CA1047210A - Step-shifted registration method of producing bingo booklets - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT
A method of producing booklets of tickets for playing the numbers game known, for example, as bingo involves belt printing a series of differently coloured webs. Serially arranged on the belt is a multiplicity of different printing plates, each of which is to print a plurality of tickets, each ticket having a combination of numbers dissimilar to the combination of any other ticket to be printed using the belt. The webs are identically printed simultan-eously during a rotation of the belt, and as they issue from their respective printing stations, the webs are effectively shifted longitudinally and are superposed such that (1) the impressions of the printing plates thereon are in substantially exact, superposed registry and (2) nowhere in the superposed webs is there a collation of superposed, registered impressions containing two or more impressions of the same printing plate. Having so superposed the webs, they are subjected to appropriate slitting and uniting operations to convert them into booklets of tickets.

Description

The invention is concerned with printing booklet~ of tombola or bingo tickets. The term "tombolan, ~trictly speaking, refers to the numbers game played in the U.K. and generally known ac BING0. The term "bingon, strlctly speaking, refers to the basically similar numbers game played in the U.S.A. In this specification, these two terms are used in their eorrect senses unless specirieally indieated to the contrary.
As 18 well known, a tombola ticket usually presents a printed grid having nine vertical columns Or rectangular boxes arranged in three horizontal row~.
Certain Or the boxes are numbered with different numbers printed on the tieket and the remainder are left blank.
Presupposedly, all the tombola players who purchase tiekets hsve a dirierent eombination Or an equal number of numbers on ea¢h ticket 80 as to have, with each ticket, an egual ehanee Or winning the game.
In one partieular exemplary set or sequence of tombola tiekets at present supplied to the Trade there are twel~e thousand difierent eombinations Or firteen difrerent numbers selected irom the numbers "one" to "ninety" lncluslve. The twelve thousand different combinations are printed on up to ten different colours of colour coded paper 80 as to give a sequence of tombola tiekets eonsl~ting o~ a maximum o~ one hundred and twenty thousand tiekets not one o~ which has both the same combination Or numbers and the same colour as any other ticket in the sequence. The tickets supplied to the trade are presented in booklet form, a~ "unitsn. A unit is a set or edition Or tickets which contains a maximum

- 2 -10~72~0 of one hundred and twenty thou~and dlfferent tlckets. A
booklet of tickets may compriæe ten tickets each printed on a paper of a different code colour. Twelve thousand such booklets make up the sald set o~ tickets, and the booklets are serially numbered irom "one" to "twelve thousand" inclusive. The purchaser of such a ten-tlcket booklet can partlclpate ln a sequence Or ten games. It 18 commonplace for the booklets to be supplled to the Trade ln strips of six booklets arranged one below another and ~oined along lines of perforations which enable the booklets to be~separated from one another by tearing.
Corresponding tlckets ln the six booklets are prlnted on paper oi the same code colour, and the six t~cket3 oi any partlcular colour code have, between them, all the numbers "one" to "nlnety"appearing. In this way any number called can be iound by a player buying a "strip of booklets" i.e. a group Or six booklets, on the six tickets Or any partlcular colour code in the strip. There are iive numbers in each horlzontal r~ on each ticket and one, two or three numbers in each vertlcal column on each ticket. Numbers irom "one" to "nine" lncluslve appsar in the first or left hand column, numbers from "ten"
to "nineteen~ lncluslve appear in the second column and 80 on up to the last or rlght hand column ln whlch appear the numbers from "eighty" to "nlnetyn.
At the present time, supposing one is producing a ~et o~ tombola tickets composed of one hundred and twenty thou~and dliferent tickets wherein twelve thousand diiierent number comblnations are printed on ten diiierent codes Or paper, the twelve thousand tickets oi each colour

