GB2242050A - Coin escrow unit - Google Patents

Abstract

An escrow unit for returning coins in an automatic dispensing coin-operated machine includes a plurality of receptacles 11 to 17 in a holding plate into which coins are passed. An electric motor 23 drives a plate 10 to one of two discharge positions where the receptacles empty through holes in a discharge plate 40 either to return the coins to a customer or to accept the coins. <IMAGE>

Description

COIN ESCROW UNIT This invention relates to a coin escrow unit or a holding unit for coins and to a method of holding coins in escrow.

The invention is particularly, though not exclusively concerned, with automatic machines for dispensing tickets such as railway tickets. The invention can, however, be applied to other automatic machines for dispensing other articles in a vending operation.

The invention also includes a method of holding coin in escrow.

It is usual in any coin dispensing machine for money in coin form which is fed into the machine to be validated by a part of the machine and checked for value so that an article is dispensed from the machine only when the correct value of valid coins has been inserted. If an invalid coin is inserted this should be detected by an initial coin sorting apparatus. It frequently occurs that a customer who is feeding coins into the machine wishes to cancel his operation to purchase, either because the article selected is incorrect or because he finds he does not have a sufficient quantity of coin. In such situations, a cancel order can be given and the customer can get back the value of his money inserted.

In many types of apparatus the customer does not actually receive back the same physical coins as were inserted but merely other coins to the same value.

This means that there is an ability for fraud where a customer inserts a coin which is not of the correct value but is an imitation which is falsely accepted by the validating part of the machine as being acceptable. By feeding a number of false coins in this way and cancelling before a transaction is complete, a customer can effectively change invalid coins for valid ones in the machine. It is to be understood that the general operation of dispensing machines is such that once the final coin has been inserted to make up the correct value the transaction is irrevocable and all coins which have passed the validator are accepted and the article requested dispensed.

In order to ensure that the apparatus is not used as a device for exchanging invalid coins for valid ones, it is useful to have a unit for holding the coins in escrow until the final coin is inserted or until a cancel order is given. The coins in escrow can then be returned directly to the customer if a cancel signal is given on the basis that the last coins in would be the first ones out of the machine. This way no exchange of coins, via the machine, can be obtained.

The provision of escrow units is not in itself new, and one form of the machine using an escrow is known in which the escrow unit is in the form of a rotating disc having a plurality of holding slots therein.

During a transaction money is fed successively into the slots at the top of the disc and, as each coin is inserted, the disc is progressed to one slot width angle. This type of escrow unit is very bulky and requires substantial height to be occupied within the machine in order to accommodate a reasonable number of coins. It is thus desirable that a more compact unit should be obtained and it is one object of the present invention to provide such a unit.

An alternative form of escrow unit is a type having a screw thread in which a coarse thread is formed along a screw and coins are fed to the unit to lodge in the thread. As the screw is rotated coins are passed to a fresh section of the thread and a line of coins is progressively built up in the thread. This type of escrow unit has the disadvantage that it is slow to operate as each of the coins has to be screwed along to the end of the thread before it can be dispensed.

This can slow down the whole of the dispensing operation and may either cause customers to be lost or a long queue to be built up while money is refunded.

It is, therefore, another object of the present invention to provide an improved escrow unit in which money can be refunded quickly on a cancel order being given.

Throughout this specification reference is made to coins and money but it is to be understood that the invention also applies to the use of tokens issued for monies' worth which are suitable and validated for the machine in question.

In designing a dispensing machine, it is necessary to take account cf certain physical requirements. One of these is that the coin input should be close to a position where the average person can comfortably insert the coin without having to stretch and bend and, secondly, that any rejected or returned coins are also dispensed at a position where they can easily be physically rctrieved. In order to ensure a necessary simplicity and ruggedness of operation, most coin d-ispensing machines rely on gravity feed throughout the machine to convey the coins for a greater part of their journey, but it is essential that the path of the coin is kept as short as possible so that the inlet and outlet for coins are not separated by too great a height.Particularly with the rotating disc type of escrow unit, this height can become too large for normal purposes and the input position and return position are widely separated in height.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an escrow unit which is able to be incorporated in a dispensing machine and in which the input and return positions are able to be located at convenient heights.

