GB295612A - Improvements in or relating to coin-freed mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

295,612. Brooker, H., and Halsey, E. J. May 14, 1927. Franking or postmarking letters; coin action, thrust and weight.-A coin controlled mechanism for a postal franking or other apparatus connprises the combination with an operating handle of a locking member operatively connected with a coin-operated mechanism, the connection being such that the locking member will be released by a plurality of coins successively inserted through a single slot, each of the coins acting directly on the mechanism and independently of the other coins inserted. As applied to a postal franking machine adapted to be freed by a penny or by two halfpennies, the operating handle 39, Fig. 3, is locked by a bolt 50 held in locking position against the action of a spring 53 by a cam 54 mounted on a shaft 55 connected by an arm 56 and link 57 to a main lever 5 which is pivoted at 4, Fig. 1, and carries a weighted pawl 13 having a pin 16 working between two stops 17, 18. A halfpenny inserted through a slot 3 raises a lever 20 and causes its upturned toothed end 21 to engage and move the pawl 13, thereby moving the lever 5 back and causing a tooth 7 at its lower end to engage in the second notch of three notches 8 in a lever 9 controlled by a spring 11. The lever 20 is held raised by a pin 27 thereon engaging the stepped end 26 of a lever 23 controlled by a spring 25. The coin passing down a shoot 29 strikes the lower end 28 of the lever 23 and rocks it to allow the lever 20 to drop to normal position. A second halfpenny is now inserted and a lower tooth on the end 21 of the lever 20 engages the nose of the pawl 13, so that the lever 5 is moved back to the third notch 8 in the lever 9, this movement being necessary to rock the cam 54 and release the bolt 50. If a penny is inserted, the lever 5 is moved back to the third notch 8 in one step- The handle 39 is now rotated to rotate the actuating shaft 38 of the franking machine. A lug 43 on an arm 42 secured to the shaft engages a trip-lever 48 which trips the lever 9 allowing the lever 5 to return to normal position under the action of its weight 6, so that the handle 39 is again locked at the end of one revolution. Specification 141,135 is referred to. Coin-slit closing-devices.-Another arm 40 on the shaft 38 engages a roller 41 on one end of a lever 34 pivoted at 35 and causes its other end 36 to move into the path of a lug 33 on a slot closing plate. This prevents the insertion of a coin while, the machine is being actuated, since the coin cannot push asides the slot-closing plate. Fraud, preventing.-A spring 59 in the hood of the coin slot prevents a coin, once it is inserted, from being withdrawn.