US2080389A - Coin sorting machine - Google Patents

Description

M y 1937. J. E. RASMUSEN ET AL 2,080,389.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NE 'Filed Dec. 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS JESSE E. fP/ISMUSE/V. L/Y/P/ST/A/V fl. LAl/SE/V.

' 7- ATTORNEYS May 11, 1937. J, EN ET L 2,080,389

COIN SORTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lAVf/Vfd/P IPASMl/SEN, cw/P/sr/A/v 0.111035.

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1-33. COIN HANDLING and/or wrapping mechanism.

Patented May 11, 1937 PATENT OFFICE com soarnvo MACHINE Jesse E. Rasmusen and Christian A. Lausen, Fort Worth, Tex.; said Lausen assignor to said Rasmusen Application December 21, 1931, Serial No. 582,198

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for sorting coins.

It is one object of this invention to provide a coin-sorting machine having rotating means for sorting coins of different denomination delivered thereto from a hopper.

Another object is to provide a coin-sorting machine having a hopper with an inclined bottom, a rotating distributing disc with a plurality of radially directed coin slots and a stationary member formed to cooperate with the rotating disc to urge the coins to enter the coin slots.

Another object is to provide a coin-sorting machine, as previously described, wherein several spring fingers engage the coins to urge them in the direction of sorting, as into coin chutes.

These and other advantages will appear from the following description taken in connection' with the drawings.

In the drawings;

Figure 1 is an auxiliary view of the top of the coin-sorting machine showing the coin hopper with the coin sorting disc and othermechanism located therein for separating the coins and feeding them to different chutes.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the coin-sorting machine shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a central section through the coinsorting machine of Figure 1, taken along the line 33 in an inclined plane passing through the axis of the central shaft.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the coinsorting machine of our invention is shown as consisting of a device which may be used either by itself or in conjunction with coin counting In any of these cases the machine is driven by a motor (not shown) which supplies power to the main driving shaft 13 to give it a suitable speed of rotation.

The main driving shaft I3 is rotatably supported by means of a bearing I4 in one end of a base plate I5. The latter is attached by means of studs I6 and I! to' a plate I8 supported by posts I9 upon the main base of the machine (not shown). This plate I8 is supported in an inclined position, as shown in Figure 2. Around the upper edge of the plate I8 is a ring 20, which has attached to it and to the plate a hopper 2I by means of brackets 22 and screws 23. These screws serve to hold the hopper and the ring on the plate.

On the end of the main driving shaft I3 adjacent the plate I5 is a gear 24, which has integral therewith a clutch member 25. The gear 24 and the clutch member 25 freely rotate upon the shaft I3. Located intermediate the stud I6, which is adjacent the periphery of the plate I8 and the stud I1, which is at the center of the plate I8, is a gear 26 rotatably mounted on the stub shaft 21 secured to the plate I8. This gear 26 meshes with the gear 24 and a gear 28 supported on the central stud IT.

The gear 28 imparts rotation to a shaft 29 which extends through a suitable opening in the plate I8, and has adjacent its upper end a large disc 30 adapted to rotate within the hopper and the ring 20. On the extreme upper end of the shaft 29 is a small retaining disc 3I, which has between it and the rotatable disc 30 a thin stationary disc 32 with one side out therefrom.

The stationary disc 32 has a hole 33 therein, as shown in Figure 1, adapted to receive the end of the spring finger 39 described below. The stationary disc 32 is held in rigid position with relation to the hopper and the plate I8 by means of a support 34, which additionally serves as a scraper for the removal of surplus coins from the rotating disc 39 attached by a screw at one end to the hopper and at the other end to the disc 32. The thin disc 32 is of such thinness that the uppermost of two of the thinnest coins, if superimposed in one of the radial slots described below, will project slightly above the edge of the disc 32 so as to be engaged and wiped off by the scraper 34. Suitably attached to the plate I8 and the ring 29 is a stiff, heavy plate 35, as shown in Figure 1.

Extending from the plate 35, adjacent the ring 29, is a spring finger 36, while a similar finger 31 projects from the other end of the plate 35. There is also attached to' the inner end of the plate 35, adjacent the finger 31, one end. of an arcuate arm 38, to the other end of which arm a spring finger 39 is attached. This arcuate arm I has a set screw 40 with a locknut, adjustable therein, for engagement with the stationary disc 32 to hold the latter against the rotating disc 33.

The disc 39, rotated by the shaft 29, has around its periphery a plurality of radially extending slots which provide seats for coins of different sizes. Near the periphery of the disc is a quarter seat 4I. Adjacent this quarter seat and nearer the center of the disc is a nickel seat 42, and still nearer the center of the disc, in the same slot, is a penny seat 43, while-still nearer is a seat for dimes, not shown, but similar to each of the other seats. There is therefore provided in each radially extending slot four seats for coins, arranged from the periphery inwardly in the following order: Quarters, nickels, pennies and dimes.

