Automatic punched multicard device for call dialing of telephone numbers

Claim 1

An automatic device for call dialing of any telephone number selected from a predetermined plurality of such numbers, comprising a selecting-dialing unit of telephone call pulses and an assembly of a plurality of storing elements each of which is formed of a punched card corresponding to a preselected telephone number of said predetermined plurality of telephone numbers, said cards being arrayed within a card container operatively connected to said selecting-dialing unit, so that any preselected one of said cards can control said selecting-dialing unit directly from the card container by a simple pressure operation on the preselected card, said card container being formed with a plurality of ball-accommodatIng channels communicating with all of said cards and provided with a card-blocking means for blocking movement of all except a selected one of said cards, said card-blocking means comprising balls arranged within said channels for responding to movement of a selected card to block all the other cards when the selected card has been displaced to an operative position, the selecting-dialing unit comprising dialing circuits the number of which is one more than the maximum number of pulses provided for call pulse trains, there being 11 dialing channels, the maximum number of pulses being 10 and including one which corresponds to digit ''''zero'''' of a telephone number, a plurality of cards, operatively and selectively connectable to said selecting-dialing unit to generate subsequent pulse trains up to a maximum of 10 pulses per train, each card having a number of holes corresponding to the number of digits of the telephone number associated with said card, such holes being distributed on the card, one for each operative feeding step of the card, according to a predetermined distribution pattern peculiar to the telephone number associated with the card, each of said holes subsequently causing the generation within said dialing unit of pulse trains comprising the next digits of the telephone number in the card, the generation of each train depending upon the pulse number of the next preceding train, so that a single column of the card may contain a plurality of aligned and equidistant holes, corresponding to different digits of the telephone number associated with said card, said selecting-dialing unit comprising a unidirectionally moving dial operatively connected with a selecting disc which sequentially scans said dialing channels of the card container, said disc revolving in the same direction through successive revolutions and fractions of revolutions substantially corresponding to the successive digits of the telephone number associated with any preselected card of the container, while a feeding cam moves the card intermittently through subsequent operative steps, a pair of motors one of which is a card-moving motor and is operatively connected to said feeding cam for actuating the latter and the other of which is a pulse dialing motor and is operatively connected to said disc for rotating the latter, and means for automatically energizing said motors alternately.