Patent GB-624310-A (GB)
Title: Coin-freed apparatus for collecting subscription fees from subscribers connected to a radio relay-station or a telephone exchange
IPC: H04M17/02
Filed: 1945-11-16
Abstract: 624,310. Coin-freed telephone and radio relay apparatus. HEYBROEK'S GROOTHANDEL N.V. Nov. 16, 1945, No. 30778. Convention date, Nov. 23, 1944. [A Specification was laid open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, Nov. 16, 1945]. [Class 27] Mechanism for controlling a subscriber's apparatus in a telephone or radio relay system comprises a coin-collecting box 1 with contacts 63, 64 which are closed after insertion of a coin to render the receiving apparatus available for use, and reopened after a fixed interval by impulses transmitted from the exchange. The coin, inserted through a slot in the casing, falls down a chute 45 and into a pocket 54 in a sliding carrier 52, which is first moved laterally to bring' the pocket into register with the chute by means of an external handle. Upon release of the handle, the carrier is returned by a spring 53, and the projecting coin, masking a clearance slot in an upstanding part 55 of the carrier, engages behind and turns a pivoted arm 58. A drum 60 fast with the arm 58 is consequently rotated, and a projection 67 on it depresses the upper contact 64 into engagement with the lower 63 which has meanwhile been lifted by the coin pocket part 55. The drum is locked in this position by a pivoted detent 68, with the circuit to the subscriber's apparatus thus completed, the coin falling through a slot 62 in a plate 50 underlying the carrier to the cash receptacle 40. The carrier is now locked against attempted movement by the engagement of a pawl 66 with ratchet teeth 59 on it. The impulse sent from the exchange when a further coin is due energizes a solenoid 14, the armature 16 of which disengages the detent 68 from the drum 60 which is returned by a spring 61 to release its projection from the upper contact 64 and so break the subscriber's circuit. To ensure release of the detent 68 should the impulse be weak where there are a large number of subscribers, the circuit of solenoid 14 is broken at additional contacts adjacent contacts 63, 64 when the drum 60 returns. A succession of impulses are sent from the exchange and subscribers' apparatus which fail to respond at the first do so at a subsequent one, the impulses becoming progressively stronger as the number of solenoids 14 in circuit are reduced. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 describes also a form of mechanism in which a coin is inserted into the coin pocket 26, Fig. 2 (Cancelled), after it has been projected from the casing by pressing in a knob 27. Normally the pocket is locked by engagement of a detent 22, but energization of a magnet 14 when a further coin is due lifts the detent and also breaks the subscribers' circuit at contacts 10 by turning a cam 11. The new coin enters_the pocket beside the two previous ones 31 and, as the pocket retracts under the action of a spring 28, the innermost coin climbs a ramp 29 to turn back the cam 11 so closing the contacts 10 before falling through an opening 3 into the cash compartment 4. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.