TICKET DISPENSER

Abstract: A ticket dispenser assembly comprises a ticket feeder (10) and a continuous flexible strip of tickets in roll form (20), the ticket feeder being operative to enable individual tickets to be torn from the strip. The ticket feeder (10) comprises a casing (11) and at least one cover part (18) which is pivotally connected to the casing. The casing has provided therein a feed path, which functions to guide a strip of mutually connected tickets during its passage through the casing, a ticket outfeed aperture (25) and mutually opposing guide means in the proximity of the outfeed aperture. According to the invention the bottom guide surface (26) of the ticket-strip feed path is provided with a bead (28) which extends across a part of the feed path. The bead (28) terminates short of the feed path, such as to leave surfaces (29) which constitute an extension of the feed path (26). The bead (28) coacts with upper guide means (37).

Description: Ticket Dispenser The present invention relates to a ticket dispensing assembly comprising a ticket feeder and a flexible strip of tickets in roll form. The ticket feeder func¬ tions to enable tickets to be torn invidually from the ticket strip and comprises a casing in which the ticket roll is housed, at least one cover part which is con¬ nected pivotally to the casing, and a guide path which is operative to quide a length of continuous strip of tickets taken from the ticket roll. The free end of the continuous strip projects through an outfeed opening in the ticket feeder and serves as a fingergrip by means of which the strip can be pulled from the roll. Means are also provided which, as the free end of the strip is pulled, function to mutually separate parts of strip material which are located between two mutually ad¬ jacent tickets and which hold said tickets together. The continuous strip has punched at regular intervals therealong parting lines which define a plurality of tongue-shaped flaps and "flap apertures" and those material parts which hold two mutually adjacent tickets together are located at the ends of respective parting lines and extend approximatly transversly to the longitudinal axis of the strip. An assembly comprising a ticket feeder and a continuous ticket strip of this kind, for instance queue tickets, is known from each of US Patent specifications 4,047,652 and 3,885,724. The ticket roll used with these known assemblies comprises a flexible, continuous ticket strip in which respective tickets have punched therein penetrating tongue-shaped flaps which when a ticket located in the outfeed aperture is pulled manu- ally, are brought into contact with guide means. through the medium of a feed path. The guide means functions to guide a tongue-shaped flap in one di¬ rection and the remainder of the strip in another di¬ rection. In order that an individual ticket can be torn from the strip, it is necessary to provide tear edges against which those parts of the freely protruding ticket are connected to the immediately following ticket can be brought into contact, thereby to separate a ticket from the strip. One drawback with this known assembly is that the continuous ticket strip used therewith can impair the function of the ticket feeder. For instance, the known ticket strip has through "pun¬ ched" flaps. These flaps are liable to project from the plane of the remainder of the strip, to a greater or lesser extent, and will often fold or buckle before arriving at the outfeed opening of the ticket feeder. When the free end of the ticket strip is torn-off, the following folded flap tends to fasten or jam inside the feeder, making it impossible tear further tickets from the roll until the fault has been remedied, which is irritating to waiting customers. Furthermore,it is also surprisingly found that with the known ticket feeder, the active tear edges, which are often made of a plastic material, are subjected to considerable wear, which negates the ticket-holding effect otherwise afforded by the feeder. As a result, a pull on the free, exposed end of a ticket strip will result in a continuous strip of tickets, being fed through the outfeed aperture and the feeder is unable to separate an individual ticket from the strip. A further drawback is that the known feeder is only able to accommodate rolls of at most one thousand tickets. Attempts have been made to increase the dimensions of the known ticket feeder, so that ticket rolls which contain a far larger number of individual ticket can be used, although these attempts have been without success. Consequently, it is primary object of the present in¬ vention to provide an improved assembly which comprises a ticket feeder and a continuous ticket strip of afore- described kind and in which the outfeed of a continuous ticket strip and the separation of individual tickets from said strip can take place continually in the ab¬ sence of any disturbance of the aforesaid kind. Another object of the invention is to provide an im¬ proved