Improvements in and relating to Automatically Operated Ticket Printing, Feeding and Cutting Mechanism for Weighing Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 27th June, 1899-Accepted, 4th Nov., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Automatically Operated Ticket
Printing, Feeding and Cutting Mechanism for Weighing
Apparatus.
A communication from abroad by LEROY WILBUR BALDWIN, of No. 60, Murray
Street, New York, United States of America, Gentleman.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to automatically operated ticket printing, feeding and
cutting mechanism, and consists of an improved automatic weighing and weight
printing machine, designed to be operated by the introduction of a coin, or in
any other suitable manner.
The preferred form of apparatus embodying this invention is illustrated in the
accompanying six sheets of drawings, in which :-
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the exterior of the machine.
Fig. 2 is a back view and elevation of the upper portion of the apparatus within
the casing.
Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the ticket printing, feeding and cutting
apparatus taken on a plane at right angles to the plane of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same.
Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the same.
Fig. 6 is a detail view of the lower part of the interior, showing the scale beam
and connections.
An ornamental casing 1, is provided for the entire machine, in which is the
Throughout the drawings like reference figures refer to like parts.
slot 2, for the introduction of a coin, and the slot and bowl 3 for the reception
of the printed ticket when the same is ejected by the internal mechanism. An
ordinary platform 4, is connected with the scale beam 5 (see Fig. 6) to which
is connected the rod 6, extending upward to a scale spring not shown, and rod 7
extending up to a rack rod 13 (see Fig. 2), and a rod 8, extending up to a dash
pot, not shown.
A trip rod 10 is connected to the oscillating lever or pan 11, pivoted at the
bottom of the coin chute 9, and normally held up against the bottom of said coin
chute by the spring 12. When the coin drops down the chute 9 and strikes the
lever 11, it forces up the trip rod 10 in opposition to the spring 12, and sets the
mechanism hereinafter to be described into operation.
The rack 13 meshes with pinion 14, on a horizontal shaft 15, which carries
the type wheel 16. The shaft 15 is preferably allowed to rest upon several

page_text: friction wheels 15", one of which is shown in Fig. 2, for the reduction of friction,
and the rack rod 13 is guided and held in mesh with the pinion 14 by the idler 17.
A powerful spring motor 18 is arranged to be wound up by the winding
gear 18, and a smaller less powerful spring motor 19, is arranged to be wound
up by the winding gear 19". The spring motor 19 operates the music box 20,
through connections not shown in detail, and the larger motor 18, operates the
ticket printing, feeding and cutting apparatus, through the bevel gearing 21,
the pinion 22, the idler gear 23, and the pinion 24 on the main driving shaft 25
of the mechanism located in the upper part of the casing and shown in detail
in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.
This main driving shaft has a crank disc 26, mounted on one end, which is
connected by the connecting rod 27, with the crank 28 on the shaft 29 of the
ticket feeding apparatus. This ticket feeding apparatus has an oscillating
arm 30, carrying the feeding finger 31, controlled by the spring 32, so as to
press outwardly against the strip of tickets 33, which is guided by the curved
guide 34. This strip of tickets is wound off the reel 102 in the lower part of
the machine, shown in Fig. 2.
The ticket strip has a series of holes 33, between the adjacent blank ticket
forms printed thereon and the stop 71 on the weighted lever 70, pivoted to the
main frame at 72, projects through an opening in the ticket guide 34, and
drops into these holes 33ª, thereby preventing any backward motion of the ticket
strip. The end of the ticket strip is fed out over the adjustable type wheel 16,
and the ink ribbon 35, between said type wheel and the strip. An impression
block 36, is carried by a lever 37, pivoted to the main frame at 38, and having
on its other end an adjustable face plate 39, whose position can be nicely graduated
by the set screw 40, held in position by the locking screw 41. The latter end
of the lever 37 is operated by the radial projection 42 on the main shaft 25, so
as to force the impression block 36, down upon the ticket strip at the proper
moment. On the main shaft 25 is carried the crown gear 43, which has upon
one face a projecting pin 44. arranged to strike the latter end of the knife
operating lever 45, also pivoted to the main frame at 38. The other end of said
lever 45, is held down upon the oscillating knife 46, by means of the spring 47.
This knife 46 is pivoted to the main frame at 48, and co-operates with the fixed
knife plate 49, to cut the ticket strip projecting between them when the knife 46
is forced down in opposition to the spring 50.
