Patent ID: 7497769

Claim:
A coin hopper comprising: a hopper bowl for storing coins in a bulk state; a rotary disc having a plurality of coin anchors, for receiving and dispensing the stored coins one by one in the hopper bowl, the rotary disc is mounted in the hopper bowl and rotates about a first axis that is inclined to a vertical plane; a fixed guide, has a smaller diameter than a rotation path of the coin receiving anchors, the fixed guide is fixed in the hopper bowl adjacent the rotary disc to support coins as the rotary disc rotates, the fixed guide has a horizontal transport guide portion extending at the top of the fixed guide towards a side of the hopper bowl to translate coins to a coin release passage, the transport guide portion has a thickness equal to or less than the thickness of the stored coins, the horizontal transport guide portion is structured by the fixed guide and a different piece which is detachably fixed to a side surface of an end section of the horizontal coin transport guide, the guide surface of the different piece is inclined to form an acute angle with respect to the upper surface of the rotary disc; an agitator is mounted for rotation about a second axis offset from the first axis and is located adjacent a coin pickup position in the coin hopper, wherein the agitator has a plurality of radially extending spaced apart arms, wherein the arms have pointed tips and adjacent surfaces having an inclined coin contact portion on the side of the arms; a single motor and a gear transmission unit that drives the rotary disc in one rotational direction and the agitator in the same rotational direction at a different rotational speed; a position adjustment mechanism; a coin sensor mounted on the position adjustment mechanism to monitor the coins dispensed, the position adjustment mechanism includes a slider and a cam member that can adjustably move the slider to position the coin sensor to one of a plurality of positions to sense a particular size coin; and an unallowable coins blocking piece operatively connected to the slider.