US1186577A - Attachment for coin-collecting apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

A; U. HOEFER & L. D. BARROWS.

ATTACHMENTFOR com COLLECTVINIG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 6, 19 15.

1,]. 86,577 Patented June 13, 1916.

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/ B1 17% WW LUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cu WASHINGTON n c ALFRED U. HOEFER, OF EAST ORANGE-NEW JERSEY, AND LEONv D. BARROWS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS T0 AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ATTACHMENT FO'R COIN-COLLECTING APPARATUS.

Application filed'February 6, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED U. Honrnn and LEON D. BARROWS, residing at East Orange and New York, in the counties of Essex and New York and States of New Jersey and New York, respectively, have invented certain Improvements in Attachments for Coin-Collecting Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Occasions sometimes arise which may temporarily cause, the normal operation of the coin collectors employed at telephone substations to be other than what is required under the circumstances. An, instance of this appears in connection with the collection by telephone companies, under the emergency revenue law of October 22, 1914, of the tax of one cent upon certain telephone messages. It is desirable that the user of a telephone provided with a coin box shall be able to deposit in the latter, not only the customary toll charge, but also, if this is required under the law, the Federal tax of one cent. In a well known type of coin box which has openings for the reception of five-cent, ten-cent and twenty-five cent pieces, the introduction of a coin of smaller diameter into any of the openings than what they are designed to receive causes such coin to be diverted from the deposit receptacle of the apparatus to a return receptacle, where it is accessible tothe calling party. To provide the standard collector with a special opening to receive the deposited one-cent pieces wouldsubject telephone companies to a heavy expense and would require much time. The present invention, by the use of an inexpensive and readily applicable attachment, adapts the usual collecting apparatus to retain coins supplied to it in payment of the Federal tax through one of the ordinary openings.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a rear elevation of portions of a coin collecting box with our attachment applied Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1916.

Serial No. 6,456.

thereto; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the attachment removed from the box.

Throughout the drawings similar reference characters indicate like parts in all views.

The numeral 10 designates the casing of a familiar form of toll apparatus adapted to receive in slots on openings at its top coins of three denominations, the opening for twenty-fiveecent pieces appearing at 11-. Mounted within the casing below the receiving openings is a runway frame 12 formed with three channels, into which coins pass from the slots, are brought into contact with suitable audible signals and are delivered through discharge openings 13 into a deposit box, situated at the bottom of the casing but which is not here illus trated. Of these channels of runways, that numbered 14 leads from the slot 11 past the chimes signal 15 to the opening 13. At the front of the frame 12 is an opening 16 extending along the runway 14, which openingis too narrow to permit a twenty-fivecent piece to fall through it, but which passes a cent, so that the latter upon reaching the opening 16 leaves the runway 14 and is received by a return chute 17. This chute is ordinarily constructed of sheet metal, with an inclined portion 18 reaching from the front wall of thecasing to the frame.

12, this furnishing a deflecting surface or floor upon which fall the small diameter coins from the opening 16 and from similar return openings for the other coin channels in the frame 12. The floor 18 terminates in a downwardly extending portion 19 with at 21 of rectangular shape. The top of the rear flange 20 has an edge 22 extending horizontally from thefend' of the floor 18 to the side of the collector casing, and between the lower portion of the flange and the easing-wall is a space 24. The small coins sliding down the floor of the return chute into this passage are normally discharged through the opening 21 into a return receptacle (not illustrated) to which the user of the apparatus has access. I 7

At A appears our attachment, which closes the discharge opening of the return chute to retain the one-cent pieces dropped in the slot 11 within the collecting apparatus, and which increases the extent of the chute wall to provide a receptacle of suitable capacity for the retained coins, this being independent of the toll deposit receptaclel The member A is preferably punched from sheet metal, such as spring brass, and has two flat arms and 26 lying at an acute angle to one another. The arm 25 is of proper dimensions to close the opening 21, while the lower portion of the arm 26 corresponds in size to the rear chute-flange 20, which, when the attachment is .in position in the box, it

