Importance

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Abstract

A credit card telephone station adapted to permit the initiation of telephone calls in response to the movement of a credit card having a stripe of magnetic characters on one face thereof past a magnetic card reader includes a housing for containing a telephone receiver-transmitter and circuit means including a magnetic card reader for enabling a call to be made. A telephone handset and supporting hook switch is provided and dial means accessible from the exterior of the housing is utilized for dialing calls. The telephone station includes a credit card receiving slot structure having an open edge accessible from outside the housing to permit a magnetic stripe containing portion of the credit card to be moved along a slot while manually gripped by a user. The slot structure includes a pair of spaced apart sidewalls, one of said walls having a window defined along a longitudinal path of movement for the credit card. The slot structure also includes a guide means between the walls adapted to be engaged by a longitudinal side edge of a credit card for guiding the card so as to align the stripe of magnetic characters to pass in front of the window for reading by the magnetic card reader which is positioned in front of the window. The slot structure includes a credit card receiving end portion wherein portions of the sidewalls diverge outwardly toward the open edge so as to facilitate the easy insertion of the card laterally inwardly into the slot so that one edge of the card engages the guide in readiness for movement of the card along the path toward the card reader. The guide means also includes an outwardly sloping cam surface adjacent an opposite, exit end of the slot for camming the card outwardly of the open slot after passage of the card beyond the card reader to facilitate withdrawal of the card from the slot structure by the user.

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First Claim