GB2034677A

GB2034677A - Coin Dispensing Apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2034677A
Application number: GB7914479A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Omron Tateisi Electronics Co
Current assignee: Omron Corp
Priority date: 1978-11-22
Filing date: 1979-04-25
Publication date: 1980-06-11
Also published as: GB2034677B; AU515044B2; AU4630679A; JPS5572290A; JPS6129038B2

Abstract

A coin dispensing apparatus includes rotatable disc (21) having an annular coin space and adapted to circumferentially support coins (8) severally and independently in predetermined spaced positions, the disc being disposed in position at an angle with respect to the vertical. A hopper (22) covers a lower portion of the disc and communicates therewith for holding coins. A coin runway (45) is disposed at an upper portion of the disc for receiving coins successively from the disc as the disc rotates. Upstream of the coin runway (45) means are provided to contact a leading coin properly supported by the disc, and also automatically to return to its original position within the annular coin space as the leading coin has moved out of the restraint of the means. Any coin entrained with a properly supported coin is returned by the means to the hopper. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A Coin Dispensing Apparatus The present invention relates to a coin dispensing apparatus, and more particularly to a coin dispensing apparatus applicable to an automated article dispensing machine which is capable of precisely returning coins as changes to a depositor in an adjustment transaction.

Heretofore coin dispensing apparatuses for change making machines are known wherein a rotatable disc is disposed in position at an angle with respect to the vertical, a plurality of coin spaces each capable of carrying one coin only are circumferentially formed on the front surface of the rotatable disc at predetermined spaced positions, a hopper is mounted to hold a jumbled mass of coins at the lower portion of the disc, and as the disc rotates, a plurality of coins are sequentially picked up by the disc from the hopper and carried toward the upper portion of the disc on a one-by-one basis, whereby as the disc rotates continuously, the apparatus is capable of smoothly and subsequently returning a predetermined number of coins to the depositor under normal conditions.

Such coin dispensing apparatuses, however, have the disadvantage that if a coin in the hopper accidentally picks up adherent materials, or is scratched or deformed, it may happen that the coin is carried up with another coin at the same time by the disc, so that more than one coin are simultaneously dispensed from the apparatus, or the disadvantage that even wholesome or defectless coins may happen to be picked up together for dispensing.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved coin dispensing apparatus which does not require any additional drive mechanism for precisely dispensing coins one by one.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a coin handling system which is capable of precisely dispensing change coins one by one in an adjustment transaction with a depositor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coin dispensing apparatus having a rotatable disc for carrying coins, which is capable of precisely dropping off unnecessary coins which accidentally adhere to the coin properly carried by the disc, so that the apparatus may precisely dispense coins one by one.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coin dispensing apparatus including a rotatable disc for carrying coins and a leaf spring member wherein the leaf spring member is capable of dropping a wrongly carried coin so as to prevent the apparatus from dispensing more than one coin at a time with the aid of the biasing force of the spring.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a coin dispensing apparatus which includes rotatable pickup disc means having an annular coin chamber and adapted to circumferentially support a plurality of coins severally and independently in predetermined spaced positions within said annular coin chamber, the disc means being inclined with respect to the vertical, hopper means covering a lower portion of the disc means and communicating therewith for holding, as a jumbled mass, the coins which are to be picked up and carried upwards by the disc means, coin runway means disposed at the upper portion of the disc means for receiving coins successively from the disc means as the latter rotates, selfreturn means mounted upstream of the runway means and having an effective portion which will be displaced into a position radially outwardly of the annular coin chamber of the disc means when the leading coin properly supported by the disc means comes in contact therewith, and also will automatically return to its original position within the coin chamber as said particular coin has moved out of the restraint of said self-return means, the self-return means being capable of dropping the coin wrongly picked up by the disc means which has happened to adhere to said properly held coin.

Other objects as well as the numerous advantages of the coin dispensing apparatus according to the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings: Fig. 1 is a sectional side view of a coin handling system employing a coin dispensing apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of a coin dispensing apparatus of the present invention; Figure 3 is a partially sectional elevational view of the coin dispensing apparatus of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the leaf spring member which is employed in the coin dispensing apparatus of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a detailed front view of the leaf spring member shown in Fig. 4.

Referring, now, to Fig. 1 , there is shown a coin handling system which sorts the deposited coins by genuineness and denomination, counts and temporarily holds the sorted coins in denomination groups, and in the event of a request by the depositor, returns the temporarily stored coins to him or if the system has dispensed the requested article, makes an adjustment transaction, while it keeps the temporarily held coins until the next depositor has deposited his coins. As the next depositor has deposited his coins, the temporarily stored coins are supplied to the coin dispensing apparatus for use as changes or collected in the system as collected money.

The coins which are requested by the depositor to be dispensed to him as changes are supplied from the coin dispensing apparatuses of the system. The system shown in Fig. 1 includes a coin sorting device 1, a guide device 2, a counting device 3, a temporary coin storage device 4, coin dispensing apparatus 5, chutes 6, and a belt 7.