assembly in which the ticket feeder is able to readily accommodate a ticket roll that contains up to five thousand tickets. The aforesaid objects are achie- ved with an assembly of the kind described in the in¬ troduction having the characterising features set forth in the following main claim. So that the invention will be more readily understood and further features thereof made apparent, a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of an improved ticket feeder operative to deliver individual tickets from a flexible strip of tickets wound in the form of a roll; Fig 2 is a side view of the inventive ticket feeder, partly in section; Fig 3 is a view of the ticket feeder of Fig 2 from above, but with the slide omitted; Fig 4 is a sectional view of the outfeed part of the inventive ticket feeder; Fig 5 is view from beneath of one of the pivotal cover parts of the ticket feeder; Fig 5a is a front view which includes part of the ticket-strip outfeed part of the ticket feeder; Fig 6 is a central sectional view on a larger scale of the outfeed part of said feeder with the displaceable slide shown in an active and in a passive position; and Fig 7 illustrates a roll of mutually connected tickets intended for use in the ticket feeder of the inventive assembly. Shown in Fig 1 is a ticket feeder 10 which accommodates in roll form a flexible and continuous strip of tickets and which functions to separate the tickets one from the other when the strip is pulled manually. The ticket feeder includes a casing 11 and an attachment part 12 which is connected firmly to the casing and by means of which the ticket feeder can be removeably attached to an appropriate wall attachment (not shown) . The attachment part 12, which is shown partly in sec¬ tion in Fig 2 and from above in Fig 3, is detachably connected to vertically spaced and rearwardly project¬ ing lugs 13, each of which has a pivot pin 14. The ticket feeder 10 can therewith pivot on the pin 14 and the attachment part 12 has vertical surfaces 15, 16 which form abutments operative to limit the extent of said pivotal movement. A relatively stiff spring 17 mounted horizontally within the attachment part 12 funtions to return the ticket feeder 10 to the position shown in Fig 3, in which the feeder 10 and the attach¬ ment part 12 lie essentially in one and the same horiz- ontal plane, subsequent to pivoting said ticket feeder. In the case of the illustrated embodiment, the casing 11 of the ticket feeder 10 comprises a first, upper cover part 18 which is pivotally mounted on a pivot connection 19 described in more detail herebelow. The purpose of the upwardly pivotable cover part 18 is to enable the upper part of the ticket feeder 10 to be exposed so that a ticket roll 20 (Fig 1) can be intro¬ duced into the casing 11, said roll 20 normally com- prising 4000-5000 tickets in continuous strip form wound on a bobbin, such as to form said ticket roll. The reference numeral lib in Fig 2 identifies an inter¬ nal limiting wall which is positioned so that if the ticket roll should begin to rotate when the free flap on the continuous ticket strip is pulled, the conti¬ nuous strip would also unwind from the roll. This un¬ winding of the strip from the roll is limited and con¬ trolled by the wall part lib in a manner such that any lengths of strip that might unwind from the roll will take an S-shape, which would not disturb normal use of the assembly. For practical reasons,- the improved ticket feeder 10 is provided with a second, lower cover part 21 on the same side of the casing as the first cover part 18. This second cover part 21 can be swung downwards about a lower hinge means 22. When the upper cover part 18 is swung upwards and the lower cover part 21 is swung downwards, the whole of one side of the casing 11 will be opened, so that a new ticket roll 20 can be inserted into the ticket feeder, with the bobbin on which the ticket strip is wound resting on flanges 23'located on mutually opposite casing sides inwardly of the open- ings, whereby the side edges of the ticket roll 20 will be slightly spaced from the side walls of the casing 11. The other, mutually opposing sides of the casing 11, on the other hand, form an integral part of the casing. Arranged at the top of the casing 11 of the illustrated ticket feeder, and to the left in Figures 1 and 2, is a ticket-strip outfeed part, which will now be described. In the ticket-outfeed region of the ticket feeder, the undivided side of the casing 11 has an elongated ticket path which extends substantially in the direction in which the strip is pulled and the end of which located nearest the roll 20 is curved or gently rounded. The centre of the roll 20 preferably lies in the same, or approxamatly the same plane as the free end of the ticket feed path. The ticket-feed path presents a hori¬ zontal, first smooth feed surface 24 which merges with a second feed surface 26 which slopes downwardly to¬ wards the outfeed aperture 25 and which is terminated with a first