Patent GB-871039-A (GB)
Title: Registering device for dispensing machines
IPC: G07F9/00
Filed: 1959-11-03
Abstract: 871,039. Coin-freed apparatus. HERSHEY MFG. CO. Nov. 3, 1959 [Aug. 24, 1959], No. 37335/59. Class 27 [Also in Group XIX] A machine, such as a fruit machine, for dispensing a variable number of articles during different cycles has registers 36, 38 and 40 for counting, respectively, the number of coins inserted, the number of articles dispensed and the number of times that the machine jackpots. Switches 29-33 controlling the operation of the registers are connected to a commutator 52 having several rows of contacts engaged by brushes 96-101 and the switches are operated by levers 22-27. Partial movement of lever 22 results in the dispensing of three articles, closing the contacts 28a, 28b, and full movement dispenses five articles, closing the contacts 28b, 28c. Movement of levers 23 and 24 causes eleven or thirteen articles to be dispensed and if either levers 25 and 26 move eighteen articles are dispensed. Lever 27 causes dispensing of an indefinite number of articles, the number being determined from time to time by the operator of the machine. Apertured slides 16 dispense the articles from a magazine 14 and are selectively released by the levers 22-26 for movement by springs 18. Switches 64, 66, 68 which coordinate the registers with the dispensing means are operated by a lever 70 and by arms 72 and 82 connected by a roller 74 to the lever 70. The return movement of the arms 72 and 82 is retarded by an air vane 78. Movement of the lever 70, which indicates the operation of the machine opens switches 64 and 66 and, through the arm 82 engaging a cam 86, closes the contacts of switch 68. The return movement of lever 70 soon closes the switch 64 and a single impulse can pass through the switch 68, which is still held closed by the retarded return of the arm 82, to the coin or cycle register 36. The switch 66 remains open until the retarded return of arm 72 is completed at the end of a cycle and only then can the dispense register 38 be operated. Current passes through switch 66 and the closed switch of the set 29-32 to the appropriate brush 95-101 and the inter-connected set of contacts 106-11 on the commutator 52. Through a lead 124 and a closed switch 92, a relay coil 60a is energised and closes contacts 60e, 60f to energise a motor 54 which, through reduction gearing, drives the commutator 52 and a cam 58 connected to it. On initial rotation of the cam 58, a shoe 134 rides out of a notch 130 and holds the armature 60b down and the contacts 60e, 60f closed to maintain the motor circuit although the relay is de-energised when a pin 136 moves away from a contact 92a and allows the switch 92 to open. During rotation of the commutator, the engagement of the appropriate brush with the appropriate set of contacts will generate the number of pulses according to the switch 29-32 which has been operated and these impulses are transmitted through the slip ring 104 and brush 95 to the dispense register 38. If the machine jackpots, the contacts 33b, 33c are closed and when the pin 136 on the cam 58 closes a switch 152 a single impulse is sent to the special dispense register 40. Near the end of the rotation of the cam 58, the shoe 134 drops into a second notch 132 and the contacts 60e, 60f open and the motor 54 stops. At the beginning of the next cycle, when switch 68 closes, the motor is re-energized through a switch 160 which has been closed by the pin 136 and which operates the relay coil 60a. The motor runs until the shoe 134 drops into the first notch 130, when the commutator and cam reach their home position. A coin-return electromagnet 50 is normally energised but is de-energised by opening of contacts 60g, 60h when the relay armature is pulled or held down and coins are therefore rejected during operation of the registers.