Abstract:
A combined coin sorting and dispensing apparatus for motor vehicles which may be mounted in or integrally formed with the dashboard, console, or an existing interior door or side panel, or placed in an existing pocket of the vehicle. The coin sorter has a hopper with a coin slot, a coin sorter plate, a coin holder support, and a plurality of coin holders. In operation, coins placed in the hopper pass through the coin slot, and fall onto an inclined sorter plate which sorts the coins into the coin holders. The motion of the motor vehicle as it is being driven assists in moving the coins through the hopper, down the coin slot, and down the sorter plate. The sorted coins are stored in the coin holders until needed at which time they are manually or automatically dispensed from the holders. Methods for sorting the coins using the disclosed combined coin sorting and dispensing apparatus are also disclosed.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a combined coin sorter and dispenser. In particular, this invention relates to a combined coin sorting and dispensing apparatus, which is mounted in a motor vehicle wherein the motion of the vehicle assists in sorting the coins. This invention further relates to methods of sorting coins using the disclosed coin sorting and dispensing apparatus.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    It is often necessary to have spare change in a vehicle in order to pay for tolls, parking meters, or roadside newspapers. However, it is quite difficult to look for and find change in a purse, wallet, or a pants pocket while driving alone and indeed can be quite hazardous when driving at higher speeds or when approaching a crowded tollbooth area. In order to avoid having to look through a purse or in a pocket, some drivers place spare change in an ashtray, a drink holder, or other compartment in the vehicle. While the driver may be able to access the change in these compartments more readily, the driver must still take his or her eyes off the road to find the compartment and then sort through the coins for the exact amount of change needed. Moreover, if ashtrays, drink holders, or other compartments are used as spare change holders, the driver and other passengers in the car do not have the use of these amenities while traveling.  
           [0003]    In an effort to eliminate to such problems, various types of coin holders for vehicles have been developed. Such coin holders are generally built into the dashboard, into the console between the driver and passenger seats, or mounted on the dashboard or sun visor of the vehicle. Representative examples of such coin holders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,855,308, 5,449,105, and 5,112,276. None of these coin holders, however, are capable of sorting coins.  
           [0004]    Therefore, it is believed that there is a need in the motor vehicle industry for a combined coin sorting and dispensing apparatus that may be mounted in or integrally formed with the dashboard, console, or an existing interior door or side panel, or placed in an existing pocket of the vehicle. It is further believed that there is demand for a combined coin sorting and dispensing apparatus for a motor vehicle which is compact, easily assembled, and inexpensive to manufacture, but which efficiency and effectively sorts, stores, and dispenses coins.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The coin sorting and dispending apparatus of the present invention includes a housing formed from a front wall, a back wall and two end walls. A hopper for receiving coins is positioned in the upper portion of the housing. The hopper includes an opening, which is sized to allow coins to pass therethrough and fall onto a sorter plate positioned below the hopper. The sorter plate is longitudinally downwardly inclined and includes at least one slot. A coin support holder with at least one coin holder is positioned below the sorter plate in the lower end of the housing.  
           [0006]    In another aspect of this invention, a method of sorting, storing, and dispensing coins is provided. Coins are placed in the hopper and pass one at a time through the opening in the hopper and onto the sorter plate. Each coin slides down the plate until it falls through a slot and into a coin holder positioned below the slot. Coins are stored in the coin holders and are removed through a slot in the coin holder when needed. The motion of the vehicle as it is driven assists the flow of the coins through the sorting apparatus.  
           [0007]    The present invention provides significant advantages over the prior art coin holders for motor vehicles.  
           [0008]    Further features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of one embodiment of the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus of the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a perspective top view of one embodiment of a hopper for the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a front view of the coin sorter plate used in one embodiment of the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus of the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a coin holder support with coin holders used in the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus of the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a representative top view of one of the coin holders shown in FIG. 4;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the coin holder  11   d  shown in FIG. 4 taken along line  6 - 6  illustrating one embodiment of a coin dispensing mechanism;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 7 is a rear view of the coin holder support of FIG. 4;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of the coin holder  11   d  shown in FIG. 1 taken along line  11 - 11  illustrating another embodiment of a coin dispensing mechanism;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 9 is a top view of the coin holder  11   d  with the coin dispensing mechanism shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of the coin holder  11   d  of FIG. 7 taken along line  10 - 10  illustrating another embodiment of a coin dispensing mechanism; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 taken along line  11 - 11 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    Referring now to the Figures, FIG. 1 illustrates a partially exploded view of one embodiment of the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus  1  of the present invention. The apparatus  1  generally has a housing  3 , a coin hopper  5 , a sorter plate  7 , a coin holder support  9 , and a set of coin holders  11   a - d  for storing and dispensing coins. As shown in FIG. 1, the housing  3  is generally rectangular in shape and has a front wall  13 , a back wall  15 , opposite the front wall  13 , a first side wall  17 , and a second side wall, not shown, opposite the first side wall  17 . The housing back wall  15  may be formed integrally with the first and second side walls. Alternatively, the back wall  15  may be a portion of the interior of the vehicle, such as a door panel or the dashboard, to which the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus is affixed.  
