Improvements in and relating to Coin Freed Apparatus or Prepay- ment Attachments for Gas or other Fluid Meters.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 17th May, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 16th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 17th May, 1899
PROVIDIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Coin Freed Apparatus or Prepay-
ment Attachments for Gas or other Fluid Meters.
A communication from abroad by HENRY G. THOMPSOx, of Milford, HARRY
GRANT THOMPSON and SAMUEL E. MOWER, both of New Haven, all in the
County of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, one of the United States
of America, trading under the firm name of Henry G. Thompson & Son,
Manufacturers.
I, ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES, of 55/56, Chancery Lane, in the County of
London, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the production of a novel prepayment attach-
ment adapted to be applied to or to co-operate with meters used to measure gas
and other fluids.
The coin carrier employed herein is in the form of a segmental plate having
pockets to receive the coin from a coin feeder, the said plate being vibrated
or moved to and fro so that it takes a coin in each direction of its movement
and carries said coin into position opposite a discharge opening in a dividing
wall where a discharging device acting upon one side of the coin in the coin
carrier, forces it from the said carrier through said dividing wall and into a
chamber for the used coin, said chamber being located between the back plate
and said dividing wall.
The coin carrier is of a thickness exactly equal to the coin to be used, so
it is not possible to feed into the carrier a bent coin, or one which will clog its
motion, and so keep open the gas supply.
The coin carrier with its coin is moved through a space between the front plate
of the attachment and the dividing wall referred to, and is acted upon at opposite
sides by said plate, and wall, and consequently a bent coin cannot get through
said space.
Owing to this close fit between the coin carrier and the front plate and dividing
wall, it is not possible for the coin carrier to mave if a string or wire is connected
with the coin.
The coin put into the coin freder, it having a sliding movement outside the
front plate, is, when the said feeder is in one of its positions, acted upon by a
suitable plunger or device, which transfers the coin from the coin feeder into a
pocket of the coin carrier.
In an apparatus according to this invention there is a coin carrier which may
be made as a lever, having at one end two pockets for the reception of the coin
used to start the meter, and at its opposite end a slot for the reception of a
cam or eccentric mounted on a stud supported in the front plate, said cam or
eccentric having a pinion, the rotation of said cam or eccentric in the said slot
vibrating or moving said lever to and fro.

page_text: The front plate has a chamber for the reception of the coin and said plate is
grooved to receive a coin feeder, say a sliding bar having a coin receiving opening
in which one or more coins may be placed when said feeder is drawn out and
when said coin feeder is pushed far enough to place the coin in position to be
acted upon by a plunger the coins are moved from said feeder into the chamber
and the endmost coin enters the pocket then in line with the said plunger, the
entrance of the coin into said pocket acting on the locking device and pushing
it back out of said pocket, thus releasing the coin feeder and letting it start, the
releasing of the coin feeder permitting the usual mechanism of the meter con-
trolling the delivery of the gas to act and turn the actuating shaft.
this coin carrier is
A pocket of the coin carrier being opposite the plunger, it may receive a coin
and as the locking device is pushed out of said pocket the carrier will start, due
to the power of the gas on the meter, the force of said gas being always ready
to be exerted on the actuating shaft from some usual shaft of the meter, through
a gear fast thereon. As the coin carrier is moved another pocket is brought
into position opposite the plunger where it receives immediately a coin, provided
there is one already under the plunger to be put into said pocket, and as
moved one
EO
side of the coin, exposed at one
side of the carrier, travels over a ledge at the inner side of the
front plate, while the other side of said coin travels over and against the
inner side of the division wall, and as soon as said carrier has been moved far
enough the used coin in the first pocket arrives opposite the discharge opening
of said division wall, and a discharging device acts on one side of said coin
and pushes it from the said coin-carrier into a locked chamber between the
division wall and the back-plate.
The coin carrier having been moved fully the eccentric in its continued move-
ment reverses the movement of the coin carrier, and the coin in the opening
is carried in the opposite direction and the opposite faces of the coin are guided
by a ledge and by the division wall, as stated, and the coin in the said opening
is brought opposite the discharge opening in the division wall so that the second
discharging device acts upon one side of said coin and causes it to enter the said
discharge opening and drop into the said locked receptacle, and when in this
position the opening of the pocket of the coin carrier has again come into position
opposite the plunger, and it will again receive a coin, if there is a coin in the
primary reception opening, and if not, then the locking device, its end normally
standing in the slot in the division wall will, under the influence of its spring,
immediately enter the said pocket opening and arrest the further movement of
the coin carrier and the delivery of gas until fresh coin has been supplied.
