Patent ID: 6945864

Claim:
A coin sorting apparatus comprising: a stationary member provided with a central coin-feed opening; and a rotary disk supported for rotation and disposed under said stationary member contiguously with a lower surface of said stationary member, such that coins fed into said central coin-feed opening of said stationary member slide along said lower surface of said stationary member as said rotary disk rotates, wherein said stationary member includes a guide structure for selectively guiding coins sliding along said lower surface thereof; according to diameters of the coins, said guide structure having (i) a coin passage formed in said lower surface of said stationary member and having a radial inner edge portion configured to engage outer edges of all the coins to be guided, said radial inner edge portion defining a shoulder having a height less than a thickness of a thinnest coin, and (ii) a coin-sorting guide disposed radially outside said coin passage, said coin-sorting guide having (a) a step formed such that, upon rotation of said rotary disk, a peripheral part of each of coins having diameters greater than a reference diameter run up onto said step with an outer edge of this coin engaging said radial inner edge portion of said coin passage, and (b) an ejecting passage for guiding each coin that has run up onto said step and ejecting this coin to an exterior of said stationary member, wherein said coin passage has, at least in a section corresponding to said radial inner edge portion thereof, a recessed-profile configured to accommodate a convex side of a deformed coin, when the deformed coin is received within said coin passage with the convex side thereof facing said stationary member, so as to ensure engagement of an outer edge of the deformed coin with said radial inner edge portion.