The coin sorting device 1 sorts by genuineness and denomination the coins 8 deposited by the depositor on the basis of its size and forwards the sorted coins 8 into the guide device 2 through runways 9. The guide device 2 guides the sorted coins 8 from the runways into the counting device 3 through corresponding throats 1 0. The counting device 3 includes throats 11 and the corresponding microswitches 1 2. Each switch 12 detects the sorted coins 8 which are falling down through the corresponding throat 11 and produces a detection signal. The detection signals from the switches 12 are applied to a counterdisplay (not shown) for displaying the number or monetary value of the coins which have been deposited into the system.

The temporary coin storage device 4 includes a movable block 13 and a control plate 14, the block 13 having through-holes 1 5 for holding coins 8 of each denomination. The block 1 3 with through-holes 1 5 is movable into three positions, viz. position-1 which is the standby position, position-2 which is located forwardly of the plane of Fig. 1, and position-3 which is behind the plane and corresponds to the return-or-collect position.

The block is selectively driven by a motor 16 into three positions through a connecting member 1 7.

The control plate 14 has a closed portion which, when the block 13 is in position-1, closes off the holes 1 5 of the block 13, thus holding the coins within the block 31. The plate 14 has also an apertured portion having holes 1 8 which are in communication with the through-holes 1 5 of the block when the block is in position-2. When the block 1 3 is in position-3, the plate 14 has a cutout portion which provides for a free access of the coins to the chutes 6.

Talus when the block 1 3 is in position-2, the holes 1 8 of the control plate 14 are in registry with guides 5a of coin dispensing apparatus 5, whereby the coins held in the block 13 are supplied to apparatus 5 via guides 5a. In position3 of the movable block 13, the cut-out portion of the control plate 14 are just above, and in registry with, chutes 6 which communicate with the respective through-holes 1 5 of the block 13 for guiding the coins to the belt 7. Although Fig. 1 shows three apparatus 5 and guides 5a as well as two chutes 6 for illustrative purposes, the system in fact includes five of each.As shown in Fig. 1, the runways 9, throats 10, throats 11, switches 12, holes 15, guides 5a, apparatus 5 and chutes 6 are arranged in corresponding relationship as to each denomination.

When it is requested that change coins be dispensed to the depositor in an adjustment transaction, the coin apparatus 5 send out the coins 8 stored therein to the belt 7 one by one, and the belt 7 moving in the direction of the arrowmark shown in Fig. 1 conveys the sent out coins to a tray (not shown) in front of the depositor. When it is requested that the coins 8 temporarily held in the block 1 3 be returned to the depositor, the belt 7 moving in the direction of the arrowmark conveys to the tray the coins which are supplied through chutes 6 from the block 13 in position-3. When it is requested that the coins 8 held in the block be collected into the system, the belt 7 moving in the opposite direction to the arrowmark of Fig. 1 conveys to a proper storage means (not shown) the coins through chutes 6 from the block in position-3.

In response to the deposit by a depositor, the block 13 moves from position-1 to position-2 so that the coins 8 which have been held within the block in position-1 in the adjustment transaction with the former depositor may be supplied to the apparatus 5 via guides 5a until a predetermined amount of coins have been accumulated therein.

If, however, the block 1 3 has had coins over the predetermined amount, the block moves from position-2 or -1 to position-3 so that the coins held therein may be dispensed onto the belt 7 moving in the opposite direction of the arrow mark of Fig. 1 and the coins on the belt 7 may be collected.

In Figs. 2 and 3 there is shown one of the coin dispensing apparatus 5 which includes a base 19, a frame 20, a rotary disc 21, and a hopper wall 22, the disc with the frame 20 being disposed at an angle with respect to the vertical.

The frame 20 is fixed to the base 19 by screws 22a and has a through hole 23 for enclosing the rotary disc 21 in the center of the frame 20. The disc 21 forms a boss 24 extending backward from a central portion of the disc 21 through a hole 25 of the base 19. The boss 24 engages through a stopper 27 a shaft 26. One end of the shaft 26 is fixed to a washer 28 by a nut 29, so that the disc 21 is prevented from slipping out of the frame 20.

The shaft 26 is journatied to a proper stationary wall member (not shown) and supports a gear 30 which is abuttted by the boss 24 and engages through a pin 31 the disc 21. The gear 30 meshes with a gear 33 which is fixed to a drive shaft 32 of a control motor (not shown), so that the disc 21 is driven by the motor to elevate the coins.

The washer 28 has a front outer surface of a spherical shape and an outer circumferential wall 34 parallel with an axis of the shaft 26, the depth of the wall 34 being slightly larger than the thickness of the coins 8 sorted by denomination.

Slightly larger than the diameter of the coins 8 is the width of the space between the wall 34 and an inner wall 35 of the frame 20. A plurality of upstanding pins 36 are circumferentially fixed to the disc 21 in the middle position between the walls 34 and 35 with equally spaced-apart relationship. The height of the pins 36 is substantially equal to the thickness of the stored coins 8, and the distance between each pair of adjacent pins 36 is slightly larger than the diameter of the coins 8.

As the disc 21 rotates counterclockwise in Fig.

