WO1996028373A1

WO1996028373A1 - Card picking apparatus for ticketing machine

Info

Publication number: WO1996028373A1
Application number: PCT/AU1996/000123
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philip James Jenkinson
Original assignee: Awa Limited
Priority date: 1995-03-09
Filing date: 1996-03-07
Publication date: 1996-09-19
Also published as: AUPN162595A0

Abstract

A ticket picking apparatus (1) adapted successively to extract tickets (2) from a stack (3). The apparatus comprises an input hopper (4) to support a ticket stack (3), frictional drive means adapted frictionally to engage an outer surface of the outermost ticket in the stack (3) and to move said outermost ticket in a forward direction away from the stack (3) along a predetermined ticket path. Deflection means (10) extend into the ticket path to deflect a leading edge of the outermost ticket toward the frictional drive means in response to said forward movement thereby to provide enhanced frictional engagement. Barrier means (12) resist forward movement of subsequent tickets in the stack (3) until the outermost ticket has been effectively extracted.

Description

TITLE: CARD PICKING APPARATUS FOR TICKETING MACHINE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to terminals for receiving, processing,

reading, printing or issuing tickets, betting cards, coupons, or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Such ticketing machines are well known in a variety of shapes, sizes, configurations and levels of sophistication. Most conventional ticketing machines

incorporate an input hopper adapted to receive a stack of tickets to be processed, and some form of "picking" mechanism adapted successively to extract the tickets, one at

a time, from the stack. It is these picking mechanisms with which the present

invention is more particularly concerned.

The most common form of picking mechanism is known as a "knife picker" or "throat knife". This essentially consists in a rectangular aperture, and some form of frictional drive means adapted to transfer the uppermost or lowermost ticket in the input hopper toward the aperture. The height of the aperture is configured to be

greater than the nominal thickness of each ticket, and less than twice that thickness, so

that only one ticket at a time can pass through.

A major disadvantage with this form of picking mechanism is that the height

of the aperture is critical to the effective operation of the device. If the aperture height

is marginally too small, no tickets can pass through and the apparatus will jam. If the

aperture is marginally too large, multiple tickets can pass through simultaneously and these will not be properly processed at subsequent stations in the ticketing machine. For these reasons, most knife pickers must be precisely calibrated to accommodate

tickets of a particular thickness, and any variation in this thickness necessitates

accurate recalibration. Moreover, because of the inevitable variation in ticket thickness within normal manufacturing tolerances, even with nominally uniform

tickets, conventional knife pickers are prone to periodic jamming. Furthermore, most

pickers of this type are unable to accommodate a so-called "mixed stack", consisting

of tickets of varying thickness, irrespective of the accuracy of calibration.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate

at least some of these disadvantages of the prior art.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the invention as presently contemplated consists in a ticket

picking apparatus adapted successively to extract tickets from a stack, said apparatus comprising an input hopper to support a ticket stack, frictional drive means adapted frictionally to engage an outer surface of an outermost ticket in the stack and to move

said outermost ticket in a forward direction away from the stack along a predetermined

ticket path, deflection means extending into the ticket path to deflect a leading edge of

the outermost ticket toward the frictional drive means in response to said forward

movement thereby to provide enhanced frictional engagement therewith, and barrier

means adapted to resist forward movement of subsequent tickets in the stack until the

outermost ticket has been effectively extracted.

Preferably, the frictional drive means comprises a pair of spaced apart

substantially parallel drive belts on which the ticket stack rests, such that the

lowermost tickets in the stack are successively extracted from below. The drive

means preferably also comprise an electric motor adapted to drive at least one of a

series of pulleys or rollers supporting the drive belts. The belts are preferably formed

from a suitable flexible material such as neoprene or rubber to ensure that the

frictional force between the belts and the lowermost ticket is always greater than that

between adjacent tickets in the stack. The most preferred material for the belts is an

ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM).

The deflection means preferably comprise a generally planar deflection plate

inclined at an acute angle with respect to the adjacent ticket path defined by the top

runs of the drive belts. The operative edge of the deflection member preferably tapers

inwardly to define a nose portion. The deflection nose preferably extends between 1

mm and 5 mm into the ticket path between the frictional drive belts, such that a ticket

positioned beneath the deflection nose is resiliently deflected about a longitudinal axis

and thereby urged into frictional engagement with the drive belts. The main body of the deflection plate preferably acts simultaneously as a

barrier, preventing forward movement of the remaining tickets in the stack. The

acutely inclined orientation of the deflection plate also assists to stagger or ramp the

stack away from the lowermost ticket to facilitate successive extraction of tickets from

the bottom of the stack. The drive belts are preferably inclined at angle of between

10° and 30° and most preferably around 15°, to the horizontal, so that the ticket stack supported thereon is gently urged against the barrier plate under gravity to maintain

the desired staggered alignment of the stack rearwardly and away from the lowermost

ticket.

The apparatus preferably further includes a pair of pinch rollers adapted to

receive the leading edge of the lowermost ticket as it is fed from the drive belts, and to

transfer the ticket from the picking apparatus to the next station of a ticketing

machine.

The invention preferably further includes a selectively operable starting gate

adapted, in use, to resist forward movement of any tickets in the stack, including the

lowermost ticket, beyond a defined position during an initial phase of operation of the

drive belts. This initial phase may be accompanied by slippage between the drive belts and the lowermost ticket, but ensures that the lowermost ticket is always the first

ticket subsequently presented to the deflection nose.

In one preferred embodiment, the invention includes a control plate extending

generally parallel to the ticket path below the operative surface of the drive belts to define a control gap between the control plate and the deflection nose. The control

gap is preferably of a predetermined width less than the combined thickness of two tickets, thereby preventing the simultaneous passage of more than one ticket in the

event of a potential "double pick".

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of

example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: -

Figure 1 is a side elevation view showing a ticket picking apparatus according

to the invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the ticket picking apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic side elevation showing in more detail the primary

components of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2 in the initial position, with a series of

tickets ready for extraction;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view similar to Figure 3, showing the positions of

the tickets following an initial phase of movement of the drive belts, with the starting

gate in the closed position;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view similar to Figure 4, showing the configuration

of the device during the initial phase of extraction of the first lowermost ticket with

the starting gate open;

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic front elevation of the apparatus of Figure 5,

showing the relationship between the first ticket and the deflection nose, during the

initial phase of ticket extraction;

Figure 7 shows the lowermost ticket gripped by the pinch rollers during the final phase of extraction of the first ticket; Figure 8 is a side elevation showing a second embodiment of the invention;

and

Figure 9 is a plan view showing the configuration of pulleys and shafts

associated with the main drive mechanism, applicable to both embodiments of the

invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Turning firstly to Figures 1 to 8, wherein corresponding features are denoted

by corresponding reference numerals, the invention provides a ticket picking apparatus

1 for use in a ticket processing terminal (not shown). The picking apparatus is adapted

successively to extract tickets 2 from a stack 3 supported in an input hopper 4.

The picking apparatus comprises a frictional drive mechanism 5 adapted to

engage the underside of the lowermost ticket 2 A in the stack, and to move that ticket

in a forward direction away from the stack along a predetermined ticket path. A

deflection mechanism 10 is disposed to deflect the centre of the lowermost ticket 2A

downwardly toward the frictional drive mechanism to enhance the frictional contact

therewith. A barrier mechanism 12 is adapted simultaneously to resist forward

movement of the remaining tickets in the stack until the lowermost ticket has been

effectively extracted.

Turning to describe the invention in more detail, the frictional drive

mechanism 5 comprises a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel drive belts 15 on

which the ticket stack 3 rests. The belts are inclined at an angle of around 15° to the

horizontal, so that the stack is gently urged toward the picking mechanism under gravity. The stack is also held in position by a weighted pivotal flap 4 A, which rests

on the uppermost ticket 2D, under the influence of its own weight, or else a small

retaining spring (not shown). The drive belts are formed from a suitable flexible

material such as neoprene, rubber or EPDM to ensure that the frictional force between

the belts and the lowermost ticket 2 A is always greater than that between adjacent

tickets in the stack. As best shown in Figure 9, each drive belt extends between a drive pulley 16 and a corresponding idler pulley 17. The drive pulleys 16 are keyed to

a first drive shaft 18 which in turn is driven by a first drive motor 19 via an

intermediate belt 20.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, belt cleaning brushes 21 are provided to

prevent the accumulation of paper fibres, rubber particles and other contaminants on

the belts. This keeps the gripping surfaces of the belts in optimum condition and

maintains a relative constant coefficient of friction for improved picking consistency and reliability.

