Patent GB-282877-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in coin freed machines for vending packaged goods
IPC: G07F11/14
Filed: 1926-09-27
Abstract: 282,877. Brown, E. J. Sept. 27, 1926. Delivery of articles stored in piles; storage.-A machine for delivering a packet after the insertion of a coin into a coin-carrier mounted on a shaft, or after a number of coins of predetermined value have been inserted, one into each of a number of coin-carriers mounted on the shaft, is operated by partially rotating the shaft by means of a handle and then allowing the shaft to be returned by a spring, the forward movement streassing the springs which, when released by mechanism operated by the final discharge, of the coin or coins into the machine, effect the delivery of the goods. In the machine described and shown, the packeted goods 46 are stored on a framework 48, adapted to be elevated step-by-step by means of weights 49. The pile is arranged below an apertured plate 51, the top article normally bearing against the underside of a slide 41. When the slide is moved backwardly along guide rods 71, as subsequently described, the pile rises until the top packet is checked by a projecting plate 52, the packet being pushed forward into a delivery box 53 when the slide again advances. The slide is coupled, by pin and. slot connections 42, to a pair of arms 40 loosely mounted on the main shaft 35, which carries a crank 36 having a handle 37. Springs 14, 86 connected respectively to the arms 40 and to the slide 41, normally hold these parts in the forward position. A spring 116, connected to a rod 16 which passes through and is fixed to discs 20 - - 22 slidably mounted on the shaft 35 but rotatable therewith, normally holds the shaft in the position in which the crank 36 rests against a stop 38. On pulling the crank forwardly until it is stopped by a part 39, the arms 40 are, if the proper coins have been inserted through slots 30, dragged backwards by means of hooked levers 74 fixed to a spindle 15 which is rotatably mounted in the discs 20 - - 22. The handle 3'7 is then released by the operator, and the spring 116 returns the shaft 35 with the discs 20 - - 22 to its original position. Meanwhile the arms 40 and slide 41 are held in the backward position by a hook 78 pivoted on the slide engaging with a fixed hook 79, but as the discs 20 - - 22 return, the inserted coins are caused to pass down. a shoot 81, and in falling they cause the hook 78 to be lifted from the hook 79. The springs 14, 86 then operate to pull forward the arms 40 and slide 41, and thus deliver the packet. To ensure that a full backward movement of the slide 41 is made before it can again move forward, a pawl 43 hanging from a pin 42 coacts with a fixed rack 44 having a gap 145 at each end to allow of reversal of the pawl. Coin action, mechanical-connection, multiplecoin, and weight; coin-discharging mechanism; testing coins.-Each disc 20 - - 2'2 is recessed on one side and fitted with a plate covering the recess to form a coin pocket 19. The upper ends of the recesses normally register with slots 30 in the casing. An assembly of levers is arranged adjacent to a face of each disc, and comprises a bell-crank 61 freely rotatable on the rod 16 (referred to above), and a drag lever 74 (mounted a.s already described). A catch lever 72. notched at its ends, is pinned to each bell-crank, and is adapted to coact with a pawl 73 fixed to the spindle 15. Springs 94 tend to pull the bell- - cranks downwardly, and springs 18 exert an upward pull on the levers 74. Face cams 54 are fixed on each side of the frame and coact with cams 55 on the arms 40, so that as a partial forward and backward rotation is imparted to the shaft 35 by the crank 36 and spring 116, the cams slide a hub 34, on which the discs 20 - - 22 are mounted, to and fro along the shaft. One arm of each bell-crank 61 carries a pivoted finger 62 projecting laterally into the associated coin-pocket just sufficiently to intercept and hold a coin of the proper kind dropped through a slot 30. Assuming that the necessary coins are held in this manner, on pulling forward the crank handle 37, rollers 60 on the inner ends of the levers 61 move over fixed cams 59, which raise the levers 61 slightly, allowing each coin to move a very short distance further down the coin-pocket; when the cams 59 are cleared, each coin is gripped by a finger 62, and holds its lever 61 up out of range of the pawls 73. The hooked ends of the drag levers 74 are, during the first part of the rotation of the discs, tipped downwards by means of fixed cams 91, but when these cams are passed, the hooks 76 are drawn upwards into engagement with studs 75 on the arms 40, whereby these are rotated for effecting delivery of a package, as described above. Just before completion of the forward movement of the crank 36. the bellcranks 61 are moved by cams 58 sufficiently to allow the fingers 62 to release the coins, which fall down on to a guard plate 97. The discs 20 - - 22 have meanwhile been moved laterally along the shaft 35, so that the lower ends 27 of the coin pockets have moved out of alignment with a coin races 196 (leading to a reject box 71), into register with races 195. On allowing the crank 36 to return to normal position against the stop 38, the coins are swept up the plate 97, and pass into the races 195, whence they run through races 80 into a shoot 81. After falling down this, in passing to a receiving box they strike a counterweighted member 82 and turn it so as to raise a finger 84 which disengages the hooks 78, 79, as described above. Returning coin.-If two small a coin is inserted into one of the pockets, it. passes the finger 62 and runs through a channel 196 into the reject box 71. Should coins of the correct value be inserted into some of the coin pockets, but an incorrect coin or no coin into one pocket, on moving the handle 37, the catch 72 associated with the pocket from which a proper coin is absent will engage with one of the pawls 73, and thereby prevent engagement of either of the drag levers 74 with the arms 40. Lateral movement of the discs 20-22 will therefore not take place, so that when the discs return to normal position, those coins which are in the pockets are delivered through the races 196 to the reject box.