lip 27, said lip being slightly curved in the case of the illustrated embodiment. The sloping surface 26 of the feed path is located essentially in the extension of an optimum ticket-strip pulling direction, and the actual outfeed aperture 25 is lo- cated on a lower plane than the lowest point of the sloping feed surface 26, the horizontal, upper surface of the lip 27 forming a support for a part of the flap on the free end or outermost end of the ticket strip. Provided on that part of the path surface 26 located adjacent the lip 27 is a bead 28 which extends across the guide surface 26. The bead 28 resembles the end of a ski-jump construction, i.e. the bead 28 extends slightly upwards at its junction with the guide surface 26 and then drops almost vertically downwards to join the lip 27. The width extension of the bead 28 cor¬ responds approximately to the width A (Fig 7) of a ticket. Extending on respective sides of the bead 28 are surfaces 29 which lie in substantially the same plane as the bottom surface 26 of the feed path and which merge with the lip 27. The bottom guide surface 24, 26 of the feed path has a width which is at least equal to the largest width of the ticket strip. The downwardly sloping surface 26 of the feed path is pro¬ vided along one edge region thereof with a transparent window 30, the function of which is described herebelow (Fig 3). The aforedescribed outfeed part of the ticket feeder constitutes means for guiding and feeding the continu- ous ticket strip taken off the roll 20. The ticket feed path 24, 26 is surrounded in its lon- gitudunal direction by mutually opposing wall parts 31, of which one is removably attached. In the region of the ticket outfeed aperture 25, respective wall parts 31 are provided with an outwardly extending pin 32 (e.g. Fig 3) which forms the aforesaid pivot attachment 19 for the upper cover part 18. Each of said wall parts 31 is also provided with a groove 33 which extends in the longitudinal direction of the feed path and widens towards the outfeed aperture 25. The grooves 33 are spaced from the upper edge surface of respective walls 31 and function as guide means for the sides of an elongated slide 34 which is mounted for limited move- ment in the longitudinal direction of the ticket strip. The under surface 35 of the slide 34 functions as se¬ cond guide means for the ticket strip, said strip being intended to be fed between the mutually opposing guide surfaces 26 and 35, these surfaces together forming the feed path. The bottom guide surface 26 of the slide 34 merges with a downwardly and rearwardly extending seco¬ nd lip 37 in the region of the ticket outfeed aperture. The end or tip of the lip 37 is rounded and is locali¬ sed at a small distance from the upwardly facing sur- face of the outfeed or guide lip 27 on the casing 11, such as to form a slot through which the ticket strip is fed. The bottom surface of the slide 34, which forms the top guide surface 35 of the feed path, is also configured so that feed path widens in a direction towards the outfeed 25 of the ticket feeder to form a larger gap 36, although solely within the approximate region of the bead 28 on the guide surface 26. The aforementioned edge-margin surfaces 29 are not included in the gap widening. As will be seen from Figures 4 and 6 for instance, a relatively wide gap is formed between the upper end of the bead 28 and the region in which the guide surface 35 on the slide 34 changes direction and merges with the lip 37, which in the ticket-feeding state of the ticket feeder 10 terminates immediately beneath the side of the bead 28 which faces the outfeed aperture 25. The upper part of the slide 34 is configured with an upwardly open recess 38 and with a rearward, inclined wall 38a. As illustrated in Fig 4, the ticket feeder 10 includes a pull spring 39 which is attached at one end to a pin 40 in the slide 34 and at the other end to a pin in the wall part 31 located on the same side. A corresponding arrangement is found on the opposite side. Fig 5 is a view of the inside of the cover part 18. As shown in the Figure, the cover part includes a member 41 which is complementary in shape to the shape of the recess 38 in the slide 34. Consequently, when a raised cover part (fig 4) is lowered, the member 41 will en¬ gage the recess 38 and force the slide 34 to move rear¬ wards against the action of the spring 39, to the position shown in Fig 4. When the cover part 18 is again raised, the slide 34 is moved forwards by the spring 39 to a passive position (fig 6) in which, for instance, a new ticket roll can be inserted into the feeder (after lowering the cover part 22) and brought between and into coaction with the guide surfaces 26 and 35 of the feed path. The slide 34 can be removed, by dismantling the removable wall part 31. Mounted on the underside of the bottom guide surface 26 of the ticket feed path are mutually spaced attachment parts 42 between which a detector device 43 is attached. The detector device 43 is positioned beneath the transparent part 30 in the bottom ticket guide sur¬ face 26 and can, in one embodiment, comprises a circuit card comprising an IR diode and a reciever. An electri¬ cal conductor (not shown) connects the detector device with a microprocessor provided with an internal and/or external display which informs personnel of, for in¬ stance, the number of people queuing for service, thereby enabling additional service personnel to be called upon if necessary. The display can also be made to show the expected waiting time. Other internal and/or external information functions are possible, of course. Each individual ticket in the continuous ticket strip has a colour marking provided on its undersurface and on one edge margin thereof, this colour marking being readable by the detector. Furthermore, each fifth tick¬ et, for instance, may be provided with a colour marking which differs from the colour marking of the four imme¬ diately preceding or the four immediately following markings. The arrangement may be such as to detect the first mentioned colour marking and to send a corre¬ sponding signal, for instance, to a counter, so as to provide internal information of the number of customers served and information concerning the number of queuing customers, so that additional service personnel can be called upon when necessary. Such a detection arrange¬ ment can also function to indicate to a customer the expected waiting time before he/she is attended to. Other internal/external information can also be given, depending upon the sophistication of the electronic equipment used. The continuous ticket strip in roll form used in conjunction with the aforedescribed ticket feeder is comparable with the ticket strip illustrated and described in the aforesaid US-A-4,047,652. Fig 7 illustrates a part of the continuous ticket strip, which is assumed to have been unwound from the ticket roll 20. This continuous strip of tickets has punched therealong in mutually uniform relationship and in a known manner a number of penetrating lines 44a, 44b such as to form tongue-shaped flaps 45 and corres¬ pondingly configured flap openings 46. It will be understood that the flaps 45 and the flap openings 46 can be given a configuration different to that shown, depending, among other things, on the width of the ticket strip. Distinct from the ticket strip according to US-A-4,047,652, none of the inventive flaps 45 is fully formed, since the centre of the ultimate flap is connected with the ultimate flap opening 46 by a small bridge 50, as shown in fig 7. As will be understood, when separated from the strip each individual ticket will present at its forward end a tongue-shaped flap 45, which may have any desired configuration, whereas the rear end of the ticket will present a recess corresponding to and accommodating the flap of the immediatly following ticket and thus form¬ ing a flap opening 46. In the case of the illustrated emodiment, the tongue-shaped flap of each individual ticket is connected to the continuous strip along the greatest width 47 of the flap 45. This connecting part 47 of each flap extends preferably at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the strip and terminates short of mutually opposite side edges, to form shoulders 48, 49, the width of these shoulders being dependent on the shape of the flap. The broader the flap at its base, the narrower the shoulders 48, 49, and conversely the narrower the flap 45 at its base, the broader the shoulders 48, 49. It is prefered, however, to make these shoulder as narrow as possible, since they form the main strip-parts by means of which the tickets are joined together and since it is these strip parts that are torn from the continuous ticket strip when tearing a ticket therefrom. If desired, these shoulders 48, 49 may be weakened with perforations or some other kind of tear lines. However, this is normally not necessary in the case of a flap of the kind illustrated in the drawing. When the ticket feeder 10 is in its working state, it is assumed that a ticket roll 20 is mounted in the feeder in the manner illustrated in Fig 2. The continu¬ ous ticket strip indicated in chain lines in Fig 2 - is passed over a rounded end of the feed path surface 24 and into the gap 36, 36' defined between the guide surfaces 26 and 35 of said path. In a functional posi¬ tion, a ticket flap or tongue 45 will protrude beyond the outfeed aperture 25 of the feeder 10, ready to be gripped and pulled. It will be seen that the bridge piece 50 between an ultimate flap 45 and an ultimate flap opening 46 will prevent the flap from jutting from the plane of the strip, thereby enabling the continuous ticket strip to be guided and fed in a smooth path without hinderance of flaps which protrude from the plane of the strip (US-A-4,047,652). When the flap 45 is subjected to a pulling force in the direction of the arrow (A Fig 6), so as to remove the outermost ticket from the continuous ticket strip, two conditions must be