Patent ID: 7520952

Claim:
An adhesive lifting mechanism for retrieving protective coating from the substrate of a gaming ticket, said mechanism comprising: a housing having an interior chamber and a retrieval opening communicating with said chamber; a scraper attached to and extending outwardly from said housing adjacent to said retrieval opening; a tape supply spool mounted rotatably within said chamber for supporting a wound supply of adhesive tape thereon, said tape carrying a permanent, nontransfer adhesive on an inner surface thereof; and an applicator and retrieval assembly including an applicator roller and a separate and distinct retrieval roller both rollers being mounted rotatably within said chamber, said tape extending from said supply spool, peripherally engaging said applicator roller and being windable onto said retrieval roller, each roller having a circumferential engagement surface that protrudes through and outwardly of said retrieval opening and each roller being engaged by successive segments of said tape that extend from said tape supply spool and across said retrieval opening, each roller being positioned in said housing for being driven rotatably across an underlying surface with the peripheries of said rollers bearing simultaneously against the substrate and successive segments of said tape passing between said applicator roller and said scraper, such that said scraper removes the protective coating from substrate and a first segment of said tape lifts the removed coating from the substrate and is retrieved into the housing and onto the retrieval roller, and a fresh, second segment of tape from said supply spool is pulled across said retrieval opening and into peripheral engagement with said applicator roller.