US2955162A - Prepay postpay paystation - Google Patents

Description

1960 E. J. BENISEK 2,955,162

PREPAY POSTPAY PAYSTATION Filed Oct. 9, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 u) m -2 \b I I 1- Q a a FIG. 1

FIG. 2

INVENTOR.

EDWARD J. BENISEK ATTY.

Oct. 4, 1960 E. J. BENISEK 2,955,162

PREPAY POSTPAY PAYSTATION Filed Oct. 9, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 I R I V N (IO A 30 *-CO|N SPGS.

\ riB 2 23 l7 I i 20 '1 O 0 FIG. 5

GHT H 22 M I4 "1 MW L INVENTOR.

EDWARD J. BENISEK ATTY.

29553162 PREPAY'PQS'FPAX RAYSTATIQN Edward J. Benisek, Geneva,.lll;, assignor to Automatic ElectricLaborator-ies, Inc.,.acorporation of Delaware Filed on. 9,1957; serene; 689,185

cana -6.3

This invention. relates in. general to a coincontrolsare rangernent and more particularly to. acoin. control are rangement. including several-magnets. and certain associated. equipment of the typegenerally; usedin. a local prepay telephone. paystation for. controlling the. collecting and refunding of a minor coins. depositedtherein.

The invention disclosed hereinisa direct improvement on. the invention disclosed in the application-of. Hans Sengebusch,.filed September 28; 1955, Serial No, 537,231, now PatentNo, 2,905,763:issued September: 22. 1959..

The general object of this inventionis to providea means for insuring. thatthev collect magnet coilremains shorted after the collect operation, and toitnprovethe operation of the collect magnet under long-loop conditions,

A feature of the invention. is thatthe collectmagnet nowfunctions merely as a trip magnet to trip the tilting armature into the collectposition.

Another featureof this invention is the reversing. of

' the coin springs and adding only one spring to this assemblywhereby it is made to perform aadualfunctionythe original impulse spring shorting feature and the desired shunting of the: collect magnet coil when the tilting armature is in the collect. position In the usual local prepay telephone arrangement,..both magnets. of a two magnet coin control apparatus are energized for either refunding or collecting a deposited coin; depending on the direction of/energizatiomand must be: energized as long as the-particular functidnsisto be performed. In the present invention one magnet is effective to collect a deposited coin, and after it is denergized the. coin apparatus remains. in the-collect position so that any coin deposited thereaftenis.collectedwithout further apparatus or equipment operation. or in other Words the paystation is then utilized as a postpay paystation; The other magnet, when energized, operates theequipment toa refundposition torefund a deposited coin after which all elements are returned. to normal, or if the paystation is in the postpay position, the equipmentis thrown. into the refundposition andthen returned to the normal or. unoperated position.

As. disclosed in United States Patent 1,043,219 issued November 5, 1912, to Forsberg, and as. is well known in the telephone. art it iscustomary ata prepay telephone paystation to deposit a coin orcoins in a coin chute before a. connection can be extended A..dep osited.coin actuates a coin trigger so that.certainelectricalcircuitsv are rendered elfective to thereby signal the central. office over a trunk thereto; prepare an energizing circuit for the coin magnets so that they can dispose of the depositedcoin, and also permit operation of the central .oflice equipment to complete the call. Thelatter. condition, of course, being possible only on the deposit ofa predetermined coin value as set by the requirement of the system. The coin after'operating the coin trigger, which is held in its open ate'dp'osition by an appropriatemechanism, comes to rest on a pivotally mounted coin trap where it is held untihthe" coin magnets 'areenergizedto' operate -an-arma-' 2,955,162 Patented Oct. 4, 1960.

2. ture to trip, thetrapfor either collecting. or. refunding the. deposited coin. The energization Ofthemag'nets. also allows the. coin: trigger. to return. to its unopijerated. posi tion. while the circuit. it-.-.prepared'to theJcoin magnets is maintained by, the. energized magnets... The. described operationfisusually controlledLby aatimed highvol'fage electrical pulse sent on release oflthe. callover the. cir'- cuit prepared by the, cointrigger. toenergize'i the magnets, and. themagnets. are; then. deenergized. on termination of. the pulse. Deenergizat'ion of the magnets permits. the

' armatureto return to its normal. positionand. the point in the. magnetenergiz'ing circuit. prepared .by' the, coin trigger and heldbytheenergized magnets is then opened. The .trap ofiIcourse. pivotsto. release. the. coin tindeitco'n: trol of. the operated armature.andthenretiirns.to normal;

Both magnets of the coin control apparatus in. the. de,

scribedsystem are. energized, whenever. a..coin is to'he disposed of, and, the: polarity of I the pulse. determines Whether. a collect or. refund operation takes place,. as the. polarity controlsthe directionin. Which1t-he. magnets. are energized; l

In the present, invention one magnet hereinafter. re; ferred' to. as. acollectv magnet is. associated with the line, and" on answer of. acall initiated from its. associated. station it-is energizedbytiie reversal. of. battery onthe. line, in a. manner. similar to thatde's'crihed. in the applicae. tion of Loniax filed Septemben28, 1955, Serial No. 537} 240'; now Patent No. 2,921,980issued-January 19,,19601.

When energized, thecollect magnetcausesanarmature. and the. coin trap, operativ'el'yconnected. thereto to. be. rotated to. a-position where a d'epositedcoin is collected; Under. circumstances. which. will be described whenl no. coin is on deposit, the.trapfremainsunoperated,however the rotated armature. is alwaysv retained in. the. collect position by an appropriate latching, arrangement to-be described, resulting in the coin-trap being. arrangedv so that any coin deposited thereafter fallsdirectly intothe; coin collect box. The paystation is now arrangedi.in..a-. postpay position. On calls to a.localsubscriber,,placing the paystation in a..postpay, position isof notsignificance,

but on toll calls. where. the depositof. substantialdoad in coins may be required beforethecall can-be: completed,

it has beenfound that the magnetsatthe station may be. unable to trip the trap to. collect. the.coins.. To. avoid. this condition, it is of I greatbenefit to placethe. payf station in apostpay conditionfso that when coins are deposited preparatory to an operator completingatoll call, they fall directly intothe coinhopper and. a collect attempt need not be made. A further advantage, due. to. the fact that heavy coin loads need not be collected in thisv arrangement, is the elimination ofj'thespecial highvoltage supply and associated equipmentat the centralaofiiceior controlling the collect operation. I

. A circuit for the refundjrnagnet is prepared,.when.a deposited coin operates the coin trigger. on, initiation, of a call, or by the operated collect magnet on answer of a: call, and on release of the. call, either beforeit is answered or after the collect magnet has been operated, a.circuit isv completed to energize thev refun i.magnetv for a.pre-. determined time. The energized refund magnet operates. the armature to a refund position. When the refund magnet is deenergized, .the armature is restored tonormal so that the payst ationonce again serves as a prepay. type paystation and the point in its energizing circuit prepared by either the coin triggeror'. the collect magnet is opened: In the event the call was released before. being answered the operation of'the armature to. the refund position op;

' posited coin; The operator on answering causes the W throws the payst-ation into a postpay condition and also prepares an energizing circuit for the refund magnet to enableits operation. on release of the toll calL The refund'magnct when again operated then restores all the operatingequipment. V x

' The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advan; tages thereof will best be understood by reference to the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. 7

Fig.1 is a side elevationshowing the trip armature; tilting armature and the contact arrangement operated thereby. I

Fig. 2 is a front elevationof the .magnet structure and the contact arrangement. with its activating mechanism. Fig. 3 is a front elevation with a portion of the bracke t removed to more clearly show the relationship between the armature, latch, and the retainer-attached to the armature.

' Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of a paystation utilizing the mechanism described in the present invention.

