JPH07272013A - Ticket issuing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] It is an object of the present invention to provide a ticket issuing device that can collect a plurality of tickets in a bundle and can also perform automatic refund processing of unused tickets. According to the present invention, an encoding unit (10) capable of reading data recorded on a ticket, a first conveyance path (70) for conveying a ticket from the encoding unit, and a first conveyance path (70).
The second transport path (60, 68) for receiving the ticket from the transport path of the second transport path and transporting it to the discharge port (24) and temporarily stopping the ticket at a predetermined position of the second transport path. A ticket issuing device comprising a stopper (26) so that a ticket sent from the first transport path to the second transport path is superposed on a preceding ticket stopped by the stopper,
Guide means (18, 66) is provided for guiding the ticket from the second transport path to the first transport path when the ticket is moved backward from the discharge port to the encoding section via the second transport path and the first transport path. It is characterized by that.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ticket issuing device for use in an automatic ticket vending machine, and more particularly to a plurality of tickets that can be bundled together and used as an unused ticket such as an incorrectly purchased ticket. The present invention relates to a ticket issuing device that can perform a refund process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are various types of ticket issuing devices used in automatic ticket vending machines at stations, but as a device capable of bundling a plurality of tickets at the same time as shown in FIG. Things are known. In the ticket issuing apparatus shown in the figure, the encoding unit 10 performs a magnetic data write process and a read confirmation of the write data on a ticket cut into a predetermined length, and then only a normal ticket is distributed from the distribution unit 12 to the emission unit 14.
Is configured to be sent to.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the discharge part 14 in detail. The discharging unit 14 has a conveyor belt 16 extending from the sorting unit 12, and a holding belt 18 that is disposed above the conveyor belt 16 so as to face each other. The conveyor belt 16 serves as a holding belt 18 between the pulleys 21 and 22. Are in contact. The ticket conveyed from the sorting unit 12 along the conveyor belt 16 hits the pressing belt 18 and then is conveyed to the conveyor belt 16.
It is discharged from the discharge port 24 through the space between the pressure belt 18 and the press belt 18.

The discharging section 14 has a stock function, and after temporarily holding a plurality of tickets and bundling them,
It is possible to put it all together. In order to achieve such a function, the discharging section 14 is provided with a stopper 26 capable of blocking the conveyance path between the conveyance belt 16 and the pressing belt 18. Now, assuming that a plurality of tickets are sequentially sent from the sorting unit 12 with the stopper 26 blocking the conveyance path (the state shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 5), the first ticket C1 is the stopper. The movement is stopped by 26, and the front portion in the movement direction is held in a state of being sandwiched between the transport belt 16 and the pressing belt 18. At this time, ticket C
The rear side portion of 1 becomes a state along the pressing belt 18 due to the restoring force of the ticket C1. Therefore, when the second ticket C2 is sent from the sorting unit 12, the second ticket C2 comes into contact with the lower surface of the first ticket C1 and then the first ticket C1 and the conveyor belt 16
It slides in between and is held at the position of the stopper 26 in a state of being superposed. Subsequent tickets are similarly stacked on the lower side of the preceding ticket, and when all the tickets are gathered and the stopper 26 is returned to the lower side of the conveyor belt 16, a plurality of tickets are discharged from the outlet 24. It is released collectively in a bundle.

[0005]

In the ticket issuing apparatus as described above, since the reading magnetic head 28 is provided in the encoding unit 10, an unused ticket such as an erroneously purchased ticket is discharged from the outlet 24. It is considered that the automatic refund processing of the unused ticket can be performed by moving the encoder 10 backward and reading the magnetic data on the magnetic surface by the read magnetic head 28.

However, the emission unit 1 of the above ticket issuing device
Since No. 4 has a stock function, even if an unused ticket is inserted from the discharge port 24 and the conveyor belt 16 of the discharge unit 14 is driven in the reverse direction, as shown by an arrow a in FIG. There is a problem in that the used ticket goes straight along the pressing belt 18 and cannot be sent to the encoding unit 10.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a ticket issuing apparatus which can collect a plurality of tickets in a bundle and can also automatically refund unused tickets.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an encoding unit capable of reading and processing data recorded on a ticket, and a first conveyance for conveying the ticket from the encoding unit. Path, a second transport path for receiving a ticket from the first transport path, transporting it to an outlet, and releasing the ticket, and a temporary stopping means for temporarily stopping the ticket at a predetermined position of the second transport path. And a first transport path and a second transport path so that the subsequent ticket sent from the first transport path to the second transport path is superposed on the ticket stopped by the temporary stop means. In the ticket issuing device in which is positioned, the ticket is guided from the second transport path to the first transport path when the ticket is moved backward from the outlet through the second transport path and the first transport path to the encoding unit. It is characterized by providing a guide means.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first transport path is composed of a first portion which is a part of a transport belt stretched endlessly, and the second transport path is The transport belt comprises a second portion which is a part of the transport belt and which extends continuously from the first portion of the transport belt and forms a constant angle with the first portion. Further, in this case, the guide means contacts only the second portion of the conveyor belt when ejecting the ticket from the ejection port, and the second portion and the second portion of the conveyor belt when the ticket goes backward from the ejection port to the encoding unit. It consists of a presser belt designed to contact one part.