3, the coins 8 to be elevated by the apparatus 5 enter the coin chamber which has a plurality of coin spaces 37 each partitioned by two adjacent pins 36 and the walls 34 and 35 of the coin chamber, each coin 8 being picked up by the pin 36 immediately behind it.

Fixed to the outer surface of the frame 20 by screws 22a is the hopper wall 22 which outwardly extends in the shape of a half circle and holds the coins 8 entered from above. In an upper portion of the frame 20 there is disposed a coin runway 38 which guides the coins from the disc 21 to the belt 7. The runway 38 includes a photoelectric detector 44 which counts the number of coins sent out from the disc 21 and a chute 45. A guide plate 39 is fixed to the bottom end of the runway 38 and extends to the neighbourhood of the path of pins 36.

Upstream of the runway 38 and at the inner wall 35 of the frame 20 there is disposed a leaf spring 40 of which one end is fixed to the inner wall 35 of the frame and externaily of the coin space 37 of the rotary disc, with the other end extending into the coin chamber downstream or forwardly with respect to the rotational direction of the disc 21.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the spring member 40 includes a contact portion 41 which contacts the upper portion of the coin'8 properly lifted up in the space 37 and a free-end portion 42 which is adapted to cause any coin which may happen to be sticking to the coin 8 properly held in the space 37 to fall toward the hopper wall 22. The contact portions 41 and 42 are so formed that the spring member 40 as a whole acts as its forward free is normally disposed in the coin chamber but, as one of the coins 8 being elevated with the revolution of the disc 21 comes across it, its contact portion 41 engages the periphery of the leading coin and is displaced outwardly but the free-end portion 42 catches any entrained coin and drops it off into the hopper 22.The portion 42 further includes a cut portion 43 between the portion 42 and the front surface of the disc 21 which allows single coin to pass therethrough.

Thus, as thc disc 21 rotates, the pins 36 stir a jumbled mass of coins 8 stored in the hopper wall 22 and lift up the coins one by one as held in each of spaces 37. As a leading coin 8a being elevated with the revolution of the disc 21 comes across the contact portion 41, the portion 41 is displaced upwardly by its engagement with the coin 8a. As the coin 8a passes away from the portion 41, the portion 41 returns to its original position within the coin chamber, and the coin is sent out through the cut portion 43 toward the runway 38. If accidentally an unnecessary coin 8 is entrained with the properly elevated coin 8a, the free-end portion 42 catches the unnecessary coin and drops it off into the hopper wall 22. It should be understood that the contact portion is also effective to drop it off when it is entrained outwardly of the peripheral portion of the coin 8a.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that the spring member 40 may be replaced with any other self-return member which in response to the revolution of the disc is displaced by coins outwardly and inwardly so as to precisely drop off any entrained coin, such as a leaf spring without the portion 42, a shiftable solid guide member biased by a spring, or the like.

Alternatively, the self-return member may be disposed in a different position from the position indicated in the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the above description is merely illustrative of the present invention and that many changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A coin dispensing apparatus including: rotatable disc means having an annular coin chamber and adapted to circumferentially support a plurality of coins severally and independently in predetermined spaced positions within said annular coin space, said disc means being disposed at an angle with respect to the vertical:: hopper means covering a lower portion of said disc means and communicating therewith for holding coins which are picked up and carried upwardly by said disc means; coin runway means disposed at an upper portion of said disc means for receiving coins successively from said disc means as said disc means rotates; self-return means mounted upstream of said coin runway means and having an effective portion which is displaced into a position radially outwardly of said annular coin space when a leading coin properly supported by said disc means comes in contact therewith, and also automatically returns to its original position within said annular coin chamber as said leading coin has moved out of the restraint of said selfreturn means, the self-return means being capable of dropping any coin entrained with a properly supported coin.

2. A coin dispensing apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said self-return means is a leaf spring member which includes a contact portion which contacts the upper portion of said leading coin properly lifted up in said annular coin chamber and a free-end portion which is adapted to cause said entrained coin to be dropped toward said hopper means.

3. A coin dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the self-return means is a spring loaded member having a contact portion normally located in the path of a coin properly supported within the coin chamber, the member being displaced as the coin contacts the contact portion on rotation of the disc means, the self-return means having another portion which, as the coin moves out of contact with the contact portion and the self-return means returns to its normal location, traverses across a part of the normally exposed face of the coin to dislodge any entrained coin and drop it toward the hopper means.

4. A coin dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 3 in which the self-return means is a leaf spring member having a contact portion and a free-end portion as claimed in Claim 2.

5. A coin dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 in which the leaf spring, outwards of the contact portion is cut-away to provide a passageway for the properly supported coin but leaving the free-end portion for traversing the normally exposed face of the coin.

6. A coin dispensing apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 and substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

7. A coin handling system including: said coin dispensing apparatus according to any one of claims 1-6; coin sorting means for sorting coins which have been deposited by a customer into said system; means for temporarily holding each coin sorted by said sorting means; guide means for guiding said temporarily held coin toward said hopper means; and returning means for returning coins supplied from said coin dispensing apparatus to said customer.