Card personalization generally involves a series of operations, such as recording data on a magnetic band which may be present on the card initializing a chip possibly provided on the card, thermographing its surface data punching and possible colouring of the punched data.

All these operations are generally effected by automatic machines provided with a holder for a stack of cards to be processed, these being withdrawn one by one to be subjected to the required processing cycle, generally controlled by a computer which transmits to the various machine components the data with which each card is to be personalized.

Card personalization is generally effected by an organization which deals with one particular card (and only that), and consequently known card personalizing machines are provided with a single loader in which the cards to be personalized are stacked and from which they are withdrawn one by one.

An object of the invention is to provide a multiple feeder for applying to card and plate personalizing machines, which is able to selectively withdraw different cards on the basis of a predetermined operating program.

A further object of the invention is to provide a multiple feeder which can be applied to a card and plate personalizing machine without adding substantially to its overall size.

A further object of the invention is to provide a multiple feeder for a card and plate personalizing machine having considerable operational

reliability.

All these objects and further ones are attained according to the invention throught a multiple feeder as described in claim 1.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, on which; Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of a card personalizing machine using a multiple feeder according to the invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of the multiple feeder Figure 3 is a detailed plan view of the members for extracting cards from the containers; Figure 4 is a reduced cross-section therethrough on the line IV-IV of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a reduced cross-section therethrough on the line V-V of Figure 3; Figure 6 is a reduced longitudinal section therethrough on the line Vl-VI of Figure 3; and Figure 7 is a reduced longitudinal section therethrough on the line VII-VII of Figure 3.

As can be seen from the figures, the multiple feeder of the invention, indicated overall by 2, is installed on a card (for example credit card) or plate personalizing machine, comprising a track 4 along which the individual cards 6, retained by a gripper 8, are subjected to the action of a punching unit 10 and a thermographing unit 12. As these units are of traditional type, they will not be described in detail.

The multi-load holder 2 comprises a plurality of parallelepiped containers 14 (five in the illustrated example), each able to contain a stack of cards 6 to be personalized. Considering that the cards are rectangular, in this

description the terms "longitudinal" and "transverse" relate to the direction of the major axis and the minor axis of each card respectively.

The parallelepiped containers 14 are arranged side by side so that each pair has a common longitudinal vertical wall, and all have their front walls coplanar.

The longitudinal walls of each container 14 rest directly on the floor of the personalizing machine, whereas the two transverse walls are slightly raised to an extent sufficient for passage of the lower card 6 of each stack.

Below each container 14 there is provided an extractor for said lower card. It consists of a pusher 16 movable, under the control of a crank and slotted link device 18 operated by an electric motor 20, between a rest position totally upstream of the corresponding container 14 (with reference to the card extraction direction, and hence to the machine operating cycle), and a more advanced operating position suitable for pushing the lower card of the stack out of the container.

For space reasons the five motors 20 relative to the five containers 14 are positioned offset within a suitable compartment below the containers (see Figure 3).

In a position facing the five containers 14 there is provided a transverse guide 22, able to receive the cards 6 pushed by the respective pushers 16 to be positioned with their longitudinal axis perpendicular to the guide axis.

Along the guide 22 a fork member 24 is slidable, with the end of its prongs emerging from the guide surface and hence from the surface on which the cards 6 rest on it. For its movement along the guide 22 in both directions,

the fork member is associated with an endless belt 26 extending between two pulleys 28,30, one of which 30 is coupled to an electric motor 32.

At the exit of each container 14 there are provided two photoelectric sensors 34, 36. One 34 of these is located external to the front wall downstream of the container 14 and the other 36 is located at the opposite edge of the guide 22. The function of these sensors is clarified hereinafter.

The downstream end of the transverse guide 22 opens into the track 4 upstream of the end-of-travel position of the gripper 8. In this portion of the track 4 there is provided a pusher 38 movable, under the control of a crank and slotted link device 40 operated by an electric motor 42, between a rear end-of-travel position, in which said pusher is located upstream of the position in which the transverse guide 22 opens into the track 4, and a front end-of- travel position in proximity to the gripper 8, when this is in its rear end-of- travel position.

The various electric motors, sensors and other control and operating members are under the overall control of an external computer (not shown) which coordinates the entire machine operating cycle, which is as follows.

For operation, the parallelepiped containers 14 are loaded with cards of different types to be personalized, grouped on the basis of their characteristics. On start-up, before initiating the operating cycle, the machine is automatically reset, this operation consisting of checking the state of the sensors 34 to verify that there is no card 6 partly emerging from the respective container 14 and locked in that position for example by untimely interruption of a previous operating cycle. If an anomaly is detected, the motor 20 of the corresponding pusher 16 is powered to completely transfer that card into the

transverse guide 22.

The state of the sensors 36 is then checked, to verify that there is no card present in the guide 22 following a malfunction of the previous operating cycle.

The electric motor 32 is then powered to cause the fork member 24 to undergo a complete forward and then rearward stroke so that it transfers onto the track 4 any card present in the guide 22.

After the machine has been reset in this manner, the actual operating cycle begins. On the basis of a set of instructions fed by the controlling computer or possibly by the operator via a keyboard, the electric motor of that pusher 16 corresponding to the container 14 from which a card 6 is to be extracted for its personalization is operated. By way of the crank and slotted link device 18, a one-revolution rotation of the motor 20 causes the pusher 16 to undergo its forward stroke to engage the lower card of the strack and push it forwards towards the transverse guide 22.

On termination of the forward stroke of the pusher 16 the card 6 is completely positioned on the guide, this situation being sensed by the photoelectric sensor 36 associated with that container 14, to enable activation of the motor 32, which moves the fork member 24 to transfer the card onto the track 4.

Following this transfer the card 6, which in the container 14 lies with its longitudinal axis parallel to the axis of the track 4, now lies its longitudinal axis coinciding with the axis of the track, and after the photoelectric sensor 44 provided on that edge of said track 4 distant from the guide 22 has enabled the motor 42, this latter operates the pusher 38 which pushes the card 6 along

the track 4 as far as the station for its withdrawal by the gripper 8 for the subsequent stages in the personalization process.

On completion of the revolution by the motor 42, the machine returns to the condition for repeating the operating cycle on a new card taken from the same or another container, depending on the new command fed.

From the aforegoing it is apparent that the multiple feeder of the invention enables the objects to be totally attained, in that it is applicable to card and plate personalizing machines and enables different cards to be selectively withdrawn according to requirements.

Moreover the multiple feeder does not substantially increase the overall size of the personalizing machine.

Finally it provides high operational realiability by checking that the individual operating stages proceed correctly and in the predetermined sequence.