GB1584174A - Ticket dispenser actuator units - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN TICKET DISPENSER ACTUATOR UNITS (71) I, FORRESTER THOMAS DOBSON, a British subject of 17 Macadam Place, New Farm Loch, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Great Britain, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to power units and in particular to actuator units for operating ticket dispensers.

Ticket dispensers such as those used by bus conductors, or in the case of "one-man-operated" buses, drivers, have in the past been operated either manually or by means of an electrical actuator unit. When operating such dispensers the value of the ticket and other relevant information is selected by means of a barrel type dial. A handle is then turned through exactly 3600 either manually or electrically so as to dispense the ticket from a pre-printed roll contained within the machine, and the ticket torn off. The rotation of the handle must be controlled exactly so that only the length, not less or more, of a single ticket is dispensed.

One form of such dispensers is manufactured by Setright (U.K.) Limited.

The known electrical power units for such dispensers, due to the necessity to limit the output to exactly 3600, have the disadvantages of being extremely complex, unreliable, bulky and expensive to manufacture.

An object of the present invention is to provide an actuator unit for a ticket dispenser which obviates or mitigates the aforementioned disadvantages.

According to the present invention there is provided an actuator unit especially but not exclusively for a ticket dispenser, said unit comprising a body adapted for mounting on a dispenser, a pneumatic piston and cylinder unit in the body adapted to reciprocate a rack of a rack and pinion gear which is journalled in the housing, a one-way single operating position clutch arranged to connect the gear with the drive shaft of a ticket dispenser, and a manually operable control valve for supplying operating power to the piston and cylinder unit.

Preferably, said clutch comprises a drive coupling mounted on a shaft on which said pinion is freely rotatable and slidable, a drive pin on the coupling co-operable with a cam surface and abutment on the pinion and spring means biassing the said cam surface against said pin.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional side view of a power unit according to the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional end view on the line A-A of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a sectional side view of a modified embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 4 is a sectional end view on the line B-B of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings, an actuator unit for a "Setright" ticket dispenser comprises a body 1 which can be easily mounted on one end of the dispenser and having a coupling 2 which engages the drive shaft (not shown) of the dispenser. A piston and cylinder unit, indicated generally at 3, is mounted in the body 1 and comprises a double acting piston 4 reciprocal in a cylinder 5, the piston 4 being connected to a piston rod 6 and an adjustable connecting member 7 to a rack 8 having gear teeth 9 engageable with a gear pinion 10. The pinion 10 is freely rotatable on a drive shaft 11 and is slidable along the shaft in the direction of the arrows A and B. The drive shaft 11 is journalled through bearings 12 in the body 1 and is secured to the coupling 2.A spring 13 biasses the pinion 10 in the direction of arrow B towards the coupling 2, the latter having a drive pin 14 secured to its inside face. The pinion 10 has its face adjacent the drive pin 14 machined to provide a cam surface 15 terminating in an abutment 16.

A pneumatic spool valve 17 is mounted in the body 1 operable by a push-button 18 so as to direct compressed air from an inlet 19 to the piston and cylinder unit so as to reciprocate the latter when the push-button 18 is actuated.

In use the inlet 19 is connected to a source of compressed air on a bush and the coupling 2 is connected to the drive shaft of a ticket dispenser. Actuation of the push-button by the operator reciprocates the piston and cylinder unit 3 and thus the rack 8. As the latter moves downwardly, as viewed in Figures 1 and 2, the pinion 10 rotates clockwise (Figure 1) and the abutment 16 engages the drive pin 14 and rotates the drive shaft of the ticket dispenser by 3600 so as to dispense one ticket. When the rack moves upwardly the pinion is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction (Figure 1) in which case the pinion rotates on the shaft 11 and the drive pin runs along the cam surface 15 and slides the pinion in the direction of arrow A thereby allowing free rotation. The cycle can then be repeated.

In the event that the cycle is stopped prematurely the coupling 2 will remain in the position which it has reached and when the next cycle starts it will not be rotated until the pinion is in the correct relative position, i.e.

with the pin 14 engaging the abutment.

