Patent GB-709514-A (GB)
Abstract: 709,514. Ticket-issuing machines. COMPAGNIE DES MACHINES SYNTEGRA. April 12, 1950 [April 13, 1949], No. 8998/50. Class 106 (3) A machine for delivering railway or other tickets on which is printed or otherwise inscribed the fare, or any other data, 'depending not only upon basic factors such as the distance of travel, the railway rates in force, and so on but also upon the value of at least one parameter such as the class of travel, comprises a data inscription mechanism having a multiplicity of members for inscribing on the ticket the data, for instance the digits of the number representing the fare, these members being actuated by the temporary introduction into the machine for the desired operation of an operating block chosen by the machine operator out of a multiplicity of blocks corresponding each to a different set of values of said basic factors, and is characterized in that the inscription mechanism members are set directly into their inscribing positions by the insertion of the operating block. Each operating block 1, Fig. 11, has the fare represented thereon by lines of vertical projections 2, Fig. 12, on a part 1a. The lines are arranged in groups of three so that the fare for three types of ticket for the same distance are represented on one block. The projections 2 co-operate with members C0-C3 when inserted into the machine M. The part 1a of the block 1 can be moved transversely of the block to determine which of the lines of projections 2 will co-operate with the members C0-C3, or as in Fig. 12, the end 8 of each member C0-C3 is movable into alignment with any one line of the corresponding group of projections 2. The projections 2 may be, as known in the art, pins removably located in holes or L-shaped members located in holes or grooves. In another arrangement,, Figs. 14 and 15, the projections 2 are in the form of rods located in grooves and the fares for three types of tickets in each of two classes are represented on one block in two series of three grooves. The machine as described has nine members C0-C8, Figs. 17 and 18, which cooperate with nine projections on each inserted block 1. The first five projections represent the fare and the other four represent any desired data. The members C0-C4 are each provided with two toothed racks 19, 20, Fig. 17, and the members C5-C8 have racks 19. The five racks 20 directly engage teeth 21 to set the type 22 of the fare printing drums 15. The nine racks 19 each mesh directly and so differentially set a corresponding sector 23 carried by a shaft 64. Each of the first five sectors 23, Fig. 21, has fare indicating elements 23b which may be viewed by the operator through a window 25, Fig. 17. The fare sectors 23 are integrally connected individually to sectors 26 which operate a second fare indicating device 28 viewed by the customer through a window 29. The sectors 23 also have printing type 31, Figs. 17, 21, which serve to print the fare and data on an account strip 30. Each of the fare sectors 23 has a projection 33, Figs. 17 and 22, by means of which it imparts, against the action of a spring 49, a clockwise movement to a corresponding sector 32 also pivotally mounted on the shaft 64. When, during a machine cycle, each sector is moved, as described later, to the end of its forward clockwise stroke the teeth 40, 41 thereon respectively operate a sub-total totalizer 46 and a grand total totalizer 48. The totalizer 46 may be viewed by the operator through a window 37, Fig. 17. The totalizer 46 and its actuating pinion 44 are carried by an arm 57 pivoted on a spindle 59 and the totalizer 48 and its pinion 45 by an arm 58 pivoted on a spindle 60. The arms 57, 58 carry fingers 61, 62 respectively which engage notches in a sector 63 also pivoted on the shaft 64. When, after insertion of a block 1, the operator depresses a button 50a the circuit of an electric motor 50 is closed and the motor through a worm 51, a pair of discs 52 and a pair of levers 54 effects a penduluous movement of a pair of arms 55 about the pivot 56. The arms 55 are connected by arms 71 to rollers 72 which run on horizontal rails 70. The rollers 72 are interconnected by an axle 73 which passes through horizontal guideways 74 in the side plates of a carriage 69. Two pinions 75 fixed to the axle 73 mesh respectively with two horizontal racks 76. Eccentrically mounted between the pinions 75 is a spindle 77 which carries two rollers 78 guided in slots 79 in the side walls of the carriage 69. The above pendulous movement imparted to the arms 55 will, through the above linkage, cause the axle 73 to be moved from left to right and a finger 69a of the carriage 69 extracts a ticket blank from the magazine 14. The rollers 78 describe a cycloid at the cusps of which they lift the carriage 69 so that the ticket blank is pressed against the fare printing drums 15 and the punches 16 and against a pre-set data printing device 17 and a printing plate 10 carried by the block 1. An inking tank and roller is fixed to the carriage 69. As the arms 55 swing counterclockwise a group of levers 39 are rocked clockwise through a pair of arms 65, a spindle 67 and arms 66 and pawls 36 effect the further clockwise movement of the sectors 32 in accordance with their previous setting by the sectors 23. Near the end of the said movement of the arms 55 the spindle 67 effects a slight clockwise movement of the sector 63 and the fingers 61, 63 are moved so that the totalizer pinions 44, 45 are disengaged from the teeth 40, 41. At the end of the outward stroke of the carriage 69 a hook 82 ejects the printed ticket on to a chute 18, Fig. 18. During the return stroke of the arms 55, Fig. 17, the sectors 32 are returned by their springs 49 to abut the sectors 23 and when the block 1 is removed the members C0-C8 and their sectors 23, 32 and drums 15 are returned to their initial positions by springs 24. In a modification of the mechanism for moving the carriage 69, Fig. 26, the arms 71 are connected to a rack 84 meshing with a pinion 85 co-axial with the pinions 75.