Fargo Electronics, Inc.

Spencer L Tapp

Brent D Lien

Steven J Brandt

James R Meier

Martin A Pribula

A card hopper for holding a stack of identification cards that are to be printed or in other ways processed has an outlet opening on one end through which the cards are fed. The outlet opening is adjustable in size to accommodate cards of different thicknesses by using a control gate that is slidably mounted relative to the hopper and can be adjusted through the use of a cam actuator to change the opening size of the outlet opening. Manual operation is shown using both rotating and sliding cams.

Card thickness selection gate for a card feeder

A card hopper includes a control gate that reliably allows cards of varying thicknesses to be fed individually through an outlet opening without adjustment. The hopper is configured to hold a stack of plastic cards or similar, fairly rigid, substrates. The control gate is positioned at the outlet opening and includes a flexible blade that reduces a height of the outlet opening to less than a thickness of an end card of the stack, whereby the flexible blade flexes in response to the end card when driven through the outlet opening. Also disclosed is a card feeder assembly that includes the above-described hopper.

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Richfield, MN, United States of America

Spencer L Tapp