US2993435A - Ticket printing and issuing machines - Google Patents

Description

7 Sheets-Sheet 1 5. G. MARSHALL EI'AL TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Fag Z.

july 25, 1961 Filed Jan. 15, 1958 INVENTORS SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL ROBERT MILBURN REGINALD WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON ATTORNEYS July 25, 1961 S. G. MARSHALL ETAL TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 15, 1958 Fig.2.

7 Sheets-Sheet 2 I46 ,147 J F R A 150 143 14s 14s 82 q 0 a. A 87 0 80; 77 '0 I44 6 89/ 5 78 MIQQQ @186 E 24 O a o 90 g 187 79 84 '00 37 142 25. 83 91 75 mo I01 37 AZQJ/ A {I 6 H55 38 O 33 O 0 0 9 o w O O I60 O O O O 'in I h F 7/ INVENTORS SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL ROBERT MILBURN REGINALD WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON ATTORA/E Y5 July 25, 1961 s. G. MARSHALL EIAL 2,993,435

TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 15, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.3.

IN VEN TOR S SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL ROBERT MILBURN REGINALD WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON ATTOQ/VEYS July 25, 1961 I Filed Jan. 15, 1958 S. G MARSHALL ET AL TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Fzg4.

7 Sheets-Sheet 4 lNVENTORS SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL ROBERT MILBURN REGINALD WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON BY fiw M M A TTOR/ E YS July 25, 1961 s. s. MARSHALL ETAL 2,993,435

TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 15, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig .5.

/NVENTORS SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL ROBERT MILBURN REGINALD WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON BY PM W O vt 74 ATTORNEYS July 25, 1961 s. G. MARSHALL ETAL 2,993,435

TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 15, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 lA/l/ENTOES SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL- ROBERT MILBURN REGINALD WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON BY PM WM%UMA1I\TILTCV A TTORNE Y5 July 25, 1961 s. G. MARSHALL ETAL 2,993,435

TICKETPRINTING AND ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 15, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 'r Fag. 7

A N D MISSED PRINT/N6 0F F //?5T LE 6 NUMBER PRINTING OF PACE" CODING AND PERMANENT TICKET MATTER MISSED b/REC 7/ ON OF POT/4 T/ON 2 CYCLE END TICKET EJECT/ON l CYCLE ENDS "DOUBLES, "RACE- MISSED PRTNT/NG 0F 4ND SECOND LEG NUMBER, DATE COD/N6 AND PERMANENT TICKET MATTER {NI/E/VTORS SYDNEY GEORGE MARSHALL ROBERT MlLBURN REGINAL WILLIAM ARTHUR HANSON BY PM W 1 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 6 TICKET PRINTING AND ISSUDNG MACHINES Sydney George Marshall, Robert Milburn, and Reginald William Arthur Hanson, London, England, assignors to Bell Punch Company Limited, London, England, a

British company Filed Ian. 15, 1958, Ser. No. 709,053 4 Claims. (Cl. 101-66) This invention is for improvements in or relating to ticket printing and issuing machines.

The object of the present invention is to provide a ticket printing and issuing machine, particularly adapted for employment with totalisator equipment, which will print certain letterpress matter common to all tickets issued by the machine and which will print on each ticket numbers which will vary in accordance with the selector key or selector keys depressed, such numbers corresponding, for example, to competitors in a race.

A further object of the invention is to provide a ticket printing and issuing machine by means of which it is possible to print a ticket, bearing data relating to a combination of contestants in a single race or in two races, in two separate phases, issuance of the ticket taking place after the second printing phase is completed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a ticket printing and issuing machine wherein the two separate printing phases are initiated by means of depression of any two keys or of two successive depressions of a single key of one set of keys.

A further object of the invention is to provide a ticket printing and issuing machine wherein the issuance of a ticket printed in the said machine in two separate phases is recorded at some time during the second printing phase, and specifically at the end of the second printing phase.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a ticket printing and issuing machine for employment in any form of betting which employs a multiplicity of combinations. There are many forms which such betting can take:

Forecast betting.In Forecast betting the person making the bet has to forecast which two out of all com petitors in a race will finish first and second, respectively.

