Patent GB-586269-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in coin-freed vending machines
IPC: G07F5/12
Filed: 1939-12-21
Abstract: 586,269. Coin-freed vending machines. PETERSEN, J. Dec. 21, 1939, No. 32666. Convention date, Jan. 9. [Class 27] In a coin-freed vending machine, the delivery mechanism is freed by electrical means when a coin or a number of different coins of the total value of the vended article is or are inserted, an electric circuit being completed through the coin or coins and a number of contact elements which are brought into contact with them. In the construction shown, applicable for the sale of articles of the value of 1 Krone, an insulating block 1 is formed with coin shoots 2-6 to receive respectively 1 Krone, 50, 25, 10 and 5 ore coins. Insulating plates 9, 10 are mounted on rods a fixed to the block 1, the plate 9 being fixed to the rods 8 and the plate 10 sliding thereon. The plate 10 can be pushed inwards towards the block 1 by means of a knob (not shown) on an axiallysliding rod 14 which acts through a spring- loaded lever 17 on a pin 13 fixed to a bridgepiece 12 on the plate 10. When, for example, a 1 Krone piece is inserted in shoot 2 and the purchaser pushes in the rod 14 the plate 10 is moved inwards and two spring-loaded pins 30, 31 carried thereby bear against the coin in the shoot and complete an electric circuit for a magnet or other device through wire 32, Fig. 5, bar 33, wire 34, contact spring 35, pin 30, the coin, pin 31, contact spring 36, bar 37, wire 38, bar 39 and wire 40, thus freeing the delivery mechanism. Similarly, if four 25 ore pieces are inserted in shoot 4, the lowermost coin is opposite two pins 41, 42 but these would not complete the circuit, the second and third coins are opposite other pins which likewise do not complete the circuit, but the top coin in the shoot is opposite two pins 48, 49 and when these are pressed into contact with the coin the circuit is completed through bar 33, contact spring 50, pin 48, the top coin, pin 49, contact spring 51, bar 52, wire 53 and bar 39. The value of 1 Krone can be made up of one 50 ore piece, inserted in shoot 3 and two 25 ore pieces inserted in shoot 4, and also in other ways. The contact springs and pins can be connected up in different ways for use with other coins or articles of other values. The plate 10 carries a funnelshaped receptacle 7, Fig. 2, which is normally directly above the coin shoots so that coins can be inserted therein, but when the plate is pressed in by the rod 14 the receptacle 7 is also pressed in and the coin shoots are covered so that it is not possible to close the operating circuit by a single coin pressed into engagement with the upper contact pins. In order to ensure rapid breaking of the circuit when the rod 14 is released, the rod carries a wedge 26, Fig. 4, passing through a slot 23 in a spring-loaded sliding bolt 20, so that when the rod is pushed in and with it the pin 13, the bolt is free to slide and its head passes under a collar 27 on the pin 13. When the rod 14 is released the bolt prevents the immediate return of the pin 13 until the wedge 26 slides back the bolt, and as the bolt leaves the edge of the collar 27 the pin 13 is sharply drawn back and the circuit is rapidly broken to minimise sparking. The coins are retained in the shoots by a flap 55, Fig. 2, until the article is delivered, when a rod 56 on the flap is actuated by the delivery mechanism.