- 3 -10~ 0 code are printed separately and 80 are covers with which the booklets of tickets are provided. The dif*erently coded tickets are then collated into booklet batches of ten tickets, one Or each code, and with numbered co~ers.
e booklets Or ten tickets and their covers are then collated into sets Or twelve thousand booklets, the sets each including one hundred and twenty thousand different tickets.
The printlng is carried out 80 as to produce the booklets ln a multiple Or groups of 8iX, i.e. in "strips" as above described with the correspondingly coded tickets showing all the numbers "one" to "ninetyn; and the productlon includes the steps Or stitching the booklets and per~orating the ~oins between the adJacent booklets of the "strip~" and between the ad~acent "strips"
themselves. Careful checking of the collations and Or the iinal sets Or twelve thousand booklets 18 neces~ary since the final sets are selected from a stock Or identlcally printed sheets printed in a given run, and more than one set Or twelve thousand booklets is made up at one and the same tlme from this stock.
This procedure iB time consuming and require~ a large number Or people to operate it with a consequent need for a considerable amount Or space.
Of course, it 18 not essential ~or the booklet always to contain ten differently-coded ~ickets: a greater or le~ser number is sometimes used, thu~ increasing or decrea~ing the total number of tickets in a corresponding full set of booklets. Thus, for playing a three game serie~, for instance, three-ticket booklet~ are needed.

10~72~0 A full set of three-ticket booklets supplied to the trade will then contain three times twelve thousand, orthirty-six thousand, different tickets.
It has also been proposed to print tickets on both sides. This not only saves paper but reduces the number of colours without reducing the total number of combinations because the tickets may readily be printed in such a way that it is always evident whether a particular combination of num-bers (e.g. fifteen numbers) on the ticket appears on the front or the back of the ticket.
The present invention broadly provides a method of producing a set of tombola or bingo ticket booklets each comprising differently coded tickets coded by code means other than the combinations of numbers printed on the tickets, to render each ticket readily distinguishable from the other tickets in the booklet, the booklets in the set having the coded tickets arranged in a predetermined code sequence order common to all the booklets and the method including the steps of ~a) identically printing the different game number com-binations to appear in the set of booklets on at least one side of each of a number of webs, the number of webs being determined by the number of tickets to be in each booklet, so that the printed webs are identical to one another save for said readily distinguishable rendering thereof, ~b) superposing the webs in the said predetermined code sequence order required of the tickets in the booklets upon a further web on which booklet covers have been printed, the identically-printed webs being superposed one upon another, lengthwise with their printed game number combinations in step-shifted registration, whereby any given printed game number combination on any one of the webs is offset longitudinally, with respect tothe length of the webs, from the same printed game number combination on all the other webs, and ~c) thereafter uniting the superposed webs and severing therefrom the required set of booklets, the step-shifted registration effected before uniting and then severing the webs result-ing in the game number combinations borne by the tickets in each booklet dif-fering from one another.

1047Z~0 The cover of each booklet may be printed on the coverweb or webs with a unique number within a predetermined range of numbers i.e. one to twelve thousand for a set of the booklets making up a complete sequence of tickets. Such a booklet set consitutes the aforementioned unit supplied to the trade.
The tickets are conveniently printed on the webs or web series so that the resulting booklets formed from the stepped superposed webs are organised in "strips" one below the other to form a "strip of booklets" and the corresponding tickets of the booklets of each "strip" have, between them, all the numbers "one" to "ninety" appearing.
Conveniently, also, the printed superposed webs are united by gluing to form the booklets along what may be regarded as the spine sides of the booklets.
The superposed webs in the strips of booklets, are perforated to render separation into individual booklets by tearing along linss of perforations.
A sequence of tickets bearing all the possible combinations of numbers can be produced by a method according to this invention wherein a single web is printed in a single continuous printing operation using a belt printing press to print the web in one pass or rota~ion of the belt. It might be preferred however to print a web in this fashion and thereafter cut the web lengthwise to form from it a series of printed webs which have to follow end-to-end, to form the said single web. Of course, such a series of webs might be printed separately but it is preferable to print the complete sequence of combinations in a single continous printing operation, since then only a single belt has to be used on the belt press and the belt or plates on the belt 10~7~0 do not have to be changed.
The term "belt" as used herein is to be understood to embrace: a support web incorporating printing plates either detachably mounted thereon or integrally formed therewith:
and a pair of drive cables or chains bridged at intervals along their lengths by printing plates.
A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: ~-Figure 1 is a front view of a "strip"~of tombola tickets as hereinbefore described; -Figure 2 is a rear view of the "strip" of tickets shown in Figure l;
Figure 3 illustrates a format of printed tickets;
Figure 4 diagrammatically illustrates the manner of printing applied to a web of paper;
Figure 5 is a further diagram illustrating a collat-ing and assembling operation;
Figure 6 is a diagram in perspective illustrating step-shifted registration of superposed, identically-printed webs; and Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating a printing scheme for a number of webs.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2 the method which is about to be described is for the production of the particular sequence of tombola tickets, the tickets 10 being printed on one side on different papers, coded for instance by colour, so as to give multiples of six thousand, fifteen-number combinations per paper. By using ten differently coloured papers, for example, the six thousand ~, .