Quinella betting.-In Quinella betting the person making the bet has to forecast or choose those two competitors which will be placed, in his opinion, first and second in the race regardless of the order in which the said two competitors pass the winning post.

Field betting.In Field betting a named runner number is coupled with all other runners in a Forecast event or a named runner number in the first leg of a Doubles event with all runners in the second leg (namely, the field) and vice versa.

Doubles betting.-In Doubles betting the person making the bet has to forecast which two competitors in two separate races will win the said two races.

Machines of the general construction to which the present invention relates have been very fully described and illustrated in, for example, United Kingdom patent specifications No. 325,873, No. 330,264 and No. 332,942

and in three corresponding United States patent specifications No. 1,886,626, No. 1,886,769 and No. 2,020,594 and therefore such a machine will not be describeder illustrated in as much detail as would be the case if these earlier specifications did not exist. However, whilst most but not all of the old mechanism is both described and illustrated herein, all mechanism in the machine which is the subject of the present invention which difiers from that described and illustrated in the said earlier specifications will be described in such detail as is considered necessary to understand completely the operationof the machine.

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The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view of the left hand side of the machine with the side cover plate removed;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of the machine from the left hand side thereof, illustrating those parts which are driven by the drive illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view from the right hand side of the machine with-the side cover plate re,- moved;

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevation view of the machine with the rear cover plate removed;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the machine with the top plate removed;

FIGURE 6 represents diagramatically and in perspective the ticket feeding and printing mechanism and mechanism ancillary thereto; and

FIGURE 7 illustrates the cam by means of which the printing operations are controlled.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a ticket printing and issuing machine comprising a base plate 1, side plates 2 and 3, a removable front plate 4, a back plate 5 and a two-part top plate 6. A door 7 with a handle 8 is provided at the front of the machine below the front plate 4, the said door 7 being hingedly mounted at 9 to one of the frame members of the machine. Some of the plates hereinbefore mentioned are either secured to such frame members whilst others are suspended upon rods which extend across the machine and which are mounted upon or in the frame members. It will be understood that the machine is composed of a plurality of vertical and horizontal frame struts or members, which are secured to each other, and frame plates secured to the said frame struts, but these are not further specifically described herein.

A motor 10, for example a 50-volt DC. motor, is mounted in any desired manner in the machine. Preferably the said motor is mounted within the outer casing or plates at the back of the machine and is secured by screws, bolts or the like to a plate 11 which is secured in turn to a pair of motor mounting plates 12 and 13 (FIGURE 4)..

The output shaft of the motor .10 is provided with .a pinion 14 (FIGURE 1) which meshes with a gear wheel 15 with which there is associated a pinion 16, the gear wheel 15 and the pinion 16 rotating as a unit. The pinion 16 meshes with a gear wheel 17 'to'whichthere is secured a pinion 18 which is connected by means of a driving cycle chain 19 to a clutch sprocket 20 rigidly connected to .a sprocket wheel 20a which is mounted in the machine adjacent an arm which is keyed to a-printing head spindle 21 (FIGURE 2). A tension'sprocket 22 is mounted upon an arm or other support 23, the tension sprocket being capable of rotating freely about the axis of the pivot thereof and being provided for the purpose .of

taking up any slack in the driving chain 19. 1

Rigidly mounted upon the printing head spindle 21 (FIGURE 2) is a gear wheel 24 meshing with a gear wheel 25 which is mounted for rotation in the machine upon -a layshaft '26. The gear wheel 25 carries upon one face thereof a pin 27 which is so mounted upon the :said gear wheel as to engage (as illustrated) one slot of a Geneva wheel 28. The Geneva wheel is mounted at one end of 'a short shaft 29, at the other end of which there;is secured a gear wheel 30 meshing with a pinion 31 which is coaxial with and adjacent to a second pinion 32, the pinion 32 always rotating with the pinion 31 when the pinion 31 is driven by the gear wheel 3.0. The pinion 32 meshes with a pinion 33 (FIGURES 2 and '4) which is coaxial with a pair of knurled discs 34 and 35 (:FIGURESZ and 6) these two knurled discs each being provided with a A ticket-pulp guide 37, which is constructed as two separate portions hereinafter referred to as the upper discs 34 and 35 to grip the ticket pulp at the desired time.

Mounted on the layshaft 26 is -a pressure roller cam 41 (FIGURE 1) against the circumference of which there is :arranged to bear a cam-follower roller 42 carried at one end of a cranked rocker arm 43 which is urged at all times in an anti-clockwise direction (as seen in FIGURE 1) by a spring 44. The pressure roller cam '41 is provided with three portions 45, 46 and 47 which are of reduced diameter and when, during one revolution of the said cam as hereinafter described, the rocker arm 43 rocks about the axis of its pivot rod 48, such rocking movement is made possible by the provision of an arcuate slot 49 formed in the upper half of the cranked rocker arm 43.

A solenoid indicated generally by 50 has a horizontally disposed lever 51 secured to the plunger thereof at approximately the mid-point of the lever 51, and the said lever 51 is so mounted as to bear upon a knife edge or other contact surface indicated as to general position by 52 or may be alternatively pivotally mounted upon a spindle. The front end of the lever 51 :has one end of a strong spring 53 anchored thereto, the other end of the spring being anchored to the framework of the machine or to the solenoid assembly, and the rear end of the lever 51 has secured thereto a catch member 54. A clutch trip plate 55, which is mounted for rocking movement about a spindle 56, when in the rest position thereof bears against the catch member 54 (FIGURE 1) at the edge of a cut-away portion 57 under the influence exerted by a spring 58 which is anchored at one end to an arm 59 secured to or integral with the framework of the machine and at the other end thereof to a pin 60 or any other convenient means carried by the contact trip plate 55. A knife switch 61 is mounted upon the spindle 56 at that side of the machine which is remote from the clutch trip "plate 55, the said knife switch being operable to bridge a pair of contacts 62 and 63 in order to start the motor 10. The knife switch 61 is also provided at the rear end thereof with an arm 64 which is provided at the upper end thereof with a cam follower 65 which takes the form of a pin, the said cam follower being arranged to bear against a motor switch cam 66 which is mounted upon the step 72 which, when the said plate 55 is in its position of rest, engages an arm 73 which is keyed to the spindle 21 and which carries a pivotally mounted spring-urged catch 74, the arrangement being such that when the motor is running and when the clutch trip plate 55 rocks in a clockwise direction about the spindle 56 as seen in FIGURE 1, the catch 74 is urged by the spring thereof (not illustrated) in a clockwise direction about the axis of its pivot (not illustrated) in order that a tooth (not illustrated) on the catch 74 will engage the sprocket wheel 20a and thereby ensure rotation of the printing head spindle 21. This ar rangement of parts has been fully described in greater detail in United Kingdom patent specification No. 325,873 and United States patent specification No. 1,886,626 and will not, therefore, be described further here.

The ticket printing and issuing machine described above is provided with a plurality of manually depressible keys 75 each of which is pivotally mounted upon a spindle 76 and each of which is held in the position of rest thereof by a spring 77. Each key is formed with two abutments 78 and 79 arranged respectively above and below the axis of the spindle 76 which, when the key is depressed, are moved into the path of movement of setting bars 80 and 81 which are always urged towards one another by a spring or the like. The setting bars 80 and 8 1 rotate about the axes of spindles 82 and 83, respectively. Further, in order to prevent more than one key at a time being .depressed, a row of balls 84 is arranged adjacent the underside of the plurality of keys 75 so as to provide a total free space between all the balls equal to the thickness of the shank of any one key. Mechanism is provided Whereby the setting bars 80 and 81 are returned to the positions of rest thereof. Such mechanism comprises a cam 85 on the printing head spindle 21, a roller 86 carried by an arm 87 pivotally mounted in the machine at 88, a pair of links 89 and 90 each connected to the arm 87 at one end thereof and each formed with a bifurcated portion at the other end thereof. The bifurcated portion of the link 90 is seen clearly in FIGUREZ, indicated by 91', the said bifurcated portion 91 engaging a pin 92 on a short link 93 secured to the setting bar 81. 'The link 89 is provided with a similar bifurcated portion engaging a pin on a short link secured to the setting bar 80 but these parts have not been specifically indicated. The mechanism de scribed above in outline has been very fully described and illustrated in the various patent specifications referred 'to in the opening part of the present description and it is which is so disposed as to engage, when the key is depressed, one arm of a bell crank lever 101 which is mounted for rocking movement about a spindle 102. When the key 75 is depressed, the cam engages the bell crank lever 101 and rocks the said lever 101 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 2, thereby making the pair of contacts generally indicated by 103.