According to a first aspect of the present invention a coin escrow unit comprises an inlet portion, a holding portion and a discharge portion, the inlet portion including a plurality of guide means positioned to direct coins to selected receptacles in the holding portion, and the discharge portion includes a plurality of sets of outlets to discharge coins into a selected discharge path, the holding portion being selectively movable from a first position to one of a plurality of discharge positions to permit coins to be passed from the holding portion to one of the sets of outlets in the discharge portion.

The holding portion is preferably a plate having a plurality of through holes comprising coin receptacles. The receptacles may be of different sizes to accept different sized coins.

The dimensions of the through holes may be made adjustable by fitting individual tubular liners therein.

The holding portion may include a bucket coin receptacle for receiving coins of any size. The holding portion is conveniently a plate member and is driven from its first position to a selected discharge position by means of a rack and gear mechanism.

Limiting means may be provided for stopping the movement of the holding portion once it has reached a selected discharge position. The limiting means may include a photosensitive cell adapted to detect the presence or absence of marker means on the holding portion.

A proximity detector may also be arranged to determine when the holding portion has reached an extreme position in one direction. The proximity detector preferably includes a magnetic reed switch co-operating with a magnetic member carried by the holding portion.

The coin guide means conveniently includes separate guide means for each size of coin. There may be a slotted inlet to the guide means with a separate inlet associated with each size of coin to be sorted. Each guide means may be inclined at an angle in order to present a coin passing therethrough in a correctly orientated position to the holding portion.

The discharge portion preferably includes a multiaperture plate, the apertures therein being disposed in an array corresponding to the disposition of the receptacles in the holding portion. The apertures may be arranged in two arrays, one defining a first discharge path to store and the other defining a second discharge path to return. Alternatively the apertures may be arranged in a plurality of arrays providing several paths to storage and several paths to return.

Electronic control means may be connected to drive means to cause the holding portion to move from a holding position to a selected discharge position and, after a suitable delay, to return to the said holding position ready for the next receipt of coins.

According to another aspect of the invention a method of temporarily holding coinage in escrow includes feeding coins selectively through a plurality of guide members in an inlet portion of an escrow unit to an associated receptacle in a movable holding portion of the unit, the holding portion being in a non-discharge or holding position and, when the coin feed is complete, moving the holding portion to a preferred discharge position to discharge the coins from the holding portion through a selected discharge path.

The holding portion may have two discharge positions, a- first position wherein, when the holding portion is moved from the holding position to locate receptacles in the holding portion over a first array of apertures in a discharge portion, coin is passed from the holding portion via the discharge portion over a first discharge path to store, and a second position in which, when the holding portion is moved to locate the receptacles in the holding portion over a second array of apertures in the discharge position, coin is passed over a second discharge path to a return location.

An electrical signal is preferably used to cause movement of drive means for the holding portion to move it to a selected discharge position, the signal causing an electric motor or other drive constituting the drive means to rotate in a preferred direction to drive the holding portion to said discharge position where coinage in the holding portion discharges into a selected discharge path.

The movement of the holding portion may be monitored and controlled by detection means to arrest its movement when it reaches a selected position.

A time delay is preferably incorporated to ensure that the holding portion remains in its driven discharge position for a predetermined period and is then returned to its non-discharge or holding position.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, one example of a coin escrow unit in accordance therewith and employing the method thereof, will now be described with reference to the four figures of the accompanying drawings: In the drawings Figure 1 indicates a side view of the unit with the top cover shown exploded from the unit, Figure 2 shows a front end view of the unit, Figure 3 is a top plan view of the unit with the cover removed and Figure 4 is a top plan view of a discharge portion of the unit.

In this example the escrow unit is designed to be incorporated into a ticket dispensing machine which is constituted by a number of separate units. Coins are fed into a top inlet of the machine and passed to the top of an electronically controlled validator. This may, for example, be of the known type, MS130, manufactured by the Mars Company. The validator is set to validate all common coins likely to be fed to it and can deal with coins fed at a speed of below one coin in 350ms. If coins are fed in faster they are rejected for reinsertion. Once the coins have been validated, they are passed to a separator such as, for example, separator sold as type MS129, manufactured by the Mars Company, where the coins are separated into their different values. From the separator coins are individually passed through guide-ways in a manifold to the escrow unit to the present invention.