~ 10~7210 combinations yield a sequence of ticket~ containing sixty thousand different tickets. Six thousand different number combinations can be co~veniently prlnted using a 200 ft.
printing belt. Where a ticket sequence of one hundred and twenty thousand different ticket~ are required to be provided on ten differently coloured papers, a 200 foot printing belt can still be used, but the plates thereon need to be replaced by different plate~ half way through.
That i8, the belt would be u~ed to print a first sequence of six thousand different number combinations and, after plate-changing, a second sequence of 5iX thou~and different number combinations. Alternatlvely, plate-changlng half way through could be avolded by utlllslng a belt twice as long (i.e. 400 feet) having twice the plate capacity.
Figures 1 and 2 show front and rear views of a booklet "strip" which i~ made up oi si~ booklets 11 ~oined together. The booklets 11 are consecutively numbered on thelr back covers 12, as shown ln Flgure 2. Each booklet contalns ten tickets 10 prlnted on ten dlfferently colour-coded papers, and in the six-booklet strip, the six tickets of any one colour code appear on a slngle ticket page of the "stripn. The six tickets of one colour code appearing on the front ticket page of the "strlp" are on view ln Figure 1, and, as may be seen, the arrangement of the number~, columns and rows 18 in accordance with the particular sequence of tombola tickets hereinbefore described. All the numbers between 1 and 90 are to be ~ound, therefore, on the illu~trated front ticket page.
The lndi~ldual booklets are ~oined along lines of perforations 14, so a~ to be separable from one another -1047Z1 ~
by tearing, and the tickets of each booklet are united a:Long a glue seam 15 at the le~t hand ~ide in Figure 1;
the said left hand side of each booklet 11 may be regarded a~ the splne of the booklet.
A printing belt ~or the six or twelve thousand different number combination tickets is produced, having plates to prlnt groups of thirty tickets 10 arranged as shown in Figure 3. The lllustrated group Or tickets is approximately 12 inches by 20 inches in overall dimension3.
One way of printlng twelve thousand different number combinations can, for example, involve printlng arrangements ~or two hundred of these groups of ticket~ 10, one hundred along each side Or the belt. This can be accomplished using a 200 ft. printing belt approxlmately 40 lns. wide.
The rir~t 8iX thow and number ¢omblnations of the twelve thousand dl~erent number comblnations are positloned on say the le~t hand slde o~ the belt and the remainlng ~ix thousand numb0r comblnations are posltioned on the rlght hand side of the belt.
The group of tickets shown ln Figure 3 comprises iive vertical columns each, containing six tickets 10 80 as to rorm a total of five "strip" ticket pages 20. Each tlcket page 20 has a page number thereon. In Figures 1 and 3, the page number is printed in the top left hand corner of each individual ticket for checking purposes.
For a similar purpose the different number comblnation tickets are indivldually numbered ~rom "one" to "twel~e thousand~ and conventionally the~e ticket number3 run consecutively ~rom top to bottom down each ~strip" ticket page 20. The ticket numbers are located at the top right _ g _ 10~ 0 hand corners of the individual tickets.
