Patent ID: 6772870
Filing Date: 2004-08-10
Classification: G07D

Abstract:
An apparatus for counting and sorting tokens comprising:a rotary disc having an upper surface for supporting tokens supplied thereto, the disc being rotatable manually or by a driver; a generally arcuate token transfer track extending along an outer circumference of the rotary disc and including one token transfer inlet for receiving the tokens across the outer circumference of the rotary disc; a plurality of sorting holes formed in the token transfer track for successively sorting and dropping the tokens in an order of increasing diameters as the tokens are transferred from an upstream side toward an downstream side in a transfer direction; removable collecting and storing means arranged below the sorting holes for collecting and storing the tokens sorted; an annular transfer belt disposed above the outer circumference of the rotary disc for rotation together with the rotary disc to transfer the tokens while pressing the tokens against a surface of the token transfer track; a token discerner provided in the token transfer track between the token transfer inlet and a sorting hole located at a most upstream position in the transfer direction for counting the tokens and determining diameters of the tokens; a controller for calculating results obtained by the token discerner; a display for displaying the calculated results which include the count of tokens for each kind and a total count of the tokens; and switching means for switching between a normal counting mode and a batch processing mode, the batch processing mode providing an adjustable preset value for a token count or a sum to temporarily interrupt the token transfer to the sorting holes when the preset value is attained; wherein the controller performs the normal counting mode or the batch processing mode in accordance with switching of the switching means.