Retractable protective-screens and equipment including them

In equipment including a protective screen inn the form of a substantially rectangular plate that extends through a slot in a wall of the equipment, guide means for guiding opposed side-edges of the plate throughout movements of the plate through said slot between an extended position in which the plate is extended with respect to the front of the wall and a retracted position in which the plate is retracted with respect to said front of the wall, and means coupled to the plate to drive the plate between said extended and retracted positions, the improvement wherein said drive means is coupled to the plate via a rack-and-pinion coupling, the rack of said coupling being an elongate strip of flexible material having projecting teeth formed integrally therewith and said strip being secured to said plate to extend substantially parallel to said side-edges and substantially centrally of the plate intermediate said side-edges, and the pinion of said coupling being drivingly engaged with the teeth of the rack, said drive means including means operable to rotate the pinion in selectively one or the other of two senses for respectively retracting or extending the plate through said wall.

In equipment including a protective screen in the form of a substantially rectangular plate that extends through a slot in a wall of the equipment, guide means for guiding opposed side-edges of the plate throughout movements of the plate through said slot between an extended position in which the plate is extended with respect to the front of the wall and a retracted position in which the plate is retracted with respect to said front of the wall, and means to drive the plate between said extended and retracted positions, the improvement wherein said drive means comprises a rack-and-pinion coupling to the plate, the rack of said coupling being carried by said plate to extend substantially parallel to said side-edges of the plate, and the pinion of said coupling being drivingly engaged with said rack, and means operable to rotate said pinion in selectively one or the other of two senses for respectively retracting or extending the plate through said wall, said guide means comprising two pairs of guides, one pair of guides being located entirely to the front of said wall and the other pair of guides being located entirely to the rear of said wall, and four elements located on said side-edges of said rectangular plate to run in respective ones of said guides for guiding the plate throughout movements in retraction and extension.

In a customer-operable automated-teller machine which includes a facia having an environmentally-vulnerable part that is required to be exposed during customer-operation of the machine, and a protective screen-member that it guided at its side-edges for movements through the facia between a retracted position in which said part is exposed as aforesaid and an extended position in which said part is covered by the protective screen-member, and means operable selectively to drive the screen-member in at least one direction between its retracted and extended positions, the improvement wherein said drive means is coupled to said screen-member via a rack-and-pinion coupling, the rack of said coupling being an elongate strip of flexible material having projecting teeth formed integrally therewith and said strip being secured along its length to said screen-member to extend on said member substantially centrally thereof intermediate said side-edges, the pinion of said coupling drivingly engaging with said teeth of said rack, and said drive means comprising means operable selectively to rotate said pinion to drive said screen-member via said rack in said one direction.