The deflection mechanism 10 and barrier mechanism 12 in the preferred embodiment are integrally formed by a generally planar deflection plate 25. The

deflection plate is inclined at an acute angle with respect to the tickets, and the ticket path as defined by the top runs of the drive belts 15. As best seen in Figures 2 and 6,

the operative edge of the deflection plate 25 tapers downwardly and inwardly to define

a central nose portion 26 which protrudes partially into the clearance space 27 defined

between the frictional drive belts and hence into the ticket path. The extent of protrusion is preferably between 1 mm and around 5 mm, depending upon the ticket characteristics and a number of other variables. As best seen in Figures 3 to 8, the acutely inclined orientation of the deflection plate also assists to stagger or ramp the

stack away from the lowermost ticket to facilitate sequential picking.

The apparatus further includes a pair of pinch rollers 30 and 31. The lower

driven pinch roller 30 comprises a rubber tyred pulley fixedly keyed to a second drive

shaft 32. Alternatively, pinch rollers formed from solid polyurethane cylinders or

other suitable materials may be used. The second drive shaft is driven continuously

by a second drive motor 33, via a corresponding intermediate belt 34 (Figure 8). The

upper pinch roller 31 is not driven, but is mounted for free rotation on an independent

axle. Together, the pinch rollers 30 and 31 receive the tickets sequentially from the

drive belts 15 and transfer them to the next station of the terminal.

An eccentric thumper assembly 40 is rotatably mounted on a separate shaft 41.

The thumper is rotatably driven from the first drive shaft 18, via a separate drive

pulley 42 and intermediate belt 43. As best seen in Figures 3 to 8, the thumper

incorporates three radial lobes 45, which successively thump the bottom of the ticket

stack whenever the drive belts move. This vibration helps to "knock up" the ticket stack within the hopper and tends to separate the individual tickets from one another.

The thumper lobes are covered with a frictional material, which also assists in

displacing the lowermost ticket toward the deflection plate 25.

A selectively operable U-shaped starting gate 50 is pivotably mounted for

rotational movement about a transverse axis between an operative closed position and

a retracted or open position. Both positions are shown in Figure 1. In the operative

position (Figures 2, 3 and 4), the peripheral arms 51 of the gate extend upwardly

beyond the deflection plate 25 to resist forward movement of any of the tickets in the stack, including the lowermost ticket. In the retracted or open position (Figures 5 to 8)

the starting gate is pivoted downwardly to permit forward movement of the lowermost

ticket, with the remaining tickets then being withheld solely by the deflection plate 25.

Movement of the gate is controlled by solenoid 52, and opposing springs 53 and 54

(Figure 1 ), although other actuating systems and/or solid linkages could also be used.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in Figure 8, the

apparatus includes a control plate 55 extending generally parallel to the ticket path

below the operative surfaces of the drive belts to define a control gap 56 between the

control plate and the deflection nose. The control gap 56 is adjusted to a width less

than the combined thickness of two tickets, thereby preventing the simultaneous

passage of more than one ticket in the event of a potential "double pick".

Turning now to describe the operation of the apparatus in more detail, and

referring firstly to Figure 3, a stack of tickets is initially placed manually in the input

hopper 4 and gently restrained by the pivotal flap 4A. The presence of tickets in the

hopper is detected by a first optical sensor 60. This activates the starting gate solenoid

52, which swings the starting gate 50 into the operative or closed position. The first

drive motor 19 then reverses momentarily to induce approximately 3 mm of reverse

movement in the frictional drive belts 15. This process, which is optional, occurs only

once for each new ticket stack, and is intended simply to "relax" the stack and hence to

prevent the likelihood of double picking.