On the other end of the knife 46 is mounted a pawl 51, controlled by the
spring 52, and co-operating with the ratchet wheel 53 on the shaft 54 of the ink
ribbon drum 55. The ink ribbon 35 runs to this drum over the pulley 56, and
means are provided for putting the said ribbon under tension in opposition to
the winding action of the drum 55, as for instance by means of the weight 58
attached to the outer end 57 of said ink ribbon, which hangs down in the lower
part of the casing. Said weight 58 is provided with a projection 59, co-operating
with the oscillating crank shaft 60, the crank end of which projects into the path
of said projection 59. This shaft 60, is mounted in a series of bearings 61-62,
and is caused to work stiffly in said bearings by means of the adjustable collars
63-64, which are arranged on either side of one of the bearings, as 62, and can
be pressed against the same, and. then clamped to the shaft 60.
The crank shaft 60 carries the projecting arm 65, which comes under the
locking pawl 66 pivoted to the main frame at 67, and adapted to engage the
ratchet wheel 53, and prevent backward rotation of the same whenever said pawl
66 is not tripped out of action by the lifting up of the projecting arm 65. 65° is
another projecting arm on the crank shaft 60, which goes under the lever 68,
also pivoted to the main frame at 38 and having its other end 68, so located as
to be struck by the connecting rod 27, when at its uppermost position, as shown
in Fig. 3.
A stop 69 is suitably located on the main frame to prevent the swinging up

page_text: of the knife 46 and knife lever 45, beyond the position shown in Figs. 3 and 5.
Upon the crown gear 43 or other suitable projection from the main shaft 25,
is mounted a radial stop 73, which strikes against the outer end of the vertically
swinging trip lever 74 pivoted at 75 to a side projection 76, from the vertically
oscillating sleeve 77, journalled on the vertically pivoted shaft 78, set in the
main frame. This trip lever accordingly has two motions, a vertical oscillation
on the center 75, which enables the outer end of said trip lever to be tripped
below the radial projection 73 on the main shaft, and a horizontal swinging
action together with its supporting arm 76, about the vertical pivot 78. From
the upper end of the vertical sleeve 77, projects the swinging arm 79, whose
outward motion is limited by the adjustable stop 95. In its inner position said
swinging arm 79 is located in the path of the stop 80, on the vertical governor
shaft 81, to which motion is given by means of the pinion 82, meshing with the
crown gear 43. Mounted on the vertical shaft 81, and sliding endwise thereon,
is the sleeve 83, carrying the friction disc 84 at its lower end. This friction disc
84 may be forced into frictional contact with the stationary contact point furnished
by the adjustable screw 85, mounted in the main frame. Normally the friction
disc 84 is held out of contact with said fixed contact point, by means of the
spring 86. A sliding collar 87, of any convenient form, is also mounted on the
shaft 81, and carries the governor arms 88, pivoted to said collar 87. These
governor arms 88 have inwardly extending projections 89, engaging the sliding
sleeve 83. The spring 90 controlled by the adjustable collar 91 on the governor
shaft, tends to force the sliding collar 87 downward in addition to its weight and
that of the governor arms. A spring 92 tends to draw the governor arms toward
the centre in opposition to centrifugal action.
The upper end of the governor shaft is journalled in the outwardly projecting
arm 94, and its lower end is journalled in the lug 100, fastened to the lower
portion of said outwardly projecting arm 94, as best shown in Fig. 2.
The spring 93 is attached at one end to the main frame and at the other to a
projection from the vertically oscillating sleeve 77, and normally tends to swing
said oscillating sleeve in such a way as to force the swinging arm 79 out of
engagement with the governor stop 80. This tendency is opposed and overcome,
however, by the pressure of the driving shaft stop 73 against the trip lever 74,
such pressure being transmitted to the sleeve, and producing a tortional action
thereon, through the side projection 76, of said sleeve on which said trip lever 74
is pivoted. A projection 96 from the end of the ticket feeding mechanism 30
(see Fig. 4) engages a swinging lever 97, from the music box, and sets said music
box in operation through mechanism not herein illustrated or described.
A card chute 98 (see Fig. 3) conducts the card cut off from the strip, to the
slide 3, through which it is presented to the customer and the guide 99 (sec
Fig. 3) returns the outer end of the ticket strip to the guide slot 101, in case it
is withdrawn from the same by the downward pressure of the impression block 36.
