AU703024B2

AU703024B2 - Coin collection device

Info

Publication number: AU703024B2
Application number: AU37890/95A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Carlos Bucho Merino
Original assignee: Alcatel NV
Current assignee: Alcatel Lucent NV
Priority date: 1994-12-09
Filing date: 1995-11-17
Publication date: 1999-03-11
Anticipated expiration: 2015-11-17
Also published as: ES2112745B1; AU3789095A; ES2112745A1

Description

P/00/011 28/5/91 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: "COIN COLLECTION DEVICE" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of o I e perfonning it known to us:- I4- M MITTS) 2 This invention relates to a coin collection device into which coins are inserted in order to make payment for some type of goods or service and which is formed by a collection channel with a certain inclination along which roll the coins inserted into it for acceptance and collection or return.

This device is of particular application in compact, desk coin-operated indoor telephone sets.

Many devices are available for coin control in making payment, by coin, of telephone calls made from public telephone boxes, for example. These telephones are very robust and bulky (compared to a home telephone); this is mainly due to the size of the cash collection mechanism, the coin storage box and the assembly container, since the latter has to be sufficiently strong to withstand physical abuse and attempted fraud.

In a known arrangement, the collection system is generally formed by a slightly incli ed monochannel device along which roll the coins that are inserted into it; in this way the coins travel along the different parts of the monochannel in which the functions of coin acceptance, storage, and collection or return take place.

This monochannel device is formed, as can be seen from figure 1 of the patent application mentioned, by three segments, each having a certain inclination. The first 2 segment, after the point of coin insertion, includes a validation device which decides if a coin is to be accepted or rejected.

If the coin is not accepted, it falls directly into an exit channel leading to the return cup. However, if the coin is accepted, it is transferred to a temporary storage S segment where it awaits collection or return in accordance with what occurs thereafter.

This temporary storage segment is located in the same vertical plane, immediately below the first one and at an oblique angle to it, having its upper end in contact with the lower end of the preceding first segment. Thus, when the coin, S" through the activation of certain blocking mechanisms, has to pass into this temporary storage segment, it does so by means of a gravity operated vertical drop.

In this form, the collection system is large in size since the physical iW.L&%O MALNW arrangement of the different segments that constitute the complete monochonnel device (with all its various exits) for the required operation makes it to be so.

In the majority of cases, this bulkiness is not a significant inconvenience, since these telephones are situated in outdoor call boxes or in spacious public locations where, in addition, it is necessary to have a large coin storage depository as the money charged is usually collected periodically.

However, these coin collection systems prove too large and difficult to handle for desk coin-operated telephones to be situated, for example, in meeting centres on a provisional basis. Consequently it is essential to reduce their size to make them acceptable as telephones for public use in such locations.

The technical problem stated above is resolved in the present invention by having the coin collection device formed by a channel with a determined inclination down which roll coins inserted into it for acceptance and collection or return, and in which the channel is formed by at least two mutually oblique segments, one being located above the other in such a manner that the upper one is shifted sideways with respect to the vertical plane in which the other is situated.

The lower end of the upper segment and the upper end of the lower segment overlap to form a common space in which the coins that are rolling down the channel ZQ change segment through a sideways movement.

In addition, so that the coins are prevented from falling accidentally into the lower segment even when they have encountered no obstacle in their path, the plane in which the upper segment is situated is slightly inclined with respect to the vertical, whereby the coins that roll along this segment are in contact with its outermost part.

4-23 To force the coins rolling along the first segment to fall into the second one, the device includes a first retractable protuberance in the common space where the two segmy-ents overlap such that in its extended position it interrupts the path of the rolling coins, forcing them to leave this first segment of the channel and fall into the second one; in the retracted position however, it offers no obstacle to the passage of the coins and these are permitted to leave the device via a coin refund channel.

In this way, by means of a physical arrangement proposed, it is possible to constitute a coin collection device of significantly less cost and smaller in size than 4 those employed to date. This also permits the mechanical design of compact desk coin-operated telephone sets of physically reduced size, making their acceptance feasible.

In order that the invention may be readily carried into effect, an embodiment thereof will now be described in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which: figure 1 is a cross-section of the coin collection device in side view according to the invention, figure 2 is a cross-section, at the line D, of the mentioned device, and figure 3 shows cross-sections at the lines A, B and C, of the mentioned device.

