Improvements in or relating to Automatic Machines for Feeding or Delivering Tickets or other Articles.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 10th Nov., 1890-Accepted. 24th Jan., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Automatic Machines for Feeding or
Delivering Tickets or other Articles.
A communication from FERNAND BISSON and CHARLES BAL, resident in Paris,
in the Republic of France.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, M.I.M.E., of 323 High Holborn in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This improved ticket-feeding apparatus is especially adapted to be arranged in cabs
or other public vehicles and it mainly consists of a supply chamber in which any
required number of tickets or the like are placed. These tickets may be used for a
variety of purposes, though life insurance tickets or those for insurance against
railway and other accidents, are more particularly intended to be supplied by this
apparatus, so that passengers travelling in railway or tramway carriages or on steam-
boats etc., may readily by inserting a coin of, say one penny, into- the slit provided
therefor, insure their lives or compensation in case of accidents without trouble or
loss of time the apparatus being arranged within easy reach, either in the vehicles
themselves, or on station platforms, piers and other places of public resort. The
apparatus may however be used for similarly feeding tickets employed for race-
courses, co-operative stores, advertising, or other purposes.
The apparatus may be constructed with a rectangular case in which is located the
whole of the feeding, mechanism. The ticket chamber is filled up with a pile of
tickets placed one upon the other and adapted if necessary to be compressed by means
of a spring or other equivalent means.
This pile of tickets rests upon a sliding bottom piece, whereby the tickets
fed one by one in the following manner.
may be
The coin is inserted into the external slit with one hand whilst the other hand
grasps the handle so that when the coin has completed its descent a slide may be
drawn out carrying upon it the ticket required and paid for. To effect this result the
said coin in descending through a vertical channel meets the arm of a forked or
bell-crank lever mounted upon a knife edge bearing and moves said lever whereby the
coin is allowed to pass. As the coin proceeds it is momentarily stopped by a tappet
which raises the lever arm and thereby also the other lever arm with the result that
the end of the knee lever is released from the notch it was resting in, and thereby
enables the sliding drawer with the purchased ticket to be drawn forth.
Thus, by pulling, by hand, the hook of the sliding bottom plate a ticket appears
outside of the apparatus ready to be taken away. While the sliding feed effects such
movement the two pushers in assisting the outward motion of the ticket release the
coin and enable it to fall into a collecting compartment by opening a space of greater
width than the diameter of the coin. When the hand of the user releases the drawer
or sliding plate it is drawn back to its original position by the expansion of a spiral
spring wound around a core-piece which it covers from end to end; which spring
had been compressed in the preceding operation. Another spring bearing upon one
arm of the knee lever retains the same within the notch and thereby causes the
sliding feed plate to remain in its position within the apparatus. It is the action of
the coin upon one of the arms of the bell crank lever that overcomes the resistance of
this latter spring acting upon the other lever arm and thereby causes the end of the
said lever to leave the notch and to enable by so doing the feed slide to be drawn
forward onto which the ticket bought is pushed by a suitable griper. At the same

page_text: time the coin pusher is caused, by the movement of the feed slide, as aforesaid, to
fall into the collector situated below.
An opening is provided in the lower portion of the coin channel of less diameter
than the channel itself which latter corresponds to the size of the coins, which it is
intended to convey. This opening is to prevent fraud by inserting smaller coins or
other articles or blades or tools of metal or any elastic material, in order to set the
feeder in operation by dishonest expedients. Any attempt of this kind by means of
a tool would in this case only result in locking the mechanism in as will be under-
stood from its description, while smaller coins or articles of similar shape would
merely fall through without releasing the lever arm in the manner aforesaid.
This apparatus may be placed in any desirable position and turned and shifted in
all directions no matter whether filled with tickets or empty-without any such
change of position in the least affecting the mechanism or the operation thereof.
It may also be used for feeding other articles than those mentioned above, such as
cigars, cigarettes sweetmeat boxes tablets of chocolate sachets perfume cases in fact
any description of goods capable of being retailed in this manner.
