GB615105A - Improvements in coin testing devices - Google Patents

Abstract

615,105. Coin-freed apparatus. IMPERIAL TOBACCO CO. (OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND), Ltd., and HASTED, H. C. July 24, 1946, No. 22000. [Class 27] Testing coins.-Gate mechanism on a coin runway for arresting counterfeits which are oversize in diameter or over thick, especially just within the rim, has diameter and thickness gaps which vary simultaneously, one gap increasing as the other decreases. The runway shown comprises a fixed plate 7 hinged to it at 4 and provided with a ledge 8 along which the coin rolls. A pair of rockers 11, 12 are pivoted at 13, 14 to the plates 2 and 7 respectively, and comprise opposed inwardly directed arms 15, 17 and inwardly directed claws 16, 18 just below the arms. Stops 25, 26 limit movement of the rockers under the weight of the arms 15, 17 and with the claws 16, 18 separated sufficiently to pass the rim of the coin but with the arms 15, 17 spaced from the ledge 8 a distance less than the diameter of the coin. When a coin reaches the gate it first enters freely between the claws 16, 18 but when the rim contacts the arms 15, 17 the claws move inwardly and arrest it if it is overthick or oversize in diameter. The clearances are, however, sufficient to pass a correct coin, so that it continues down the runway to the coin-freed apparatus. The claws preferably engage the coin just inside the rim where it is not subjected to wear. An aperture in the plate 2 releases underdiameter coins before they reach the gate. Modifications are described: (1) in which the rockers are mounted at the bottom of the runway to co-operate with a ledge, similar to 8, at the top, (2) in which one of the rockers is omitted and (3) in which both rockers are mounted on the fixed plate 2. This prevents fraudulent passing of a counterfeit through the gate by the operator easing the plate 7 by the means provided for swinging the plate to clear the mechanism. Clearing-apparatus. -To release coins held in the gate, the plate 7 is moved on its hinge pivot 4 away from the fixed plate 2. The plate 7 has an extension arm 9 connected by a wire 22 to, for example, the coin-freed delivery mechanism so that attempted operation of the delivery mechanism moves the plate 7 sufficiently to release the coin. The ledge is narrowed beneath the gate to reduce the movement necessary to a minimum.