Referring to FIGURE 6 of the drawings, it will be noted that a disc v1 10 is mounted upon that end of the layshaft 26 which is remote from the pressure roller cam 41.' The disc is provided with a pair of rollers111 and 112, the roller 1111 being. mounted upon one side of the disc 110 and in line with a trip arm 13, and the roller 112being mounted upon the other side of the disc 110 and in line with a return trip arm 114. The trip arrn113 and the return trip am 114 form a unitary structure Which is pivotally mounted in the machine upon a spindle 114a (FIGURE 6) and pivotally connected to a link 115 which is in turn pivotally connected at the other end thereof to one end of a lever 116 keyed or otherwise secured to a spindle 117., An arm 118 is secured to the spindle 117 and is connected to a pivotally mounted knife blade 119 by means of a length of wire 120, the knife blade .119 being pivot-ally mounted at 120 upon an immovable or dead blade .121 which is mounted in any desired manner (a precise manner of mounting is not illustrated in FIGURE 6) on the ticket pulp guide 37.,

It will be noted from FIGURE 6 that the pivot rod 48 of the cranked rocker arm 43 is provided, at the end thereof remote from the said rocker arm, with an assembly which comprises essentially a roller 129 which is madev from a hard but resilient material, such, for example, as rubber. The purpose of this roller 129 is, at

the appropriate times in the machine cycle, to press the pivotally mounted upon a spindle 142. The upper end of the said rocking arm 141 carries a boss 143 which is adapted to be engaged at all times by a hook portion 144 of a link 145 which extends towards the front of the machnie and engages at 146 that part of the numerator 147 by which the total recorded by the numerator may be advanced by unity. The hook portion 144 has one end of a spring 148 anchored thereto, the other end of the spring 148 being anchored on the pivot rod 88. Since the layshaft 26 performs one revolution to every two revolutions of the printing head spindle 21, and since recordal of the issuance of a ticket upon the numerator 147 is required only at some time during the second machine cycle (namely, during the second revolution of the printing head spindle 21), the cam 140 with the track therein is so arranged on the layshaft 26 that the arm 141 is rocked in a clockwise direction (FIGURE 2) about the spindle 142 at the completion of the revolution of the layshaft 26. Thus, recordal of the issuance of a ticket on the numerator 147 takes place only when printing of the whole ticket is complete and not when each half is printed.

In FIGURES 2 and 5, there is illustrated a test 'key selector unit 150 which is provided with a hole 15-1 (FIGURE 5). When unity is added 'to the amount recorded in the numerator 147, the link 145 moves towards the front of the machine (FIGURE 5) and the front end of the link 145 extends through the said hole 151. When, however, the test key (clearly visible in FIGURE 5) is depressed, the test key selector unit 150 is lifted, the hole 151 in the said unit 150 is moved out of alignment with the front end of the link 145 and consequently, when the time comes for the said link 145 to be moved towards the front of the machine as hereinbefore explained, the front end of the link 145 will come into contact with the raised selector unit 150 before the degree of forward travel of the said link 145 (normally resultant upon the second depression of a competitor key 75) has taken place. Arrest of the link 145 in this manner prevents recordal upon the numerator 147, by the addition of unity to the amount already recorded thereon, of the issuance of a Test ticket. However, it will be appreciated that the printing of a Test ticket is performed in the same manner as is the printing of, for example, a valid Doubles ticket, namely, in two separate printing phases and the initiation of these two separate printing phases is achieved by depressing the test key twice in succession.

The machine is provided with an inking device indicated generally at 155, the said device comprising the same parts as, and being adjustable towards and away from the print faces mounted upon the printing head spindle 21 in the same manner as have been fully illustrated and described in the patent specifications referred to earlier (see FIGURE 2).

The machine is also provided with a buzzer 160 and a light 161 (see FIGURES 2 and 5 respectively), these devices being provided as the means by which the machine operator is warned, after having depressed one competitor key 75 but before depression of another key or re-depression of the same key, that only one half of a valid ticket has been printed.

