembly 30 to "float" above the drive wheels 23-23c in a manner which is set forth in detail in the aforementioned U.S. patent application.

Pulleys 133 and 89 are provided with semi-circular grooves around their periphery for receiving 0-ring type belt 132.

All of the remaining pulleys are provided with gear-like outer peripheries for engaging teeth provided on the belts which they engage, which belts are commonly referred to as timing belts. All of the belts have been shown in Figure 2 in phantom line fashion to facilitate and simplify an understanding of Figure 2.

An electromagnetic brake 137 is fastened to machine frame F and selectively engages one end 20a of picker wheel shaft 20. When energized, brake 137 abruptly stops shaft 20 from rotating. When deenergized, brake 137 permits shaft 20 to freely rotate.

In operation, shafts 61 and 85 continuously rotate so long as motor M is energized. Clutch 137 permits drive wheel shaft 24, idler shaft 39, and picker wheeel shaft 20 to be selectively disengaged from motor M when it is energized. Clutch 131 and brake 137 are operated substantially simultaneously to both disengage and abruptly halt the rotation of shafts 24, 39 and 20, even though motor M is energized.

The advantageous features of the driving and control mechanisms for the document-handling apparatus can best be appreciated from a description of the gate assembly 200 of Figure la, which is provided for performing "statistical sampling" and/ or collating operations and comprises a gate member 201 rigidly secured to shaft 202. At least one end of shaft 202, which extends to one side wall of the machine frame (not shown for purposes of simplicity) is fitted with a lever arm 203 rigidly secured thereto. A relay 204 has its armature 204a coupled to arm 203 and, when deenergized, maintains the gate 201 in the solid line position. Energization of the relay causes the gate and arm to move against the force of a biasing sprjj¾g- (not shown) to the dotted line position 201'.

Let it be assumed that it is desired to count a large number of sheets while retaining only "statistical samples" of the sheets being counted (for example, every 100th sheet).

The gate is maintained in the dotted line position 201* causing sheets advanced by the acceleration wheels 60 to pass over gate 201 and be fed between belts 207 and 208 entrained about roller pairs 209-210 and 211-212, respectively. Belts 207 and 208 advance the sheets in the direction of arrow 213 where a curved plate 214 deflects the counted sheets into a waste container or other suitable depository 215. As the trailing edge of the "99th" sheet clears gate 201 and enters between belts 207 and 208, relay 204 is energized to move the gate to a solid line position 201, causing the "100th" sheet to be moved toward stacker 80.

As the 100th sheet passes gate 201, relay 204 is energized to cause the next sheet to be fed between belts 207 and 208. This operation is repeated wherein the document-handling device counts the total number of sheets and retains only every 100th sheet in stacker 80, as a "statistical sample".

The remaining sheets in the depository 215 may be discarded or put to any ofeher desired use.

Any desired statistical sample may be selected by means of an adjustable switch means to be described in greater detail in connection with the electronic control circuitry. As the gap between separated sheets is detected by sensor 72, the counter provided in the lectronic control unit to be more N-v-fully described hereinbelow has its count advanced for each * gap sensed. The accumulated count in the counter is compared against the setting of the desired statistical sample to activate relay 204 so as to accumulate only the statistical samples in stacker 80 while feeding reaaining sheets «?.to the depository 215. The clutch and brake mechanisms as described hereinabove are selectively activated by an "N-l" signal and an "N+l" signal to assure the presence of a gap G of sufficient length between the sheet preceding the "Nth" sheet and the sheet immediately following the "Nth" sheet to provide sufficient time for physical movement of gate 201. Decoding circuitry within the electronic control means generates an N-l signal when the trailing edge of the sheet preceding the "Nth" sheet passes sensor 72, causing the drive, stripper and picker wheels to be disengaged from the motor drive and be abruptly halted as a result of actuation of the electromagnetic brake 137 so as to "slow down" the "Nth" document. Gate 201 is moved from the dotted line position 201' and the brake and clutch mechanisms are then released to continue the feed operation. When the trailing edge of the "Nth" sheet is sensed, the above operation is repeated in the reverse order to set the gate to the dotted line position 201*. The feed operation is again restored until the next statistical sample approaches sensor 72. The gate assembly described hereinabove may also be employed for collating. For example, it may be desired to stack every "odd" sheet (an original) in one pile and every "even" sheet ( a carbon copy of the original sheet) in a separate stack. This may be done by operating the gate as described above between every sheet fed to the apparatus. It is also possible, for example, to stack original sheets in the stacker and, for example, five carbon copies of each original sheet in the xpository 215 for further collating or processing, if desired.

