Photo via L. Eckstein, All My Eyes
When I stumbled across this great blog All My Eyes today and spotted a post about gorgeous Argentinean bus tickets, naturally I had to keep reading. I wasn’t disappointed.
I have a personal interest in tickets; my great-grandfather Ruben Harry Helsel invented more than 45 different ticket dispensing machines between 1917 and 1958.
Photo by Angela Riechers
His Takacheck (above) is still a familiar sight anywhere people need a civilized way to take a number and wait their turn. (I wrote about my great-grandfather for a design research class taught by Steve Heller as part of SVA’s DCrit MFA program; you can see the finished book here.)
Tags: Graphic Design, industrial design, Ruben Harry Helsel, tickets
Hi Linda! I don’t know how you resisted buying that metal dispenser in Buenos Aires, it was pretty tempting. Tickets are just gorgeous things in general. As far as I can tell, my great-grandfather didn’t invent Turn-O-Matic, those seem to have happened in the 1970’s: http://ow.ly/XwgM.
But it’s interesting: if you search patent records for ticketing devices, many of Ruben Harry Helsel’s inventions are referenced in later patents filed by others. His was a life devoted to tickets. I am just a ticket appreciator!
Thanks for posting—stay in touch!
Angela
Hi Angela,
Glad you like the Buenos Aires bus tix. I’m a huge fan of tickets of all kinds and I’m delighted that their beauty isn’t lost on Takacheck’s great-granddaughter. Did he invent Turn-O-Matic by any chance? I featured a ticket from that dispenser on my Halloween post. http://allmyeyes.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-halloween-next.html.
I look forward to reading your book.
Best,
Linda