Improvements in Coin Freed Mechanism.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 1st May, 1896-Accepted, 17th Oct., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coin Freed Mechanism.
I,,FRANK SAUNDERS, of 11 Chalgrave Terrace, Ranelagh Road, Weymouth,
Naturalist do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to he particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to automatic delivery machines for sweetmeats and such
like articles in which I have made the following improvements :-
(1.) The goods to be delivered by the machine appear to be handed to the
purchaser by an automaton or life size model of a human being, for instance a
shop girl, enclosed in a glass case of any suitable dimensions.
(2.) Improved coin freed mechanism whereby the use of all winding up, such
as clockwork or kindred action is obviated.
The machine briefly consists of a suitable base which forms the foundation for
a suitable case, the lower part of wood and the upper part glazed all round or
on three sides or only on one side.
The mechanism is concealed from view in the lower part, and the automaton
is placed in the upper part behind a counter, and the goods to be delivered are
piled inside the glass case.
A narrow ledge projects outside the case, nearly where the wood and glass
come together, furnished with the usual coin slot, and a drawer which slides out
over the coin slot. Upon the coin being inserted, the drawer is pulled out,
operating the whole of the mechanism. The automaton is caused to move its
hand towards the pile of goods, the lowest packet is put into its hand, which
moves back again and puts the packet into its other hand by which the packet
is guided and placed at the aperture left open by pulling out the door or drawer
and the purchaser can then receive the goods. The drawer is then pushed back,
the automaton bows to the purchaser which coucludes the operation.
I will now describe the invention with full details, with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which :-
Fig. 1 shows a general front elevation of my automatic machine with the lower
part of the case omitted to show the machinery.
Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of the coin box with its unlocking device (effected
by the coin) with coin slot in section, and the drawer pulling action with its
connections to the main mechanism below.
The dotted lines indicate the alternate position of the various levers when
drawn out.
Fig. 4 shows a plan view of Fig. 3, part of the slide on which the drawer runs
being broken away to show the coin box and unlocking device.
The dotted lines in this figure show the parallel toothed racks, and central slot
in which the pull lever b, slides. These racks as will be seen are made reverse
to each other with clearance holes at either end of each.
Fig. 5 shows an enlarged longitudinal section of the drawer and slide on
lines, y-y, Fig. 4 showing the position and formation of the detent hooks
which engage with the racks. It will be seen that the drawer must be fully
opened and shut, the detent hooks preventing its return when only half way.
The clearance boles at either end permit this action.

page_text: Fig. 6 sbows a side elevation of the coin box open.
Fig. 7 shows a front elevation of the method of operating the finger feed,
uamely, the delivery of the lowest packet into the hand of the automaton.
The eccentric is shewn in end view.
Fig. 74 shows a plan of the slot in the counter and the box in which the packets
are piled.
Fig. 8 shows an end view of the method of driving the whole machine.
The segment is raised till nearly out of gear, by pulling out the drawer as
will be explained below, the weight of the segment will then. force the main
driving shaft or arbor round one revolution, and effect the necessary operations,
which all depend on the rotation of the main driving shaft.
Fig. 9 shows a front elevation of Fig. 8.
With reference to Figs. 8 and 9 the speed is governed by fan and pinion gearing
with the large spur wheel 2.
Figs. 10 and 11 show an end and front elevation of the connection between the
drawer and toothed segment, the raising of which is effected by pulling out the
drawer. The two eccentrics and their levers shown in these two latter figures, are
the means I propose using to work the automaton.
Figs. 12 and 13 show enlarged views of Figs. 3 and 4.
Fig. 12 is a half end elevation of Fig. 12 and shows details of arm b.
Figs. 14, 15, and 16 show details of the action of the automaton.
a, Figs. 1, 2, 12 & 13 is the actuating drawer, to the underside of which is rigidly
attached a vertical arm b, attached at b' to the coin box actuating rod e.
On the
anderside of the drawer a, are two dogs or detent hooks a' (see Fig. 5) which
engage with the two parallel reversed racks a, a, Fig. 13, cut on the upper face
of the slide a³. a, is a central slot between the racks to allow of the lateral
to and fro movement of the arm b. a, are side guides on drawer a, to embrace
the two edges of a slide as, to keep the drawer in place. a, is the coin slot in the
slide a. a, a, are clearance holes at either end of the racks a², a².
, is a rectangular guide frame" fixed underneath the slide a."
c, Fig. 12, is a horizontal rod to the back end of which is pivotted the slotted
vertical rodf, leading down to the mechanism below. The other end of the rod e,
supports the unlocking levers of the coin box.