The picking motor 19 then moves in the normal forward direction, whereby the

drive belts 15 move the lowermost ticket up against the starting gate 50. The starting

gate prevents further movement of the ticket. Subsequent movement of drive belts during this initial phase is accommodated by slippage of the belts on the underside of

the lowermost ticket. This cycle ensures that the lowermost ticket is the first ticket

subsequently presented to the deflection plate, irrespective of any front edge

misalignment of tickets within the stack. Such misalignment is illustrated by example

in Figure 3, where the lowermost ticket 2 A is shown inadvertently displaced

rearwardly from the deflection plate. The degree of movement of the drive belts

during this phase can be adjusted, although it is expected that in normal

circumstances, no more than approximately 25 mm of belt travel would be required.

This corresponds to the maximum extent of front edge misalignment which would

normally be encountered in a ticket stack. When this initial alignment phase is

complete, the configuration of tickets is as shown in Figure 4, with the lowermost

ticket 2 A closest to the nose portion 26 of the deflection plate.

At that stage, the starting gate solenoid is deactivated, whereupon the starting

gate swings downwardly into the open or inoperative position (see Figure 5) under the

influence of springs 53 and 54.

Continuing movement of the drive belts 15 brings the leading edge of the

lowermost ticket 2 A into contact with the nose portion 26 of the deflection plate,

which extends into the clearance space defined between the drive belts and hence into

the ticket path. The central portion of ticket then begins to ride under the deflection

nose which urges the centre of the ticket downwardly and thereby causes it resiliently

to bend about its central longitudinal axis (see Figure 6). This in turn increases the

contact pressure and hence the frictional engagement between the underside of the

ticket and the drive belts 15. It will be appreciated that this enhanced frictional contact adjacent the nose portion of the deflection plate ensures that belt slippage does

not occur. At the same time, the slight bending of the lowermost ticket introduces an

air gap between it and the overlying ticket to eliminate any suction pressure and

thereby facilitate extraction from the stack. During this movement, the deflection nose

26 slides progressively along the upper surface of the lowermost ticket, whilst

simultaneously acting as a barrier to prevent the passage of subsequent tickets in the

stack. In this regard, it will be appreciated that in order to pass the barrier formed by

the deflection plate, the subsequent tickets would need to bend to the same extent as

the lowermost ticket. However, the degree of protrusion of the deflection nose is

calibrated such that the frictional drag between adjacent tickets (not in contact with the

belt) is insufficient to induce deflection of this magnitude.

Continuing movement of the drive belts 15 feeds the leading edge of the ticket

between the pinch rollers 30 and 31 , which turn continuously during the cycle. At this

point, a second sensor 61 (Figure 7) detects the emergence of the ticket and de¬

activates the first picking motor 19 whereupon the extraction process is completed by the pinch rollers. When the second sensor detects the trailing edge of the first ticket,

the starting gate 50 is again closed to bring the apparatus back to the initial conditions. The process then repeats for the next ticket in the stack.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, each ticket on extraction must pass

through the control gap 56 defined between the control plate 55 and the deflection

nose 26. This control gap is configured so as to pass single tickets only, thereby ensuring that in the unlikely event of a potential double pick, the control gap acts as a

final filter to physically prevent the simultaneous passage of multiple tickets. It should be appreciated, however, that a potential double pick may occur only very

occasionally (perhaps 1 in 10,000 tickets or less) and so the control gap does not act as

a primary separation mechanism. With this mechanism in place, however, it has been

found that the degree of protrusion of the deflection nose into the ticket path may be

substantially reduced without compromising reliability. In fact, reliability is thereby

enhanced, since it has been found that by reducing the degree of protrusion of the

deflection nose, the efficiency of the subsequent extraction step performed by the

pinch rollers is enhanced.

It has been found, however, that the incorporation of the control gap may very

occasionally change a potential double pick into a "hesitant pick" where two or more

tickets effectively become "wedged" in the gap. In order to overcome this, the

software driving the belts may be modified so that if a hesitant pick is detected for

example by drive belt resistance exceeding a predetermined level, the drive motor is

temporarily reversed so as to withdraw the wedged tickets from the gap. The motor

then reverts automatically to the normal forward direction and a further attempt made.

