US2004615A - Coin collecting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

June 11, 1935. P. E. MILLS COIN coLLEcTmG APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 51, 1934 IN VENTOR REM/LLS BY v June 11, 1935. P. E. MILLS 2,004,615

COIN COLLECTING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 51, 1934 INVENTOR REM/LLS BY A TTORNEY Patented June 1!, i935 2,004,615 COIN COLLECTING APPARATUS Percy E. Mills, Towaco, N. .l., assignor to Bell Telephone York, N. 'Y.,

Laboratories, Incorporated, New a corporation of New York Application January 31, 1934, Serial No. 709.060

15 Claims. (0!. 1794.3)

This invention relates to coin collectors, and more particularly to means for preventing the fraudulent collection of money from refund chutes of telephone coin collectors. p

In connection with pre-payment coin collectors of the type commonlyused at telephone pay stations, it is the practice to refund money to patrons when calls are not completed. Unscrupulous individuals have occasionally taken advantage of this feature of the coin collectors by obstructing the coin refund chute. thus preventing the return of the coins to their rightful owners when calls have not been completed'and later removing the obstruction and appropriating the accumulated coins. The problem of designing a coin return chute within the cost and space requirements, which is capable of discharging a number of coins of various denominations simultaneously, which also provides protection against tampering with the magnet mechanism through the return chute, and which at the same time is proof against efforts at obstructing it, is a difficult one. I

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a device which will prevent the refunding mechanism from delivering coins to the coin refund chute whenever the latter is obstructed.

In its preferred form the invention provides a pendent lever in the coin refund chute which when moved in any direction from its normal position due to tampering or to placing an obstruction in the chute will render the refund mechanism inoperative. A feature of the invention resides in having such a lever attached to or terminated in a cam surface so supported that any transverse or upward movement of the portion of the lever in the coin refund chute will always move a portion of said cam surface in one definite direction so that said movement of the cam surface can be utilized to render the refund mechanism inoperative. In one embodiment'the movement of the pendent lever in the described manner is utilized to operate a switch to control the refund relay until the obstruction in the refund chute has been removed. In another embodiment the pendent lever operates a second lever or arm to block the operation of the refund relay armature.

This invention will be better understood by ref erence to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l discloses how the coin collecting device,

of this invention may beembodied in a substation the lever arrangement.

A connected by a telephone line to a manual central ofiice B; a 7

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side'view of a coin collector showing the coin magnet mechanism, the coin hopper and coin return chute with th pendent lever of I this invention located inthe coin return chute in its normal unoperated position;

Fig. 3 is anenlarged side view of the pendent lever and Fig. i is similar to Fig. 3 except'that thelever Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 1 except that it embodies a pendent lever capable of blocking the motion of the refund relay armature;

lever arrangement of Fig. 5

r Fig. 7 is a top View of Fig. 6 and Fig. 8 is a top view of the mountingplate for Fig. 6 is an enlarged side view of the pendent neotion with a coin collector of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent 1,043,219 of November 5,

This invention for convenience is shown in con- 1912 to O. F. Forsberg to which referenceis made for detailed information on constructional details and mode of operation.

The form of this invention disclosed in Figs. 2

to 4 provides a; pendent lever within the coin refund chute suspended in such a manner that any movement thereof due to the insertion of sturhng' in said chute will cause the closure of a shunt around one winding of the coin relay to cause the relay to ordinarily be refunded and tocontinue to collect all coins until the stufling has been removed as will be explained hereinafter infdetail.

' Referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings a coinre fund chute is provided within the casing H] by parallel vertical side walls between which an inclined wall His positioned. An opening" lZis formed between these walls through which coins travel in their passagefrom the coin co'ntrol apparatus to a vertical opening l3throug'h which they may be recovered. Afba'iile M is positioned between the side tends downwardlyfrom the upper edge of the opening i3 to permit access to the coin well 28 and at the same time prevent access to 'theflc'oin down through the top openingl2 into the coin return chute and terminates in an enlarged portion H3 in the rear of baffie M. This lever is support of Fig. '2 showing its relationship to an electrical switch controlled thereby;v '10 collect any coins which. would allow for the free passage of refunded coins in normal operation. The upper portion ll of this lever is loosely mounted upon a horizontal mount-;

ing plate [8 suitably fastened to the top horizontal flange IQ of the coin collector housing. The metal strip I5 at the point is doubly bent in two bends of 90 degrees each in different planes to cause theupper portion l1 of-the'strip to have a horizontal surface of substantial area above the mounting plate l8. This-flat upper portion H has two spaced holes through which loosely pass two rivets or screws 2|, 22. The height of these rivet heads above the mounting plate [8 issufiicient to allow a substantialvertical move} the holes in portion H are substantially larger than the diameter of the rivets;

Suitably mounted from a plate Ill is a pair of contact springs 23, 24 insulated from each other at their point of support 25'and normally spaced apar't'at their opposite ends. A. short arm 26 attached tocontact spring 23 bearslightlyupon the upper surface of lever portion l'lat a point intermediate the two rivets ,2I 22 .and at'such apoint that displacement of "lever l5 inanydirection from its normal position willeleyate the arm 26 and cause the contacts 23,

'24 to be clo'sed Thus it will be apparent from the side view of Fig. 3 that any movement of '-.1ever1l 5- tothe-right or left, shown. in dotted lines .3l, 32, will elevate the upper lever portion near rivet 21 or near rivet 22 and in'either case the lever portion under arm 26 willbe elevated to cause arm 26 to close the contacts. Similarly it will be apparent from'the front view of Fig. 4

' that any movement to the right or left, shown in dotted lines 33, 34 will likewise tilt the upper lever portion H to cause arm 25 to close the contacts 23 24. It will also be obvious that any upward thrust on lever [5 will also close the contacts In other words in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 2 to 4 the lever [5 has a portion l1 resting on asupport I8 whose points 'of contact with portion l! are spread over a subfstantial areaso that any transverse or upward movemntof lever l5 will alwaysmove the center of portion [1; in one direction, that is, upwardly. Elements I1 and; may both have flat juxtaposed surfaces so that all points of contact therebetween are in the same plane, although the location of all points of contact in a common plane is not essential. Hence the arrangement of lever i5 is such that any attempt to insert stufiin'g in the coin return chute between bafiie l4 and opening l2 will move lever !5 in such a manner as to close contacts 23,, 24 to produce any desired electrical result such as ringing analarm or rendering the magnet 35 inoperative for coin refunding. t

The manner in which the coin magnet 35 may be controlled to prevent refunding when stuffing is present in the-coin return chute'is illustrated in Fig. 1 wherethe terminals 35, 31- of the contact springswhenthe contactsprings are closed, serve to connect a. shunt .around theleft-hand coil of magnet 35, the shuntpathirlcluding a suitable resistance 38. The closure of this shunt path throws themagnet out of balance so that it will not operate .to refund money when contacts 33,24 are closed;

flange of mounting 39 is deposited in the coin chute to obtain a telephone connection it will close contact 40 as shown in Fig. 1. A circuit will then be established under these conditions over the following path from grounded contact 40, coils of magnet 35, tip side of line L, closed contact of relay 4|, and winding of relay 42 to battery. The closure of this circuit will energize relay 42 and thereby lightthe lamp 43. The operator noting this light will insert plug 44 in jack 45 and cause lamp 43 to be extinguished in the usual manner. The operator can now communicate with substation A and obtain the number desired by the subscriber. In

the eventthe call is completed the coin collect I "key 46 is operated and the coin 39 is collected in ment of lever portion I1 and as previously stated the following manner. The operation of key 46 closes a circuit from battery, lamp 41, winding of relay 48, upper make contact 49 of key 46, upper sure of this circuit just described will cause lamp 4'! to be lighted and relay 48 to be energized.