fulfilled, namely that the bridge piece 50 is broken in a first phase of the pulling ac¬ tion and that the shoulders 48, 49 are torn from the strip as the pulling action continues. When the ticket flap 45 of a rearwardly located strip part slides over the bead 28, this flap will be located on a higher level than the ticket being torn from the strip. This rearwardly located flap will attempt to continue to move in the direction enforced by the bead 28, while the remainder of the strip tends to continue in the pulling direction (arrow A and Fig 6). It will be seen that since the flap of the rearwardly lying ticket runs over the bead 28 and the remainder of the ticket extends along the surfaces 29 on opposite sides of the bead 28 in the feed path 26, 35 the tongue-shaped flap of said ticket will travel through a longer path than the remainder of said ticket. Consequently, the pulling force acting on the freely located tongue of the outer¬ most ticket will cause the bridge piece 50 connecting the centre of the immediately following ticket with the flap opening of the outermost ticket (see Fig 7) to rupture and therewith separate the outermost ticket from the immediately following ticket. The forward end of the flap thus released will, in this stage, be lo¬ cated immediately outside the outfeed aperture 25 of the feeder 10, and the flap will strive to move upwards towards the widened space approximatly at the point X in Fig 6 while the rearward part of the flap will be "folded" slightly, which causes a very short interrup¬ tion in the forward movement of the ticket strip. The pulling action will now be transferred to the shoulders 48, 49, which therewith rapture and release the ticket while leaving the newly exposed tongue-shaped flap of the following ticket in the outfeed aperture so that the flap can be gripped and a further ticket torn from the strip in the aforedescribed manner. The described ticket feeder operative to deliver in¬ dividual tickets from a continuous ticket strip affords the important advantage that the free ticket-tongue protruding from the outfeed aperture 25 can, in prac- tise, be pulled forwards at any conceivable angle with¬ out impairing the ticket dispensing function of the feeder 10.

Claims: Claims 1. A ticket dispensing assembly comprising a ticket feeder and a continuous, flexible ticket strip in roll form, said ticket feeder including a casing which ac¬ commodates the ticket roll, at least one cover part pivotally connected to said casing, a feed path opera- tive to guide a continuous strip length taken from the roll, such that the free end of the continuous ticket strip will project from the ticket feeder through an outfeed aperture and serve as a finger grip for outward feeding of the continuous strip in response to a pull- ing force exerted manually on said strip, wherein means are provided which in response to a pulling force on said free end of the strip cause the strip parts which join two mutually adjacent tickets together to separate, and wherein the continuous ticket strip has punched therein at regular intervals there along part¬ ing lines which form a plurality of tongue-shaped flaps and flap-openings, and wherein those strip parts (48, 49) which join together two mutually adjacent tickets are located at the extremities of a punched parting line and extend approximatly transversly to the longi- tudanal axis of the ticket strip, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that the feed path operative to guide the continuous ticket strip in said feeder comprises, in a known manner, two vertically spaced surfaces (26, 35) between which the continuous strip is guided; in that the bottom guide surface (26) merges with a first lip (27) which is located externally of the outfeed aperture of the feeder (10) and the upper surface of which lip is located on a lower plane than an imaginary extension of said bottom guide surface (26); in that said bottom guide surface (26) at the point of its junction with said first guide lip (27) presents an _ * elongated bead (28) which extends across the feed path and terminates short of respective sides thereof; in •y 5 that the end of said upper guide surface (35) adjacent the outfeed aperture is configured with a second lip (37), the tip of which is located in the proximity of the side of the bead (28) that faces towards the out- feed aperture (25); and in that the upper guide surface 10 (35) is configured with a depression (X;) adjacent the base of said second lip (37). 2. An assembly according to claim 1, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that the upper guide surface (35) of 15 the feed path is formed by the bottom surface of a slide (34) which is mounted for limited movement bet¬ ween the casing sides (31) of the ticket feeder (10). 3. An assembly according to claim 2, c h a r a c- 20 t e r i z e d in that the mutually opposing sides (31) of said casing have provided therein elongated grooves (33) in which the slide (34) is guided. 