Patent GB-840706-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to coin-operated apparatus for indicating a magnitude or a result of combined magnitudes
IPC: G07F17/04
Filed: 1959-01-13
Abstract: 840,706. Coin-freed apparatus. YLINEN, K. J. Jan. 13, 1959 [Aug. 22, 1958], No. 1211/59. Class 27 [Also in Group XIX] Calculating apparatus, particularly for calculating the alcohol concentration in the blood after consuming alcoholic drinks, comprises a pair of bars 25, 26 of which the upper bar 26 has an inclined lower surface and is adjustable vertically relative to the lower bar according to known factors set on knobs 3a-3k so that a coin 33 rolling between the two bars is arrested at a point determined by the adjustment of the movable bar and serves as a member for indicating the resultant of the known factors. Leaf springs 40, 41 rigidly connected to a bracket 42 support the upper bar 26 and are interconnected by rigid strips 38, 39. For lowering the bar according to the number of drinks consumed, as set on knobs 3a-3i corresponding to different types of drink, a lever 18 is pivoted at 17 to the strip 39 and has a triangular plate 43 acting through a roller 45 on another plate 46 on the strip 38. The lever 18 is connected by a cord or wire 15 to grooved pulleys 10 journalled on eccentric pins 9 on the knobs 3a-3i, the pins being angularly out of phase by 180 degrees so that clockwise movement of either knob of a pair will cause an increased amount of cord to be wrapped round a pulley and cause corresponding movement of the lever and the roller 45. The roller 45 is carried by a rod 51 connected to a crank 49 on a knob 3k so that the position of the roller can be varied to vary the lever arm 17, 45 and thus, by setting the knob to the operator's weight, one way or the other according to whether the operator is a man or a woman, the adjustment of the bar according to the drinks consumed is modified by a factor depending on body-weight and sex. Another knob 3j sets the time since drinks were consumed and a crank 48 connected to a rod 50 engaging between a roller 52 on the mounting bracket 42 and a roller 53 on the strip 39 will cause the bar to be raised if a comparatively long time has elapsed after alcohol consumption or lowered further if the elapsed time is short. A coin inserted in a shoot 21 is initially arrested by a pin 31 on a leaf spring 30 but, on pressing a pushbutton 29, the pin is withdrawn and the bar 25 is pushed sideways on leaf springs 27, 28 to release the previously-inserted coin 33 to a coin box 54. A stop 37 controlled by leaf springs 34, 35 arrests the new coin at position 33b but is withdrawn when the pushbutton is released and the coin rolls down between the two bars until it is arrested at a position determined by the adjustment of the upper bar. The coin is visible through a transparent panel 5 and its position can be read against a scale 6b indicating the alcohol concentration and a scale 6a indicating the time which has to elapse before the concentration will have reduced to a figure considered safe enough to allow the operator to drive a car. If the calculation by the apparatus shows a zero result, the coin is arrested by a recess 55 in the lower bar.