Figures 3 and 4 show a modified embodiment which operates in the same manner and which has similar parts identified by the same reference numerals as those used with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The main difference lies in the fact that the piston rod 6 in Figures 3 and 4 has the rack 8 cut on to it so as to save space and causing the piston and cylinder to operate in the reverse direction. Moreover, the control valve 17 is in the form of a spool valve formed in the body 1 and having a spool 20 reciprocable in the body and biassed by a spring 21 against the button 18.The spool 20 is omitted from Figure 4, the latter showing the arrangement of ports in the body comprising the inlet port 19, two feed ports 22 and 23 communicating with opposite sides of the piston 4 and two exhaust ports 24 and 25 each having a silencer incorporated therein and if necessary a metering orifice to control the speed of operation of the piston. The spool 20 in conventional manner is provided with lands and undercut portions which depending on the position of the spool either connect each side of the piston to inlet and exhaust or vice versa when the button is depressed and released as previously described.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. An actuator unit especially but not exclusively for a ticket dispenser, said unit comprising a body adapted for mounting on a dispenser, a pneumatic piston and cylinder unit in the body adapted to reciprocate a rack of a rack and pinion gear which is journalled in the housing, a one-way single operating position clutch arranged to connect the gear with the drive shaft of a ticket dispenser, and a manually operable control valve for supplying operating power to the piston and cylinder unit.

2. An actuator unit as claimed in claim 1, in which said clutch comprises a drive coupling mounted on a shaft on which said pinion is freely rotatable and slidable, a drive pin on the coupling co-operable with a cam surface and abutment on the pinion and spring means biasing the said cam surface against said pin.

3. An actuator unit as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which said control valve is a spool valve.

4. An actuator unit as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the cycle is not completed until the push button is released.

5. An actuator unit for a ticket dispenser substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (5)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. pinion 10 rotates clockwise (Figure 1) and the abutment 16 engages the drive pin 14 and rotates the drive shaft of the ticket dispenser by 3600 so as to dispense one ticket. When the rack moves upwardly the pinion is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction (Figure 1) in which case the pinion rotates on the shaft 11 and the drive pin runs along the cam surface 15 and slides the pinion in the direction of arrow A thereby allowing free rotation. The cycle can then be repeated. In the event that the cycle is stopped prematurely the coupling 2 will remain in the position which it has reached and when the next cycle starts it will not be rotated until the pinion is in the correct relative position, i.e. with the pin 14 engaging the abutment. Figures 3 and 4 show a modified embodiment which operates in the same manner and which has similar parts identified by the same reference numerals as those used with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The main difference lies in the fact that the piston rod 6 in Figures 3 and 4 has the rack 8 cut on to it so as to save space and causing the piston and cylinder to operate in the reverse direction. Moreover, the control valve 17 is in the form of a spool valve formed in the body 1 and having a spool 20 reciprocable in the body and biassed by a spring 21 against the button 18.The spool 20 is omitted from Figure 4, the latter showing the arrangement of ports in the body comprising the inlet port 19, two feed ports 22 and 23 communicating with opposite sides of the piston 4 and two exhaust ports 24 and 25 each having a silencer incorporated therein and if necessary a metering orifice to control the speed of operation of the piston. The spool 20 in conventional manner is provided with lands and undercut portions which depending on the position of the spool either connect each side of the piston to inlet and exhaust or vice versa when the button is depressed and released as previously described. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. An actuator unit especially but not exclusively for a ticket dispenser, said unit comprising a body adapted for mounting on a dispenser, a pneumatic piston and cylinder unit in the body adapted to reciprocate a rack of a rack and pinion gear which is journalled in the housing, a one-way single operating position clutch arranged to connect the gear with the drive shaft of a ticket dispenser, and a manually operable control valve for supplying operating power to the piston and cylinder unit.

2. An actuator unit as claimed in claim 1, in which said clutch comprises a drive coupling mounted on a shaft on which said pinion is freely rotatable and slidable, a drive pin on the coupling co-operable with a cam surface and abutment on the pinion and spring means biasing the said cam surface against said pin.

3. An actuator unit as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which said control valve is a spool valve.

4. An actuator unit as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the cycle is not completed until the push button is released.

5. An actuator unit for a ticket dispenser substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.