The means by which the machine is locked in the event of such locking becoming necessary or for any reason desirable, comprises a solenoid 17 of which the plunger 171 is pivotally connected at one end thereof to a .cam 172 which is pivotally mounted at 173. The cam 172 is arranged in constant engagement with a lever 174 which is pivotally mounted at 175. The lever 174 is formed in such a manner that the surfaces of the two halves thereof lie in planes which are normal to one another, the cam 172 engaging an abutment roller depending from that half of the lever in which the pivot 175 is placed. When the solenoid 170 is energised, the plunger 171 is moved from left to right (as seen in FIGURE the cam 172 6 is moved in an anti-clockwise direction about the pivot 173 .and the lever 174 is allowed to move in an anticlockwise direction about the pivot 175 under the influence of the spring hereinafter referred to with reference to FIGURE 3.

In FIGURE 3, there is illustrated a solenoid push rod which, when it is moved from right to left, causes a latching unit 181 pivotally mounted at 182 to move in a clockwise direction about the said pivot 182. As a' result a step 183 formed in the latching unit 181 moves under'a laterally disposed boss 184 which extends through a hole in the side plate, which is rigidly mounted upon and which moves with a key tube 185 (FIGURE 2). The key tube 185, which extends completely across the machine, is provided with a slot 186 which is parallel to the axis of the said tube 185. The slot 186 is so disposed in its rest position (illustrated in FIGURE 2) that when any key 75 in the machine is depressed the rearmost end 187 of the key shank enters the slot 186 and rotates the tube 185 in an anti-clockwise direction as seen in FIG- URE 2 with the result that, whilst any one key remains depressed, any attempt to depress a second key 75 will be prevented both by the row of balls 84 previously described and by the fact that the end 187 of the shank of the second key '75 abuts the tube 185 and cannot enter the displaced slot 186.

It will be appreciated, therefore, that, when the solenoid 170 is energised with consequent clockwise movement of the latching unit 181 about its pivot 182, depression of any key 75 will rotate the key tube 185 in an anti-clockwise direction (FIGURE 2) and the boss 184 in a clockwise direction (FIGURE 3). This rotational movement of the boss 184 is halted by the step 183 engaging the boss 184 and arresting the key tube 185. Thus, complete depression of any key 75 is prevented and the operations of the machine tripped by complete key depression are not initiated.

In FIGURE 3, a solenoid 190 is provided which is energised by means of an impulse sent thereto from equip ment associated with a particular contestant in a race which has been declared a legitimate non-runner. The solenoid 190 operates, inknown manner, to restore mechanism to its rest position which has been temporarily displaced therefrom by key depression.

In FIGURE 3 there is illustrated a contact plate 200 carrying a contact 201, the plate 200 being mounted upon the layshaft 26 which, it will be remembered, rotates through 180 during the first machine cycle and stops.

Therefore, two contact arms 202, 203 are provided which carry contacts at the free ends thereof, the said contacts being located in the path of travel of the moving contact 201 and 180 apart. A third arm 204 is provided for a purpose hereinafter explained. The arm 202 prepares the electrical. circuit for the transmission and subsequent storage of intelligence relating to the first leg of the selected combination, the arm 203 prepares the electrical circuit for the transmission and subsequent storage of intelligence relating to the second leg of the selected-combination and the arm 204 to be cancelled or destroyed.

Refening to FIGURE 5, a race change solenoid 210 is provided to the movable armature 211 of which there is secured a lever 212 which is pivotally mounted at 213. A lever 214 is secured to the lever 212 which is capable of shifting to the left (as seen in FIGURE 5) a movable sleeve (not illustrated) to the other endof which there is secured a lever 215. The lever 215 is provided with a toe at one end thereof (which is not illustrated) which is adapted at operative times to engage a star wheel (not illustrated) which is associated with the race numbering head, and the lever 215 is provided at the other end thereof with a spring 216 anchored thereto in any desired manner and also tothe framework of the machine.

When the solenoid 210 is energised and when the printing head spindle 21 is rotated, the race numbering head is rotated and the machine prints and issues a ticket relating to the new race.

Certain parts of the machine described above have not been described in very great detail since the mechanisms illustrated are well known to the person skilled in the art and are incorporated in machines actually on sale at the present time.

Mention has been made in the above specification of electrical functions initiated by the operation of mechanical parts. Reference to co-pending patent application No. 232 of 1957 in the United Kingdom and to co-pending patent application Serial No. 705,180, filed December 26,

I 1957 in the United States of America should be made for such further details as may be essential to a complete iunderstanding of the complete machine.

The operation of the machine is as follows: It is assumed that the machine has been loaded with a reel of blank ticket pulp and the leading edge of the said pulp is led by hand upwardly in the machine and into the ticket pulp guide 37 and therein past the cut-away portions36 of the two knurled discs 34 and 35.

When an operating key 75 is depressed, the contacts 103 are made, thereby sending an impulse to the totalisator acceptance equipment which, in accordance with standard operating procedure in totalisator equipment and if the bet represented thereby is accepted, transmits a return impulse to the ticket issuing machine. Such return impulse energizes the solenoid 50 which causes the lever T51 to move downwardly (FIGURE 1) and thus releases the clutch trip plate 55. The clutchtrip plate 55 rotates the spindle 56 in a clockwise direction (FIGURE 1) which therefore causm the knife switch 61 (FIGURE 3) to move downwardly to short the two contacts 62 and 63 and start the motor 10. 1

As soon as the motor starts, the printing head spindle 1 21 is rotated because the clutch sprocket and the associated sprocket wheel 20a are driven by the motor through the gear train comprising pinion 14, gear wheel 15, pinion 16, gear wheel 17 and sprocket 1-8 and the driving chain 19 and because the catch 74 on the arm 73, which is keyed to the printing head spindle 21, has connected the said spindle 21 to the drive from-the motor 10 by engaging the sprocket 20a.-

Rotation of the printing head spindle 21 drives the layshaft 26 through the medium of the meshing gear wheels 24 and 25. 1

At the beginning of the machine cycle, the roller 111 .on the disc 110 actuates the knife blade 119 to cause the said blade 119 in conjunction with the dead blade 120 (hereinafter referred to collectively as the guillotine) ,to cut the ticket to length. It will be understood that the ticket pulp is fed upwardly towards the printing faces of the various printing cylinders, type wheels and the like (which have not been specifically described herein because of the full disclosure thereof in the specifications hereinbefore referred to) by the knurled discs 34 and 35 andthe ball races 39 and 40 which co-operate to grip the said ticket pulp and it will also be seen from FIGURES 2 and 6 that the knurled discs 34 and 35 are driven from the layshaft 26 by means of the pin 27 on the gear wheel engaging the Geneva Wheel 28, the gear wheel 30 and the pinions 31, 32 and 33. I

The severed length of ticket pulp is now engaged by the printing faces hereinbefore referred to. It should be made clear at this juncture that the gear wheel 25 is provided with twice the number of teeth as that with which the gear wheel 24 is provided. Therefore, the printing head spindle 21 will make two revolutions to each com plete' revolutionof thelayshaft 26 and this enables the ticket printing and issuing machine constructed in accord- --ance with the present invention to print a ticket in two separate stages, each stage being determinable in accordance with depression, in a certain order, of particular keys or with the depression of one key.

As soon as the severed length of ticket pulp is engaged as aforesaid, printing of the first half of'the ticket commences. With reference particularly to FIGURE 7, as-

suming the machine has been set so as to print Doubles tickets relating to the tenth race and assuming that the operator depresses the key representing runner No. 8 to initiate the first machine cycle, the roller 42 on the rocker arm 43, being located on that high portion of the cam 41 between the portions 45 and 47 of reduced diameter as can be seen from the drawings, will initially press the ticket pulp against the printing faces 129 to print .DOU-

BLES RACE. Thereafter, the roller 42 falls on to the portion 47 of the cam 41 to ensure that the word AND is not printed, rides on to the high portion of the cam 41 between portions: 47, 46 to print the first leg number, No., and thereafter falls on to the portion 46 and remains there. Thus, the ticket pulp has been so far printed as to read in total and in accordance with the assumed facts:

ROUBLES RACE TENTH NO. 8

' When the printing head spindle 21 and the printing faces 130 mounted thereon come to rest at the end of the first machine cycle the cam 41 (FIGURES 1 and 6) will have been rotated through When the operator depresses another key 75 representing the second leg of the doubles combination, a further machine cycle is initiated as hereinbefore described. Let it be assumed that the operator depresses the key representing runner No. 24. The printing head spindle 21 rotates but, owing to the fact that the roller 42 of the rocker arm 43 is still in engagement with the portion 46 of the reduced diameter of the cam 41 the matter previ- The complete printed ticket is then fed upwardly in the machine by the delivery roller and ejected. Ejection or issue of the complete printed ticket takes place during the last 20 (approximately) of rotation of the cam 41 during the second machine cycle about its axis (see FIGURE 7). From previous description it will be obvious that, when the roller 42 falls on to portion 45 of the said cam, the roller i129 will he moved away from the position in which the said roller presses the ticket pulp against the printing faces 130. When the roller 129 is thus moved the completely printed, ticket willfall against an ejection roller (illustrated but not labelled) which is being driven by spring belting (also illustrated but not labelled) and the ticket is flicked by the ejection roller out of the machine so as to lie upon the top plate of the machine. This method of ticket ejection is well known in the art and will not, therefore, be further described.

It will be appreciated that once only during each revolution of the gear wheel 25 will the pin 27 engage the Geneva wheel 28. This happens in the latter part of the second machine cycle (during approximately the last one-eighth of the second machine cycle) and ensures that fresh ticket pulp is fed upwardly in the ticket pulp guide 37, but not severed by the guillotine, only when the upper part of the guide 37 is cleared or substantially cleared of the ticket just printed or being printed.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

.1, A ticket printing and issuing machine comprising means for feeding a ticket strip, a printing device settable to a plurality of alternative printing positions, printing cycle governing means the position of which determines when said ticket strip receives a printing impression from said printing device, driving means of which the drive is transmitted to both the printing device and the printing cycle governing means, the said printing cycle governing means being driven at one half of the speed at which the printing device is driven, and a set of keys each operable both to set the printing device to a particular printing position and to initiate a machine cycle, depression of a first key setting the printing device to a particular printing position and initiating a first machine cycle to effect printing of certain data on said ticket strip as determined by said first key and by said printing cycle governing means, depression of a second key setting the printing device to a second particular printing position and initiating a second machine cycle to effect printing of certain other data on said ticket strip as determined by said second key and by said printing cycle governing means.

2. A ticket printing and issuing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the printing device is mounted upon a spindle and wherein the printing cycle governing means is mounted upon a shaft, the drive from the driving means being transmitted to the spindle and in turn to the shaft, the arrangement being such that when the spindle has completed one revolution the shaft has completed one half of a revolution.

3. A ticket printing and issuing machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the printing cycle governing means comprises a cam mounted upon the said shaft, and a pivot rod at one end of which is carried a cam follower and at the other end of which is carried a roller; the ram being provided with high portions and low portions and the arrangement being such that when the cam follower is riding upon a high portion of the cam the printing device causes a printing impression to be made upon the ticket strip and that when the cam follower is riding upon a low portion of the cam the ticket strip is located in a position outside the surface of revolution generated by the printing device.

4. A ticket printing and issuing machine adapted to perform two separate machine cycles in order to print and issue a single ticket, which comprises a printing device, a single set of dep-ressible keys each operable to set the printing device to a particular printing position and to initiate a machine cycle, printing cycle governing means, driving means of which the drive is transmitted to the printing device and to the printing cycle governing means, the printing device performing two successive revolutions as a result of two successive key depressions for each revolution performed by the printing cycle governing means and printing a different part of a single ticket strip in each of said two successive revolutions, the said printing cycle governing means determining the dispositon of printed matter printed on said ticket strip by the printing device during a single revolution of said printing cycle governing means and causing issue of the ticket printed, and means for registering the total number of tickets printed by the printing device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,629,319 Handley Feb. 24, 1953 2,691,342 Johnston et a1. Oct. 12, 1954 2,732,794 Julius Jan. 31, 1956 2,777,386 Seeney Jan. 15, 1957 2,924,170 Styner et a1. Feb. 9, 1960

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