JPH06162276A - Card transfer mechanism for reader / writer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To obtain a card transfer mechanism for a reader / writer that can apply a reaction force within an allowable range to cards having different thicknesses. [Structure] A disc spring 24 is used to urge a pressing roller 26 to apply a pressing force.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for reading / writing a card for magnetically or optically recording, that is, a reader / writer,
The present invention relates to a card transfer mechanism therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A reader / writer of a card for recording magnetically or optically of this kind includes a pressing roller which is biased to transfer the card to a read head / write head. A card transfer mechanism consisting of a drive roller is provided, and when the card is inserted between the pressing roller and the drive roller, the card is elastically pressed against the drive roller and between the surfaces thereof. Since a frictional resistance force is generated, the card is transferred by driving the driving roller.

Further, in such a card transfer mechanism, a leaf spring or a coil spring is generally used to urge and press the pressing roller. Now, this will be described below with reference to a schematic diagram. FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings shows an example in which a leaf spring is used. As shown in the figure, the leaf spring 1 is arranged inside the casing of the reader / writer so that the central portion is pressed.
The pressing roller 2 is rotatably attached to each end of the plate spring 1, the driving roller 3 is arranged below each pressing roller 2, and the central portion of the leaf spring 1 is pressed downward, thereby By pressing the pressing roller 2 attached to the section toward the driving roller 3 elastically, and inserting the card 10 between the pressing roller 2 and the driving roller 3, these rollers 2, 3 When a frictional resistance force is generated between the peripheral surface and the surface of the card 10 and the drive roller 3 is driven in the direction of arrow X, the card 10 is transferred under the frictional resistance force and in the direction of arrow X. To do so.

In the case of a coil spring, as shown in FIG. 4, one end of the arm 5 is pivotally attached to the housing of the reader / writer via a pivot pin 6, and the other end of the arm 5 is attached. The pressing roller 2 is rotatably attached to the lower part of the arm 5, the drive roller 3 is arranged under the lower part, and the coil spring 7 is arranged between the substantially central part of the arm 5 and the casing below the arm 5, and the arm 5 is wound. The pressing roller 2 is elastically pressed toward the driving roller 3 by transferring the card 10 between the pressing roller 2 and the driving roller 3 by placing the card 10 under the pulling force.

Further, in FIG. 5, one end of the arm 5 is rotatably attached to the housing through a pivot pin 6, the pressing roller 2 is rotatably attached to the other end, and the drive roller 3 is provided below the arm. The arrangement is the same as in the case of FIG. 4, but in the case of FIG. 5, the coil spring 7 is attached between the upper surface of the arm 5 and the housing in a compressed state, and the tension of the coil spring 7 causes the arm 5 to move. Is pressed to apply an elastic pressing force to the pressing roller 2.

However, the biasing pressure applying means of these pressing rollers have the following problems. The leaf spring 1 and the coil spring 7 have a relationship of P = k · δ (where k is a spring constant) between the displacement δ and the generated reaction force P, and the displacement δ is If it increases, the reaction force P will increase linearly (this relationship is shown in FIG. 6 when the reaction force P is plotted on the vertical axis and the displacement δ is plotted on the horizontal axis. There are two types of thickness of the card 10 used, 0.4 mm and 0.7 mm. If there is a difference of 0.3 mm in the thickness of the card 10 used in this way, the thickness of the card 10 Accordingly, the displacement δ of the springs 1 and 7 also changes, and therefore, the force of the pressing roller 2 pressing the card 10 against the driving roller 3 is different. 3 provides a frictional resistance force between the peripheral surface of the card 3 and the surface of the card 10, which allows the card 10 to Since the transfer force is applied and the card 10 is passed through the read head and the write head, the difference in the thickness of the card 10 allows the required transfer force generated by the springs 1 and 7. Therefore, if the elastic forces of the springs 1 and 7 are set so as to fit the thicker card 10, the frictional resistance to the thinner card 10 becomes smaller, and it is necessary to transfer it. On the contrary, if it is set to the thinner card 10, the pressing force against the thicker card 10 becomes too large. Once the springs 1 and 7 are installed in the device, the springs 1 and 7 cannot be replaced. Therefore, it is necessary to separately prepare a reader / writer for the cards 10 having different thicknesses. Therefore, the space for installing each reader / writer has two types of thickness. Since it is necessary for each of the cards, the installation space of the device inevitably becomes large.
Since two types of springs 1, 7 are required, two types of springs 1,
For example, the production price will increase by producing 7.

[0007]

As described above, in the conventional apparatus for reading / writing a magnetically or optically recorded card, that is, a reader / writer, a plate used for the card transfer mechanism thereof. Due to the difference in the thickness of the card, the spring and the coil spring have different displacements when the card is transferred, and the pressing force also changes accordingly.
In view of the above problems, even if there is a difference in the thickness of the card, the pressing force of the card against the drive roller can be kept substantially constant.
The problem to be solved is to obtain a card transfer mechanism for a writer.

[0008]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention is characterized by using a disc spring as a pressing spring.

