Improvements in Automatic Sale Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Sale Apparatus.
I, RUDOLF BECK, of XIX. Billrothstrasse No. 15, Vienna, Austria, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
1
The present invention relates to discount automatic sale apparatus which
delivers several sorts of goods, and which, after a determined number of sales
that may be spread over any desired number of the sorts of goods, delivers in
addition to the goods, a coin by way of discount. For this purpose either the
coin which has been inserted may be returned or the money may be delivered
In this automatic sale
together with the goods, from a separate coin shoot.
apparatus the delivery of the goods is effected by means of the coin itself.
For this purpose there projects into the coin passage into which the coin was
inserted, a lever upon which the coin rests, after it has preferably previously
passed a coin-testing device. When this has been done, the coin is depressed
by a slide that is adapted to be operated from the outside, and it thereby rotates
the lever which is projecting into the coin passage. This rotation is transmitted
by means of a suitable arrangement of levers to the goods slide which conveys
the goods out of the automatic machine. When the automatic machine delivers
the money from a separate money box, the actuated lever operates also a money
slide which delivers the coin.
But if the inserted coin itself is returned the money shoot that adjoins the
coin slot is made capable of being moved rectilinearly or in a rotary manner.
The money shoot is normally in communication with the money receptacle, and
the coins pass into the latter.
But after a determined number of sales the money shoot is rotated in such a
manner as to allow the coin to roll to the outside of the money receptacle, so
that the said coin can be received together with the goods by the purchaser.
One of the levers that effect the delivery of the goods, serves to operate a
step-by-step device which controls the money delivery mechanism. These
step-by-step mechanisms belonging to the different kinds of goods are connected
to one another in such a manner that the connection for delivering the money
is being set simultaneously at all the coin slots, independently of from which
store the goods are taken, and the return of the money is independent of the
order of succession of the coin insertions.
The delivery of the goods is effected by pressing the coin through the coin
passage whereby the lever, projecting into this passage, is rotated. For this
purpose there serves a movable sliding piece. Now in order to prevent the
delivery of money with all the goods by inserting a coin into each coin slot and
simultaneously pressing the coins through, when the shoots of all the goods are
set for delivery, there is either employed only a single slide for operating the
coin and which slide is previously set to the kind of goods desired, or the slides
of the other kinds of goods are locked by the insertion of a coin in any one slot.
In the latter case, instead of a locking arrangement, there may be employed an
arrangement such that the coin which shifts the lever, switches the coin passages

page_text: devices are connected together in such a manner that a coin inserted for one
article will in the delivery position operate all the other devices so that no money
is returned by them or the other devices may be locked.
The accompanying drawings illustrate two modified forms of the apparatus.
Figs. 1 and 2 are vertical sections at right angles to each other of apparatus
adapted to deliver two kinds of articles. Fig. 3 is an elevation shewing the
device for shifting the coin shoot with a device for throwing out of operation the
shoot from which no money is to be delivered, in apparatus for delivering three
kinds of goods. Fig. 4 is a transverse section thereof, Figs. 5 and 6 are details,
Fig. 7 shews diagrammatically a form of construction in side elevation and
Fig. 8 in front elevation, of an electrically actuated automatic apparatus of which
Fig. 9 illustrates a detail.
Referring first to Figs. 1 to 6 a separate slide is provided for each kind of
goods. The delivery of the goods is effected by pushing the coin through the
money shoot. The coin is inserted at slot 2 into the curved coin shoot 1, in
which it passes under the slide piece 3 till it is arrested by an arm 4, that projects
into the shoot. This slide piece 3 which is suitably guided is always pressed
upwards by springs 5. At its back is a nose 6, which projects into the coin shoot
over the coin so that by depressing the slide piece by hand its nose forces the
coin down. In this movement the arm 4 which is fixed on the spindle 7, is
pushed to one side rocking the spindle 7. Upon this spindle 7, there are behind
the coin shoot, two arms 8, which project through a plate 9, and which carry a
roll 10. The roll 10 (which may be simply a sliding bar) pushes from the
magazine 12 the lowest packet of goods 11 over a hole 13 through which it falls
along the passage 14 to the delivery trough 15. A spring 16 attached to an
extension 17 of one of the arms 8, draws the roll 10 back when the coin has passed
the arm 4.
arm 8.
In order to return the roll 10 into the rest or initial position independently
of the action of the spring 16, there is provided a two-armed lever 77, 78, the
arm 77 projecting into the coin passage 1, and the arm 78 bearing against the
When the slide 3 is depressed the arm 78 is moved by the arm 8, causing
the arm 77 to pass into the shoot 1 in which it remains if the roll 10 is not
moved back. On the insertion of another coin into the slot 2 the roll 10 is
returned by the movement of the arms 77, 78 and 8. The coin passes into a
moveable shoot 18 from which it is led usually through the shoot 19 into the
receptacle 20. In order to deliver the coin in addition to the goods, after a
predetermined number of sales, the shoot 18 can be swung from its position
shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 4, so that the shoot 18 delivers the coin
into a shoot 20, which conveys it to the delivery trough 15 whence it can be
removed along with the goods. In order to effect the shifting of the shoot 18 a
spindle 21 parallel to the spindle 7, has on it a disc 22 which has on its face
two cam recesses 23. On the spindle 24 to which the shoot 18 is attached, there
is an arm 25 having a roller 26 caused to bear on the disc 22, by a spring 27.
While the roller 26 bears on the flat face of the disc 22, the shoot 18 is in the
position in which the coin is led into the receptacle 20. But when the roller 26
enters either of the recesses 23, the spring 27 causes the spindle 24 to rock and
with it the shoot 18 so as to bring it in line with the shoot 20. For rotating the
disc 22, a ratchet wheel 28 on the shaft 21 is engaged by a pawl 29 pivotted
on the extension 17 of the arm 8, so that the spindle 21 is rotated one step at each
delivery of goods. If the ratchet wheel 28 has for instance eight teeth, then as
there are two recesses 23 in the disc 22, for each 4th coin inserted the shoot 18
is shifted into the position in which the coin is returned. Each device for
shifting one of the several shoots, is independent of the others. But in order to
render the return of the coin independent of the order in which the goods are
taken from the several magazines, all the spindles 21 have to be rotated simul-
taneously so that all the discs 22 with their recesses 23 are always in similar
positions and thus all the shoots 18 are shifted at the same time. This is

page_text: however interrupted at another place where, as will be hereinafter described,
it is closed by an inserted coin. The movement of the push 38 in the vertical
slot 40 presses aside a tappet 44 moving a lever 45, which by means of a slide 46
pushes the lowest packet of goods 11 out of the magazine, between two nippers 47
which prevent it from being delivered. A hooked nose 48 projecting from the
lever 45, is caught by a hook 49 which keeps the lever 45 in the position to which
it is moved. If the coin be inserted now, it passes through the shoot 50, through
a coin tester into the spoon 51 of a balanced lever 52. The weight of the coin
causes the lever 52 to move down, whilst a shield 53 prevents the coin from
leaving the spoon before it has reached its lowest position.
When the lever attains the dotted position it makes contact at 54 which closes
the second interruption of the electric circuit so that the electro-magnet 43
attracts its armature. The nippers 47 are the vertical arms of two bent levers
which are pivotted at 55 their horizontal arms 56 having longitudinal slots and
being connected by a bolt passing through them. One of these arms has an
extension 57 which is jointed to the armature or core of the electro-magnet 43.
When the arm 57 is raised, the nipper arms 47 move to the left, and right,
respectively so that the packet of goods is released and can reach the place of
delivery 59. At the same time the armature of the electro-magnet 43 as it rises,
acts through a lever 58 to disengage the catch 49 from the nose 48, and the
slide 46 can be moved back. When the coin has left the spoon 51, the lever 52
moves back again into its original position, breaks the contact 54, and the
electro-magnet 43 is no longer energised, so that the nippers also move into
their normal position. The coin now passes through the shoot 60 into the
moveable shoot 61 and from the latter into the receptacle. In order now to
return money as well as goods for example, after each 5th sale, a part that
operates a money holder may be forced to act at the proper moment, or as shown
in Fig. 7, the shoot 61 is made movable and is shifted in such a manner that
the coin passes through the outlet 62 to the place of delivery of the goods. For
the purpose of shifting the shoot 61 there is employed an electro-magnet 63
connected to a battery 64. When this circuit is closed as will be presently
described, the rod 65 raises the shoot which is pivotted at 66, and a catch 67
keeps it in this position. The closing of the circuit of the magnet 63 is effected
by means of a rotating contact arm 68 which is advanced step by step at each
insertion of a coin by means of a pawl lever 69 and a ratchet wheel 70, until at
the 5th insertion the contact arm 68 comes into contact with the stationary
contact 71. In order to effect the movement of the pawl lever 69 at each insertion
of the coin there is employed a third electromagnet 72 which is energised by
the battery 73*, and whose circuit is interrupted at 73.
The closure of the circuit is effected when the lever 52 descends to its lowest
position and thereupon the electro-magnet 72 attracts its armature raising the
lever 74, and the pawl. But when the lever 52 moves back after delivering the
coin, the spring 75 pulls down the lever 74 and causes the advance of the ratchet
wheel one tooth. In rolling through this passage 62, the coin closes for a second
time the circuit at 76 so that the electro-magnet 72 effects another advance of
the ratchet wheel and thus interrupts the circuit and the shoot 61 is shifted
again towards the receptacle. Thus six teeth are necessary on the ratchet wheel
if the return of the coin is to take place at each fifth sale. This double move-
ment of the ratchet wheel avoids the waste of current which would result from
maintaining the circuit closed at 68, 71, after a sale with return of the coin,
until the next sale, which might not take place for a long time. The combina-
tion of several sets of apparatus in one automatic machine may be effected in
any suitable manner. Each of the automatic machines is situated in a suitable
casing and is provided with the other usual known devices such as the device
for indicating the goods, the indication that one kind of goods is sold out and
the like. All these arrangement can be carried out as desired without departing
from the nature and principle of the present invention