Improvements relating to. Automatic Coin-freed Apparatus.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 6th July, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 26th Mar., 1889-Accepted, 29th June,
1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to. Automatic Coin-freed Apparatus.
We, ERNEST CUÉNOD and ALEXIS DUJOUR, both of 23, Boulevard de Strasbourg,
Paris, in the Republic of France, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists in the combination with automatic coin-freed apparatus such
as weighing machines, machines for giving electric shocks, muscular power or strength
testing machines, delivery boxes or apparatus for delivering prepaid goods, and other
apparatus operating automatically through the medium of a coin or the like, of a
time-piece an object of curiosity, stereoscopic views, or the like which are exposed to
view through the said coin effecting the removal of a shutter which normally covers
the time-piece, the object of curiosity, &c.
A suitable way of carrying out our invention as applied, for example, to what is
known as "Everitt's automatic weighing machine is as follows:-
1
We employ a shutter made in two parts moving on the same hinge or pivot and
normally held closed by means of a hooked lever, the release of the shutter being
effected by the direct action of the coin or the like introduced into the apparatus on
one of the arms of the said hooked lever so as to disengage the hook from the two
halves of a button arranged on the two parts of the shutter and thus allowing
the latter to move by their own weight and uncover the time piece, object of
curiosity, &c.
The return of the two parts of the shutter into their normal position is effected by
a lever connected to the operating rod of the weighing platform.
Or the hooked lever can be connected to a rod resting on a cain placed on the axis
of the weighted arm carrying the toothed sector and coin bucket.
The release of the two parts of the shutter can be effected by an electric current
when, for example, our invention is applied to a coin-freed electrical apparatus. For
this purpose an electro magnet is used which normally keeps the two parts of the
shutter in their closed position and which allows them to open when, by the intro-
duction of the coin, an electric current is sent into the electro magnet.
We sometimes attach the two parts of the shutter to or suspend them from
oscillating rods in such a manner that they can be separated or brought towards each
other in a parallel direction. The two parts are kept in their normal position by
means of an electro magnet the attractive action of which can be caused to cease by
an electric current sent therein upon the introduction of the coin. The said parts are
then moved parallelwise by the attraction produced by a second electro magnet and
are kept separated to expose the time-piece, object of curiosity, &c., until a current
produced by the return of the parts of the weighing machine brings them back to
their normal position.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Automatic Coin-freed Apparatus.
We, ERNEST CUENOD and ALEXIS DUJOUR, both of 23, Boulevard de Strasbourg,
Paris, in the Republic of France, Engineers, 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:-
Our invention consists in the combination with automatic coin-freed apparatus such

page_text: +
as weighing machines, machines for giving electric shocks, muscular power or strength
testing machines, delivery boxes or apparatus for delivering prepaid goods and other
apparatus operating automatically through the medium of a coin or the like, of a
time-piece, an object of curiosity, stereoscopic views or the like which are exposed to
view through the said coin effecting the removal of a shutter which normally covers
the time-piece, the object of curiosity, etc.
In order that the invention may be fully understood we will proceed to describe. the
same by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of what is known as Everitt's automatic weighing
machine (Patent No. 16433 of 1884) adapted to expose a timepiece on the insertion
of the coin.
Figure 2 is a front elevation, and
Figure 3 is a vertical section.
The timepiece A placed at the upper part of the apparatus is normally hidden from
view by a shutter formed in two parts a, a moving on a hinge band each provided at
its lower part with a spring.c and at its upper part with a half-button & forming a
rib or catch. Normally the two parts a, a¹ of the shutter are held in position by
hook S embracing the two half-buttons d. The hook S is formed on the end of a
counterweighted lever f, the arm g of which is connected to a small lever / which is
oscillated by the coin introduced into the slot i arranged for this purpose as shown in
Figure 4 which is a horizontal section on line M, N of Figure 3.
On a coin being introduced into the apparatus the lever is moved and raises
the hook S freeing the two half-buttons d and consequently the two parts a and a¹
of the shutter which can then by reason of their weight turn on the hinge and
take the positions a¹, a¹, shown in dotted lines on Figure 1 thus uncovering the dial of
the timepiece A.
This movement of the parts of the shutter causes the springs c, c to assume the
position shown in dotted lines at c¹, c¹ of Figure 1.
When the load is removed from the platform of the weighing machine the lever J
connected to the operating rod retakes its normal position and by means of its end J¹
separates the springs c, c and consequently causes the two parts a, a' of the shutter
to reassume their position in front of the timepiece, the springs c, c passing from the
position c¹, c' shown in dotted lines on Figure 1 into their Lormal position c, c and the
two parts of the shutter passing from the position shewn in dotted lines a¹, a¹, into
the position shown in full lines a, a¹.
The release of the two parts a, a¹ of the shutter in order to uncover the time-
piece can be effected in various ways for instance in the manner shown in Figure 5.
In this modification the lever f is replaced by a lever f¹ connected to another
lever by a rod the end of which rests on a cain m mounted on the axis of
the lever p carrying the money bucket.. An auxiliary lever n lifted by the lever J
raises, in this case, the rod 1 in order to cause the hook S to catch onto the half-
buttons d. With this arrangement the uncovering of the dial will not take place
until the lever p is depressed by the weight of the coin in the money bucket.
The release of the two parts a, a' of the shutter can also be effected by an electric
current. For this purpose the parts are kept in their normal position by a permanent
magnet; by causing the current of an electric circuit closed by the introduction of
the coin; to pass into this magnet the attraction of the two parts a, a' by the magnet
will be neutralized, the parts will fall by reason of their weight and their release
will be effected.
In some cases an electric current and two electro-magnets are employed, the two
parts a, a¹ of the shutter being arranged as shown in Figure 6. The two parts a, a
are jointed to rods or levers r, forming a parallelogram and take the position a', a'
when by the introduction of a coin the rods or levers r, r¹ assume the position shown
by. the dotted lines. The two parts of the shutter are normally held in the
position a,
a¹ by an electro-magnet but on the current of the electric circuit being
diverted by the introduction of a coin to the other electro-magnet the parts a, a
would move into the position shewn in dotted lines a₁ a', whereby they would be held
г