The mode of operation of the invention is as follows:-
When a person gets upon the scale platform 4, the scale beam 5 adjusts itself
to the proper position in opposition to the resistance of the scale spring (not
shown) exerted through the rod 6, and this action adjusts the rack rod 13 and
adjustable type wheel 10, so that the type representing the weight of the person,
comes under the impression block 36. The customer then dropping a coin in the
slot 2, said coin falls through the coin chute 9, strikes the coin lever 11, forces
up the trip rod 10, and the upper bent end of said trip rod 10 (Fig. 3) lifts
up the trip lever 74, so as to drop the other end of said lever below the radial
stop 73 carried on the main shaft 25, by the crown gear 43. This leaves the
spring 93 free to act, and causes the vertical sleeve 77 fo oscillate upon its
vertical shaft 78, swinging the arm 79 out of the path of the governor stop 80.
Under the action of the spring motor 18 the driving shaft 25, now revolves.
Through the crown gear 43 and pinion 82 rapid rotation is thereby given to
the governor shaft, and the centrifugal action of the governor arms 88 forces

page_text: . the sleeve 83 and collar 87 apart, in opposition to the springs 86 and 90, and
forces the friction disc 84 into contact with the fixed contact point 85, thereby
limiting the speed of rotation to a degree previously determined by location of
the adjustable collar 91 on the governor shaft and of the contact point 85. At
the end of one revolution of the driving shaft 25, the radial stop 73, strikes the
. end of the trip lever 74, which is continuously held up against the periphery of
the crown gear 43, by the overbalancing weight of its other end, after the trip
rod 10 has descended again to its normal position. The effort of the main
shaft 25 to continue rotation of course forces the trip lever and its supporting
projection 76, back into their normal position, thus oscillating the vertical
sleeve 77 in opposition to the spring 93, and forcing the swinging arm 79 back
into the path of the stop upon the governor shaft 80, thus again locking the
mechanism.
During this rotation of the driving shaft 25, the first operation is the pressing
down of the impression block 36, by reason of the fact of the radial projection 42,
lifting the face plate 39 and rear end of the impression lever 37. This prints
the weight of the person in the blank space left on the face of the ticket, con-
stituting a portion of the ticket strip 33, extending over the adjustable type
wheel 16, and ink ribbon 35.
When the impression block has risen again, as the radial projection 42 goes
out from under the face plate 39, the crank disc 26, which has been drawing
back the connecting rod 27, and lowering the feeding arm 30, reaches the limit
of its backward motion and begins to come forward. This lifts the feeding
arm 30, and the finger 31 engaging the ticket strip 33, forces the same forward
a distance equal to the length of a ticket, thus projecting the printed ticket
through the guide slot 101, beyond the knife 46. Finally during the last portion
of the revolution, the pin 44 on the crown gear comes under the rear end of the
knife lever 45, and forces down the knife 46, cutting off the printed ticket. The
printed ticket falls down the chute 98, and appears through the slot 3, ready
for the customer to pick up.
The latter portion of the revolution has also withdrawn the feeding arm 30
to its medium position, shown in Fig. 3, the catch 71 preventing any lack of
movement of the ticket strip, however. The downward motion of the knife 46
of course lifts up the pawl 51, which engages the ratchet wheel 53 and turns
the ink drum 55 through a fraction of a revolution sufficient to feed the ink
ribbon along in opposition to the pull of the weight 58, and always presents a
fresh surface of the ink ribbon to the type. The locking pawl 66 prevents the
ink drum from unwinding when the knife lever returns to the position shown
in Fig. 5.
When the ribbon is all wound up, the projection 59 on the weight 58, strikes
the crank end of the crank shaft 60, and lifts the same, thereby lifting the pro-
jecting arm 65, and tripping the locking pawl 66, so that the weight 58 falls,
unwinding the ribbon to its full extent. The pawl tripping mechanism remains
in this position until the next operation of the weighing machine, when the
connecting rod 27 strikes the rear end 68 of the lever 68 and forces down the
forward end of said lever, which carries with it the projection 67, from the crank
shaft 60, and returns said pawl tripping mechanism to its original position, in
which it does not interfere with the locking action of the pawl 66. The action
of the ticket feeding apparatus trips the music box, which plays one tune and
then stops.
The advantages of the invention consist in the rapidity and certainty of the
above described operations, and in the compact nature of the mechanism, which
is reduced to the fewest number of parts, and is not liable to get out of adjust-
ment. Of course various changes could be made in the details of construction
without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, so long as the
relative arrangement of parts shown in the drawings, or the principle of operation
disclosed in the specification, is preserved.

page_text: Pparal
particularly described and ascertained the nature of the sai
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that wha
I claim is:-
1. The combination of the weighing scales, the type wheel operated thereby,
the strip of tickets, the impression lever, feeding mechanism for said strip, the
knife, and a connecting and driving mechanism whereby the three last mentioned
elements are operated consecutively, to print, feed out, and cut off a ticket.
