Hand held printed ticket reader comprising a rectilinearly moving scanning lens

Claim 2

A hand held photo-optical printed mark document reader comprising: a housing which is located by hand on a document to be read and which substantially excludes extraneous light and is provided with an opening or window for viewing a document to be read; a light source in said housing positioned to illuminate, through said window, a document over which the reader is placed; an array of photoelectric detectors positioned in alignment to receive, through a lens a line of images simultaneously from the document to be read; a lens situated between said window and said detectors and arranged to be movable essentially rectilinearly said lens operable to scan and focus printed images onto said photoelectric detectors; manual means for moving said lens so that information on the document to be transmitted to said photoelectric detectors is scanned by the lens while said photoelectric detectors are held stationary with respect to said document; and means for electronically converting the impulses which are generated by the printed marks on the document to be read and which are received by said photoelectric detectors.

Claim 3

A hand held photo-optical printed mark document reader comprising: a housing which substantially excludes light said housing provided with a document viewing opening and being adapted to be positioned by hand over and to cover a document to be read; a light source contained in the housing contiguous to the document viewing opening to illuminate the document to be read; a photo-optical detector array positioned in the housing in alignment to receive simultaneously images from an entire line of printed marks on a document over which the housing is placed; a movable light shade disposed between said light source and said photo-optical detector array and provided with a lens mounting opening therein; a lens to focus printed images from a document to be read onto said photocell array, secured in the opening in said light shade and arranged to be movable essentially rectilinearly over a document to be read; manually actuated means for moving said lens in a direction substantially perpendicular to the projected path of images so that said lens scans and focuses onto said photo-optical detector array sequentially line-by-line information printed on a document to be read while said array is held stationary with respect to said document; and means for electronically converting impulses generated by the printed marks on the document to be read and sensed by the photo-optical cells in said array.

Claim 4

A hand held photo-optical printed mark document reader comprising: a housing which substantially excludes light said housing provided with a document viewing opening and being adapted to be positioned by hand over and to cover a document to be read; a light source contained in the housing contiguous to the document viewing opening to illuminate the document to be read; a photo-optical detector array positioned in the housing in alignment to receive simultaneously images from an entire line of printed marks on a document over which the housing is placed; a movable light shade disposed between said light source and said photo-optical detector array and provided with a lens mounting opening therein; a lens to focus printed images from a document to be read onto said photocell array, secured in the opening in said light shade and arranged to be movable essentially rectilinearly over a document to be read; manually actuated means for moving said lens in a direction substantially perpendicular to the projected path of images so that said lens scans and focuses onto said photo-optical detector array sequentially line-by-line information printed on a document to be read while said array is held stationary with respect to said document; and means for electronically converting impulses generated by the printed marks on the document to be read and sensed by the photo-optical cells in said array.

Claim 5

The reader of claim 2 wherein the light shade comprises a flexible sheet horizontally mounted on spaced rollers.

Claim 6

The reader of claim 3 wherein at least one of said rollers is connected to gear members and a rack member connected to and arranged to drive said gear member.

Claim 7

The reader of claim 2 wherein the light shade comprises a pendulum unit comprising spaced side members which are substantially opaque to light and a lens support pivotally mounted at the bottom of said side members.

Claim 8

The reader of claim 5 wherein the pendulum unit housing the leNs is held at one extreme of its scan by spring compression and by further compression of said spring said lens housed in the pendulum unit is carried across the information to be scanned.

Claim 9

The reader of claim 1 which incorporates a reflector element which picks up the images from the document to be read and reflects said images at approximately a 90* angle through said movable lens to said detector array.

Claim 10

The reader of claim 7 wherein the lens is mounted in a carrier for movement in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of a printed document to be read.

Claim 11

The reader of claim 8 wherein said lens carrier is located centrally in said housing and is actuated against the force of a return spring by a lever which is pivotally mounted near the end of said housing opposite to the end of said housing provided with said window.