Patent GB-403423-A (GB)
Title: A coin freed machine for receiving and delivering messages
IPC: G07F17/40
Filed: 1932-06-20
Abstract: 403,423. Coin-freed apparatus for exhibiting messages. GEE, G., 80, The Grange Drive, Winchmore Hill, London. June 20, 1932, No. 17418. [Class 27.] In a coin - freed machine for receiving and delivering messages, a shaft 11 is rocked in an anticlockwise direction, after prepayment, by a handle 12 to slide a shutter 10 to the left, Fig. 1, away from an opening 3b to expose a portion of a paper strip 33a passing over a writing surface 3. A message is written on the paper, and the shutter is closed by rocking the shaft back to its initial position, the strip 33a being fed during this movement so that the message is displayed behind a glazed cover 2, 4, the portion 4 of which extends vertically upwards. There are four paper strips with corresponding shutters, the arrangement being such that when one is filled with messages, the next is brought automatically into operation, and so on in cyclic order. Each strip passes from a feed-roll 6 over a guide roll 5, to a take-up roll 7. Rolls 8 engage the edges only of the strip and press it against a feed roll 9 which is rotated, when the shutter 10 is closed, by a ratchet wheel and pawl 39, 40, the ratchet wheel being connected by links 37, 38 to the shutter. The rolls 8 are carried by counterweighted pivoted arms 41, and the rolls 9 are connected by chains 45a to shafts 44 which drive the take up rolls through belts 45. The shutters 10 are connected by pull springs 16a to arms 12a on the shaft 11, each arm 12a having a finger 13 to engage a depending portion 14 of its corresponding shutter and move this shutter to the right. When the shaft 11 is rocked anticlockwise, the springs 16a tend to open all the shutters, but all except one are prevented from opening by a rocking plate 15 against which pins 16 on the portions 14 abut. The plate 15 has apertures to allow one pin 16 at a time to pass through according to the position of the plate which is controlled by a cam 19 having four arcuate portions a-d against which one end of the plate 15 rests. The cam 19 is carried by a ratchet wheel 20 rotated step-by-step by a pawl 21 on the lever 12 so that the cam portion a passes from under the plate 15 when the first strip 33a is used up. When all four strips are exhausted, a cam 25 actuates a lever arm 24 to rock a shaft 23, the other end of which carries a lever arm for restoring the rocking plate 15 to its initial position. Mechanism may be provided for stamping the time of writing opposite each message. The Provisional Specification also states that sheets of paper or cards may be delivered on which a message is written and placed in the machine, the address being exhibited. Delivery of articles stored in bulk. A pencil is delivered, when required, from a store in a hopper 46, Fig. 4, by depressing a button 59. The pencils are guided from the hopper to a runway 47 by a pair of discs 63 rotated through connections 60, 61, 62 each time the shaft 11 is rocked. The link 61 has a cam 65 which prevents the button 59 from being pushed down until the shaft 11 is actuated after prepayment. The button is connected to a rod 54 which actuates through a lever 53a a forked escapement lever 49 to allow one pencil to pass down the runway to a delivery tray 48. Coin action, thrust, and multiple-coin. The shaft 11 is normally prevented from being rocked by a pawl 27, Fig. 3, engaging a toothed sector 26a carried by one of the arms 12a. Two or more coins are thrust into a shoot 35 until the first coin by engaging a ramp 34 rocks a lever 33 about the shaft 23. The lever 33 is connected by a sleeve to a slotted plate 30, the slot 29a of which engages a pin 28a on the pawl 27. The pawl is thus raised to allow the shaft 11 to be rocked by the lever 12. At the end of its stroke, an incline 34a on the sector 26a raises the pawl 27 further to discharge the coins.