A Setright Machine is a machine operated by a conductor or guard for issuing bus tickets from a blank paper roll.
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A Setright can print any value and could easily deal with changes in fares. A set of concentric dials on the top is used to set the value and levers can set different fares (such as "Adult" or "Child") and other vital information (such as "Inbound" or "Outbound").
Some machines also included a ticket punch attached to the top corner of the case (illustrated).
Only a single paper roll is needed and, unlike other multi-roll machines, this roll does not need to be replaced or re-printed if ticket prices change.
The machines are reliable and unlikely to jam. A distinctive whirring noise is made as each ticket is issued.
Australian engineer Henry Roy Setright patented his ticket machine in 1922 and the company Setright Registers Ltd. was formed to manufacture them. In 1955 it occupied Eastway Works, Eastway, Hackney Wick, London E9 and later moved in 1967 to the Fairfield Works, Fairfield Road, Bow, London E3, suitably adjacent to the London Transport bus garage, although LT used the Gibson Machine (produced by Ticket Equipment Ltd, based on the TIM system). The Company moved its main operation to Belfast in 1965[1] Noteworthy were the vibrant export sales to the former communist countries of Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic where Setright machines were to be found everywhere. In contrast the marque was unknown in the former West Germany.[2]
In Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic, these machines were also occasionally used in other areas e.g. in river ship transport, or for entrance tickets (Koněprusy Caves, Lhota swimming lake etc.).