Card hopper
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A card feeder assembly including:
- a hopper for storing a stack of cards to be fed, each card having a thickness;
a card drive for urging an end card of the stack from the hopper, said card drive being driven to move cards in a first direction and forming a support plane for the end card in the stack;
a wall of said hopper having an outlet opening therethrough aligned with the end card and through which the end card is fed when driven by the card drive;
a control gate slidably mounted relative to the outlet opening and having a flexible blade that reduces a height of the outlet opening to less than a thickness of the end card, whereby the flexible blade flexes in response to the end card when driven through the outlet opening; and
a cam operator for changing the position of the control gate to adjust the height of the outlet opening.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A card hopper includes a control gate that reliably allows cards of varying thicknesses to be fed individually through an outlet opening without adjustment. The hopper is configured to hold a stack of plastic cards or similar, fairly rigid, substrates. The control gate is positioned at the outlet opening and includes a flexible blade that reduces a height of the outlet opening to less than a thickness of an end card of the stack, whereby the flexible blade flexes in response to the end card when driven through the outlet opening. Also disclosed is a card feeder assembly that includes the above-described hopper.
26 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A card feeder assembly including:
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a hopper for storing a stack of cards to be fed, each card having a thickness;
a card drive for urging an end card of the stack from the hopper, said card drive being driven to move cards in a first direction and forming a support plane for the end card in the stack;
a wall of said hopper having an outlet opening therethrough aligned with the end card and through which the end card is fed when driven by the card drive;
a control gate slidably mounted relative to the outlet opening and having a flexible blade that reduces a height of the outlet opening to less than a thickness of the end card, whereby the flexible blade flexes in response to the end card when driven through the outlet opening; and
a cam operator for changing the position of the control gate to adjust the height of the outlet opening. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A card hopper for use with a card feeder mechanism to feed individual cards from an end of a stack of cards, the card hopper comprising:
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a card housing having an opening for receiving a stack of cards;
an end wall of the card housing having an outlet opening therethrough aligned with an end card;
a control gate slidably mounted relative to the outlet opening and having a flexible blade that reduces a height of the outlet opening to less than a thickness of the end card, whereby the flexible blade flexes in response to the card when driven through the outlet openings; and
a cam operator for changing the position of the control gate to adjust the height of the outlet opening. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification