JPH073726B2 - Magnetic card writing or reading device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic card writing / reading device in a device using various magnetic cards, and more particularly to a magnetic head contamination countermeasure for the device.

[Conventional technology]

For example, various magnetic cards such as telephone cards, various prepaid cards such as transportation ticket purchase cards, and user identification cards such as bank cards and ID cards are used. , A magnetic card writing or reading device for reading data from the magnetic card or writing data to the magnetic card.

In such a magnetic card writing / reading device, the magnetic card 1 generally inserted from the insertion slot is placed on the gear head (slit) forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 by the tension roller 2 as shown in FIG. The magnetic head 3 is used for running while pressing the magnetic head 3 to write data to or read data from a storage surface coated with the magnetic material of the magnetic card 1.

The tension roller 2 is made of resin or synthetic rubber, and is rotatably and vertically movable by a shaft (not shown).
The magnetic card 1 is pressed against the magnetic head 3 with a pressing force of about 0 g, and when the magnetic card 1 is not inserted, the magnetic card 1 is in contact with the magnetic head 3 as indicated by an imaginary line.

On the other hand, in the magnetic head 3, a coil is wound around a magnetic core having a gear sleeve 3b, and the head block 4 is usually formed of aluminum, brass, permalloy or the like.
Held in.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, a magnetic card such as a prepaid card is often touched and used by a user, and is easily soiled by sweat or the like.

Therefore, in the conventional magnetic card writing / reading device as described above, every time the magnetic card is used, the dirt adheres to the gear forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 and the stickiness as shown in FIG. Substance 5 is deposited.

As a result, writing of data to the storage surface of the magnetic card 1 by the magnetic head 3 or reading of data from the storage surface becomes unstable, and finally the adhesive substance 5 is deposited on the entire surface of the gear forming surface 3a. As a result, there is a problem in that writing or reading becomes impossible after, for example, about 700 sheets.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and significantly increase the usable number of magnetic cards in a magnetic card writing or reading device.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a magnetic card writing / reading apparatus as described above, wherein a tension roller is rotatably in an eccentric position and abutted against the magnetic head in a standby state to insert a magnetic card. Sometimes, it is rotatably supported so that it can be inserted and removed to allow the insertion.

It is preferable that at least the outer peripheral portion of the tension roller is formed of carbon or rubber containing carbon.

[Work]

When this tension roller is rotated at an eccentric position and abuts against the magnetic head in a standby state, and is supported so as to be detachable and contactable so that the magnetic card can be inserted when inserted,
Since the position of the tension roller in contact with the magnetic head during standby changes every time within a predetermined range, it is possible to prevent the accumulation of foreign matter on the magnetic head.

Also, the dirt attached to the magnetic card contains a large amount of chlorine (Cl), which is a component of human sweat, and this chlorine has a strong property of chemically reacting with other substances. It is considered that it reacts with an element such as a metal that comes into contact with the inside of the transfer route and becomes the above-mentioned sticky substance and is deposited on the magnetic head. FIG. 7 shows the content ratios of the constituent elements obtained by analyzing the powder sample of the deposited material.

However, since carbon has a property of absorbing the chlorine, if at least the outer peripheral portion of the tension roller is formed of carbon or rubber containing carbon as described above, this tension is always maintained during standby of the gear head forming surface of the magnetic head. Almost no sticky substance is deposited on the portion in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roller.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing an example of a schematic configuration of a magnetic card writing or reading apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part thereof, which is different from the conventional example shown in FIG. Similar parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

This magnetic card writing / reading device comprises a lower body 11 and an upper body 12 as shown in FIG.
It is connected by means of and is normally locked in the state shown in the figure, but at the time of maintenance etc., the lock is released,
The upper main body 12 can be rotated with respect to the lower main body 11 in the arrow C direction to open the transport path for the magnetic card.