Where, as in the U.K. games are played involving fifteen number combinations of the numbers from 1 to 90, that is games of "tombola" as the term is used herein, the different number combina-tion tickets produced must be a multiple of six to produce strips of booklets containing six booklets, as herein described. If games involving twenty-five number combinations of the numbers 1 to 75 are played, as in the U.S.A. under the correct name "Bingo", then the different number combination tickets must be a multiple of three in this case to produce booklet strips containing three booklets.
Visible in Figure 3 are horizontal dashed lines 14 and vertical lines 14a: these represent lines of perforations and slit lines respectively. The perforations and slits are made sub-sequently and will be described hereinafter. Also shown are vertical shaded bands which represent glue lines 15 provided by gluing wheels to enable the pages of the end product to be stuck to one another.
It is arelatively straightforward matter to print and pro-duce sets of so-called "bingo-books" simultaneously alongside the tombola tickets and booklets. As known in the U.K., bingo books consist of a plurality of bound pages, each comprising a strip of six tear-off Tombola tickets. The pages of any one set of bingo books are all of the same colour. Bingo books having a full complement of pages may contain all the twelve thousand different number combinations which appear in the corresponding set of Tombola ticket booklets. The six ticket pages each have a stub end enabling them to be sewn, stapled or glued together during binding.
In order to best understand the way in which it is envisaged to produce both tombola ticket booklets and bingo books, _ 10 -~' the printing scheme will briefly be described. Associated with the printing belt are ten different stations to which ten differently coloured webs of paper can be fed. As the belt is moving, each one of the plates thereon passes from station to station and at each station the corresponding web is printed accordingly. This readily achieved automatic step-shifting of images is best illustrated in Figure 7. Ten printing stations 92 are positioned beneath printing belt 91. For purposes of illustration, plates for groups 44... 50, `
51, 52, 53 are shown at stations 10...4, 3, 2, 1. Thus, the webs are being simultaneously printed at ten serially arranged stations in step-shifted fashion so that at any aligned portions of the webs, different groups are in registry, as is also shown in Figure 7 on those portions of the webs to the right hand side of each web which have been printed. Following a complete pass of the belt, all the webs will be printed identically with a plurality of groups as -illustrated in Figure 3. By adding a further station (not shown), a further web could be printed in the same manner. From this further web the set of bingo books are made.
However, it is not essential to provide a further station, because on occasions some of the ten stations are not in use for printing tombola ticket booklets. This is because there may be a call to produce ticket booklets having less than ten ticket pages.
Suppose it is required to produce ticket booklets containing only eight ticket pages - for an eight game series. Then two of the stations are "free". If these stations are fed with appropriate webs and these webs are printed, then these two webs can be utilised to make two sets of bingo books.
For producing tombola booklets and related bingo books, it is convenient to supply the trade with multiples of six thousand dif-ferent number combinations, for instance the twelve thousand to which the specific example herein is directed. A set of bingo books whose ` ~ 's ~'1 ' .