This relay will close-acircuit through its make contact from ground to battery through filament of lamp 52 and cause the said lamp to be lighted.

.The closure of contacts 23, 24 due to stuffing in the refund chute and the shunt path'established thereby about the left-hand coil of the'magnet 35, will not affect the operation'of collecting the deposited coin.

In case, however, the coin return key isoperatecl'to return a coin because a call has'not been completed a circuit willbe closed over the following path: from battery, lamp 53, relay 54, upper 'make contact 55 of COl1'1 1'Btl1I'n' key 58, tip contacts of plug 44 andjack 45, tip conductor of line L, windings of magnet 35 and contact 40 to ground. The shunt about the left-hand coil of magnet 35 including'the resistance :38, which is of a value approximately the same as that of said coil, causes an unbalanced condition of magnet 35. The magnet 35 under this condition operates to collect money when current of either polarity is connected therewith by either coin collect key '46 or coin return k 5 After the key '45 or key so is-restored to normal and plug 44 is disconnectedfrom jack 45 the circuitand apparatus at central oflice B, return to normal. The apparatus'at the coin control station A will function as just described to collect money upon each occasion 'wherea call is com-' pleted or not completed untilthe obstruction in the coin refund chute has been removed. Upon the removal of the obstruction the shunt about the left-hand coil of magnet 35 will be, opened by breaking contacts 23, 24 and the magnetwill thereafter assume its normal operation by refunding money through the return opening upon the actuation of the coin return key 58 or by collecting money upon the actuating; of coin collect key 46. 1

From the foregoing description of Figs. 1 to 4 it will be apparent that any stufling inserted into the refundchute to preventrefundedcoins from dropping into coin well 28 will actuate lever I5 to close contacts 23, 24 to establish av shunt about the refund winding of magnet 35. Since no refund is possible when this shunt'circuit'is effective it is obvious that the described arrangement prevents any fraudulent collection of money from the refund chute. j l

Referring'more in detail to the configuration of'lever l5 it"should be noted that the said lever is designed 'to offer no substantial obstruction to that portion of the coin chute to second arm 6| for position as to prevent the adapted to cooperate see "any manner.

Starting at a short 28. Thusthe lower edge of lever I5 is spaced a substantial distance from lower wall ll and-behind baffle I4.

As seen from the front view in Fig. 4 the middle portion of lever I5 is bowed to the left so as to be properly spaced away from which is pivoted 58 whichin the is operated by gravity at the point 59 the usual vane usual type of coin collector so as to keep closed the opening leading from-the refund-side of the coin hopper to the upper portion of the coin return chute except when the vane is swung open by the coins as they are being discharged into the return chute.

In an alternative form of the invention shown in Figs. 5 to 8 the anti-stoning member has one arm 69 which is identical with lever i5 and has a additional aid in preventing stufiing in the upper part of the coin refund chute near the top opening 62. The arrangement in these figures is such that any movement of lever 60, (it causes a member 63 to be placed in such a armature 64 of coin magnet 65 from being moved in such a direction as to permit a coin refund. For details of a coin magnet and armature with which this invention is U. S. patent to O. F. Forsberg 1,117,485 of November 17, 1914.

As in Fig. 2 the lever 60 by suitable bending terminates in a fiat horizontally disposed portion 66 supported above a mounting plate 61 which in turn is fastened to the top flange E8 of the coin 'collec'tor housing. Twospaced rivets 69, 10 pro- .jecting from mounting plate 61 pass through relatively large apertures in portion 66 so as to permit a limited tilting or upward movement of portion 66 when lever arms 66, 6! are actuated in Preferably the adjacent surfaces of plates 66, 6! are not in contact at all points but as shown, movable plate 66 rests on two small rounded projections or bosses 1 i, 12 so placed that lever 60, 6| is statically balanced to lateral movement. This makes the sensitivity'of the device to lateral pressure on lever 69, 6!. much greater than with the fiat surface contacting arrangement between movable plate l! and mounting plate I8 of Fig. 3.

