US1899560A - Spurious coin separator - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 28, 1933. E, P. DONNELLAN 1,899,560

SPURIOUS' COIN SEPARATOR Filed Aug. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR iaaaiziflbmm Feb. 28, 1933. E. P. DONNELLAVN 1,399,560

SPURIOUS COIN SEPARATOR FiledAug. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 28, 1933 Q q UNITED TATES mwnnn '2. DonnELnAn, or nnooxnYmnnw was, Ass'renon crown-THIRD To JOHN J. DONNELLAN, or BROOKLYN, nEwYoR gnnn oars-"ra sin 'ro AMEs L. nourish.

LAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK PATENT;OFFICE,

7 sroaious com summon 1 V Application filed-Angustfli 1 931. Seria1 no. 559,705. I

This invention relates. generally .to coin separators, and theinvention has reference,

'more particularly'to a novel coin separator.

especially adapted for use in connection with slot machines for separating spurious or counterfeit coins from genuine coins.

Heretofore, considerable loss'has beensuse 'tainedeach year by owners and operators of slot machines, such as slot vending machines and telephone pay. stations, and the like, owing tothe use byirresponsible persons of counterfeit .coins or other simulated coins.

' The principal object of the. present invention is to provide a novel lcoin separator which is adapted to separate the, great majority of spurious coins from genuine coins, thesaid coin separator being readily adapted .for application to slot machines for effecting the rejection of spurious coins, thereby preventing the use of such spurious coins in these machines. 5.

Another .object of the present invention lies in the provision of a novel coin'separator providing means for automatically separatingspurious coins of either lesser weightor lesser diameter than genuine coins from the latter. a Still another object of-the present'invem -tion is to providea novel spuriouscoin separator which isofsimple, compact construction and involves a minimum of parts and which may be easily manufactured 'in' large quantities. i Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will'b'e clearly understood fromthe following detailed description ofthe same.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: i

Fig. I is a -view'inelevationwithparts brokenaway showing a telephone pay station box eq1 1ipped with the novel, spurious coin separator of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partsectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1; 1

. Fig.- 3 1s anv enlargedfragmentaryjsecwhen a genuine coin passes therethrough.

5 a vi ewisimilar to 4 but illustrates the operation of the device when a spurious coin :passes therethrough.

Fig. 6is'an enlarged sectional View taken along IlinBf-B of Fig. 4; v

, Fig.1 is an-xenlarged sectional view taken substantiallyv allongline 7+7 of Fig. 5;

FigsJS- and 9flareviewssimilar to Fig. 2 of slightly -mo dified forms of construction; anc

Fig. 10 .is. .an enlarged fragmentary sec tion taken along line 10-10 of Fig. 5. V

Similar' characters ,ofreference are anployed in all of the hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to said drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates a slot machine equipped with the novel spurious coin separator ofthe present invention. Slot machine 1 "is-illustrated as consisting of a telephone pay station @bo x but it is to be understood "that the novel .coin separator of the present nvention may-be used. with any type of slot machine. .Thet'elephonebox of Fig. 1, is

.Ilpvel spurious,coinseparator ofithis invention is similarly applied-to eachdeno'minaas applied to a single coin denomination, for

example the quarter, denomination.

illustrated as having quarter, dime and. nickel openings 2, 3 and agrespe ctively. The

Q The quarter opening 2 conducts coins to an 7 inclined'quarter slot 5 (see especially Fig. 2) providedin an inclined member-or plate 6. Theslot 5 inclines downwardly and rearwardly, whereas theplate 6 containing the slot 5 "inclines transversely somewhat with respect toa vertical position, so that coins whilerolling. down this slot are caused tov lean upon and slideover the, inner wall 19 of thisslot. The slot. 5 "is adapted to conduct coins to a suitable quart-er receptade, such as receptacle 7, provided in the lower portion of the machine 1. It will heapparent that the scoin before reaching receptacle 7 may pass througha-registering device, desired, or may perform other operat ons such as. closing anelectric circuit. 1

