The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 26, 1977
Filed:
Apr. 02, 1975
Robert Fred Pfost, Los Altos, CA (US);
Eugene S Elkus, Atherton, CA (US);
Service Distributors, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US);
Abstract
A card having one or more magnetic strips is used by patrons to actuate laundry and vending machines and the like. An encoder at a central point is manually adjusted to 'print' a selected number of 'credit' pulses on the card strip and the card is sold to a patron. The patron inserts the card into a reader mounted on or near a laundry machine, vending machine, etc. The reader determines the number of pulses remaining on the strip, returns the card with one pulse erased and energizes a relay which starts the machine. Preferably, the reader displays the number of pulses on the card at time of insertion and those remaining after erasure.