A coin deposited in the coin chute causes springs 10 and 11 of the coin spring combination to open slightly to remove a shunt from the dial impulse springs. When the tilting armature operates to collect or refund the coin it causes spring 10 to be deflected still further. This rather considerable movement of spring 10 is being utilized to provide an additional circuit function when operated in the collect'position. 10 to one side of magnet ?14 and adding mating spring 24, connected to the other side of magnetll, we obtain the desired shunting of magnet 14 for transmission reasons. This permits the elimination of any contact springs to be operated by magnet 14 and thus make it possible to improve the latching arrangement between the armature One method of overcoming'this condition is to con-' nect the hook switch in accordance with the conventional prepay paystation circuits. 'However, this would require the addition of extra equipment. Another methd is to add one more spring to the coin spring assembly to permit separation of the collectmagnet shunting circuit. from the dial impulse spring shunt circuit. How

ever, this would complicate the coin spring pileup and make adjustment more critical.

The preferred solution is that shown in this disclosure. This consists of connecting the X hook switch springs between +L and the collectmagnet, instead of between the induction coil and the collect magnet. This modification will permit the coin springs to function as original? 1y intended. a

' A coin deposited in. and falling through the coin chute (Figure l) of the local prepaytype paystation, strikes the coin trigger projection 2protruding into the coin channel, and then falls onto the coin trap. The coin trigger 2 is rotated about pivot 3 to allow arm 4 normally resting on the raised portion 5 of the coin trigger to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction about pivot 6 so that its arm 7 causes the projection 8 thereon to bring spring 9 into contact with spring 10 and open the con tact between springs 1t} and 11 to remove the shunt around the dial springs 12. The circuit effects of the various spring operations may be readily understood by.

By connecting spring r Springs 9, 10 and 11 also remain in their respective operated positions. A loop circuit is completed to the central office over the +L and L conductors, rectifier 13 and dial springs 12, and although magnet 14 is connected thereto it does not operate due to the shunt provided therefor by rectifier 13.

After a connection is extended over the switching equipment and answered by alocal called subscriber, battery is reversed on the trunk so that rectifier 13 is no longer effective to shunt current from magnet 14, and it energizes to attract armature 15. Spring 16 normally tends to rotate armature 17 in a clockwise direction about pivots 18 and 18' which mounted on brackets 19 and 19. Armature 17, however, is prevented from rotating by detent 20, which is normally retained under latch 21 by spring 22. When armature 15 is attracted due to the energization of magnet 14, detent 20 is moved to a posi tion. under the aperture 21 despite the counteracting tension of spring 22; Armature 17 on being rotated under the action of spring 16 causes the rotation of plate 23. Arm 33 formed with plate 23 and controlled by armature 17 is moved in a clockwise direction to hold springs 9 and 10 in cont-act, springs 10 and :11 open and bring with plate 23, is also rotated to move pin 26 in a corresponding arc. The plate which supports the coin trap is nowcaused to rotate to a position such that the coins are deflected into the collect chute of the pay-station. The coin trap is rotated about 27 due to the weight of i the coin over-balancing counter-weight 28 and the deposited coin guided by the position of the deflector plate falls into the collect box and is thereby collected. The trap returns to its unoperated position due to the action of weight 28, but any coin now deposited over-balances the weight and rotates the trap so that the coin falls direference to Fig. 4., The coin trigger is prevented from rectly into the collect box. 7 The circuit to the refund magnet 29 is completed through neon tube 30 and relay 31 to ground from +L line initially on releaseof the call by a timed high voltage positive pulse, applied over the line conductors.

Energization of refund magnet 29 attracts armature 17 in a counter-clockwise direction against the tension of spring 16, aided by spring 32. When aperture 21 is dis engaged from detent 20, spring 22 returns detent 20 to its normal unoperated position. Contacts 10 and 24 open to remove the shunt from magnet'14. Armature 17 opcrates plate 23, arm 25, pin 26 and the deflector plate as before described with the exception that they are now operated in the opposite direction. As no coins are on deposit at this time the coin trap does not rotate nor is a refund made. In the refund position cylindrical portion 34 of arm 33, which is operatively controlled by armature 17 through plate 23, is forced against 7 and rotates arm 4 in a clockwise direction to disengage 4 from the raisedportionS of the coin trigger 2. Springs 9 and 10 are maintained in contact while 34 is passing through its neutral position as arm 7 holds bushing 8 against spring 9 untilr34 strikes 7 to pivot 4 in a clockwise direction.