The-lower wall orledge 8' of slot 5 isprefstantially rectangular shape, which opening serves as a discharge orifice for spurious coins. Opening 9 is of slightlyilesser width than the diameter of a quarter so that genuine coins in moving alon s'lot'5 will:passiby this opening without fa ling therethrough. The lower wall 24 of operiing') is downwardly inclined away from slot as especially shown in Figs. 6yand'7. ()pening'9 communica-tes with an inclined slot 10, (see.Fig. 3)

which inclined slot is "adapted to convey spurious coins passing'through opening 9 to a suitable receptacle. Thus'in Fig. l the slot 10 conveys spurious coins simulating quar- 'tersto a receptacle "1'1. It 'will be apparent, however, that ifdesired these spurious coins could be conveyed to the *return coin .box 12. a spam 'The plate 6"has a'recess 13 provided therein of the same depth as slot 5 and communieating with-this slot. A lever '14 is pivotally mounted within-recess 13 :and cooperates with the opening 9 in ejecting spurious'coins out through this opening9. The lever 14'is preferably pivoted upon hardened point bearing pins 16 and '17, respectively, which pins project into conforming depressions provided in the sides of lever '14. The bearing pin 16 is illustratedgas fixed inasuit- .able aperture provided in plate 6 (see especially Figs. 6 and '7') and the bearing pin117 is illustrated as threaded=through an aperture provided in arbearing'lug '18 formed on the plate 6 in overlying relation 'to recess '13. A cover plate 21' is illustrated as ;mounted upon plate 6 and overlies s'lot'5 and recess 13.

This cover plate is illustrated as cut out at 22, to accommodate the bearing lug 18. It willbe apparent that the bearing lug 18 could be omitted and the bearing pin '17. directly mounted in cover'plate'21,' ifdesired.

The upper surface 23 of'lever 14 is adapted to serve in effect as a continuation of lower ledge 8 so that'genuine coins while passing by opening'9roll along the upper surface 123. The upper surface 23 is also preferably inclined similarly to ledge 8 so as to form'an acute angle with the inner wall 19 of slot 5. 'WVhen lever 14 is positioned so-thatits upper surface 23 is parallelrto ledge'8, asespecially shown in Fig. 4, this upper surface .23 is-positioned sli htly below the lower edge of opening9, whereby a narrow guidingedge portion 25 is providedlby theEinner Wall19 adjacent opening 9 to prevent the accidental shifting of the lower portion of the coin counterclockwise, as viewed in TF ig.2,'"s'o that the upper and forward .end ofthisjlever projects above the ledge '8"and' provides a forward abutting surface or shoulder 28,

which shoulder is impinged upon by coins rolling down.ledge-.,8. The weights 26 are so adjusted that the weight of a twenty-five cent piecerollingdown-ledge 8 and engagihg the lever will justcounterbalance the ieffect.

ofthese'weights and will depresstheforw-ard end of lever 14 and bringthe upper-surface 23 of thislev-er intoparallelpositioniwith respect to ledge '8, as shown inFigv 4. 5 The lever '14 is formed with a forward-projec- 13101129 adapted to engage an overhanging portion 30- of ledge 8" to limit the counterclockwise turning movement of:lever-i14.;underi ace. tion-ofw'eights'26. A pin stop31lis illustrate ed as provided within .recess "13 Iaiid serves- 't0 'limit the clockwise movementof lever '14 asviewed in Fig. 2, this clock-wise an'novement being causedlby coinspassing over the lever:

In'use,=when a genuine coin, .i. e;,a quarter, 1s 'inserted through' opening 2;the-samerdrops .onto ledge 8 and commences "to roll down. this -ledge'with theflat surface of .the coin sliding over the inner wall :19 ofslot5. When-the coin reaches the forward shoulder .28 of lever- 1 4,:the coin tends to ride up on this shoulder and the weight of the coin,- being. such as just to counterbalance the action ofweights .26, serves to depress the forward end ofglever 14 so Lthat'this lever ,turnsintothe position illustrated in Fig. 4. As the coin continues to roll, it rides over the uppersurfac'e'23 of lever 14, the bottom edge :of the coin engaging .the :narrowguide portion 25 of the back wall-:19:andztheupper.edge of the coin engage -ing:theupper marginal edge portion :ofopening 9, so that the coin is prevented from-fall;

ring throughopening 9 and passes this openingand is later conveyed'intothe coin recep -tacle 7. soon as the coin moves off. of.

lever 14, the weights 26 serve toturn lever into its inclined position shownin Let it be assumed that lesser weight :than V a genuine quarter is. now inserted througheopening'2. This coin falls onto ledge 8 and rolls down this-ledge, until a spurious coin of iio Ithe samestrikes the forwardshouldeiy28 of lever 14. Since'the spuriouscoin is offl'ess'ei;

weightathanaquarter, the same will fail to .depress the forward .end. of lever :14 and this coin will there'forrideupand over the shoul- '-der"28, as illustratedin dot andtdashilines I:

in Fig; The coin nowcontinues .to. roll pecially shown in Figs. 5 and.7. This is because the coin normally bears somewhat against the inner wall 19, and as the bottom edge of the coin can not engage the lower marginal edge portion of rear wall 19, this bottom edge slides inwardly under the action of gravity, as especially shown .in Fig. 7, causin thecoin to drop through opening 9,

sliding over. the inclined wall 24, and into'the inclined slot 10 to be discharged into the spurious coin receptacle '11 or to be otherwise disposed of,'-as desired. It will'be notedthat the coin will be discharged through opening 9 regardlessof the relative diameter of the coin. Thus, the coin may be either larger or smaller than a quarter and yet the same will be discharged through opening 9 by the action of lever 14. Inasmuch as the great majority of spurious coins are lighter than the corresponding genuine coins, the great majority of fictitiouscoins are thusly discharged through the opening 9 by .the act? on of lever 14.

I In the event that the fictitiouscoin inserted through opening 2 is heavier than a genuine coin or quarter, the same will roll down ledge 8 and will depress lever 14 and will roll along the upper surface 23 of this lever. If this fictitious coin is of the same diameter or of a larger diameter than a genuine coin, the same will not fallthrough opening 9, but will be conveyed to the coin receptacle 7 However, if this fictitious coin is of lesser diameter than a genuine coin, the upper edge'thereof will notengage the'uper edge of opening 9, and hence such fictitious 'coin will be discharged through opening 9 and into the fictitious coin receptacle; Thus, it will be'noted that the novel coin separator of the present invention serves to separateout all spurious coins with the exception-of those which have the same or greater weight than agenuine coin and the -same or slightly greater diameter than a genuine coin. Of course, should thefictitious coin have a. relatively large diameter, the same could not be inserted through opening 2. The slots (not shown) in'plates 6 and 6 for conveying the dime and nickel coins, respectively, are similarly equipped with the separating mechanism heretofore described in connection with the quarter slot 5, so thatfictitious coins of these denominations are discharged into receptacles 11 and 11, respectively, whereas the genuine coins are discharged into receptacles 7 and 7", respectively. Plates 6 and 6 have cover plates 21 and 21", respectively, (see Fig. 1). j

It will be aparent that many changes may be made in the construction of the novel spurio'us coin separator of this invention while-still remaining within the scope of this invention. For example, the threaded rod 27 instead of projecting outwardly from the lower end of lever 14, may extend in underlying relation to one arm of this lever, as shownin Fig. 8. In this figure, the rod 27 issecured in an extension 33 formed on the lower arm or lever 14. This construction makes the device more compact than that disclosed in the preceding figures, while still retaining the .ad-

justability of weights26. It will be apparent that these weights may be locked against one another in any position desired alongathe rod 27... If desired, "the weights 26 may be omitted in some instances, in which case the lever 14 Will be provided with a'projection 34 to take'the place of'weights26, as shown in Fig- 9.

It will be noted that the novel spurious coin separator of this invention is of extremely simple construction, ofcompact design, and in practice the same has been'found to substantially eliminate the use of spurious coins V 1 slot machines, the same serving to eject the spurious coins which are commonly returned to the users ofsuch coins. The adjustability of the weights 26 enables the lever 14 to be readily adjusted to, suit any denomination of coin, or "if desired, dillerent levers may ,be cast for the several denominatlons ofcoins, as suggested in Fig. 9. Thewidthof the-opening 9 will, of course, vary in accordance with the varying denominations of coins;

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of'this invention could be made Without departing from vthescope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall 7 be interpreted as illustrative and not in a lime iting sense.

What is claimed is: f s

1. A'spurious-coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slot thereinfor conveying coins toward a receiving receptacle, said member having a spurious coin discharge opening communicating with said slot, said member being transversely inclined in a direction toward said opening,

a lever pivotally carried by said member and positioned ajaccnt said slot and said discharge opening, said member havlnga passage between said lever and said slot through which said leveris arranged to project so as to extend into said. slot above the adjacent margin of said'd'ischarge opening for the purpose of. ejecting spurious coins through said discharge opening, said lever being;depressibleby a proper coin so as to be offset below the adjacent margin of saiddischarge opening.

2. A spuriouscoinseparator comprising,- a member having acoln slot thereintor conveying' coins toward a receiving receptacle, said coin slot having a side wall with a spurious coin discharge opening therein and a lower wall serving as a runway for coins, said side wall having the discharged opening being outwardly and upwardly inclined, said member having a recess communicating with said slot, a lever pivoted within said recess and arranged to project into said coin slot so as to lie inthe path of movement of coins passing therethrough but with a portion thereof above the lower margin of said discharge opening, said lever being arranged to be forced out of said coin slot and below the lower margin of said discharge opening by genuine coins moving in said slot but acting to remain in said slot during the passage vof spurious coins, to thereby divert said spurious coins outwardly through said spurious coin discharge opening.

3. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slot therein for conveying coins toward a receiving receptacle, said coin slot having a side wall with a spurious coin discharge opening-therein and a lower wall serving as a runway for coins, said member being transversely inclined toward said discharge opening, said member having a recess below said coin slot and icommunicating with the latter, a lever pivotally mounted Within said recess and being biased so that a portion thereof initially projects upwardly into said coin slot adjacent said spurious coin discharge opening and above the lower margin thereof, said lever serving to partially obstruct the passage of coins through said coin slot and being arranged to vbe depressed downwardly into said recess and below the lower margin of said discharge opening by the passage of genuine coins, but acting to elevate the lighter spurious coins so that the same are ejected through said spurious coin discharge opening.

4. A spurious coin separator comprising,

in a member having a coin slot therein for discharge opening and above the lower margin of the latter, said lever being arranged to be depressed substantially'out of said coin slot and below the lower margin of said discharge opening by the weight of a passing genuine coin, but remaining partially within said coin slot and above the lowermargin of said discharge opening during the passage of a lighter spurious coin, to thereby divert said coin so that the latter is ejected through said spurious coin discharge opening.

5. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slot therein, said member having a spurious coin discharge opening communicating with said coin slot, saidmember being transversely inclined toward said discharge opening, a lever pivotally carried by said member adjacent said coin slot, said lever being adjustably weighted so that a portion thereof normally projects into said coin slot above a margin of said discharge opening, the weighted adjustment of said lever being such that a genuine coin in passing through said coin slot will substantially remove said lever portion from the path of movement of the coin and below said margin of said discharge opening, whereas a lighter and spuriouscoin will fail to so remove said lever portion with the result that said spurious coin is deflected by said lever portion outwardly through said spurious coin discharge opening.

6. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slot therein provided with an inclined lower wall, said member having a spurious coin discharge opening communicating with said coin slot, said member being transversely inclined toward said discharge opening, a lever pivotally carried by said member adjacent said coin slot, the lower wall of said coin slot being partially cut away to accommodate said lever, said lower wall and the upper surface of said lever serving in use as a coin runway, said lever being adjustably weighted so that the forward end portion thereof normally projects upwardly into said coin slot above said lower wall andabove a margin of said discharge opening, the weighted adjustment of said lever being such that a genuine coin in advancing upon the raised forward end portion of said lever acts to depress such lever forward portion below said margin of the discharge opening, causing the upper surface of the lever to move into substantial alignment with the lower wall of said coin slot whereupon said genuine coin continues along saidcoin slot while rolling over said lever, whereas a lighter spurious coin, in advancing upon said lever forward portion, fails to depress the same, but in riding upon such forward portion is raised above the margin of said discharge opening so as to fall outwardly therethrough. I

7. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member provided with a transversely tipped coin'slot having a lower wall with an elongated opening therein, a lever pivoted below saidcoin slot'and having its upper surface arranged to substantially close the opening in said lower wall, weighted means onsaid lever for causing an end portion thereof to project upwardly into said coin slot, whereby a coin in rolling down said coin slot is caused to engage said lever projecting end portion, said weighted means being of such magnitude that a genuine coin will depress said lever end portion causing said lever to be turned downwardly so that its upper surface moves into substantial alignment with the lower surface of said coin slot, said coin slot having a spurious coin discharge opening positioned in the side wall thereof just above said lever upper surface when such surface is in substantial alignment with said coin slot lower wall.

8. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member provided with a coin slot having a lower wall with an elongated opening therein, a lever pivoted below said coin slot and having its upper surface arranged to substantially close the opening in said lower wall, weighted means on said lever for causing an end portion thereof to project upwardly into said coin slot, whereby a coin in rolling down said coin slot is caused to engage said lever projecting end portion, said weightcdmeans being of such magnitude that a genuine coin will depress said lever end portion causing said lever to be turned downwardly so that the upper surface moves into substantial alignment with the lower surface of said coin slot, said coin slot having a spurious coin discharge opening positioned in the side wall thereof just above said lever upper surface when such surface is in substantial alignment with said coin slot lower wall, said spurious coin discharge opening being somewhat narrowerthan the diameter of a genuine coin, the coin slot side wall containing said discharge opening being inv clined with respect to the vertical so that a coin will lean thereagainst as the same passes said discharge opening.

In testimony, that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of August 1931.

EDWARD P. DONNELLAN.

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