User:JTimmins/cleaningcards

Cleaning Cards
Cleaning cards were invented by Stan Eyler to clean Transactional Devices after Eyler discovered they contained a magnetic transducer head similar to a Floppy Disk Drive Head, which Eyler had been manufacturing Cleaning Disks to clean. Eyler devised a Cleaning Card to resemble a Credit Card in order for the Cleaning Card to work properly in the device. It was apparent and important that the card resembles or mimics the transactional media or card, in other words looks similar in size or scope to a credit card or a dollar bill (currency). As the cleaning card is inserted and passed through the device, it will clean components that would normally come in contact with the transaction media. After many years or promoting his Cleaning Cards, OEM's finally recognized the need and benefit of Eyler's invention and became widely accepted and endorsed by device manufacturers. Other people copied Eyler's invention, namely an employee or his die cutter but were found guilty in Federal Court. Other's have added some modification but no one has invented a truly new cleaning card. Some individuals testified that Eyler had developed more than 300 different types of Cleaning Cards and it is now known that Eyler has returned to the industry and has started to invent and patent more cleaning cards to clean even better than previous inventions or to create eco friendly cleaning cards, now called the EcoCard or Eco Cleaning Card.

A typical cleaning card is much like a wiper that can get into areas that are not readily accessible. Typically, the cleaning card has a solid core covered by a soft wipe-like material. The product is then saturated with the correct cleaning solution recommended by the device manufacturer and then placed in a sealed pouch to maintain the saturation level and cleanliness of the card. Eyler did offer both a PreWet Cleaning Card for convenience and portability as well as a "Wet / Dry" Kit, a reusable cleaning card, a "dry" cleaning card, colored, flocked, cut, bumpy, sticky (adhesive), opaque, encoded as well as dual action - rough on one side, soft on the other. Many of his ideas were patented but most were not.

History
The first commercial manufacturer of cleaning cards for transaction devices was Head Computer Products founded by Stan Eyler in 1981 in Los Angeles, CA. Eyler invented, patented and manufactured colored Head Cleaning Disks used to clean Floppy Disk Drives and many other computer devices used at that time. Eyler then invented Cleaning Cards in 1983. The Cleaning Cards changed colors when wet and some changed colors when dry. Some Cards were presaturated and some were dry but felt wet to the touch. Some Cards even contained a material that reached areas that were unaccessible before. Eyler went on to invent and patent many different types of Cleaning Cards including Cleaning Sheets used to clean facsimile machines, copiers and thermal printers and smart card readers (chip card readers). Eyler's company was the original developer and manufacturer of over 300 types of cleaning cards, cleaning pens and over 1000 cleaning products and was the largest manufacturer and patent holder of cleaning cards in the world - (see Patents) He sold Head Cleaning Cards used in Credit Card Readers, Thermal Printers, Currency Validators, ATB Printers, etc. Sometime after 2000, Eyler left his company to focus on health issues and is now back in the industry and immediately started filing for more patents - see for new cleaning cards and related technical cleaning products.

Evolution
The cleaning card has evolved with the equipment they need to clean. A perfect example is the bill acceptor. Initially, the bill acceptor was designed as a means of selling candy to the public. The device needed to recognize that a US one dollar bank note had been inserted. The cleaning card was required to be the same shape as US currency in order to be accepted into the device to clean it. Vending machines began accepting higher denominations as well as having the ability to make change. Gail Valle, a sales person for Head Computer Products, walked into Stan Eyler's office and said that a customer on the telephone had a need to clean the reader heads in their Coca-Cola Machines, specifically, the dollar bill acceptor. Eyler immediately recognized the huge potential and soon developed the first cleaning product that was less than .020 with cleaning material on both sides and later developed a thin material (.010 and later .008) that was accepted into currency validators while still maintaining enough rigidity and absorption characteristics necessary to perform properly. Eyler then experimented and discovered this same material could be cut into different shapes and sizes and be used to clean facsimile machines, copiers and standard printers, including thermal printers, shredders, etc. without melting in a high temperature environment such as a copier machine. Clean Team then fabricated many sizes of cleaning cards to be used in ATM's in Europe that dispense various sizes of denominations (bank notes). Eyler flew to Germany and forged a relationship with Garney Systems and other bank note printers and ATM manufacturers to accept and recommend Clean Team's cleaning cards. Specialized sensors were later introduced into the bill acceptor to recognize multiple denominations and to only accept media that contained bank note characteristics. The magnetic sensors in currency validators caused Clean Team a problem since their cleaning cards were rejected by the currency validator before cleaning the sensors / reader heads. Clean Team asked for and received a currency validator from M&M Mars to test out a new magnetic theory for a currency validator cleaning card (Mars later hired Eyler/ Clean Team to invent a special cleaning card for their equipment). This theory was highly successful and was not only was the cleaning card accepted, it was validated by the currency validator. Clean Team quickly altered the magnetics on the cleaning card so that it would only be accepted, not validated. After contacting the Treasury Department and receiving approval to manufacture this new dollar bill validator cleaning card, Eyler applied for and received patent protection and the bill acceptor cleaning card was redeveloped to contain bank notes characteristics to be accepted by the equipment. This Patent was assigned to Clean Team. The development of bill acceptors by JCM for the Slot machines in the gaming and casino industry, required the bill acceptor to be more sophisticated. The JCM Bill Validators needed to validate currency of multiple denominations up to a one hundred dollar bank note. Fraud was now a critical issue and was addressed by multiple sensors and optics throughout the inserted currency pathway. These sensors and optics were recessed so as to keep currency from running across them with each insertion and wearing down sensitive lenses. This was an old problem for Eyler since he was familiar with recessed lens. (Eyler worked in the die cutting industry briefly and designed different shapes, sizes, raised and recessed products, some with unique hole patterns, slits and a wavy pattern, routed, some opaque and some translucent, with mechanical, thermal or chemical bonding. One card was even designed to be pulled back out of the machine while the machine was trying to suck it in.) Recessed optic lens were also used in CD's in the 1980's and although difficult at first to reach, and therefore clean, a cleaning card with a unique material was designed that reaches up into the lens and other recessed areas. It worked well but raised the price of cleaning cards, so it was not generally marketed.

Patents
Notable US Patents on cleaning cards 5824611, 4503473, 5832556, D420658, D410457, 5832566, 5824611, 5525417, 5227226

What is a transaction?
Transactions are any action that has a monetary implication or transfer information from one media to another. The most commonly thought of transactions are the use of credit or debit cards through a card reader(link page) of some type. Card readers are also widely used for hotel door locks or access control devices. Another of the most common is a currency transaction via vending(link page), gaming slot(link page), or self-checkout(link page) kiosk where a bill acceptor(link page) takes your currency or a currency counter tabulates quantity. Many printers are transaction devices such as cashless ticket printers in the gaming industry. Thermal printers (link page) that print receipts (link page), barcode labels, airline baggage tags and many others transfer information either visually or through computers.