Coin sorting apparatus

The invention provides an apparatus for separating one specified kind of coins from a plurality of coins including various kinds of coins. To this end, a coin sorting apparatus in accordance with the invention is characterized by a sort-out opening formed on a surface of a coin guideway downstream with respect to a coin identifying device; a rotor having an axis about which the rotor is rotatable, which rotor having a larger diameter portion having elevation equal to or slightly higher than the coin guideway and a smaller diameter portion having elevation lower than the coin guideway, the axis lying substantially beneath the center of the sort-out opening and under the coin guideway, the axis parallel to the coin guideway and normal to the coin feeding direction; and a controller for controlling the rotation of the rotor so that the larger diameter portion of the rotor aligns with the coin guideway when coins belonging to a first group are fed to the sort-out opening and the smaller diameter portion of the rotor forms a gap between the rotor and the coin guideway when coins belonging to a second group are fed to the sort-out opening.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an apparatus for sorting coins by 
determining the face value of coins and examining the genuineness of coins 
and dropping coins through a sort-out opening other than those of the 
determination it is desired to retain. 
PRIOR ART 
Two types of coin sorting apparatus are conventionally and mainly used. One 
measures outer diameters of coins in order to drop undesired coins into an 
opening in accordance with the outer diameters so as to retain desired 
coins, the other determines the face values of coins by means of a 
suitable identifying means, such as means for measuring outer diameters of 
coins or means for detecting alloy of coins, and accordingly controls a 
gate at an opening for dropping other coins thereinto than those desired 
to retain so as to sort coins( for instance, see Japanese Patent Public 
Disclosure No. 59-172090 and Utility Model Public Disclosure No. 2-18182). 
In an apparatus for sorting coins by measuring outer diameters of coins, it 
is difficult to correctly sort coins if they have only slight differences 
in the outer diameters thereof. In addition, in this apparatus, coins are 
usually sorted disadvantageously in the order from larger to smaller 
diameters of coins or in the converse order. 
On the other hand, in the apparatus for sorting coins by controlling a 
gate, as far as the gate is appropriately controlled to open or close, 
coins are correctly sorted without failure. Furthermore, this apparatus 
can sort coins advantageously depending on the face values thereof in any 
order the operator desires. However, since this apparatus operates a gate 
to sort coins, exact timing of opening or closing of the gate is required 
to avoid jamming and incorrectly sorting coins. For this end, it is 
necessary to feed coins with a predetermined separation therebetween in 
order to operate the gate appropriately. Accordingly, this apparatus has 
the problem that the feeding speed cannot be increased over a specific 
speed. 
In the gate device for sorting coins disclosed in Japanese Public 
Disclosure No. 59-172090, in particular FIGS. 7 and 8, a gate is provided 
in a sort-out opening formed on a coin guideway. This gate is arranged to 
be rotatable up and down about an axis disposed at the end of the sort-out 
opening, which end is disposed at the downstream in the coin feeding 
direction. When the gate is situated in the plane defined by the coin 
guideway, coins being fed pass on the top surface of the gate, while when 
the gate rotates upward and stays there, coins being fed fall into the 
sort-out opening as guided downward by the bottom surface of the gate. 
Thus, coins are separated into two groups depending on the face values. 
However, this gate system has problems as described hereinafter. For 
instance, suppose that coins are fed continuously, and that a first fed 
coin is intended to pass on the top surface of the gate and a following 
fed coin is intended to guide into the sort-out opening along the bottom 
surface of the gate. In this case, though the gate is intended to drive 
upward for guiding the following fed coin into the sort-out opening, it is 
not possible to drive the gate upward since the first fed coin is being 
fed on the top surface of the gate and is being pressed against the top 
surface by the coin feeding belt. Accordingly, it is not possible to drop 
the following fed coin through the sort-out opening. Next, suppose that a 
first fed coin is intended to be guided into the sort-out opening along 
the bottom surface of the gate and a following fed coin is intended to 
pass on the top surface of the gate. In this case, the gate is kept upward 
to guide the first fed coin into the sort-out opening. Then, when the gate 
is driven downward for passing the following fed coin on the top surface 
of the gate, if the timing of driving the gate downward is too early, the 
rear end of the first fed coin may be interposed between the tip end of 
the gate and the sort-out opening since the first fed coin is being fed 
under the bottom surface of the gate. Thus, it causes coin jamming. On the 
other hand, if the timing of driving the gate downward is too late, the 
following fed coin as well as the first fed coin is introduced into the 
sort-out opening. This also causes coin jamming because the forward 
portion of the following fed coin may be clamped between the tip end of 
the gate and the sort-out opening. 
