Patent GB-376773-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to mechanism adapted to be actuated by virtue of a coin or coins
IPC: G07F15/02
Filed: 1931-02-13
Abstract: 376,773. Prepayment mechanism for meters &c. SUTHERLAND, A. G., 191, Bedford Hill, London. Feb. 13, 1931, Nos. 4527 and 9534. [Class 27.] Coin action, thrust and with delivery proportionate to value of Coin.-In a coin - freed mechanism such as is employed in prepayment meters of the kind operable by coins of different denominations inserted in a common slot, the quantity of gas &c. delivered being proportionate to the value of the coin inserted, the coins displace a common member displacement of which causes selective driving engagement of one of a plurality of wheels having different operative connections with the mechanism which controls the delivery of gas &c. A coin inserted into a coin holder 7, Fig. 1, depresses against the action of a spring 11 a plate 8 having a tooth 15 to engage a wheel 17 which is provided with long teeth 16 and is mounted on a hollow spindle 18. A pin 9 on the plate 8 is guided in slots 10 in the holder and engages a slot 14 in a cam plate 12 pivoted to the holder at 13. Depression of the plate 8 by a large coin, for example a penny, causes the tooth 15 to engage between two teeth 16 near their roots and the pin 9 to rock the cam plate 14 through an angle of about 90 degrees. The cam plate thus engages the head 28 of a bar 26 slidable but non-rotatable in the spindle 18, and moves the bar inwardly against the action of a spring 27 to cause a dog 25 on it to disengage a crown wheel 19 and engage a crown wheel 22. When a small coin, a shilling, is inserted the tooth 15 engages between the tips of two teeth 16 and the cam 12 does not engage the plunger 26, 28 so that the dog 25 remains in engagement with the crown wheel 19. The wheels 19, 22 respectively are integral with wheels 21, 23 which are connected through gear trains to the mechanism controlling the supply of gas &c., the arrangement being such that rotation of the wheel 21 causes a proportionately greater delivery than an equal rotation of the wheel 23. The dog 25 may be replaced by a member having opposite conical friction surfaces engaging corresponding surfaces formed in place of the crown teeth 19, 22. In a modification, Fig. 6, depression of the plate 8 rocks a bell-crank lever 36 to cause a bar 39 to slide in guideways 40. A tooth 41 on the bar engages one of two wheels 42, 43 according to the size of the coin, the wheel 42 being on a hollow boss 44 surrounding the spindle 45 of the wheel 43. The boss 44 and spindle 45 carry wheels 46, 47 respectively, which engage wheels 48, 49 on a shaft 50 coupled to the gas controlling mechanism. The wheel 49 is loose and drives the shaft through a pawl and ratchet 51, 52. The wheel 48 may also drive the shaft through a pawl and ratchet wheel, so that one of the wheels 42, 43 may be actuated without effecting the rotation of the other in the forward direction. Backward rotation of the wheels 42, 43 may be prevented by pawls. In a further form, Fig. 7, the wheels 42, 43 drive through an epicyclic mechanism a differential screw mechanism 54 controlling the gas valve 53. The shaft 45 of the wheel 43 carries a crown wheel 58 forming one sun wheel of the epicyclic mechanism. The wheel 46 on the hollow spindle 44 drives through wheels 60, 61 on a lay shaft 59 a second crown wheel 62 loose on the shaft 45. Planet wheels 64 on a toothed planet carrier 63 mesh with the crown sun wheels 58, 62, and the planet carrier drives the operating shaft 50 of the valve control mechanism through a pinion 65. When one of the wheels 42, 43 is rotated after the insertion of a coin, the other remains stationary.