Fig. 96
This machine is very useful for copying damaged cards, even when a repeater as those about to be described is at hand. A damaged card can be held between the needles and punches, and the plate filled, same as when copying a set.
Figs. 95, 97, and 98 show the principle of working three of the best-known repeating machines, which will copy a set of cards at the rate of from 40 to 60 per minute. [Fig. 95] shows the arrangement of the punches in Nuttall’s patent repeater. The punches are shown at A, and the stoppers or keys at B; the cards to be punched pass in between the blocks C and D. B1 shows the shape of one of the stoppers which, when over a punch, locks it, and causes a hole to be cut in the card. The stoppers all stand over the punches when at rest; the cards to be copied are hung on a cylinder, and act on a set of horizontal needles, g (Fig. 96); these needles have upright wires, m, n, passing through eyes in them, and also through eyes in the stoppers b. The upright wires act as levers, working on centres, m; and when one of the horizontal needles g is pushed back by the card to be copied, the corresponding stopper b is drawn from above the punch a, which allows it to rise when the card to be cut is raised up against it by the block D (Fig. 95), between which and the punch block c the cards to be cut pass, so that no hole is punched in the card; but where there are holes in the card to be copied, the needles g are not pressed back, and the stoppers are allowed to remain over the punches, locking them, and causing holes to be cut in the card pressed up against them.
This machine has been superseded by one in which upright rods act as stays on the punches. These rods stand on the punches, which have concave tops on them; the upper ends of the rods rest under the bars of a grid, or rebated plate, shown in section at P (Fig. 95). When in this position the punches are all locked. A set of needles are connected with these rods, and when the card to be copied presses on them, those that are pushed back move the top of the rods connected with them from under the bars to the spaces between them, which allows the rods to rise up with the punches when the card to be cut is pressed up.
