An operation on a card system may be divided into several parts :
locating and removing the card; (2) making the record or noting the information; and (3) return ing the card to place. If the second part is a small proportion of the whole time required, the total operation may be greatly simplified by using the so-called visible system.
The cards are usually mounted on panels in such manner that they overlap, showing only the title line, a slight lifting move ment revealing the whole card. The panels are housed in several ways. Sometimes they fit into steel cabinets and may be pulled out at a convenient angle for posting or removed entirely. In other cases, the panels—with cards inserted on both sides—are hung vertically, either on a circular track which rotates at the touch of a finger to bring the panel with the desired card bef ore the eye or on a straight track so that they turn like the pages of a book. Another type of visible index is in book form, the cards being either held on panels inserted between the covers or fastened into the binder, as in a loose-leaf binder. Still another kind, which looks like a card drawer with the sides and ends cut down, con sists of an aluminium tray in which cards tabbed at different heights so that a portion of each tab is always visible are held by a lock rod. Aluminium guides permit indexing. Pulling for ward a guide exposes the tabs of a group of 24 cards, and the full surface of any one is visible when the intervening ones are thrown over. With each type of visible index colour signal systems may
be used to call attention to pertinent facts.
By audible code signals sounded throughout the premises, this equipment immediately locates in dividuals who are away from their desks. The central station is usually placed near the telephone switchboard, and the tele phone operator sends the signals.
An electrically operated typewriter used in hotel offices, banks and other businesses where informa tion is daily transmitted to distant points, transmits messages in written form to any number of distant stations. As the message is typed on the sending typewriter, the words are written simul taneously and automatically by the distant receiving typewriter. The paper is fed from a roll mounted on a frame behind the type writer. Tabulated forms and duplicated copies can be written. The telautograph is used for a similar purpose, but the message is handwritten instead of typed.
Three distinct types of sys tems are used for transmitting to a department making a charge sale the credit department's O.K. on the sale. One is an electric telephone system with a switchboard in the credit department and a telephone in each sales department. As the sales person calls the credit department, she places the slip in an aperture in the telephone, and the credit authorizer causes his approval to be printed on it if the sale is approved. (W. H. LE.)