,, are two curved arms diverging from the rod c, and which travel in guides,
one on the underside of slide a, and the other in the frame b³.
c³, is a knuckle joint at the end of rod c, to support a horizontal cross arm c, one
end of this arm engages with a slot e, in the coin box d, (see Fig. 6) and the
other end is free. This cross arm is further kept in place by two coiled tension
springs d'.
Through the curved arm I pass a small pin e, engaging at its inner end with
the lower edge of the hinged door of the coin box. Therefore when rode is
moved to the right on the insertion of a coin, the door or lid d', of the box d, will
drop and allow the coin to escape into its proper receptacle, and in the return
movement-will again pick up the door d', and restore it to its place. But before
the coin can be released and c move forward, one end of the cross arm c, must be
disengaged from the slot c, and the other must be able to pass the vertical stop
pin, the object of the slot and stop pin being to prevent the articles being
obtained fraudulently. Therefore on pressing the coin (shown by a dotted circle,
Fig. 12) into its slot the curved inside formation of the box (see Fig. 6) will
tend to force one end of the arm e, backwards out of the free end of the slot o³,
and the other end consequently free of the stop pin e', as shown in dotted lines
Fig. 13. The rod e will then be able to move forward clear of the slot and stop
pin. In returning one end of the arm c, will strike against the corner of the coin
box and slope it so as to pass the stop pin.
Referring now to the mechanism for raising the toothed segment, (see Figs. 8,
9,10,11 and 12), the vertical rod f, forms the long arm of a bell crank lever
10) centred upon a standard a, and to the short arm is pivotted another

page_text: vertical arm f', which is pivotted at f³, to a long horizontal or nearly horizontal
weighted bar g. This bar g, is pivotted out of its centre upon another vertical
standard a', and is weighted at one end (Fig. 11).
To the other end is pivotted a curved connecting link g', the other end of
which is pivotted to another bar g, slotted to move to and fro upon standard s.
At about the middle of the face of the link g' I place a spur or lug g, which
engages with a recess g, in the neck of the toothed segment or quadrant h, (see
Figs. 8 and 10) and thus draws up the segment A, ready for action. But this
segment and the wheel with which it gears are both toothed, and to allow the
segment to rise, the main driving shaft k, is provided with ratchet and pawl gear
(Figs. 8 and 9) and the shrouded toothed wheel h³, gearing with segment is
permitted to run idle when same is drawn up, and when the shaft k, is ready to be
rotated in the proper way the pawls 4, working against the teeth of the ratchet
wheel, will force the shaft round. To augment this idle action the shaft k, is
furnished at the opposite end with a stop cam 2, Figs. 1 and 2.
The stoppage is effected by the fall of the tooth ¹.
Behind or at the side of the shrouded wheel 4, and mounted on the driving
shaft k, is a large spur wheel l, gearing with the small pinion l', mounted on the
axle P, of the fan 1, sustained in upright bearings P. This fan serves to regulate
the speed of the shaft k, and its complement of levers, wheels and eccentrics. The
segment h, is pivotted upon a standard t, Figs. 8, 9 and 10.
Referring now to Fig. 7, in which is shown the mechanism for the finger feed
for drawing out the lowest packet to he delivered to the purchaser; it consists of
an eccentric m, mounted on shaft k, and to the upper end of the eccentric rod a
cranked lever m', is attached, centred at m³, to a short standard rising from one of
the Bearings P, of the fan . Attached to the opposite end of the crank m', is an
arm m³ pivotted at m', to a sway standard m, pivotted at me, upon another short
standard similar to lever m'. To the upper end of m³, is attached at n', a claw
shaped lever n, provided with a counterweight . This lever works in a slot in
the counter of the machine.
The claw of the lever w, catches in the back end of the lowest packet and draws
it to the left along the counter and under the hand of the automaton.
I will now describe in detail the mechanism which actuates the automaton.
Fig. 14 is a front elevation, and Fig. 15 a side elevation of this mechanism.
Fig. 16 is a sectional view of the left arm of the automaton.
The two arms, denoted by the letters R and L, are suspended respectively by
the bolts D and L' to the framework A.
The head B pivots about a centre A¹, and is caused to bow by means of the
rod B, which is worked up and down by the link B. This link B' is in turn
worked from the lever C, actuated by the eccentric rod D.
The right arm R, is actuated as follows:-
A rod D, is connected at one end to the lever C₁ actuated by eccentric rod D',
and at the other end at D³ to a lever D fixed to the arm at D. When the rod D³
is moved up and down it alternately presses and pulls on the end of the lever D,
and thus causes the upper part of the arm R, to move downwards and upwards
respectively.
