GB2060970A

GB2060970A - Coin sorting device

Info

Publication number: GB2060970A
Application number: GB8032607A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Laurel Bank Machine Co Ltd
Current assignee: Laurel Bank Machine Co Ltd
Priority date: 1979-10-18
Filing date: 1980-10-09
Publication date: 1981-05-07
Also published as: DE3038949A1; JPS5659383A; JPS6318793B2; GB2060970B

Abstract

A compact coin sorting device is provided, which comprises a rotary disk 3, a peripheral wall 2 surrounding the circumference of the rotary disk, and a coin sorting passage 6 extending around the outer surface of the peripheral wall and having coin selection openings 7,7a... each adapted for accepting coins of single denominations. A counting system including electrical contacts (12,13) mounted on a slanting surface may be provided upstream of each selection opening to count the number of coins to be accepted by each selection opening. A stopper 14,14a... may be provided at the upstream of each selection opening for stopping the movement of subsequent coins in response to a signal generated upon completion of counting a pre-set number by any of the counting system. In order to sort and count a large variety of coin denominations rapidly and reliably, a set of aforementioned coin sorting devices may be laid over one another substantially coextensively. By the use of the device of the invention, mixed coins composed of various denominations of coins can be sorted without jamming or other malfunctions. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Coin sorting device The present invention relates to a coin sorting device for sorting mixed coins of different denominations by sorting them from each other by detecting the difference in their diameters, and more particularly to a coin sorting device of such a kind which is compact and suitable for use on a table.

In most countries, there are currently used a limited number of denominations of coins, and these coins normally have different diameters. For instance, five denominations of coins having diameters of from about 20 to 25 mm are used in Japan, and six denominations of coins having diameters ranging from 17.91 mm (dime) to 30.1 mm (half-dollar) are used in the United States. In order to sort and count such coins, several devices have been proposed and are known in the art.

PriorArt: (I) One example of the known coin sorting devices comprises a rotatable disk having an inclined surface provided with a plurality of pockets disposed at the peripheral portion thereof each for receiving one coin, and a conical drum for rotating coaxially with said rotating disk and provided with sorting sections, whereby mixed coins fed to the device are transferred upward while being received one by one in said pockets of said rotatable disk and allowed to fall into said sorting sections of said drum at the uppermost position of the rotatable disk to be sorted and counted separately as the individual denominations (Japanese Utility Model Publication Nos. 8389 1978 and 10233. 1978) (II) Another known coin sorting device comprises a rotating disk rotating in a horizontal plane, a coin path extending in a tangential direction to said rotating disk and a multiplicity of sorting holes formed in said coin path, whereby mixed coins fed to the device are delivered to said coin path under the rotational action of said rotating disk while forming a row of coins, and then the coins are conveyed to said sorting holes by means of a conveyor belt or the like to be sorted and counted. (Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. 25789, 1979, (III) A further known coin sorting device comprises a number of known coin counting machines overlaid in a multistage fashion, the number of coin counting machines being the same as the number of coin denominations.When mixed coins are charged in the uppermost coin counting machine, coins having the largest diameter are sorted and counted by the uppermost coin counting machine and coins of other denominations are allowed to fall into the second highest coin counting machine where coins having the second largest diameter are sorted and counted. Mixed coins are sorted and counted following similar operations by a system wherein wellknown coin counting machines are simply overlaid one over another. (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 297591976l However, these known coin sorting and counting devices have the following disadvantages. In the device set forth in item (I) above, since the coins are allowed to fall under gravitational force to be delivered to the sorting sections, the handling speed for sorting and counting the coins is limited.The handling speed is so low that only about 500 coins can be handled per minute. The coins put into the sorting sections provided around the outer periphery of the drum are delivered to counting sections while being held in the sorting sections as the drum rotates and then held in storage sections.

Since the counting station and the storage sections are separated, the desired number of coins cannot be removed. Moreover, since the drum is disposed behind the rotatable disk and has its outer periphery surrounded by a cover, it is difficult to remove any coin that becomes jammed at one of the sorting sections.

By the use of the device set forth in item (II) above, coins can be sorted and counted at a relatively high speed. About 1700 coins can be sorted and counted per minute by a device of this kind. However, a thickness control member is mounted on the rotating disk at the coin discharge portion thereof for preventing two coins from being discharged simultaneously in overlapped condition. The gap between the thickness control member and the top face of the coin discharge portion of the disk must be somewhat greater than the thickness of the thickest coin denomination.If advice of this kind is used in a country where differences in thickness of individual coin denominations are great, for instance in the United States, the thinner coins tend to cause jamming or there is a risk of two overlapping coins being passed under the thickness control member to cause erroneous counting.