Such coin jamming is caused by the fact that the gate is pivoted so that a 
locus of the gate intersects the coin guideway. Therefore, the gate system 
in which the locus of the gate does not intersect the coin guideway while 
the gate is pivotting is suggested, for instance in Japanese Utility Model 
Public Disclosure 2-18182, in particular FIG. 12. 
In this gate system, a sort-out opening is provided on a coin guideway and 
a gate is provided in the sort-out opening. The gate is arranged to be 
rotatable up and down about an axis disposed at the end of the sort-out 
opening, which end is disposed upstream with respect to the coin feeding 
direction. When the gate is in its first position wherein the gate lies in 
a plane defined by the coin guideway, coins fed pass over the top surface 
of the gate. When the gate is in its second position wherein the 
downstream portion of the gate descends under the coin guideway, coins fed 
slides down along the top surface of the gate into the sort-out opening. 
Thus, coins fed are separated into two groups. 
This gate system has advantages over the aforementioned gate system since 
the locus of the gate does not intersect the coin guideway. For instance, 
suppose that two or more coins are continuously fed and that a first fed 
coin is intended to pass the top surface of the gate disposed in its first 
position and a following fed coin is intended to fall into a sort-out 
opening along the top surface of the gate disposed in its second position. 
If the first fed coin has passed most of the sort-out opening, it is 
advantageously possible to drop the following fed coin into the sort-out 
opening along the top surface of the gate without the first fed coin 
dropping into the sort-out opening, even if the gate moves to the second 
position, since the coin is pressed with a certain force against the coin 
guideway by the coin feeding belt. 
On the other hand, suppose that the first fed coin is intended to fall into 
the sort-out opening and the following fed coin is intended to pass over 
the sort-out opening on the top surface of the gate. In this case, when 
the gate is driven to pivot upward for passing the following fed coin over 
the sort-out opening on the top surface of the gate, the first fed coin is 
sliding down along the top surface of the gate. Therefore, if the timing 
of driving the gate upward is too early, the rear portion of the first fed 
coin is clamped between the tip end of the gate and the sort-out opening. 
This causes coin jamming. 
On the other hand, if the timing of driving the gate upward is too late, 
the following fed coin as well as the first fed coin is introduced into 
the sort-out opening, so that the forward portion of the following fed 
coin is clamped between the tip end of the gate and the sort-out opening. 
This also causes coin jamming. 
As aforementioned, the conventional gate system is not always able to 
correctly sort the coins being fed continuously since the gate has to be 
operated with the exact timing. In addition, it is necessary to feed coins 
with a predetermined separation therebetween in order to sort the coins 
correctly. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a coin sorting 
apparatus which is capable of sorting coins exactly without coin jammings 
even if coins are fed continuously. 
