A New or Improved Coin-freed Lock for Automatic Delivery Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 28th July, 1899-Accepted, 9th Sept., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Coin-freed Lock for Automatic Delivery
Machines.
I, MICHAEL PIK, of 31, Praterstrasse, Vienna, in the Empire of Austria,
Mechanical Engineer, 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:-
In connection with some automatic delivery machines, such, for example, as
are constructed for the supply of opera glasses and similar articles and which
are fitted, say, to each seat in the auditorium of a theatre, it has been found
desirable that means should be provided for preventing the lid of the receptacle
from becoming locked when inadvertently closed, so that, where it is desirable
that the glass should continue available during the whole performance, it
should be possible nevertheless temporarily to replace it in its case and to
take it out again when required for use. A similar facility may be desirable
also in the case of certain machines for the automatic sale of goods where the
object is to make the whole of the contents of a receptacle available for use or
consumption by the insertion once and for all of a single coin, as in the case of
boxes of sweetmeats, for example, also attachable to seats in theatres and the like,
where the box, on being once filled, and opened by means of a coin should
remain open while its contents are being gradually consumed. For this pur-
pose it is necessary that the box, case or receptacle should be locked or bolted
by means of a lock of a peculiar construction.
A lock of this description forms the subject of the present invention, its con-
struction being illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which it is sup-
posed, by way of example, to be applied to automatic opera-glass-delivery
mechanism.
In the drawings,
:
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the rear wall of the opera-glass case,
wherein the lock is arranged, taken on the line - in Figure 2,
Figure 2 is a transverse section, and
Figure 3 a plan of the automatic apparatus.
Figure 4 is another partial elevation corresponding to Figure 1, but with
the sliding bolt in the innermost position.
Like letters refer to corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
According to my invention the rear wall of the automatic machine, or properly
the lock-case, consists of two plates a, a (see Figure 2), maintained at a pre-
determined distance from each other, and b is a basket-shaped receptacle con-
nected with the front plate and serving for the reception of the opera glass.
This receptacle, which may be outwardly decorated in any suitable manner and
so shaped as to accommodate an opera glass or other article, is fitted with a
hinged lid at the top; though in the special case of an opera-glass delivery
machine a mere hinged bent piece such as c may be sufficient. The lid or bent
piece, as the case may be, is provided with a notched catch which, before the
opera glass is taken up for use engages with another catch, f, of an arresting

page_text: plate e which is movable between the two plates a, a. This arresting plate e
the extent of displacement of which may be limited by means of a guiding
slot and pine or the like, is in the example shown provided with a notch
which serves to form a catch 7. The movement of the arresting plate e rela-
tively to the catch d is effected by means of a spring g. Facing the arresting
plate e is a sliding bolt which a spring i constantly tends to move in the
outward direction. The extent of displacement of this bolt may likewise be
limited by means of a suitable guiding slot h* and pin h¹.
The space between the two plates a remaining available serves as a channel
or chute for the inserted coin for which purposes pieces are interposed as
shown. The left hand extremity of the bolt his wedge-shaped and which
wedge-surface partly reduces the channel m formed by the insertion of the
pieces k. The upper end of such channel or chute may be covered over by a
sheet metal cap n to keep the chute free from impurities. In front of the left
hand reduced end of the bolt a pin o is implanted into the two plates a, so
as slightly to contract the width of the chute or channel m which is further
partly limited by the right hand end of the arresting plate e. Now when a
coin is inserted into the channel m it rolls against the arresting plate e and
pin o, the latter checking its further progress. As, however, the position of
the slide or bolt h, is such that the left hand reduced end meets the inserted
coin almost diametrically it follows that, as the bolt h is moved, the coin is
moved along with it to the left, and presses against the arresting plate e, so
that this plate also is shifted to the left. The moment the arresting plate e
reaches the extremity of its path to the left, an arresting hook or pawls,
pivoted between the plates a and depressed by a spring r, takes up its position
behind the catch 7 and prevents the arresting plate from being displaced by the
spring g When the bolt h is released, the coin p further descends along the
channel m, being prevented from dropping out by a bolt a movable or adjust-
able between the plates a. By the movement of the arresting plate e to the
left the catch d is released and the lid or bent piece c may be opened or raised
as the case may be, and the opera glass may remain in use as long as required,
or the receptacle may be emptied of its contents within any desired interval of
time. When the opera glass is to be locked up again, or when the receptacle
has been refilled, a pin or rod is inserted through a narrow tube g, interposed
between the two plates a, which presses against the hook s pivoted at its centre,
thereby releasing the catch 7, so that the arresting plate e may be moved back
to the right by the spring g. Upon turning down the lid or bent piece c so
that the catch engages in the lock, the said catch d will spring behind the
catch of the arresting plate thereby effectively locking the automatic
delivery machine. The coins inserted may be removed from the lock by moving
the bolt with a key in the manner usual with locks, so that the coin may
drop out of the lower part of the channel. Should a coin smaller than the
standard be inserted, it will not be retained by the pin o but will fall down
into the lower part of the channel and cannot therefore form the intermediate
link necessary for the operation of the arresting plate e.
It will be understood that this lock is applicable to a variety of automatic
machines.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is―
1. A coin-freed lock for automatic delivery machines comprising the arresting
plate e which retains the lid or bent piece c and is adapted to be moved back
through the medium of a sliding bolt h and the intermediate agency of the
inserted coin p which takes up its position between the said two parts, the said
arresting plate being retained in that position by an oscillating hook or pawl
adapted to be released from the exterior whereupon the coin drops into the
8

page_text: lower part of the channel or chute m, all for the purpose of enabling the recep-
tacle to be opened and kept open by the insertion of a coin until the pawls and
arresting plate o are released substantially as set forth.
2. The coin-freed lock for automatic delivery machines substantially as
described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
A. F. SPOONER,
323, High Holborn, London,
Agent for the Applicant.