Apparatus for dispensing tickets, cards and the like from a stack

Abstract

An apparatus for dispensing articles from a stack, the apparatus being particularly useful in dispensing articles having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a sensitive top or bottom surface. The apparatus for dispensing such articles includes a base, a frame mounted on the base for enclosing in a stack a plurality of articles to be dispensed and a gate for receiving articles from the stack and allowing only one article at a time to pass through. The apparatus further includes a transport mechanism for transporting articles to be dispensed from the stack into the gate. The transport mechanism includes a movable pusher element, a reversible motor mounted on the base, a first slider element slidably mounted on the base, a second slider element slidably mounted on the base, a rack fixedly mounted on the second slider element and a pinion fixedly mounted on the motor. The pusher element is pivotally mounted on the first slider element and is pivotally coupled to the second slider element by a linkage. The transport mechanism functions by having the moveable pusher element contact the trailing edge of the lowermost article in the stack, advance the lowermost ticket from the stack forward into the gate and then move the pusher element back to contact the trailing edge of the next article in the stack without contacting the bottom surface of the next article as it passes underneath the next article.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.