Patent GB-459849-A (GB)
Abstract: 459,849. Prepayment mechanism for meters. BRITISH ELECTRIC METERS, Ltd., and BROWN, R. T., Morden Road, Mitcham, Surrey. July 11, 1935, No. 16853. [Class 27] Coin action, mechanical-connection and multiple-coin.- In prepayment meter mechanism particularly of the kind in which an element of the mechanism is moved through different distances, according to the diameter of the coin inserted, to prepay corresponding amounts of gas, electricity, &c., the inserted coin, by operation of a handle, is moved edgewise in a plane to advance through a distance, depending on the diameter of the coin, a member which by continued operation of the handle is rotated without further advance and thereby operates directly or indirectly the quantity wheel, the coin during the rotation of the member remaining stationary. A coin inserted through a slot 61, Fig. 3, into a shoot 4 converging downwardly to a parallel part 5 rests on a flange 6 of a plate 7 fixed to a spindle 8. A handle 11, Fig. 2, rotates a spindle 10 carrying a ratchet disc 12, and a cam plate 21 connected to the disc 12 by a sleeve 20. A cam 22 on the plate 21 engages the coin and moves it edgewise to contact with and advance a gauging plate 30 to the left, Fig. 2, the plate 30 being connected by a cylindrical part 26 to a flange 27 which has a pin 28 passing through a curved slot 24 in the plate 21. The plate 30 is advanced against the action of a return spring 29, the slot 24 allowing its advance without rotation. By continued rotation of the handle, the end of the slot 24 engages the pin 28 and rotates the plate 30, which has a turned-over arm 38 to engage a quantity wheel 35 and rotate this through six or twelve teeth according as a sixpence or a shilling is inserted. In the case of a penny, a projecting pin 34 rotates a star wheel which in turn rotates the wheel 35 through one tooth. A locking plate 43 has three notches 44, 45, 46 which permit the rotation of the plate 30, when this is positioned by a penny, shilling, and sixpence respectively, the plate 43 engaging a notch in the plate 30 and allowing its sliding movement under the action of the inserted coin. A pawl 41, on a spindle 40 carrying the locking plate 43, prevents backward rotation of the quantity wheel 35. Coin-discharging mechanism.-The disc 12 has ratchet teeth 13 engaged by a pawl 14 to prevent return of the disc 12 until it has performed its complete rotation. One pin of two pins 17 on the disc engages, at the end of the forward rotation of the disc 12, one end 68 of a transverse pin passing through a spindle 67, thereby turning this spindle which is connected through a linkage 73, 74, 75, Fig. 1, with the spindle 8. By this means in the case of a penny and a shilling, the spindle 8 is rocked to withdraw the flange 6 and allow the coin to drop. In the case of a sixpence, a lug on the plate 30 engages a pin 72 on the spindle 67, the action being then as before described. When the coin drops, the spring 29 returns the plate 30 to its original position. The other end 69 of the transverse pin in the shaft 67 releases the pawl 14 from the ratchet teeth 13 and the second pin 17 on the disc 12, when this returns to its initial position, returns the shafts 67 and 8. The shaft 8 may be rocked by hand by a push button 90 connected to the link 74 by a rod 89. Coin-slit closing-devices.-The first rotation of the disc 12 by means of a depression 12a engaging a nose 59 on a lever 53 actuates the lever to move a slot-closing slide 57 over the coin slot 61. A projection 57a on the slide engages a lug 52 on a plate 51 carried by the spindle 40. The plate 51 and spindle 40 are thereby rocked to move a depending portion of the plate 51 out of locking engagement with the flange 27 which is connected to the gauging plate 30. Switch-setting mechanism.-The switch-operating mechanism, as shown in Fig. 1, is of the form described in Specification 362,158, [Group XXXVII], and the arrangement is such that the switch is not closed until the coin has been discharged.