A magnetic card insertion slot 14 and a magnetic card ejection slot 15 are formed between the lower main body 11 and the upper main body 12,
On the 11 side, a guide plate 16 for guiding the magnetic card 1 from the outside of the magnetic card insertion slot 14 to the magnetic card ejection slot 15, and a guide plate 16 arranged along the guide plate 16 are respectively provided by a motor (not shown) in the arrow directions. Further, a plurality of drive rollers 17 (also provided in the central portion but not shown) which are driven to rotate at a constant speed and a magnetic head block 4 are provided.

On the other hand, on the side of the upper main body 12, a plurality of driven rollers 18 that face each drive roller 17 in close proximity or in slight contact with each other
And a tension roller 10 which faces the magnetic head block 4 and is rotatably and vertically movable.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tension roller 10 is provided with a rotary shaft 21 at a position eccentric from the center of the rotary roller 21.
An arm 22 whose one end is rotatably supported by a fixed shaft 23.
Is held at the other end.

With such a configuration, the position at which the tension roller 10 driven to rotate with the insertion of the magnetic card 1 does not rotate as the magnetic card 1 passes and comes into contact with the magnetic head 3 is the rotational position at that time. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the gear may contact at the center position of the gear 3b, but as shown in FIG. 3 (b), contact at the front side of the center position of the gear 3b, As shown in (c) of the figure, the gear roller 3b may contact behind the center position (with respect to the running direction of the magnetic card), and the tension roller
The area on the gap forming surface 3a with which the outer peripheral surface 10a of 10 contacts is enlarged.

This tension roller 10 is formed of carbon rubber in which carbon powder is mixed with synthetic rubber,
During standby, the outer peripheral surface 10a abuts the gear forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 held by the head block 4, and when the magnetic card is inserted, it moves slightly upward as in the conventional example shown in FIG. Allow the insertion and insert the magnetic card
Press on the magnetic head 3 with a pressure of about 400g.

In this embodiment, when the magnetic card 1 is inserted from the magnetic card insertion slot 14 shown in FIG. 2 along the guide plate 16 in the direction of arrow A, it is held by the driving roller 17 and the driven roller 18. And the magnetic card 1 is inserted between the head block 4 and the tension roller 10, and the magnetic card 1 is moved by the tension roller 10 to form the gear head forming surface of the magnetic head 3.
The magnetic head 3 travels while pressing the magnetic head 3a to write data to or read data from the storage surface of the magnetic card 1 coated with the magnetic material.

After that, the magnetic card is further driven by the drive roller 17 and the driven roller.
The paper is conveyed by the arrow 18, and the arrow B is drawn from the magnetic card discharge port 15.
Is discharged in the direction.

When such data reading or writing of the magnetic card 1 is repeated, the sticky substance is gradually deposited on the gap forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 due to the dirt. Inside is tension roller 10
The outer peripheral surface 10a of the magnetic head 3 comes into contact with the gear forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 in a relatively wide range with a predetermined width centered on the center position of the gear head 3b, and the position where the inserted magnetic card abuts the magnetic head 3. Since it also fluctuates a little each time, even the lower edge of the front end of the magnetic card has an action of scraping and cleaning the gap forming surface 3a.

Further, since the outer peripheral surface 10a of the tension roller 10 is slightly deformed due to its elasticity in accordance with the curved surface of the gear head forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 and is in surface contact, the main component of dirt adhering thereto is Chlorine (Cl) is a tension roller 10
Carbon is absorbed, and almost no sticky substance is deposited on at least this contact portion.

The tension roller 10 may be entirely formed of carbon-containing rubber except the rotating shaft as in this embodiment, but only the outer peripheral portion is made of carbon-containing rubber, and the inside thereof is the same as the conventional one. You may comprise by resin etc.

Further, if the carbon content of the carbon-containing rubber is increased, the effect of preventing foreign matter from adhering to the magnetic head should be enhanced, but as the carbon content is increased, the hardness is increased and the tension roller 10 When the amount of eccentricity is small, the contact area with the magnetic head during standby is small, and the above effect is rather reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to experimentally determine the optimum content rate.

