JPH0642282Y2 - Card holding mechanism of card reader / writer - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a card holding mechanism for holding a card in a reader / writer such as an IC card or a magnetic card so as not to pop out when the card is ejected.

[Prior Art] In a reader / writer such as an IC card, a card retainer is provided near the card inlet / outlet to prevent the card from popping out when the card is ejected.

As a conventional card retainer, a leaf spring 50A of a limit switch 50 is used as shown in FIG.
The card K is directly pressed by the V-shaped curved portion at the tip of 0A.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] By the way, the above-described conventional card retainer has a weaker retainer force because it can retain the card only by the force of the spring. Therefore, when the card is slippery or the card inlet / outlet faces downward. There is a risk that the card will fall out when the
Further, in order to solve the problem, it is necessary to increase the force of the leaf spring, but there is a problem that the conveyance resistance increases.

In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a card holding mechanism that can hold a card securely without increasing conveyance resistance.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The card pressing mechanism of the present invention is provided so as to face the card receiving portion of the card inlet / outlet, and is provided so as to be substantially orthogonal to the card on the card receiving portion. It has a rocking bar. The swing bar has an end portion on the side opposite to the card supported by a pin, so that the swing bar can swing along the card transport direction.

Further, this card pressing mechanism has a stopper that defines the rocking limit of the rocking bar in the card ejecting direction, and the rocking bar is moved by the stopper in the card ejecting direction beyond a position substantially orthogonal to the card. It is supposed not to.

Further, an elastic member that comes into contact with the surface of the card is attached to the card-side end of the swing bar. Then, when the swing bar swings to a position substantially orthogonal to the card following the card moving in the ejecting direction, this elastic member comes into pressure contact with the card surface.

Further, a retracting actuator that is in sliding contact with the card to be conveyed is disposed on the far side of the swing bar from the card conveying path. The retracting element retracts and holds the swing bar at a retracted position, that is, a position where the elastic member at the tip of the swing bar does not contact the card when it is in sliding contact with the card.

[Operation] The card pressing mechanism of the present invention operates as follows.

First, at the time of carrying in the card, the card is inserted through the entrance / exit. Then, the tip of the card comes into contact with the elastic member at the tip of the swing bar, and the friction of both causes the swing bar to follow the card and escape in the loading direction. If this is left as it is, as long as the elastic member is in contact with the card, the friction causes the conveyance resistance to increase slightly.

However, in the case of the card pressing mechanism of the present invention, there is a retracting actuator behind the swing bar, and the tip of the card comes into contact with this retracting actuator when it goes further inward. Then, the swing bar is swung to the retracted position and held by the action of the retractor,
Thereby, the elastic member is separated from the surface of the card. Therefore, the conveyance resistance by the pressing mechanism is only due to the friction between the retracting actuator and the card. Here, since the retracting actuator is configured to be in sliding contact with the card, friction between them can be ignored, so that the conveyance resistance hardly increases while the retracting actuator is in contact with the card.

On the other hand, when the card is discharged, the swing bar is held at the retracted position until the rear end of the card passes the retractor, so that the conveyance resistance hardly increases. Then, when the card rear end passes through the retracting actuator, the action of the retracting actuator is released, and the swing bar is released from the retracted position. Then, the elastic member at the tip of the swing bar comes into contact with the surface of the card, and the friction causes the swing bar to swing in the card ejection direction following the movement of the card and return to the original position substantially orthogonal to the card. .

At this time, in the process of returning to that position, the card is in a state of being caught between the elastic member and the card receiving portion, and the elastic member is strongly pressed against the card. As a result, the card is strongly sandwiched between the elastic member and the card receiving portion and is pressed so as not to pop out.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an IC card reader / writer will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall schematic structure of a card reader / writer.
This card reader / writer has a drive roller 1 and a driven roller 2 as card conveying means. Drive roller 1
Is rotated forward and backward by a motor (not shown) via a reduction gear mechanism. Further, the driven roller 2 is the driving roller 1
Is arranged at the lower end of the card and is biased upward by a leaf spring (not shown) so that the card K is pressed against the drive roller 1. Then, with the card K inserted from the card inlet / outlet 4 provided on the front surface of the casing 3 being sandwiched between the driving roller 1 and the driven roller 2, the frictional force and the rotation of the driving roller 1 cause
It is designed to be moved along the transport path 5.