10472~0 ticket pages each contain six indi~idual ticket~ will therefore have twelve thousand divided by BiX, or two thousand, pages. A two thousand page book would be extremely bulky and difficult to bind. Instead, the two ~ -thousand pages are divided into a plurality of volumes.
For example, each volume can contain 250 ticket pages.
A complete set of bingo books will then compri~e elght volumes.
The term "bingo" used in "bingo books" is not used in the strict sQnse referred to at the beginnlng o~
this specification, since the tickets in the~e books are ior playing the game correctly known as tombola. The tickets thus contain combinatlons of fifteen numbers selected from numbers 1 to 90 inclusl~e.
It wlll be recognised that the preparation of the tombola tlcket booklets involves printlng the cover~
12 for the individual booklets. Groups o~ individual covers 12 can be printed on a separate cover web, and the cover groups can each be arranged in a manner akin to that shown in Figure 3 for a group of tickets. The necessary printing Or the cover web can be accomplish~d with a separate belt or belt press with an ln-line numbcring print unit. This unit provides the booklet n~mber~ which are seen along the right-hand edge of the illu~tration ~een in Figure 2.
The concept of printlng groups of tlcket~
containing six thousand number comblnatlons in two r~ws on a 40 inch wide belt has been described earlier. The left hand row contains the first six-thousand number combinations and the right hand row contains the remaining 10~7210 six thousand number combination~.
The same concept can be applied to the printing of the cover web. A prlnted cover ~eb ready for uniting w11;h the colour coded webs will then have 200 succeeding grOUp8 of covers extending along the left hand side of the cover web. Another 200 groups will extend along the right hand side of the cover web. Considering the succQeding groups along the left hand side of the cover web; these will exhibit five, side-by-æide rows of covers -~ee Figure 3 for comparison. The numbering print unitoperates to nu~ber the individual co~er_ sequentially aq follows:-(left hand) Row 1 Row 2 Row 3 Row 4 Row 5 4801 to 6000 3601 to 4800 2401 to 3600 1201 to 2400 1 to 1200 The covers printed on the rlght hand side Or the cover web wlll be sequentlally numbered in a similar way Quch that these co~ers are numbered from 6001 to 12,000.
Referrlng now to Figure 4, there 1~ diagrammatic-ally indicated the way a web may be printed for producingthe tlcket~. The two horizontal lines 30, 31 represent a ~ingle web of paper whlch i8 subsequently slit longitud-inally into two ~eparate half-width web~. The web 30 from the left hand side Or the machine is printed with groups of tickets, see Figure 3, in the following manner:
Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 ... and so on to Group 200, while the web 31 from the right hand side of the machine i~ printed in this 3equence: Group 201, Group 202 ... and so on to Group 400. The webs 30, 31 can be Joined endwise to form a narr~w, single web so that when run end-to-end, 10~72~0 Groups 1 to 400 appear in numerical sequence. The numbers ~ust assigned to the Groups are provided for ease of understanding only.
Ten webs of paper of the ten different colour codes are printed ln the same way and the webs ~lit longitudinally in two.
As aforesaid the printing operation can be conducted in ~uch a way that the moving belt prints a first web, then a second web, and 80 on through the series of webs in turn.
The ten tlcket webs and the single oover web are then collated and assembled. Thus referring to Figure 5 the webs indicated by the reference numerals 41 to 51 are 80 fed that the webs are superposed one upon another, web 41 being on top of the web 42 and 80 on going from left to rlght in Figure 5 with web 51 at the bottom. The latter web 18 the web from which the booklet covers 12 are ultimately obtained.
The webs are registered in superposed off-set relationship, whereby the groups printed on web 41 overlie the groups prlnted on web 42, which in turn overlie the groups printed on web 43, and 80 on. The off-set relationship is such that the group~ are disposed with respect to one another as follows:
Web 41 Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 ...... and so on Web 42 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 ...... and 80 on Web 43 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 ...... and 80 on Web 44 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 ...... and 80 on Web 45 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 ...... and ~o on Web 46 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 ...... and 80 on 10~72~0 Web 4? Group 7 Group 8 Group 9 ... and so on Web 48 Group 8 Group 9 Group 10 ... and so on Web 49 Group 9 Group 10 Group 11 ... and so on Web 50 Group 10 Group 11 Group 12 ... and so on Web Sl The arrangement is illustrated in Figure 6 wherein but three webs and three groups in each web are illustrated for purposes of clarity.
The portion of the tabulation above that is illustrated as:
Web 41 Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Web 42 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Web 43 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 This offset superposition relationship ensures Group 10 printed on web 50, for instance, is never overlaid by the same Group printed on any of the other webs 41 to 49. This relationship is equivalent to that achieved by arranging the webs so that the ten Group lO's are -stacked one on top of another, then shifting webs 41 to 49 longitu-dinally one step, that is by 12 inches, to stack nine Group 9's on the Group 10 of web 50, then shifting webs 41 to 48 longitudinally -again one step to stack eight Group 8's on the Group 9 and Group 10 of webs 49 and 50 respectively. This step-shifting process is repeated until Groups 1 .......... 10 of webs 41 .......... 50 are stacked one on top of another, Groups 2 .. ........11 of webs 41 .. ........50 like-wise and so on as suggested by the above tabulation. The step-shifted registration of the Groups just elaborated ensures that in a complete set of 12,000 booklets, any particular fifteen number combination of a particular colour code appears once only. It will be appreciated that the step-shifted registration is such that the number combina-tions borne by the tickets in each booklet differ :Erom one another.
The superposed printed webs are glued and slit or cut so that from each stack of ten Groups are formed ten strips of booklets, perforated ready for separation into ten six booklet strips and stacking in proper .