[0010]

In the above structure, the second means is provided by the temporary stopping means.
If the ticket is temporarily stopped on the transportation route of the
Subsequent tickets sent from the transport path of 1 are piled up one after another, and the tickets can be bundled. Then, when the temporary suspension of the tickets by the temporary suspension means is released, a plurality of tickets are collectively discharged in a bundle.

On the other hand, due to the stock function, it is difficult for the first and second transport paths to reverse the ticket from the second transport path to the first transport path. According to this, the ticket can be guided from the second transport path to the first transport path by the guiding means. Therefore, it becomes possible to send the ticket from the outlet to the encoding unit and read the data recorded on the ticket by the encoding unit.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Since the ticket issuing apparatus according to this embodiment has basically the same structure as the conventional ticket issuing apparatus described above, the description will be given with reference to FIG.
0, the base paper loading unit 32, the cutter unit 34, and the printing unit 36.
And an encoding unit 10 and a sorting unit 12 that sorts the tickets sent from the encoding unit 10 into defective tickets and normal tickets.
And a collecting unit 38 for collecting defective tickets and a normal ticket outlet 2
4 is provided.

In the base paper supply unit 30, a base paper 40, one surface of which is a heat-sensitive paper surface and the other surface of which is a magnetic surface, is mounted in a roll shape on the apparatus frame 42, and the roll-shaped base paper 40 is wound. After being unwound, it is delivered to the base paper loading section 32. The base paper loaded in the base paper loading unit 32 is cut into a ticket having a predetermined length by a cutter unit 34 provided at the exit of the base paper loading unit 32. This ticket is conveyed to the printing unit 36, and after the data such as the date and station name is printed on the thermal paper by the print head 44, the ticket is conveyed to the encoding unit 10.

The encoding unit 10 includes a writing magnetic head 46 and a reading magnetic head 28, and the ticket sent to the encoding unit 10 is first heat-sensitive to the magnetic surface of the ticket by the writing magnetic head 46. Magnetic data corresponding to the print content on the paper is written. Then, the read magnetic head 28 reads the written magnetic data, and a control device (not shown) detects whether or not the data writing is normally performed.

The ticket that has passed through the encoding unit 10 is sent to the distribution unit 12. The distribution unit 12 is arranged at a branch position between a transport path to the collection unit 38 to which a defective ticket having an abnormality in writing magnetic data is sent and a transport path to the discharge unit 14 to which a normal ticket is sent. Sorting claw 48 provided there
It is possible to switch the transport path through which the ticket passes by sorting the sheets with a solenoid (not shown).

As shown in detail in FIGS. 1 and 2, the discharge section 14 is provided with an endless conveyor belt 16 wound between pulleys 20 and 22, and an upper portion of the conveyor belt 16 is a pulley. 21 is bent into a mountain shape. The pulley 20 is attached to a rotary shaft 54 that is common with a pulley 52 around which a conveyor belt 50 that constitutes a conveyor path of the encoding unit 10 and the distributing unit 12 is wound. The rotating shaft 54 is rotationally driven by an electric motor (not shown), so that the conveyor belts 16 and 50 are both circularly driven in the same direction.

An endless holding belt 18 is stretched above the conveyor belt 16 between the pulleys 56 and 58, and the lower portion thereof is between the pulleys 21 and 58 and between the pulleys 21 and 22 of the conveyor belt 16. It is in contact with the portion (second portion) 60.
One pulley 56 around which the presser belt 18 is wound
Is supported by a free end of an arm 64 mounted swingably by a solenoid (not shown) provided on the back surface of the device frame 42 via a housing 62 on the device frame 42 and separated from the conveyor belt 16. First
It can be arranged at a position (the position shown in FIG. 1) and a second position (the position shown in FIG. 2) near the conveyor belt 16. When the pulley 56 is in the first position, the lower portion (first portion) 66 of the presser belt 18 between the pulleys 56 and 21.
Is a second portion 60 of the conveyor belt 16, that is, the holding belt 18.
Is substantially aligned with the lower portion (second portion) 68 between the pulleys 21 and 58 of the press belt 18 when in the second position.
The first portion 66 is in contact with the portion (first portion) 70 between the pulleys 20 and 21 of the conveyor belt 16.