The device described in item (III) above has a disadvantage in that it is bulky and expensive since the number of the counting machines included therein must be equal to the number of coin denominations to be handled.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the conventional coin sorting and counting devices.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide a coin sorting and counting device which is compact in size.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a coin sorting and counting device by which high speed sorting and counting can be realized.

The objects of the present invention are attained by the provision of a coin sorting device comprising a rotary disk, a peripheral wall surrounding the circumference of said rotary disk, and a coin sorting passage extending around the outer surface of said peripheral wall and having coin selection openings each adapted for receiving coins of a single denomination. A stopper may be provided for stopping the row of coins from moving in response to a signal indicating that the pre-set number of coins has been accumulated in any of the coin storing sections below the coin selection openings.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the prefered embodiments with reference to the accompanying draw ings, in which.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing main portions of a coin sorting device embodying the present invention; Figure 2 is a plan view showing a portion of the coin sorting passage; Figure 3 is a sectional view of the coin sorting passage; Figure 4(a) is a sectional view showing a nonselected coin passing over one selection opening; Figure 4(b) is a sectional view showing a coin selected by a certain coin selection opening and being counted and then falling down through the opening; Figure 5 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the coin sorting device embodying the present invention which is adapted for sorting a greater number of coin denominations; and Figure 6 is a plan view, partly in section, showing portions of the device shown in Figure 5.

Firstly referring to Figure 1, an embodiment of the present invention has a base plate 1 on which a peripheral wall 2 is mounted to surround a rotary disk 3. A portion of the peripheral wall 2 is cut out to accommodate the discharge end of a belt conveyor 4 by which coins are fed to the rotary disk 3, and at another cut portion of the peripheral wall 2 a thickness control member 5 is provided. Coins are fed beneath the member 5 to an arcuated coin sorting passage 6 extending aroundthe outer surface of the peripheral wall 2.

In the coin sorting passage 6, there are arranged coin selection openings 7, 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d having, respectively, the widths slightly larger than the diameters of coin denominations to be selected by individual openings. The widths of these coin selection openings 7, 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d are such that they are increased in this order. The number of openings may be increased or decreased, as desired. A bridge plate 8 made of an electrically insulating material is mounted between the thickness control member 5 and the first opening 7. Similarly, bridge plates 8a, Sb,8c and 8dare mounted, respectively, between the coin selection openings 7a to 7d.Transfer rollers 9, 9a, 9b, 9c and 9dare arranged above bridge plates 8to8dand rotated by pulleys 10to 10d. The top surface of each of the bridge plates 8 to 8d has an oblique portion, as best shown in Figures 4(a) and 4(b) at numeral 11, on which electric contacts 12 and 13 are mounted. These contacts 12 and 13 are connected to a counting system (not shown). Stop per mechanisms 14, 14a, 14b, 14b, and 14d are mounted at positions opposite to transfer rollers 9 to 9d. Since these stopper mechanisms 14to 14dhave the same construction, only one of them will be described briefly.As best seen from Figures 2 and 3, the stopper mechanism 14 comprises a rotary solenoid 15 having an output shaft 16 and a stopper arm 17 mounted to the output shaft 16. The rotary solenoid 15 is electrically connected to the counting system to be energized to swing the stoper arm 17 into the coin passage when the pre-set number of coins is counted.

When a start button is depressed to start the sorting operation, a driving pulley 18 begins to rotate to drive a shaft 20 via a belt 19, and another shaft 21 is also driven to rotate separately. The shaft 20 drives the rotary disk 3 via a belt 22, and the shaft 21 drives a feeding roller 24 of the thickness control member 5 via a gearing 23. The rotating shaft 21 also drives the belts 25, 25a, 25b, 25c and 25dto rotate the transfer rollers 9 to 9d. The conveyor belt 4 is driven concurrently.

Mixed coins are supplied through the conveyor belt 4 onto the rotary disk 3 at an appropriate rate.

The coins supplied onto the rotary disk 3 are urged to move toward the inner surface of the peripheral wall 2 underthe centrifugal force created by the rotational movement of the disk 3 to form a row of coins. The feeding roller 24 delivers the thus formed row of coins to the coin sorting passage 6. Any overlapping coins are rejected and prevented from entering the coin passage 6 by the thickness control member 5.

As can be seen from Figures 2 to 4(b), coins rof minimum diameter separate from the inner peripheral edge of the coin passage 6 on the first bridge plate 8 to be inclined by the transfer roller 9 to connect the contact 12 with the contact 13, whereupon an electric current is passed from the contact 12 through each of such coins to the contact 13, or vise versa, to actuate the counting system to count the coin. This recurs each time a coin of minimum diameter r passes on the bridge plate 8. The coins r of minimum diameter are then allowed to fall into the opening 7, and pass through a chute (not shown) to be accumulated. Coins r, r2, r3 and r4 having the diameters larger than that of coins rpass along the bridge plate 8 without being inclined and pass over the opening 7.Coins r, of the next smallest diameter are counted when they move on the next bridge plate 8a and are allowed to fall into the next opening 7a. Similar operations are repeated until all sorts or denominations of coins are counted and sorted individually.

When the number of any sort of coins reaches the pre-set number, a signal is generated from the corresponding counting system to energize the stopper mechanism. For example, if the number of the accumulated coins of minimum diameter reaches the pre-set number, the rotary solenoid 15 of the stopper mechanism 14 is energized to rotate the shaft 16 which swings the stopper arm 17 into the coin sorting passage 6 to stop the subsequent coins from moving. At the same time, the driving pulley 18 is stopped. The coin sorting and counting operation is restarted after the thus counted and accumulated coins are discharged from the device.

In a country where the differences in diameters and thicknesses of the coins in use are not so geat, for example, in Japan where the thinnest coin (one yen) has a thickness of 1.5 mm and the thickest coin (fifty yen) has a thickness of 1.75 mm, the mixed coins can be readily separated and prevented from overlapping by the provision of a single and simple thickness control member 5. However, difficulties are encountered in a country where the differences in diameters and thicknesses of the coins are great, for example, in the United States where the thickness of the dime, which has the smallest thickness, is 1.35 mm and the thickness of the half-dollar, which has the largest thickness, is 3.06 mm and where the diameter of the smallest coin, the dime, is 17.91 mm which is greatly different from that of the largest coin, the half-dollar, which is 30.6 mm.Overlapping of coins cannot be prevented by the provision of a simple thickness control member in such a country, and a complex and expensive device must be used in place of the simple mechanical control member 5.

Moreover, the overall diameter of the sorting device becomes increased to require a larger space for the installation thereof, if a coin sorting passage having an increased width and extension is provided around the outer surface of the peripheral wall 2.

For sorting mixed coins with large variety of coin denominations, according to the present invention, there is provided an assembly including a set of upper and lower sorting devices assembled in overlapping relationship with each other. Referring to Figure 5 showing a modified embodiment of the present invention, a base plate 1' extends above another base plate 1" substantially coextensively.

Mounted on these base plates are peripheral walls 2' and 2" and coin sorting passages 6' and 6" surround ing the walls 2 and 2", respectively. A thickness control member 5' is adjusted to pass therethrough the coins including the thickest coin, and a thickness control member 5" is adjusted to pass therethrough coins belonging to the group to be sorted by the lower sorting device. In the sorting passage 6' of the upper sorting device, following the thickness control member 5' and a transfer roller 28 rotated by a pulley 29 for transferring all sorts of coins, there is provided a classification opening 26 through which coins having diameters smaller than the width thereof fall into a chute 27. Coins passing over this opening 26 are moved along the sorting passage 6' where they are subjected to sorting operations similarly to those described above. The coins falling through the opening 26 are delivered through the chute 27 to a lower rotary disk 3" from which they are fed to a coin sorting passage 6" via the thickness control member 5". The coins thus fed to the lower sorting device, i.e. the coins classified into a group of smaller denominations, move along the passage 6' where they are sorted and counted separately.

Other parts and members, such as selection openings, counting means, stopper mechanisms, transfer rollers and power transmission mechanisms are similar to those in the first embodiment, and similar members are denoted by the same numerals with primes in the upper sorting device and with double primes in the lower sorting device. By the use of this embodiment of the present invention, mixed coins composed of a large variety of coin denominations can be sorted at a high speed and yet reliably.

Claims

1. A coin sorting device comprising a rotary disk, a peripheral wall surrounding the circumfernence of said rotary disk, and a coin sorting passage extending around the outer surface of said peripheral wall and having coin selection openings each adapted for receiving coins of single denomination.

2. A coin sorting device according to claim 1, wherein counting mechanisms are attached one to each selection opening and a stopper is provided for stopping the travel of coins when a signal indicating the completion of counting is generated by any one of said counting mechanisms.

3. A coin sorting assembly comprising a set of upper and lower coin sorting devices as set forth in claim 1, wherein the coin sorting passage of said upper coin sorting device is provided with a classification hole for passing coin denominations of smaller diameter to the lower coin sorting device, whereby coins of larger diameter are subjected to sortment while they move along the coin sorting passage of the upper device and coins of smaller diameter are subjected to sortment while they move along the coin sorting passage of the lower device.

4. A coin sorting device substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 to 4 or with reference to and as shown in Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.