EP0637903B1 - Assembly for card distribution - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a card distribution assembly, particularly magnetic or electronic memory cards, as we know calling cards for example.
More specifically, the invention relates to a distribution assembly of said cards where the assembly comprises a mainly rectangular case and surrounded by walls which receive and pack said cards which are positioned perpendicularly with respect to a longitudinal axis housing; the case being provided with a mouthpiece used for removing the cards one after the other from said case and where the case can be closed in order to transport the cards to places of use or distribution.

We already know such card distribution sets where the boxes are used to wrap the cards until they arrived at distribution points where these boxes can be placed and fixed in automata card distributors. These automata are used for sell cards of different types automatically to each user having inserted their bank card or coins. These vending machines work in principle in the same way as for example machines distribution of tickets for public transport.

Known distribution assemblies consist of two shell parts of longitudinal halves. In order to fill such a case with cards, they must be place in one of the halves manually and then position the second part above then press and tighten the two shells forming a complete housing.

The fact that the filling of known housings cannot be done only manually due to construction in two halves, limits the filling speed and is not not economical when used in series.

In addition, the known cases are manufactured with a special plastic material. The cases will be secure for transportation to prevent anyone from can open or manipulate them to get out of the cards. Arrived at the places of destination of the blocking plates which close one of the mouths through which we will bring out the cards, should be broken, because such manipulation before putting the boxes in the machine distribution causes partial destruction and irreversible of such cases, they can not be used only once. Furthermore, given that they are made with non-recyclable plastic, they will be thrown away creating unwanted pollution.

We know from French Patent No. 2,215,819 a set for distributing articles comprising a housing rectangular surrounded by walls, used to receive and packing said articles positioned perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the housing. A mouthpiece allows items to stand out one after the other. Finally, the case, made in carton, can be closed to transport said articles.

In addition, European patent application no. 0 462 947 describes a set of distributors, in particular, of cards, made up of a cardboard box, made in one piece.

The invention provides a set of distribution of cards which no longer require manual filling but which on the other hand favors an automatic filling and above all which does not cause any nuisance to the environment.

In order to achieve this aim, the invention proposes a card distribution set comprising, a mainly rectangular case and surrounded by walls; the case being made in one piece, in a recyclable material that does not cause environmental pollution, and used to receive and pack the cards that are positioned perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the housing; the housing being provided with a mouthpiece serving to bring out the cards one after the other of said case and where the case can be closed in order to transport cards, said housing being intended to be adapted and fixed in at least one automated system card dispenser, characterized in that said set further includes an adapter interface provided with positioning and fixing means compliant inside the vending machine cards, and a central opening suitable for receiving the housing and also means for fixing said housing in this central opening.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the housing inventive has a fraud seal of a type that will make every manipulation or opening instantly detectable.

According to another embodiment, the inventive housing has at least one opening that allows control visible from the filling level by the cards or a control of the number of cards that have already been sold etc ...

In preferred embodiment of the assembly according to the invention consists of a cardboard box which is one of the the most recyclable materials we know. And in practical, such a cardboard box satisfies all necessary stability and security conditions.

In addition, the inventive cardboard box can be manufactured easily from a press (see detailed description) of pre-cut cardboard which can be stored easily.

Other forms and embodiments of the invention accompanied by their details and advantages will appear in the dependent claims.

la figure 1

est une vue schématique d'un développé d'un boítier selon l'invention.

la figure 2

est une vue perspective d'un boítier selon la figure 1, rempli de cartes et fermé et sécurisé pour le transport ;

les figures 3 et 4

montrent le boítier selon la figure 2 transporté au lieu de destination et étant préparé pour la distribution de cartes ;

la figure 5

illustre l'adaptation d'une interface au boítier selon la figure 4 ;

la figure 6

montre la fixation de l'interface adaptatrice selon la figure 5 afin de former un ensemble distributeur de carte ;

la figure 7

est une vue de multiples ensembles distributeurs selon la figure 6 dans une machine automate de distribution des cartes ;

la figure 8

présente une boíte de groupement de cartes selon l'invention et

la figure 9

illustre un boítier selon les figures 1 à 4 étant en état d'être rempli par plusieurs boítes selon la figure 8.

