Ticket machine; Gibson ticket machine No 366940 and case together with supporting documents, 1993

First introduced in 1953, the Gibson ticket machine became the most widely used of all those used on London Transport (L.T.) vehicles. This is the last ever Gibson machine officially used by L.T it issued the last ticket on 21 August 1993. The Gibson had many advantages over the old bell punch system. It left the conductor's hands free and, once the dials on the machine were set, it was possible to remove tickets very rapidly. The machine printed tickets on blank paper, which saved on printing costs, and internal counters made the system virtually fraud-proof. At its height, there were some 15,000 Gibson machines in operation, consuming between them about 150,000 miles of paper every year.