Patent GB-743785-A (GB)
Abstract: 743,785. Ticket-issuing machines. S.A.S.I.B. SOC. ANON. SCIPIONE INNOCENTI-BOLOGNA. Dec. 8, 1952 [Aug. 5, 1952], No. 31122/52. Class 106 (3). A ticket printing and issuing machine comprises a printing carriage which can be set and locked with respect to a magazine containing a number of printing plates which can be individually withdrawn into the carriage for ticket printing, a support within the carriage having a ticket-carrying plate, inking rollers and a totalizer, said support being moved during a machine cycle to bring the ticket to the printing position with respect to a platen and the selected printing plate and to operate the totalizer through members engaged by a key plate on the said selected plate. The machine described is for printing railway tickets and comprises a frame 1, Fig. 1, and a magazine 2 divided into vertical compartments each having a plurality of printing plates 4, Fig. 18, in horizontal casings 3, Fig. 3. Each plate 4, Fig. 18, has on the lower face a ticket-printing plate 5 and a printing block 6 for printing on a record tape marks identifying each ticket, a removable plate 7 carrying types 8, 9 for printing the ticket price on the ticket and record tape respectively, and a key plate 10 the edge 10a of which operates a totalizer in accordance with the price of the ticket. In front of the magazine 2, Figs. 1 and 3, there is a station board 11 bearing the station names. Transversely movable along horizontal guides 12, 13 fixed to the board 11 is a printing carriage 14 having a vertical transparent index 15 the cursor of which co-operates with a horizontal fixed index 16 for locating the carriage 14. The main shaft 21, Fig. 4, of the printing carriage is driven by an electric motor 19 or by hand-operated crank 20, Fig. 1. A rod 24, Fig. 4, extends through the carriage and has at one end an external handle 26 and at the other a block 23 which may be brought into engagement with the teeth 25 of the magazine 2 by pushing the handle 26 inwardly. The printing carriage is thereby locked with respect to the selected printing plate 4 and the handle 26 is freed for rotation. A bell-crank 33 is pivoted to the rod 24 and has a pin 32 which engages a groove 36 in a hook member 28 pivoted to an extension 30 of a rack 29. When the handle 26 is now rotated clockwise a helical cam 36 or a screw 235, Fig. 10, is rotated and the bell-crank 33 is swung clockwise. The hook member 28 is thereby moved to latch on to the notch 31 of the selected printing plate 4 and at the same time to rock a latch lever 41 against the pressure of a spring 42 to free the latch 241, Fig. 10, from a projection 103 on the case 3. The ticket blank taken from a magazine 99, Fig. 1, is inserted through a slot on to a hard rubber table 46, Figs. 4 and 7, of a support 44 which carries the totalizer 50 having printing wheels 52. When the support 44 is in its initial position a slip may be placed on the plate 53 below the printing wheels 52 so that upon raising of the plate 53 through a manually operated linkage the wheels 52 print on the slip. Insertion of a ticket blank causes rocking movement of a fork member 82 which through a linkage 80, 79, Fig. 9, spring 81 and rod 78 rocks a lever 74 so that a latch 75 is withdrawn from a notch 177 of a disc 76 fixed to the main shaft 21 and the motor switch 88, Fig. 4, is closed, the shaft 21 is then rotated for one revolution. During the first quarter of said revolution a cam 69 on the shaft 21 rocks a lever 67 to shift a slide 66 and its gear 65 to the left and the hook member 28 retracts the selected plate 4 into the carriage 14. The rack 64 is then moved and through gearing 71, 72, 73 rotates a helical cam 62 which moves the support 44 transversely. During this transverse movement of the support 44 inking rollers 47 carried thereby ink the printing surfaces 5, 6, 8 and 9 of the selected plate 4 and a removable date stamp 90, Fig. 7. The types 6, 9 of the plate 4 are located above a roller 98, Figs. 12, 15, of a box 97 containing a record strip 106. Also during the said transverse movement the racks 51, Fig. 4, are differentially actuated by abutting the edge 10a of the key plate 10 on the plate 4. The cam 69 then effects a rocking movement of the lever 93 to raise a platen 91, the box 97 and the plate 46 to effect printing on the ticket and record strip. Near the end of the revolution of the shaft 21, when the support 44 is back in its initial position, a pin 84, Fig. 9, on the cam 76 moves the rod 79 which through linkage returns to its initial position the fork member 82, Fig. 4, which expels the printed ticket. The spring 8, Fig. 9, then pulls the latch end 75 of the lever 74 into the notch 177 of the disc 76 so locking the main shaft 21 and opening the motor switch 88. The record strip 106, Fig. 15, is unwound from the drum 102 on to the drum 104 and passes outside the top of the box 97 below a tensioning roller over the roller 98 and round the feed drum 108, 119, Fig. 16. The drums 108, 119 and 104 are interconnected by a belt 109 and pulleys 110, 111. When the box 97 is reciprocated, as above described, a rack 116, Fig. 15, is reciprocated by a cam 118 and the drum 108, 119 is stepped on by a pawl and ratchet 113. The two parts 108, 119 of the drum are interconnected by a clutch comprising a plate 121 slidable but non- rotatable on the shaft 120 and having ears which engage under pressure of a spring 124, Fig. 16, on the ratchet wheel 113 fixed to the part 108. If the box 97 is correctly mounted a knob 122 of the plate 121 normally retains a lever 127 away from locking engagement with the lever 74, Fig. 9. If the feed of the strip 106 stops, the part 119 of the drum 108, 119 is arrested and the clutch 121, 113 will be disengaged so that the knob 122 leaves the lever 127 which is moved by a spring to lock the lever 74, Fig. 9. A visible index 61, Fig. 7, is attached to the lever 127. A feeler 130, Fig. 15, carried by a shaft 132 is urged by a counterweight against the strip 106 and moves if the strip breaks or runs out so that a lever 133, Fig. 9, also on the shaft 132 locks the lever 74. The shaft 132 carries a visible index 134, Fig. 7 When the handle 26, Fig. 4, is in its initial position the lever 74 is prevented from movement by a bell-crank 136 which engages a pin 137 on the lever. When the handle 26 is depressed and rotated through 90 degrees to lock the carriage 14 to the magazine and engage the hook 28 with the selected printing plate as above described the lever 136 enters a notch 139 in the shaft 24 and so frees the lever 74. Each case 3, Figs. 3 and 10, contains a counter 140 which is actuated when the associated plate 4 is withdrawn. The carriage 14 also includes means for printing serial numbers on the tickets and means for indicating such numbers.