The invention will be better understood on reading the following description of several preferred embodiments of the invention by way of non-limiting examples. The description refers to the appended figures in which:

figure 1

is a schematic view of a developed of a housing according to the invention.

figure 2

is a perspective view of a housing according to Figure 1, filled with cards and closed and secured for transport;

Figures 3 and 4

show the case according to Figure 2 transported to the place of destination and being prepared for the distribution of cards;

figure 5

illustrates the adaptation of an interface to the housing according to Figure 4;

figure 6

shows the attachment of the adapter interface according to Figure 5 to form a card dispenser assembly;

figure 7

is a view of multiple dispenser assemblies according to Figure 6 in an automatic card distribution machine;

figure 8

presents a card grouping box according to the invention and

figure 9

illustrates a box according to FIGS. 1 to 4 being in a state to be filled with several boxes according to FIG. 8.

As shown in Figure 1 a developed to manufacture a cardboard box 10 according to the invention consists of a first wide longitudinal wall 12, a first wall narrow longitudinal 14, a second longitudinal wall wide 16, a second narrow longitudinal wall 18 and of a bonding part 20.

After folding the longitudinal walls 12, 14, 16, 18 each along their longitudinal line which separates from each other and after pasting part 20 to the inner face of the second narrow longitudinal wall 18 a first frontal part 22 and then the second front part 24 and the third front part will be folded towards the inside of the case 10. A cover part front 28 completes the closing of a front face of the case 10 and said front face will be fixed in position by bending the tabs 30, which have been precut, towards inside the housing 10 until they touch the inner faces of parts 22, 24, 26 and until they stop in the lock slots 32 where the tabs 30 remain blocked. For this, a box 10 very robust with a very solid front face is formed of a cardboard plate. This is easy to cut, and may be stored as a single flat piece. Also a production of housings 10 according to the invention could be made by automata without requiring a great effort from machines.

FIG. 1 also illustrates openings 34 which allow a check of the inside of the housing 10. Here in the figure 1, they are in the second wall longitudinal wide 16. With regard to the stability of box 10, it is recommended to use three slots 34, as shown in Figure 1 in case we place them on a single wall.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a housing 10 made of a press according to figure 1 and already filled by cards 46. These cards 46 (see FIG. 4) because that a front face of the housing 10 is closed, they have been placed in the housing 10 through the front opening 38 (see Figure 4) of the housing 10. We can also see in Figure 2 that we closed the front opening 38 after the filling the cards 46 with a front cover 40 (see figure 4) which is placed above the last card 46. The housing 10 is secured with a belt 44 which by being placed in the openings 36 (see also Figure 1) of the housing 10- fixes the front cover 40 and certainly all the cards 46 in the case 10. A seal 42 as it will leave indelible marks on the box 10 in case of opening or handling is also used as a security measure because it is placed on the side between the first wall longitudinal longitudinal 12 and the second narrow wall 18. This corresponds to the side that is created if the second wall narrow 18 is glued on part 20.

A situation, where a housing 10 according to Figure 2 is arrived at destination and where the 46 cards will be distributed, is illustrated by Figures 3 and 4. In particular figure 3 explains how to prepare the opening of the housing 10 by shearing the belt 44 so remove the front cover 40 according to FIG. 4. FIG. 5 illustrates an adapter interface 50 which facilitates the adaptation of a housing 10 according to Figure 4 to a distribution machine / automaton as it was described above.

The adapter interface 50 consists mainly a neck which forms a central opening 52 suitable for receive the housing and a base face 54 which is more or less a frame with a central opening 56. By this central opening 56 a sliding means (not illustrated) of the dispensing machine can act on the cards in the housing 10 and take them out towards a slot 58 in the frame of the base face 54.

It is clear that such a construction always depends on the vending machine and figure 5 only gives the example of only one embodiment of the invention.

In order to facilitate the operation of removing cards from the case 10 through slot 58, case 10 is provided with two mouthpieces 68 (see FIG. 1) which are formed in the walls 14 and 18 by the different lengths of the walls narrow 14, 18 relative to the wide walls 12 and 16. These two mouths 68 do not require any orientation particular of the housing 10 by placing it in the interface 50. Moreover, it is obvious that according to the sequence of Figures 4 and 5 as the adapter interface 50 of Figure 5 will be mounted above the housing 10 prepared according to the figure 4.

