GB253997A - Improvements relating to prepayment devices - Google Patents

Abstract

253,997. Wall, G., and Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co., Ltd. March 24, 1925. Price. - changing mechanism; coin action, multiple-coin.-In a prepayment device for the delivery of a commodity, such as gas or electricity, the price gear train is provided with a series of bearings adapted to receive a corresponding series of gear wheels by the selective employment of which the ratio of the train can be varied. The train, which comprises spindles 9, 10 journaled between cheeks 1, 2, the whole being detachably secured in place by a pin 7 and screw and nut 8, is provided with a series of bearing holes 20 - - 24 and 25 - - 27 adapted to receive the spindles 10, 9 respectively. The spindle 10 has a pinion 14 engaging the operating wheel 19 of the coin-side of the usual differential mechanism, and the spindle 9 has a pinion 13 engaging an idler 15 which engages a pinion 17 on the coin-receiver shaft 18. The spindles also have intermeshing gear wheels 11, 12 which are change wheels, and the two series of holes are arranged equidistant respectively from the axis 28<a> of the wheel 19 and the axis 16 of the pinion 15. To adjust the price gear train, it is detached as a unit, the spindles removed and the gear wheels 11, 12 changed. The spindles are then replaced in the holes appropriate to the new gears and the whole replaced in position. The coin gear train, by which the prepayment mechanism may be adjusted for use with different coins, is also detachable as a unit. It comprises cheeks 28, 29 between which are journaled spindles 37, 38 having intermeshing wheels 39, 42 and pinions 41, 40 engaging respectively a meter wheel 43 and a wheel 34 of the differential mechanism. The cheek 28 has an arcuate slot 35 concentric with the wheel 34 whereby the whole can be adjustably secured in position by screws 36.