Ticket dispensing modules and method

• US 20020166882A1
• Filed: 05/12/2000
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1993
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GTECH Corporation (GTECH SpA)
• Original Assignee: GTECH Corporation (GTECH SpA)
• Inventors: Roberts, Brian J., Petch, David B.
• Granted Patent: US 6,886,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 225/2
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/065 Tickets or accessories for use therewith A63F3/0625 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B05D 3/067 Curing or cross-linking the coating
• CPC Class Codes: B26F 3/002 Precutting and tensioning or breaking
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 35/10 from or with devices for breaking partially-cut or perforated webs, e.g. bursters
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 290/06 Polymers provided for in subclass C08G
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 163/10 Epoxy resins modified by unsaturated compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C09D 4/06 Organic non-macromolecular compounds having at least one polymerisable carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bond in combination with a macromolecular compound other than an unsaturated polymer of groups C09D159/00 - C09D187/00
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/031 Organic compounds not covered by group G03F7/029
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 15/005 with dispensing of lottery tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3248 involving non-monetary media of fixed value, e.g. casino chips of fixed value
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/329 Regular and instant lottery, e.g. electronic scratch cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/12 With preliminary weakening
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/35 Work-parting pullers [bursters]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/371 Movable breaking tool
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/386 Clamping supports

Abstract

The dispenser dispenses tickets such as instant-winner lottery tickets from a strip in which the individual tickets are delineated by perforation lines. The dispenser includes a separator to tear the tickets apart before issuing them from the machine. The separator preferably is rotary and has a dull helical blade which rotates to contact the ticket strip adjacent a perforation line, and presses against the strip to tear the tickets apart along the perforation line at a point which progresses across the strip along the perforation line. Preferably, a bar code reader is provided for reading codes on tickets in the dispensing machine. The bar code reader is used in reading information from the tickets to initialize the dispenser control system and in accounting for the sale of tickets, and in the verification of winning tickets being sold. A game is provided in which the concept is that a jackpot is built up using the detection of each ticket sold. The mechanism is simplified by using a separator member and transport drive structures which span a plurality of different channels or bins of a multi-channel dispenser. This provides a very compact, simple, secure and low-cost mechanism which is used both in stand-alone ticket vending machines, and in counter-top attended dispensers

Claims

1. A ticket dispensing device comprising in combination:

a plurality of ticket transport devices, each for transporting tickets in an elongated strip in which the tickets are delineated from one another by lines of weakness, from a supply to a separator device;

a separator device adjacent said transport devices and receiving a strip of said tickets from each of said transport devices;

an elongated rotary separator member spanning the paths taken by each of said strips received by said separator device; and

a drive device for rotating said separator member to separate one ticket from another in at least one of said strips.

2. A device as in claim 1 in which said rotary separator member includes a rotatably-mounted shaft with a projection extending radially outwardly from said shaft in each of said paths to press against and tear said trip along at least one of said lines as said shaft is rotated.

3. A device as in claim 2 in which said projection is helical and the rotation of said shaft causes said projection to press against said strip at locations progressing across said strip along said one line of weakness as said separator member is rotated.

4. A device as in claim 2 in which said transport devices include a common shaft spanning the paths of each of said strips and at least one drive roller in each of said paths rotatably mounted on said shaft, a drive shaft, and a clutch activatable to drivably couple said drive roller to said drive shaft in each path to selectively move one of said strips towards said separator member.

5. A device as in claim 4 including a second common shaft located spanning said paths and having at least one drive roller secured to said shaft for moving a ticket from each of said strips away from said rotary separator member.

6. A device as in claim 5 including third and fourth common shafts spanning said paths, each having rotatably-mounted idler rollers, one of said third and-fourth shafts being positioned with its idler rollers engaging the drive rollers on said second common shaft.

7. A ticket dispenser for dispensing tickets from strips in which said tickets are delineated from one another by lines of weakness, said dispenser comprising:

a housing having a rear wall, a front wall opposite said rear wall, and side walls joining said front and rear walls together,

a plurality of storage areas in said housing, each being adapted to store one of said strips of tickets in compacted form,

a plurality of ticket transport devices, each for transporting one of said strips from one of said storage areas to a separator device;

a separator device adjacent said transport devices and receiving a strip of said tickets from each of said transport devices;

an elongated rotary separator member spanning the paths taken by each of said strips received by said separator device; and

a drive device for rotating said separator member to separate one ticket from another in at least one of said strips.

8. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said front wall is transparent and is positioned to overlie said storage areas when said dispenser is positioned with said rear wall resting on a horizontal surface so that said ticket strips are visible through said front wall.

9. A dispenser as in claim 8 including a guide means in said housing for guiding said strips of tickets past said front wall when said strips move during dispensing.

10. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said housing is rectangular in cross-section, the spacing between said front wall and said rear wall is much smaller than the spacing between said side walls, and in which said storage areas are elongated, side-by-side rectangular spaces each shaped to receive one of said ticket strips folded over upon itself.

11. A dispenser as in claim 10 including divider walls extending from one of said front and rear walls and separating said storage areas from one another.

12. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which one of said side walls is transparent, said one side wall spanning said storage areas so as to make said ticket strips in said storage areas visible through said one side wall.

13. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said front wall is connected to said rear wall by at least one hinge so that said front wall can be moved to permit access into the interior of said housing.

14. A dispenser as in claim 12 in which said housing has in a second side wall an outlet opening for each of the ticket strips stored in said housing, and said one side wall is opposite said second side wall.

15. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said ticket transport devices and said separator device are located adjacent one side of said housing and are adapted to move tickets separated from said strips out of said housing through outlet openings in a direction generally parallel to said front wall.

16. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said ticket transport devices and said separator device are located in a second housing secured to and extending outwardly from the first named housing.

17. A dispenser as in claim 16 in which said second housing extends outwardly in a direction transverse to said front wall of said first housing to issue tickets in said transverse direction.

18. A dispenser as in claim 17 in which said second housing is isolated adjacent one side of said first housing and has a side wall which is substantially co-planar with one of said side walls of said first housing, said co-planar side walls forming a base to support said housings on a horizontal surface with said front wall in a substantially vertical orientation.

19. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said front wall is substantially flat and said side walls are constructed to support the weight of other like dispensers, the first-named dispenser resting with said rear wall on a horizontal surface and at least one of said other dispensers stacked on top of said first dispenser.

20. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said dispenser is mounted together with other like dispensers adjacent an attended station having a counter, said dispensers being arrayed in an arrangement selected from the group consisting of;

a vertical stack with said front wall of each dispenser horizontal;

a side-by-side array of dispensers with the front wall of each dispenser vertical, with each dispenser being hung on a vertical wall or supported by a rack, shelf or counter-top.

21. A dispenser as in claim 7 in which said dispenser is mounted adjacent an attended station having a counter, said dispenser being mounted in an orientation selected from the group consisting of underneath a computer terminal or register;

underneath a transparent counter-top; and

on top of a check-out counter with said front wall vertical.

22. A device as in claim 7 in which said rotary separator member includes a rotatably-mounted shaft with a projection extending radially outwardly from said shaft in each of said paths to press against and tear said trip along at least one of said lines of weakness as said shaft is rotated.

23. A device as in claim 22 in which said projection is helical and the rotation of said shaft causes said projection to press against said strip at locations progressing across said strip along said one line of weakness as said separator member is rotated.

24. A device as in claim 7 in which said transport devices include a common shaft spanning the paths of each of said strips and at least one drive roller in each of said paths rotatably mounted on said shaft, a drive shaft, and a clutch activatable to drivably couple said drive roller to said drive shaft in each path to selectively move one of said strips towards said separator member.

25. A device as in claim 24 including a second common shaft spanning said paths and having at least one drive roller secured to said shaft for moving a ticket from each of said strips away from said rotary separator member.

26. A device as in claim 25 including third and fourth common shafts spanning said paths, each having rotatably-mounted idler rollers, one of said third and fourth shafts being positioned with its idler rollers engaging the drive rollers on said second common shaft.

27. A device as in claim 7 including a computerized control unit connected to selectively operate said transport devices and said separator member to dispense a predetermined number of tickets.

28. A plurality of dispensers and a control unit as in claim 27 with a monetary exchange acceptor, said dispensers and control unit being arrayed together to form a multi-unit vending machine, with said dispensers connected to said control unit for selective operation.

30. A method as in claim 29 including the step of selectively driving a selected one of said strips to bring a selected line of weakness to said separation location by providing a single drive shaft, driven by a drive motor, spanning said paths with a clutch for each path to couple a drive roller to said shaft to drive said strip, and selectively operating said clutches.

31. A method as in claim 29 including the steps of providing a plurality of said dispensers, mounting them together to form a multiple dispenser unit, providing a computerized control unit and a monetary exchange acceptor, and connecting said dispensers to said control unit to form a customer-operable vending machine.

29. A method of selectively operating a multiple storage unit ticket dispenser to separate tickets from strips in which tickets are delineated from one another by lines of weakness, said method comprising:

(a) moving a ticket strip from one of said storage units until a selected line of weakness reaches a separation location;

(b) providing a single rotary separator member spanning the paths from said storage units and having at least one projection which, when said member is rotated, applies separation pressure to said strip to tear said strip along said selected line of weakness; and

(c) rotating said separator member when a selected line of weakness is in said separation location.