It can also be seen that the base face 54 is provided with several positioning tabs 60. These cleats 60 are used (see Figure 7) to correctly position the sets of housings 10 and adapter interfaces 50 in a vending machine which we see in figure 7 a positioning plate (no longer referenced).

Returning to FIG. 5 again, attached to the adapter interface 50, there are two springs 64, of which only one is seen in FIG. 5, and a stirrup 62 in the shape of a "U" with a small ball, by example, above. This stirrup 62 can be pulled away from the springs 64-until they can be put in the openings 36 which, according to FIGS. 2 and 3, were used to receive the belt 44.
The adapter interface 50 the bracket 62 will preferably be made of a light metal material or a solid plastic.

As illustrated in Figure 6, we turn the housing 10 fixed to the adapter interface 50 by the bracket 62 and the springs 64 so that the cleats 60 slide underneath. That corresponds to the position by which we can put several sets of housings 10 and interfaces 50 next to each other according to figure 7.

For reasons of simplification, a piece of weight 66 may be placed above the cards in the case 10 and before placing the stirrup 62 in the openings 36 (see FIG. 6).
Figure 8 shows a box 70, preferably made of transparent plastic, the interior of which conforms to the size of the cards and which can receive a predetermined number of cards, in the case where a housing 10 (see Figure 9) according to the invention is only used for card packaging. In this case, the boxes 70 are easily placed in the housing 10 as illustrated in FIG. 9.

Preferably, each box 70 is provided with a cover 72 and a tongue 74 which can determine the closing of the cover 72 by fixing itself to the box 70 or by being fixed there by adhesive tape for example.
In order to facilitate the distinction of different types of cards, the boxes 10 and / or the boxes 70 can be colored or marked in different ways.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

Housing

12

1st wide longitudinal wall

14

1st narrow longitudinal wall

16

2nd wide longitudinal wall

18

2nd narrow longitudinal wall

20

Bonding part

22

1st frontal part

24

2nd front part

26

3rd front part

28

Front cover part

30

Foldable tabs

32

Lock slots

34

Visual inspection opening

36

Cutout opening for belt (44)

38

Central front opening of (10)

40

Front cover

42

Seal

44

Belt

46

Cards

50

Adapter interface

52

Central opening of (50)

54

Base face (frame)

56

Central opening of (54)

58

Card exit slot

60

Positioning cleats

62

Stirrups (U shape)

64

Springs

66

Weight piece

68

Mouth of (14) and (18)

70

Plastic box

72

Cover of (70)

74

Tab of (72)

Claims (6)

1. A system for dispensing cards, the system including a principally rectangular magazine (10) surrounded by walls (12, 14, 16, 18), the magazine (10) being made in one piece from a material that can be recycled and that does not cause any environmental pollution and serving to receive and to package the cards (46) which are positioned perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the magazine (10), the magazine (10) having a mouth (68) through which the cards (46) can be extracted from said magazine (10) one after the other and where the magazine (10) can be closed in order to transport the cards (46), said magazine being adapted to be fitted and fixed into at least one automatic card dispenser, said system being characterized in that it further comprises an adapter interface (50) having positioning and fixing means (60) for correctly positioning the magazine and the adapter interface inside the automatic card dispenser and said adapter interface has a central opening (52) adapted to receive the magazine (10) and fixing means (64, 62) for fixing said magazine (10) in this central opening (52).
2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that the adapter interface (50) is made from a light metal, preferably aluminium, or a strong plastics material.
3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the magazine (10) when filled and closed and prepared for transport is secured by means of a strap (44) and by means of at least one anti-fraud seal (42) which leaves indelible traces in the event of opening or manipulation of the seal.
4. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least one of the longitudinal walls (16) of the magazine (10) has at least one opening (34) for visually inspecting the filling of the magazine (10).
5. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the magazine (10) is made of cardboard.
6. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a predetermined number of cards (46) is packaged in a lightweight plastics material box (70) and a predefined number of said lightweight boxes is packaged in a magazine (10).

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