This process may be automatically repeated any number of times. However, in

practice, it has been found that three attempts is normally the maximum required to

clear such jams.

Advantageously, it has been found that the present invention provides a degree

of gauge tolerance so that tickets of varying thickness can be used without any

recalibration or re-setting of the picking mechanism, and mixed stacks comprising

tickets of different width can also be accommodated. The invention also reliably avoids the problem of double picking. Accordingly, the invention represents a

commercially significant improvement over the prior art.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples,

it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in

many other forms.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A ticket picking apparatus adapted successively to extract tickets from a stack,

said apparatus comprising an input hopper to support a ticket stack, frictional drive

means adapted frictionally to engage an outer surface of an outermost ticket in the

stack and to move said outermost ticket in a forward direction away from the stack

along a predetermined ticket path, deflection means extending into the ticket path to

deflect a leading edge of the outermost ticket toward the frictional drive means in

response to said forward movement thereby to provide enhanced frictional

engagement therewith, and barrier means adapted to resist forward movement of

subsequent tickets in the stack until the outermost ticket has been effectively

extracted.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the frictional drive means

comprises at least one flexible drive belt adapted to engage the outermost ticket in the

ticket stack.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said frictional drive means

comprises a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel drive belts on which the ticket

stack rests such that the lowermost tickets are successively extracted from below and

the ticket path is partially defined by the top runs of the drive belts.

4. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said drive

means comprise an electric motor adapted to drive at least one of a series of pulleys or

rollers supporting the drive belts.

5. An apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein said drive belts

are formed from a flexible rubber like material, such that the frictional force between the belts and the ticket in contact with the belts is greater than that between adjacent

tickets in the stack.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the drive belts are formed from

an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM).

7. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said

deflection means comprise a generally planar deflection plate inclined at an acute

angle with respect to the ticket path.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an operative edge of the

deflection member tapers inwardly toward the ticket path to define a nose portion

adapted to contact the tickets.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said deflection nose portion

protrudes part way into the ticket path such that a ticket positioned between the

deflection nose and the frictional drive means is resiliently bent about a central

longitudinal axis and thereby urged into engagement with the frictional drive means.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the deflection nose

protrudes part way into a clearance spaced defined between the frictional drive belts.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the deflection nose protrudes

into the ticket path by a distance of between 1 mm and around 5 mm.

12. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the

deflection means acts simultaneously as the barrier means to prevent forward

movement of the ticket stack.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said deflection means comprises

a deflection plate which functions simultaneously as a barrier, the deflection plate being acutely inclined with respect to the ticket path, thereby staggering the ticket

stack away from the lowermost ticket to facilitate successive ticket extraction.

14. An apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 13, wherein the drive belts

are inclined at an angle of between 10° and 30° to the horizontal, so that the ticket

stack supported thereon is urged against the barrier means under gravity to maintain

the stack in staggered alignment.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the drive belts are inclined at an

angle of around 15° to the horizontal.

16. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, further including pinch roller means adapted to receive a leading edge of the outermost ticket from the

drive belts and transfer the ticket from the picking apparatus to a next station of a

ticketing machine.

17. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, further including

a selectively operable starting gate movable between a closed position to resist

forward movement of any tickets in the ticket stack beyond a defined position during

an initial phase of operation of the frictional drive means to advance the outermost

ticket to the front of the stack, and an open position permitting the passage of

successive tickets upon operation of the frictional drive means.

18. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, further including

a control plate extending generally parallel to the ticket path to define a control gap

between the control plate and the deflection means, said gap having a predetermined

width less than a combined nominal thickness of two tickets, thereby preventing

simultaneous passage of more than one ticket in the event of a potential multiple pick.

19. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, further including

control means adapted to reverse the drive means in the event of a jam being detected

and thence to move the drive means in the normal direction in order to clear the jam.

20. A ticket picking apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompany drawings.