GB1273886A - Coin released mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

1,273,886. Coin-freed vending machines. KENSON Ltd. 21 May, 1970 [4 June, 1969], No. 24772/70. Heading G4V. A vending machine is formed from a plurality of cassettes in which insertion of the one or more coins required into the slot of a cassette allows a drawer to be pulled out, thereby presenting the lowest object in a stack. Alternatively the purchaser may press the drawer in to regain the purchase price. In an embodiment in which two coins are required per article the coins fall into slot (32, Fig. 5, not shown) cut in drawer (13) transversely to the direction of movement, the first coin, 29, resting on an outer rib member 16 and an inner rib member 17 secured to shelf 10 below the drawer, and the second coin, 30, is supported by rib 17 and the cut-out edge portion 22 of pivoted cam plate 20. Cam plate 20 carries an upstanding projection 23 which normally limits the withdrawal of the drawer by abutting against the teeth of rack 24 secured to the underside of the drawer, but on withdrawal of a drawer containing coins 29 and 30, cam 20 is rotated out of the path of rack 24 by the action of coin 30 on surface 22a, thereby freeing the drawer. A cam plate protection member (36) prevents plate 20 being fraudulently held away from rack 24. The customer may secure the return of his coins by pressing the drawer inwards against springs 43 so that the coins are brought over notches 18, 19 in central rib 17 and thus fall into a coin return shoot. Notch 19 extends nearer to the free end of rib 17 than does notch 18 so that the mechanism actuating coin 30 is returned first, thus preventing fraud. Instead of notches 18, 19 the spacings between rib 17 and rib 16 and edge 22 may be increased adjacent to shelf 10. Embodiments (Figs. 9, 10, not shown) requiring the insertion of 1 and 3 coins respectively are also described. A coin shoot (60, Figs. 11-13, not shown) for testing the diameter of the coins comprises an inclined bottom plate (61), two convergent side plates (63) and an inclined top plate (64). The width of the shoot is slightly larger than the diameter of the coins required and the bottom plate (61) is provided with a coin reject hole (66) the diameter of which is slightly less than the diameter of the coins being used. An elongated slot (67) is provided in the top plate to enable valid coins to fall into the vertical shoot (8).