However, even if the tension roller is formed of 100% carbon, the number of usable sheets can be increased much more than before by eccentricizing the tension roller.

That is, in the tension roller 10, when the contact position with the gear head forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 in the standby state is a predetermined width (for example, an eccentric amount from the center is 0.5 mm) about the center position of the gear head 3b. Is 1mm width) and fluctuates randomly.

Therefore, even a tension roller made of only carbon, which does not have elasticity, comes into contact with the gear forming surface 3a of the magnetic head 3 in a relatively wide range with a predetermined width centered on the center position of the gear 3b, and the chlorine absorption effect of the carbon. And the like, and the position at which the inserted magnetic card comes into contact with the magnetic head 3 also fluctuates a little each time. Therefore, the lower edge of the tip of the magnetic card causes the gap forming surface to be formed.
3a is scraped to produce an action of cleaning.

Therefore, according to the experimental results using the apparatus of this example, even if the magnetic head was read and written through 30,000 magnetic cards, no stain was found on the magnetic head and the read and write performance was stable. Was there.

Further, in this embodiment, the effect of cleaning the magnetic head by eccentricizing the tension roller is extremely high. Therefore, substantially the same effect can be obtained even if the tension roller is made of the same resin or synthetic rubber as the conventional one. Is possible.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing only a head block of an application example of the present invention.

The head block 40 integrally holds a large number of magnetic heads 31 to 35, and most of them are formed of aluminum, brass, permalloy or the like as in the conventional case, but at least the magnetic card running surface 40a is formed. Is formed by carbon.

By using such a head block 40 in place of the head block 4 of the conventional magnetic card writing / reading device shown in FIG. 5, even if reading or writing of the magnetic card is repeated, the magnetic card running surface of the head block 40 can be changed. Of course, almost no sticky substance is deposited on the gear forming surfaces of the magnetic heads 31 to 35 on 40a, and the number of usable magnetic cards can be greatly extended.

It is more effective if the head block 40 and the eccentric tension roller 10 of the above-described embodiment are used in combination,
Further, it becomes possible to increase the number of usable magnetic cards.

If a carbon-containing material with sufficient strength is used,
The entire head block 40 may be made of the carbon-containing material.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the sticky substance from accumulating on the magnetic head in the magnetic card writing / reading device, and to greatly increase the usable number of magnetic cards.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing only an essential part of FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration example of a magnetic card writing or reading device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. (B) and (C) are explanatory views of the operation of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing only a head block of an application example of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram of a conventional magnetic card writing or reading apparatus. FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing only a part, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a deposition state of the adhesive substance, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a content ratio of component elements analyzed in a powder sample of the deposition substance. 1 ... Magnetic card, 2 ... Tension roller 3 ... Magnetic head, 3a ... Gear forming surface 4 ... Head block, 5 ... Adhesive substance 10 ... Tensition roller, 11 ... Lower body 12 ... Upper body, 16 …… Guide plate 17 …… Drive roller, 18 …… Driven roller 21 …… Rotary axis, 22 …… Arm 23 …… Fixed axis, 40 …… Head block 40a …… Magnetic card running surface 31-35… … Magnetic head

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An inserted magnetic card is run while being pressed against a gear forming surface of a magnetic head by means of a tension roller, and data is written in or from the storage surface of said magnetic card by said magnetic head. In a magnetic card writing or reading device for reading data, the tension roller is rotatably in an eccentric position and abuts against the magnetic head in a standby state so as to allow the insertion when the magnetic card is inserted. A magnetic card writing or reading device characterized by being pivotally supported as much as possible. 2. A magnetic card writing / reading device according to claim 1, wherein at least the outer peripheral portion of the tension roller is made of carbon or rubber containing carbon.