EP0468022B1 - Trolley with coin lock - Google Patents

Abstract

A trolley has a coin lock and a key for locking trolleys in a parking queue to each other or for releasing the trolley at the end of the column when a deposit coin is inserted in the coin lock. The coin lock locks the deposit coin when the trolley is released. To release the trolley, the deposit coin in the coin lock executes a movement in the direction of its axis of rotation.

Description

The invention relates to a transport trolley, in particular a shopping trolley, with a coin lock and a key for connecting together a trolley standing in a parking column or for releasing the trolley, which is preferably at the end of the column, by entering a coin in its coin lock, the coin lock being the deposit coin when the trolley is released locked and releases the deposit coin when the car is reconnected.

Transport trolleys with this deposit system are known in principle from DE-A 25 54 916 and are now on the market in various embodiments. In principle, each transport trolley is provided with a coin lock and a key, usually hanging on a chain. When the car is coupled, the key of the penultimate car or the key hanging at a collection point is in the coin lock of the car, whereas the own key is available for coupling the next car.

In general, the wagon standing at the end of the column should be uncoupled. However, it is also possible to uncouple the carriages standing at the beginning of the column or if the carriages are redistributed by the operating personnel to unlock the column of cars in the middle.

Since the release of a trolley is only possible by inserting a deposit coin into the coin machine and the user only receives this deposit coin when he reconnects the trolley to one of the various collection points, the trolleys no longer stand around uselessly. You save personnel to find, collect and return the wagons and generally also manage with fewer, because the unused wagons are always concentrated at the points of need.

In order to further promote the spread of these trolleys with deposit system, the present invention has for its object to reduce the effort for the coin lock, especially its dimensions. This should make it easier to integrate the coin lock into the trolley, i.e. it should not protrude so much into the loading space or beyond the outer contour. Last but not least, the coin lock should be easy to use and inexpensive to manufacture.

This object is achieved in that the deposit coin in the coin lock carries out a shift approximately in the direction of its axis of rotation when the car is released. The invention is based on the following knowledge: All previous deposit systems work on the principle that the coin has to be moved in the coin plane, for which purpose a slide from the coin lock is usually used, in which the coin is first inserted and then for Release of the key of the front car must travel a fairly large sliding path. Even with the greatest design effort, the sliding path and thus also the length of the slide projecting from the coin lock can never be less than the coin diameter.

In contrast to this, the deposit coin executes its active path in the direction of the coin axis in the system according to the invention and consequently its displacement path and the resulting dimensions of the coin lock are significantly smaller than in the known systems. Usually you can get by with a displacement path that is in the order of the coin thickness. Depending on the design, a displacement of 1 mm to approx. 1 cm is recommended.

To implement this principle, it is advisable to store at least one actuator that is movable approximately in the direction of the coin axis in the coin lock, this actuator being in operative connection with the coin on the one hand and with the key on the other, and this actuator either releases the key while locking the coin or the coin is released while the key is locked.

The design can be carried out in such a way that the coin lock has a coin holder, which is preferably rigidly installed in the coin lock and has the shape of a bowl that takes up the coin with a slight clearance, and that at least one spring-loaded slide, movable approximately parallel to the coin axis, under the protection of Overhangs with its cross-section so far into the cross-section of the coin holder that it is from the Deposit coin, but not by a next smaller one, whereby in the non-depressed position it interlockingly engages in recesses of the key inserted into a cavity of the coin lock, but in the depressed position releases it and at the same time, in turn, by means of means locked against spring pressure by the locked key against spring back is locked and thus the coin is blocked in the coin holder.

The slide is expediently designed as a cylindrical bolt with two ring grooves, the upper one of which is used to hold the coin positively in the coin holder, the lower one is used both for releasing the key and for its own locking by the means provided for this purpose. You get by with very few, easily manufactured parts.

The means for locking the slide in its depressed position can be formed by a led into the said cavity for the key, which engages in recesses of the slide when the key is pulled out by spring force, but releases the slide when the key is inserted, so that it the coin moves to its upper release position.