The actuating shaft has at its inner end a set of teeth which engage a toothed
gear fixed to a hollow shaft, said gear having a pinion and collar, said collar
occupying loosely a hole made in the coin carrier lever, the collar forming a
pivot about which said coin carrier may turn when moved by the cam or
eccentric. Said toothed gear engages the pinion which is attached to and turns
the cam or eccentric at the proper speed.
A hollow shaft provided with a pointer receives through it a shaft having at
its inner end a pinion which is engaged and rotated by a toothed gear fast om
the shaft at the rear of the teeth.
The said gear attached to the hollow shaft also engages and actuates a toothed
intermediate gear mounted loosely on a stud, said gear engaging a pinion fast
on a shaft having an eccentric pin or projection which enters a hole in a spring
pressed pawl, said pawl engaging the toothed edges of the two dials.
These two dials are mounted on and turn loosely about a hub or circular ledge
extended from one side of the division wall, and outside of the hub supporting
said dials is a second hub which receives over it a third dial.
The one dial may be supposed to be provided externally with one hundred teeth, 5
while the inner dial may be supposed to be provided with one hundred and one
teeth, and the end of said pawl engages the teeth of both of said dials, said pawl

page_text: acting to rotate them, it rotating the inner dial for a distance equal to one of
its teeth for each complete rotation of the outer dial.
The spaces and figures on these dials will be changed to correspond with the
particular coin to be used in the meter, and the price of gas at the place sold.
The hundred toothed dial may be divided into twenty spaces and five teeth
for each space, and the inner dial suitably numbered from 0 to and including 19,
and said numbers may show through a slot or opening in the 100 toothed dial, the
latter having a small pointer.
Instead of the numbers from 1 to 19 inclusive, numbers may start from 0 and
run up to any desired number.
The coin feeder has at each end a projection to prevent it from being entirely
withdrawn laterally from the face plate," and the said coin feeder is kept seated
by or through the foot of the sleeve containing the plunger, said foot being
suitably attached to the face plate, so as to be immovable without dismembering
the attachment.
The shaft may derive its motion of rotation from a shaft and intermediate
devices.
A locking device is preferably employed directly controlling the gas valve
which admits gas to the interior of the meter to turn its usual rotating shaft,
and it may also be made to control the main gas valve, and to enable the gas
valve to be closed gradually both of its edges can be cut away so that the carrier
moves in one and then in an opposite direction, instead of in ose direction only.
Dated the 16th day of May 1898.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in and relating to Coin Freed Apparatus or Prepay-
ment Attachments for Gas or other Fluid Meters.
A communication from abroad by HENRY G. Thompson, of Milford, HARRY
GRANT THOMPSON and SAMUEL E. MOWER, both of New Haven, all in the
County of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, one of the United States
of America, trading under the firm name of Henry G. Thompson & Son,
Manufacturers.
I, ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES, of 55 and 56, Chancery Lane, in the County of
London, Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
This invention has for its object the production of a novel prepayment attach-
ment adapted to be applied to or to co-operate with meters used to measure gas
and other fluids.
The coin carrier employed herein is in the form of a segmental plate having
pockets to receive the coin from a coin feeder, the said plate being vibrated
or moved to and fro so that it takes a coin in each direction of its movement
and carries said coin into position opposite a discharge opening in a dividing
wall where a discharging device acting upon one side of the coin in the coin
carrier, forces it from the said carrier through said dividing wall and into a
chamber for the used coin, said chamber being located between the back plate
and said dividing wall.

page_text: The coin carrier is of a thickness exactly equal to the coin to be used, so
it is not possible to feed into the carrier a bent coin or one which will clog its
motion, and so keep open the gas supply.
The coin carrier with its coin is moved through a space between the front plate
of the attachment and the dividing wall referred to, and is acted upon at opposite
sides by said plate, and wall, and consequently a bent coin cannot get through
said space.
Owing to this close fit between the coin carrier and the front plate and dividing
wall, it is not possible for the coin carrier to move if a string or wire is connected
with the coin.