4. An assembly according to claim 2 or 3, c h a r a c 25 t e r i z e d in that the slide (34) is biassed in one direction of movement by a spring (39). 5. An assembly according to one or more of claims 2 - 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the upwardly 30 extending part of the slide (34) includes an upwardly open recess (38) which coacts with a correspondingly shaped element (41) located within a cover part (18) which is pivotally connected to the casing (11) of the ticket feeder (10). 35 6. An assembly according to claim 1, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that the bottom guide surface of the ticket guide path is ridgidly connected to a wall part (31) of the casing and includes a first, straight sur¬ face (24) which merges with a sloping second surface (26); and in that the end of the guide path located adjacent the ticket roll has gently rounded surfaces for guiding the continuous ticket strip as it leaves the ticket roll. 7. An assembly according to claim 6, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that said end of the guide path lies approximately in the same vertical plane as the centre of the ticket roll (20). 8. An assembly according to one or more of the prece¬ ding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the ticket feeder (10) has an internal wall (lib) which extends vertically from the upper part of the casing (11) to approximately a level corresponding to the maximum diameter of a ticket roll (20). 9. An assembly according to one or more of the precee- ding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the bottom guide surface (24, 26) of said feed path has a transparent part (30); and in that mounted beneath said bottom guide surface is a detachable detector device (43) which is connected by electrical connectors to one or more display devices equipped with a microprocessor or microprocessors. 10. An assembly according to claim 1, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that one side of the casing (11) of the ticket feeder (10) is composed of cover parts (18, 22) which can be pivoted independently of one another and which afford access to the interior of the ticket feeder (10). 11. An assembly according to one or more of the prece- ding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the ticket roll (20) is wound on a bobbin which is intended to rest on flanges mounted internally on the sides of the casing. 12. An assembly according to one or more of the precee- ding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the ticket feeder (10) has a detachable attachement part (12) which is intended for detachable attachment of the ticket feeder to a wall attachment. 13. An assembly according to claim 12, c h a r a c¬ t e r i z e d in that the attachment part (12) is pivotly connected to the ticket feeder (10) in a manner to permit limited rotation of the ticket feeder (10), and a spring (17) is provided for aligning the ticket feeder with the attachment part. 14. A continous strip of tickets according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the flap opening (46) of one ticket is connected to the flap (45) of an immediately following ticket by means of a thin bridge of material (50). 15. A ticket strip according to claim 1 or claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the mutually op¬ posite strip parts (48, 49) which connect two mutually adjacent tickets together have a tear line which ex¬ tends from respective punched lines in a direction towards the outer edges of the ticket strip. 16. A method for tearing-off pieces of definite length from a flexible strip of mutually joined tickets in roll form, said roll being housed in a ticket dispens¬ ing apparatus which includes a ticket-feed guide path and an outfeed aperture and the foremost end of which ticket strip protrudes through the outfeed aperture in the operational state of said apparatus, said method comprising the steps of manually pulling the protruding end of said strip so as to cause the strip upstream of the outfeed aperture and in the proximity of an outfeed region of said guide path to be moved in a direction which is inclined in relation to said protruding end of the strip, this inclined movement of said strip resul¬ ting in a momentary interruption in the feed movement of the strip in the region thereof at which two mutu¬ ally adjacent tickets are joined together; and further pulling said protruding end of the strip so as to gen¬ erate tension in said ticket-joining region of the strip and causing the means by which said mutually adjacent tickets are joined together to rupture and therewith release said protruding part from the remain¬ der of the strip, this further pulling force also caus¬ ing the immediately following ticket to be brought into the outfeed aperture and to protrude therefrom.

Inventors: SVENSSON KJELL, SVENSSON, KJELL
Applicants: TURN O MATIC AB, TURN-O-MATIC AB
Application year: 1990
Main classification: G07B5
IPC codes: B26F3, B65C9, B65C11, B65H20, G07B3, G07B5