overlies. The outer edge of the arm 26 is situated in close proximity to the casing wall. At the outer edge of the arm 25 a flange 28 is turned up at right angles to said v arm toward theassociated arm, and is of such a height that it enters the space 24 and thus holds the attachment against inward displacement. Just above the edge 22 of the chute the arm 26 is bent forwardly toward the arm 25, giving a shoulder 29 overhanging the edge 22 and tending to retain the member A against downward movement; At or near the center of'the arm 26, with respect to its lateral dimension, an upwardly extending tongue 30 is formed, with its free extremity bent at 31 in the direction of the shoulder and then-back toward the rear so that its tip 32 is outside the arm 26. This portion 31 is of such contour that it firmly engages the edge 22 of the chute and frunishes a spring catch by which the attachment is removably locked 'in place. The portion 32 gives a finger piece through which the catch may be drawn back to free the attachment. The yield of the arms 25 and 26 also facilitates the application of the attachment to and its removal from the return chute.

The arm 26 is extended beyond the catch in a widened portion 33 which fills a part of the space between the incline 18 and the casing wall, this having the effect of upwardly prolonging the wall of the return chute above the edge 22 of the flange 20; There is thus furnished in the lower end of the chute a receptacle of considerable capacity for retaining the coins,

which in absence of the'attachment would have been delivered to the return receptacle. In the use of a coin collecting apparatus provlded with our attachment, the'operator into the return chute '17.. In its passage down the chute the rattling sound which it produces therein is heard by the operator in the same manner as are the signals given by the toll coins. Upon reaching the end of the chute, the tax coin strikes the arm 25 of the member A, orpreviously deposited coins, and so remains in the 'pocket formed at the bottom of the chute. At proper intervals the collected coins may be removed by an authorized'p'erson having a key to the locked casing 10.

We claim as our inventioni 1. A coin chute closing attachment comprising an angular member having two arms one of which is adapted to constitute a chute closure and the other of said arms serving to attach the member on the chute.

2. A coin chute closing attachment comprising an angular member having two arms one of which is, adapted to constitute a chute closure "and theother of said arms serving to attach the member on the chute,each of said arms having portions adapted to engage parts of the chute. r v

3. A coin chute closing attachment comprising a strip of sheet metal bent to furnish two arms one of which is adapted to constitute a chute closure and the other serving to attach the member on the chute, the first-named arm having a lateral flange for engaging a part of the chute and the secondnamed arm being provided with a spring for locking said arm to the chute. a V

4. An attachment for coin collectors consisting of a strip of sheet metal bent to furnish two arms, one of said arms having a lateralflange, and the other of said arms being provided with a spring tongue and with a portion beyond the tongue wider than the remainder of the arm. V

5. In combination, a coin collecting apparatus provided withla coin chute having a side wall and a discharge opening, and an attachment comprising a portion closing the opening and retaining a-portion extending above the side wall.

6. In combination, a coin collecting apparatus providedwith a coin return chute having aside wall and a discharge opening, and

" an attachment comprising a portion closing the opening and provided with a retaining ment comprising a portion engaging the lower extremity of the chute, a catch engaging an upper edge of the chute and a portion above the catch furnishing an extension of the chute.

8. In combination, a coin collector having a casing and a return chute secured to the Wall of the casing and spaced therefromat its lower extremity; and an attachment comprising portions extending across the bottom of the return chute and between the chute and wall and a catch engaging an upper edge of the chute.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this twenty-sixth day of January, 1915.

ALFRED U. HOEFER.

WVitnesses:

CHARLES J. DAVIDSON, SAMUEL RASNNIER.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this twenty-second day of January, 1915.

LEON D. BARROVVS.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH A. GATELY, JOHN B. Hymns.

(Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,186,577, granted June 13, 1916, upon the application of Alfred U. Hoefer, of East Orange, N eW Jersey, and

Leon D. Barrows, of New York, N. Y., for an improvement in Attachments for Coin-Collecting Apparatus, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 115, claim 5, for the phrase retaining a portion read ct retaining portion; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 18th day of July, A. D., 1916.

[SEAL] R. F. WHITEHEAD,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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