In the escrow unit the coins are held until the correct amount of coinage has been inserted into the machine or the operation has been cancelled. In either of these two events the escrow unit then discharges the coins held, either to an accept path where the coins are passed into change tubes or into a coin box, or a discharge path where the coins are returned to the customer.

In the change tubes the coins are collected in their various denominations until a maximum for each tube is reached and change is dispensed from these tubes by a pecker unit.

Referring now to the drawings, these show the escrow unit of the invention and the unit comprises a housing 1 having a cover 2. The cover 2 includes an inlet portion 3 having guide means 4 which are comprised of deflector plates positioned to receive coins via slots 5 in the cover 2. The slots 5 are cut in the cover 2 at positions where they receive coins directly from the manifold and the slots are in a staggered array in the top of the lid 2. The areas of the guide means 4 below each slot is separated from the adjacent area by means of a side wall 6, so that the coins are kept separated within the escrow unit.

Referring particularly to Figure 3, there is positioned within the housing a flat holding portion 10. This comprises a solid plate of substantial thickness having a plurality of through holes formed in it which form receptacles for coins. In this example there are six receptacles, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, arranged in two rows, and a separate receptacle 17 which is a bucket receptacle arranged essentially at the end of the holding plate 10.

Although the receptacles 11 to 16 are shown in Figure 3 as having the same diameter the diameter of the receptacles can be altered by inserting tubular liners to ensure that the coins fed to the receptacles lie flat and close within the receptacle. For example, for British coinage the unlined diameter of a receptacle may be 33mm and liners may be inserted, for example, in receptacles 14 and 15 to reduce this diameter to 24mm and 29mm respectively. The bucket receptacle 17 would be provided with a diameter of 33mm, which is the maximum to receive coinage expected to be used. Generally the receptacle size is made with a diameter about 2mm larger than the coin it is to receive and the thickness of the plate 10 is such that up to five coins of the thickest size coins can be held in any one receptacle 11 to 16. The bucket tube 17 is designed to take up to the maximum of 15 coins of any diameter.

The holding plate 10 is cast from a hard plastics material and has let into its surface a rack 20 which is engaged by a toothed wheel 21 on a shaft 22 driven at one end by an electric motor 23 through gearing 24.

The other end of the shaft 22 is held in a bearing 25. The action of the toothed wheel and the rack is to move the plate 10 horizontally to a first discharge position as shown, to a central holding position or to a second discharge position at the other side of the housing 1.

Attached to the plate 10, adjacent the motor, is the metal monitoring plate 26 which has a slot 28 cut in it to act as marker means. A photosensitive cell 29 is situated under the shaft 22 and above the plate 26, with a light responsive emitter (not shown) below the plate. Light from the emitter can only reach the cell 29 when the plate 26 is moved to an end position or the central position.

The plate 10 also carries a magnetic plate 30 which is shown in Figure 3 to be adjacent a proximity switch 31 which, in this example, is a magnetic reed switch.

Both the photosensitive cell 29 and the switch 31 are connected to electronic control circuitry (not shown) of the machine of which the escrow unit forms a part.

Electrical signals are sent from this circuitry to control the operation of the holding unit in response to signals from the photosensitive cell 29 and the reed switch 31.

The unit has a discharge portion 40 which is best seen in Figure 4 and forms the base of the unit. This portion 40 comprises a plurality of holes shaped and disposed as shown in the Figure. The outlets are numbered from 41 to 53 and outlets 41, 42 , 43, 44, 45 and 46 and 53 are accept outlets and coins passing from the holding plate 1 through these outlets enter a first discharge path which is the accept path and coin is fed either to a coin bucket or to change tubes positioned beneath the outlets. Outlets 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52 are discharge outlets which connect to a second discharge path which returns coins to the customer.

In operation the holding plate is set initially to a central holding position. When the machine is switched on the electronic circuitry detects by signals from the photosensitive cell 29 and the reed switch 31 the position of the holding plate 10 and operates the motor 23 to drive the shaft 22 through gear 24 so that the gear wheel 21 rotates and moves via the rack 20 the holding plate to its central holding position. This central position is detected by the photosensitive cell 29 giving a signal when the slot 28 is positioned below it. This together with the absence of a signal from the reed switch 31 tells the logic in the electronic circuitry that the plate is in the correct starting position. The unit is now set up and the reed switch is not further used until the Unit t is switched off and needs resetting.

This starting position is a hold position, where any coins entering the receptacles are retained within the holding portion and are not transmitted therethrough. This is because none of the receptacles 11 to 16 or 17 are positioned directly above any of the outlets 41 to 53 in the discharge portion 40. As coin is fed into the machine it is discharged after validation and separation, via the manifold through the slots 5 and deflected by the guide means 4 into the appropriate receptacles 11 to 17. If one of the receptacles reaches its maximum capacity of five coins, the separator will have directed extra coinage of that value through the manifold into the bucket receptacle 17.

When the correct number of coins have been fed in to complete a selected buy operation and all the coins have been validated the circuitry of the machine sends a signal to the motor 23 to cause it to drive the holding plate 10 in a direction towards the reed switch 31. When the holding plate is in a position, such that the receptacles 12 and 13 are directly above outlets 41, 42, 43 and receptacles 14, 15 and 16 are directly above outlets 44, 45, 46, the photosensitive cell 29 detects the end of plate 26 as light from the emitter reaches cell 29 and signals are sent to stop rotation of the motor. In this position, coins in the receptacle 11 to 16 discharge through the outlets respectively below them into the change tubes (not shown) situated directly below the escrow unit and any coins in the bucket receptacle 17 will discharge through the outlet 53 directly into a coin box.The electronic circuitry will allow a delay for this discharge to take place before it sends a signal to the motor 23 to reverse it and return the holding plate 10 to the holding position which is sensed by the photoelectric cell 29 detecting the presence of the slot 28.

If, however, before the full amount of money has been inserted the customer decides to cancel and presses a cancel button on the machine, the cancel button operates the circuitry to produce a signal which causes the motor 23 to drive the shaft in the opposite direction so that the gear wheel 21 operates on the rack 20 to move the holding plate 10 accordingly.

Movement continues until the photosensitive cell 29 detects the edge of the monitoring plate 26 and it sends a signal to the electronic circuitry which causes the motor to stop rotation. The holding plate is now in a discharge position and the receptacles 11, 12 and 13 are positioned over the outlets 47, 48, 49 respectively in the discharge plate 40. The receptacles 14, 15 and 16, are positioned over the outlets 50, 51 and the bucket receptacle 17 is positioned over the discharge outlet 52. All these discharge outlets are connected up via chutes to a reject receptacle and coins in the receptacle are passed down the chutes to the receptacle where the customer can regain his money. It will be appreciated that the money which the customer gets back is the same coinage as that which was originally inserted and he is not receiving different coins of the same value to that which he put in.This means that if there is any false coinage it is returned to him. After a delay the receptacles will all have discharged their coins and the motor 23 will receive a signal to cause the plate 10 to move in a reverse direction. The plate will stop when the slot 28 is below the photo sensitive cell 29 and the unit is now ready for the next set of coins to be received into the holding portion.

In order to prevent any problems arising from coins being incorrectly orientated in the receptacles 11 to 17, the deflector plates of the guide means 4 are arranged so that the coins slide off the guide means at an angle so that they will lie flat within each receptacle and there is no risk of coins standing on edge in the receptacle.

The escrow unit is arranged so that if one receptacle and the bucket receptacle is full and coins are still fed to the machine, the control will operate the motor to discharge the coins back to the reject chutes.

This is necessary so that a reasonable mix of coin is acceptable and that a mass of one denomination coin is not acceptable which would soon fill up the machine coin box. The speed of operation of the unit can be controlled by adjusting the electronic control to the motor so that the plate can be moved faster or slower as required and that its delay at either of its extreme discharge positions is variable. Obviously the machine has to be held in its discharge position for a minimum time to allow possibility of full receptacles to be completely discharged. Since the discharge is by gravity, the discharge takes place very quickly and automatically without need for any complicated discharge mechanism.

In order to allow for a variety of applications of the escrow unit, liners to the receptacles 11 to 17 may be made to be easily withdrawable. The material of the liners is preferably a plastics material which does not produce any significant static electricity and which has a low coefficient of friction. In order to avoid problems from any generation of static electricity a good earth bonding of all the components is ensured in practice.

Although in this example six receptacles and a bucket receptacle have been described, it will be appreciated that these receptacles can be varied in number and their disposition on the plate varied by design, according to the particular coinage to be used.

