Patent GB-470336-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to coin-operated vending mechanisms
IPC: G07F17/32
Filed: 1936-02-06
Abstract: 470,336. Coin -freed article-delivery apparatus. FORSTER, F. Feb. 6, 1936, No. 3671. Convention date, Feb. 6, 1935. [Class 27] Articles to be vended are separately suspended from a track 1, and a carriage 3, adapted to run round the track from a normal position adjacent to the front wall 21 of the apparatus, is provided with selective releasing mechanism which is preconditioned by the user, by rotation of an article selecting dial 24 and by coins inserted through slots 22 and 23, to remove one of the articles, which falls into a tray 68 on the carriage and is conveyed to a delivery opening 25. Each article 19, Fig. 7, is suspended by a cord 20 passing over a rail 5 and looped round a sliding bolt 7 moving with a slidable plate 8 on the track 1. The bolt 7 is urged in a direction to release the cord 20 and article 19 by a spring 12, but is normally prevented from doing so by engagement of a series of flexible stirrups 16, 17, 18, removably mounted in apertures in the track 1, with slots cut in one edge of the plate 8. Each article is represented by a number of two digits, the owner of the apparatus setting the lower two stirrups 17, 18 of each article according to these digits, and the upper stirrup 16 according to the price. The user first dials in succession the two digits of the article selected on the dial 24, the articles being visible to him and marked with their respective numbers. The rotation of the dial 24 raises a sliding rack 26, Fig. 3, to which is pivoted a bar 27 having an abutment 28 initially located at the bottom of a channel 29 cut in a fixed plate. When the first digit is dialled, the abutment 28 travels a proportionate distance up the channel 29, the upper end of the bar 27 engaging an arm 47 on a sliding bar 43, Fig. 10, mounted on the carriage 3, this bar 43 being also raised a corresponding amount and secured by a spring-actuated catch 48. Upon release of the dial 24, the rack 26 and bar 27 fall back, the abutment 28 being diverted by a spring-actuated pawl 33, through a crosschannel 32, into a second vertical channel 30, the bar 27 being consequently turned somewhat in an anticlockwise direction. When the second digit is dialled, a similar operation occurs except that the bar 27 now raises a second sliding bar 42 provided on the carriage 3 by an amount corresponding to the second digit of the number of the selected article, the abutment 28 finally passing by way of a second crosschannel 31 to its original position. The user then inserts an appropriate coin or coins through one of the slots 22, 23, each of which receives coins of one denomination, the coin or coins first actuating by weight a tiltable mercury switch 81 included in the circuit of a driving motor on the carriage 3, and then passing into one of a pair of parallel shoots 53, 54 on the carriage, the lowermost coin being supported by a pin 58 or 59 on a pivoted arm 57, other coins, if any, accumulating above. An operating button 87 is now depressed, which, through a cone 86 and a pivoted lever 84 tilts a second mercury switch 82 to complete the circuit of the carriage driving motor, the carriage consequently commencing to run round the track. With the exception of the uppermost, the coins are released during initial movement of the carriage 3 into a shaft 65 provided thereon, the uppermost coin being clamped in its shoot 53 or 54 by one of a number of pins 61 on a pivoted bar 60 entering apertures in the side walls of the shoots and serving to release the selected article. As the carriage runs round the track, several of the flexible stirrups 17 and 18 of the various articles will be tripped in turn by abutments 45, 451 provided on the sliding selector bars 42, 43 ; and the stirrups 16, which pass through slots in edges of the shoots, will be similarly tripped by the coin retained. Only when the carriage reaches the selected article, and only if the operative coin is located at the appropriate height determined by the size and number of coins inserted, will all three stirrups be tripped and the article released into the tray 68. The carriage 3 continues its movement until it arrives again before the front wall 21 when the circuit of the driving motor is broken by engagement of an abutment on the carriage with an operating part 88 of the switch 82, the article being simultaneously released on to a shelf 95 accessible through the opening 25, by engagement of a fixed stop 92 with a pivoted strap 73 serving to hold up the counterweighted base 71 of the tray 68 against the weight of the article. The switches and other operative parts are reset for further use as the carriage arrives back at its original position. Coin-discharging mechanism; returning coin.- All but the uppermost coin in the shoot 53 or 54 are released during the initial travel of the carriage 3, by movement of the pivoted coin supporting arm 57 owing to the engagement of a connected lever 63 with a stop 62 on the track, and fall into a lower shoot 65 where they are supported by a tongue 74 secured to the counterweighted pivoted tray 68. The remaining coin is released by movement of the tray 68 under the weight of the ejected article by a connecting lever 77 tilting the coin clamping bar 60, all the coins being simultaneously released to a lower tongue 76 owing to the tongue 74 being withdrawn by movement of the tray 68. The coins are finally discharged when the carriage 3 arrives over a cash receptacle 94 by engagement of a pivoted arm 75 carrying the tongue 76 with a fixed stop 93. If, for any reason, an article is not ejected into the tray 68, the coins remain supported in the shoot 65 by the tongue 74 owing to the tray not being tilted. When the tray arrives back at its initial position, a fixed pin 91 engages a cam slot 78 on the tray which is consequently now tilted and the coins released on to the shelf 95 whence they can be recovered.