Group Sorting Device - IBM 80 Customer Engineering Manual

GROUP SORTING DEVICE
IBM 80 and 82 Sorters may be equipped with the
group sorting device. This device permits sorting of en-
tire groups of variously punched detail cards, according
to the punching in a single master card which precedes
each group. Operation of the device is externally con-
trolled by two group selection switches. On a Type 82
machine, these switches are mounted below the start
and stop buttons in a special recess in the right upper
front cover assembly. On a Type 80 machine, these
switches are mounted on the front of the cover over
the card feed crankshaft mechanism.
When the group selection switches are on, the group
sorting device
is
operative; when they are off, group
sorting is rendered inoperative and regular sorting can
be accomplished in the normal manner. On a Type 82
machine, when the group selection switches are first
turned on, the machine is electrically interlocked under
control of a time delay relay and can not be started
for approximately one minute, until the group sort
tube filaments reach their proper operating tempera-
ture.
The use of the group sorting device does not affect
machine speed. This device can be furnished for opera-
tion in either one of two ways:
Single Master Card Method: The single master card
method requires only that each group of detail cards
be preceded by a master card. This master card de-
termines the pocket into which its detail cards will
sort, even though the detail cards may be punched
differently in the column being sorted. Master cards are
identified on their leading edge by a corner cut. This
corner cut is sensed by a special rail brush at a separate
sensing station located ahead of the contact roll on
either the front or rear side rail of the machine. Figure
51 shows the location of this brush on a Type 82
machine. On a Type 80 machine, this brush is located
on the front or rear card magazine side plate. On either
type of machine, the master card corner cut may
occur at the column 1 end or the column 80 end of the
card, depending upon whether the special rail brush is
mounted on the front or rear rail of the machine.
Machines may be equipped with both a front and a rear
rail brush. A front-rear switch controls the selection of
these brushes and must be set to correspond with the
70
position of the corner cut in the master cards. The de-
tail cards need have no identification. They may have
corner cuts in them but these corner cuts must not be in
same postion as the corner cuts on the master cards.
Trailer Card Use: The double master card method
requires both a leader card and a trailer card for each
group. The master (leader) card controls the sorting
as in the single master card method, but a trailer card
is used to signify the end of each group. The master
card is identified by a corner cut on its leading edge;
the trailer card is identified by a corner cut on its trail-
ing edge; the detail cards require no identification.
Detail cards, however, must have no corner cuts which
would identify them as master or trailer cards. Two
rail brushes, one on the front rail and one on the rear
rail, are required on a Type 82 machine when the
double master card method is used. One rail brush is
used to sense master cards while the other rail brush is
used to sense trailer cards. On a Type 82 machine,
once the rail brushes are installed, the use of these rail
brushes is not flexible; that is, all master cards for all
group sorting applications on a particular machine must
have their corner cuts in the same position. All trailer
cards must have their corner cuts on the opposite edge
of the card.
Figure 51. Group Sort Rail Brush