Pivotally mounted on stationary plate 61 is the special arm 63 used to block the actuating of the coin magnet armature when refund current is applied to the magnet'at a time when the coin refund'chute has been stuffed or obstructed. distance from its pivot the arm 63 is smoothly bent through an angle of about 300 degrees to provide a bearing surface 73 resting upon the movable plate 66 at a short distance from the pivoting point. The upper end of arm 63 has a right angle portion 74 which is normally out of the path of armature portion 6'; when that portion of the armature is moved downwardly to release the usual coin trap and allow the money to drop into the coin refund chute. However, if some obstruction is placed in the coin refund chute which moves lever 66 or armature cannot be moved to clear the coin trap andallow the deposited coins to be refunded as ordinarily would be the case as described in the last mentioned Forsberg patent. Nor can any subsequently deposited money be refunded until the obstruction which caused the displacement of lever 60, 6! has been removed from thecoin chute. This means that once a refund has been attemptedwith an obstructionin the return chute there will be a trouble indication at the central office since the lamp 63 will remain'lighted after plug 44 and jack 45 are disconnected because the presence of the coin on the coin trap willkeep,

contact to closed.

It will be obvious that when the stuifing in the. coin return chute has 'been removed to allow levers 60, 6! to assume theirnormal position arm.

63 will fall away from the path of armature 6 thereby permitting refunding operations in the ordinary manner they mechanismat the substation.

It should be noted that both movable plate 66 and arm 63 at their line of contact are of sub stantial breadth to insure the proper actuation of arm 63 when plate 66 is tilted in a vertical plane at right angles to the line between rivets 69, Hi. The position of the bosses ll, 72 relative to the two rivets 69,310 is not limited to the arrangement shown in Fig. 8 since thebosses should be so located that levels 66, 6! with the weight of arm 63 are statically balanced to lateral movement. It will also be generallydesirable to provide a counterweight 16 to balance the lever system about the line of and arm 63.

- For convenience in inserting the above described lever system into existing coin collector equipment it may be desirable lever 61 detachable so that may be first inse'rtedinto the then lever 61 inserted, after screw Tl may be used to fasten portion 66.

It will be apparent that the two point suspencontact between plate 66 the main lever '60 refund chute and which a suitable lever 6| to plate sion of plate 66 is equally applicableto the plate I1 of Fig. 3 and that the additional lever 61 may also be used in the construction shown in that figure. a

Although the invention has been described in connection with a specific type of coin collector it may be modified in obvious .Ways to vmeet the requirements of coin collecting apparatus having different types of coin return chutes. Likewise, the invention is applicable to coin collectors connected to dial central ofiice lines.

What is claimed is:

1. In a coin. collecting device, a. coin refund chute, a pendent lever extending downwardly into said chute, means for supporting said lever to permit movement of said lever when the lower end of said. lever is subjected to pressure from any direction in a given horizontal plane and electrical contact means actuated by said movement.

2. In a coin collecting device, coin refund mechanism, a coin refund chute, a pendent lever ex? tending into said chute, said lever having an angularly disposed arm, said device to allow movement of said lever when pressure is applied to that part of said lever below said arm from any directionin' a given horizontal plane and means responsive to a deviation of said lever from its normal position for controlling said coin refund mechanism.

3. In a coin collecting device, coin refund mechanism, a coin passageway, a pendent lever in said without further adjustment of to have the shorter said arm being'supported by passageway, a support, one'endof saidlever being loosely mounted on said support to'fre'ely and means responsive to the mcvement'of said one end of said lever for c'ontrolling said mechanism.

