Patent GB-886865-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to vending machines
IPC: G07F5/20
Filed: 1960-02-25
Abstract: 886,865. Coin-freed vending apparatus. NATIONAL VENDORS Inc. Feb. 25, 1960 [March 13, 1959], No. 6734/60. Class 27. The mechanical coin totalizer of a vending machine is provided with a lockout lever 27 which is interposed between stop discs S1-S3 set according to the total coin value and feeler levers F1-F3 controlling latch release levers if the stop discs fail to return to zero position at the conclusion of a dispensing operation. The trip wire 17 for stepping the totalizer forward according to the coin values and the gates 243. 245 for collecting or returning coins are similar to those described in Specification 824,515 and the stop discs are similar to those described in Specification 799,720. When the totalizer ratchet 165 and the stops S1-S3 have been indexed forward by the trip wire 17, they are held in advanced position against the bias of a return spring 177 by the driving pawl and by a holding pawl 191. A damping wire 293 having a weight 297 at its end brushes against the wire 17 to retard it during its upward operative return stroke and prevent overriding of the ratchet 165. For the lowest predetermined value of the coins, the stops are advanced so that their lobes clear the finger 51 of the feeler lever F1 but not the fingers 53 and 55 of the feelers F2 and F3. The operator pulls the lowest-value rod of the vending machine and a shaft 77 is rotated and a cam acts on a roller 65 to swing a lever 57 clockwise. Through springs 67, 69, 71, the lever 57 tends to pull down the levers F1-F3 but only the lever Fl is free to move fully and operate a latch release lever that allows the rod to be completely pulled out and then returned to dispense the lowest-value article. The cam on the shaft 77 acts on a roller 325 so that a lever 321 drives a slide 309 upwards and a cam edge 307 thereon rocks a lever 299 clockwise. The nose 303 of the lever 299 acts on a reset lever 25 which disengages the driving pawl from its ratchet teeth and the holding pawl 191 from its teeth 173. The finger 339 on lever 299 also rocks a lever 333 so that a pin 343 moves the feeler lever F1 to retract its finger 51 from the stop disc S1 and the stop discs and ratchets are free to return to zero position. For intermediate values, the two fingers 51 and 53 are clear of the stops S1 and S2 and for the highest values all three fingers are clear. The lockout lever 27 is normally held in inactive position by the engagement of a pin 221 on latch 213 over the upper arm 223 of the lever. As the reset lever 25 disengages the pawls, a pin 211 moves the lever 27 clockwise sufficiently to lower the upper arm away from the pin 221 and release the latch 213 for clockwise movement under the bias of a weight 217. If, however, the stops S1-S3 immediately return to zero position, the finger 187 on the ratchet 165 engages the tail 219 of the latch and the latch therefore maintains the lever 27 in its inactive position. If the stops S1-S3 do not return, or are delayed in returning, to zero position, the latch swings to a position where the pin 221 is clear of the upper arm 223 of the lever 27 and, as the lever 25 returns to normal position, the lever 27 swings until it lies above the fingers 51, 53, 55 and locks the feeler levers F1-F3 out of operation. It may be possible to return the stops S1-S3 by actuating the usual coin return mechanism, which acts on the reset lever 25, but, if not, it is necessary to service the machine.