Patent GB-405040-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in coin-freed vending apparatus
IPC: G07F5/26
Filed: 1932-08-03
Abstract: 405,040. Coin-freed article-delivery apparatus. FITZPATRICK, H. D., 94, Hope Street, Glasgow.-(General Holding Co. ; 4, Oudermeulenlaan, Wassenaar, Holland.) Aug. 3, 1932, No. 21720. [Class 27.] Articles stored in compartments in fixed receptacles.-In coin-freed vending-apparatus of the type in which the articles on sale are enclosed in chambers 9, Fig. 1, arranged one above the other each chamber having a coin slit and a door associated with its own locking mechanism, the shoots 14 extending from the coin-slits 10 open into a common shoot 15 leading to a cointesting mechanism 16 and to a single releasing mechanism 20, 21, which controls the locking mechanisms associated with the respective chamber doors 11. After insertion of a coin in any one of the coin-slits, a selected door may be opened, the act of opening the door constraining the locking-mechanisms of the other doors to lock them, and also discharging the coin from the releasing mechanism, so that the apparatus is set in readiness for operation and, if the door be left open, the insertion of another coin immediately renders one of the other doors free to be opened. Each door 11 is hinged at 13 to open downwardly and carries a plate 42 having a projection 41, a recess 44, and a hump 45. The locking- mechanism comprises a pair of levers 32, 33 pivoted at 34 and connected together by a spring 36 with a lost motion connection 35. When a door is opened, the hump 45 engages a roller 43 on the lever 33. which roller normally fits the recess 44 and moves this lever to extend the spring 36. In the absence of a coin, the lever 32 cannot move because a cam 37 thereon engages a corresponding roller 38 on a composite rod 30, which is prevented from moving, and a one-way pawl 39 on the lever engages the projection 41, thereby preventing opening of the door. The rod 30, Fig. 5, comprises a series of overlapping parts-one for each doorconnected together by pin-and-slot connections 31, each part having a roller 38. After insertion of a coin, the cam 37 moves down the portion of the rod 30 below it to a limited extent by engaging the roller 38. The portion of the rod 30 above the selected door is prevented from downward movement by the upper surface of the cam 37, and the lower portion of the rod cannot be extended further, so that all the other doors are locked, until the rod 30 returns to its normal condition. Coin action, mechanical-connection.-A coin passing through the tester 16 is either returned through a reject shoot 19 or is delivered to a receiver 20, where it rests on a spring-controlled lever 21, one arm of which is engaged by the rod 30. Clockwise movement of the lever 21 under the thrust of the rod 30 lifts the receiver 20 through the coin B, thereby allowing the top of lever 21 to pass the receiver, by which it would otherwise be blocked. The coin B is ejected in the direction of the arrow b to a money-box, and thereupon the rod 30 is returned by a spring 30a and the lever 32 is restored to normal position in readiness for the insertion of another coin. If the door is left open, the lever 33 remains displaced with the spring 36 extended. Coin-slit closing-devices.-A coin inserted through a slit 10 and a coincident slit 60 in a plate 61, Fig. 2, engages a cross-bar 65 on a rod 64 which is raised and, by a cam 73 at its bottom end, frees a spring catch 69 from engagement with the plate 61. This plate is now raised by a spring 68 until projections 62 thereon again abut projections 63 on the rod 64, the slits 10, 60 being thus moved out of registry so that a further coin cannot be inserted. The downward movement of the rod 30, when a door is opened, through a lateral projection 76 engaging a projection 75 on the rod 64, restores the rod 64 and plate 61 to their initial position.