The feeding apparatus herein described may moreover be modified in the following
manner; The sliding feed or drawer may be provided at one end with a pair of
grasping cheeks or jaws between which a slot or recess is provided, owing to which
and to an additional gripper-unless the required coin is inserted into the proper slit-
the movement of the drawer will take place without the desired effect of carrying
forward a ticket, also the drawer here slides between two swallow-tail guides and is
controlled by means of a pair of spiral springs attached to the two slotted cheeks or
jaws respectively whereby it is moved back to its original position as soon as the
outward pull exercised by the hand of the user grasping the knob of the said drawer
is discontinued.
The auxiliary movable griper above mentioned is provided with a spring and a stop
or bracket secured to the operating spindle or rod by means of a screw or any
equivalent device. The said spindle or rod is fitted with an external stud. A slit for
the passage of the coin after the ticket has been delivered is formed in this rod or
spindle.
When it is desired to purchase a ticket the coin of the required size and value is
inserted into the opening or slit provided for the purpose in the outer casing of the
automatic feeder. The coin then slides down the channel edgewise until it meets a
triangular stop being at the same time grasped by the main and auxiliary jaws or
gripers as aforesaid which as it were lock it in place. Now the external knob is
pulled and the ticket paid for is withdrawn its outward motion having been facilitated
by the fact that the secondary griper has grasped the passing coin thereby causing
the following operation to take place. As the drawer advances under the action of
the user's hand upon its knob the two pushers shift the lowermost ticket of the pile
contained in the chamber or magazine the necessary distance to permit its being
removed from the apparatus. To effect this the said drawer moves in its dove-tail
slides whereas the coin grasped as it passes by the main and auxiliary jaws or gripers
aforesaid is brought in contact with an incline whereby it is caused gradually to slip
from between those gripers and jaws until it is allowed to fall into the collector
below.
By the same operation a link or connecting rod pivoted to a bell crank lever is
caused to make the latter describe an arc of a circle with the result that a shutter
opens exposing to view the dial of a timepiece or clock.
As soon as the user releases the knob of the drawer the spring mentioned above
causes it to resume its proper position in the apparatus as aforesaid.
Dh: 14ch of 1800

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Automatic Machines for Feeding or
Delivering Tickets or other Articles.
A communication from FERNAND BISSON and CHARLES BAL, resident in Paris, in the
Republic of France.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, M.I.M.E., of 323, High Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
This improved ticket-feeding apparatus is especially adapted to be arranged in cabs
and other public vehicles such as railway and tramway carriages, and the like, and in
places of public resort. It consists of a ticket-chamber adapted to contain the desired
number of tickets which may also be utilized for advertising, but are mainly intended
for use as insurance policies against accidents or death. If desired the tickets may be
wrapped up in illustrated newspapers or advertising organs neatly folded up and
placed in cases of any convenient shape or material. Passengers travelling by one of
the above mentioned means of conveyance or on a steam-boat or promenading in
places of public resort provided with this improved ticket distributor are thus enabled
to insure their lives or safety from accidents by simply inserting a coin into the
distributor and obtaining a ticket in exchange for it.
In the accompanying drawing an automatic ticket distributor constructed in
accordance with this invention is represented (by way of example only) in real size.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the rear end of the distributor
Fig. 2 is a vertical section at right angles to Fig. 1,
Fig. 3 is a borizontal section, the distributing drawer with the movable bottom plate
being shown in plan.
Fig. 4 is a sectional side elevation of a chamber adapted to distribute other small
articles such as cigars, cigarettes and the like either provided or not with cases or
envelopes.
Fig. 5 is a plan illustrating the manner in which the store chamber and till are
closed.
The apparatus may be constructed with a rectangular or other suitably shaped case
in which is located the whole of the feeding mechanism and also the store-chamber b
which is to contain the tickets or articles to be distributed and the coin-collecting
chamber or till.
The store chamber b receives a pile of tickets placed one upon the other and adapted
if necessary to be compressed and held in position by means of a weight e or a spring
or equivalent. The tickets are admitted through the door d. This pile of tickets
rests upon a sliding bottom-piece which forms the distributing drawer.
