Patent Application
20100213799
The present invention relates to ticket displays. In particular, the present invention relates to a revolving ticket display for lottery tickets and like material.
Many institutions, such as state governments, sell paper gaming tickets as a fundraising technique. In particular, scratch-off lottery tickets are popular with the public, and raises enormous amounts of revenue for state coffers. The use of paper tickets permits the issuer to easily control the payout ration while allowing a large number of people dispersed over a large geographic area to play the same games. Furthermore, Scratch-off tickets is a popular way to allow purchasers of the ticket to “instantly” determine the outcome of the game.
A large percentage of the Scratch-off tickets sales is attributed to impulse buyers, thus the need to display the tickets at the checkout counter became essential. However, counter space at most retail stores are considered very valuable real estate, and may garner top dollar for year round access. This is commonly known as “retailer display allowance” and a store can realize tens of thousands of dollars per year from the rates charged for their counter top rental.
Numerous prior art addresses the need to display Scratch-off tickets and other types of tickets. For example, U.S. Pat No. 4,738,384, 4,995,507, 5,287,980, 5,492,398, 7,011,381 and D329,877 are all modern era lottery ticket displays and dispensers. However, these entire prior art share the limitation of being static in nature. To show more ticket games you need to add additional modules which use up more valuable counter space.
There are prior art that teaches of non-static displays for non-ticket type products. U.S. Pat No. 3,399,781 by Nalbandian teaches of a rotating display device for smoking pipes that have numerous rotating display arms running independently on individual motors. However, Nalbandian was clearly not invented for the displaying of lottery tickets. Nalbandian does not teach of a proper means of attaching ticket type merchandise and would be too cumbersome and complicated to be used in present day situations due the plurality of individual electric motors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,958 by Kramer also teaches of display arms that are rotatably mounted and once again uses a plurality of motors to rotate the display arms. Like Nalbandian, this invention was not made for the display of ticket type merchandise. Furthermore, this invention is overly complicated by requiring corresponding sensors to provide output indicating the rotation position of the item holder relative to the other item holders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,258 by Moon, and U.S. Pat No. 6,256,912 by Gibson are similar prior art and teaches of rotating displays that are prism shaped. However, both prior art lack the simplicity to synchronously rotate the display arms and once again both prior art fails to teach of a means to quickly attached ticket type merchandise without the use of glue or tape. Furthermore, Moon and Gibson were not designed for typical retail counter space.
Other prior arts such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,811, 4,442,942, and 4,4070, 973 all teach of rotating counter top displays but like the prior art listed above, none of these inventions would be suitable for the display of ticket type merchandise such as lottery tickets. None of the prior art would be able to accommodate tickets of different sizes without the use of glue or tape.
A strong need therefore exists for a rotatable display tailored to the display of ticket type merchandise such as lottery tickets. The rotatable display would be used in thousands of retail outlets so it must be simple, inexpensive and sturdy. The rotatable display would not require pasting, gluing, taping or any similar means to display the tickets. Most importantly, the rotatable display would easily position multiple shaped lottery tickets while having a reduced footprint to save valuable counter space.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for displaying a plurality of ticket merchandise or ticket advertising such as Scratch-off lottery tickets without taking up unnecessary space. The apparatus contains a housing that may be made of plastic and must contain at least one transparent panel, preferably the front panel. The housing can be shaped to sit on a counter top, shaped to be used as an in counter display, or it may be affixed to a wall, rack, or ceiling. The front and back panel of the housing may be slideably removable or detachable by any other means such as with a hinge. Inside the housing is a plurality of display arms. The display arms may be of various shapes. The display arm may be flat thus providing two display surfaces as it rotates. The display arm may also be prism shaped thus providing three display surfaces as it rotates. The display arms are connected together wherein a single motor can synchronously rotate the plurality of display arms. The motor may have a time switch that automatically rotates the display arms or it can be controlled by a switch that is operated by the sales clerk or the customer.
The display arms have the ability to hold a plurality of tickets such as Scratch-off lottery tickets. The display arms have multiple tension holders spaced apart less than the length of the ticket to be displayed. The tickets to be displayed can be slightly bent and placed against the tension holders so that the tension caused by the flexed ticket would be enough to hold the ticket in place. Tickets of different length can be displayed and only the curvilinear shape may be different depending on the amount of flex exerted on the ticket. This retention method of holding different tickets in place eliminates the need to use glue, tape and other more permanent attachment means.
The above description and other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated by reference to the specification and accompanying drawings, wherein:
In referring to all the figures, like elements retain their indicators throughout the several views.
The preferred embodiments utilizes a single off the self motor system 30 which includes a motor with a time delay switch, a battery, a power converter and a power interrupter switch. The motor system 30 then drives multiple spacing gears 31 which in turn initiates the driving gears 23 and results in the synchronous rotation of all the display arms 20. To expose the customers to both sides of the display arm, the driving gears 23 are rigidly connected to each other. The number of pitches and pitch diameters for each of the driving gears must be configured to synchronously rotate the display arms in 180 degree intervals. The Motor system 30 allows for multiple time intervals for automatic rotation, or can rotate by a simple customer input switch.
Although the preferred embodiment teaches of a counter top display unit, the present invention may be suitable for wall mounted or in-counter application. The inventer's power interrupter switch which is part of the motor system 30 may cut off power to the rotating arms when panel 11 is removed. This allows for a safe replacement of items displayed on the rotating display arms 20. Aside from the off the self motor system 30, the housing 10 and the display arms 20 are made of light and durable plastic material.
Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiment that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention. For example, the housing 10 can be shaped to sit steadily on a counter, the housing can be used as a countertop whereby the displaying of the tickets 25 is considered in-counter; the housing can also be mounted to a wall (including ceilings) and angled to allow proper angle of visibility. The detachment means of the transparent display panel 11 is not limited to the sliding tracks. The number of display arms 20 is not limited to four as seen in the preferred embodiment. The display arms may include two or more tension holders 24. The tension holders can be of any shape and means to prevent the flexed ticket 25 from moving. The index tabs 21 can be any shape and form. The motor system can by any system able to rotate the display arms and may be placed anywhere within the housing as long as it can rotate all the display arms at once. The means of rotating the display arms are not limited to the driving gears 23 and the materials for the housing is not limited to just plastic. Lastly, the term display ticket(s) also includes any type of lottery ticket and lottery ticket advertisement.
Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