The coin put into the coin feeder, it having a sliding movement outside the
front plate, is, when the said feeder is in one of its positions, acted upon by a
suitable plunger or device, which transfers the coin from the coin feeder into a
pocket of the coin carrier.
Fig. 1, shows an attachment embodying this invention, it being provided with
a recording mechanism;
Fig. 2 a section in the dotted line, Fig. 1;
Fig. 3, a detail showing the pawl for moving the recording mechanism;
Fig. 4 represents the dividing wall lying against the inner side of the back
plate, the dividing wall having two discharge openings for the coins;
Fig. 5 shows the front plate removed from the dividing wall and back plate
of Fig. 4, it showing particularly the coin feeder and its actuating train.
Fig. 6 is a detail view of the locking device.
Referring to Figs. 1 to 5, there is shown a coin carrier made as a lever 27,
it having at one end two pockets 26 and 26 for the reception of the coin used
to start the meter, and at its opposite end said lever has a slot 43 for the reception
of a cam or eccentric 42, mounted on a stud 41, supported in the front plate B¹,
said cam or eccentric having attached to it a pinion 40, the rotation of said
cam or eccentric in the said slot vibrating or moving said lever to and fro.
The front plate B has a chamber e 7 for the reception of the coin to be used,
and said plate is grooved at its outer face to receive a coin feeder 51 shown as
a sliding bar having a coin, receiving opening 23 in which one or more coins
may be placed when said feeder is drawn out to the right, as is Fig. 1, and
when said coin feeder is pushed to the left far enough to place the coin in said
opening in position to be acted upon by the plunger 3, the coins are moved from
said feeder into the chamber e7, and the endmost coin enters that one of the
pockets 26 or 26. then in line with the said plunger, the entrance of the coin
into one of said pockets acting on the locking device 2 and pushing it back
out of said pocket, thus releasing the coin feeder and letting it start, the releasing
of the coin feeder permitting the usual mechanism of the meter controlling the
delivery of the gas to act and turn the shaft 33.
The drawings show the pocket 26 of the coin carrier opposite the plunger e3,
and said pocket may receive a coin when in the position Fig. 5, and as the
locking device is pushed out of said pocket the carrier will start, due to the
power of the gas in the meter, the force of said gas being always ready to be
exerted on the shaft 33 from some usual shaft of the meter, through the gear A 2
fast on the shaft 33.
As the coin carrier is moved to the left, viewing Fig. 5, the pocket 26 is brought
into position opposite the plunger where it receives immediately a coin, provided
there is one already under the plunger to be put into said pocket, and as this &
coin carrier is so moved, one side of the coin, exposed at one side of the carrier,
travels over the ledges at the inner side of the front plate, while the other
side of said coin travels over and against the inner side of the division wall B2,
and as soon as said carrier has been moved far enough to the left, the used coin
in the pocket 26 a arrives opposite the discharge opening of said division wall,
and a discharging device 52 acts on one side of said coin and pushes it from the

page_text: said coin-carrier into the locked chamber e 70 between the division wall and the
back plate B.
The coin carrier having been moved fully to the left, as stated, the eccentric
in its continued movement reverses the movement of the coin carrier, and the
coin in the opening 26 is carried to the right, viewing Fig. 5, and the opposite
faces of the coin are guided by the ledges and by the division wall, as stated,
and the coin in the opening 26 is brought opposite the discharge opening t
in the division wall so that the second discharging device 54 acts upon one side
of said coin and causes it to enter the said discharge opening 8 and drop into
the said locked receptacle, and when in this position the opening 26 has again
come into position opposite the plunger, and it will again receive a coin, if there is a
coin in the opening 7, and if not, then the locking device 62, its end normally
standing in the slot 55 in the division wall will, under the influence of its spring,
immediately enter the opening 26 and arrest the further movement of the coin
carrier and the delivery of gas until fresh' coin has been supplied.
The shaft 33 has at its inner end a set of teeth 56 which engage a toothed
gear 57 fixed to a hollow shaft d20, said gear having in turn fixed to it at its
rear side a pinion 59 and a collar 38, said collar receiving over it loosely a hole
made in the lever 27 constituting the coin carrier, the collar forming a pivot
about which said coin carrier may turn when moved by the cam or eccentric.
The toothed gear 57, rotated as described, engages the pinion 40, referred to,
and turns the cam or eccentric 42 at the proper speed.
The hollow shaft 58 receives through it a shaft cx, having at its inner end a
pinion 60, which is engaged and rotated by a toothed gear 61 fast on the shaft 33
at the rear of the teeth 56. The shaft chas a suitable pointer, as 62.
The gear 59, attached to the hollow shaft 58, also engages and actuates a
toothed intermediate gear 44, mounted loosely on a stud 45, said gear engaging
a pinion 7, fast on a shaft p¹, having an eccentric pin or projection pa which
enters a hole in a spring pressed pawl p2, said pawl engaging the toothed edges
of the two dials 63 and 64.
These two dials are mounted on and turn loosely about a hub or circular ledge
extended from one side of the division wall, see Fig. 2, and outside of the hub
supporting said dials is a second hub which receives over it a third dial 65.
The dial 64 is supposed to be provided externally with one hundred teeth,
while the inner dial 63 is supposed to be provided with one hundred and one
teeth, and the end of said pawl p2 in its operation engages the teeth of both of
said dials, said pawl acting to rotate them, it rotating the inner dial 63 for a
distance equal to one of its teeth for each complete rotation of the outer dial 64.
The apparatus shown has been adapted to receive United States five-cent
pieces, and the spaces and numbers on the dials 63 and 64 have been applied to
correspond with the use of that coin to pay for the gas to be delivered, but it
will be understood that the spaces and figures on these dials will be changed to
correspond with the particular coin. to be used in the meter, and the price of gas
at the place sold.
The dial 64 is shown as divided into twenty spaces and five teeth for each
space, and the inner dial 63 is suitably numbered from 0 to and including 19,
and said numbers show through a slot or opening in the dial 64, the latter having
a small pointer 66.
It will be understood that instead of the numbers from 1 to 19 inclusive that
the numbers may start from 0 and run up to any desired number according to
the requirements of the coin and price of gas, these figures and numbers being
readily ascertainable by the person making the meter.
The innermost hand 67 is fast on the hollow shaft 58.
The coin feeder has at each end a projection as 69, 70, to prevent it from being
entirely withdrawn laterally from the face plate, and the said coin feeder is
kept seated by or through the foot of the sleeve containing the plunger, said foot

page_text: being suitably attached to the face plate, so as to be immovable without dis-
membering the attachment.
The shaft 33 may derive its motion of rotation from a shaft h and intermediate
devices fully shown in another application filed by me coincident with this
application.
In the other application referred to, the locking device, substantially the same
as in this present application, is shown as directly controlling the gas valve
which admits gas to the interior of the meter to turn its usual rotating shaft, and
it will be understood that the locking device 62 herein shown will also be made
to control the main gas valve as provided for in said other application, and to
enable the gas valve to be closed gradually, I have cut away both of its edges as
shown at be Fig. 6, it being understood that the carrier herein moves in one
and then in an opposite direction, instead of in one direction only as in said other
application.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1: The use in a prepayment attachment for coin-freed gas or other fluid
meters, provided with a driving shaft, of a coin carrier composed of a pivoted
elbow lever having coin pockets and a slot; a locking device to enter either
one of said coin openings to lock the coin-carrier; an eccentric located in the
slot of the coin-carrier; and gearing between said eccentric and said driving
shaft to actuate said carrier to and fro when not held locked by said locking
device, substantially as described.
2:-The use in a prepayment attachment for coin-freed gas or other fluid meters
of to and fro moving coin carrier having coin pockets; means to move said
coin-carrier to-and-fro when a coin is present; a plunger; a coin-feeder to present
a coin opposite a coin pocket in said carrier, and means to remove the coin from
the feeder into the coin carrier, the incoming of a coin into a pocket of the
coin carrier removing the said locking device, thus releasing the coin carrier
in order that it may be moved, substantially as described.
3: In a prepayment attachment for gas or other fluid meters, the use with a
coin carrier, and means to supply it with coin to thereby start the coin carrier
in motion and permit gas to be delivered, of a recording mechanism composed of
a series of concentric shafts having pointers; a series of concentric graduated
dials having a different number of teeth and located one behind the other, said
dials having graduations, and means to actuate said shafts and dials to operate
substantially as described.
Dated the 16th day of February 1899
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Agents for the Applicant.