'4. In a coin collecting; device, coin refund mechanism, a coinpassageway, a pendent lever in said passageway, a support, said lever having I an arm freely and tiltably mountedon said support to permit relative movement'between said arm and saidsupport when said lever is actuated, and means responsive to said relative movement for controlling said mechanism. L 1

5. In a coin collecting device, a coin refund chute, and fraud detecting means mounted adjacent the inlet opening of said refund chute and comprising a pair of contact springs, a flexibly mounted lever extending into said coin refund chute, and a shortiarm attached'to one of said contact springs, said arm bearing lightly on the top of said flexibly mounted lever in such a manner'that movement of said flexibly mounted lever in any direction will raise said short arm to close said contact springs;

6. Ina coin collecting device, a coin refund chute, means mounted adjacent the inlet opening of said chute to detect tampering with said chute, said means'comprising a'pair of contact springs, a lever depending into said coin refund chute, said lever being so shaped to permit free passage of tion in any 'to tampering will close said contact springs.

refunded coins, an arm attached to one'of said contact springs and bearing lightly on the top of a said depending lever in such a manner that modirection of said depending lever due '7. In a coin collecting device, a coin refund chute, means to detectitampering in said coin rcfund chute, said means comprising a flat surface mounted adjacent the entrance of said refund chute, a second flat surface resting 'on said first surface, a pair of contact springs operatively connected to said 'second"fiatsurface, a lever attached to said second flat 'surface,; said lever depending in said refund chute in such-a manner,

' that movement in'any direction by said lever'will move said second surface to close said contacts.

8. In a coin collecting device, a coin refund chute, coin deflecting means adjacent theinlet opening of said chute, a relay to control said deflecting means, a fiat horizontal surface mounted adjacent theinlet opening of said chute, a lever suspended in said coin refund chute and'having a flat horizontal portion, said flat portion resting on 7 said flat horizontal surface,'a second lever operatively connected to thefiat portion of said first lever in such a manner that movement of said first lever operates said second'lever, said second lever controlling the operativene'ss of said relay.

9. In a coin collecting device, a coin refund chute, a coin refund relay, fraud 'detectingmeans mounted adjacent the entrance to said refund chute, said means comprising a flat surface supported above a flat horizontal surfacaa' lever "operatively connectedto said first flat surface, a

second lever attached to said first flat surface and depending into said coin refund chute in such a manner that movement of said second lever causes said firstilever toblock said coin refund relay.

by said device 10. In a 'coin collecting device, coin refund mechanism, a'coin refund chute, a pendent lever in said chute, said lever at one end having an arm lying in a substantially horizontal plane,

said device having a flattened surface of substantial area with a boss projecting therefrom, said arm resting on said boss and means contacting with said arm and responsive to a movement of saidarm for controlling the refunding operations of said mechanism, said arm and said means being statically balanced to lateral movement.

11. In a coin collecting device, coin refund mechanism,'a coin' refund chute, a pendent lever in-said chute, said lever at one end having,

an arm lying in a substantially horizontal plane, said arm being supported'by' said device to allow a free but limited movement of said lever when pressure is applied tothat part of said lechute, a pendent lever in said chute, said lever I at one end having an .arm lying in a substantially horizontal plane, said arm being supported to allow a. free but limited'movement of said lever when pressure is applied to that part of said lever in said chute, said support being such that any transverse movement of said lever in said chute will cause a portion of said arm to be raised upwardly, and a second lever having a portion contacting with said arm and responsive to the upward movement of said arm for blocking a movement of said armature.

13. In acoin collecting device, acoin refund magnet having an armature, a coin refund chute, a pendent lever in said chute, said lever at one end having an arm lying in a substantially horizontal'plane, said arm being supported bysaid device to allow a free but limited. movement of said lever when pressure isapplied to that part of said lever inlsaid chute, said support being such that any transverse movement of said lever in said chute will cause a portion of said' arm to be raised upwardly, an electrical circuit for said magnet including contact springs and means actuated by an'upward movement of said arm for actuating said contact springs.

14,-In a coincollecting device, a coin refund chute, a pendent lever extending downwardly into said chute, means for supporting said lever to permit movement of said lever when the lower end of .saidlever is subjected to pressure from any directionin a given horizontal plane, and a movable member located outsidesaid refund chute andactuated by said movement of said lever.

15. In ajcoin collecting device, acoin refund PERCY E. MILLS.

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