The upper and lower parts of the arm R are hinged at E. Connected to the
lower arm at F is a stay F, loosely attached to the frame A at F. When the
upper part of the arm R, rises the stay F', will cause the lower part of the arm to
take a sweeping course out to the front.
Connected to the thumb H is a small lever G, pivotted at G', and connected to
a link G, which is attached at G to a crank G pivotted at G, and provided with
a weight G. This crank is prevented from going back too far by a stop pin G'.
The finger H' is pressed down by a spring J, but it can be forced up by a
sliding rod J. This happens when the rod J, comes in contact with the stop J'.
The thumb H, is caused to move to and from the finger H' as follows:-
When the upper arm is down the thumb is kept away from the finger by the

page_text: link G¹ bearing against the stop G', but when the upper arm rises and the lower
arm takes a sweep outwards as before described, the link G, draws on the lever G
and causes the thumb to move towards the finger.
When the forearm is moving inwards again the link G moves against the
stop G' and the thumb moves away from the finger and it is at this time that the
rod J comes in contact with the stop J' and pushes the finger H¹ up.
Thus it will be seen from the above that the hand can be made to move towards
the article, grasp it and then push it towards the right of the automaton and
finally release it.
The left arm L, is actuated as follows:-
The eccentric rod D, works the lever C, which also works the rod K up and
down.
This rod K is connected to a bell-crank lever K', pivotted to the arm at K'
and provided with a fork end K. This fork end works a lever K* fixed to the
fore arm L, at Ko. The fore arm is connected to the upper arm by a ball
joint L'. It will be seen that if the rod K is moved up and down the lever K* and
therefore the fore arm L will have a to and fro motion.
Now the motion required for the left hand is not only to and fro, but it should
be a curved motion as well, namely, when the hand moves towards the article
it should go up over the packet and then down behind it, and when moving to
the right of the figure it should be almost a straight horizontal movement so
as to push the article or packet towards the right hand.
To obtain this movement use is made of a curved plate M pivotted at M. It is
prevented from moving in one direction by a stop pin M. Now the rod Kin
moving to the left of the figure will simply push this plate out of its way and the
motion of the hand N will be almost horizontal, but when the rod K returns, the
plate will be prevented from moving by a pin M³, and so the rod has to follow
the curve of the under edge of the plate which will give a curved motion to the
hand as mentioned above.
It will be understood that the automaton of a human being might be replaced
by birds, animals or the like. Further the general details of the invention would
have to be altered slightly to suit the varying size and shape of articles to be
delivered.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In coin freed mechanism as above described the coin box releasing mechanism
consisting of the drawer a, sliding to and fro upon slide a', and actuating rod c
with complement of curved arms c', c³, cross arm c, and springs, guides, a,
slots a, and c, and coin box with its hinged cover and curved interior formation
for the purpose herein described and set forth.
2. In coin freed mechanism as above described, the segment raising and shaft
driving action, consisting of slotted rod and cranked lever f, actuated by pulling
out drawer a; the supplementary arm f', weighted lever g, link g', spur g, slotted
arm g³, segment h, recess g, shrouded toothed wheel A, and its ratchet and pawl
gear, rotating the driving shaft k, the rotation being governed by spur and pinion
gear, fan, for the purposes berein described and set forth.
3. In coin freed mechanism as above described, the finger feed mechanism,
consisting of eccentric m, cranked levers m', arm m³, oscillating standard m, and
claw lever n, working in its slot, as herein described and set forth.
4. In an automatic coin freed delivery machine the delivery of goods to
purchasers by means of a controlled automaton figure substantially as herein
described and set forth.
5. In coin freed mechanism of the kind above described, the combination of
the various levers, wheels, eccentrics, and shafts, to connect together, and
accurately time the various movements, the coin box releasing-mechanism, the

page_text: segment raising and driving action, and the finger feed mechanism, for the
purposes herein described and set forth.
6. In an automatic coin freed delivery machine for the delivery of goods to
purchasers, by means of a controlled automaton figure, the combination of the
actions of the two arms, (right and left) each arm having a separate and distinct
action from its fellow-namely, (1.) Arm L, with its parts. K, K, K, and
curved plate M, whereby the hand is moved over, and behind the packet, and in
the return movement of the arm, pushes the packet along and under the right
hand. (2.) Arm R, with its levers D'D', and auxiliary lever stay F¹, and method
of moving the finger and thumb H, H, by means of levers G², G', regulated by
weighted crank G, and sliding rod J, whereby the packet is clutched, and moved
towards the delivery opening, as herein described and set forth.
D
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97 Newgate Street, London, Patent Agent.
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97 Newgate Street, London, Patent Agent.