Claims
- 1. A ticket dispensing mechanism for separating a selected number of instant lottery tickets from a continuous strip perforated at intervals, said dispensing mechanism comprising:control means for presetting the distance that the continuous strip of tickets will travel, which pre-set distance corresponds to the number of tickets to be separated and subsequently dispensed; a motor constructed and arranged to power advancement of the continuous strip of tickets in both a first and a second direction; a first roller and a second roller driven by said motor, said first and second rollers operating together to advance the continuous strip of tickets in both the first and the second directions; a stationary cutting blade; a deflector movably mounted to the ticket dispensing mechanism and operatively connected to the motor, the deflector being constructed and arranged to direct the continuous strip of tickets from the rollers and through a path in spaced relation to the cutting blade as the continuous strip of tickets travel in the first direction, and thereafter against the cutting blade as the continuous strip of tickets travel in the second direction; and a sensor constructed and arranged to detect a leading edge of the continuous strip of tickets; wherein upon the continuous strip of tickets reaching the pre-set distance generated by the control means, the sensor generates a signal to the motor to reverse direction, reversing the motor operating to move the deflector so as to urge a portion of the strip of tickets into contact with the cutting blade, wherein reversing direction of the motor also reverses advancement of the strip of tickets from the first direction to the second direction, so as to move the strip of tickets against the cutting blade such that a first encountered perforation of the strip of tickets engages the cutting blade, the cutting blade penetrates the perforation, and continued reverse movement of the strip of tickets causes complete tearing away of the selected number of tickets.
- 2. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 1, wherein the deflector is supported on a rotatable shaft.
- 3. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 2, wherein the deflector is fixedly mounted to the shaft.
- 4. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 1, further comprising a solenoid constructed and arranged to move the deflector toward the cutting blade.
- 5. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 4, wherein the solenoid is operatively connected to the shaft such that activation of the solenoid causes rotation of the shaft and corresponding movement of the deflector.
- 6. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 4, wherein the solenoid is operatively connected to the motor such that reversing the direction of the motor activates the solenoid.
- 7. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 1, wherein the control means comprises a computer driven printed circuit board for sending the appropriate commands to the motor of the ticket dispensing mechanism.
- 8. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 1, wherein the cutting blade is tapered.
- 9. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 1, further comprising a drive gear driven by the motor, a driven gear which meshes with the drive gear and is driven thereby.
- 10. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 9, wherein the first roller is a pinch roller rotated by the driven gear, and the second roller is also a pinch roller.
- 11. The ticket dispensing mechanism of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a pair of optic sensors.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/394,659 filed on Sep. 13, 1999 which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 08/938,122 filed Sep. 26, 1997 which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,898.
US Referenced Citations (28)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08/938122 |
Sep 1997 |
US |
Child |
09/394659 |
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US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/394659 |
Sep 1999 |
US |
Child |
09/543319 |
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US |