US3727031A - Control ticket - Google Patents

Abstract

A ticket having a layer of magnetic material over a portion thereof, said ticket and said layer being provided with an aligned aperture therethrough for receiving an alignment probe of a rotatable recording head.

Description

United States Patent [191 Marmer et al.

CONTROL TICKET Inventors: Burton R. Manner, Natick; Richard F. Stucchi, Hudson, both of Mass.

Assignee: Dennison Manufacturing Company,

Framingham, Mass.

Filed: Oct. 16, 1970 Appl. No.: 81,553

Related US. Application Data Continuation of Ser. No. 681,730, Nov. 9, 1967, abandoned.

US. Cl. ....235/61.l2 M, 179/1002 A, 274/414 Int. Cl. ..G06k 19/00, G1 1b 5/00 Field of Search ..235/6l.12 R,6l.12 M, 235/61.1l R, 61.11 D; 283/18, 19, 55, 53,

Primary Examiner-Maynard R. Wilbur Assistant Examiner-Thomas J. Sloyan Attomey-Dik, Thompson and Bronstein, Sewal] P.

Bronstein and Donald Brown ABSTRACT A ticket having a layer of magnetic material over a portion thereof, said ticket and said layer being provided with an aligned aperture therethrough for receiving an alignment probe of a rotatable recording head.

2 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures SHEET 1 OF 3 PATENTEU APR 1 0 I973 PATENTEDAPM 01m 3', 727. 031

SHEET 2 [IF 3 F a-3A FIG.3B

BURTON R. MARMER BY RICHARD F. STUCCHI PATENTEUAPR 1 01973 SHEET '3 BF INVENTORS MARMER CONTROL TICKET This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 681,730 filed Nov. 9, 1967 now abancloned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a control ticket and, more particularly, to a ticket for merchandise identification, classification and inventory control.

Many situations make use of tickets which contain information needed for identification, classification and inventory control. Typical examples are the ticketing of merchandise and the control of manufacturing work in process. It is advantageous for each ticket to have a number of sections. One section remains with the item. The others are detached as needed.

When a detached section carries imprinted information, it can be processed manually; however, it is also advantageous for each detached section to carry machine readable information so that the processing can be automated.

With many control tickets the machine readable information appears in the form of punched perforations. Such perforations are undesirable. They detract from the appearance of the ticket; they also cause confusion; and they sometimes obscure the printing. Moreover, the perforations have to be sufficiently large for correct sensing by ticket reading equipment. There is a limit to.

the amount of machine readable information that can be entered on a ticket of specified size.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a control ticket that is able to receive machine readable information without disfiguration of the ticket structure. Another object is to enhance the information storage capability of a control ticket of prescribed size.

Still another object is to achieve a ticket structure which facilitates the entry of machine readable control information. Another object is to adapt the ticket structure for protection of stored machine readable information.

A further object of the invention is to provide a control ticket with at least one machine readable section that is readily separable from an imprinted section. A related object is to provide facility in separating ticket sections in order to limit the possibility of damage to the machine readable formation carried by any section.

A yet further object is to facilitate the fabrication of control tickets which are able to store machine readable information without ticket disfiguration. A related object is to achieve the economical production of such tickets.

Yet another object is to provide distinctiveness in the groupings of contiguous characters of equal size imprinted on a merchandising ticket.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION ble information as well. Thus, an imprinted section can remain with an item of merchandise or work in process, while a machine readable section can be detached and used at each stage of identification, classification, or inventory control.

To permit magnetic recording, each machine readable section contains magnetizable material, desirably in the form of a coating on the reverse side of the ticket. The use of a reverse side coating facilitates magnetic recording; it also means that there is less likelihood of damage during handling of an associated item; and it detracts less from the appearance of the ticket. Additional protection of the coating, and thus of the recorded information, can be achieved by folding the ticket.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the position of detachment between two adjoining sections is advantageously indicated by notching the ticket structure. This provides a visual indication of where the detachment is to begin and end. It also provides a starter for the detachment so that there is less likelihood of any delamination, peeling or tearing of any section being detached. Such an effect upon a section bearing a magnetic coating could destroy, or cause interference with, the recorded control information.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, each section bearing a magnetic coating desirably contains an aperture with respect to which a magnetic head can be positioned for'writing and reading. Not only does the aperture provide registration of the head with the coating, but it also permits a location for the head that makes efficient use of the coating during the reading of recorded information. In particular, such a ticket is useful in rotary recording where machine readable information is written in concentric tracks that are centered about the positioning aperture.

In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, the coating is disposed to enclose and approach the positioning aperture wit-out making contact. This disposition facilitates the manufacture of the ticket structure by lengthening the life of the die used to punch the aperture. Otherwise the die could be subject to excessive wear by contacting the abrasive particles of the coating during the punching operation.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the ticket desirably contains several attachment apertures. These apertures are advantageously positioned so that when the ticket is folded to protect the magnetic coating, the apertures become aligned to facilitate attachment of the folded ticket to an item of merchandise or work in process.

Other aspects of the invention will become apparent after considering several illustrative embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A is a plan view of the front side of a multiple merchandising ticket in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 1B is a plan view of the reverse side of the ticket of FIG. 1A;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating one mode of attaching a single-part ticket in accordance with the invention to an item of merchandise;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating alternative merchandising tickets in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the front side of still another alternative ticket in accordance wit the invention;

FIG. 5A is a plan view of the front side of a further ticket in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5B is a plan view of the reverse side of the ticket ofFIG. 5A; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating one mode of attaching the ticket of FIGS. 5A and SE to an item.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS Turning to FIG. 1A of the drawings, a multisection ticket 10 in accordance with the invention illustratively has duplicate parts 10-1 and 10-2 carrying specified control information. Each part 10-1 or 10-2 is a triplex of three sections. Thus, there are six sections in the entire ticket. In general terms, such a ticket is multipart and multiplex.

Adjoining parts 10-1 and 10-2 of the ticket are interconnected by narrow land areas 11. Consequently, the ticket 10 can be formed from a stock of successively connected ticket parts by severing every other pair of land areas. One kind of severing leaves side notches 12 on the leading and trailing edges of the ticket, as shown in FIG. 1A. Alternatively, the ticket parts of the stock may be joined by an incised line and selectively severed by a blade. Accordingly, the number of parts in each resulting ticket is controllable by changing the sever position with respect to the ticket stock.

When the multipart ticket 10 is attached to an item, such as an item of merchandise, one part 10-1 or 10-2 can later be separated from the other for inventory control.

The specific sections of each part 10-1 or 10-2 are a header h, stub s and a tab t. These sections are detachable, one from the other, along incised lines 13-a and 13-h. Both the headers h and the stubs s are illustratively imprintable with lines of prescribed merchandising information, including, for example, (I) merchandise number, (2) category designation, (3) vendor designation, (4) color and (5) size. The tab t which can be regarded as another header, is also imprintable and illustratively specifies price.

Each header h includes an aperture 14 that permits the ticket 10 to be attached to an item of merchandise. Attach-ment is by stringing in conventional fashion or by using an attachment mechanism, such as that disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 which issued to A. R. Bone on Sept. I7, 1963.

The presence of an aperture 14 on each ticket part affords attachment flexibility. In addition, it provides a universal ticket part which can be used irrespective of whether the resulting ticket structure is single-part or multipart.

At least one of the headers h typically remains with the item of merchandise to which the ticket is initially attached, but its associated stub is detachable for various purposes, including the machine processing of merchandising information.

To permit the entry of machine readable information on the ticket structure without what often appears to be the random disfiguration caused by the punched code perforations, as well to increase the capability of the ticket for storing machine readable information, each stub s adapted for receiving machine readable information that is neither visually perccivable nor visually interpretable.

For that purpose the ticket 10 includes magnetizable material which is advantageously applied in the form of a coating 21 on the reverse side, as shown by FIG. 18. Since at least one of the headers I: generally remains with the item of merchandise to which the ticket is attached, the coating is confined to the stubs s.

The coating 21 can be of any of the conventional iron oxide compositions and thicknesses that have been found to be generally suitable for magnetic recording. Such compositions often have a brownish or other coloration, depending upon the oxide that is used. Consequently, the reverse side location of the coating also limits the extent to which the presence of the magnetizable material detracts from the appearance of the imprinted ticket.

In addition, the reverse side location of the coating permits imprinting over the corresponding front sides of the stubs s. Printing can take place without adverse affect upon the ability of the coating to store magnetic information by suitable coordination of the ticket material and the printing mechanism (not shown). For example, the thickness of the ticket material can be proportioned with respect to the operating parameters of the printing mechanism, such as applied pressure, to prevent embossing of the reverse side of the ticket. Any tendency for embossing to occur is reduced by using a hard-surfaced platen, such as of steel.