During operation, due to the tilted arrangement of the apparatus (Figure 2), the coins slide downwardly under the influence of gravity and drop into the quarter seats 4| at the outer ends of the slots, near the lower edge of the hopper, between the wall of the hopper 2I and the edge of the disc 32 (Figure 1). As'the disc 30 rotates in a counterclockwise direction, the coins in the quarter seats 4| of the slots are moved upwardly in the beneath the disc 32.

hopper. As the upwardly moving coins pass beyond a horizontal line through the center of the shaft 29 (Figure 1) the scraper 34 will remove the surplus coins. The latter will slide downwardly across the disc 32 to the bottom of the hopper, and excepting the quarters, the coins remaining in the slots will roll, under the force of gravity, from the quarter seats 4| at the outer ends of the slots, into the space beneath the stationary disc 32 and continue radially toward the center of the disc.

As will be evident from Figures 1 and 3, the depth of each slot is governed by the thickness of the rotatable disc 3|], and the close engagement therewith of the stationary disc 32 is insuflicient to permit the passage of more than one coin into the space beneath the disc 32, and as previously stated, the scraper 34 has removed surplus coins therefrom. The smallest coins will move to the innermost positions, or dime seats, in the slots, the next larger coins will come to rest in the penny seats 43, the next larger coins in the nickel seats 42, and the largest coins will remain in the quarter seats 4|. In order to insure that the coins will be properly arranged in the slots, and I to prevent small coins from discharging into larger outlets, the outlets for the coins are arranged in staggered sequence so that the smaller holes are encountered before those of the larger coins, with the result that the small coins have been disposed of before the large outlets are reached by the rotating slots.

Any coin lying on top of another coin in the slot will merely be fended off by the scraper 34 or by the disc 32 as the coin in the slot slides beneath them. The fended-oil coins will slide downwardly, under the influence of gravity, until they drop into the quarter seats 4| near the bottom edge of the hopper 2|. As each coin lies on an inclined plane, its weight will produce a force having both horizontal and vertical components, causing it to tend to pass into a flat position in its slot by the time it has reached the upper point, where the coins smaller than quarters have to pass In the infrequent case when a coin remains tilted in its seat until it rides up to the top of its path of motion, no harm would be done because the tilted coin would then merely slide down past the cutaway edge of the stationary disc 32, and would be guided by this cutaway edge into another slot. The cutaway edge of the disc thus not only assists in guiding coins into the slots, but also prevents such coins from entering the laterally located quarter and nickel outlets 44 before making a complete cycle of the apparatus.

The coins located in the hopper will seat themselves in the slots and be arranged therein according to their sizes in the seats provided therefor. and in order to assist in arranging the coins in their proper seats the disc 32 is provided, and for forcing the coins other than the quarters through the slots, as the disc 30 rotates, the fingers 36, 31, and 39 are provided. The tip ends of these fingers are located immediately above holes 44 in the plate l8, these holes leading to the coin chutes described below. As the disc 30 rotates, with the coins in the slots, the fingers 36, 31, and 39 will force the coins other than the quarters through the holes 44 into the respective chutes beneath the holes 44.

From each of these holes 44 extends a downwardly inclined chute. The chute extending from the quarter hole is indicated by the numeral 45; that extending from the nickel hole is indicated by the numeral 46; that from the penny hole is indicated by the numeral 41 while the dime chute is indicated by the numeral 48. Each chute terminates at its lower end in any suitable container (not shown) or may discharge its coins into a coin counting and/or wrapping apparatus, as desired.

In order to cause the gear 24 to be selectively rotated by the shaft |3 or to be held motionless, as desired, there is provided a clutch mechanism, operated by a clutch rod 5|, which terminates in a clutch ring 52. Extending from this clutch ring is a plurality of fingers 53, which have bentin ends fitting in a groove 54 in a clutch member 55. The latter cooperates with the clutch 25 for rotating the gear 24 and consequently the gear 28 by which the disc 30 is rotated.

In the operation of the machine, the main driving shaft is rotated by starting the motor. When it is desired to rotate the disc 3| so as to sort the coins which are placed in the hopper, the clutch rod 5| is pushed up so that the clutch member 55 engages the clutch member 25. By this means the rotation of the shaft I3 is transmitted through the clutch and the plurality of gears supported by the plate |5 to the disc 30 located within the hopper. When it is desired to disconnect the disc 30 from the shaft |3 the clutch rod 5| is pulled down, thereby removing the clutch member 55 from engagement with the clutch member 25.

It will be understood that we desire to comprehend within our invention such modifications as come within the scope of our claims and our invention.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a coin sorting machine, a tilted hopper having a stationary base plate with coin outlet apertures of various sizes for different denominations of coins, a rotatable driving member, a rotating disc on said driving member having slots, the sides of which are formed into coin guiding cam surfaces for guiding coins on the surface of the stationary base plate to the coin selector apertures therein, and a stationary disc over said rotating disc adapted to cover the central portion thereof, said coin outlet apertures being arranged at different radial distances from the axis of rotation of said driving member.

2. In a coin sorting machine, a coin hopper having an inclined bottom with a plurality of discharge openings therein, a disc mounted for rotation on said bottom, said disc having a plurality of radially disposed slots therein with seats for receiving coins of different sizes and for assisting in conveying them to the opening according to size, a stationary disc-shaped member formed to cooperate with the rotatable disc and the inclined bottom to cause the coins to travel singly in said slots between said stationary disc and said inclined bottom to said discharge openings, said stationary disc being of less size than the rotatable disc and cut away at one part, and means acting on the coins in the cut-away part of the stationary disc to expel certain of the coins.

JESSE E. RASMUSEN. CHRISTIAN A. LAUSEN.

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