Year: 1897

page_text: I, JOHN FREDERICK SIMMANCE, 81, Page Street, Westminster, Gas Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
My invention has for its object the provision of an arrangement whereby pre-
payment mechanisms, such as described in Specification No. 1325, 1895 Wright,
11202, 1896 Simmance and other similar forms (which may be briefly described
as those in which coins are placed face upon face in a coin tube, their presence,
with or without a superincumbent weight, causing the opening of the gas valve,
the said coins being removed from their position by a reciprocating or similar
slide, allowing the valve to close) may be fed by coins of different and specified!
valves, gas being given pro rata.
For each coin of different value, I use a separate coin tube and reciprocating
slide but only one valve for the entire mechanism or series of mechanisms I pro-
vide however in connection with the valve and for each coin tube a separate valve-
head, stem or other connecting device, the displacement of any one of which by
a coin of the proper value, in any one of the tubes will open the gas valve. To
a convenient part of the reciprocating slide of the first coin tube which should
be prepared for the reception of the coin of lowest value, I append a pawl which
is arranged to gear with a ratchet wheel rigidly attached to the driving wheel
of the slide of the second coin tube, coming next in line of rotation and which
coin tube should be arranged to receive coins next in value to those of the first
coin tube.
With this arrangement each tooth of the ratchet represents a complete travel
of the reciprocating slide carrying the pawl and thus it will take as many travels
of the first reciprocating slide, to effect a complete travel of the second reciprocat-
ing slide, as there are teeth in the ratchet wheel, the pawl removing one tooth
only at each journey.
Thus in a meter designed to take pennies and shillings, the number of teeth
in the ratchet wheel will be twelve, and other relative values of coins can be
worked in the same manner.
By the side of the ratchet wheel I place an eccentrically pivoted plate, provided
with an arm of such length that its end protrudes through the table on which the
sliding arm of the first coin tube works, in such a position as to be in the path
of coins when being removed from the coin tube by the reciprocating slide.
The plate from which projects the said arm is so shaped that its edge supports
the pendent pawl as it travels to & fro, & in such a manner that when the arm is
not displaced by a coin, it permits the free engagement of the pawl with the
ratchet wheel, but when it is so displaced, the pawl is prevented from engaging,

page_text: so that as long as there are coins in the first coin tube the rest of the apparatus
is not at work.
By placing a second pawl on the reciprocating slide of the second coin tube &
repeating the construction with the necessary modifications, a third coin-tube
can be brought into work, & the number added to until the friction impairs the
meters working.
I, JOHN FREDERICK SIMMANCE, of 81, Page Street, Westminster, London, 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 certain meters for the measurement of gas and other fluids a coin intro-
duced through a slot on being pressed down causes the supply valve of the meter
to be opened and thereupon the meter works delivering a quantity of the fluid
equivalent in value to that of the coin, and discharging the coin into a locked
receptacle. The apparatus is usually arranged in such a manner that a number
of coins can be introduced, so that the meter will go on working and delivering
fluid until all these coins are discharged into the receptacle. The object of this
invention is to modify the coin freed mechanism in such a way that several coins
of different values can be employed, those of a higher denomination keeping the
meter in action so as to deliver a quantity which is the same multiple of the
quantity delivered for a coin of lower denomination as the value of the higher
coin is of that of the lower. Thus for instance if the apparatus were adapted for
shillings and for pence, the meter would deliver for a shilling twelve times the
quantity delivered for a penny. The chamber into which the coins are introduced
is also preferably arranged so that when a coin of inferior value, such for instance
as a halfpenny or a sixpence is introduced, it is at once returned without having
any effect on the meter.
The accompanying drawings illustrate this invention applied to coin freed
mechanism for a gas meter such as described in the Patent No. 9216 of 1896 the
mechanism being arranged so as to work with either of two coins, the one 12 times
the value of the other as in the case of shillings and pence.
Figure 1 is a front view, Figure is a plan on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,
Figures 3 and 4 are sections on the lines 3 3 and 4-4 of Figure 2 respectively.
A is a chamber having at its upper front corner two slots a¹, a², the one a¹ for
insertion of the penny and the other a² for the shilling. The coin is received from
each slot on two sloping ledges a³ down which it slides to a cylinder B or B2
when a stop a is removed by the act of lifting the plunger 61 or 63, this stop pro-
jecting from a lever as pivotted at a and acted on by a pin a upon the plunger.
Between the pairs of ledges as there is such width as will allow in each case a
smaller coin to drop, this coin sliding down a slope as to an outlet slot a from
which it issues.
A number of coins may be successively inserted into the slot a¹ or a the
plunger 6 or 6 being lifted each time, or held up, so that a pile of coins may be
accumulated under each plunger, the number being shewn by a scale on the face