The document handler in Figures 1 and 2 may also be employed for performing "batching" operations. For example, let it be assumed that a large number of sheets are to be piled into separate stacks with each stack containing an equal predetermined number of sheets. For example, let it be assumed that a large number of dollar bills (paper currency) are to be stacked into stacks each containing one hundred one-dollar bills. The paper currency may be stacked in infeed hopper 14 and may contain any number of bills up to the maximum capacity which can be handled by the infeed hopper.

A "start" button is depressed and the mechanism begins to count bills. When the "100th" bill passes sensor 72 the counter compares its count against the matching count set into the electronic control mechanism to generate a signal after the passage of the 100th bill which energizes electromagnetic brake 137 and deenergizes clutch 131 so as to abruptly halt the picker, stripper, and drive wheels while continuously rotating the acceleration and picker wheels to assure positive stacking of the 100th bill within stacker 80. The machine then automatically turns off, at which time a stack of exactly one hundred one-dollar bills will be neatly stacked in the stacker 80. The operation may then be repeated by depressing the "start" button to count and stack the next group of one hundred one-dollar bills.

Let is be assumed that the "start" button has been depressed and that the document-handling apparatus 10 counts up andrftacks seventy one-dollar bills, at which time the supply of bills to be counted in hopper 14 is exhausted. Wftereas the stripper, drive, picker, acceleration and picker wheels will continue to rotate, no farther count will be developed within the counter of the electronic control means and therefore the count of the bills already counted and stacked will remain undisturbed. The operator need only place a fresh stack of one-dollar bills in infeed hopper 14 whereupon the counting operation will continae as is described hereinabove.

Turning now to a description of the electronic control means for reliably and accurately operating the document-handling device figure 4b is a schematic diagram showing the electronic counter and selector switch of the control device.

The "electronic counter 340 is comprised of units, tens and hundreds counting stages 341, 342 and 343 electrically interconnected so as to be capable of developing a binary count representative of any decimal quantity from 000 through 999. The electronic counter accumulates one count each time it is triggered by a square pulse developed at the output 319b of one-shot multivibrator 319. This is applied to input terminal 341a of units stage 341.

Each of the units, tens and hundreds stages further in in each of the stages 341, 342 and 343 which are coupled to settable thumbwheel switch assemblies mounted at the ~v-'" control panel 13 of the document-handling device 10 (see Fig. 1). The thumbwheel switches 344 (units), 345 (tens), and 346 (hundreds) are each provided with a number wheel visible at the control panel of the device 10 to provide a visually observable indication of the position of each of the thumbwheels for indicating a count of any decimal number from 000 through 999. The mechanical arrangement for the thumbwheels and number wheels have been omitted for purposes of simplicity. The mechanical thumbwheel switches selectively couple a high voltage level to each of the input leads, for example, leads 344a-344d of the units thumbwheel switch, which couple the high level voltages to associated inputs of the units counter and comparator 341, The thumbwheel switches provide outputs in "nines complement" form which significantly simplifies the electrical connections required in the electronic counter as will be more fully described. A typical example of nines complement is set forth in the text "Programming Business Computers" published by John Wiley & Sons, 3rd printing, April 1962, on pages 449 and 450. difit is subtracted from the decimal quantity "9" and a binary coded decimal "9" is, in the "nines complement" form, a decimal 9 which is interpreted as a binary coded decimal zero. The binary coded decimal form of decimal 9 is 1001 v/here the weighting of the binary digits from left to right is "8", "4", "2" and "1".

The manner in which the -electronic counter 340 functions is to set the thumbwheel switches 344-346 so that their associated number wheels (Figure 4c) indicate the desired batch size. However, -he wiring between the thumbwheel switch settings and the inputs to the units, tens and hundreds stages 341-343, respectively, is in binary coded decimal and "nines complement" form. For example, let it be assumed that the size of the batch is to be fifty sheets. IN this particular case the thumbwheels will be set so that the decimal numbers read 050. The input levels applied to the units, tens and hundreds electronic counter stages 341-343 respectively, will be in binary coded decimal nines complement form and will read 1001; 0100; and 1001, with the left-hand-most digit of each binary coded decimal group being the most significant binary bit position. " " of output connections from each of the electronic counter stages to two (2) output levels per counter, namely the decimal eight and decimal one outputs respectively. In the units stage, the decimal eight and decimal one outputs are terminals 341b and 341c, respectively, and hence the hundreds outputs are similarly labeled as 342b and 342c and 343b and 343c respectively.

The output of each counter stage, in binary coded decimal "nines complement" form is 1001, which is the equivalent of a 0000 reading in straight binary coded decimal form.

However the straight binary coded decimal (BCD) form would require a connection of all four output stages to the peripheral logic circuitry whereas in the present arrangement only two output connections are required from each stage to sense the nines complement decimal "9" condition.

The outputs 342b and 342d in "tens" stage 324 and the outputs 343b and 343d in "hundreds" output stage 343 are all coupled to associated inputs of AND gate 349 which provides an output when the binary coded decimal nines complement output of each of the stages 342 and 343 are simultaneously in the form 1001. This output is inverted by inverter 350 whose output 350a is coupled to input lead 351 shown in Figure 4c which is a schematic diagram showing the various switches and other controls provided in the operator^ panel 13 of Figure 1.

Lead 351 is coupled to one stationary terminal 352a of a batch/statistical sampling switch 352 provided with a second stationary terminal 352b and a movable switch arm 352c. When the movable switch arm 352c engages stationary contact 352a, the high output from inverter 350 is simultaneously coupled through lead 353 to one input of eanh of the AND gates 354, 355 and 356 shown in Figure 4d.

AND gate 354 has its remaining inputs coupled to the decimal "8" output 341b of units counter stage 341 (Figure 4b) and the output 316a of NOR gate 31 which forms the Single Shot Filter circuit (SS-Filter) with NOR gate 317 (Figure 4a).

AND gate 354 provides an output at 354a which is low when all of its three inputs are high indicating the units stage of the electronic counter has reached a decimal "8" state, that the tens and hundreds stages have each reached a decimal "9" state and that the output of NOR gate 316 is high indicating that the leading edge of the "49th" sheet has been sensed. This output is coupled to NOR gate 324 which provides a high output when the output of gate 354 or AND gate 354 is low (see Figure 4a) . This condition is reversed by inverter 325 to place a low input level at NOR gate 380 of Figure 4e for controlling the operation of electromagnetic The specific actuation of the electromagnetic brake and clutch in accordance with the logical gating circuitry of Figure 4a will be described in greater detail hereinbelow.

AND gate 355 has its remaining inputs coupled respectively, to the decimal "8" output 341b of the units electronic counter stage 341 and the output 317a of NOR gate 317 indicating the presence of a document of Figure 4a and provides a low level output when the tens and hundreds counter stages are each in the decimal "9" state, when the unit stage output 341b is high (indicating a decimal "8") and when the output of inverter 317 is high (indicating the absence of a document) · This low level output is coupled to one input of an NOR gate 357 which is cross-coupled with NOR gate 358 to form a Flip Flop (Gate ff) . The output 357a or NOR gate 357 is coupled to one input of NOR gate 358 while the output 358a of NOR gate 358 is coupled to the remaining input of NOR gate 357. The remaining inputs of NOR gate 358 are coupled to the start switch 385 through gates 373 and 374 (Figure 4e) and to lead 361 of Figure 4c which is coupled to the stationary terminal 362a of statistical sampling switch 362 further comprising a movable switch arm 362b and a stationary contact 362c (see Figure 4c) · Movable switch arm 362b is coupled to grounded bus 363 to couple ground potential (i.e. low level) to the associated input of gate 355 when in the statistical sampling mode. Movable switch arm 362b is ganged to the movable switch arm 364b of batch switch 364 further comprising stationary contacts 364a and 364c respectively. The ganged connection is represented by dotted line 365 such that when one of the switch arras - (for example, switch arm 362b) is in the upper position engaging its stationary contact 362c, the remaining switch arm ( for example, switch arm 364b) will engage its upper stationary contact 364c.

Gate 370 and inverter 372 have their inputs coupled to the output 321a (see Figure 4a) . The output of inverter 372 is ooupled to the base electrode of transistor and normally maintains transistor non-conductive until the jam described in our co-pending application delay circuit 320 /times out, at which time the output of inverter 321 gees low causing the output of inverter 372 to go high and render transistor Qs conductive. Its collector electrode is coupled to lead 390a of Figure 4c to light the r. indication lamp 391.