[0009]

The characteristic of the disc spring is expressed by the equation P = G · (δ ³ ) (where G is a constant), where P is the force and δ is the displacement amount, and force P is the displacement amount δ. Has the property of being determined by the cube of Further, this relationship is represented by a diagram in which the force P is plotted on the vertical axis and the displacement amount δ is plotted on the horizontal axis. As can be seen from FIG. 1, by selecting the position of the displacement δ as an appropriate position, even if there is a variation amount Δδ in the range of the displacement δ, that is, there is a difference in the thickness of the cards used. Also, the fluctuation amount ΔP of the force P for biasing the card can be made extremely small, so that the biasing force P can be kept substantially constant. As described above, by using the disc spring, it is possible to give an allowable transfer force to the card even if the thickness of the card varies.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings showing an embodiment thereof. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a card transfer mechanism portion shown by cutting the housing of the reader / writer. As shown in FIG. 2, the card guide groove 20 is provided on the side wall inside the housing. With
A pair of vertical slab-shaped vertical card guide frames 21 having a rectangular cross section are installed in parallel at a required interval so that the card guide grooves 20 face each other, and the upper walls of the frames 21 are arranged. A pressing plate 22 having a certain thickness is fixed to the upper part of the plate at a right angle thereto, and a pin 23 is vertically attached to the center of the top surface of the pressing plate 22 and penetrates through the thickness of the pressing plate 22, and the lower end part thereof is attached. The disc spring 24 is horizontally fixed at the center of the upper part thereof. Further, the lower part of the disc spring 24 is opposed to a substantially rod-shaped support plate 25 having a certain length and having a rectangular cross section, the central portion of which is enlarged so that the lower part of the disc spring 24 is placed. In the center of the space between the card guide frames 21, they are arranged horizontally parallel to them.

A pressing roller 26 is vertically attached to each end of the support plate 25 so as to be rotatable.
Further, similarly, the drive rollers 27 arranged in a vertical state are installed below the pressing rollers 26, respectively.
In this case, the relative arrangement of each member is such that the disc spring 24 elastically presses the support plate 25, and this elastic pressing force causes
The pressing roller 26 arranged at each end thereof presses the driving roller 27. It should be noted that the drive roller 27, although not shown, is assumed to be capable of being driven in a conventional manner.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has such a structure, its operation will be described below. Card 10
Is inserted into the card guide groove 20, and the tip portion thereof is pressed between the pressing roller 26 and the driving roller 27, the pressing roller 25 is displaced by the thickness of the card 10. Therefore, the disc spring 24 is displaced via the support plate 25. In this case, the displacement amount of the disc spring 24 is set in advance so as to be within the range of Δδ shown in FIG. 1, so that the variation amount of the reaction force is within ΔP. Can be done. Further, this reaction force is applied to the pressing roller 26, and the card 10 is driven by the pressing roller 26 by this force.
7, the rotational force of the drive roller 27 is changed to the transfer force of the card 10 by the frictional resistance force received at that time,
The card 10 can be transported forward as indicated by the arrow X, past the read / write heads of the card.

In this case, the amount of displacement of the disc spring 24 Δδ
Even if the thickness of the card 10 is different, the reaction force applied to the card 10 is also within the range of ΔP by preliminarily adjusting so that it is within the range of the displacement amount Δδ. Therefore, the fluctuation of the transfer force due to the difference in the thickness of the card 10 can be set within the allowable range.

Although the above embodiment is similar to the conventionally known card transfer mechanism as shown in FIG. 3, as another embodiment of the present invention, the card transfer shown in FIG. 5 is similarly performed. Similar to the mechanism, the drive roller is arranged in the housing of the reader / writer, the arm composed of the elongated plate member is arranged on the upper part of the drive roller, and one end of the driving roller is rotatably attached to the housing and the other end is formed. It is also possible to rotatably attach a pressing roller to the disk and arrange a disc spring between a part of the upper surface of the arm and the housing. Further, in these embodiments, a disc spring with a slit can be used instead of the disc spring 24 integrated, but the mounting method and action of the disc spring with a sleeve in this case are shown in FIG. It is the same as the case of the embodiment.

[0015]

According to the present invention, which has the above-described structure and operation, a disc spring is used as a spring member of a card transfer mechanism used in a reader / writer, and its displacement amount and force (reaction force) are used. Since it operates in the vicinity of the inflection point of the curve representing the characteristics between and, even if the thickness of the card is different, it is necessary to keep the fluctuation of the transfer force given to the card within the tolerance. It can be done. Therefore, it is not necessary to manufacture and install separate readers / writers according to the difference in card thickness, and it is possible to provide a reader / writer that can share both thick and thin cards. Yes, there is no need to manufacture two types of reader / writer, and the installation space can be limited to the space for installing one type of reader / writer.
Due to the difference in card thickness, the inconvenience of selectively using a separate reader / writer can be eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a relationship of a force (reaction force) with respect to a displacement amount of a disc spring.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a main part of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of a card transfer mechanism using a leaf spring of a conventional reader / writer.

FIG. 4 is also a schematic view showing an example of a card transfer mechanism using a coil spring for tensioning.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an example of a card transfer mechanism using a coil spring for compression.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship of a force (reaction force) with respect to a displacement amount of a leaf spring or a coil spring.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 card 20 card guide groove 21 card guide frame 22 press plate 23 pin 24 disc spring 25 support plate 26 press roller 27 drive roller

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A card transfer mechanism for a reader / writer which comprises a pressing roller and a driving roller which are biased to transfer the card to the read head / write head. A card transfer mechanism for a reader / writer, which is characterized by using a disc spring to apply a biasing force. 2. A drive roller is arranged in a housing of a reader / writer, a supporting plate made of an elongated plate member is arranged on an upper portion of the driving roller, and a pressing roller is rotatably attached to each end of the driving roller. 2. The card transfer mechanism for a reader / writer according to claim 1, wherein a disc spring is arranged between the upper surface of the substantially central portion and the housing. 3. A drive roller is arranged in a case of a reader / writer, an arm made of an elongated plate member is arranged above the drive roller, and one end of the arm is rotatably attached to the case and the other end is arranged. 2. The card transfer mechanism for a reader / writer according to claim 1, wherein a pressing roller is rotatably attached, and a disc spring is arranged between a part of the upper surface of the arm and the housing.