409,715. Ticket-issuing machines. BLACK, H. D., 39, St. James's Street, London, and WEBB, C. F., 24, Deane Way, Eastcote, Middlesex. Oct. 3, 1932, Nos. 27449 and 27450. [Class 106 (iii).] A key-operated ticket-issuing machine issues one or a multiple length of ticket strip through a rotary pin and slot drive, which may take the form of an improved Maltese Cross mechanism, the pin wheel of which is operatively associated with means for limiting the extent of rotation of the pin wheel in accordance with the length of ticket strip required. One of the keys 16, 17, 18 is depressed according to the length of ticket strip 15 required to be issued and this causes the depression of a stirrup 36 with an extension 37 having a pin 38 engaging a shoulder 40 in a push bar 41, bearing on a fulcrum pin 67, so that the bar is moved to the left and with it the pawl 42, knife 29 and double armed lever 45 pivoted at 46. The lower arm 47 of the lever 45 is thus moved to the right to rotate the bellcrank lever 34 and put the pinion 33, driven from the motor driven shaft 31 started by depression of a key, into engagement with the toothed wheel 23. The wheel 23 carries rollered pins 22 engaging slots 21 in a wheel 19 having projections 25 engaging with holes 26 in the ticket strip 15 passing over a curved guide plate 27 slotted to take the periphery of the wheel 19. The depression of a key 16, 17 or 18 correspondingly positions, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, a stirrup 55, with finger 57 and pivoted at 54, to engage with a corresponding stop face 58, 59, 60 on a block 61 fast with a pinion 62 which, being revoluble on a pin 63 on the push bar 41, is in engagement with a toothed wheel 65 driven from the slot wheel 19 through a pinion 20. Upon the engagement of a stop face 58, 59, 60 with the finger 57, the wheel 65 causes the pinion 62 to be pushed downwards and with it the bar 41 which pivots about the pin 67 to rotate the pawl 42, the nose 43 of which is thus positioned in front of one of the teeth 51 on the wheel 23. This causes, firstly, the lever 45 to be rotated clockwise to allow the spring 50 to disengage the driving wheel 33 from the toothed wheel 23 to stop the feed of ticket strip 15, secondly the knife 29 to cut off the ticket strip, and thirdly the pawl 42 to be moved to the right to engage with a roller 68 and be restored to its normal position. The keys 16, 17, 18 are kept depressed by means of a detent until the completion of ticket feed, the parts then all returning automatically to their initial positions. Several ticket issuing units as above described may be accommodated side by side in a common casing and allocated to the issue of different classes of tickets. A modified form of Maltese Cross drive mechanism is shown in Fig. 1 in which the radial arm 3 on the shaft 1 carries a rollered pin 4 working in radial slots 5 in a disc 6 fast on a shaft 2 and integral with a disc 7 having concave recesses 8 engaging with a disc 9 fast on shaft 1 and disposed with disc 7 in a plane axially displaced from the plane of the disc 6. Specification 378,449 is referred to.