The regaining input of gate 370 is coupled to the output 376a of NOR gate 376 which is low when the Start button of the control unit is depressed. Thus, if the start button has been depressed, the output of gate 37') is high causing the output of inverter 371 to go low so as to render transistor Q6 non-conductive. The collector output of transistor Q6 is coupled through lead 388 to "batch complete" laisp 389 of Figure 4c causing the lamp to be extinguished when a batch has not been completed.

AND gate 393 of Figure 4d has one of its inputs coupled to lead 361 of Figure 4c which, in turn, is coupled to the statistical sample switch 362. A second lead is coupled through inverter 394 to the output of AND gate 356 while the remaining lead is coupled to the output 317a of NOR gate 317 (see Figure 4a) so as to develop a negative going output when the count pulse is high signifying that a document is not present in the counting region of gate 201, when all stages of the electronic counter are in the decimal "9" state and when the sample select switch is in its upper position. This negative going signal is applied to the input of single shut 397 producing a negative pulse.

The output of gate 356 is simultaneously coupled to one input of OR gate 366 and inverter 394. The output of OR gate 366 is coupled to inverter 367, whose output is coupled to batch switch 364 and via lead 369 (when the batch switch 364 is in its upper position) to one input of NOR gate 376 resulting in a high condition to AND gate 370 thereby rendering transistor Q6 to be conductive so as to illuminate a lamp 389 indicating the completion of a batch.

When the inputs of gate 393 are all high, the negative going inpulse is applied to one-shot multivibrator 397 which functions as a pulse widening device to apply an output pulse to one input of NOR gate 373 of Figure 4e for a purpose to be described in more detail hereinbelow.

Figure 4e is comprised of a NOR gate 373 having one input coupled to the output 397a of one-shot multivabrator 397 (see Figure 4d) and the remaining iftput coupled to lead 398 of Figure 4c which is coupled to the stationary contact ^ 385a of start switch 385 which further comprises a movable switch arm 335d. This is a momentary switch device which may bo depressed to close switch am 385b. However , when the switch button is released, the switch arp. 385b disengages fron stationary contact 385a by suitable biasing means (act shown for purposes of simplicity) . This condition (t-.e depression of the start switch) places a low level upon NOR jate 373 causing it to go a ^h which condition is inverted by inverter 374 causing one input of Oli ate 375 to go low. i<5or gate 375, together with cross-coupled KQk jjate 376, forms a bistable flip-flop circuit (IXU' FF) . The output of inverter 374 is coupled to lead 359 of figure 4b.

Depression of the start switch causes the setting of thumbwheel switches 344-346 to be transferred to electronic counter 340, as will be further described. When the input of NOR gate 375 oes low, its output goes high causing a high input level to be impressed upon one input of ¾'0R *ate 376 whese output goes low when no halt condition is present. The high output of i'OR gate 375 is coupled to one input of AND gate 379 whose regaining inputs are coupled to start siuitch 385 and the output of ifOR fate 377 hicL is cross-coupled with iCR &te 378 to form a second bistable flip-flop circuit (STOP FF) . The outputs of NOR atcs 375 an This condition causes solenoid coil I^ to be energized thereby contact 402b. Switch arm 402a is magnetically coupled to solenoid as designated by dashed line 403. The closure--^ o£ switch arm 402 couples the A.C. supply 404 to lead 405 which is coupled to the control gate of a speed control circuit 460 w ich is a triac assembly which controls the percentage of each half-cycle of the A.C. waveform to be delivere to bridge rectifier 462 to develop a D.C. output.

The function of gate 407 is energization of motor :■! which is controlled by the presence of a document under the sensor except during a jam condition. This insures fun-out of any document in flow when the STOP button is depressed and when the document is the last one of a batch. Gate 407 is low to keep relay energized so Ion?, as there os no jam condition (321a - Figure 4a) and a docurent is passing the sensor.

Gate 3S1 also ener izes relay !C^ either when the START button is depressed, or the RUM FF is ON or when the STOP FF is OFF (i.e. reset).

! IR c»ate 380 has its output go high when any one of its inputs are low causing a high input level to be applied to inverter 382 and to the emitter electrode of transistor · Thus, whenever the document handling device is either not in0tlie running state or is in the "stop" state or when the an prevention delay circuit has timed out its output goes high causing its transistors QR and Qq to become energized so as to apply an energising signal to the electromagnetic brake 137 shown in Figure 2. ,^, The inverter 382 has its output coupled to the base electrode of transistor is energized to energize electromagnetic clutch 131 when the output of inverter 382 goes high, which condition occurs as an inverse function of the Qg and Qg energization logic statement.

Returning to a consideration of Figure 4ct there is shown therein the settable thumbwheel switches 344 - 346 each provided with a manually operated thumbwheel 344a - 346a for setting its associated number wheel so as to set any decimal number ( for units, tens and hundreds) at the windows 344b - 346b, respectively. Figure 4c, for example, shows a setting of 050 indicating a batch or statistical sampling count of 50. Thus, each batch will contain 50 sheets or, alternatively every 50th sheet v/ill be statistically sampled.

The control panel is further provided with electromagnetic counter means 426 for indicating the count at any given instant for either a batch count or a continuous count.

The pulsing input 426a is coupled to the emitter electrode of transistor shown in Figure 4a. The operator's panel is further provided with a stop switch 387 having switch arm 387b and a stationary contact 387a. A continue switch having movable switch arm 386b and stationary contact 386, is also provided.

The mode of operation will now be described: Lit it be assumed that it is desired to count a large niurber of sheets. Switch arn\ 383 will be set in its units u er position engaging stationary contact 383a for "normal" operation. Switch arm 412b will be in its lower position engaging stationary contact 412c to indicate a stacking operation.

When power is initially turned on, the Jan Detection Circuit 320 tines out and assunes the "JA-i" state, turning the "JAM" indicator lamp 391 on- and resetting iUJtf-FF (Figure 4-6) t'-trough inverter 321, NOR gate 366 and inverter 367 (Figure 4d) to NOR gate 376. The RUN Ffr in the reset state keeps motor M off (through gates 379 and 331 and Q7-Figure 4e) ; brake 137 energized (through gate 330 and Q,,-Fi ure 4e) ; and clutch 131 de-energized (through inverter 382 and QJ_Q~ Figure 4e) .

In the normal mode, start switch 385 is pressed and released causing switch arm 385b to engage its stationary contact 385a thereby applying low level to one input of ¾0R fate 373 shown in Figure 4e. This will cause the output of O gate 375 to go high causing bistable flip-flop (RUN FF) comprised of K'Oii gates 385 and 376 to be set to its "run" state. STOP FF (Figure 4e) is also simultaneously reset. Start switch 385 also siriultaneously releases the Jam Delay Circuit 320 through gate 31S (Figure 4a), and inhibits the potor drive through gates 379, 381 and Q7 (Figure 4e) . RUN FF, being set, energizes clutch 131 and deenergizes brake 137 via gate 380, inverter the second input of AND gate 379 goes high. In the "run" condition, the output of NOR gate 377 is high (see Figure 4a) , causing the three inputs of AND gate 379 to go high causing its output to go low. This causes NOR gate 381 to go high which initiates conduction of transistor Q^. This energizes relay coil to couple the A.C. supply through switch 402 (which is now closed) to motor M to allow it to run. Aa each separated document passes through the acceleration wheels 62 (see Figure 1) the light sensitive transistor 72 is energized to develop a count as was previously described in our co-pending application no. The count pulses appear at the output 319c of one-shot multivibrator 319 shown in Figure 4a with the circuitry of Figures 3 and 4a described in the said application performing the function of automatically adjusting the desired threshold level and preventing cuts, slits, punch holes or other perforations in a document from being erroneously detected as a "gap". When a document passes sensor 72 the light level is reduced resulting in a low level output from the detector (Figure 3) whose output is applied to C2 (Figure 4a) which provides filtering against motor generated noise in the signal then passes through gate 313 and inverter 314 to set the integrating single shot SS Filter (Figure 4a) which serves to prevent holes or mutilations in documents from falsely appearing as "gaps". The integrating single shot output is applied to one-shot multivibrator 319 whose output 319c is applied to Q3-Q4 which serve as a level translator and current amplifier for driving electromagnetic counter 426 (Figure 4c) .