2. The combination of the weighing scales, the type wheel operated thereby,
the strip of tickets, the impression lever, feeding mechanism for said strip, the
knife, and connecting and driving mechanism whereby the three last mentioned
elements are operated consecutively to print, feed out, and cut off a ticket,
together with an automatically operated stop for said driving mechanism.
3. The combination of the weighing scales, the type wheel operated thereby,
the strip of tickets, the impression lever, feeding mechanism for said strip, the
knife, and connecting and driving mechanism whereby the three last mentioned
elements are operated consecutively to print, feed out, and cut off a ticket,
together with the ink ribbon between the type wheel and the ticket strip, winding
mechanism for said ink ribbon and connections whereby the motion of the knife
operates said winding mechanism.
4. The combination of the governor shaft, the sleeve and friction disc sliding
lengthwise thereof, the stationary contact point against which the friction disc
may rub, the collar sliding lengthwise of the shaft, the governor arms pivoted
to said collar and engaging with the sleeve, so as to normally force the sleeve and
collar apart under centrifugal action and thereby force the disc against the
friction point and the springs normally forcing said sleeve and collar together.
5. The combination of the main driving shaft and motor therefor, the stop
projection thereon, the governor shaft driven from the driving shaft, and at a
higher speed, the stop projection on the governor shaft, the swinging arm
engaging the governor stop, the trip lever pivoted to the sleeve of said swinging
arm, said trip lever being normally disposed in the path of the stop projection
on the main shaft, a spring which normally tends to pull the swinging arm out
f engagement with the governor stop, and also to force the trip lever against
he stop on the main shaft, and means for momentarily slipping the trip lever
eyond the end of the stop projection on the main shaft, whereby one revolution
the main shaft is permitted, but further revolution checked by the swinging
m being forced back into engagement with the governor stop by the re-engage-
ent of the trip lever and the stop projection on the main shaft.
6. The combination of the ticket strip, the printing mechanism, the knife for
tting off the printed tickets, the ink ribbon, the drum on which it is wound,
echanism whereby the movement of the knife winds up the drum, the locking
wl for the drum, mechanism for putting the ribbon under tension in opposition
the winding up of the drum, and trip mechanism for said locking pawl operated
the outer end of the ribbon.
. The combination of the ticket strip, the printing mechanism, the knife for
ting off the printed tickets, the ink ribbon, the drum on which it is wound,
chanism whereby the movement of the knife winds up the drum, the locking
I for the drum, mechanism for putting the ribbon under tension in opposition
he winding up of the drum, and trip mechanism for said locking pawl operated
the outer end of the ribbon, together with mechanism for feeding the ticket
, and means operated by said mechanism to positively throw said pawl
ing mechanism out of operation.
The combination of the main driving shaft, the adjustable type wheel, the
t strip, feed mechanism for the ticket strip operated from said main shaft,
mpression lever, and the radial projection on the main shaft, co-operating
the impression lever, to oscillate the same prior to the forward motion of
cket feeding apparatus.

page_text: 9. The combination of the main driving shaft, the adjustable type wheel, the
ticket strip, feed mechanism for the ticket strip operated from said main shaft,
the impression lever, and the radial projection on the main shaft, co-operating
with the impression lever, to oscillate the same prior to the forward motion of
the ticket feeding apparatus, the end of said impression lever which is struck
by the radial projection, being provided with an adjustable face plate.
10. The combination of the main driving shaft, the weighing mechanism and
type wheel operated by said weighing mechanism, the ticket feeding apparatus
operated from the main shaft, the impression lever operated from the main shaft,
the governor, the crown gear on the main shaft gearing with and driving the
governor shaft, the ticket cutting knife, the lever for operating said knife, and
the stud on the crown gear which operates said lever.
11. The combination of the horizontal driving shaft, the radial stop thereon,
the vertical governor shaft geared to the driving shaft, the radial stop on the
governor shaft, the horizontally swinging arm journalled on a fixed pivot shaft
and capable of intersecting the path of the governor stop, a vertically oscillating
trip lever pivoted on and to one side of the horizontally swinging arm, and
normally disposed in the path of the radial stop on the driving shaft, a trip rod
which disengages said trip lever by vertically oscillating it and so swinging it
beyond the end of the radial stop on the driving shaft, and a spring which tends
to turn the horizontally swinging arm out of the path of the governor stop when
the trip lever is so disengaged, and to hold the parts in such position until the
driving shaft stop again strikes the trip lever and carries it and the horizontally
swinging arm back into their original position and thereby locks the mechanism.
Dated this 27th day of June 1899.
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.