Patent GB-1314994-A (GB)
Title: Establishing the total price of articles selected for purchase
IPC: G07G1/10
Filed: 1970-06-11
Abstract: 1314994 Labels J I HARRIS 11 June 1970 [12 June 1969] 28324/70 Heading B8F [Also in Divisions G1 and G4] A checkout system for use in merchandising articles wherein the articles have pricing media associated therewith, the weight of said media being representative of the price of the article with which it is associated, including weighing means at a check-out counter. for weighing an accumulation of pricing media removed from articles selected by a customer to provide an indication of the total price of the selected articles. Each pricing media may also carry indicia representative of the article to which it is attached so that each may be individually scanned after removal to identify which articles have been selected. In the embodiment described articles 10 selected by a customer and brought to a cheek-out counter 12 have associated price-tags 14 with removable portions 14<SP>1</SP>. After removal the tag portions 14<SP>1</SP> are inserted into a shoot 16, where they pass between lamp 18 and photocell 22, and are then collected in tag weighing device 30. The photocell 22 is connected to a tag counter 24, which shows the number of tags inserted on indicator 26. When all the tags have been inserted a signal from manual input 32 initiates the weighing of the tag portions by device 30 and the calculation of the total price by register 28, the price is then indicated and printed on a receipt by read-out device 36 and printer 40. The amount tendered by the customer is also entered through manual input 32 and a change maker 41 is correspondingly operated. The weight of tag portions may increase or decrease incrementally from a base weight that is substantially equal for all prices (Fig. 6, not shown), and the total price is therefore determined either by subtraction of the product of base weight times tag count from the total tag weight or vice versa. After weighing the tag portions are transferred to a temporary tag store 44 from which they are periodically removed and transported to a scanner-reader 48, which supplies information to an inventory control computer 50 which provides a printed tabulation of inventory changes via the printer 52 and periodically orders new stock through control function 54. Price-tags.-The price-tags are generally of two forms, sheet-like of paper or plastics (Figs. 2 to 4b, not shown) or of semi-rigid wire (Figs. 5a, 5b, not shown). The sheet-like tags are perforated to divide the tags into two portions, one of which (60b)-(66b) is adhesive for sticking the tag to the article. The perforation line (60c) to (62c) may be of special form to prevent the interchange of the removable tag portions between articles of different price. One of the tags (66) has a length of wire (66d) that is drawn from the adhesive portion as the removable portion is detached (see also Fig. 3, not shown). The tickets may be provided with binary markings (84) or with stylized machine readable numerals (86) for inventory control purposes. Weighing device.-The weighing device has a flexible scale pan (106), that is normally concave, opening upwardly (Fig. 7, not shown). After the weighing operation a rod (114) is raised by cam (118) to flex the pan into the position shown in dotted lines. The tags fall from the pan and are removed from housing (130) by suction. The base of the pan may be provided with small holes (112) through which air is drawn as the tags are inserted ensuring that they are correctly positioned for weighing.