Credit Card Holder Ejector Arm for Jam-Resistant Card Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing card holders with ejector arms are prone to jamming due to imperfect card dimensions and warping, leading to difficult operation and reduced lifespan.
Innovation Solution
The card holder design allows the ejector arm to deflect towards and away from the holder sides, with a gap and intermediate area for flexibility, and incorporates a step-like element for staggered card ejection, ensuring smooth operation and easy identification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ejector arm is designed to be rigid and tightly fit within the holder, then the card holder structure is stable and compact, but the ejector arm is prone to jamming during daily use
Solution Approach 1:
The ejector arm is designed with dynamic flexibility rather than rigid fixation. The arm can deflect laterally within the holder cavity, allowing it to adapt to card dimension variations and warping. This dynamic capability prevents jamming while maintaining stable card ejection function.
Solution Approach 2:
The ejector arm's physical state is changed from rigid to flexible by controlling its deflection capability. The arm is designed with specific dimensional parameters that allow it to bend and adjust during operation, transforming it from a rigid component prone to jamming to a flexible component that accommodates card variations.
2Ease of operation
If the ejector arm is made flexible to prevent jamming, then the operation smoothness improves, but the holder structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The holder structure is segmented into distinct functional zones: the rigid outer holder body that maintains structural integrity, and the flexible ejector arm that provides adaptive ejection. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the holder remains simple and robust while the arm provides necessary flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Flexibility is applied locally only to the ejector arm where it is needed for preventing jamming, while the rest of the holder structure remains rigid and simple. The flexible property is concentrated in the arm's material or cross-section design, avoiding the need to complicate the entire holder structure.
3Productivity
If the cards are kept tightly stacked in register within the holder, then the holder capacity is maximized and structure is compact, but the cards are difficult to individually identify and select
Solution Approach 1:
The ejector arm dynamically shifts cards from a compact in-register stacked position to a staggered presentation position during ejection. This dynamic transformation allows the holder to maintain compact storage volume while providing easy card identification and selection during the ejection phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The card ejection process uses periodic action where the ejector arm is activated to temporarily present cards in staggered fashion for selection, then returns to the compact in-register position. This periodic transformation between compact storage and expanded presentation states optimizes both holder volume and card selection efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design reduces jamming, enables easy and accurate card selection, and maintains the holder's durability by allowing the ejector arm to deflect and accommodate varying card dimensions, enhancing user experience.
Implementation Method 1
allowing the ejector arm to deflect in the direction towards and away from the opposite main sides of the holder
Data Source
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AI summary
A holder for cards, comprising a housing (1) which tightly fits around a stack of at least three cards (2) and has at least one card opening (3) for locating and removing cards, while opposite the card opening (3) within the housing a card eject feature is provided such that the cards through the card opening (3) can be partly slid from the housing, which card eject feature is designed to move within the housing between a first and a second position and during said movement forces the cards to partly exit the housing. The holder has a feature to avoid jamming of the card eject feature while engaging the cards stack and forcing them to exit the housing, preferably allows the jamming element to deflect, e.g. since the jamming element keeps a sufficient gap.