Patent GB-787501-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to coin-freeing and change-giving mechanism
IPC: G07F5/24
Filed: 1954-11-23
Abstract: 787,501. Coin-freeing mechanisms with change-giving. NATIONAL REJECTORS, Inc. Nov. 23, 1954 [Jan. 27, 1954], No. 33982/54. Class 27 Coin-freeing mechanism for vending apparatus comprises a coin separator and tester 45, which may be as described in Specification 749,612, and operating and change-giving mechanism 30 which is responsive to 1-cent, 5-cent, 10-cent and 25- cent coins deposited in recesses in a coin carrier 322 and, where necessary, gives 5-cent coins in change from a reservoir 150. As described, the maximum selling price of articles is twelve cents, but this can be reduced to eleven cents by fitting a dummy coin in the 1-cent recess and to ten cents by preventing the operation of a lever normally engaging coins in the 1-cent recess; a further reduction to seven, six and five cents can be made by fitting a dummy coin in the 5-cent recess. The coin separator is held in the coin changer 30 by ears 47 at the top engaging in holes in leaf springs 48 and by ears 43 at the bottom engaging in notches 32; an adjustable bracket 38 engaging one ear 43 enables the coin-discharge openings of the separator to be aligned with the coin recesses of the carrier 322. Change-giving mechanism. Deposited 5-cent coins are directed to the change reservoir 150 by a plate 89, Fig. 22, connected to a spring-loaded lever 98 and normally positioned so that a stop 90 blocks the end of the 5-cent shoot 80 and a closure 92 is removed from below the open end of that shoot. The lever 98 is operated by a cam 354 which is connected to a shaft 350, Fig. 3, by a stiff spring and engages a pin 102 on the lever, the spring yielding if a coin jams in the bottom of the 5-cent shoot 80. When the reservoir is filled up to the level of a slot 154, the coins prevent a lug 104 on the lever from entering the reservoir and the plate 89 is held in a position in which the stop 90 is removed from the 5-cent shoot and the closure 92 completes the bottom of the shoot so that further 5-cent coins are allowed to roll to a coin box. When the reservoir empties beyond a predetermined level, a pivoted feeler 164 can enter a slot near the bottom of the reservoir and lower a rod 168 which extends to the top of the coin changer where it has a lost-motion slotted connection with a pivoted detent 180. Lowering of the rod 168 causes the detent 180 to enter the 25-cent passageway in the coin separator so that inserted 25-cent coins are rejected and returned to the customer. Two other detents 176 and 184 for 5-cent and 10-cent coins respectively, are provided and, for higher-priced articles (ten cents to twelve cents), they may be interconnected to move together by screws 192 of which the heads pass through large holes 190 in the 25-cent detent 180 or, for lower-priced articles (five cents to seven cents), the 10-cent detent 184 may be interconnected, as shown, to the detent 180 by placing the screws in smaller holes 194, leaving the 5-cent detent 176 free for independent movement. Too low a level in the reservoir, in the case of lowerpriced articles, will cause both detents 180 and 184 to enter passageways in the coin separator 45 and reject both 25-cent and 10-cent coins until 5-cent coins have been inserted to raise the level again. Two change-giving slides 232 and 246, Figs. 14 and 24, are provided below the reservoir 150; the upper slide 232 has an elliptical opening 234 of a depth equivalent to a single 5-cent coin and the lower slide 246 has an elliptical opening 248 with three lugs 250 giving a depth equivalent to three 5-cent coins and a fourth sloping lug that prevents coins from assuming a tilted position. The upper slide has friction reducing-ridges 236 engaging a horizontal plate 140 and the lower slide has similar ridges engaging the underside of the top slide. Springs 264 and 266 normally hold both slides with their coin-receiving openings in register with a lower discharge opening 260 (not shown) in a plate 258 and out of register with the bottom of the coin reservoir. For delivering 5-cents change, the slide 232 moves from its rest position into register with the reservoir and then returns to deliver the single 5-cent coin through the openings 248 and 260; for delivering 20-cents change (i.e. when a 25-cent coin is deposited for a 5-cent article), the lower slide 246 is moved but, because of a pin 254, the upper slide 232 is also moved and four 5-cent coins are therefore withdrawn from the reservoir; and when selling 10-cent articles, the upper slide is locked in registry with the reservoir, by an adjustable plate 270, so that only the lower slide is movable for withdrawing three 5-cent coins in change. Actuators 408 and 410 on a driving lever 400 are normally held above projections 238, 252 on the slides but are moved under the projections by rocker arms 278, 290 which are connected to the rods 294, 284 and are lowered when the horizontal arms of