Patent GB-377700-A (GB)
Abstract: 377,700. Ticket printing and issuing machines. LEWERS, W. H., 47, Victoria Street, London.-(Ohmer Fare Register Co. ; Bolander Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.) April 20, 1931, No. 11703. [Class 106 (iii).] A ticket printing and issuing machine has means whereby any selected number of tickets in the form of a strip can be issued attached together with perforations between the tickets, a consecutive number printing device printing the same number on all tickets in the same strip. The main operating shaft 19 is driven by hand crank or by motor set into operation by the control key 115 with press-button 116. The shaft 19 drives the gear wheel 18 driving the gear 20 on shaft 21 carrying cam 22 actuating bell-crank lever 23 carrying a spacing arm 25 which engages a pin 26 operating a pawl 27 which rotates a ratchet 28 mounted on a shaft 29 for correctly spacing the paper. The gear 18 also drives the gear 43 carrying pins 44 which pass through slots 45 in a disc 46 carrying a pin 47 which operates a pitman 48 whose outer end receives a shaft 49 carried by an oscillating printing carrier 50. An arm 51 is secured to the printing carrier 50 by means of the shaft 49 and a stud 52 and carries an upwardly projecting stop lug 53. A pin 54 carried by the arm 51 is the pivot for a pawl 55 which is normally urged upwards by means of a spring 56 which has one end secured to the arm 51 and passes around the shaft 49 and presses upwardly against a pin 57 carried by the pawl 55. The pawl 55 actuates a ratchet 58 forming a part of the consecutive numbering mechanism. This mechanism is actuated only once during each issue of tickets so that all the tickets of one strip issue bear the same number. This is accomplished through the cam 12 engaging with the lug 60 to raise the lever 59 which rotates the lever 62 to move the V-shaped surface 68 out of the path of movement of the pin 57 carried by the pawl 55 only when the last ticket of a series in one strip has been issued. The machine is set up to issue the desired number of tickets by rotating the knob 5, the number of tickets to be issued showing on the dial 7 through the aperture 4. The knob 5 is secured to a shaft 6 to which is secured a ratchet 8, a circular disc 9 with cam 10 and a circular disc 11 with cam 12. Coacting with the ratchet 8 is a lever 13 having an arm 15 so arranged that on one upward and downward movement of the lever 13 the ratchet 8 and shaft 6 will turn through a distance of one tooth under the action of a spring, the movement of the lever occurring through the end of the lever 23 engaging the roller 30 on arm 32 integral with a lifting plate 33 the upper end of which has an aperture 37 through which extends the end 38 of the lever 13. The lifting plate may also be raised by a knob 39 so that should too many tickets have been set up on the knob 5 correction can be made by the knob 39, correction by the knob 5 being allowed only in the case of too few tickets being set up because of a lug on the lever 13 engaging the ratchet 8. The shaft 21 carries a gear 70 meshing with a gear 71 mounted on a shaft 72 carrying a plate 73 with cam 74 for engagement with an arm 76. The oscillating printing carrier is loosely mounted on a shaft 75 having rigid with it the arm 76 with cam lug 77 engaging one end of a bell-crank lever 78 which is pivoted on the shaft 49 and which is provided with a pin 79 coacting with a spring 80 tending to hold the lever 78 in engagement with the cam lug 77. On the lower end of the lever 78 is a bar 81 integral with an arm 82 mounted on the shaft 49, the bar 81 being provided with a channel member 83. An arm 84 is pinned to the shaft 75 and projects through a plate 85 to which is secured a serrating plate 86 provided with teeth 87. The plate 85 is integral with arms 86<1> mounted on the shaft 49. The ticket strip 88 is fed from a roll 89 and passes upwardly between the channel member 83 and the serrating plate 86 and over the platen 90 carried by the oscillating printing carrier 50 from whence it passes between the feed roller 91 and a platen 92 intermittently operated in known manner. As the shaft 21 rotates and the printing carrier 50 is moved to the right the platen 90 engages the ticket strip and brings it beneath the printing wheels 93 after inking by the ink roller 94. The ticket strip is not pulled forward until the platen 90 engages it so that there is a period of rest in the movement of the ticket strip and it is during this period that the channel member 83 and the serrating plate 86 engage the ticket strip and serrate it without tearing. Longitudinal perforations may be given to the tickets by means of a ring mounted on the platen 92 which ring is provided with projections or pins. The knife 145 is held inoperative unless the dial 7 indicates one and the machine is then operated because in any other position the knife control lever 95 is held in depressed position and is only raised when the cam 10 engages the cam lug 96 of the lever 95 and raises it against the action of the spring 98 to lock a sleeve to the shaft 138 on its last rotation to actuate the knife. The motor driving the machine can be arranged to stop between the printing of successive tickets in one ticket strip by moving the knob 219 to the left, the motor running until the last ticket of a series is issued when the knob 219 is in the right-hand position. The machine can be locked so that the key 115 cannot be depressed at all by moving the knob 219 to its extreme left-hand position, a stop then engaging the key 115. Any number of tickets can be issued by depressing the motor key and holding the knob 5 against rotation.