         [0021]    The housing  3  may be affixed to the interior of the vehicle by any attachment devices well-known in the art of vehicle manufacturing, including but not limited to hooks, prongs, screws, nails, hook and loop fasteners, suction cups, and adhesive. In one embodiment, the housing is affixed to the interior of the vehicle by two flanges  32  extending from the first side wall  17  and the second side wall, not shown, of the housing. The flanges  32  may be integrally molded as part of the side walls or may be separately molded on the side walls. Corresponding “T” shaped slots, not shown, for receiving the flanges  32 , are positioned on an interior portion of the vehicle, such as a panel, where the housing will be affixed. The flanges  32  are slidably mounted into the corresponding “T” shaped slots to affix the housing to the interior of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the edges  34  of the flanges  32  are beveled in order to make it easier to slide flanges  32  into the corresponding “T” shaped slots. Alternatively, housing  3  may be integrally formed as part of a door panel, the dashboard, or console of the vehicle.  
         [0022]    A tab  19  extends slightly below a bottom  21  of the front wall  13 . The tab  19  engages a notch  23  on the coin holder support  9  so that housing  3  and coin holder support  9  can be snapped together. The coin holder support  9  may be released from the housing  3  by pressing on tab  19 . A similar projection  19  and notch  23  may also located on the back wall  15  of the housing  3  and the back side of the coin holder support  9 .  
         [0023]    The hopper  5  is positioned in an upper portion of housing  3 . As shown in the embodiment in FIG. 2, the hopper is defined by an inner sloping front wall  25 , two inner sloping side walls  27 , and the back wall  15 . The inner front wall  25  and the inner side walls  27  slope downwardly toward a coin slot  29 .  
         [0024]    The housing  3  and hoper  5  may be made from plastic, foamed thermoplastic materials, metal, or any other suitable materials. Preferably, the housing and hopper are made from polypropylene, which assists in dampening the noise made by the coins as they pass through the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus.  
         [0025]    As shown in FIG. 1, the coin sorter plate  7  is positioned inside the housing  3  directly below the hopper  5  and sorts coins according to their diameter. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the coin sorter plate is generally rectangular in shape and has a flat coin sliding surface  31 . The coin sorter plate further has an upper end  33 , a lower end  35 , a bottom edge  36 , and a plurality of “stair-step” slots  37   a - d . The slots  37   a - d  are arranged in order of increasing size from the upper end of the plate  33  to the lower end of the plate  35  such that the smallest slot  37   a  is at the upper end of the plate  33  and the largest slot  37   d  is at the lower end of the plate  35 . With the slots  37   a - d  in this arrangement, the coins having the smallest diameter will be sorted first while those with largest diameter will pass over the smaller slots and be sorted last. In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, a coin  39  will slide down the surface  31  of the sorter plate in the direction of the arrow, and will fall through the first slot encountered which is sufficiently large enough for the coin to fall through.  
         [0026]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the size and number of slots formed in the plate will correspond directly to the number of coins with different diameters that need to be sorted. Thus, the sorter plate  7  may be adapted to sort any number of coins with different diameters from any country. The sorter plate shown in FIG. 3 is sized and configured to sort coins from the United States of America. The sorter plate  7  has four differently sized sorting slots with slot  37   a  corresponding to the dime, slot  37   b  corresponding to the penny, slot  37   c  corresponding to the nickel, and slot  37   d  corresponding to the quarter. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the sorter plate  7  may also include appropriately sized slots to sort a half dollar or a dollar coin.  
         [0027]    In order to ensure that coins slide quickly and efficiently down the surface  31  of the sorter plate  7 , the sorter plate is fixed within the housing  3  at both a longitudinal and transverse incline. As shown in FIG. 3, the transverse incline is represented by angle A and the longitudinal incline is represented by angle B. In a preferred embodiment, angle A is approximately 30° from vertical and angle B is approximately 20° from horizontal.  
         [0028]    The sorter plate may be formed from plastic, glass, steel, aluminum, stainless steel, or any other suitable material having a sufficiently low coefficient of friction to allow coins to slide down the plate. If the sorter plate is formed from metal it may be advantageous to coat the sorter plate with a tetrafluoroethylene based resin, such as Teflon® sold by Du Pont, in order to ensure that the coins slide smoothly down the plate.  
