Improvements in Coin-operated Air or Gas Vending Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Mar., 1899-Accepted, 13th May, 1899
Improvements in Coin-operated Air or Gas Vending Apparatus.
A communication from MELVIN D. COMPTON, of East Orange, County of Essex,
State of New Jersey, U.S.A., Electrical Engineer, and FRANK FULLER, of New
York, County and State of New York, U.S.A., Physician.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement; —
This invention has general reference to a coin-operated air or gas-vending
apparatus.
The special object of the invention is to provide an apparatus whereby bicycle
riders may inflate their pneumatic tires without delay. For the purposes of this
case, therefore, this new invention has been designated automatic cycle inflater.
This invention contemplates particularly the provision of means whereby com-
pressed air may be stored and kept on tap subject to draft in predetermined
limited volume by the introduction of a suitable coin or token so that bicycle
riders may have their pneumatic tires automatically and quickly inflated withouv
the labor of operating an air pump or the inconvenience of waiting for another to
do so.
The invention consists essentially in the combination of a tank or reservoir
having an inlet and discharge, a regulating and reducing valve whereby a lower
pressure than that in the tank may be discharged to the tire, a valve for opening
and closing the discharge passage, a motor for operating the valve and a coin-
operated lever for throwing the motor into and out of active operation.
The invention also consists in certain other combinations and details of construc-
tion hereinafter fully described and set forth in claims appended hereto.
In the drawings:-
-
Figure 1 is an elevation showing my improved apparatus, the same being con-
nected with the nipple of a bicycle tire, as in the process of inflating a tire.
Figure 2 is an elevation showing the principal part of the operating mechanism
enclosed within a casing, the door of the casing being open.
Figure 3 is an elevation of the coin slot or conduit.
Figure 4 is a detail section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1, showing this method
of locking the cash box or coin receptacle.
Figure 5 is a vertical section through the reducing valve
1, is a strong tank or receptacle provided with handles 2-2 for convenience in
moving the same from place to place. The discharge passage is provided with a
cock 3 outside or beyond which is arranged a pressure regulating and pressure
reducing valve 4 of any approved character or construction, such that it will
automatically regulate and discharge compressed air at a lower predetermined
pressure than that within the tank. In advance of or beyond the pressure regu-
lator and within a casing or housing having compartments for the operative mech-
anism and for coin a discharge valve 5 is arranged, and leading from the valvo

page_text: or
out through the casing is a discharge tube 6, that part outside the casing being
flexible and provided with a mouth piece 7 adapted to co-operate with the nipple
on the bicycle tire. The discharge valve 5 may be of any suitable character. It
has been found that a conical valve which is adapted to be operated in one
direction by a crank or eccentric on a driven shaft and by the pres-
sure of the air within, in the other direction, answers my purpose.
S represents a motor which may be of any suitable character operated
by weight, spring or other power. The
motor is provided with
carries a rotary shaft 9 upon which is mounted a cam 10 and an eccentric or
crank 11. The function of the crank is to open or depress the valve and permit
the escape of air through the tube 6. Pivoted on the outside of the frame of the
motor S is a fork or triangular-shaped rocking-arm 12, and above the extremity
of this rocker-arm is a vibrating coin-operated arm 13. This coin-operated arm
is provided with a weight or counter-balance 14 adapted to tumble to opposite sides
of a vertical plane and with a pin or stop 15 for engaging an arm of a fly or
governor 16 to stop the motor. 17 is a coin slot leading through the side of the
casing for the mechanism and discharging through a diaphragm 18 into a coin
receptacle 19. The coin-operated lever 13 extends athwart or through the coin
slot 17, and when a penny is inserted in the slot its weight tilts the lever until it
reaches the nose or angle of the rocking arm 12 where it is sustained, while the
motor shaft 9 moves through more than half a revolution when the rocking-arm 12
permits the lever 13 to fall and deliver the coin through the chute into the cash
box, the lever 13 being maintained in its depressed position by reason of the
weight 14. As the shaft continues its revolution, the cam 10 carries the rocker-arm
back approximately into the position shown in full lines in Figure 2 and the
rocker-arm throws the lever 13 into its substantially horizontal position where it
is held by means of its weight 14, in which position the stud or projection 15
engages the wing of the fly or governor 16 and arrests the motor. The upward
movement of the coin-operated arm 13 is arrested by coming in contact with a
stop 20.
For the purpose of providing for slight lost motion between the crank
or eccentric 11 and the valve stem, I have interposed between the parts of the
valve stem a stiff spring 21. Connected with the tank or reservoir is a pressure
gange 22 to indicate the pressure within the tank.
In the use of this machine it is contemplated placing the same with suitable
caretakers and as compensation for such care it is proposed to allow such persons
a given per cent. of the receipts or deposits in the cash box. To facilitate the
carrying out of this plan and to make the arrangement entirely open and fair the
cash box is provided with a double lock, and a key of one of the locks is placed in
the hands of the caretaker, and the other in the hands of the agent for the
machine, so that it will require the presence of two persons in order to open the
cash box, when an agreed division of the contents can be made.
In order to carry out this purpose, the door of the cash box is provided with a
hasp 23 and in the range of this hasp in the door is a key-hole 24 leading to a
lock for the door. After the door is locked by means of the regular door-lock,
the hasp is swung into position over the key-hole 24 and the staple 25 and is secured
there by means of a pad-lock 26 to which the agent or care taker, as the case may
be, holds the key.
It should be understood that my correspondents do not claim herein the double
locking mechanism described, the same being reserved for a separate application.
It is important to keep the coin-operated lever or trip out of range with the
fly or the means of stopping the motor for a period long enough to discharge a
volume of air sufficient to fill the tire. This is accomplished by the novel arrange-
ment of lever with relation to the coin slot, the rocker-arm with relation to the
lever, and the cam 10 with relation to the rocker-arm. Under this arrangement
the lever remains depressed the period or time in which a complete revolution of
the shaft 9 is made.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In an air or gas-vending apparatus having a motor for opening and closing
the valve, the combination with such motor, of a coin-operated lever to trip the
motor into and out of active operation, a rocker-arm, and a cam connected with the
motor for throwing the lever back to normal position to stop the motor, substan-
tially as described.
2. In an air or gas-vending apparatus having a motor for operating the discharge
valve, the combination with said motor, of a coin-operated lever having a weight
adapted to swing on opposite sides of the vertical plane, a rocker-arm for control-
ling the movement of said lever, and means for operating the rocker-arm, substan-
tially as described.
1
1 1000