Patent GB-356824-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to coin-freed apparatus for the sale of postcards or the like
IPC: G07F11/58
Filed: 1930-03-17
Abstract: 356,824. Coin-freed article delivery apparatus. MAcDONALD, H., 28, Victoria Street, and FULTON, J., 58, Park Road, Chiswick, both in London. March 17, 1930, No. 8512. [Class 27.] Delivery of articles stored in piles; coin action, weight; coin-discharging mechanism; returning coin.-Postcards or the like are contained in trays 30, Fig. 5, supported by spindles 31 on endless chains 20 which are rotated before a window 11 by an external handle on a shaft 25, Fig. 3, by an intending purchaser. A card having been selected, the handle is turned until the tray in question is opposite a mark on the window 11 adjacent the delivery mechanism and a coin is inserted in a slot 40. The coin engages a projection 42 on a counterweighted lever 43 and depresses the lever until the projection 42 reaches the bottom of a slot 44 where the coin is held by a stop 46 on a pivoted lever 47. At the same time a stop 74 on a rod 79, connected to the lever 43, is removed from the path of a toe 73 of a pivoted stirrup 71 on a lever.70. The stirrup mormally engages a lever 62 on the shaft 61 of a second handle. When this handle is rotated, a cam 80 on the shaft 61 engages a lever 82 so as to disengage a clutch in the driving mechanism of the chain conveyer, thereby preventing any further movement of the trays. The curved edge 85 of the cam then engages a roller 86 on a 3-armed lever 87, 88, 89. The arm 89 is rotated so that through a rod 90 and lever 91, jaws 92, 93 embrace the spindle 31 of the selected tray and position it correctly with respect to the delivery mechanism. A cam lever 95 then engages the spindle 31 of the next lower tray and through a rod 96 moves a stop 75 out of the path of the toe 73. A link 100, connected to the arm 89, tilts the selected tray and the next above to an angle of 45‹ by means of arms 102, 104. The arm 88 through a rod 49 moves the stop 46 around the edge of the coin which then falls on to pins 50, 51. Meanwhile a slide 123, connected by a rope 125 to the lever 70, has moved downwards and a finger 120, pivoted thereto, is guided by rollers 130 moving over cam plates 131. When the rollers reach the lower end of the cam plates, a spring 132 presses a resilient pad 121 on the finger 120 against the top card in the selected tray at a point just above the centre of the card. The toe 73 is now tripped by the arm 76 and releases the lever 70 which is returned with the slide 123 to its initial position by a spring drum 128 connected to the slide by a rope 127. During the upward movement of the slide, the finger 120 withdraws the card and flexes it against a fixed plate 110. The rollers 130 now engage the underside of the plates 131 and the card, bridging a central gap in a fence 112, rotates the fence about a spindle 113 and through an arm 114, rod 115 and lever 53 withdraws the pin 51 from the coin shoot and the coin falls down a shoot 55 to a bag 56. The card is then tilted over the top of the fence and falls down a shoot 135 to an opening 137. If the finger 120 fails to withdraw a card from the pack it engages a tongue 116 projecting upwardly in the gap in the fence 112 so as to rotate a spindle 117 and through an arm 118, rod 119 and lever 52 withdraw the pin 50 from the coin shoot and the coin is returned through an opening 54. The trays are kept tilted throughout the delivery operation bv a hook 105 engaging a projection 107 on the link 100, the hook being normally held out of engagement by an arm 108 on the slide 123. A spring- controlled pawl 63 on the lever 62 engaging with ratchet teeth on a fixed quadrant 65 prevents reverse movement of the lever 70 except when this is tripped. In small apparatus in which no selection of the card is available, the cards may be stacked on a single tray which is either fixed in an appropriate position relative to the delivery mechanism or may be repeatedly fed up into such position. Where a limited selection is offered, the trays may be fixed and superimposed vertically above one another and the delivery mechanism moved so as to co-operate with the appropriate tray, or the trays may be arranged horizontally and rotate about a vertical axis past a fixed delivery mechanism. In another modification the trays are mounted on a rotatable polygonal framework with a number of trays one above the other on each side of the framework so that a selected column of trays may be brought to the front of the apparatus, the delivery mechanism being movable up and down to co-operate with any one of the trays in the front column. Specification 356,823 is referred to.