The fact that the magnetizable material of the ticket 10 in FIG. 1B is in the form of a surface coating 21 also facilitates magnetic recording, since it permits close contact with a recording unit (not shown). The recording unit is suitably positioned with respect to the coating 21 of each stub by making use of an aperture 22.

The location of each positioning aperture 22 with respect to its coating 21 as shown by FIG. 1B is particularly advantageous for circular recording in which a positioning spindle (not shown) at the center of rotation of the recording unit enters the aperture 22.

Each aperture 22 is sufficiently large that any stress imparted to its periphery by the spindle does not produce such a concentration of stress that there is rupture of the ticket material. As the recording unit rotates, code signals are stored in the coating 21, without mechanical penetration or depression of the coating, in a circular track centered at the radius of each head (not shown) of the recording unit. There are as many tracks as there are heads at different radii from the center of rotation.

To prevent inadvertent rotation of the ticket l0 during circular recording, the aperture 14 of the header h may be used in conjunction with a locating pin (not shown) to hold the ticket 10 in place.

Alternatively, the machine readable information may be applied by a non-circular recording unit, with one or both of the header and stub apertures 14 and 22 being used for registration of the ticket 10 with respect to the recording unit.

Besides being particularly suitable for circular recording, the merchandising ticket of FIG. 1A illustratively has a printing format that provides distinction between adjoining groups of equal-size characters, or accentuates the distinction between adjoining groups of unequal size characters. This format makes use of an offset by which adjoining groups of characters are either raised or lowered relative to the others. Thus, in each of the first and second lines of printing on the header h, the middle group of four characters is aligned below the others. As a result, the groupings of the characters are visually apparent without the need for spacing, special indexing characters, or differences in character size.

An appropriate marking machine for entering prescribed merchandising information on a ticket structure of the kind illustrated by FIGS. 1A and 1B is disclosed in the copending application of Richard Stucchi, Ser. No. 681,831, filed Nov. 9, 1967. In such a machine the tickets are fed over a bed to printing and recording stations. Feed takes place by reciprocating pawls (not shown) which engage feed notches of the headers h and the tabs t. In addition, the stubs contain edge notches 16 for accommodating a centrally located feed finger (not shown).

As the various sections of the ticket l0are detached during merchandising operations, there is the possibility that separation will not occur at the places desired, namely at the lands 11 or along the incised lines 13-a and 13-h. This is particularly true of the incised lines 13-a and 13-h and particularly objectionable if it occursthere since the result may be a delamination, tearing or peeling that could damage the coating 21 on the reverse side of the ticket 10.

In order that the position of separation along the incised lines 13-a and 13-h will be readily apparent, a side notch 17 is included at the beginning and at the end of each incised line l3-a or 13-h. The notches are triangular in form, with their bases aligned along the incised lines13-a and 13-h to provide a starter for each desired separation or detachment.

Theticket 10 of FIG. 1A can be attached to an item of merchandise by making use of one of the header apertures 14v alone. An alternative mode of attachment, making use of a stub aperture 22 as well, is shown for a single-part ticket 30 in FIG. 2A. The ticket 30 is the same as either part 10-1 or 10-2 of the ticket in FIG. 1A, and it can be produced from the same stock.

To permit this kind, of attachment, the header aperture 14 is located with respect to the stub aperture 22 so that the two apertures are aligned, but not necessarily concentric, when the header h is folded against the coating 21 of stub s, as shown by FIG. 2B. Consequently, a fastener 31 can be inserted through the apertures 14 and 22 with the item of merchandise, such as a portion of a garment 32 in FIG. 2A, sandwiched between two sections of the ticket 30.

The fastener 31 is desirably inserted through the garment 32 by the attacher disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,l03,666, above.

The mode of attachment depicted by FIGS. 2A and 28 gives additional protection to the magnetic coating 21 upon which the machine readable merchandising information has been entered. In addition, it facilitates the use of the attacher of US. Pat. No. 3,103,666, above, with various items, such as pocketbook handles, for which ticket attachment could otherwise be difficult.

In one technique for fabricating the ticket of FIG. 1B, the magnetic coating 21 is applied to the stub s, after which the positioning aperture 22 is punched through the stock. Since the coating 21 contains magnetic oxide particles, it produces an abrasive affect with respect to the punch (not shown). Consequently, it is advantageous for the coating to be applied to the stub s so that the area to be punched is un'coated. The resulting structure is shown for a single-part ticket 40 of FIG. 3A in which the coating 41 encloses the location of the positioning aperture 22 without making peripheral contact. When the punch is applied to the stub s to form the aperture 22, it does not encounter any iron oxide particles of the coating $1, and hence there is no abrasion from them.