numerical order. Thus, the collating and assembling apparatus includes glulng wheels 60a to 60k for applying lines 15 of hot melt glue to all the webs except web 41, the glue lines extending longitudinally o~ each wsb at the relevant positions across the web. The wsbs are fed through one or more of the sets Or pinch roller~ 61b to 61k inclusive to unite the webs at the glue lines.
Apparatus 71 is provided for perforating the superposed webs along the ~oin lines oi the individual booklets, that 18 ior periorating lines along the horizontal dashQd lines 14 oi Figure 3, and ior slitting along the vertical ~oin lines 14a between ad~acent six-booklet "stripsn, apparatw 70 is provided. Thus, apparatus 70, which succeeds apparatus 71, serves to ~ever the united webs into six booklet strips along the vertical lines 14a.
In the above described method, each web is printed with a plurality oi sequentlally arranged groups, each oi which is arranged in the manner suggested by Figure 3. Thus, each group comprises a plurality oi individual tickets printed in rows across the web and columns along the web. The prlnted tickets are disposed with thsir longer dimensions extending laterally with respect to the ~eb. As particularly described with reference to Figure 4, the sequentially arranged groups extend along the single web in two side-by-side bands, respecti~rely containing groups 1 ~o 200 and 201 to 400.
The web is subsequently severed in hal~ lengthwise into a pair of webs that are subsequently arranged end-to-end enabling the groups 1 to 400 to be presented in turn for superposition in appropriate step-shiited regi~try with ~047210 group5 of the other coded webs, as explained in detall hereinbefore. Each group i8 SO printed that the printed tickets thereof are separable into "strips" of several - -tlckets. Each strip has all the numbers ~one" to "ninety"
appearing.
The apparatus may further include means for marking the overlap delivery on the co~er sheetsin 25~8 or 50'8.
The apparatus in Figure 5 may further include a cover numbering unit and moreover an overprinting unit 80 ior overprinting the covers printed on web 51 to take account of different language requirements, when producing tombola booklets for foreign markets.
Upon dellvery there now remains the sequential ~rapping and packlng in such rorms as required, and thls i8 readlly achie~ed by currently adopted procedures or in any other convenient way.
Instead of using paper of ten different coded colours to form the webs 41 to 50, white paper webs could be used overprinted to tint or mark each web with a different colour or pattern or combination of colour and pattern 80 a~ to code all the webs and render them readily dl~tinguishable from one another.
Any known or convenient meQns may be employed to maintain the 3uperposed webæ in correct ~tepped register during the collating and assembling step~.
The advantages of the method of producing set~ of tombola tickets which has been de~cribed are th~t there i8 no need to ~tore printed gathers of sheets or web3 ~or ~ubsequent use. Instead, production and delivery ~ 047210 of individual tombola set~ can be effected in turn and at short notice. Storage space is therefore eliminated together with a large labour force.
I have deæcribed a method which presently i~
th~ most con~enient, and which lnvolves se~ering the as prlnted webs in half lengthwi~e. Concei~ably, the neQd to sever could be eliminated ii the printing belt were made twice as long 80 a~ to contain 400 plates arranged in line, one ~ollowing another.
For security reason~, some markets demand that every ticket ~hall have an identifying number printed on its obverse. Australia is one such market. The require-ment 18 ~or all tickets of a gi~en code in a "unit" (or edition of tickets which are supplied to the trade a~
mentioned at the beginnlng of the specirication) to have the same number. This number must be different from (1) the ldentifying number applied to the tickets oi a different code in the same "unitn, and (2) the identifying number applied to the tickets of the same given code in any other "unitn. As an example, during a Tombola session, a game may be in progress employing blue-coded tickets Or identiiying number "xn. The person claiming to have won the blue game must produ¢e his winnlng ticket and thls must bear identlfying n~mber "xn. The identifying number will help defeat the cheat ~ho may produce a blue ticket having the same numbsr combination but whlch has identlfyi~g ~umber "Y" corresponding to a ticket issued for a game held sometime ln the past.
The present method extends to the printing of identifylng numbers on the ob~er~e of the tickets printed.