In order to rule out any misuse of the coin machine, it is advisable to work not only with one slide, but with several spatially distributed slides, which have to be depressed at the same time so that the key of the neighboring car is released. Further features can be found in claims 6 to 8.

Another development of the invention is aimed at not prescribing a specific deposit coin for the user, but rather giving him the choice between two different deposit coins. This is particularly recommended in areas near the border where different currencies are used. For this purpose, two coin holders of different sizes are installed in the coin lock according to the invention, which cooperate with the same slide or slides. The coin holders are expediently arranged upright and on both sides of the cavity for the key. In this case, the coin lock is no longer loaded with coins from above, but from the left or right.

Since the slide must have correspondingly offset active surfaces for engagement with the coins in coins of different sizes, it may be expedient for manufacturing reasons to form the slide by three successive sections in the longitudinal direction, of which the middle one with the key, the two outer ones each correspond to a deposit coin, the sections being resiliently clamped together in both axial directions.

Fig. 0

eine Kolonne von aneinandergekoppelten Einkaufswagen

Fig. 1

eine Draufsicht auf eine erste Bauform des Münzschlosses von oben mit einem Teilschnitt längs der Linie E in Fig. 8;

Fig. 2

einen Schnitt längs der Linie A in Fig. 6;

Fig. 3

einen Schnitt längs der Linie C in Fig. 7;

Fig. 4

einen Schnitt längs der Linie B in Fig. 6;

Fig. 5

einen Schnitt längs der Linie D in Fig. 7;

Fig. 8

einen Schnitt längs der Linie F in Fig. 1;

Fig. 9

eine Ansicht ähnlich Fig. 7, jedoch bei einem unzulässigen Entriegelungsversuch;

Fig. 10

eine andere Bauform für zwei Pfandmünzen im Vertikalschnitt;

Fig. 11

die gleiche Ansicht wie Fig. 10, jedoch bei verriegelter Münze;

Fig. 12

einen Vertikalschnitt durch Fig. 10 längs der Linie G und

Fig. 13

eine Seitenansicht von Fig. 11 in Richtung des Pfeiles H.

Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of two exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing; shows

Fig. 0

a column of linked shopping carts

Fig. 1

a plan view of a first design of the coin lock from above with a partial section along the line E in Fig. 8;

Fig. 2

a section along the line A in Fig. 6;

Fig. 3

a section along the line C in Fig. 7;

Fig. 4

a section along the line B in Fig. 6;

Fig. 5

a section along the line D in Fig. 7;

Fig. 8

a section along the line F in Fig. 1;

Fig. 9

a view similar to Figure 7, but in an impermissible release attempt.

Fig. 10

another design for two deposit coins in vertical section;

Fig. 11

the same view as Figure 10, but with the coin locked;

Fig. 12

a vertical section through Fig. 10 along the line G and

Fig. 13

a side view of Fig. 11 in the direction of arrow H.

It should also be noted that FIGS. 6, 7 and 9 are sections in the parting plane of the coin lock housing, that FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 6 and the left half of FIG. 8 on the one hand, FIGS. 3, 5, 7 and the right half of FIG. 8, on the other hand, each represent the same operating states.

The coupling principle is first illustrated in FIG. One can see there numerous shopping trolleys A which have moved into one another and each have a coin lock B and are thereby connected to the respective neighboring car or a stationary collection point C via a flexible element 5. If a wagon - generally the wagon standing at the end of the column - is to be uncoupled, a pawn coin must be inserted into its coin lock, whereupon the coin lock releases the connection to the wagon in front. Conversely, the user gets his coin back when the car is recoupled.

1 to 9, the structure and mode of operation of a first exemplary embodiment of the invention will be explained in the following.

A lower housing part 1 of the coin lock B is connected with rivets 2 to an upper housing part 3 and in turn is fastened to the handle tube 6 of a shopping cart by means of a screw 4 with the interposition of a flat belt 5. At the free end of the flat belt 5, a key 8 is fastened by means of rivets 7. This is not shown in the drawings, however, the similar key 8, which is attached to the end of the flat belt 5 ', which belongs to the next carriage in the direction of travel in the parked column.

In bores 9 and 9 ', which end like a blind hole under projections 27 of the housing part 3, cylindrical bolts 10 and 10' are displaceable and are under the action of compression springs 11. The bolts 10, 10 'have annular grooves 12 and 13.

The housing parts 1 and 3 form between them a cavity 14 of such a height that the key 8, which is made of sheet metal of about coin thickness, can be easily inserted. The cavity 14 contains two bars 15 and 15 'with lugs 16 and a bridge 17 which is under the action of a compression spring 18.

The system is initially in the state shown in Fig. 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8, left half, in which the carriage, on the handle 6 of which the device shown is mounted, connected to the next carriage via the ribbon 5 ' is.

6 that the key 8 cannot be removed, since the bolts 10 and 10 'partially engage in recesses 19 which it has on the side. At the same time, he holds the bridge 17 against the action of the spring 18 with his leading edge 20 and also the latches 15 and 15 'out of engagement via their lugs 16.

On the upper side of the upper housing part 3 there is a surface 21, into which the cup-like coin holder 22 is sunk in the region of the overhangs 27. This is dimensioned so that the coin fits into it with little play, and its central axis is approximately in the same plane as the axes of the bolts 10 and 10 '. The holes 9, 9 'are also arranged so that their cross section protrudes by a little less than the radius difference of the deposit coin to the next smaller coin in the coin holder 22. At the edge of a stop 23 is also available.

If a deposit coin 24 is now inserted (from the left in FIG. 1) over the surface 21 until it abuts the stop 23, it penetrates with its edge zone into the ring grooves, as can be seen from the left half of FIG. 8 13 of the bolts 10 and 10 'a.

If it is then pressed down into the coin holder 22, it simultaneously moves the bolts 10 and 10 'against the action of the springs 11 by about their thickness down until they assume the position shown in Fig. 8 on the right. The ring grooves 12 reach the height of the cavity 14, so that, as can be seen from FIG. 7, the key 8 to the right can be pulled out, whereby the car equipped with the subject of the invention is free for use. At the same time, however, the spring 18 pushes over the bridge 17 and the lugs 16, the bolts 15 and 15 'partially in the annular grooves 12, before the key 8 has left them. The bolts 10, 10 'can thus neither rise again under the action of the springs 9, nor somehow be raised from above, with the result that the coin, although largely visible, remains positively caught.

If the car is pushed back into the park after use and the key 8 of the next front car is reinserted into the cavity 14, the key 8 presses with its front edge 20 both the bridge 17 and the tabs 15, 15 'in the starting position back, the recesses 19 with the cross section of the holes 9 to cover, so that the bolts 10, 10 'under the action of the springs 11 snap into the upper position. At the same time, they lock the key 8 against being pulled out and raise the coin 24 to the level of the surface 21, so that it can be easily pushed out to the left.

From Fig. 8 you can easily see that you can not get to the bolts 10, 10 'because of the overhangs 27 with your fingers. To unlock the key you would also have to press both bolts at the same time. Because of the visibility of the coin, the incentive to outsmart the system is also not particularly great for normal consumers.

On the other hand, the idea suggests that after using the car, the system should be stimulated with some improvised tool to release the coin so that the car does not have to be pushed back. If you push it by placing such an approximately in the middle, the bridge 17 back, the bars 15, 15 'do not follow, and the coin remains blocked. On the other hand, if you hit the bridge 17 strongly to the side or even place the tool in the direction of arrow 25 on the nose 16 of the bolt 15, the parts 15, 17, 15 'jam against the walls of the recess 14 long before the bolt 15 is pushed out of engagement. If you try to push both bars simultaneously and thus without tilting the bridge 17 out of engagement with a rectangular plate of the width of the recess 14, this plate penetrates itself into the ring grooves 12 and holds the bolts 10, 10 'firmly. In order to outsmart the system, an actual duplicate key is required.

The fastening screw 4 is already installed when the device is installed. It can then be tightened through an opening 26 in the upper housing part 3, for which purpose the bridge 17 can be pushed back with a suitable tool. Later the path to the screw is always blocked either by the coin 24 or the key 8, so that the device cannot be unscrewed by unauthorized third parties. If necessary, the screw is then best made accessible by using a key 8 with a corresponding bore.

The use of a flat strip 5 and the fastening thereof by means of the screw 4 under the housing part 1 does not constitute a necessary feature of the invention. Instead of the flat band, another flexible, partially flexible or rigid element could also be used.

The following should be mentioned to complete the teaching. Of course, such a device must not be such that the coin can be taken out with the key on the device itself. In the devices according to the prior art, because of their own size, the length of the chain required to attach the trolleys to one another is so small that it does not extend around the device. In the case of the subject matter of the invention, on the other hand, it may be necessary to install stiffened sections in the flexible member using a technique familiar to the person skilled in the art.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 10 to 13. It allows the use of two different deposit coins.

To facilitate understanding, parts that correspond to one another have been provided with the same reference symbols as possible in the previous figures, the reference symbols assigned to the smaller pawn coin being supplemented with a and the reference symbols assigned to the larger coin with b.

As can be seen in FIGS. 10 and 11, a coin holder 22a or 22b is installed in the coin lock there to the left and right of the cavity 14 for inserting the key 8, and each coin holder has slides 10a and 10a, respectively, which can be displaced perpendicular to the coin plane. 10b so that the coin lock can be operated from each coin holder.

The slides 10a and 10b function according to the same principle as in the previously described embodiment, they are only matched to the different diameters of the provided coins and are therefore offset relative to one another.

For technical reasons, the slider 10a and 10b are not formed in one piece as in the previous embodiment, but separated by a separate intermediate piece 10c and 10c '. This intermediate piece 10c or 10c 'is resiliently clamped between the two sliders 10a and 10b or 10a' and 10b 'and engages in the recesses 19 of the key 8 when no coin is inserted, cf. Fig. 12.

In addition, the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'correspond to the bolts 15 and 15' already described, which in turn are in operative connection with the bridge 17 via the lugs 16.

If the trolley is coupled, so the key 8 of the car in front of it is in the coin lock, the bolts 15, 15 'together with their bridge 17 are pressed against the action of the spring 18 into the housing of the coin lock and consequently the bolts 15 are located, 15 'no longer in engagement with the intermediate pieces 10b and 10b'. This state is shown in FIGS. 10 and 12.

Now a coin 24 is pushed into the coin lock (in Fig. 11 perpendicular to the plane of the drawing) until it is above the coin holder 22b so it comes into engagement with the grooves 13 of the slider 10b and 10b '. The subsequent active displacement path of the coin, which is expediently done directly by hand, but can also be brought about mechanically, then shifts all slide parts to the same extent and in the same direction as the coin is displaced. This state is shown in Fig. 11.

With this displacement movement, the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'of the slide are moved out of their engagement with the key 8. As a result, the compression spring 18 can bring the bolts 15 and 15 'into engagement with the slide intermediate pieces 10c and 10c'. This state is shown in Fig. 11. It can also be seen that the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'have two recesses 10e and 10f or 10e' and 10f 'offset in the direction of displacement, so that the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c' both in the left end position according to FIG. 11 and in the not drawn right end position can be locked by the bolts 15. The coin 24 is then secured against removal until the key 8 is inserted into the cavity 14 and the bolts 15 are pushed back when the trolley is coupled again.

The two embodiments described have the advantage in common that the active actuation path of the coins takes place in the direction of the coin axis and consequently very short actuation paths and a particularly compact design of the coin lock are achieved.

Claims (14)

1. A transport carriage, particularly a shopping trolley, with a coin-operated lock and a key (8) for locking the trolleys standing in a parked row together and for releasing a carriage that stands preferably at the end of the row on insertion of a deposit or token coin (24), wherein the coin-operated lock has at least one adjustment member which is operatively connected, on the one hand, with the coin (24) and, on the other hand, with the key (8), and this adjustment member (10) selectably releases the key (8) and thus the carriage while detaining the coin (24) or on recoupling the carriage releases the coin (24) while latching the key (8),
   characterised in that,
   on release of the carriage, the deposit coin (24) performs a displacement somewhat in the direction of its rotational axis in the coin-operated lock whereby the adjustment member (10) projects with its cross-section to such an extent into the cross-section of a coin holder (22) that it can be actuated by the deposit coin but not by one which is the next smaller one to it.
2. Transport carriage according to claim 1,
   characterised in that
   the displacement of the deposit coin (24) lies within the order of magnitude of the thickness of the deposit coin.
3. A transport carriage according to claim 1 or 2,
   characterised in that
   the adjustment member (10) is moveable somewhat along the direction of the axis of the deposit coin.
4. A transport carriage according to any one of the preceding claims,
   characterised in that
   the coin holder (22) is in the form of a cup accommodating a coin (24) with small play, and in that the adjustment member (10) is a spring-loaded slider which is under the protection of overhanging collars (27) and in the non-depressed position engages lockingly in recesses (19) of the key (8) pushed into a cavity (14) of the coin-operated lock, but in the depressed position nevertheless releases the latter and at the same time in its turn is locked against springing back by means (15, 17) tensioned against spring pressure (18) and blocks the coin in the coin holder (22).
5. Transport carriage according to claim 4,
   characterised in that
   the slider (10) is formed as a cylindrical bolt with two annular grooves (12, 13) of which the upper (13) serves for a shape-locking securing of the coin in the holder (22) while the lower (12) serves both for releasing the key (8) and for its own locking through the means (15, 17) provided therefor.
6. Deposit system according to claim 4,
   characterised in that
   the means for locking the slider (10) are formed as a latch guided in the cavity (14) for receiving the key (8), which latch on pulling the key (8) out engages in the recesses (12) of the slider (10) under spring force but on inserting the key (8) releases the slider (10) and thus the coin.
7. Transport carriage according to claim 6,
   characterised in that
   two mutually oppositely lying sliders (10, 10′) are provided, and in that the means for locking the sliders (10, 10′) consists of two latches (15) bearing against two oppositely lying side walls of the cavity (14) with a bridge (17) that lies therebetween and engages with the latches, wherein the bridge (17) pushes the latches (15) into recesses (12) of the sliders (10, 10′) by way of a spring (18) when the sliders (10, 10′) are pressed down on pulling out of the key (8), while the latches (15) and the bridge (17) release the sliders (10, 10′) on insertion of the key so that the sliders together with the coin travel to their upper release positions.
8. Transport carriage according to claim 7,
   characterised in that
   at its contact positions with the latches (15) the bridge (17) has such a relationship between length and width that on an attempt to push the latch (15) out of engagement it tilts between the latches (15) so that a clamping effect arises.
9. Transport carriage according to any one of claims 3 to 8,
   characterised in that
   the coin-operated lock has two coin holders (22a, 22b) of different size which cooperate selectively with the slider or with the like sliders (10, 10′).
10. Transport carriage according to claim 9,
    characterised in that
    the coin holders (22a, 22b) are arranged edgeways and on both sides of the hollow cavity (14) or the key (8).
11. Transport carriage according to claim 9 or 10,
    characterised in that
    the slider (10, 10′) consists of three longitudinally successive segments (10a, 10c, 10b; 10a′, 10c′, 10b′) of which the middle segment (10c, 10c′) corresponds with the key (8) and the two outer segments (10a, 10b; 10a′, 10b′) correspond with a respective deposit coin (24).
12. A transport carriage according to claim 11,
    characterised in that
    the segments of the slider (10a, 10c, 10b; 10a′, 10c′, 10b′) are spring-loaded in both axial directions.
13. A transport carriage according to any one of the preceding claims,
    characterised in that
    a screw (4) is on the carriage provided for securing the housing (1, 3) of the coin-open lock the screw being reachable through a bore (26) in the upper housing parts by means of a tool and being in operation covered either by the coin (24) or the key (8) at all times.
14. A coin-operated lock for a transport carriage according to one of the preceding claims.

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