GB2292244A - Releasing jams in coin validators - Google Patents

Abstract

A coin validator has a coin rundown path that includes an inclined main rundown surface (3) and an auxiliary rundown surface (19a, b, c) disposed between a side wall (11) on the validator body (1) and a side wall (12) on a hinged reject gate (13). In the event of a coin jam in which coins (16, 17, 18) become lodged in the path with their major surfaces overlying one another, the reject gate (13) is operated to widen the gap, and the coin (18) falls by gravity onto the auxiliary surface (19b) and can roll in advance of the remaining coins down the auxiliary surface to a reject opening. Coin (17) is similarly released and thereafter, coin (16) rolls down the surface (19a), so as to clear the jam. <IMAGE>

Description

COIN VALIDATOR This invention relates to a coin validator with an improved mechanism for releasing coins jammed therein.

A conventional coin validator, for example our Model C120, consists of a coin rundown path along which coins pass edgewise through a coin sensing station, for example and inductive coil arrangement which detects the characteristics of the coin under test. The coins then fall onto a coin accept gate which is opened if the coin is determined to be of a true denomination, but otherwise, the gate remains closed and the coin is diverted to a reject path.

The coin rundown path consists of an inclined main rundown surface along which the coins roll edgewise, and side walls disposed on opposite sides of the rundown surface so that successive coins are guided in the gap between the side walls during their passage along the rundown surface. One of the side walls is constituted by a portion of the main body of the validator. The other side wall is constituted by a hinged reject gate. The main rundown surface is formed by a ledge along the bottom of the reject gate. Normally the ledge abuts the main body. The reject gate can be opened to widen the gap between the side walls, for the purpose of permitting coins jammed in the path to be cleared.The jammed coins fall onto an auxiliary rundown surface beneath the main rundown surface when the reject gate is opened, so that they can pass sequentially to the end of the rundown path and fall onto the accept gate. Such coins are then rejected i.e. the accept gate is not opened, so that the coins pass into the reject path.

A problem with this prior arrangement is when coins become jammed in the path with their major surfaces overlying one another, even if the reject gate is operated so as to widen the gap, the coins tend to remain in a relationship with their major surfaces overlying one another when they fall onto the auxiliary rundown surface, so that when the gate is opened, they move in unison towards the end of the path, still overlying one another and as a result, the jam does not clear. The problem may be compounded, for example in a fruit machine, where an operator continues to feed coins into the validator when the jam has occurred so that many coins become jammed in the rundown path and a maintenance engineer needs to be called to clear the coin jam.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided A coin validator with a coin rundown path that comprises an inclined main rundown surface along which coins can pass edgewise sequentially, and side walls disposed on opposite sides of the rundown surface, whereby successive coins are guided in the gap between the side walls during their passage along the main rundown surface, coin jam releasing means for temporarily moving one of the side walls relative to the other so as to widen the gap for dislodging a coin jam in the event that coins become lodged in the path with their major surfaces overlying one another, and an auxiliary rundown surface disposed below and generally co-extensive the main rundown surface, the auxiliary rundown surface including first and second surface regions one upstanding from the other and arranged so that on operation of the jam releasing means to widen the side wall gap, the coins in the jam fall onto the first and second surface regions of the auxiliary surface respectively for dislodging the coins relative to one another so that the coins proceed edgewise and sequentially along the path.

The invention also includes a method of releasing a coin jam in a coin validator with a coin rundown path that comprises an inclined surface along which coins can normally pass edgewise sequentially between side walls disposed on opposite sides of the rundown surface, the jam occurring when coins become lodged in the path with their major surfaces overlying one another, the method comprising temporarily moving one of the side walls relative to the other so as to widen the gap between them and applying a force in a direction transverse to the gap and the longitudinal extent of the path for dislodging one of the jammed coins relative to the one other so that they move one in advance of the other towards the end of the path.

Thus, in accordance with the invention, coins jammed in the rundown path are actively promoted to be released sequentially so as to clear the coin jam.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood an embodiment thereof will now be described by way of contrast with a prior art validator, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic elevational view of the coin rundown path through a prior art coin validator, with the reject gate not shown; Figure 2 is an elevational view of the validator shown in Figure 1, from one side showing the reject gate; Figure 3 is a top plan view of the validator shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a partial schematic, sectional view taken along the line A-A' shown in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of a coin validator according to the invention, with the reject gate not shown; Figure 6 is a schematic sectional view of the coin rundown path of the validator shown in Figure 5, with the reject gate in its normal, closed position;; Figure 7 corresponds to Figure 6 but containing a jam of three coins; and Figure 8 corresponds to the sectional view shown in Figure 7 but with the reject gate opened.

Referring to Figure 1, a prior art validator is shown, generally corresponding to our Model C120 which consists of a body 1 including a coin inlet 2 into which coins are inserted from above so as to fall onto an inclined main coin rundown surface 3 past an inductive coin sensing station 4 shown in dotted outline. A coin 5 is shown on the inclined rundown surface 3, which moves along a path 6 shown in dotted outline.

At the end of the inclined rundown surface 3, the coin falls through an opening 7 towards a solenoid operated accept gate 8 that either allows the coin to enter an accept path 9 or directs the coin along a reject path 10. The accept gate 8 is operated by circuitry (not shown) responsive to the inductive sensing coils at the sensing station 4 so that if the coin is determined to be of acceptable characteristics, the gate is opened by a sliding operation normal to the plane of the paper in Figure 1 so that the coin can fall along path 9 and be accepted. Otherwise, the gate remains closed so as to obturate the accept path and as a result, the coin is deflected by the gate along reject path 10.

The coin 5 runs in a gap between opposed side walls which, as can be seen in Figures 2, 3 and 4 are defined by a wall 11 on the body 1 of the validator and an interior wall 12 of a reject gate 13 which is hinged about a substantially vertical axis on a shaft 14 mounted on the body 1. The main rundown surface 3 comprises a ledge formed along the bottom edge of the reject gate 13. The reject gate 13 is normally biased to a closed position by springs 15 so that the walls 11, 12 are generally parallel to one another as shown in hatched outline in Figure 3. However, in order to release coins jammed in the rundown path, the reject gate 13 can be hinged outwardly as shown in solid outline in Figure 3.

Figure 4 shows a situation where three coins 16, 17, 18 have become jammed in the coin rundown path. This may occur when a user continues to feed coins into the validator when one coin becomes jammed so that an accumulation of coins occurs.

As shown in Figure 4, the coins often become jammed with their major surfaces one overlying the other. Operation of the reject gate 13 to widen the gap between the side walls 11, 12 causes the coins to fall onto an auxiliary rundown surface 19 which is disposed below and generally co extensive with the main rundown surface 3, for the purpose of releasing the jam, so that the coins can run along the auxiliary surface 19 to the opening 7. However, this does not always produce clearance of the coin jam because coins tend to stay in alignment with their major surfaces overlying one another so that the coins move in unison towards the opening 6 (Figure 1).The opening 7 is typically not wide enough to accommodate three coins so operation of the gate 13 results in the jam moving closer to the opening 7 but does not actually result in clearance, so that, additionally, the reject mechanism itself may become jammed, requiring the attendance of a maintenance engineer.

A similar blockage may occur with two successive coins of a different denomination, which are of greater thickness than those shown in Figure 4. It will be appreciated that with a multicoin validator, the maximum dimension between the side walls 11, 12 is set to accommodate the thickest coin of the coin set to be encountered by the device, so that there is a risk of coin jamming occurring with a plurality of thinner coins.

The present invention provides a solution to the jamming problem. Referring now to Figure 5, this shows a modification to the arrangement described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 and like parts are marked with the same reference numbers. The body 1 is shown with the reject gate 13 removed, and the accept gate 8 has been omitted for purposes of clarity.

In accordance with the invention, the auxiliary surface 19, comprises first and second surface regions, 19a, 19b one upstanding from the other. In this example the region l9a comprises an elongate rail which is upstanding from and runs the length of a base surface 19b. In this example, both the rail surface 19a and the base surface 19b are generally horizontal when viewed in cross section (Figures 6 and 7) with an inclined ramp portion 19c connecting them.

In normal operation, the reject gate 13 is in a closed position so that the side walls 11, 12 are generally parallel to one another, as shown in Figure 6 so that coins such as coin 16, normally run along the main rundown surface 3 and the auxiliary rundown surface 19 is not available for normal coin transport.

However, in the event of a coin jam as shown in Figure 7, in which three coins 16, 17, and 18 become lodged in the coin rundown path with their major surfaces overlying one another, if the reject gate 13 is then opened as shown in Figure 8, the auxiliary surface 19 becomes available for coin transport. The coins 16, 17 and 18 then fall towards the auxiliary rundown surface 19, which is configured to produce separation of the coins from on another, as will now be explained. As the coins fall in unison, the coin 16 firstly encounters the upstanding rail surface 19a, whereas the coins 17 and 18 are driven downwardly by gravity, so that the coin 17 slides down the ramp surface l9c, until it encounters the base surface 19b. Thus, the overlying major surfaces of the coins 16, 17 become separated from one another, with the major surfaces of coin 17 taking up a nonvertical angle.Also, coin 18 is caused by gravity to move downwardly until it abuts the base surface 19b, and due to the non-vertical angle of coin 17, the coin 18 is forced to slide downwardly a small distance over the surface of coin 17, which tends to break any cohesive force between them.

