GB2243706A

GB2243706A - Solenoid operated coin dispensing unit

Info

Publication number: GB2243706A
Application number: GB9109590A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Raymond Astle
Original assignee: Bell Fruit Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Bell Fruit Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 1990-05-03
Filing date: 1991-05-02
Publication date: 1991-11-06
Anticipated expiration: 2011-05-02
Also published as: GB9109590D0; GB9010036D0; GB2243706B

Abstract

A solenoid operated coin dispensing unit comprises a spring (e) biased solenoid (f) which is activated by a single electronic pulse to displace a coin from one stack of coins (a) when the solenoid (f) is energised and then displace a second coin from a second stack (b) when the solenoid is de-energised, the spring (e) urging the solenoid to displace the second coin. Thus the solenoid has a double acting push-pull arrangement. The coin engaging parts (c, d) may move in a straight line in opposite directions or may not act along the same straight line. The coins in the two stacks may be different and one of the coin engaging parts may be of such thickness that a plurality of coins is dispensed at each control operation of the solenoid. The dispensing unit may dispense coins from vending, change, amusement or gaming machines. <IMAGE>

Description

COIN DISPENSING UNIT This device could be used in any appropriate application in machines which have a requirement for the dispensing of coins such as vending, change, amusement or gaming machines. In many of these applications tokens may be used instead of, or in addition to, coins and the term 'coin' also includes such tokens.

Currently there are two common systems in use in such equipment for this purpose. One of these is a motor-driven hopper arrangement which is of no concern; the other system uses a solenoid to dispense coins from the bottom of a vertical or near vertical stack of horizontal coins held in a tube, or alternatively a stack of vertically-orientated coins as outlined in our British Patent Application No.8623054. When an electrical pulse of the right duration and voltage is applied to the solenoid, a single coin is delivered from the bottom of the stack. Several standard designs of these payout solenoid systems are available from a number of manufacturers.

In many machines which require the coins to be dispensed these standard solenoid-driven payout units have certain disadvantages. One assembly can only dispense one coin at a time, and so where several different coins need to be dispensed an equivalent number of solenoid assemblies have to be used. This often gives rise to problems in terms of the physical space needed.Also there are cases in which it is necessary to increase the number of vertical stacks of coins available within the machine for dispensing, such as for example in a gaming machine with large jackpot prizes where it is essential to maintain a supply of available coins greater in value than the maximum prize in order to facilitate the paying out of these prizes, and where it is not possible to accommodate an adequate supply of coins in one tube due to limitations on the available height within the machine enclosure and also due to the solenoid itself which has to act mechanically upon the stack of coins and therefore imposes its own coin stack height limit. Further, the addition of extra coin dispensing units with further solenoids demands additional control means and power supplies for the additional solenoids, which adds complexity and expense.

It is therefore desirable to reduce the physical size, power and control requirements of such coin dispensing systems.

In the new proposal, shown in outline in the attached sketch, these desirable features are achieved by controlling two vertical stack tube dispensers from one solenoid. The solenoid f acts horizontally upon the sliding parts c and d, which are of a thickness such that they operate against the bottom coin in each stack so that on energisation of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from tube a and on release of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from tube b under the action of the spring e. The two coins in tubes a and b can be of the same or of different denominations, depending upon the application. It would also in certain circumstances be desirable to arrange for the thickness of the sliding parts c and d to be increased so that more than one coin would be dispensed from either or both of the tubes on activation or release of the solenoid.

The dispensing of the two coins takes place under the control of one electrical signal from the control system. It would, of course, be possible to achieve this single control signal feature by merely arranging two conventional payslide units in parallel but only at the expense of a doubling of both the power and space requirements.

The mechanical arrangement described shows the action of the sliding parts c and d being in a straight line along the axis of the solenoid f; however it can also be envisage that it would be possible to arrange for one or both of the sliding parts to be be coupled to the solenoid by intermediate lever components so that the vertical tubes containing the coins can be situated in different configurations relative to each other.

The device as described is thus characterised by having two stacks of coins acted upon by two coin engaging parts which act upon the coin or coins at the bottom of a respective stack, both of these parts being coupled to a single control solenoid so that on activation of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from the bottom of one stack and on release of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from the bottom of the other stack.

It will be appreciated that the Figure shows the device in its rest position.

Claims

1. A coin dispensing unit in which coins from two stacks of coins are dispensed by controlling a single solenoid.

2. A coin dispensing unit according to Claim 1 comprising two stacks of coins acted upon by two coin engaging parts which act in turn upon the coin or coins at the bottom of a respective stack, both of these parts being coupled to a single control solenoid so that on activation of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from the bottom of one stack and on release of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from the bottom of the other stack.

3. A coin dispensing unit according to Claim 2 which includes biasing means acting so as to urge one of the coin-engaging parts towards the bottom coin or coins of its stack.

4. A coin dispensing unit according to Claim 3 in which upon energisation of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from one stack and upon release of the solenoid a coin is dispensed from the other stack under the action of the biasing means.

5. A coin dispensing unit according to any one of claims 2 to 4 in which the coin-engaging parts move in a straight line in opposite directions to dispense coins from their respective stacks.

6. A coin dispensing unit according to any one of claims 2 to 4 in which the coin-engaging parts do not act along the same straight line.

7. A coin dispensing unit according to any preceding claim in which the coins in the two stacks are different.

8. A coin dispensing unit according to any preceding claim which includes one or more coin-engaging parts of a thickness such as to dispense a plurality of coins at each control operation of the solenoid.

9. A coin dispensing unit substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

10. A vending, change-giving, amusement or gaming machine which includes a coin dispensing unit according to any preceding claim.