According to the present invention, the above and other objects can be 
accomplished by a coin sorting apparatus comprising: coin sending out 
means for receiving a plurality of various kinds of coins and sending out 
the coins one by one therefrom; a coin guideway extending from the coin 
sending out means; a coin feeding belt for pressing the coins sent out 
from the coin sending out means against the guideway to feed the coins; 
coin identifying means for grouping the coins fed by the feeding belt into 
a first and a second group in accordance with the face values of the 
coins, whereby the coins are sorted into each kind in accordance with the 
identification of the coin identifying device, characterized by: a 
sort-out opening formed on a surface of the coin guideway downstream from 
the coin identifying means; a rotor having an axis about which the rotor 
is rotatable, said rotor having a larger diameter portion having elevation 
equal to or slightly higher than the coin guideway and a smaller diameter 
portion having elevation lower than the coin guideway, said axis lying 
substantially beneath the center of the sort-out opening and under the 
coin guideway, said axis parallel to the coin guideway and normal to the 
coin feeding direction; and control means for controlling the rotation of 
the rotor so that the larger diameter portion of the rotor aligns with the 
coin guideway when coins in the first group are fed to the sort-out 
opening and the smaller diameter portion of the rotor forms a gap between 
the rotor and the coin guideway when coins in the second group are fed to 
the sort-out opening. 
When the larger diameter portion of the rotor aligns with the coin 
guideway, coins are fed from the upstream coin guideway to the downstream 
coin guideway over the larger diameter portion of the rotor. When the 
smaller diameter portion of the rotor forms a gap between the downstream 
coin guideway and the smaller diameter portion, coins fed from the 
upstream coin guideway slide down into the sort-out opening over the 
smaller diameter portion. The coins are separated into two groups by 
controlling the rotation of the rotor in accordance with the 
identification by the coin identifying device. The coins belonging to the 
first group are to pass over the sort-out opening while coins belonging to 
the second group are to fall into the sort-out opening. 
The above and other objects and advantageous features of the present 
invention will be made apparent from the following description made with 
reference to the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a coin sorting apparatus 1 comprises a rotary 
disk 2 capable of rotating in the clockwise direction. The rotary disk 2 
receives thereon a plurality of coins with various face values. When the 
rotary disk 2 rotates, the centrifugal force acts on the coins disposed on 
the disk 2 tangentially to the rotary disk 2. The coins disposed on the 
disk 2 are sent out one by one due to the centrifugal force to a coin 
guideway 3 which extends tangentially to the rotary disk 2. A belt 4 for 
feeding the coins is disposed above and parallel to the coin guideway 3. 
The belt 4 is wound around a pair of feed rollers 5a and 5b to be driven 
toward the direction indicated by an arrow X shown in FIG. 2. The coin 
feeding belt 4 compresses a coin sent out from the rotary disk 2 against 
the coin guideway 3 to feed the coin on the coin guideway 3 in the 
direction X. 
A coin identifying device 6 is provided within a loop formed by the coin 
feeding belt 4. The coin identifying device 6 detects outer diameters 
and/or alloys of the coins fed by the feeding belt 4 to determine the face 
value of the coins and transmits a identification signal S1 to a control 
circuit 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit 7 receives the 
identification signals S1 and assembles a first signal array comprising 
the identification signals S1 in the order according to which the signals 
S1 were received. This array is stored in the control circuit 7. 
Two coin sorting units 8a and 8b are provided in series in the coin feeding 
direction at the downstream of the coin identifying device 6. Since the 
two units 8a and 8b have the same structure, only the unit 8a is explained 
hereinafter. The coin sorting unit 8a includes a sort-out opening 9a, a 
rotor 10a and a rotary solenoid 11a. The sort-out opening 9a is formed on 
the surface of the coin guideway and is rectangular. The rotor 10a is 
disposed under the sort-out opening 9a so that a point on the axis about 
which the rotor 10a is able to rotate lies substantially beneath the 
center of the opening 9a. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotor 10a is formed in 
the shape of a circular roller partially cut off to have a plane portion 
10A. This rotor 10a is arranged to be rotatable about an axis which is 
parallel to the coin guideway 3 and normal to the coin feeding direction. 
The rotor 10a is secured to the rotary solenoid 11a and is driven to 
rotate by the rotary solenoid 11a. The rotary solenoid 11a is able to 
rotate by 60 degrees. For instance, the solenoid 11a rotates by 60 degrees 
in the clockwise direction and stops there on receiving a positive signal 
while it rotates by 60 degrees in the counterclockwise direction and stops 
there on receiving a negative signal. Thus, the rotor 10a is able to take 
two positions, that is a first position shown in solid line and a second 
position shown in broken line as shown in FIG. 2. In the first position, 
the circumference of the rotor 10a is arranged to be the same elevation as 
the coin guideway 3 or slightly higher than the coin guideway 3. In the 
second position, the plane portion 10A of the rotor 10a forms a 
declination from the coin guideway 3 with respect to the direction along 
which coins are fed. In other words, in the second position of the rotor 
10a, the plane portion 10A of the rotor 10a extends straight toward the 
lower right from the upstream end of the sort-out opening 9a. The rotary 
solenoid 11a is controlled to rotate either in the clockwise or in the 
counterclockwise direction by the control circuit 7. 
First and second coin reservoirs 12 and 13 are provided below the rotors 
10a and 10b respectively to receive coins which slide down thereinto along 
the plane portion 10A forming a declination. In addition, a third coin 
reservoir 14 is provided below the feed roller 5b to receive coins fed by 
the feeding belt 4. 
Press rollers 15a and 15b are disposed above the sort-out openings 9a and 
9b respectively. The press rollers 15a and 15b have the same structure. 
The press rollers 15a and 15b are arranged to be pivotable about axes 16a 
and 16b which are parallel to the coin guideway 3 and normal to the coin 
feeding direction. In normal position, the rollers 15a and 15b are biased 
downward by springs (not shown) to press the coin feeding belt 4. 
Coin detecting sensors 17a and 17b are embedded in the coin guideway 3 at 
the upstream from the sort-out openings 9a and 9b. These sensors 17a and 
17b transmit a detection signal S2 to the control circuit 7 each time a 
coin fed by the feeding belt 4 covers sensor 17a or 17b. The control 
circuit 7 assembles a second signal array comprising the received 
detection signals S2 and stores the second array therein. 
The mode of operation of the aforementioned coin sorting apparatus 1 will 
be described hereinbelow. 
The coin identifying device 6 identifies the face values of the coins sent 
out from the rotary disk 2 and tranamits the identification signal S1 to 
the control circuit 7 in accordance with the face value of the coin. The 
control circuit 7 assembles the first signal array consisting of the 
signals S1 as shown in FIG. 3. The coin detecting sensor 17a transmits the 
detection signal S2 to the control circuit 7 each time a coin is fed to 
pass on the sensor 17a. The control circuit 7 assembles the second signal 
array consisting of the signals S2. 
In this embodiment, the coin sorting unit 8a, disposed upstream from the 
coin sorting unit 8b with respect to the coin feeding direction, is used 
to separate out foreign and/or counterfeit coins, while the unit 8b is 
used to separate out Japanese 100 yen coins. (It should be noted that 
Japanese hard currency includes six kinds of coin, that is 1 yen, 5 yen, 
10 yen, 50 yen, 100 yen and 500 yen coins.) 
With reference to FIG. 3, suppose that a third coin fed is a foreign one. 
At first, the control circuit 7 compares the first signal array, which has 
been already established, consisting of the signals S1 delivered from the 
coin identifying device 6 with the second signal array. Then, when a third 
coin detection signal is assembled into the second signal array, the 
control circuit 7 drives the rotary solenoid 11a so that the rotor 10a of 
the coin sorting unit 8a pivots to the second position. Accordingly, the 
foreign coin then falls into the first coin reservoir 12. When Japanese 
coins are fed, the control circuit 7 drives the rotor 10a of the unit 8a 
not to rotate but to stay in its first position, so that the coins pass 
the coin sorting unit 8b unit 8a and advance to the second coin sorting 
When the coin fed by the feeding belt 4 passes the coin detecting sensor 
17b, the sensor 17b delivers the detection signal S2 to the control 
circuit 7. The control circuit 7 assembles the second signal array to 
compare with the first signal array which has already been assembled. If 
the control circuit 7 determines from the comparison that the fed coin is 
100 yen coin, the circuit 7 drives the rotary solenoid 11b so that the 
rotor 10b pivots to the second position. If the circuit 7 determines by 
the comparison that the fed coin is other than 100 yen coin, the control 
circuit 7 drives the rotary solenoid so that the rotor 10b pivots to the 
first position. 