page_text: of the plunger presenting so many of its graduations above the top of the
cylinder.
C is a valve box containing the supply valve of the meter which may be of any
known kind, kept usually closed by a lever c, loaded by a weight or spring, act-
ing against a head c' on its stem. This head c', and another similar head
rigidly connected to c¹ has its face sloped in such a manner that when a coin is
depressed by pushing down the plunger b¹ or 63 the edge of the coin acting on the
sloping face of c¹ or c2 pushes it back, thus opening the valve whereupon the meter
being supplied with fluid is put in action. A spindle D, caused to rotate by any
suitable gear connecting it to the counter-mechanism of the meter drives a
crank at such a speed that the crank makes one revolution while a quantity
of fluid is delivered equivalent in value to one of the coins under the plunger b¹.
The crank pin is engaged in the slot of a lever e¹ to the end of which is linked
a sliding plate E', which by the rotation of the crank is caused to make a for-
ward stroke pushing forwards the coin or the lowest of the coins under b¹ until
it falls into a suitable receptacle, and then to make a backward stroke, on the
completion of which if there be no longer a coin under b¹ and if there happens
to be no coin under 62 the heads c¹ c² are left free to advance allowing the loaded
lever c to close the valve in C, whereupon the meter is stopped. This action in
respect of a coin of one value has been described in prior patents and therefore
no claim is herein made to the mechanism so far described. A similar arrange-
ment of a crank d³, a slotted lever e² and a sliding plate E2 operates with a coin
of the higher denomination under the plunger 63, but the crank d makes
only one revolution while d' makes 12 revolutions, and only does so when there is
no coin under the plunger 1, and it is the mode and means for effecting this
movement of the crank that forms the main subject of the present invention.
The sliding plate El has pivotted on its under side a pawl f which engages
with a ratchet wheel F having 12 teeth, this ratchet wheel being fixed on the
axis of the crank d² pivotted to a bracket H so that this crank makes one
revolution while the plate E¹ makes 12 complete to and fro strokes. Consequently
a coin of the higher value is not discharged from under the plunger until the
meter has delivered 12 times the quantity of fluid that is delivered in discharging
a coin of the lower value from under b¹. When there happens to be a coin advan-
cing under 6¹ this coin depresses the arm of a lever G which is pivotted on the
bracket H on which the lever e² is pivotted, and carries a circular segment g;
the segment is thus moved to such a position that the pawl f is held up by it
out of engagement with the ratchet teeth of F and therefore the crank e and
plate E are not moved so long as there is a coin under the plunger b¹, but when
there is no coin, then the arm of G being free to rise, the segment g descends
by gravity out of the path of the pawl f which thereupon engages with the
ratchet wheel F turning the crank e² and moving the sliding plate E² step by step
while the sliding plate E¹ makes 12 to and fro strokes.
Obviously by varying the number of teeth on the ratchet wheel F, the apparatus
can be suited for coins of different relative value; thus if the meter is for francs
and pieces of ten centimes or for marks and pieces of ten pfennigs, the wheel would
have 10 teeth. And by providing a third slot, cylinder, plunger, crank, and slid-
ing plate, and working the ratchet wheel on the third crank by a pawl moved by
the second sliding plate the apparatus could be adapted to take coins of a still
higher value.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
In a coin freed fluid meter in combination with the mechanism for operating
with a coin of one value, a second set of mechanism for operating with a coin of
higher value which when no lower coin is present is worked step by step by a
pawl moved by the first mechanism acting on a ratchet wheel of the second having

page_text: a number of teeth suited to the relative values of the two coins, substantially as
described.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.