10~7210 This could conceivably be accomplished by taking each printed web received from the belt printer and feeding it into another printing press. Such a procedure would be very cumbersome, however, and in practice would complicate subsequent collation and checking. Doubt-Less costly errors would from time to time arise. -The preferred procedure is to place adjacent the belt a numbering unit for each different web to be printed by the belt, and to advance each numbering unit appropriately once for every complete rotation of the belt.
Suppose a belt printing press is used which can, in one revolution, print 400 Groups of 30 different tickets, and the intention is to make a multiplicity of three-ticket booklets -i.e. for three-game series. For this purpose, blue, green and yellow webs are to be printed by the belt at stations A, B and C.
Adjacent each of these stations there is an obverse-numbering unit a, b, c, as illustrated by way of example, in Figure 7 at the stations "1", "2" and "3". Of course, stations "4" through "10" - -would be open stations in this one example. The first revolution of the belt will print Edition (Unit) I, and the blue web of that Edition will be numbered 1 by numbering unit a on its obverse, in registry with each of the 400 x 30 tickets printed thereon.
Meanwhile, the green and yellow webs are similarly printed by units _ and c with numbers 2 and 3 respectively.
As the belt begins its second revolution, during which Edition (Unit) II is printed, numbering units a, _ and c are tripped to advance them each by three. The obverse of each ticket on the blue web will now be printed by a with number "4", the green web by b with ~':