The coin sorting units 8a and 8b are operated as aforementioned, resulting 
in that foreign and/or counterfeit coins are introduced into the first 
coin reservoir 12, Japanese 100 yen coins are introduced into the second 
reservoir 13 and Japanese coins other than 100 yen coins are introduced 
into the third coin reservoir 14. Thus, desired separation of coins is 
able to be performed, that is only 100 yen coins are separated out of 
coins with various face values. 
With reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C, how coins pass over the rotors 10a and 
10b and how coins fall into the first and second reservoirs 12 and 13 is 
explained hereinafter. FIG. 4A shows the case in which two coins 
continuously fed are not to fall into the reservoir but are to pass over 
the sort-out opening 9a. When a coin passes over the rotor 10a disposed in 
the first position, the press force acting on the rear end of the coin, 
due to the pressure of the feeding belt 4, overcomes the force of gravity 
which attempts to drop the coin into the reservoir before most of the 
surface of the coin reaches the sort-out opening 9a. Accordingly, the coin 
is fed toward the downstream with respect to the coin feeding direction on 
the coin guideway 3 with the forward portion of the coin being kept 
substantially parallel to the coin guideway 3. 
When most of the surface of the coin reaches on the sort-out opening 9a, 
the force of gravity which attempts to drop the coin into the reservoir 
overcomes the press force produced by the feeding belt 4 acting on the 
rear end of the coin. Accordingly, the forward portion of the coin would 
fall down. However, before that, the forward portion of the coin gets on a 
larger diameter portion 10B of the rotor 10a, so that the coin is kept 
substantially parallel to the coin guideway 3 and can be fed toward the 
downstream with respect to the coin feeding direction. 
When the coin leaves the coin guideway 3 and gets on only the larger 
diameter portion 10B of the rotor 10a, the press force acts on the top 
surface of the coin equally. Therefore, the coin is kept substantially 
parallel to the coin guideway 3 and is fed further toward the downstream 
in the coin feeding direction. 
Furthermore, before the coin comes to be supported at its rear portion by 
the larger diameter portion 10B of the rotor 10a, the forward portion of 
the coin passes over the sort-out opening 9a and reaches the coin guideway 
3. Thus, the coin can be fed on the coin guideway 3 over the sort-out 
opening 9a. 
In addition, when the coin is transferring onto the larger diameter portion 
10B of the rotor 10a, the coin can do so smoothly since the larger 
diameter portion 10B is in the form of an arc. 
FIG. 4B shows the case in which, among two coins which are continuously 
fed, a first fed coin is intended to pass over the sort-out opening 9a 
without being dropped into the first coin reservoir 12 and a following fed 
coin is intended to fall into the reservoir 12. After the first fed coin 
passes the larger diameter portion 10B of the rotor 10a and reaches the 
coin guideway 3 disposed downstream in the coin feeding direction, the 
press force due to the feeding belt 4 overcomes the force of gravity on 
the coin. Therefore, even if the rotor 10a is controlled slightly too 
early to start pivotting in the counterclockwise direction, the first fed 
coin continues to be fed without falling into the sort-out opening 9a. 
Only the following fed coin falls into the sort-out opening 9a. 
On the other hand, even if the rotor 10a is driven slightly too late to 
pivot from the first position to the second position, since most of the 
following fed coin has already reached the sort-out opening 9a, the 
following fed coin immediately slides down into the sort-out opening 
9aalong the surface of the plane portion 10A when the rotor 10a pivots. 
Thus, the first and following fed coins do not cause coin jamming. 
