Patent GB-193561-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in machines for counting coins and the like
IPC: G07D9/04
Filed: 1921-12-12
Abstract: 193,561. Donnellan, E. P. Dec. 12, 1921. Counters for checks, coins, tokens, and the like. -Apparatus for counting coins &c. comprises a centrifugal feeding and guiding means, means for adjusting the guiding means in accordance with the denomination of the coin, and a stop device associated with the counting-mechanism whereby the latter is stopped after a predetermined number of coins has been counted. The coins are deposited in a receptacle 15 formed by an annular member 13, 14 and closed at the bottom by a table 4 rotatable by gearing from a hand-operated shaft 7; the flange portion 14 of the annular member is undercut to provide a coin runway 16 having a shoulder 17 registering with the periphery of the table 4. A portion of the rim of the flange 14 is cut away at 19 to form a discharge passage for the coins, which are guided thereto by a plate 20. To adjust the height of the coin runway 16 to the thickness of the coin denomination to be counted, the annual member is provided with an adjustable ring 29 having an upstanding rim 31 with downwardly inclined cam-surfaces 32. These cam-surfaces are adapted to be engaged by antifriction rollers 35, mounted on posts 33 on the bed-plate 1; this engagement is maintained by a plurality of spring-actuated lifting devices, each of which comprises a plunger 22, Fig. 3, mounted in a guideway 23 in the bed-plate 1, a spring 26 pressing the plunger into a countersunk seat 28 in the rim of the flange 14, and a stop device 27 limiting the upward movement of the plunger. To lock the ring 29 in adjusted position a notched locking plate 36 is provided, in the notches of which can selectively engage a pin 42 on a spring- controlled finger-piece 41 mounted in a casing 37 on the ring 29. A notch " R " is provided on the plate 36, and when brought into engagement with the pin 42 so adjusts the parts that the guiding means can be readily removed. The flange 14 and ring 29 are slotted to facilitate dislodgment of mutilated or bent coins. The shaft 7 through a belt drive 12 drives a shaft 49 on which is fixed a propeller wheel 51 having a run of rubber or other resilient material and mounted in the discharge passage for the coins so that coins therein are gripped by the propeller wheel and forced into actuating engagement with the star wheel 53 of the counting-mechanism. The star wheel 53, Fig. 9, carries a pinion 58 which engages with a gear wheel 57 preferably having a gear ratio of one to twelve, and on which is mounted for limited rotation, by means of a pin 76 and slot 77, a stop disc 75; a helical spring between the concentric hubs of the wheel 57 and disc 75 tends to maintain the pin 76 on the wheel against the end of the slot, as shown in Fig. 9. The stop disc 75 is provided with a series of notches a, b, c, d, e with which is adapted to co-operate a stop pin 70 that is mounted in a hinged carrier bar 66 and is capable of adjustment in a slot 68 radially disposed with respect to the notches in the disc 75 so as to stop the machine after ten, twenty, forty, sixty, or one hundred and twenty coins have been counted. The helical spring allows relative movement between the gear wheel and stop disc while the last coin or two is being counted, after which the pin 70 is raised by the bar 66 to release the stop disc, whereupon the pin on being lowered again engages the surface of the disc. The spindle 55 of the star wheel 53 carries a bevel wheel engaging a bevel wheel on the spindle of a totalizing-counter 62. to register the total number of coins that have passed through the machine. To render the stop device inoperative, the carrier bar 66 is raised and supported by a leg 79 pivoted thereto. To force the coins into engagement with the star wheel, a backing plate 80 is provided and can be adjusted in accordance with the diameter of the coins by means of perforations 83, a corresponding perforation 84 in the bed-plate 1, and a locking- pin 85.