GB2085846A - Ticket dispensing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A ticket dispensing apparatus in which a magazine (10) maintains a plurality of tickets in a stack, and a carriage plate (20) is mounted at one end of the stack to reciprocate laterally thereof. The plate (20) supports a pin (50) which is resiliently urged towards the stack and whose tip is shaped to define an abutment surface (56). As the carriage plate reciprocates the abutment surface (56) engages an edge of the bottom ticket only in the stack to urge that ticket through an exit throat (T) in the magazine. The exit throat may comprise a slot which is thicker at the centre than at the edges. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Ticket dispension apparatus This invention relates to ticket dispensers, and especially although not exclusively, to ticket dispensers used in automatic revenue collection systems.

As the use of automatic revenue collection systems increases, the need for reliable and versatile ticket dispensing machines has also become increasingly important.

Ticket issuing machines are known which dispense relatively thick tickets, but these tend to perform inadequately when relatively thin tickets, favoured in automatic revenue collection systems, are used. Such tickets typically have a thickness in the range 0.0075" to 0.0105" and may have a glossy finish, this format being particularly suited for the application thereto of a magnetic stripe for recording data (the fare or station, or example) or for printing eye visible data on the surface. These tickets have a tendency to become snarled in the throat of the ticket dispenser and occasionally adjacent tickets tend to stick together.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved ticket dispensing apparatus.

According to the invention there is provided an apparatus for feeding a ticket from a stack of tickets towards a desired location, comprising: a magazine for maintaining a plurality of tickets in a stack, a reciprocable member disposed at, or in the vicinity of, one end of the stack for translation laterally thereof, and associated therewith a ticket engaging member adapted to engage the bottom ticket in the stack and to effect lateral movement thereof, towards said desired location, in response to translation of the reciprocable member, the ticket engaging member being resiliently biassed towards the stack.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and carried into effect a particular embodiment thereof is now described by way of example only by reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Figures 1a and ib show respective plan and end elevation views of the ticket dispenser, Figure 2 shows an exploded perspective end view of the ticket dispenser, Figure 3 shows an enlarged view of the ticket engaging part of the ticket dispenser and Figure 4 shows a detailed view of a ticket throat through which tickets are ejected from the ticket dispenser.

Referring firstly to Figure 1 a, the ticket dispenser consists of two main parts, namely a ticket magazine 10 adapted to contain a plurality of tickets (up to 500, say) in a stack and associated therewith a reciprocatable carriage plate 20 arranged to select a single ticket from the bottom of the stack - a procedure commonly referred to as "pecking" - and then urge the selected ticket towards a desired location; towards engagement with a pair of contra rotating nip rollers 30, for example.

The magazine 10 comprises a generally rectangular box made of aluminium alloy which is open along the top side and at one end, thereby permitting easy insertion of a stack of tickets. In this example of the invention the magazine is dimensioned to accommodate tickets 86mm long and 54mm wide and so preferably the width of the box lies between 87.5mm and 88mm. A rectangular pressure plate 11, made of nylon is provided for urging tickets towards the end plate 12 of the magazine and for maintaining the tickets in a relatively compact stack and it is found that achievement of the object is advanced considerably if the width of the pressure plate is no more than 0.25mm smaller than the internal width of the magazine.If the ticket dispenser is intended for use solely in the vertical configuration, so that the tickets from a vertical stack, then the weight of the plate 11 may be sufficient to urge the tickets towards the end plate. Generally, however, the ticket dispenser may be used in other configurations and so the pressure plate is urged toward the end plate by constant force tensator springs (not shown in the drawings) which act through nylon cords C attached to the ends of a steel rod 15 which extends centrally through the pressure plate, the rod being guided within slots extending lengthwise along the opposite side walls, 13 and 14, of the magazine. Typically a force of about 30 oz. is applied by the pressure plate, and for this purpose two 15 oz. tensator springs are employed.

As shown in the perspective view of Figure 2, the reciprocatable carriage plate 20 comprises a generally square framwork 21. Opposite limbs 21a, 21 b of the framework each mount a pair of rollers 22, 22' one at each end of the limb - and two parallel sided rails 23, 23' extend between the other pair of limbs 21c, 21d.

As illustrated in the side and end views of Figures 1 a and 1 b respectively, and also in Figure 2, the carriage plate 20 is maintained against the outer face of the magazine end plate, whilst being permitted to translate laterally thereof, and this is achieved by the action of a pair of further rollers, 24, 24', which are caused to bear against the respective rails 23, 23'.

Rollers 24,24' are mounted freely for rotation at the ends of an axle 25 which is accommodated with a complementary socket 16 of a mounting block 17 secured to the end plate 12. It will be appreciated that Figure2 shows a detailed view of the abovedescribed components before assembly, and Figure 1 b shows the relative dispositions of the components in the assembled arrangement. As shown in Figure 1 b, when the framework 1 is positioned against the end plate 12 the mounting block 17 projects between the rails 23, 23'. The axle 25 is secured in position within the socket 16 of the mounting block 17 by a retaining cover plate 18, the rollers 24,24' being spring loaded against the underlying rails thereby urging the framework 21 towards the outer face of the end plate 12.Whilst this arrangement prevents movement of the carriage away from the end plate 12 the two sets of rollers 22, 22' and 24, 24' permit lateral movement of the carriage plate across its surface. In this example of the invention lateral movement of the carriage is effected by a drive arrangement 40, comprising a ball race 41, mounted eccentrically on a rotary, motor driven, cam 42 which acts through a slotted lever arm 26 extending transversely from limb 21 b of the framework. Rotation of the cam forces the ball race against one or other sides of the slot in the lever arm to cause a sideways. movement thereof, and a corresponding displacement of the carriage plate.

The extent of this movement is of course, determined by the precise configuration of the ball race and cam, one complete rotation of the cam causing reciprocation of the carriage plate between two extreme positions, which in this example are spaced apart by about 20mm.

In accordance with this example of the invention the carriage plate 20 has two circular apertures which are located, one above the other, in respective limbs 21 a and 21 b close to the adjacent limb 21c.

Each aperture accommodates a flat headed pin 50, 51 which is resiliently biassed towards the magazine 10 buy a respective leaf spring 52,53. Each pin comprises a cylindrical shaft having a shaped tip which projects through a complementary clearance slot 54, 55, in the end plate and, as will be described in greater detail below, these pins serve to locate or "peck" one edge of the bottom ticket in the stack and then urge the ticket through an exit throat, T, located in the remote wall 14 of the magazine, in response to a translation of the carriage plate.As shown in Figure 3, each pin has a step set into its tip, the step being defined by face 56, lying in a plane substantially parallel to the axis of the pin and having a depth approximately equal to one ticket thickness, and a further face 57 inclined at an obtuse angle to face 56 so as to form a ramp having a depth of about half a ticket thickness. The length of the pins is such that in one extreme position of the carriage the ramp portion of the step is disposed along-side the bottom ticket, adjacent to the edge thereof remote from the exit throat in the wall 14 of the magazine. On translation of the carriage (i.e. towards the position shown in Figures 1 and 3) the ticket edge is initially engaged by, and rides along the ramp until it is positively located against face 56, the pins being displaced against the bias of the leaf springs.

Continued translation of the carriage then causes the ticket to be urged part way through the exit throat in wall 14to be engaged by nip rollers 30 and ejected from the stack. In this example the carriage urges the ticket about 20mm which is sufficient for the edge thereof lying closest to the throat to pass therethrough. The carriage then returns to its initial position in readiness to locate the next ticket in the stack, the pins being depressed, by the weight of the stack, against the bias of the leaf springs, thereby allowing relatively unhindered movement across the surface of the overlying ticket and so preserving the ticket in an undamaged condition.

