Severing by tearing or breaking – Breaking or tearing apparatus – Movable breaking tool
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-26
2004-04-27
Dexter, Clark F. (Department: 3724)
Severing by tearing or breaking
Breaking or tearing apparatus
Movable breaking tool
C225S100000, C225S105000, C083S272000, C463S017000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06726077
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to dispensers, vending machines and methods, and particularly to dispensers, vending machines and methods for dispensing tickets from strips in which the tickets are delineated from one another by lines of weakness, such as perforation lines. Preferably, the dispensers are used to dispense “scratch-off” or “instant-winner” lottery tickets.
Various types of machines have been provided for dispensing and vending “instant-winner” or “scratch-off” type-lottery tickets. Such tickets are characterized by being printed in long strips in which each ticket is delineated from the others by perforation lines.
The tickets often are stored in fan-fold form in a vending machine, and are issued in response to the insertion of money by the customer. The tickets are characterized by being printed on relatively heavy stock which is relatively stiff, but still flexible.
In some of the vending machines, the customer tears the tickets off of the strip by pulling on the ticket as it extends from the machine. In other such machines, the machine bursts each ticket apart from the rest and dispenses it separately.
In the type of dispenser in which tickets are burst free from the strip, there are several significant problems.
One of the main problems is that the separating mechanism currently used is relatively large, complex, and expensive to build and maintain.
Another problem with such prior dispensers is that the most common of such dispensers burst each and every ticket free from the strip. This tends to thwart the desires of some customers who would prefer to receive a string of connected tickets.
A further problem is with the loading of tickets into a multi-bin lottery ticket dispensing machine. The service representative usually is required to read certain information off of the tickets in a batch to be loaded into one bin, and load the information into the microprocessor controller of the vending machine by use of a keypad or the like. This is time-consuming, laborious, and error-prone.
Another problem with such systems is that winning tickets usually require verification. Ticket verification usually is performed when the customer carries a winning ticket to a clerk in a store, who then inserts it into a machine which reads the code on the back of the ticket and checks with a central computer to ascertain that the ticket so identified is, indeed, a winner, and to verify the winning amount. When this verification is complete, the holder can be paid the winnings.
Although this procedure minimizes certain kinds of errors and fraud, it does not detect a ticket which has come into the possession of the holder by means other than its actual dispensation from a vending machine.
Another problem with instant-winner gaming tickets is that a relatively large variety of different games are developed in order to keep the ticket buyers' interest. This creates additional costs for the lottery ticket issuing organization, requires more dispensing bins per vending machine, and/or more vending machines to dispense the multitude of games.
It is another problem with ticket vending systems that they do not provide accounting for all of the tickets dispensed by the vending machines in the system.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ticket dispenser and vending machine which separates tickets from one another, and yet has a separator mechanism which is relatively simple in construction and operation, and is relatively compact and inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.
In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide such a dispenser and vending machine in which tickets can be issued either singly or in strips of several tickets fastened together, as desired by the customer.
An additional object of the invention is to provide such a separator mechanism which requires relatively low levels of force to be applied to create the separating action.
A further object of the invention is to provide a vending machine and method in which initializing each machine and loading it with tickets requires less time and labor, and is less subject to error.
It also is an object of the invention to provide a lottery ticket dispensing system and method which is less likely to suffer from fraud.
It is another object of the invention to provide a gaming method and apparatus in which a super prize is offered which greatly heightens interest in the games without excessively increasing the cost to the operator.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a lottery ticket vending machine system and method in which every ticket which is sold can be accounted for without undue cost.
In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objectives are satisfied by the provision of a vending machine with means for issuing a number of tickets corresponding to the amount of monetary exchange provided to the machine by the customer, and in which there is a separator for separating tickets from a ticket strip by bringing a skewed separator member into engagement with the ticket strip adjacent a selected line of weakness. The skewing is such that motion of the strip and the separator member relative to one another tears adjacent tickets apart along the line of weakness at a location which progresses along the line of weakness.
Further, in accordance with the invention, the separating apparatus requires a relatively low level of separating force to be applied to accomplish the separating action. This reduces the wear on the machine components, reduces the energy required for the separating operation, and reduces the cost of the components.
Preferably, the separator member is rotatably mounted on an axis transverse to the direction of motion of the ticket strip, and the most preferable form of the separator member is a dull blade which describes a helix. As the blade is rotated into contact with the strip, first one portion and then laterally-spaced portions of the blade contact the strip, pressing firmly on it and tearing the strip apart along the selected line of weakness.
It also is preferred that a guide be provided to urge the ticket strip into contact with and bend it around the rotary separator so as to stiffen the ticket strip and otherwise facilitate the separation process.
The ticket strip upstream from the separating location is held against movement under pressure from the separator by the ticket guide structure. In addition, a conveyor system is provided to guide the output ticket against the separator and out of the ticket outlet.
In one embodiment, a line-of-weakness or perforation detector is provided to detect each line of weakness (perforation) and use the perforation detections to control the movement of the strip. In particular, movement is controlled so that a selected line of weakness is guided to a separating location, at which position the strip stops, if a separating operation is to be performed.
Preferably, the line of weakness detector bends the ticket strip through a substantial angle and detects the lateral deflection of the strip which occurs when a perforation reaches the point at which the bend is created. This is used to create an electrical signal which then is used to control the drive system and separating mechanism.
The use of a perforation detector makes it possible to accurately and reliably detect the position of the ticket strip without tearing off every ticket from the strip. This makes it possible to issue the tickets in strings as long as the customer pays for.
Alternatively, a leading edge detector can be used to detect the position of the strip, and the position of the next line of weakness for separation can be calculated. Thus, the tickets can be issued either singly or in strings containing multiple tickets.
The vending machine preferably accepts cash or credit cards in payment, or can accept vouchers with bar-coded information which is read by a bar-code reader to cause the machine to issue the proper number and type of tickets.
The foregoing objects also are met by the provision of a dispensing or vending machine and method in
Petch David B.
Roberts Brian J.
Dexter Clark F.
GTECH Corporation
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