GB974013A - Prepayment time switch - Google Patents

Abstract

974,013. Coin-freed apparatus. A. SCHMID. Feb. 20, 1962 [Feb. 21, 1961], No. 6626/62. Heading G4V. A coin-freed prepayment time switch, particularly for controlling the automatic setting-up device of a bowling alley, has means controlled by a clock for varying the period of availability according to the time of day, thus accounting for variations in the cost of electricity at different times of the day. The switch embraces a rotary driving member in the form of a cone 56, Fig. 3, which is driven by a motor 57 and engages a friction disc 55, the time available for each coin inserted depending upon the angular velocity of which the friction disc is drawn and being alterable by varying the relative positions of the cone and disc. An inserted coin, if not rejected by a coin tester, falls into a slot 28, Fig. 3, and couples a shaft 29 which is geared to the planet wheel 49 of a differential to a shaft 31 which has a knob 26 coupled to it through a slipping drive 32. Rotation of the knob through about 90 degrees brings the highest point of a cam 45. Fig. 2, beyond a roller 44 on a spring-loaded arm 43 and the arm then rotates the shaft 29 through a total of 180 degrees. For each coin insertion, the wheel 49 is set forward an increment and the amount of credit is registered on a scale 17, Figs 1, and the total coins deposited are shown at 16 on a counter operated by a rod 115. The initial movement of the planet carrier 112 of the differential, through a snap-action device, closes contacts 22 and this starts a motor 57 which drives the sunwheel of the differential in a direction to return the planet carrier to its initial position. The drive from the motor 57 is through a variable speed gear consisting of the cone 56, Fig. 3, in the form of a conical pulley and friction disc 55 and, for varying the drive ratio, the motor is mounted on a pivoted axle 60 Figs. 4 and 6 which is displaceable axially through a distance a between stops 58, 62; the positions of the stops are adjustable by screwed shafts 63, 64 and knobs 65, 66, the knobs also driving scales 18, 19, Fig. 9, to indicate the running time in force. The position of the axle 60 is shifted by a second constantspeed motor 69 which, through a friction drive 89, 90, drives a shaft 88 on which is mounted a member 93 with a continuous cam groove 94 having a pitch b. One arm of a lever, 96 Fig. 4, lies in the groove and the other engages a sleeve 100 on the axle 60. The movement b is greater than the distance a between the stops 58, 62 but torsion springs between the two arms of the lever allows the difference to be taken up. The motor 69 also drives, through reduction gearing, a timing shaft 70, Fig. 6, which rotates once in 24 hours and carries a disc 85, Fig. 9, and a cam sector 111 which has a peripheral angle corresponding to the length of day during which a lower electricity tariff is in force. The nose 109 of a pivoted lever 107 engages with the disc 85 during periods of high tariff and a stop 108 on the lever then engages the end of a cam surface 105 on a disc 104 on shaft 88 and holds the shaft 88 and member 93 against rotation by the friction drive 89, 90 so that the conical pulley 56 is not displaced relatively to the friction disc 55. When the sector 111 engages the nose 109, the stop 108 moves inwardly to rest on the inner surface of cam 105 and the disc 104 and shaft 88 then rotate until the stop 108 meets the end of an inwardlydisplaced cam 106. The member 93'then rotates 180 degrees and shifts the axle 60 so that the drive 55, 56 returns the planet carrier 112 at a slower speed until the nose 109 falls back to the surface 85, when the stop 108 moves out again and along the outside of cam 106 until it meets the cam 105, thus restoring the higner speed. The sector 111 is pressed against teeth 137, Fig. 6, on the disc 85 by springs 131 that allows its angular position to be adjusted. More than one sector 111 may be provided on the disc 85, with a corresponding number of cams 105,106. The disc 85 carries an hour scale 21 and a knob 86 by which the scale can be set to correct time, a friction drive 132 in the reduction gearing permitting this.