The unit is compact in size and can easily be fitted between existing component parts of a coin-operated dispensing machine. This means the coin inlet and return positions on the machine are able to be located at convenient heights for the customer. The unit is able to operate swiftly to return coins or to pass coins through which are accepted thus minimising delays. By virtue of the minimum number of components the unit is extremely reliable and robust. The invention is not limited in its interpretation to the specific example or method described herein.

The invention includes all novel constructional and operational details disclosed in this document.

Claims (24)

1. A coin escrow unit comprising an inlet portion, a holding portion and a discharge portion, the inlet portion including a plurality of guide means positioned to direct coins to selected receptacles in the holding portion, and the discharge portion including a plurality of sets of outlets to discharge coins into a selected discharge path, the holding portion being selectively movable from a first position to one of a plurality of discharge positions to permit coins to be passed from the holding portion to one of the sets of outlets in the discharge portion.

2. A unit as claimed in claim 1 in which the holding portion is a plate having a plurality of through holes comprising coin receptacles.

3. A unit as claimed in claim 2 in which the receptacles are of different sizes to accept different sized coins.

4. A unit as claimed in claim 3 wherein the dimensions of the through holes are adjustable by fitting individual tubular liners therein.

5. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the holding portion includes a bucket coin receptacle for receiving coins of any size.

6. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the holding portion is a plate member and is driven from its first position to a selected discharge position by means of a rack and gear mechanism.

7. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim and including limiting means for stopping the movement of the holding portion once it has reached a selected discharge position.

8. A unit as claimed in claim 7 wherein the limiting means includes a photosensitive cell adapted to detect the presence or absence of marker means on the holding portion.

9. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim and further including a proximity detector arranged to determine when the holding portion has reached an extreme position in one direction.

10. A unit as claimed in claim 9 wherein the proximity detector includes a magnetic reed switch co-operating with a magnetic member carried by the holding portion.

11. A unit as claimed in the preceding claim wherein the coin guide means includes separate guide means for each size of coin.

12. A unit as claimed in claim 11 including a slotted inlet to the guide means, a separate inlet being associated with each size of coin to be sorted.

13. A unit as claimed in either of claims 11 or 12 in which each guide means is inclined at an angle in order to present a coin passing therethrough in a correctly orientated position to the holding portion.

14. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim in which the discharge portion includes a multi-apertured plate, the apertures therein being disposed in an array corresponding to the disposition of the receptacles in the holding portion.

15. A unit as claimed in claim 14 wherein the apertures are arranged in two arrays, one defining a first discharge path to store and the other defining a second discharge path to return.

16. A unit as claimed in claim 14 wherein the apertures are arranged in a plurality of arrays providing several paths to storage and several paths to return.

17. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim and including electronic control means connected to drive means to cause the holding portion to move from a holding position to a selected discharge position and after a suitable delay to return to the said holding position.

18. An escrow unit substantially hereinbefore described and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. A method of temporarily holding coinage in escrow including feeding coins selectively through a plurality of guide members in an inlet portion of an escrow unit to an associated receptacle in a movable holding portion of the unit, the holding portion being in a non-discharge or holding position and, when the coin feed is complete, moving the holding portion to a preferred discharge position to discharge the coins from the holding portion through a selected discharge path.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the holding portion has two discharge positions, a first position being such that when the holding portion is moved from the holding position to locate receptacles in the holding portion over a first array of apertures in a discharge portion, coin is passed from the holding portion via the discharge portion over a first discharge path to store, and a second position in which when the holding portion is moved to locate the receptacles in the holding portion over a second array of apertures in the discharge portion, coins is passed over a second discharge path to a return location.

21. A method as claimed in claim 19 or claim 20 in which an electrical signal is used to cause movement of drive means for the holding portion to move it to a selected discharge position, the signal causing an electric motor constituting the drive means to rotate in a preferred direction to drive the holding portion to said discharge position where coinage in the holding portion discharges into a selected discharge path.

22. A method as claimed in any one of claims 19, 20 and 21 and including monitoring the movement of the holding portion and controlling means to arrest its movement when it reaches a selected position.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22 in which a time delay is incorporated to ensure that the holding portion remains in its driven discharge position for a predetermined period and is then returned to its non-discharge or holding position.

24. A method substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to the accompanying drawings.