Magnetic ticket dispenser

Abstract

An apparatus for dispensing tickets including a container having a vertically extending opening loosely receiving a stack of tickets. The container has adjacent its top a ticket passage slot which leads from the opening in the container to the outside of the container. An elevator is mounted for vertical movement in the container and is adapted to support the stack of tickets. A control device operates the elevator to position the uppermost ticket slightly below the top. The container has air jet orifices therein, a first set of which is located in the container sidewall on the opposite side of the container from the slot, a second located in the container top on the opposite side of the container from the slot and a third located in the container top above the slot. A pneumatic device provides a blast of air under pressure through each of the orifices to move a ticket from the top of the stack of tickets out of the container through the slot. The apparatus also includes a ticket guide plate between two sets of rollers. When the tickets exit the slot, they move through the rollers where they are sensed photoelectrically. If the tickets are stuck together as they move through the rollers, they are dumped into a double ticket stacking container. If only a single ticket moves through the rollers, it is dumped into a ticket delivery chute.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.