16, however, it is prevented from rotating beyond its equilibrium position when catch 21 strikes detent 20. Simultaneously 34 is moved away from spring 9 to allow springs 9 and to open and contacts 10 and 11 to close and as portion 5 is in its normal position lever 4 comes to rest thereon without closing springs 9 and 10. As springs 9 and 10 open, and contacts 10 and 11 closed the shunt around the dial spring is reestablished to prevent extension of a call from the paystation without the deposit of a coin.

It will be appreciated that on release of an unanswered call a timed pulse is sent to operate refund magnet 29 as described. As magnet 14 was not operated to trip the trap for a collect operation, the deposited coin causes the trap to operate in a direction opposite to that on a collect operation, it is now in position to guide the coin in a refund direction instead of in a collect direction. On restoration of refund magnet 29 armature 17, springs 9, 10, 11 and 24, plate 23, arm 25, pin 26 and the deflector plate are returned to normal, while the coin trap is already returned to normal by the action of weight 35.

A toll call by a subscribed at a paystation of the type described is initiated with the deposit of a coin to operate the coin trigger and close springs 9 and 10 and open contacts 10 and 11 in the manner described. The dialling of a predetermined digit connects the subscriber to a CLR trunk, which in turn automatically sends back a time pulse for operating the refund magnet 29. Refund magnet 29 first throws armature 17 and the trap into the refund position, and the deposited coin is refunded. Contacts 10 and 11 are closed on restoration of winding 29 at the end of the timed pulse, and the coin trap, armature 17 and springs 9 and 24 are returned to their normal position in the manner already described.

The operator on answering automatically reverses battery on the trunk to energize winding 14 to attract armature 15 and allow armature 17 to rotate as previously described under influence of spring 16. Armature 17 when rotated in a clockwise direction under the influence of spring 16, rotates its associated plate 23. Simultaneously 34 in rotating in a clockwise direction engages spring 9 so as to bring it into engagement with 10, open springs 10 and 11 and close springs 10 and 24. The

further extension of the connection is now under the control of the operator. Armature 17 and the deflector plate are retained as before described in the collect position so that the trap will now drop any coin deposited at the request of the operator directly into the coin hopper. The paystation being in the postpay position enables the operator to collect the desired value of coins before completing the connection without the necessity of operating a coin magnet and the consequent danger of being unable to collect the coins if the load is too heavy. On release of the call, a timed pulse is sent to energize the refund magnet 29 and the arrangement is returned to normal as previously described.

In this specification, I have described a coin control apparatus for use in a prepay telephone for the purpose of converting the telephone to a postpay type at certain times, however, as the described arrangement is not limited to such uses, I desire the scope of the invention to be defined by the claim appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

In a coin control mechanism having a coin deposit chute for receiving coins and a coin trap operable to allow a deposited coin to fall in either of two directions to collect or refund it respectively, a first armature having an arm secured thereto for operating said trap, shunt springs comprising a first spring and a'contact, and a second spring and contact normally contacting each other and a third spring and contact, said second spring and contact operable to a first elf-normal position to open the normally closed contacts of said first and second spring upon deposit of a coin, a second arm on said first armature effective to operate said second spring to a second off-normal position upon operation of said first armature to a collect position, a first magnet for operating said first armature and said first arm to engage and operate said trap, said trap operated by said magnet for causing a deposited coin to fall in one direction to refund it, a latch normally engaging said armature to prevent operation of the armature in the second direction, a second magnet and means including a second armature controlled by the second magnet when operated for removing said latch from engagement with said first armature to permit operation of the first armature in the second direction, spring means for operating said first armature in said second direction to operate the trap to collect a deposited coin in response to the unlocking of said latch, said second arm on said first armature moved to operate said second of said shunt springs to a second oif-normal position to contact said third spring upon the operation of said first armature, circuit means including said second and said third springs thereby effective to shunt said second magnet, thereby disabling said second magnet from further operation only after the complete operation of said first armature in. said second direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,672,513 Lomax Mar. 16, 1954 2,674,655 Gallagher Apr. 6, 1954 2,806,084 Gallagher Sept. 10, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 206,559 Switzerland Nov. 16, 1939

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