levers 304, 302 are raised. A projection 418 on a driving lever 400 also engages the feeler 164 and withdraws it from the slot at the bottom of the coin reservoir. Coin-freeing mechanism. The coin carrier 322 is horizontally slidable by a snring-loaded yoked lever 352 on the shaft 350 and comprises four open-bottomed coin recesses, the recess 330 receiving one 25-cent coin the recess 328 receiving one 10-cent coin and the recesses 326 and 324 being capable of receiving two 5-cent and 1-cent coins respectively, one behind the other. For adjustment of the selling price of articles, a dummy 5-cent or 1-cent coin can be inserted in the recesses 326 and 324 and the dummies have a pin, engaging in wide notches 332 that allow them to move back and forward in the recesses. A stepped plate 436 is mounted above the carrier and, during movement of the carrier to the left, it will help to confine coins within the recesses and also, as it is below the centre line of any additional coins that may be in the separator, it raises the latter coins clear of the carrier. As the carrier moves forward, it releases a pivoted bent wire 440 for rotation under spring-loading into a position in which the wire holds the .additional coins in the separator until the carrier returns to its initial position. Four two-armed levers are journalled on a pivot 300, Fig. 24; the lever 302 has a horizontal arm extending into the 10-cent recess 328 and a horizontal arm connected to the change-giving connecting rod 284, the lever 304 similarly has an arm extending into the 25-cent recess 330 and an arm connected to the change-giving connecting rod 294, and the levers 312 and 310 have horizontal arms extending into the 1-cent and 5-cent recesses 326 and 324 and vertical arms bearing against projections 124 and 130, Fig. 16, on spring loaded dogs 122 and 128 pivoted at 120. The lever 310 is operative only when selling 6-, 7-, 11- or 12-cent articles and, when the apparatus is adjusted to sell 5-cent or 10-cent articles, the lever 310 is rotated clockwise and held in position by a latch 318 so that it has rotated the lower end of the dog 128 clear of a projection 380 on a ratchet 378. A slotted cam 372, Fig. 3, is fixed on a driving shaft 366 provided at one end with a yielding clutch and an operating handle 430 and connected at the other end to the vending apparatus. The coarse-toothed ratchet 378 is also fixed on the shaft 366 and co-operates with a double-acting fullstroke pawl 386 and with the dogs 122 and 128. When the dogs are clear of the ratchet the shaft can be rotated against spring bias so that the yoke lever 352, which bears on the cam through a sleeved pin 358, is rotated to move the coin-carrier to the coin discharge position. The cam 372 also bears on a slotted pin 402 on the driving lever 400 and, when a pin 376 releases a pawl 422 from fine ratchet teeth 404, on the lever 400, rotates the lever so that one or other or both actuators 408, 410 pivoted at the bottom end of the lever can operate the change-giving slides 232, 246. Operation. If the sales price is five cents, a dummy 5-cent coin is deposited in the recess 326 of the coin-carrier and the latch 318 is adjusted so that it keeps the lever 310 in a position in which the dog 128 is out of the path of the surface 380 on the ratchet 378. The driving shaft 366 can then be freed for movement by rotation of the lever 312, since rotation of that lever will move the dog 122 out of the path of the projection 380. The lever 312 can be rotated directly by the insertion of a 5- cent coin since that coin will hold the dummy 5-cent coin against rearward movement in its notch 332 when the coin carrier 322 moves forward. The lever 312 can be rotated indirectly when a 10-cent or 25-cent coin is inserted because the horizontal portion joining the two arms of lever 312 will be raised upwards by the levers 302 or 304. An inserted 5-cent coin will pass'through the coin separator 45 and be tested before it reaches the recess 326 in the coin carrier. The 5-cent coin will be free to drop into the rear portion of the recess 326 because the sides of the notch 332 will co-act with the pin of the dummy coin to hold that coin at the front of the recess 326. Rotation of the handle 430 will then cause the slot 374 in the cam 372 to drive the lever 352 in a clockwise direction and move the coin carrier to the left, Fig. 13. As the coin carrier moves, the inserted 5-cent coin will prevent the dummy coin from moving rearwards and the lever 312 will be rotated counter-clockwise, thus acting on the ear 124 of dog 122 and moving the bottom projection on the dog out of the path of the projection 380 on the ratchet 378. Thereupon, the shaft 366 can be rotated towards the end of its clockwise stroke. During initial movement of the shaft 366, the pin 376 on the cam 372 moves away from the pointed nose of the pawl 422 and the surface of the cam moves towards the pin 402 on lever 400. However, until the shaft 366 has rotated the projection 380 above the level of the bottom surfaces