         [0029]    The length and width of the sorter plate  7  is slightly smaller than the length and width of the housing  3  such that the sorter plate fits within the housing  3 . The sorter plate  7  may be affixed to the interior of the housing by ultrasonic welding, adhesive, rivets, screws, or any other suitable method. In one embodiment, the sorter plate  7  is formed from a polyvinylchloride based plastic and is affixed in the housing by ultrasonic welding.  
         [0030]    Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 7, the coin holder support  9  has a generally horizontal bottom shelf  41  and a generally vertical inclined back  43  with a top edge  45 . The incline of the back  43  corresponds to the longitudinal incline of the sorter plate  7 . Thus, when the coin support  9  is mounted in housing  3 , the top edge  45  of the side wall  43  corresponds to the bottom edge  36  of the sorter plate  7 . The bottom shelf  41  has a plurality of openings  46  through which coin holders  11   a - d  are inserted and fixed.  
         [0031]    If desired, the coin holders  11   a - d  may be removably mounted in the support  9  as shown in FIG. 4. Removable coin holders provide several advantages, including but not limited to, easier cleaning of the coin sorter and removal of several sorted coins from a holder at one time. Like the housing  3  and the hopper  5 , the coin holder  9  and the coin holders  11   a - d  may be plastic, foamed thermoplastic materials, metal, polypropylene or any other suitable materials.  
         [0032]    As shown in FIG. 4, the generally circular openings  46  in the coin holder support  9  through which the coin holders  11   a - d  are inserted each have a pair of laterally spaced resilient jaws  49  extending horizontally outward from the openings. The distance C between the jaws  49  is smaller than the diameter of the coin holder that is to be inserted into the corresponding opening  46 . The jaws  49 , however, are sufficiently resilient to permit the coin holders  11   a - d  to be moved laterally in or out of the generally circular opening with a small amount of force, but are sufficiently rigid to retain the coin holders  11   a - d  in the openings during normal use of the coin sorting and dispensing apparatus.  
         [0033]    Coin holders  11   a - d  are formed from holder side walls  57  and holder bottoms  59  and are generally cylindrically shaped. Upper ends  61  of the coin holders are positioned inside housing  3  just below the coin sorter plate and are open to receive coins from the sorter plate. The upper ends  61  of the coin holders  11   a - d  may be cut at an angle, i.e., have chamfered edges, which directly correspond to the longitudinal angle of the sorter plate  7 . The lower ends  63  of the coin holders extend through the bottom shelf  41  of the coin holder support  9  and are easily accessible to the driver.  
         [0034]    Each coin holder  11  has a diameter, which is sufficiently large to accommodate the diameter of one of the coins to be sorted and stored therein. However, the diameter of each holder is preferably small enough so that coins stored therein will be stacked one on top of another in a vertical column.  
         [0035]    A particular sized coin holder  11  generally is provided for each size coin to be sorted. As shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and  7 , the coin holder  11   a  has an appropriate diameter to receive and store dimes, the coin holder  11   b  has an appropriate diameter to receive and store pennies, the coin holder  11   c  has an appropriate diameter to receive and store nickels, and coin holder  11   d  has an appropriate diameter to receive and store quarters.  
         [0036]    Coins that have been sorted into coin holders  11   a - d  may be readily dispensed from the lower ends  63  of the holders. As shown in FIGS.  5 - 6  and  8 - 10 , coins are generally removed through openings  71  formed in the holder side walls  57  of the lower ends  63  of the holders  11   a - d . The openings  71  must be sufficiently large to remove coins from the holders, but must not be so large as to allow coins to fall out of the coin holder.  
         [0037]    With particular reference to FIG. 5, a U-shaped recess  73 , shown in phantom, is formed in the bottom  59  of the coin holder  11   d . The U-shaped recess  73  exposes a portion of the coin  39  through the bottom  59  of the coin holder. As shown in FIG. 6, the coin  39  may be removed from coin holder  11   d  by placing an index finger  77  on the exposed portion of the coin  39 . The coin may then be drawn away from the coin holder in the direction of the arrow to remove the coin  39  from the holder. Once the coin is partially removed from the holder  11   d , the coin may be grasped between the index finger and the thumb and completely removed from the holder.  
