1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
Driver's ticket invention
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE YEARS Kilmarnock bus driver Forrester Dobson spent with Western SMT were certainly not wasted. For while driving, he came up with an idea for a revolutionary new ticket machine which now seems set for commercial suck cess.
His pneumatic power pack, which enables manual ticket punches to be worked automatically, is the result of five years of research and experiment. It is only a fraction of the size of the present automatic unit and, at around £60, less than half the price.
Mr Dobson said his idea was inspired by the problems of o-m-o buses. He began working on his machine at home and after a year produced a working model. At that time Mr Dobson was still a full-time bus driver and could only work on his invention for a few hours every Sunday.
Ticket machine manufacturers rejected his idea as impractical, but he managed to convince Western SMT that it had a future. He is now working full-time on the machine at the bus company's workshops in Kilmarnock.
Now the 75 units already manufactured are being tested all over the country. The next stage will be mass-production and Mr Dobson expects to meet opposition from established manufacturers.