The above-described arrangement for selecting a ticket and conveying it for ejection from the stack is particularly effective since the use of a ramped step ensures that one ticket only, namely the bottom ticket in the stack, is guided towards the face 56 of the pin where it remains seated during the entire translation of the carriage plate. Moreover, the ticket engaging pins, being resiiiently biassed in the above-described manner, respond to variations of ticket profile (bowing or twisting, for example) as the ticket moves towards the exit throat thereby tending to "ride" with the ticket whilst remaining positively located against the edge thereof.

Tests carried out using tickets having thicknesses in the range 0.01" to 0.0075", having both smooth and rough surfaces, and round and square corners, have shown the above-described arrangement to be particularly reliable.

In one example of the invention, the throat through which tickets are ejected from the stack comprises a removeable steel plate P bearing an elongate recess which defines a slot just over one ticket thickness wide between the edge of the removeable plate and the end plate of the magazine.

Whilst this arrangement performs adequately when used with flat tickets it is found that bowed tickets occasionally become snarled as they pass through the slot, thereby causing a blockage. Tickets can bow by as much as 0.1" in either plane, although it is found that tickets bearing a magnetic oxide stripe, used for recording information, tend to bow in one direction only i.e. so that the oxide stripe lies on the concave side of the ticket. Since in one application of the dispenser it is necessary to stack the tickets so that the magnetic stripe lies towards the end plate 12 of the magazine, it has been possible to modify the shape of the throat thereby substantially overcoming the above-described problem, which occurs when bowed tickets are passed therethrough.A side sectional view of the modified throat is illustrated in Figure 4 and comprises a plate P having end portions 60,61 which are spaced from the end plate 12 of the magazine by a gap, d, marginally greater than one ticket thickness, and a central recess 62, whose sides have a 45" chamfer which extends across approximately 60% of the ticket width and which is spaced from the end plate 12 by about 0.1" i.e. the extend of the maximum expected bowing. When a bowed ticket is introduced into the modified throat it is accommodated initially with the relatively deep central region 62 and the edges of the ticket are progressively guided along the chamfer and beneath the end portions thereby flattening out the ticket so that it may pass through the throat. It was also noticed that tickets having square corners also tend to become snarled and it was found that this problem was substantially solved by removing the corners X of the removeable plates, thereby providing a relatively unhindered path for the edges of a ticket.

Although the invention has been described by reference to the above examples employing resiliently biassed pins it will be appreciated that other forms of shaped, resiliently biassed ticket engaging members may alternatively be employed and are also encompassed by the invention.

Claims (9)

1. Aticket dispensing apparatus comprising a magazine capable of maintaining a plurality of tickets in a stack and a ticket engaging member mounted at one end of the magazine so as to be capable of moving laterally thereof, the member being shaped to engage an edge of the end ticket only in the stack to urge said ticket towards an outlet opening in the magazine.

2. An apparatus according to Claim 1 including a carriage plate mounted at said one end of the magazine so as to reciprocate laterally of the stack, and wherein the ticket engaging member is a pin, supported by the plate, and having an end formation defining a surface for abutting the said edge.

3. An apparatus according to Claim 2 wherein the end formation defines a further surface inclined at an obtuse angle to the abutment surface for guiding a ticket into engagement with the abutment surface.

4. An apparatus according to Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the abutment surface has a depth no greater than the thickness of a ticket.

5. An apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 including means capable of resiliently biassing the ticket engaging member towards the stack.

6. An apparatus according to Claim 5 when dependent on any one of Claims 2 to 4 wherein the resilient biassing means comprises a leaf spring fixedly mounted, at one end of the carriage plate and bearing upon the pin, at the other end.

7. An apparatus according to any one of Claims 2 to 6 including two pins supported at opposite sides of the carriage plate.

8. An apparatus according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein the outlet opening comprises a slot in the side of the magazine having a thickness which is greater at the centre than at the edges.

9. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore defined by reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawngs.