Patent GB-862131-A (GB)
Title: Anti-jamming manual parking meter
IPC: G07F17/24
Filed: 1959-12-14
Abstract: 862,131. Parking meters. ROCKWELL MANUFACTURING CO. Dec. 14, 1959 [Jan. 13, 1959], No. 42371/59. Class 27. The housing 23, Fig. 1, of a parking meter includes meter mechanism comprising a coin shoot assembly 52, clockwork mechanism 36, Figs. 7 and 9, time indicator 37, time-expired indicator 38 and drive means 31, Fig. 1, for urging a coin through the shoot and, in the course of such movement, winding the clockwork mechanism and controlling the indicators, the shoot being provided at spaced points along its length with cam surfaces 75, 81, 83 which operate upon coins of different sizes so as to cam the corresponding coin inwardly of the shoot and at that stage cause the coin to render the drive means effective to wind the clockwork mechanism. The front of the housing 23 has a coin-insertion slot 42 disposed to register with the upper end of the coin shoot assembly which, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, comprises an arcuate face plate 51 with an inwardly-turned rib 67 along its inner periphery and, disposed along its outer periphery, two superposed plates 73, 78, the inner arcuate edges of which are provided with the cam surfaces 75, 81, 83, for appropriately acting upon the coins as they pass through the shoot; a rear cover plate 88 completes the assembly. The drive means 31 is carried by a disc 116 on a shaft 102 for rotation by a handle 106 counterclockwise in Fig. 1 from an initial position to which it is urged by a spring 188 so as to move the coin through the shoot. The clockwork mechanism 36, Figs. 7 and 9, is disposed coaxially with the disc 116 and the time indicator 37 and timeexpired indicator 38 are caused to move behind a glazed opening 44, Fig. 1, in the front of the housing 23 ; the indicator 37 is pivoted to swing across the opening and the indicator 38 to move vertically between its exposed and unexposed positions. A coin, when inserted in the slot 42, drops into a pocket defined by fingers 168, 169 of a spring-urged arm 163 pivoted on the disc 116, and a radial face 117 of the disc and takes up a generally canted position in which only the upper and lower marginal edges of the coin engage parts of the shoot, i.e. the face of the cam plate 73 and rib 67. Upon rotation of the disc 116, an abutment on the latter then drives the coin along the shoot and, assuming it to be of the smallest size (e.g. 1 dime for two hours parking), it will be cammed inwardly past the rib 67 by the sloping wall at the end of a notch 75 in the cam plate 73 ; the resultant swing of the arm 163 against a spring 175 acts through an arm 178 to bring a clock-winding pawl 179 into position to pick up the initial tooth of an adjustably-mounted rack ring 182, Fig. 7, which is mounted for rotation on a mounting plate 195 and secured to the hub 212 of the clockwork mechanism. In its continued movement in the shoot, the coin strikes the projecting upper end 55, Fig. 1, of a pivoted coin-release lever 56 and so swings the bent lower end 62 of the lever to eject a previously-inserted coin from its position behind a glazed opening 70 in the housing and an opening in the arcuate plate 51 ; this discharged coin drops through an opening 76 into a coin box. After passing the notch 75, the inserted coin is caused by the arcuate inner edge 77 of the cam plate 73 to retain the arm 163 in its rocked position, whereby the tension of a spring 185 acting on the arm 178 is maintained and the pawl 179 acts to rotate the rack ring 182 and wind the clockwork mechanism. Retrograde movement of the disc 116 during its normal setting rotation is prevented by the finger 154 of a lever 146 on the disc 116 riding down from a fixed cam 95 and causing a second finger of the lever to engage the face of an inserted coin ; a spring 142 is then free to slide a link 135 outwardly along the disc to rotate a pawl 129 into engagement with a fixed rack bar 96. Should the second finger feel no coin in the shoot, the link 135 is shifted by the spring 142 to swing the pawl 129 out of the range of the rack bar 96 and the arm 163 will not be rocked so that the disc 116 may be freely rotated. When a coin reaches the end of the cam surface 77, the finger 154 rides on a cam 95a so that the coin is released and drops into its position behind the window 70 where it is supported by the bent lower end 62 of the lever 56. Coins of smaller value (e.g. a U.S.A. nickel and dime for parking times of 60 minutes and 12 minutes, respectively) are arranged to render the clockwinding appropriately effective by the action of the cam surfaces 81, 83, the inner arcuate edges 82, 84 of the cam plate 78 serving, as in the case of the arcuate surface 77 on the small coins, to maintain the pawl 179 in clock-winding position. The time indicator 37 is carried by a spring-biased bell-crank 210 on the mounting plate, its swinging movement behind the window 44 being controlled by a pin 209 on the bellcrank engaging an arcuate slot 208 in a cam plate 201 which is mounted to rotate with the rack ring 182. The time-expired indicator 38 is mounted for vertical movement by its connection to the upper end of a link 267 which is connected at its upper and lower ends to two spring-urged parallel linkages on the mounting plate, one a bell-crank 272 and the other a lever 249 pivoted on a second lever 223. The indicator 38 is held in its out-of-view position when time is set on the meter only so long as a pin 124 on the disc 116 engages a finger 207 on the lever 223, but is displayed each time the disc is rotated to set time on the meter irrespective of whether the time indicator 37 has reached its zero position and remains in this position until the disc returns to its initial position ; as a result, the indicator 38 is displayed even should the disc become jammed in any other position than in its coin-receiving position. A pawl 259 associated with the lever 249 is caused to ride on the outer face of an arcuate cam 219 on the cam plate 201 during the setting and time-dispensing operation of the meter, but upon expiry of the set time is moved inwardly past the tip 221 of the cam by the engagement of the pin 124 with the finger 207 and so prevents operation of the meter except by the insertion of a coin. The housing 23 is in the form of a casting hinged on a base member 21 mounted on a post.