A stopper 26 is provided below the second portion 60 of the conveyor belt 16 as a temporary stopping means for temporarily stopping the ticket on the second portion 60 of the conveyor belt 16. The stopper 26 is composed of an L-shaped plate, and its front end portion is moved upward from the second portion 60 of the conveyor belt 16 by a solenoid (not shown) provided on the back surface of the device frame 42 via the housing 72 on the device frame 42. Between the stop position (the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1) protruding to the bottom and the stop release position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1) lowered below the second portion 60 of the conveyor belt 16, It is possible to swing. At the position where the tip portion of the stopper 26 projects, only the front half of the ticket in the traveling direction is the second portion 60 of the conveyor belt 16 when the tip of the ticket is in contact with the stopper 26, as indicated by C1 in FIG. It is preferable that it is sandwiched between the second portion 68 of the presser belt 18 and the remaining rear portion is above the first portion 70 of the conveyor belt 16.

In the above-mentioned structure, when issuing a ticket,
Not only is it possible to collect a plurality of tickets collectively, but also automatic refund processing of unused tickets such as erroneous purchase tickets is possible. The ticket issuing process and the refund process can be executed in various modes.
It is preferable to carry out in the following manner.

First, in the case of ticket issuing processing, the pressing belt 18
After the pulley 56 is placed in the first position, it is processed in exactly the same manner as the conventional configuration. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the roll-shaped base paper 40 in the base paper supply unit 30 is fed to the base paper loading unit 32, cut into a predetermined length of paper by the cutter unit 34, and then printed by the printing unit 36. Predetermined data such as the date and station name are printed on the heat-sensitive paper, and the same data is written on the magnetic surface of the ticket by the write magnetic head 46 of the encoding unit 10. Then, after the write data on the magnetic surface of the ticket is read by the reading magnetic head 28 and the content thereof is inspected, the defective ticket is sent to the collecting section 38, and the normal ticket is released from the emitting section 1.
Sent to 4. When a defective ticket or an unused ticket to be described later is sent from the encoding section 10 to the collection section 38, the thermal paper surface of the ticket is discharged upward to the tray 76 by passing it once through the transport path 74. Is convenient because you can see the printed contents on the thermal paper without turning over the ticket. Further, if a marker 78 is provided in the transport path 74 and a predetermined mark is attached to a ticket passing therethrough, the reuse of the collected ticket is prevented and it is effective.

When only one ticket is issued, the stopper 26 in the discharging section 14 is placed at the stop release position, and the normal ticket is transferred from the encoding section 10 and the sorting section 12 to the conveyor belt 16.
After passing through the first conveying path leading to the first portion 70 of the holding belt 18 and coming into contact with the first portion 66 of the holding belt 18 and being deflected, the second portion 60 of the feeding belt 16 and the second portion 6 of the holding belt 18
8 is discharged from the discharge port 24 through the second conveyance path formed by the contact portion with 8.

When the number of issued tickets is plural, a plurality of normal tickets are encoded one by one at regular intervals.
While being conveyed from 0, the stopper 26 is placed at the stop position by operating a solenoid (not shown) provided via the housing 72. The ticket sent from the encoding unit 10 via the first transport path is temporarily stopped by the stopper 26 when entering the second transport path. At this time, the ticket C1 is held in a cantilever shape, and the rear portion in the traveling direction projects backward (to the left in FIG. 1) in a form that obliquely blocks the exit of the first transport path, so that the first transport path The succeeding ticket C2 advancing in the direction abuts the lower surface of the stopped preceding ticket C1, is deflected in the direction of the second transport path, and is inserted below the preceding ticket C1. During this time, since the conveyor belt 16 continues to be circulated, the succeeding ticket C2 advances toward the discharge port 24 below the preceding ticket C1 until it is stopped by the stopper 26. In this way, a plurality of tickets are sequentially stacked in front of the stopper 26, and when the stoppers 26 are returned to the stop release position at the time when all the tickets are gathered, those tickets remain in the bundled state and are discharged from the outlet 24. Will be summarized from.

On the other hand, when refunding an unused ticket due to erroneous purchase or the like, it is necessary to switch the ticket issuing device to the refund mode.
This switching operation may be performed by, for example, a ticket purchaser pressing a button on the operation panel, or an operator such as a station clerk may perform the switching operation from the back side. Alternatively, a sensor (not shown) provided in the vicinity of the outlet 24 may detect the presence of a ticket other than when the ticket is issued and thereby automatically shift to the refund mode.