^ ~()47210 number "5" and the yellow web by c with number "6n. Then, the numbering unlts are again tripped to ad~ance them by three as the belt starts its next revolution. This procedure i8 repeated until the print~ng for all the required Editions or Units has been accomplished.
It will be recognised that all the obverse-numbering unit~ are advanced a constant amount each belt revolution, the amount equalling the number of ticket pages that are to be in each booklet. When producing ten-ticket booklets, therefore, the obverse-numbering units advance as follo~s:-unit a prints unit b prints unit c print~
_ 1st Revolution 1 2 3 2nd Revolution 11 12 13 3rd Revolutlon 21 22 23 4th Revolutlon 31 .... and 80 on, _ 20 -

Claims (17)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of producing a set of tombola or bingo tickets booklets each comprising differently coded tickets coded by code means other than different combinations of game numbers printed on the tickets, to render each ticket readily distinguishable from the other tickets in the booklet, the booklets in the set having the coded tickets arranged in a predetermined code sequence order common to all the booklets and the method including the steps of (a) identically printing the different game number combinations to appear in the set of booklets on at least one side of each of a number of webs, the number of webs being determined by the number of tickets to be in each booklet, so that the printed webs are identical to one another save for said readily dis-tinguishable rendering thereof, (b) superposing the webs in the said predeter-mined code sequence order required of the tickets in the booklets upon a fur-ther web on which booklet covers have been printed, the identically-printed webs being superposed one upon another, lengthwise with their printed game number combinations in step-shifted registration, whereby any given printed game number combination on any one of the webs is offset longitudinally, with respect to the length of the webs, from the same printed game number combina-tion on all the other webs, and (c) thereafter uniting the superposed webs and severing therefrom the required set of booklets, the step-shifted registra-tion effected before uniting and then severing the webs resulting in the game number combinations borne by the tickets in each booklet differing from one another.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein cover printing of the further web is conducted simultaneously with the printing of all the identically prin-ted ticket webs.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover printed for each booklet is printed on the further web with a unique number within a predeter-mined range of numbers for a set of booklets making up a complete set of the tickets.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the united webs are severed into strips each comprising a plurality of booklets detachably joined one be-low the other to form a strip of booklets, and the tickets of any given code of the booklets forming each strip have between them all the numbers callable in the course of a tombola or bingo game.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the superposed webs are per-forated subsequent to the printing operation to facilitate detachment of indi-vidual booklets, from each strip of booklets, by tearing along lines of per-forations.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identically printed webs and the further web are united by gluing.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein all the different game number combinations to appear as tickets in the set of booklets are printed on each web in a single continuous printing operation using a belt printing press dur-ing one pass of the belt.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the tickets printed on each web are disposed in longitudinally extending bands thereon, the web being thereafter cut longitudinally into a series of narrower webs each containing a single band, and the series of narrower webs being arranged to follow one another end-to-end.

9. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the tickets are printed on each web in a plurality of groups arranged sequentially upon the web, each group comprising a plurality of individual tickets printed in rows and columns.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the groups are printed in two bands extending alongside one another on each web, the web thereafter be-ing cut lengthwise to form two narrower webs which are arranged to follow one another end-to-end.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the printing of each group is so accomplished that the printed tickets thereof are separable into strips of several tickets, all the numbers callable in the course of a tombola or bingo game appearing on the face of each strip.

12. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the superposition of the identically group-printed coded webs in such that the first coded web, having groups 1, 2, 3 ..., is in step-shifted registry with the identical groups 1, 2, 3 of the second coded web, the step-shifting bringing the group 1 of the first web into registry with group 2 of the second web, group 2 of the second web being in step-shifted registry with group 3 of the third coded web, and so on.

13. A method according to claim 7, wherein the different game number com-binations to appear in repeat sets of booklets are identically printed on one side only of each of a plurality of differently-coded webs, whereby each number combination printed corresponds to a ticket in a booklet, and the method fur-ther includes the step of printing on the obverses of the webs an identifying number in registry with every ticket number combination printed thereon, the identifying numbers for all the webs being changed after each successive com-plete pass of the belt, and each web printed during a single pass of the belt having a unique identifying number different from that of the other webs prin-ted simultaneously therewith, the said number appearing on all the ticket num-ber combinations of that web.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the identifying numbers are printed by numbering units, individual to each web, located adjacent each web-printing station, and the method involves advancing the numbers printed there-by after each pass of the belt by an amount equal to the number of webs being simultaneously printed.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1, further including the simultaneous printing and assembling of tickets bearing number combinations into articles known as bingo books.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein the different number game combinations to appear in a single set of booklets are identically printed on one side only of each of a plurality of differently-coded webs, whereby each number game combination printed corresponds to a ticket in a booklet, and the method further includes the step of printing on the obverses of the webs an identifying number in registry with every ticket number combination printed thereon, each web having a unique identifying number different from that of the other webs and the said number appearing on all the ticket number combinations of the web.

17. A method of producing a set of ticket booklets wherein each booklet has a series of coded tickets arranged in a predetermined sequential fashion which is the same for every booklet in the set but wherein any one ticket in any one booklet bears a coding which is different from every other ticket in the entire set comprising the steps of producing a predetermined number of identically printed webs, each web being printed with a plurality of individu-ally distinguishable coded indicia, each conforming to a coded ticket; super-posing said plurality of identical webs one above the other and longitudinally displacing the identical indicia on adjacent webs with respect to each other whereby any selected identical indicia of any two superposed webs are out of superposed registry with one another; and uniting the webs together followed by severing the united webs in predetermined fashion into the desired set of ticket booklets.