FIG. 4C shows the case in which, among two coins which are continuously 
fed, a first fed coin is intended to fall into the sort-out opening 9a and 
a following fed coin is intended to pass over the sort-out opening 9a 
without falling into the first coin reservoir 12. Suppose that the rotor 
10a is operated to pivot from the second position to the first position in 
order to pass the following fed coin over the larger diameter portion 10B 
of the rotor 10a. In this case, since the pivotal movement of the rotor 
10a in the clockwise direction increases the declination which the larger 
diameter portion 10B forms, the first fed coin is further forced to slide 
down along the surface of the larger diameter portion 10B. Thus, even if 
the rotor 10a is driven to pivot slightly too early, the rear portion of 
the first fed coin is able to avoid to be clamped between the larger 
diameter portion 10B of the rotor 10a and the sort-out opening 9a. 
On the other hand, even if the rotor 10a is operated slightly too late to 
pivot from the second position to the first position, the following fed 
coin is able to pass over the sort-out opening 9a without falling into the 
opening 9a and get on the coin guideway 3. This is because when the larger 
diameter portion 10B contacts with the forward portion or middle portion 
of the following fed coin, the two forces, which both lift up forward 
portion of the following fed coin, are combined with each other to support 
the following fed coin, wherein one force is generated due to the pivotal 
movement of the rotor 10a and the other force is generated, on the basis 
of the principle of the lever and fulcrum, because the rear portion of the 
following fed coin is pressed by the coin feeding belt 4. 
In addition, when the rotors 10a and 10b are disposed in their second 
positions, coins fed are forced to turn downward by the press rollers 15a 
and 15b earlier than the coins would turn downward due to the force of 
gravity thereon. Thus, the coins are introduced into the sort-out openings 
9a and 9b without fail. On the other hand, when the rotors 10a and 10b are 
disposed in their first positions, the forward portion of the coins fed is 
going to be pushed up on the basis of the principle of the lever and 
fulcrum since the feeding belt 4 and the press rollers 15a and 15b press 
the rear portion of the coin. Thus, the coin is able to be fed on the coin 
guideway 3 without falling into the sort out openings 9a and 9b. 
A strip 18 shown in FIG. 5 is used in place of the press rollers 15a and 
15b. The strip 18 is normally biased downward by a spring (not shown) to 
give directly a pressure to coins fed to introduce the coins into the 
sort-out opening 9a. Alternatively, the strip 18 may comprise a spiral 
spring providing downward biasing force instead of the combination of the 
strip and the spring. 
As shown in FIG. 5, the coin guideway 3 may be provided with a chamfer 19 
at the downstream edge of the sort-out openings 9a and 9b. The chamfer 19 
allows the smooth passage of coins between the rotors 10a and 10b and the 
coin guideway 3. 
The coin sorting apparatus 1 in accordance with the invention is applicable 
to an apparatus for sorting a plurality of coins including various kinds 
of coins into each kind of coin by arranging a plurality of the coin 
sorting apparatus 1 in series in the coin feeding direction. Generally, in 
order to sort N kinds of coins into each kind, (N-1) apparatuses are 
necessary to do so. For instance, in order to sort Japanese hard currency 
which includes six kinds of coins, that is 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, 50 yen, 
100 yen and 500 yen, into each kind of coin, five coin sorting apparatuses 
is necessary. 
In the aforementioned example, the same number of coin sorting apparatuses 
as that of kinds of domestic coins, or six coin sorting apparatuses, are 
necessary to separate out foreign and/or counterfeit coins. 
In this arrangement, the first coin sorting apparatus is preferably used to 
remove foreign and/or counterfeit coins. If foreign or counterfeit coins 
are intended to be removed through a sort-out opening of the second 
apparatus or subsequent apparatuses, it causes the incorrect sort in the 
case that some of the foreign and/or counterfeit coins have such a small 
diameter as not to be able to straddle between the rotor and the coin 
guideway. 
As aforementioned with respect to the preferred embodiment, in accordance 
with the present invention, it is possible to correctly sort coins without 
coin jammings of the first fed coin and the following fed coins at the 
sort-out opening, even if coins are fed continuously and are sorted by 
falling into and passing over the sort-out opening. 
While the invention has been described in connection with preferred 
embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the 
invention to those embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended that the 
invention cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be 
included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the 
attached claims.