As noted above, a ticket structure like that of FIG. 3A is particularly suitable for rotary recording in which machine readable information appears in the coating on circular tracks. Economy of the coating material is realized by adapting the ticket 411 of FIG. 3A to produce the ticket 40' of FIG. 3B.

In FIG. 3B the coating appears as concentric rings 42 and 43 of magnetizable material, there being one ring for each track. Where only a single track is required, only one ring 412 or 43 is needed.

A further embodiment of the invention is illustrated by FIG. showing a single-part ticket 50 with three sections which are, respectively, a header h, a first control stub s-1 and a second control stub s-2. The header h is imprinted with prescribed control information in, for example, two lines of characters that are shown in block form with the second line having an offset group of characters. The control stubs s-l and s-2 have reverse side magnetic coatings 21-1 and 21-2 and associated positioning apertures 22-1 and 22-2. The front sides of the control stubs s-1 and s-2 are illustratively imprinted with headings of the machine readable information received by the coatings 21-1 and 21-2. The various sections h, s-1 and s-2 are detachable, one

from another, beginning at notches of incised lines 13-0 and 13-b.

In use, the ticket 50 of FIG. 4 is attached to an item by using an aperture 14 of the header h, and the stubs s-l and s-2 are detached at successive control stations. Consequently, machine readable information about the item is available at the control stations, while the header h remains attached to the item for identification.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated by a ticket 611 shown in respective front and reverse views by FIGS. 5A and 5B. The ticket 60 is constituted of two control stubs s-1 and s-2 which are joined to a header h by an intermediate section i. The various sections are detachable along incised lines 13-a, 13-h and 13-0, with the incised line 13-0 between the control stubs s-1 and s-2 extending to side notches 61, each taking the form of a wedge. The header and control sections h, s-1 and s-2 are imprinted. In addition, as indicated by FIG. 5B, the control sections s-1 and s-2 bear magnetic coatings 21-1 and 21-2 and have recording head positioning apertures 22-1 and 22-2.

On the reverse side of the ticket 611, as shown by FIG. 5B, the intermediate section i has a fold line 62 that is straddled by two attachment apertures 14-1 and 14-2.

Consequently, the structure of FIGS. 5A and 5B is suitable for use as a booklet" ticket in the fashion indicated by FIG. 6. In that use, the ticket is folded along the line 62, so that the coatings 21-1 and 21-2 face the reverse side of the header h, and attached to an item by a fastener 63 which passes through the attachment apertures 14-1 and 14-2. The attachment apertures 14-1 and 14-2 are desirably located in the intermediate section i to be in alignment when the ticket 60 is folded. Such folding serves to protect the magnetically recorded control information both before and after attachment of the ticket 60 to an item of merchandise.

While various aspects of the invention have been set forth by the drawings, it is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is for illustration only and that various changes in shape, proportion, arrangement of parts, as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those shown and described, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A row of a plurality of control tickets coupled together by land areas, each of said tickets including a first section and at least one additional section, each of said first sections being adjacent to one another in a row and separated by an elongated slot formed between the land areas and along at least a portion of the side of each of the same adjacent first sections, and a layer of magnetizable material positioned over at least a portion of each of the first sections and extending to the slots at both sides of each of the first sections, each slot completely separating said portions having magnetizable material so that when the tickets are separated by a knife the magnetizable material layers do not have to be cut through.

2. A row of a plurality of control tickets according to claim l in which there is provided an aperture extending through the ticket and the magnetizable layer for receiving guide means associated with a magnetic recording means.

Claims (2)

1. A row of a plurality of control tickets coupled together by land areas, each of said tickets including a first section and at least one additional section, each of said first sections being adjacent to one another in a row and separated by an elongated slot formed between the land areas and along at least a portion of the side of each of the same adjacent first sections, and a layer of magnetizable material positioned over at least a portion of each of the first sections and extending to the slots at both sides of each of the first sections, each slot completely separating said portions having magnetizable material so that when the tickets are separated by a knife the magnetizable material layers do not have to be cut through.

2. A row of a plurality of control tickets according to claim 1 in which there is provided an aperture extending through the ticket and the magnetizable layer for receiving guide means associated with a magnetic recording means.

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