The three coins 16, 17, 18 then start to roll down the auxiliary rundown path 19 towards the opening 7. It has been found that the coins 17 and 18 roll on ahead of coin 16, probably as a result of cohesion between the left hand surface of the coin (Figure 7) and the side wall 11. Also, it has been found that coin 18 rolls faster than coin 17, so that the coins arrive sequentially at the opening 7. It is considered that the non-vertical angle of coins 17, 18 produces a resultant moment between them in the regions of peripheral coin contact, that causes the coins to develop different rates of acceleration as they roll towards the opening 7. Even if for some reason, two of the coins roll in unison towards the opening 7, since the opening may be sufficiently wide to accommodate two coins, both can pass through the opening to be simultaneously rejected onto the reject path 10.The reject gate 13 can then return to its normal position. If any coin spuriously remains on the base surface l9a, it is swept from the base surface l9b up the ramp surface l9c to the rail surface l9a; hence the ramp 19c prevents the reject gate becoming jammed open by a coin becoming lodged on the edge of the rail surface.

It will be appreciated that the cross-sectional width of the rail surface 19a and the configuration of the ramp surface 19c are selected in dependence upon the range of coin thickness that are to be processed by the validator. The width of the rail surface l9a is selected so as to provide sufficient support for the thickest coin to be processed, but narrow enough to cause splitting of an overlying stack of the thinnest coins. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the example described hereinbefore and many modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the main rundown surface could be formed on the body of the validator rather than on the reject gate. Also, for the auxiliary rundown surface, the rail surface may not run the entire length of the base surface, and other upstanding surface configurations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims (12)

1. A coin validator with a coin rundown path that comprises an inclined main rundown surface along which coins can pass edgewise sequentially, and side walls disposed on opposite sides of the rundown surface, whereby successive coins are guided in the gap between the side walls during their passage along the main rundown surface, coin jam releasing means for temporarily moving one of the side walls relative to the other so as to widen the gap for dislodging a coin jam in the event that coins become lodged in the path with their major surfaces overlying one another, and an auxiliary rundown surface disposed below and generally coextensive the main rundown surface, the auxiliary rundown surface including first and second surface regions one upstanding from the other and arranged so that on operation of the jam releasing means to widen the side wall gap, the coins in the jam fall onto the first and second surface regions of the auxiliary surface respectively for dislodging the coins relative to one another so that the coins proceed edgewise and sequentially along the path.

2. A coin validator according to claim 1 including a main body that defines one of said side walls, and a reject gate that defines the other of the side walls, the reject gate being mounted on the body for movement between a first position in which the gap between the side walls is relatively narrow for normal operation, and a second position in which the gap is widened for rendering said auxiliary surface operative in the event of a coin jam.

3. A coin validator according to claim 2 in which the main rundown surface is formed on the reject gate.

4. A coin validator according to any preceding claim wherein the first and second surface regions of the auxiliary surface comprise an elongate rail surface and an elongate base surface respectively, the rail surface being upstanding from and running at least a major part of the length of the base surface.

5. A coin validator according to any preceding claim including a ramp portion between the rail surface and the base surfaces.

6. A coin validator according to any preceding claim wherein the coin rundown path extends through a sensing station for sensing characteristics of the coin.

7. A coin validator according to claim 6 wherein the sensing station includes an inductive sensing coil arrangement for sensing characteristics of coins which pass edgewise along the main rundown surface.

8. A coin validator according to any preceding claim including an accept gate for permitting acceptable coins to proceed on a predetermined route and for directing nonacceptable coins to a different, reject route.

9. A method of releasing a coin jam in a coin validator with a coin rundown path that comprises an inclined surface along which coins can normally pass edgewise sequentially between side walls disposed on opposite sides of the rundown surface, the jam occurring when coins become lodged in the path with their major surfaces overlying one another, the method comprising temporarily moving one of the side walls relative to the other so as to widen the gap between them and applying a force differential to the jammed coins in a direction transverse to the gap and the longitudinal extent of the path for dislodging one of the jammed coins relative to one another so that they move one in advance of the other towards the end of the path.

10. A method according to claim 8 including causing the coins to fall onto an auxiliary rundown surface that has first and second surface regions one upstanding from the other such that the coins strike respective ones thereof thereby to become separated so that they can roll separately one in advance of the other towards the end of the rundown path.

11. A coin validator substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 5, 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of releasing a coin jam in a coin validator, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 5, 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.