US2204853A - Coin or token handling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

E. GQDMAN 2,2%53

COIN 0R TOKEN HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. e, 195e 2 shQetS-speet y.

E. GQODMAN com on TOKEN BANDI.

ENG APPARATUS Filed Jan. 6, 1956 2 Sheets-Shea?. 2

H: P) ff /4/56 Patented June 18,

, ascisse cors on 'renna name earns Emil Goodman,

assignments, to dames E. ilocal,

Chicago, El., assigner, by mesme hicago,

application naam' c, isst, serian no. 57,725

maints.

My invention relates generally to coin or token handling apparatus, and

upon

lates to improvements more particularly rethe apparatus shown in my copending application Serial No. ld'l,

filed November "I, granted December 19, 1

1935, Patent No. 2,133,611,

939; and upon the apparatus shown in the application of Harry Kerel,

Claude Hutchinson, and

30,982, @led July 12, 1935, Patent N0.

George Baca, Serial No. zderi,

granted February 2i, 1939.

In my aforesaid appllcation is disclosed a coin or token handling apparatus in which. the size oi the coin or token is utilized as a means for controlling the size of the coin or token delivered by the apparatus. closed two separate coin and the present invention In said invention are distolren delivery units,l has for its principal object the elimination of most of the parts of one of these units while retaining all of the iunctions thereof, thus simplifying the construction and lessening the cost ci manufacture.

A more specic object of my invention is to provide an improved coin or token handling apparatus in which coins or tokens of two dierent sizes may be utilized, in which the coins or tokens of dierent sizes are stored in separate magazines, and a single coin delivery unit is selectively operable to eject coins from either of the two magazines, the size of the coin or the selection being controlled by token received by the apparatus, or by any other suitable controlling means.

A further object is to provide improved elec- I trice-l circuits and electrically operated mechdit vanisrn for attaining the aforesaid objects.

Other objects will appear from the following description, reference, being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a horizontal sectional view of the apparatus, the operating parts of the mechanism being shown in plan View;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary taken mainly through the longitudinal center lineA of the coin slide;

vertical sectional View Fig, 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the. coin or token delivery mechanism; Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional line 4 5 of Fig. 3;

view taken on the Fig. 5 is ahorizontal sectional view similar to Fig. 3, taken beneath the coin magazines;

Figs. 6 and 7 are vertical sectional views taken on the lines 6-6 and and Fig. 8 is a diagramma l-l respectively of Fig. 5;

tic view of the coin delivery mechanism and the electrical circuits for controlling the same.

My invention may be described in general terms as comprising a coin slide which may be o any preferred construction, but which is equipped with a pair oi electrical contacts which are closed Whenever a coin of one size is inserted coin slide and remain open Whenever a coin or token of a smaller size is inserted in the coin slide. if desired, these contacts may be closed by a manually operated key or any other suitable means. The coins or tokens are fed from the coin slide through a suitable guide to a pair of magazines, the first of which will receive the smaller coins and the second the larger coins or tokens. i

heath the magazines is a coin or token ejector which is electromagnetically operated a predetermined number of times by any suitable control means to deliver coins and tokens from lthe magazine to a suitable chute or receptacle from which they may be manually removed. if a large coin or token is inserted in the coin slide a gate or shutter in the coin ejecting mechanism will be shifted to prevent delivery of coins or tokens from the magazine containing the smaller coins or tokens, while if a small coin or token is inserted in the coin slide the gate will remain in its normal position wherein it prevents delivery of coins from the magazine for the larger coins or tokens.

in Figs. l and 2 is shown a coin slide generally of conventional construction comprising the slide i2 having the usual aperture it to receive the in this coin. The coin slide l2 is mounted for longitudinal sliding movement in a guide i6 which is ias tened to a suitable housing it. The guide it is preferably formed with an aperture of materially less diameter than the aperture ifi in the slide i2 so as to support coins of more than one diameter within the aperture i4. A spring pressed pawl 2t operable by a spring 2da into the coin opening it is provided to prevent complete actuation oi the slide I2 when no coin has been inserted in the aperture i4 of the coin slide, in the well known manner. The coin slide may be provided with the usual full stroke mechanism including the full stroke pawl 22 and the usual magnetic slug detector (not shown) The coins or tokens are pushed by the coin slide up an inclined guide 2d which has a tongue 26 projecting through a longitudinal slot 28 which extends forwardly (to the left, Fig. 2) to the coin receiving aperture id. The coins are maintained against the inclined surface of the member 24 by a leaf spring 3B and by a Y-shaped at As1v ring32 and are directed into Contact with a 55 curved guide wall 3d which is provided on the member 2li Thus it will be seen that a coin, such as a nickel, having a diameter greater than the distance between the curved wa-ll 34 and a spring leaf carrying contact lill of the jack type switch, shown particularly in Fig. l, will deect this spring member HZ. On the other hand the passage of a smaller coin, such as a dime, between the wa-ll 34 and the contact carrying spring leaf can be eiected without operating the switch, as the diameter of such a size coin is less than the distance between the wall 34 and Contact spring lill. The contact is of a strength such that when engaged by such smaller coin it moves the coin toward the wall 34 a-nd will not be deiiected out of its normal position, shown in Fig. 1.

By means of the curved guide surface 34 the coins are guided into a channel-shaped coin or token conveyor 36 which is secured to the member 24 by screws 38. The conveyor 36 has a pair oi' inwardly extending flanges 40 which between them form a relatively narrow slot terminating above a coin or token magazine 42. Thus the smaller coins or tokens fed through the conveyor 36 will drop into the magazine 42 while the larger coins or tokens will be pushed along the extensions 44 of the flanges 40 and thereby conveyed to the magazine 46 for the larger coins or tokens.

