Importance

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Abstract

A low cost, highly accurate hand operated magnetic character recognition document reader magnetically recognizes magnetic ink (MICR) characters imprinted on documents manually conveyed past a magnetic read head. The reader incorporates the invention described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,355 to MacIntyre to permit relaxation of the requirement of constant document velocity. The document is manually conveyed through a defined slotted path so that the characters are scanned by a magnetic read head. The slotted path is established by a pair of substantially parallel (preferably vertical) track members and a bottom wall which is joined to, and separates, the track members by a dimension sufficient to laterally support the document, yet permits it to be conveyed along the path without substantial drag being imparted. Actual document speed is measured during the read operation by an idler member which is freely journaled and thus is drivenly rotated in response to frictional engagement with the conveyed document. The reader is capable of accurately reading the characters from the document regardless of the direction the document is moved past the read head. The compactness, low cost, high accuracy and versatility of the reader make it ideal for use in applications where a MICR reader has in the past been impractical--such as in point of sale and bank teller terminals.

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First Claim