The coin is inserted into the external slit g provided at the top of the apparatus,
with one hand and the other, or the same, hand grasps the handle h arranged on the
outside of the drawer or slide f so that when the coin has completed its descent the
slide may be drawn out carrying upon it the ticket c required and paid for. To effect
this the coin in descending through the vertical channel i meets the movable arm k of
the forked or bell-cranked lever k l m mounted upon a knife edge n which forms its
fulcrum or oscillating pivot, and moves the said lever from right to left as shown by
the arrow in Fig. 1. The movable end k of the lever then allows the coin to pass, but
the latter is shortly after stopped by a tappet o. The raising of the movable lever end k
also causes the other lever arm m to rise thus disengaging the end q q¹ of the latter
from the notch or recess p in which it has been retained by the spring w which the
descending coin has caused to yield and thus to release the said fever arm m.
sliding drawer f may in consequence be freely drawn forth by means of the handle h
which may be arranged for pulling or pushing, and deliver the ticket c paid for. For
this purpose the drawer fis provided with two pushers which facilitate the delivery
of the ticket by holding it against the guard-plate & thus overcoming the downward
The

page_text: pressure of the pile formed by the remaining tickets the ticket withdrawn with the slide h
being the lowermost in the pile. By moving this slide or drawer, the distance between
the tappeto and the wall t is increased, this wall t of the vertical channel or shoot i
being stationary while the tappet o is displaced along with the drawer h to which it is
attached. It follows that the coin having the open space ot larger than its diameter
formed underneath it is enabled to drop into the till A arranged underneath the
mechanism, being directed thither by the projection s also fixed to the drawer f which
in passing through the openings provided in front of it in the wall of the vertical
shoot i will assist the descent of the coin and accelerate its fall through the enlarged
opening o t whence it drops into the inner and lower portion of the till λ provided for
its reception.
After the coin has fallen into the till as stated the movable lever end k having
become free again enables the spring w to carry the end 9 g of the lever arm m back
into the recess p and to lock it in this position thereby rendering the drawer f
immovable for the time being with the assistance of the spring u which has been
compressed in the preceding operation by sliding over the rod v the reaction which
immediately follows the pulling of the drawer by the hand of a person using the
apparatus causes the said spring to expand and the drawer f to resume its normal
position in which it is retained by means of its notch p being engaged by the end q¹
of the arm m of the bell-crank lever k1 m, whereupon it will be necessary to insert a
fresh coin into the slot before the drawer can again be drawn forward to deliver
another of the articles in the distributor.
An opening is formed in the lower portion of the shoot i. The size of the widest
portion of this opening taken horizontally is smaller than the diameter of the coin
which is necessary to set the mechanism in operation, but larger than the diameter of
the coin of less value immediately following. Therefore any coin or counter being
less either in weight or size from that for which the mechanisin is suited will either be
prevented from falling through the said opening wor in sliding over the lever arm k
will fail to operate the mechanism in such a manner as to release the movable drawer f
or allow of its being forced open by means of the handle h, and will fall directly into
the till without the distributor supplying anything in exchange for it.
The protecting guard plate shown in Figs. 2 and 4 is provided for the purpose of
retaining the drawer in position while the article purchased is removed from it and at
the same time checking any fraudulent attempt to obtain more than one article for
one coin.
A hinged closing device a ẞy is also provided to enable the door d and also that of
the till to be securely closed its point of attachment being at a and the closing being
effected at y by means of a lock & also permanently attached to the body of the
distributor, such closing device may further be supplemented by a padlock or safety-
lock. This automatic distributing device may be shifted or turned in all directions
no matter whether it does or does not contain a supply of tickets or articles for sale
and without the mechanism getting out of order in the least which is a very remarkable
feature of this invention.
1
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, and in what manner
the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In an automatic delivering or distributing machine the combination with a
chamber for containing the articles to be delivered and a drawer such as f carrying a
guard plate and pushers such as r¹ and recessed or notched as at p of a bell-crank
lever such as klm one arm of which normally projects into the money shoot and
another into the recesses p substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings.
2. In an automatic delivering or distributing machine the combination with a
drawer such as f of arms such as o and s connected thereto substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete automatic

page_text: delivering or distributing machine substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dt of Nazambo 1800
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.