Anti-jamming means for coin counting machines

A coin counting machine is described having an anti-jamming device for removing jammed coins from a passageway. A jam detection circuit is provided for indicating the jamming of a passageway. A stop control circuit is provided whereby the coin counting machine operation is halted at which time the jam is removed. Jam removal is accomplished by reversing direction of operation of the counting machine. The apparatus described thereby prevents damage to the machine which would normally result from coin jamming.

The present invention relates to coin counting machines and more 
particularly to anti-jamming means for coin counting machines. 
In conventional coin counting machines, there is provided a coin feeding 
device which includes a rotatable disc and at least one outlet adapted to 
pass coins one after another in series from the rotatable disc. The outlet 
is contiguous with a coin passage having a coin feeding member such as a 
belt or wheel and provided with means for counting coins passing 
therethrough. Such coin counting machines may be used by themselves for 
simply counting coins or constituted as a part of coin packaging machines 
or of coin sorting machines. In operation of such coin counting machines, 
coins are put on the rotatable disc which is then driven by a suitable 
motor whereby the coins are forced to pass one-by-one through the outlet. 
In such conventional mechines, problems have often been experienced since 
coins have often been jammed in the coin passage and time has been 
consumed in removing jammed coins. Since conventional machines are so 
designed that machine operations are continued even when jamming have 
occurred, the coin feeding belts or wheels have often been damaged by such 
jammed coins. 
The present invention has therefore an object to provide coin counting 
machines having means for substantially eliminating jamming of coins. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide means for preventing 
coin feeding members of coin counting machines from being damaged due to 
continued machine operation under coin jamming. 
Still further object of the present invention is to provide means for 
automatically relieving coin jammings in coin counting machines. 
According to the present invention, the above and other objects can be 
accomplished by coin counting machines comprising a rotatable disc 
disposed in a peripheral wall having an outlet, a motor for driving said 
disc, a coin passageway provided contiguous with said outlet in the 
peripheral wall and including coin feeding member for driving coins along 
the passageway, means for driving the coin feeding member means, for 
counting the number of coins which have passed through the passageway, 
means for sensing coin jamming, and means for operating the motor means 
and the drive means in one direction under normal operation and reversing 
the direction of operation of at least the drive means when coin jamming 
has been sensed. It is of course preferable to have the direction of 
operation of both the motor means and the drive means reversed. The coin 
jamming sensing means may receive a counting signals from the counting 
means and produce a jam signal when a succeeding counting signal has not 
been received within a predetermined time after a preceding signal has 
been received. 
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the reverse 
operation is continued for a predetermined time and thereafter the machine 
is automatically returned to its normal operation. Means may be provided 
for automatically stopping the machine when jamming cannot be relieved 
even after a predetermined number of repeated reverse operations.

Referring to the drawings, particularly to FIG. 1, the coin counting 
machine shown therein includes a rotatable disc 1 surrounded by a 
peripheral wall 1a which has an outlet 1b. The disc 1 is adapted to 
receive thereon a number of coins 2 as shown in FIG. 1. Contiguous with 
the outlet 1b, there is formed a coin passage P which is provided with a 
coin feed belt 3. The coin feed belt 3 is passed around a pair of spaced 
pulleys 3a, one of which is a power driven pulley. The coin passage P is 
contiguous with a chute 4 through which coins are passed one after another 
into a coin stacking cylinder 5. 
At one side of the coin passage P, there is provided a coin counting wheel 
6 which may be of conventional configuration and connected through a shaft 
6a with a detecting piece 7 of magnetic material. The wheel 6 is so 
arranged with respect to the coin passage P that when a coin 2 passes 
through the passage P the wheel 6 is rotated for a predetermined angle, 
for example, 180.degree.. A proximity switch 8 is provided adjacent to the 
detecting piece 7 so that the piece 7 is rotated with the wheel 6 along a 
path adjacent to the proximity switch 8 at each time when a coin 2 passes 
through the coin passage P to actuate the switch 8. A reversible motor 9 
is provided for driving the disc 1 through a shaft 10. The coin feeding 
belt 3 may also be driven by the same motor 9. 
Thus, in normal operation, the disc 1 and the coin feeding belt 3 is driven 
in the normal direction and coins 2 on the disc 1 are forced to pass one 
after another through the outlet 1b of the peripheral wall 1a to the coin 
passage P. The coins 2 are then fed through the chute 4 into the stacking 
cylinder 5. The number of coins 2 which have passed through the passage P 
is counted by the counting mechanism including the counting wheel 6, the 
detecting piece 7 and the proximity switch 8, and electric pulses are 
produced in number corresponding to the number of coins 2 which has passed 
through the passage P. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, the control circuit shown therein includes a start 
switch 11 which is connected with a count start circuit 12 which is in 
turn connected with a motor control circuit 13 for controlling the 
operation of the reversible motor 9. 
The proximity switch 8 is connected with a pulse counting circuit 14 so 
that the number of pulses from the switch 8 is counted by the circuit 14. 
The output of the pulse counting circuit 14 is connected with a jam 
detecting circuit 15 which has an output connected with the motor control 
circuit 13. The jam detection circuit 15 is also connected with a stop 
control circuit 16 which is in turn connected with the count start circuit 
12 as well as with a warning circuit 17. 
The pulse counting circuit 14 receives the signal pulses from the proximity 
switch 8 and produces an output representing the number of input pulses. 
The jam detecting circuit 15 functions to interpret the signal from the 
pulse counting circuit 14 and produces a reverse operation signal when the 
count signal from the pulse counting circuit 14 has not increased within a 
predetermined time, for example 3 seconds. Thus, when coin jamming has 
occurred and remained for more than the predetermined time, it is detected 
by the jam detecting circuit 15. 
The reverse operation signal is transmitted to the motor control circuit 13 
which then functions to operate the motor in the direction opposite to the 
direction of normal operation. Thus, the rotatable disc 1 and the coin 
feeding belt 3 are driven in the reverse direction so that the jammed coin 
is forced in the reverse direction. After a second predetermined time for 
example 5 seconds of reverse operation, the motor control circuit 13 
functions to return the motor 9 to the normal operation. 
When the coin jamming has not been relieved through the predetermined time 
of reverse operation, the jam detecting circuit 15 again produces a 
reverse operation signal after the first mentioned predetermined time, for 
example 3 seconds so that the motor 9 is operated in the reverse 
direction. Then, the motor operation is returned to the normal direction 
after the second predetermined time, for example 5 seconds. The reverse 
operation may thus be repeated until the coin jamming is releived. 
The reverse operation signal from the jam detecting circuit 15 is also 
transmitted to the stop control circuit 16 which functions to count the 
number of reverse operation signals. When a predetermined number, for 
example three, of reverse operation signals are successively produced, the 
stop control circuit 16 produces a stop signal which is transmitted to the 
count start circuit 12 whereby the motor operation is stopped through the 
motor control circuit 13. At the same time, the output from the stop 
control circuit 16 is transmitted to the warning circuit 17 so as to 
energize a suitable warning device such as a buzzer or a bell. Then, the 
jammed coin may be manually removed and the motor operation is started by 
actuating the start switch 11. 
The invention has thus been shown and described with reference to a 
specific embodiment, however, it should be noted that the invention is in 
no way limited to the details of the illustrated structures but changes 
and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the 
appended claims.