Improvements in Coin Freed Mechanism, applicable especially for Checking Billiard Markers and the like.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1893-Accepted, 29th July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coin Freed Mechanism, applicable especially for
Checking Billiard Markers and the like.
I, JOHN THOMAS CALLAND, of 2 Ducie Street, Leigh, in the County of
Lancaster Builder & Joiner, do hereby declare this nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
The device consists essentially in the combination of the well known penny-in-
the-slot principle with a roller or rollers, or equivalent mechanism, capable of being
turned by hand in such manner that the coin or coins free a given length of travel
of the roller or other mechanism; further, that it is only when the mechanism has
travelled its full coin-freed extent that a fresh payment can be made.
As applied to a billiard marker, the automatic coin freed device locks the marking
devices whenever they arrive at fifty, at one hundred, or other definite sum con-
stituting the game, or set of games, paid for by the coin inserted. I also prefer to
arrange, in connection with this marker, an indicating board consisting, for instance,
of one or more dials for automatically registering during a given period or time,
say in the course of a day, the total number of games which may have been played
during such period.
Dials may suitably be arranged on the units, tens and hundreds system, and may
be operated from the previously mentioned marking device by clockwork, multiple
gear, or any other suitable mechanism, released a certain extent at the completion
of each game so that, at the end of the day, or other period, a record will have
been kept of the number of games which have been played, and so the amount of
money which will have been paid in is easily ascertained.
I will describe the invention arranged specially for a billiard marker, for which
it is primarily designed, it being, however, uuderstood that the same apparatus can
control any other rollers, wheels, shafts or other mechanism in which it is desired
that the mechanism shall only go for a given distance.
From the slot, a skeleton slide, which is wide enough and thick enough to contain
the coin required, but allowing any smaller coin to fall through, carries the money
from the slot to the pan of a balance lever. The shoot or slide is bent or curved
at one or more points so as to prevent the insertion of a wire, stick or rod. The
balance lever, on being weighed down by a coin or coins, liberates tappets or
catches, catching into cams on the various marking rollers.
The balance lever has fixed to it, on the opposite side of the fulcrum to the pan,
a pin, hook or its equivalent, upon which definite weights can be fixed. Thus the
weight of a penny can be arranged to turn the empty balance lever; with a small
weight fixed on the pin, it will require two pence; with a larger weight, three pence,
or other sum.
The marking rollers are so arranged by means of springs, weights or otherwise,
that they shall have a tendency to go slightly beyond the zero point on being
released, or the catch is so arranged that, on being released, it shall fall beyond the
beak so that, in any case, the pawls or catches being once liberated, an entire
revolution of the roller can be made by hand in the usual manner without it being
stopped. A pawl working into a ratchet wheel pointed in the reverse direction
prevents the roller axle from being turned back. On each roller axle, I place a
tappet, so arranged that, at the end of the travel paid for, it shall lift or press
back a lever, weighted or arranged with a spring, which, at other times, causes a
pin on this lever to pass into the slot immediately below the orifice. By this means,
a penny cannot be inserted without the travel being completely finished, and the
machine is placed ready to be coin-freed for a new game.

page_text: This plan of having stops or shutters stopping the orifice for coin whenever the
machine is not in a state to be coin-freed, such, for instance, as if the machine is
to deliver articles and it is empty, is a special point of my invention.
In order to prevent bogus coins falling into the weighing hopper, I place a box
immediately below the opening or openings in the skeleton spout, so that the
improper coins may drop into it.
Dated this 17th day of August 1892.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coin Freed Mechanism, applicable especially for
Checking Billiard Markers and the like.
I, JOHN THOMAS CALLAND, of 2 Ducie Street, Leigh, in the County of
Lancaster, Builder and Joiner, 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:-
The device consists essentially in the combination of the well known penny-in-
the-slot principle with a roller or rollers, or equivalent mechanism, capable of being
turned by hand in such manner that the coin or coins free a given length of travel
of the roller or other mechanism; further, that it is only when the mechanism has
travelled its full coin-freed extent that a fresh payment can be made.