         [0038]    Alternatively, coins may be removed from the coin holders  11   a - d  by a manual or an “automatic” coin dispensing mechanism. For purposes of simplicity, the manual and automatic coin slides will be discussed with respect to a single coin holder  11   d , but the description is applicable to all of the coin holders  11   a - d . As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the coin holder  11   d  has an opening  71  in the holder side wall  57  and a manual coin dispensing mechanism  79  in the lower end  63  of the coin holder. The manual coin dispensing mechanism  79  has a generally flat, circular upper coin plate  81  positioned above the bottom  59  of the coin holder and a generally flat circular lower slide plate  83  positioned below the bottom  59  of the coin holder. Lower slide plate  83  further has a bottom surface  84 . A slide post  85  connects the upper coin plate  83  and the lower plate through a generally oval shaped slot  87  in the bottom  59  of the coin holder  11   d . The slide post moves back and forth in slot  87  permitting the upper coin plate  81  to be moved in and out of the lower end  59  of the coin holder  11   d . A generally arc shaped flange  89  extends vertically from the back of the upper coin plate  81  and assists in keeping the coin  39  on the upper coin plate  81 .  
         [0039]    In order to dispense a coin using the manual coin dispensing mechanism  79 , the index finger is placed on the bottom surface  84  of the lower slide plate  83 , and the lower slide plate  83  is drawn away from the coin holder  11   d  in the direction of the arrow. The upper slide plate  81 , which is connected to the lower slide plate  83  by post  85 , is simultaneously drawn out of the coin holder  11   d  and dispenses the coin  39 . The coin  39  is then removed from the upper slide plate  81 , before the upper slide plate  81  is pushed back into the coin holder  11   d . Arc shaped flange  89  prevents any coins, which may remain in the coin holder from falling down behind the upper coin plate  81  when the plate is drawn out of the coin holder  11   d.    
         [0040]    Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 10, the coin dispensing mechanism may be “automatic.” Similar to the manual coin dispensing mechanism  79 , the automatic coin dispensing mechanism  93  has an upper slide plate  81  with a flange  89 , a lower slide plate  83 , and a slide post  85  connecting the upper slide plate  81  and the lower slide plate  85  through an oval shaped slot  87  in the bottom  59  of the coin holder  11   d . In addition, the automatic dispensing mechanism has a resilient member  95 . As shown in FIG. 10, the resilient member  95  is a metal or plastic spring with a first end  97  and a second end  99 . The resilient member may also be an elastic band or the like. The first end  97  of the resilient member  95  is affixed to a projection  101  extending downwardly from the rear of the bottom  59  of the coin holder  11   d . The second end  99  of the resilient member  95  is affixed to the lower slide plate  83 . As shown in FIG. 10, the first end  97  and the second end  99  of the resilient member  95  are threaded through openings  103  in the projection  101  and the lower slide plate  83 . However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the resilient member may be affixed to the projection  101  and the lower slide plate  83  by any suitable method. Alternatively, one end of the resilient member may be attached to the upper slide plate  81  and the other end of the resilient member may be attached to the side wall  57  of the coin holder  11   d.    
         [0041]    In order to dispense a coin using the automatic coin dispensing mechanism  93 , the index finger is placed on the bottom surface  84  of the lower slide plate  83 , and the lower slide plate  83  is drawn away from the coin holder  11   d  in the direction of the arrow placing the resilient member  95  under tension. The upper slide plate  81 , which is connected to the lower slide plate  83  by post  85 , is simultaneously drawn out of the coin holder  11   d  and dispenses the coin  39 . The coin is then removed from the upper slide plate  81  before releasing the lower slide plate  83 . Once the lower slide plate  83  is released, the upper coin plate will automatically return to the interior of the coin holder  11   d  as a result of the tension in the resilient member. Arc shaped flange  89  prevents any coins, which may remain in the coin holder from falling down behind the upper coin plate  81  when the plate is drawn out of the coin holder  11   d.    
         [0042]    In operation as illustrated in FIG. 11, coins  39  are placed in the hopper  5 , slide down into the hopper, and slide through the coin slot  29  one at a time. After passing through the coin slot  29 , the coins fall one at time onto the coin sorter plate  37 . As a coin slides down the coin sorter plate, it falls off the plate when the opening is sufficiently large enough. Acceleration and deceleration of the motor vehicle as well as driving over bumps in the road assists in moving the coins  39  down into the hopper, through the coin slot, onto the sorter plate, and through the sorter slots. As a coin falls off of the sorter plate, the coin rotates 180 degrees away from the sorter plate as shown by the arrow in FIG. 11. The coin then drops into a coin holder positioned below the sorter plate and settles to the lower end  63  of the holder  11   d . The coin  39  may then be removed through the opening  71  at the lower end of the coin holder  11   d.    
         [0043]    While the invention with its several embodiments has been described in detail, it should be understood that various modifications may be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. The following claims, including all equivalents define the scope of the invention.