IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING COIN
Year: 1857

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Charles Scott at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st January 1857.
I, WILLIAM CHARLES SCOTT, of Waltham Cottages, Camberwell, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING COIN," to be as follows:-
My improvements in apparatus for separating coin relates to apparatus for
'sorting and separating different sizes of coin from each other. It consists of
a suitable frame or case in which are placed a series of screens or sieves, each
having holes or passages adapted to pass or retain the different sizes of coin
required to be separated. These separating screens are placed one above the
other, or otherwise suitably disposed, so that the coin which passes through one
falls or is conducted into the next.
For this purpose several separating screens may be placed one above the
other, and if, for instance, to separate crowns, halfcrowns, florins, shillings,
sixpences, and fourpenny pieces, five such screens will be required. The upper
one, into which the whole of the mixed coin is first placed, has holes suffi-
ciently large for halfcrowns and all smaller coins to pass through readily, but
so as to retain the crowns; the next in succession retains the halfcrowns, but
passes the florins and all smaller coins; the next retains the florins, but passes

page_text: the shillings, &c., and so on, till only the fourpenny pieces reach the lower part
of the apparatus. I find this apparatus in the form of a series of drawers or
slides, which may be withdrawn to empty the contents, answers the purpose
required. I mount on the top of the apparatus a sort of hopper, which
distributes the coin over the area of the upper screen as much as possible.
This apparatus, if of large size, it is of advantage to mount on an axis, so
as to permit of an oscillatory motion, and at the same time to permit of a
shaking motion, which may be communicated by a crank or by suitable wipers
or cams on a rotating shaft.
The several screens being placed in .position, and a quantity of mixed coin
introduced at the upper part, a little oscillatory and shaking motion imparted
to the apparatus causes the smaller coin to pass readily through the several
screens, leaving the several values of coin in their respective screens, from
which they may be readily emptied, and are thus all separated according to
their several sizes.
Instead of slides or drawers, the separating screens or surfaces may consist
of a series of inclined shoots placed one above the other. The holes or pas-
sages in the series are graduated according to the sizes of coin to be operated
on. The coin when placed upon the upper screen is separated as before, the
smaller pieces passing through while the largest is retained. By the incli-
nation of the screen, the coin so retained is carried towards the lower part of
its screen, and I escapes by a suitable passage into a drawer or other receptacle,
from which it may be removed as required. This arrangement tends always
to keep the surface of the screens clear; the apparatus may also be kept in
continuous action.
Each screen is furnished with a suitable receptacle, into which the coin
retained is delivered, and into which it is caused to pass by reason of the
inclination of the screens and the motion imparted to them.
For the separation of coin generally I prefer round holes, but other shaped
holes or openings may be used in some cases with advantage; as, for instance,
at the lower part of the inclined screens I form a sort of spout, by two raised
ribs on the surface, which conduct the large coins retained to the point of
escape.
The width between the ribs is just sufficient to pass the larger coin easily,
which rests on two narrow ledges, one next either rib, and formed by a hole
cut through the screen. If either of the smaller coins has not been previously
separated in the screen when passing down this channel, its diameter will be
insufficient to rest on the ledges, and it will drop through to the screen
below.

page_text: Instead of the separated coins being conducted into drawers or receptacles
in the apparatus, they may be conducted by suitable channels into separate
suitable receptacles.
Motion is communicated to this arrangement of apparatus as before, or
it may be communicated to the several screens separately by any other
suitable means.