page_text: by the latter electro-magnet; the parts of the shutter would finally be brought
from a a¹, to a a¹ by means of a current set up by the return of the parts of the
weighing machine to their normal position.
For this purpose the lever is lengthened and terminated by a soft iron trapezoid
arranged in such a manner as to present a vertical face at each position of the lever
the two faces will be alternately in contact with the electro-magnets E, E¹.
In the drawing the lever r¹ is shewn in contact with the electro-magnet E the two
poles of which are in communication with the battery P by means of two levers p³, p²
jointed at o¹ and o² to terminals to which the battery wires are connected.
The two levers p¹, p² are connected by a rod Q actuated by a lever g² pivotted at 03.
On a coin being inserted in the apparatus the lever operates the lever g¹ which
actuates the two levers pl p² and causes them to assume the position indicated by
the dotted lines p₁₁ p², thus putting the wires of the electro-magnet E' in communi-
cation with the battery.
By isolating the wires of the electro-magnet E, this latter will no longer attract the
lever so that under the action of the weight of the shutters it tends to retake a
vertical position but the oscillating motion it has received causes it to pass the vertical
a sufficient distance to be attracted and held by the electro magnet E¹.
The various arrangements which we have just described are not the only ones
which we can employ and we have only given them by way of example for we
claim as our invention the combination of a timepiece with an automatic weighing
machine of any kind.
In the accompanying drawing we have only shown the application of a timepiece
to the Everitt weighing machine but we reserve the right to apply it to all kinds
of automatic apparatus and also to replace the timepiece by any object which it may
be desired to exhibit.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we are
aware of Percival Everitt's Patent No. 16433 of 1884 for "Improvements in
weighing machines" and Thomas Cooper's Patent No. 5139 of 1886 for "A novel
construction of case for displaying objects or exhibiting notices for a limited time"
and that we do not claim anything described or claimed therein but what we do
claim is :-
(1) The combination with automatic coin-freed apparatus, such as weighing
machines, machines for giving electric shocks, muscular power or strength testing
machines, delivery boxes or apparatus for delivering prepaid goods, and other
apparatus operating automatically through the introduction of a coin, of a timepiece,
an object of curiosity, stereoscopic views or the like which are exposed to view by
the said coin effecting the removal of a shutter which normally covers the timepiece,
the object of curiosity &c., substantially as hereinbefore described.
(2) The arrangements of mechanism for obtaining the combination with automatic
coin-freed apparatus, such as weighing machines &c. of a time piece, an object of
curiosity &c., substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings, and particularly :-
:-
(a) The application of a shutter formed in two parts hinged to the same axis
and normally kept in position by a hook lover, the release of this shutter being
obtained by the direct action of the coin introduced into the apparatus on one of
the arms of the herein before described hook lever so as to effect the removal of
this hook from the half-buttons on the two parts of the shutter and allow them to
oscillate by their own weight and uncover the time-piece, object of curiosity etc.,
the return of the two parts of the shutter to their normal position being effected
by a lever jointed to the platform draw rod of the weighing machine substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying
drawing.
(b) The modification of the preceding arrangement as shown in Figure 5 in which

page_text: .
the hook lever is connected to a rod resting on a cam on the axis of the sector lever
which carries the money bucket.
(c) The application of a shutter formed in two parts hinged to the same axis in
combination with a permanent magnet which ordinarily maintains these two parts in
the position in which they cover the tinie-piece or object of curiosity and which
allows them to oscillate when by the introduction of a coin an electric current is
sent into the magnet.
(d) The application of a shutter formed in two parts suspended from rods so as to
allow of their being withdrawn from each other or brought together parallelwise in
consequence of this method of suspension, the parts being held in their normal
position by an electro-magnet the attractive action of which ceases on the current of
electricity being diverted through another electro-magnet upon the introduction of a
coin and the said parts of the shutter being then displaced parallel wise by the attraction
of the latter electro-magnet which holds them in their separated position and keeps
the time-piece, object of curiosity, &c., uncovered until a current induced by the
return of the parts of the weighing machine brings them back to their normal
position substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 6 of the
accompanying drawing.
Dated the 26th day of March 1880
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants...