Patent Publication Number: US-2006016826-A1

Title: Coupling plate for stacking lottery ticket dispensers

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates in general to a structure that assists in the stacking of molded and fabricated lottery ticket dispensers. More particularly, this invention relates to a coupling plate that serves as an intermediate member for demountably attaching a fabricated ticket dispenser to the top of a molded dispenser.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      The use of stackable box-like structures for displaying and dispensing of lottery tickets has long been known in the art. Originally, the most common popular methods for attaching such structures in a stackable arrangement had been either permanent or not lockable. However, over a decade ago, a molded stackable display and dispensing structure was developed to include engagement means on the top of the structure that were adapted to co-act with engagement means on the bottom of a second similarly shaped structure for attachment in a stacked and locked arrangement. Such structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,005 issued to Schafer on Mar. 21, 1995.  
      The stacking and locking features of the Schafer invention have proven to be highly popular and successful in utilization with molded ticket dispensing structures that include the necessary engagement means molded therein, but such invention is not normally applicable with dispensers that are fabricated by hand to accommodate unusually sized lottery tickets. Although the vast majority of lottery tickets utilized in the lottery industry have standard dimensions so they can be dispensed from a wide variety of different ticket dispensers, occasionally a particular state lottery will conduct a promotion that utilizes a ticket of an unusual size. To accommodate such tickets, dispenser manufacturers have the capability for manufacturing fabricated dispensers by hand. Because fabricated dispensers do not include molded engagement means therein, they are not designed to be conveniently arranged in an interchangeable stacked relationship. Instead, such dispensers are normally attached by double-sided adhesive to the countertop of a retail establishment or to the top of a molded dispenser in such fashion that they cannot be readily removed therefrom.  
      The present invention provides a coupling plate that serves as an intermediate coupling member between a fabricated dispenser and a molded dispenser in such fashion that the two can be readily removed from one another.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is a coupling plate that is adapted to serve as a connecting member for stacking a fabricated ticket dispenser on top of a box-type molded dispenser in a semi-permanent arrangement, and includes engagement means for co-acting with the engagement means on the molded dispenser. The coupling plate is formed with a plate-type body portion having generally flat top and bottom surfaces, a first engagement means extended downwardly from the front of the body portion and a second engagement means extending downwardly from the rear of the body portion. The first engagement means is designed to co-act with a lip portion on the top of the molded dispenser for attachment thereto and the second engagement means extends through notches in the roof of the molded dispenser and is overlapped by a flange on the door of such dispenser to lockably secure the coupling plate to the dispenser.  
      The foregoing and other advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which there is shown by illustration and not of limitation a specific form in which the invention may be embodied. Such embodiment does not represent the full scope of the invention, but rather the invention may be employed in a variety of other embodiments and reference is made to the claims herein for interpreting the breadth of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a rear perspective view of a prior art molded lottery ticket dispenser;  
       FIG. 2  is a side cross sectional view of the dispenser unit of  FIG. 1  in a partially engaged assembly relationship with an identically formed top dispenser;  
       FIG. 3  is a view similar to that of  FIG. 2  but with the top dispenser fully engaged with the bottom dispenser in a stacked and locked condition;  
       FIG. 4  is a rear perspective view of a prior art fabricated ticket dispenser;  
       FIG. 5  is a rear perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a coupling plate of the present invention that is adapted to assist in demountable connecting the fabricated dispenser of  FIG. 4  on top of the molded dispenser of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 6  is a side view in elevation of the coupling plate of  FIG. 5 ;  
       FIG. 7  is a rear perspective view of the coupling plate of  FIG. 5  mounted on the top of the molded dispenser of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 8  is a rear perspective view similar to that of  FIG. 7  but with the fabricated dispenser of  FIG. 4  mounted on top of the coupling plate of  FIG. 5 ; and  
       FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view taken along the line  9 - 9  in  FIG. 8 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      With reference now to the drawings, a dual modular hinged lottery ticket dispenser known in the prior art is shown in  FIG. 1  indicated generally at  10  and includes a box unit  12  and a door  14 .  
      The box unit  12  has a top surface  18 , a front wall  20 , a pair of opposite side walls  22  and  24 , a bottom surface  26  and a rear opening  28  (see  FIG. 2 ) that allows access to the inside of the unit  12 . Located within the unit  12  is a divider portion  30  for forming two storage compartments, which are adapted for storing two stacks of lottery tickets in a side-by-side relationship.  
      The door  14  has a vertical face  38 , a horizontal top flange  40  and a pair of vertical side flanges  42  and  44 . A bottom portion  46  of the door  14  is generally cylindrical in shape and has a pair of cylindrical posts  48  and  50  at opposite ends. The posts  48  and  50  are designed to be receivably journaled in circular openings  52  in the sidewalls  22  and  24  to pivotally attach the bottom portion  46  of the door  14  to the box unit  12 . The dispenser  10  is preferably entirely molded of a clear plastic material such as polycarbonate. Such material has inherent flexible and resilient qualities. Because of such flexible and resilient qualities, the door  14  is semi-permanently attachable to the box unit  12 .  
      Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the top  18  of the box unit  12  and the bottom  26  thereof are formed with co-acting engagement means for stacking a plurality of dispensers, one on top of another, in a stacked and locked relationship. The engagement means located on the bottom  26  include a curved flange  58  that extends downwardly from the bottom  26  at the front of the box unit  12  and four spaced apart downwardly extending L-shaped flanges  60 , only one of which can be seen, located at the rear of the box unit  12 . The engagement means at the top portion of the box unit  12  include at its front a recessed pocket  62  that lies directly beneath a lip portion  64  formed by the front edge of the box unit top  18 . On the opposite side of the top  18  are rear engagement means in the form of a plurality of spaced apart notches  66  in the rear edge of the top  18 .  
      Referring now to both  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the dispenser  10  and a similarly constructed dispenser  10 ′ are shown in an assembly relationship. Because the construction of the dispensers  10  and  10 ′ are identical, similar components of each will be numbered the same except that the components of the dispenser  10 ′ are primed.  
      The dispenser  10 ′ includes a bottom  26 ′ that co-acts with the engagement means on the top  18  of the dispenser  10 , with a front flange  58 ′ hooking over the lip  64  to secure the front portions of the dispensers  10  and  10 ′ together. Simarily, the dispenser  10 ′ has rear flanges  60 ′ that extend through the notches  66  in the dispenser  10 . Thus, when the door  14  is closed the top door flange  40  overlies the flanges  60 ′ to secure the dispenser  10 ′ in place in a semi-permanent relationship with the dispenser  10 , all as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,005 issued Mar. 21, 1995, and incorporated herein by reference.  
      The above-described co-action between the engagement means of the molded dispensers  10  and  10 ′ works effectively to lockably secure such dispensers together. However, such securement is unavailable for prior art hand made fabricated dispensers  70 , as illustrated in  FIG. 4  which do not have the engagement means of the molded units  10  and  10 ′.  
      The dispenser  70  has a box unit  71  with a divider  73  to form dual storage compartments similar to that of the molded dispensers  10  and  10 ′. The dispenser  70  is adapted for dispensing unusually sized tickets that cannot be accommodated in the dispensers  10  and  10 ′. However, because the dispenser  70  does not have engagement means, normally the dispenser  70  must be fastened to the top of a retail establishment&#39;s sales counter or attached to the top of a molded unit  10  through the use of double-sided adhesive tape. Accordingly, the dispenser  70  cannot be readily switched in position with other types of dispensers as conveniently as can be done with the molded dispensers  10  and  10 ′. The present invention has been adapted for the sole purpose of essentially providing engagement means on the bottom of the fabricated dispenser  70  in a somewhat similar fashion to the engagement means of the molded dispenser  10  so that the two can be interchangeably connected together.  
      Referring now to  FIG. 5 , a preferred embodiment of the coupling plate of the present invention is shown generally at  72  and is formed of a relatively thin plate-type body portion  74  having generally flat top and bottom surfaces  76  and  78  respectively. The plate  72  has a width that is sized for use with the fabricated dispenser  70  that has dual ticket storage compartments. However, the plate  72  includes two spaced-apart transverse score lines  80  that allow outer ends  82  of the body portion  74  to be broken off if it is desired to utilize the plate  72  in association with a single ticket storage compartment dispenser.  
      Referring now to both  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the coupling plate  72  includes engagement means that are similar in construction to the engagement means of the dispensers  10  and  10 ′. As indicated, the front edge  86  of the plate  72  is formed with an outwardly extending central ledge portion  88  that terminates in a downwardly directed arcuate flange  90  (see  FIG. 6 ) that is similar in shape to the front flange  58  on the dispenser  10 .  
      The flange  90  is adapted to engage the lip  64  and extend into the front pocket  62  of the dispenser  10  in similar fashion to the flange  58  for securing the front portion of the plate  72  to the front portion of the dispenser  10 . Similarly, the plate  72  includes rear engagement means in the form of four L-shaped flanges  92  that resemble the bottom rear flanges  60  of the dispenser  10 .  
      The flanges  92  are designed for being positioned into the notches  66  of the dispenser  10  for engagement with the top door flange  40 , which secures the rear portion of the coupling plate  72  to the top of the dispenser  10  as indicated best in  FIG. 9 . Thus, the coupling plate  72  is designed for co-acting with the engagement means on the top of the molded dispenser  10  in the same manner as if it were the bottom portion of the molded dispenser  10 ′ and, consequently, can be readily attached with (see  FIG. 7 ) or removed from the dispenser  10  as desired.  
      To assemble the fabricated dispenser  70  in a stackable relationship with the molded dispenser  10 , as shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , simply requires the attachment of the coupling plate  72  to a bottom  94  of the dispenser  70  by attachment means, preferably of strips  96  of two-sided adhesive tape, which semi-permanently connect the plate  72  to the dispenser  70 . Once such connection is made, the assembly formed of the fabricated dispenser  70  and the coupling plate  72  is ready for assembly with the dispenser  10 .  
      It can, thus, be readily seen that the present invention provides a simple and efficient means for serving as a releasable but locked connecting means between a fabricated ticket dispenser and a molded ticket dispenser. Although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be so limited since changes and modifications can be made therein which are within the full-intended scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims.