US1617496A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 15,1927.

c. J. PAULSON VENDING MACHINE original Filed April 22. 1921 Patented Feb. 15,1927.

. U TETD ST T "CHARLES J; 'IATTIISON, or BnooKLYN, NEW roan.

MACHINE f Application filed A'pril 22; 192i; Serial'it'b. 463, 65, 11 R newed-Jul i, i926.

This invention're'lates to vending machines and my present improvements are directed particularly to' automatic means for detecting and rejecting lightiveight coins, disks,

5 slugs, washers and other devices with which lt ls not uncomm nto-attempt to operat coin-controlled mechanism; With the vent ling'machines at pr'es'ent in use these fraudulent practices have met with some success because the preventive means hitherto kn'o'vvn and employed have not been Wholly eflicient, and this lack of positively reventive means against the operative employment of other than the actual coins ion'W-hi'ch' a given L5 vending device is-intende'd has led to the production ofthe present invention;

My invention-also includes meansfjor preventing the choking eta-vending machine with coinsordisks. "1 r 2 Essentially my improvements may 'be'sa-id to comprise 'i v j 1) The employment of gravity, intercepting means in 'thecoin chute Whichprevents the passage of a light Weight disk and instead ejects it from the side of the chute.

Means including the arrangement of a coin chute relatively to the point'of oper- "ative lodgment for a coin whereby following coins for disks entering th'e 'chute,-to

V ,3 hoke it; illbe deflected by the lodged coinand ejectedjfrom the side of the chute.

(8) The employmentwf means whereby coinsj disks or slugs that-"are ofsmal'ler size than the particular coin for which the machine "is designed, Will, itof suflicient weight, pass through the chute, but Will fail to become lodged inth'efm'echanism thereof to perform the useful function which it isthe part of a designated coin toperform.

(4) Means whereby spurious coins" or disks composed of magnetizable material Will be defiectedand ejectedfr'om theside of the chute by a magnet that is's'o located j I I I and;'tli'e"plate 5 has-apor'tlon 11 that en- 7 gages said ca device, when said plate is r with. respect to thelateral ejection outletpof an inclined chuteas tobe highly eii'ective in ejecting disks of this character. a

V V 5) Means forimpaling Washers or disks having a central orifice ifthese should be-- come lodged in the, operative part-of the machine, ,the impaling"means serving to cause the ejection of this class of fraudulent device in the attempted operation of the machine thereby.

, (6) Means whereby the entrance to the .coin chute is so angled with relationtothe receiving slot latter is just'of sufworkingag'ainst a return spring 12,}and the ficient dimensions to i receive a designated coin) that arectangular blank, not too Wide to enter the slot, thoughcapable of operafive lodgment in the machine, is prevented trom'passing into the chute.

"Other-features and advantages ofimy invention will hereinafter appear,

lnthe drawinga 7' Figured is a vertical, side sectional View of aportion of a vending machine including 7 myimprovementse v I i Fig. 2 is an enlarged, front elevation thereof, and r Fig; 3 is-an enlarged detail viewof the mechanism for the rejection of orificed'coins ordisks.

Wlrle the invention compris-edin the present-application is capable of employment with vending mac"hines in general, I "have applied its featuresto the'machine: which is g the subject'ofmy earlier patent application My "sa d" ear lierapplication included a plunger 1, operating in a guide :2, and -hav- 'in'g'a handle 3 by which it could' 'be'pulled 5 for'x'zv-ar dlyagainst the retractile energy of'a spring 4 regulator plate 5, pivoted to the lower end of a lever- '6, and provided with a coin 5lodgmenteat7 has'that seat located normally beneath a coin slot 8 in the p1u-nger, s0 t l-late 'coin' A delivered to slot 8,

"lodgesin seat? andthereby unites the pl-unger 1 and plate, and when the plunger is pulled forwardly it draws the plate-5 with it,therebyoperatingthe lever 6 against the 'retractile energy 'ozt'a spring 9, that; per-- form certain article ejecting and other iu'nctions, not 1 necessar t repeat herein;

The guide 2 hasa forward cam device-10" pulled forwardly, to release the seat 7 from theco'in, the plate 51in that release action ispf'i-ng' '12 causing the returntonor al posi:

'tion of plate "5 "before the plunger has reached the limitof itsoutward stroke,

"Wher'eafter thecoin is free to drop-into a coin receptacle. f I

rhepaiticular features of the; foregoing assemblage to be aotea "in c onjunetionwith r tay'pre'sefit' improvements are the coin slot 8 in plunger 1, and the coin seat 7 in vplate 5. Said slot8, in the normal position of plunger 1, is located beneath a chute 13,

, Whichis to conduct a coin to slot 8 for lodgment in the coin seating slot 7 ofplant 5.

The chute 13 is a straight, flat tube, openat both ends but arranged at a slight edgewiseinclination, its lower end, for coin de-' livery, being set somewhat olf centre with respect to the slot 8, into which it is' to deposit a coin for'operative purposes. Thus, the forward edge (in Fig. 2) of chute 13,

' which at its lower portion has a coin ejection opening '14, extends beyondthe confines of slot 8, but the rearward edge thereof, at the same lower portion, is given an inward curved surface 15, which continues into an outward curvature 16, thatterminate's, at the chute end, just within the vertical plane bounding the rear edge of slot 8, above sald s1ot.-. v

The purpose of the curvature 1'516 is to cause a designated coin, falling angularly through the chute, to be guided in its emer- ;gence from the chute so that it will fall into slot 8,'and, while lodged in seat 7 will gproject above slot 8 in manner to present its upper segment tangentially to the base of a following coin or "disk which latter will thereby become deflected upon striking. said seated coin and be ejected through opening 14, .in this way positively preventing the chute from becoming choked, either with "tion has an edgeopening 17, with an'outdesignated coins, or with disks or slugs.

The chute 13, at its upper, forward porwardly angled lip 18 that lies beneath a coin vslot 19 in a cover plate 20. The slot 19 is gauged to just clearingly receive a designated coin, and is located in its superposed relation to the chute 13 to deposita coin upon the lip 18,'so that the coin will enter the chute angularly, but the space between v the plate20 and the top edge'of lip 18 is insufficient to permit the entry into'the chute of a rectangular blank whose width is about equal to the diameter of the designated coin.

' Pivoted at 21 to lugs 22 upon the chute,

at anintermediate point thereof, is a pawl tion 25 that normallyholds said pawl in its. intercepting position in the chute to prevent or interceptor 23 having an end, inclined seat or ledge portion 24 that lies within the I chute, in'V-the path of a falling coin or disk,

said pawl being balanced by a weighted porthe pas'sagetherethrough of an object whose I weight is less than that of a designated coin. Therefore alightweight coin or disk is arrested in'transit through the chute and is caused to be ejected through a slot or open- 7 ing 26v provided in the rear edge ofthe chute, it being guided toward said opening byreason of-the inclined character of the pawl seat ortion' 24- whose inclination is direct-. ed o nw rdly toward sa d p n ng 26.

But designated coins, namely, coins of the value intended to eifect the delivery of the article to be vended, will overbalance the weight 25, thereby tilting the seat portion 24 and providing the necessary clearance to permit passage of such coin through the chute 'for delivery to slot 8.

Also at the rear, upper portion of chute 13'I mount a magnet 27, capable of attract-' coin or blank'A'striking said lodged coin tangentially and thereby being ejected through opening 14.

hole, and which is of suflicient weight to pass thebalanced arresting and ejecting'device becoming engaged in slot 8 and lodged on seat 7, I provide other ejection means of the following character. 7 y

Lugs 28 carried by the plunger 1 serve as bearings fora rod 29, on which is'carried a hook 30, whose point is inclined toward. the.

slot 8 in position to impale an orificed coin or blank D lodged in said slot. A post 31 extends vertically from rod 29 and is urged For a washer or disk having a central rearwardly against a stop 32 by the tension of .aspring 33 connecting said post with a vrearward post34 mounted on the plunger.

Also the rod 29. at, its ends, carries the rear wardly inclined legs 35 that are adapted to bear against lugs 36 projecting from the op posite sides of plate 5. The effect of spring 33 is superior to that of spring 12, and therefore, as, the plunger is being drawn forwardly, causing the hook 30 to impale the coin or disk the legs 35 press against lugs 36 and depress plate 5,v thereby releasing the coin or disk D from its seated engagement with slot; 7, and permitting spring 12 to re-- tract said plate 5 before lever 6 has been rocked a suflicientdegree, (in the organism of my SfllClearlier application, Serial No.

451,948) to permit spring 9 to effect an articleejection. In fact a stop 37 mounted on plunger 1, arrests the further rearward movement ofpost 31 at the point in the operation of legs 35 when they have spread the plate 5 apart from plunger 1 sufliciently to release the orificed'coin or disk, because the impaling hook 30, in its concurrent upward movement, will have lifted the coin or disk (when-the orifice thereof is small) to assist in eifecting its dislodgment. Therefore the continued forward pull of plunger 1 will be idle movement, and in its return motion the coin or disk will strike against th erect pl te 5 a d here y be shifted'ofi Obviously, when a designated coin is lodged in the seat 7 and slot 8 the hook will merely bear against the surface of such coin as the plunger 1 is pulled outwardly, and consequently no co-action between the legs and lugs 36 can occur to interfere with the article ejecting operation of the machine.

Variations within the spirit and scope of my invention are equally comprehended herein.

I claim f 1. The combination, in a vending machine, of a coin chute having an edgewise outlet, said chute being inclined downwardly in the vertical plane of said outlet, and the edge surface of said chute whose plane intersects the vertical medial line through the chute provided with following inward and outward curvatures, coin lodgment means locatedbeneath said chute with its centre at one side the vertical centre of said chute exit, whereby a following coin or disk will strike a lodged coin tangentially and be discharged through said outlet.

'2. The combination, in a vending ma chine, of means provided with a coin reception slot, a chute for the passage of coins, located in spaced relation beneath said slot, the centres of said slot and chute mouth being unaligned, the upper end of said chute having an edge openingunder said slot, and guide means to direct a coin from said slot, through said edge opening, into said chute.

3. The combination, in a vending machine,

. of means provided with a coin reception slot,

a chute for the passage of'coins located in spaced relation beneath said slot, said chute being edgewise inclined, the centres of said slot and chute mouth being unaligned, the upper end of said chute having an edge opening under said slot, and guide means to direct a coin from said slot through said edge opening, into'said chute.

4:. The combination, in a vending machine having coin seating means whereby a coin may form an operative part of the machine, of means for impaling an orificed coin or disk lodged in said seating means, said means comprising a pendent hook curved to direct its point toward the coin or disk and means for concurrently releasing said seating means from said orificed coin or disk.

having a plunger with a coin slot therein, a

guide for the plunger, a pivotal: memberv sition of said plunger, means carried by said hook carrying means to co-act with said pivotal member inthe forward movement of said. plunger, and release its coin seat from a lodged, orificed coin or disk, concurrently with the impaling action of said hook, and

a stop 'tolimit the tensionally urged'moves ment of said hook.

Signed at'the borough of Manhattan, in

this 8th day of April A. D., 1921.

7 CHARLES J. PAULSON. I

5. The combination, in a vending machinethe city, county, and State of New York,

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