When the ticket issuing device is in the refund mode, the circulation direction of the conveyor belts 16 and 50 is switched to the opposite direction to that during the ticket issuing process, and as shown in FIG.
And the pulley 56 of No. 8 is lowered to the second position,
The first portion 66 of the belt is abutted on the first portion 70 of the conveyor belt 16. Further, the stopper 26 is set to the stop release position, and the distribution claw 48 of the distribution unit 12 is placed at a position where the encoding unit 10 and the emission unit 14 communicate with each other. When the ticket is inserted from the discharge port 24 in this state, the ticket is sandwiched between the conveyor belt 16 and the pressing roller 80, and then the second portion 6 of the conveyor belt 16 is inserted.
The second conveyance path between 0 and the second portion 68 of the presser belt 18 is moved backward. When the leading edge of the ticket reaches the end of the second conveyance path, it strikes the second portion 66 of the bent pressing belt 18, and travels in the direction of the first conveyance path along the first portion 70 of the conveyance belt 16. After changing, it is sent from the distribution unit 12 to the encoding unit 10 along the first transport path.

With respect to the ticket sent to the encoding unit 10, the magnetic data written in the magnetic data of the ticket is read by the reading magnetic head 28, and the controller (not shown).
The contents are inspected. When the ticket is determined to be refundable by this inspection, the ticket is sent from the encoding unit 10 to the sorting unit 12 and the transport unit 74 to the collection unit 38. At this time, the magnetic information may be destroyed by the encoding unit 10 or the marker 78 on the transport path 74 may be used to prevent misuse of the refunded ticket. In parallel with such processing, a money refund device releases a money refund from a money processing device (not shown). on the other hand,
If it is determined that the ticket cannot be refunded, the circulation direction of the conveyor belts 16 and 50 is switched to the direction during the ticket issuing process, and the pulley 56 of the pressing belt 18 is also changed.
Is returned to the first position, the ticket is discharged from the discharge port 24 and returned to the ticket inserter.

In the above embodiment, a part of the presser belt 18 is bent and used as the guide means for guiding the ticket from the second transport path to the first transport path, but other guide means may be used. Good. For example, as shown in FIG.
The guide claw 82 may be swingably provided along the guide claw 82, and the guide claw 82 may be along the first portion 70 of the conveyor belt 16 during the withdrawal process.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a ticket issuing device of the type that collectively ejects a plurality of tickets, the tickets are inserted from the outlet and returned to the encoding section, and the data recorded on the tickets is recorded. Since it is possible to read, it is possible to perform an automatic refund process.

Further, according to the present invention, there is no need to provide a special transport path for returning the ticket from the outlet to the encoding section, and the guide for guiding the ticket from the second transport path to the first transport path. Since it is sufficient to provide only the means, it is possible to provide a ticket issuing device having an automatic refund function at a low price.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged view showing a discharging portion of a ticket issuing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state during a ticket issuing process.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a discharging portion of a ticket issuing device according to the present invention, showing a state during a refund process.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view schematically showing an overall configuration of a ticket issuing device to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view showing a discharging portion of a conventional ticket issuing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Encoding section, 12 ... Sorting section, 14 ... Ejection section,
16 ... Conveyor belt, 18 ... Holding belt, 24 ... Discharge port,
26 ... Stopper (temporary stop means), 28 ... Reading magnetic head, 30 ... Base paper supply section, 32 ... Base paper loading section, 34 ...
Cutter section, 36 ... Printing section, 38 ... Collection section, 40 ... Base paper,
42 ... Device frame, 46 ... Writing magnetic head, 60
... second portion of conveyor belt, 66 ... first portion of guide belt (guide means), 68 ... second portion of retainer belt, 70 ... first portion of conveyor belt, 82 ... guide claw (guide means).

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An encoding unit capable of reading and processing data recorded on a ticket, a first transport path for transporting the ticket from the encode section, and a ticket from the first transport path, It is provided with a second transport path for transporting to the discharge port and discharging, and a temporary stop means for temporarily stopping the ticket at a predetermined position of the second transport path, and is stopped by the temporary stop means. From the first transport path to the second ticket
In the ticket issuing device in which the first transport path and the second transport path are positioned so that the subsequent tickets sent to the second transport path are stacked, the ticket is transported from the outlet to the second transport path. A ticket issuing device comprising guide means for guiding a ticket from the second transport path to the first transport path when the ticket is passed backward through the path and the first transport path to the encoding unit. 2. The first transport path comprises a first portion which is a part of a transport belt stretched endlessly, and the second transport path is a part of the transport belt. ,
The guide means comprises a second portion that extends continuously from the first portion of the conveyor belt and forms a constant angle with the first portion, and the guiding means includes a second portion of the conveyor belt when ejecting a ticket from the outlet. And a pressing belt which is only in contact with the second portion and is in contact with the second portion and the first portion of the conveyor belt when the ticket is moved backward from the outlet to the encoding portion. The ticket issuing device according to claim 1.