As applied to a billiard marker, the automatic coin-freed device locks the
marking rollers whenever they arrive at fifty, at one hundred, or other definite sum
constituting the game, or set of games, paid for by the coin inserted. I also prefer
to arrange, in connection with this marker, an indicating board consisting, for
instance, of one or more dials for automatically registering during a given period
or time, say in the course of a day, the total number of games which may have
been played during such period.
My invention, as applied to a billiard marking device, is set forth in the
accompanying drawings:
In these
--
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a part of the apparatus with the door opened;
Figure 2 a plan view with the top of the casing removed;
Figure 3 a sectional plan through a x, Figure 1;
Figure 4 a vertical section through y y, Figure 1 looking toward the door;
Figure 5 a similar section looking the reverse way;
Figure 6 a section through, Figure 5;
Figures 7 and 8 details on a larger scale.
In these
A, is the billiard marking frame; B the ordinary revolvable square marking
bars with handles B¹; and b, the ordinary marking pointers; C ordinary counting
dials. D is a slot, and D' a channel or shute to convey the coin or coins to a
receptacle E to be hereinafter described. The channel D' has several bends in it,
as shown in Figure 4, to prevent the insertion of a wire, stick, or the like, it has
also a part d cut away so that any coin not the right size will fall through and be
caught in the receptacle C' attached to -the door. The aforesaid receptacle E is
supported on a pivotted weighted lever E¹ and is itself also pivotted as shown at e,
Figure 8, to the said lever to allow the coin or coins contained therein to be thrown
out. F is a pin on lever E' to receive the weights to weight the said lever to
correspond with the number of coins inserted for each game or games. Thus the
weight of a penny may turn the lever, or it may be weighted so that it will require
two pence, three pence, or more to turn it and release the mechanism. Pivotted to
the lever E at f is a vertical arm F¹ for purposes hereinafter described. Gand G

page_text: are the upper and lower spindles, respectively, of the marking bars B and are
actuated by the handles or knobs B on the outside of the apparatus. Both
spindles have mounted thereon jumping cams g, as shown in Figure 5. H are
pawls or catches pivotted at h to the framework H' which, in the position shown
(owing to the engagement of a projection on the said pawl with a beak h¹ of the
cams) prevent the rotation of the marking bars B until the pawls or catches are
raised by the vertical arm F actuated by the weighted lever E'. It may happen
that the weight of a coin or coins would not be sufficient to overcome the friction
if the tooth or projection of the pawls or catches H were in close contact with the
beaks of the cams g. To prevent this, I place a spring I, Figures 5 and 6, at
the back of the cams g, fixed to the main frame at and having at its ends pro-
jections adapted to fit in recesses formed in the aforesaid cams. When the
latter are rotated, the spring pressure is overcome, and the projections & are forced
out of the recesses, the latter being so arranged that, on the complete rotation of
the cams, the projections will enter them a little before the beaks of the said
cams have engaged the projections on the pawls, a little clearance is thus left, as
shown. To prevent the marking bars B being turned back, ratchet wheels J and J¹
are mounted on the spindles G and G'at opposite sides of the apparatus for purposes
hereinafter described. The lower one, J, Figure 6, is prevented from backward
rotation by a pawl j pivotted to the main frame at j. The upper ratchet
wheel J, Figure 4, carried by the spindle G, has a pawl K, which, in addition
to preventing the backward rotation of the marking bar B, serves the following
purpose:-
If the spindle of the lower marking bar be rotated before the spindle of the
upper one, the pawls H of both the cams g will be raised, but, owing to the
lower spindle carrying an arm k, which tilts the coin receptacle and throws out
the money, thus causing the vertical arm F¹ to drop, the upper pawl H will fall
back in engagement with the upper cam and prevent the rotation of the upper
marking bar B unless another coin or token be inserted. Now, to remedy this,
the pawl K, on the rotation of the lower spindle, is raised by an arm K' on the
said spindle, which imparts a very slight angular movement to ratchet wheel J
and also to the cam g on the upper spindle, consequently, the pawl H will fall
too late to engage the beak of the cam and thus allow the rotation of the upper
spindle.