A portion of the transport path 5 in the vicinity of the card inlet / outlet 4 is a card receiving portion 5a, and the card pressing mechanism 10 of the present invention is arranged above the card receiving portion 5a. The card pressing mechanism 10 has a swing bar 11 provided so as to be substantially orthogonal to the card K placed on the card receiving portion 5a.

The swing bar 11 has its upper end supported by a pin 12,
It is swingable along the card transport direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1). The rocking bar 11 has a rocking limit in the card ejection direction determined by a stopper 13 so that it does not move in the card ejection direction (the card insertion / exit 4 direction) beyond a position orthogonal to the card K. .

A retracting actuator 14 is provided on the back side of the swing bar 11. The retracting element 14 is formed by bending a thin plate into a V shape and is formed integrally with the swing bar 11 by bending. The retracting actuator 14 is arranged with the bent outer periphery of the tip facing downward, and the bent portion is in sliding contact with the upper surface of the card K to be conveyed.

Further, a weak cantilevered leaf spring 15 is arranged above the retracting actuator 14, and the upper end of the retracting actuator 14 is in contact with the lower surface of the leaf spring 15. The retracting actuator 14 is urged downward by the leaf spring 15. The swing bar 11 integrated with the retracting actuator 14 is also urged by the leaf spring 15 toward the card ejection direction.

An elastic member 17 is fixed to the lower end of the swing bar 11. The elastic member 17 is formed in a circular shape from a material such as rubber, and when the swing bar 11 is at a position substantially orthogonal to the card K, the elastic member 17 is provided between the lower end edge of the elastic member 17 and the card receiving portion 5a. The gap H is attached so as to be smaller than the thickness of the card K. Therefore, the card K is an elastic member.
The elastic member 17 is pressed against the surface of the card K between the card 17 and the card receiving portion 5a.

The relationship between the rocking bar 11 and the retracting actuator 14 is such that when the retracting actuator 14 is in sliding contact with the upper surface of the card K, the rocking bar 11 is lifted as shown in FIG. Motion bar 11
The elastic member 17 at the tip is set to be separated from the upper surface of the card K. The position thus lifted is the retracted position, and as long as the retractor 14 is in sliding contact with the upper surface of the card K, the swing bar 11 is held in this retracted position.

On the other hand, two guide rods 20 are provided above the transport path 5 through which the card K is transported, and the guide rods 20 are inclined downward toward the back of the transport path 5. Holder 21 for guide rod 20
Is provided so as to be swingable, and an abutting wall 21a against which the front end surface of the IC card K being conveyed abuts is provided at the front end of the holder 21. A contact head 22 is fixed to the holder 21 with the contact 22a facing the surface of the IC card K. Further, the holder 21 is urged by the return spring 23 in the card insertion / exit 4 direction.

In the card reader / writer having such a configuration, when the IC card K is inserted from the card inlet / outlet 4, an insertion detection switch (not shown) arranged in the vicinity of the card inlet / outlet 4 detects the insertion of the card K and detects the motor. Starts and the drive roller 1
Rotates in the loading direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, when the card K moving in the arrow (A) direction is pushed, the swing bar 11 of the card pressing mechanism 10 is swung in the arrow (A) direction, and the retracting actuator 14 is also moved. Swing in the same direction.

When the card K is further inserted, the tip of the card K lifts the retracting element 14 as shown in FIG. 3, and the swing bar 11 is further lifted by its movement, and the elastic member 17 is separated from the surface of the card K.

Then, when the card K is inserted between the drive roller 1 and the driven roller 2, the card K is conveyed inward by the rotation of the drive roller 1. During this transportation, the card K and the card pressing mechanism
Since the elastic members 17 of 10 are not in contact with each other, a large conveyance resistance does not occur.

The card K is conveyed to the back, and the tip of the card K is in the holder 21.
When the holder 21 abuts against the abutment wall 21 a, the holder 21 moves with the card K against the pulling force of the return spring 23. When the card K is conveyed to a predetermined position, the drive roller 1 stops. During this operation, the holder 21
Since it is guided by 20, the contact 22a comes into contact with the contact point of the IC card K as it moves forward in the transport direction and comes into contact with the contact point of the IC card K, so that a predetermined read / write process is enabled.

When the reading / writing process is completed, the drive roller 1 rotates in the reverse direction based on a command from a controller (not shown), and the IC
The card K is ejected in the direction of the entrance / exit 4. At the same time,
The holder 21 is pulled by the return spring 23,
It moves following the IC card K and returns to its original position.

During this ejecting operation, the retracting actuator 14 remains on the card K until the rear end of the card K in the traveling direction passes through the retracting actuator 14. Therefore, during that time, the swing bar 11 is lifted up as in the case of FIG. 3, and the elastic member 15 is held at a position away from the card K. Therefore, during this period, a large conveyance resistance does not occur. Then, when the rear end of the card K passes through the retracting actuator 14, the retracting actuator 14
Is returned downward by the action of the leaf spring 15, and the swing bar 11 is also card K.
Returning to the side, the elastic member 17 makes a light contact with the card K. Then, due to the friction between the elastic member 17 and the surface of the card K, the swing bar is
Following the movement of the card K, 11 swings in the card ejection direction as shown in FIG. 4 and returns to the original position substantially orthogonal to the card K.

At this time, the card K is elastic member 17 in the process of returning to that position.
It will be in a state that it is caught between the card receiving part 5a and
The elastic member 17 strongly presses the card K. Then, the card K is strongly sandwiched between the elastic member 17 and the card receiving portion 5a by the pressure contact force N, and the card K is pressed by the frictional force F proportional to the pressure contact force N so as not to pop out.

As described above, according to the card pressing mechanism 10, it is possible to reliably prevent the card from popping out during ejection without increasing the conveyance resistance during normal conveyance.

In the above embodiment, the rocking bar 11 and the retracting actuator 14 are biased by the leaf spring 15 in the card discharging direction. However, a magnet is provided at the position of the stopper 13 shown in FIG.
It is also possible to apply a suction force to the swing bar 11 and thereby bias the swing bar 11 in the card ejection direction.

Further, if the same action as the above-mentioned biasing action can be expected due to the weight of the swing bar 11 or the like depending on the installation posture of the card reader / writer, the biasing means such as the leaf spring 15 or the like need not necessarily be provided.

Further, in the above embodiment, the retracting actuator 14 and the swing bar are
Although the case where 11 and 11 are formed integrally is shown, they may be formed separately. In any case, any mechanism may be used as long as the swing bar 11 is held in the retracted position when the card K is in contact with the retractor 14. Therefore, the retracting element can be arranged not only above the card K but also laterally, and it goes without saying that it is not limited to the above-mentioned form.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, according to the card pressing mechanism of the present invention, the card is caught between the elastic member and the card receiving portion when the card is ejected, so that the card is receiving portion. The card is firmly clamped by and the card is securely prevented from popping out. In addition, as long as the card is in contact with the retracting member during card loading / unloading, the elastic member is held so as not to contact the card, so that there is almost no increase in carrying resistance during the normal carrying operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view showing the outline of an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are side views of the essential parts for explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a conventional card. It is a side view of a presser foot. K ... Card, 4 ... Card entry / exit, 10 ... Card pressing mechanism of the embodiment of the present invention, 11 ... Oscillating bar, 12 ... Pin,
13 …… Stopper, 14 …… Retractor, 15 …… Leaf spring, 17
...... Elastic member.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A card holding mechanism which is provided so as to face a card receiving portion of a card inlet / outlet and holds the card against the card receiving portion when the card is ejected to prevent the card from popping out. A swing bar that is provided so as to be substantially orthogonal to the card that rides on the receiving portion, and the end portion on the opposite side of the card is supported by pins, so that the swing bar is swingable along the card transport direction. (A) Determine the swing limit of the swing bar in the card ejection direction,
A stopper that prevents the swing bar from moving in the card discharge direction beyond a position substantially orthogonal to the card, and (c) A stopper provided at the card-side end of the swing bar that follows the card that moves in the discharge direction. When the swing bar swings to a position substantially orthogonal to the card, an elastic member that comes into pressure contact with the card surface, and (d) is placed on the back side of the swing bar above the card transport path, and A card reader / writer characterized by comprising: a retracting actuator that swings and holds the swing bar at a retracted position so that the elastic member separates from the card when in sliding contact. Card pressing mechanism.