Jam delay Circuit 320 and Jam Prevention Delay Circuit 330 Figs. 4 and 5 are prevented from being timed out so long as the time interval between the detection of "gaps" does not exceed the adjusted time outs for these circuits as described in our normal operating condition switch arm 364 is coupled to lower stationary contact 364a which couples this condition to lead 369 to one input of NOR gate 376 of Figure 4e to set the bistable flip-flop comprised of NOR gates 375 and 376 to the off state causing the output of NOR gate 375 to go low which causes the output of AND gate 379 to go high. With the time out of Jam Delay Circuit 320 the output of AND gate 407 (see Figure 4d) also goes high causing the output of NOR gate 381 to go low thereby rendering transistor Q7 non-conductive to decouple power from the motor control device by opening contacts 402a and 402b. Also RUN FF (Figure 4e) is reset, counting is inhibited by gate 313 (Figure 4a) and JAM light 391 is lit.

Invetter 321 and gate 313 (Figure 4a) , together with gates 314, 317 and 318 form a "latch" which maintains the jam level as the documents are being removed and also prevent the document detector from producing spurious count pulses as it adjusts to the lower (shadowed) light level.

The counting process will continue as long as documents are supplied to the input hopper 14 (Figure 1). The document-handling device may be stopped for any reason by depressing stop switch 387 which couples ground potential through movable contact 387b and stationary contact 387a to one input of NOR gate 378. This causes its output to go high setting the output of NOR gate 377 low which causes the output of NAND gate 379 to go high thereby setting the STOP-FF. This condition, together with a high condition at the output of AND gate 407 (see Figure 4d) causes the output of NOR gate 381 to go low to decouple the A.C. supply from motor M, The output of NOR gate 377 is further coupled to IfOR gate 380 causing its output to go high and thereby energizing the brake and deenergizing the clutch. This prevents documents being engaged by either the picker wheel, drive wheel or stripper wheel assemblies from being prevented from further movement into the document-handling device. The brake is simultaneously energized to abruptly halt the picker, drive and stripper wheels. Depressing either the CONTINUE key of the STOP key will cause the STOP FF (Figure 4e) to be reset.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that the present invention provides novel control means for document handling devices and the like which are adapted for accepting sheets or other documents, preventing more than one document from passing through the drive and stripper means and for providing a gap between the separated document for counting purposes wherein the control means provides the functions of counting small or large numbers of documents, counting batches of document of any predetermined batch size, counting documents and retaining statistical samples of the counted documents and further provides means for protecting the equipment against damage due to delays by anticipating any potential delay and immediately deenergizing the document handling equipment and providing an alarm indication in the form of a lamp (and/or audible alarm if desired) to alert the operator to a possible jam condition.

The electronics of the control system is further adapted to provide count pulses by sensing the separation between documents before they pass through the stacker to automatically adjust for changes in ambient conditions which may effect the sensi within the documents themselves from being erroneously interpreted as a "gap" between separated documents. , Although there has been described a preferred emobodi-ment of this novel invention, many variations and modifications will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, this invention is to be limited, not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appending claims.

Claims (4)

5o567/2 WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: -"V

1. Control means for operating apparatus for counting and stacking documents comprising: first means for receiving a stack of documents; stacking means; second means for separating said stack of documents and advancing said separated documents, one at a time to said stacking means whereby a gap is provided between the trailing edge of each document and the leading edge of the next document; the control means being characterized by sensing means for detecting the presence of each gap to generate counting pulses; counting means for counting up to a predetermined capacity N coupled to said sensing means; settable swithh means for generating signals representative of any predetermined count equal to or less tan N; depressible switch means manually operable to a depressed position to set the count in said settable switch means into said counting means and to deactivate said sensing means and said second means; said switch means being adapted to energize said second" means and said sensing means when released; means coupled to said counting means for generating a halt signal when said counting means reaches a count of N for halting said second means.

2. Control means for operating apparatus for counting and stacking documents comprising: first means for receiving a stack of documents; second means for separating said stack of documents and advancing said separated documents, one at a time in a feed direction; stacking means; third means for accelerating documents advanced by second means toward said stacking means to create gaps between adjacent documents; the control means characterized by sensing means 5o567/2 coupled ito said counting means and including first gate means for generating an output when said predetermined count is achieved by said counting means; second gate means coupled to said gate means for deactivating said second means when said predetermined count is achieved to halt said second jneans while enabling said third means to advance those documents forming part of the predetermined count to reach said stacking means.

3. The device of claim 2 being further characterized by comprising normally deenergized braking means coupled to said second means and energized by said second gate means to abruptly hold said second means when said predetermined count is reached.

4. The sensing means of claim 1 being further characterized by comprising means coupled to said pulse generating means for accumulating a count of said pulses. COHEN ZEDEK & SPISBACH P.O.Box 33116 TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL Attorneys for Applicant