A spécial feature of this invention is stopping the passage down the coin slot D¹
until the game or games is or are finished, which is carried out as follows:-
--
On each of the spindles G, G', is an arm L rotating with the said spindles,
which, before the game commences, engages the vertical rods M, Figures 4 and 7,
and lifts the horizontal arms L', which are pivoted at 1, out of the path of the
coins or tokens, but, directly the spindles with the marking bars are rotated, the
arms L leave the vertical rods M which then fall and pull the horizontal arms L'
across the path of the coin and block the passage as shown in Figure 7. The
horizontal arms can be worked independently of each other, consequently, which-
ever spindle is being rotated, the channel will be stopped. This plan of having
stops or shutters stopping the orifice for coin whenever the machine or apparatus
is not in a state to be coin-freed, such for instance as when apparatus which deliver
articles are empty, can be carried out with other coin-freed or coin-actuated
mechanism.
The mode of action of the whole apparatus is as follows:-
Having decided what number shall constitute the game which in this case is
fifty or games and the amount to be paid for such game or games, the coin
(if it be only one) or other token is then inserted in the slot D, and, if it be a
proper coin, it will pass down the channel or shute D¹ into the receptacle E, if it
be a smaller coin, it will fall through the opening d into the receptacle C on the
door. The weight of the proper coin falling into the receptacle E turns the
lever E¹ on its pivot, raises the vertical arm F¹ and lifts the pawls or catches H
from engagement with the jumping cams 9 mounted on the spindles G and G' of

page_text: the marking bars B. The latter are now free to be rotated by means of the
handles B' on the outside of the apparatus. On the rotation of the lower spindle G¹
with its marking bar B, an arm k on the said spindle comes in contact with a
projection m on the receptacle and tilts it as shown in Figure 8, and the coins or
tokens are thrown into a box N at the bottom of the apparatus, the receptacle
being returned to its normal position by arm L which strikes a projection n on
the said receptacle. The lever E', by reason of its weighted end, now resumes its
first position, which lowers the vertical arm F1. The pawls or catches, being no
longer held up by the latter, simply ride on the cams g until a complete rotation of
the spindles with their marking bars has been made, when they drop and engage
the beak of the cams g, as shown, and prevent any further rotation of the marking
bars until another coin or coins is or are inserted. At the same time, the arms or
tappets L have come into engagement with the rods M and raised the horizontal
arms L' out of the coin channel or shute, which is now open for the passage of coins.
or other tokens, and the apparatus ready to be operated again.
1.
In the apparatus shown, the rotary movement of the marking bars is stopped
when the number fifty (which is the highest number in this case marked on the
bars) has been reached, but it will be obvious that it can be so arranged by
marking the bars differently that the locking shall not take place until a hundred,
or other definite number constituting the game or games paid for by the coin
inserted, has been reached.
The counting dials C may be operated by any suitable mechanism, preferably by
a train of wheels, as shown, set in motion by the rotation of the upper spindle; by
this means, a record will be kept of the number of games played during a day or
other period, and the amount of money paid in can be easily ascertained.
The invention has been described as applied to billiard markers, but it is not
confined to this, as the same apparatus can control any other rollers, wheels, shafts
or other mechanism in which it is desired that the movement of the mechanism
shall be limited.
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. The combination with a coin freed device operating a pawl, such as H, of
rollers B or equivalent device required to be coin freed after a given amount of
travel, of a pawl (H) or its equivalent and a surface such as the edge of a wheel
travelling synchronously with the roller (or device required to be coin freed) and
having a catch registering with the pawl or its equivalent.
2. In coin freed mechanism for the purposes described, the arrangement of a
stop automatically entering and remaining in the slot so as to prevent the entry of
coin whenever the machine is not in condition to give the equivalent for that coin,
but automatically removed when the machine is in condition for delivering that
equivalent substantially as described.
3. In coin freed mechanism for the purposes described, the combination therewith
of a recording device operated by clockwork or other suitable mechanism, in
connection with a moving part of the coin freed mechanism, so that at the end of a
day or other period it can at once be seen how many times the apparatus has been
made use of, substantially as described.
4. The mechanism constructed and arranged substantially as described and
.illustrated.
Davon bis 17th day of May 1995.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.