Referring to the drawings, the coin collection device, in side view, includes a coin entry point 1 into which is introduced a coin 2 that, in this way, has access to a first segment 3 of the channel which has a slight inclination down which coins roll due to the effect of gravity. In this first segment, there is a coin validation device (not shown) which carries out the acceptance and valuation process of the coin in question.

The coins in this first segment 3 progress from left to right, as indicated by the arrows in figures 1 and 2.

There is a second segment 4 which forms an acute angle with respect to the M. 2 first segment 3, but which is shifted sideways with respect to the vertical plane in which this first segment 3 is located. Both segments 3 and 4 overlap in part in a common space 5, formed by the lower part of the first segment 3 and the upper part e a of the second segment 4.

This common space 5 has a first retractable protuberance 7 which, in its extended position, protrudes into this space, while in its retracted position, it does not do so.

If the retractable protuberance 7 is in its retracted position, a coin rolling down the first segment 3, leaves the channel by a first exit 8. This occurs when the coin has been rejected.

S'38 If the coin has been accepted, the first retractable protuberance 7 is in its extended position, blocking the downwards path of the coin 6 when it reaches the common space 5 of the first and second segments 3 and 4. Due to the wedge shape that the end of the protuberance has and to the speed that the rolling coin has attained, the latter moves sideways in the common space 5 and therefore falls into the second segment 4 of the channel and continues downwards along it with its direction of rotation inverted. This motion is also shown in the figures 1 and 2 by the arrows that go from right to left.

The coin that is now in the second segment 4 reaches, without encountering any further obstacles, a rest position 11, where it is temporarily halted by a second retractable protuberance 12, while it awaits collection or return.

The lower part of the channel, in the second segment 4 and immediately before the second retractable protuberance 12, is formed by a third retractable protuberance 13 which, when withdrawn, as is shown in figure 3-B, permits the coin detained in this position to proceed to a second refund exit In the event that the coin held in the second segment 4 is to be collected, the second retractable protuberance 12 changes position, as is shown in figure 3-C, to permit the coin to pass to a coin collection exit that leads to a collection box (not shown).

The removal of the collected coin from the channel is also done by means of a sideways action so that it occupies the least possible space. For this reason, the lower 2 part of the collection exit 14 has a pronounced slope down which the coin reaching this point slides laterally dropping into the collection box.

To prevent the coins that are rolling down the first segment 3 of the channel from falling accidentally into the second segment 4, in the event that the first retractable protuberance 7 is in its retracted position, the plane in which the first a segment 3 is situated is inclined at a slight angle as can be seen from figure 3. In this way, the coins lie against the side of the first segment 3 opposite to that closest to the second segment 4.

This implementation only permits temporary storage of one coin in the second segment 4 of the channel. Similarly, it is possible to design a similar implementation for the case of more than one coin by lengthening this second segment 4 and including more retractable protuberances to permit a greater number of coins to be retained.

Claims

4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the common space where the two segments of the channel overlap, includes a first retractable "protuberance which in its extended position, forces the coins rolling along the first segment to fall into the second segment, and in its retracted position offers no obstacle to the passage of the coins permitting them to leave the clhannel thro cdh the rejected coin exit,
5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second segment has a coin temporary storage area in which is to be found a second retractable protuberance which in its extended position blocks the channel, preventing the coin rolling down it from leaving through a coin collection exit,
6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the temporary storage space for coins has also a third retractable protuberance which performs the functions of the lower track of the channel along which the coins roll and which in its retracted position permits the coins to leave the channel through the refunded coin exit, 7, A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the lower surface of the coin collection exit has a certain lateral inclination such that a coin that reaches this zone slips sideways and falls into a coin collection box, 8, A device substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 3 of the accompanying drawings. ABSTRACT A coin collection device formed by an inclined channel along which coins roll for acceptance and collection or return. This channel is formed by two mutually oblique segments situated one above the other, in such a manner that the upper one is laterally removed from the vertical plane in which the other is located. The lower extremity of the first segment and the upper extremity of the second overlap so as to form a common space where the coins pass from the first segment to the second via a side movement when, rolling down the first segment, they meet a retractable protuberance in its extended position. To prevent the coins from falling accidentally from the first to the second (4) segment, the plane in which the first segment is situated is slightly inclined with respect to the vertical, whereby the coins rolling along it are in contact with its outermost part. (Figure 1). too a 04OV, to 0 *.Off: 0 0 0 0 0 0:040: