TIM printer
A TIM printer is a portable mechanical ticket printer . It made it possible to sell different types of tickets to passengers without having to carry a wide range of pre-printed tickets that had to be stamped or otherwise marked by hand when they were issued.
Manufacturer
The name TIM printer is derived from Ticket Issue Machine . The first models were produced from 1931 by the English company Setright for ticket sales on the London tram and bus routes. The later from the company Ticket Issue Machines Ltd. However, the ticket printers produced were far more successful. The Plessey company manufactured printers under license, and from the late 1970s production was carried out by an Indian company.
function
The TIM printers were equipped with an unprinted roll of paper. The fare could be set on the device with a dial . Further settings were also possible via levers, knurled wheels , rotary counters or directly on the printing unit , such as B. the valid tariff zone , the current section, the line number , the date and time or a consecutive number. After actuating a hand crank attached to the device (later also by means of an external electric motor), this information was transferred to the paper roll via a permanently installed cliché via an ink roller. The ticket created in this way was issued by the device and could then be torn off. On the back of the TIM printer was a counter for the number of tickets sold, but there were also models with several counters for the price levels issued.
commitment
Until the Second World War , TIM printers were mainly used in Great Britain, after which they were also used on a larger scale in other countries. Electronic ticket printers ushered in the end of the TIM printers.
The printers were widespread in the greater Hamburg area in the trams and buses of the Hamburger Hochbahn and the Hamburg-Holstein transport company , on the HADAG ships and on the AKN trains . TIM printers are no longer in use in Germany; most recently they were used in the airport buses of the Jasper company in Hamburg until after 2002 .
Web links
- fahrscheinwesen.de - More detailed information on TIM printers
- bob-mockford.co.uk - Bus Museum with lots of pictures of ticket printers