The magazines 42 and 46 may be in the form of cylindrical tubes as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, and are mounted upon base castings 48 and 50 respectively, being pressed into upwardly extending annular bosses 52 and 54 formed integrally with the magazine base castings 48 and 50 respectively.

To compensate for slight irregularities in the thickness of the coins or tokens, the magazine castings 48 and 50 are mounted for limited tilting movement. As shown in Fig. 4, the castings 48 and 50 are each secured to a base plate 56 by a pair of bolts 58, the castings 48 and 50 being separated from the base plate 56 by spacing washers 60. The holes in the magazine base castings 48 and 50, through which the bolts 58 project, are larger in diameter than the bolts to permit the slight tilting of the magazine base castings, as indicated by the dotted and full line positions in Fig. 4. A leaf spring 62 has one end held in position by one of the bolts 58 and its other end perforated to t around a spacing sleeve 64 held in place by a guiding cap screw 66. The leaf spring 62 has a slight bend formed near its center so that the spring will be efi'ective normally to hold the magazine base casting 48 in its lowermost position against the spacing washer 60, as indicated in full lines in Fig. 4.

The magazine base castings 48 and 50 are mounted in this manner so that if a coin or token of unusual thickness is fed through the magazine, the magazine base plate may tilt slightly to permit the coin to pass through the space between the lower surface of the magazine base casting 48 and the upper surface of the base plate 56.

Suitably mounted for reciprocation between the magazine base castings 48 and 50 and the base plate 56 is a coin ejector slide plate 68 having a coin or token receiving opening 10 normally lying in registry with the lower end of the magazine l2 and a similar but larger opening 'I2 which normally lies beneath the coin magazine 46. As shown diagrammatically in Fig. 8, the coin ejector slide 63 has a tongue 76 formed integrally therewith, this tongue being connected by a pin and slot connection with the plunger '3G of a soleaccepts noid '58. The solenoid plunger is normally moved to the left (Figs. 3 and 8) by a tension coil spring 80, one end of which is secured to the plunger 'Iii and the other end of which is anchored to a strap 82 secured to the base plate 56 by the screws 66.

The coin ejector slide 60 is movable by the solenoid 18 from the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3 with its openings lil and 72 beneath the coin or token magazines to a position in which these openings lie above holes 84 and 86 respectively, formed in the base plate 56. The openings 84 and 86 through which the coins are removed from the magazines by the coin ejector plate 60, are connected by a slot 88 in which a shutter S0 is reciprocable. The shutter 90 rests upon a pair of guides 92 and 94 which are suitably secured at the lower surface of the base plate 56. The shutter 90 is slidable on the plates 92 and 94 from a position such, for example, as shown in full lines in Fig. 5, wherein it partially closes the coin discharge opening 86 to the position shown in dotted lines in said iigure wherein it partially closes the coin discharge opening 84.

The means for shifting the shutter from one position to the other comprises a solenoid S6 having a plunger 9B. A nger |00 is secured to the end of the plunger 98 and depends through a suitable slot |02 formed in the base plate 56, the nger projecting through a slot |04 formed in a lever |06 which is pivotally mounted on the lower surface of the base plate 56 by a stud |08. The end of the lever |06 opposite the slot |04 is pivotally connected to the shutter 90 by a stud ||0, the latter extending freely through an elongated slot ||2 formed in the lever |06. The shutter is returned to its normal position, shown in full lines in Fig. 5, by a tension spring one end of which is secured to a pin ||3 and the other end of which is anchored to one of the screws which holds the guide plate 94.

From this description it will be apparent that when the solenoid 96 is energized the shutter 90 will be moved from the position in which it is shown in full lines in Fig. 5 to the position in which it is shown in dotted lines in said figure, thereby, when in the dotted line position, preventing the delivery of any coin or token which may be present in the opening 10 of the coin ejector 68. Conversely, when the solenoid 96 is not energized, the shutter 90 will be in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 5 and prevents the delivery of any coin or token which may be present in the opening 12 of the coin ejector 68.

The means for controlling the energization of the solenoid 96 comprises a pair of contacts ||4, H6, which are suitably secured to but insulated from the coin conveyor 36 (Figs. l and 2). The contact I4 has an ear I8 extending downwardly therefrom and lying in the path of the coins as they are pushed up the inclined coin guide 24. If the coin or token is of large size it will engage the ear ||0 and close the contacts ||4 and ||6, whereas if the coin or token passing the ear ||3 is of less than a predetermined diameter, it will pass the ear ||8 without closing the contacts. lI'he springs 30 and 32 which engage the coins as the latter are moved over` the inclined surface of the member 34, prevent lateral shifting of the coins toward the contacts H4 and H6 and thereby prevent the closing of said contacts except by a coin of predetermined size. In using the apparatus as a token delivery machine in restaurants and the like, the contacts lill, lili will be arranged to be closed by a suitable depressible key such as key ||8a shown in Figure 8, so that the cashier may readily control the size of tokens which are to be delivered.

The number of operations of the coin ejector is controlled by a segmented contacter which is rotatably mounted and has a ratchet wheel |22 secured thereto. The rotary contactor |20 is adapted to make electrical contacts with xed contact points |24. The contactor |20 is arranged to break contact with the points |24 successively, upon each operation of the coin ejector. For this purpose the tongue 14 of the coin ejector slide carries a pawl |25, which is engageable with the ratchet wheel |22 and, upon each reciprocation of the slide, advances the contactor |20 through an angular distance corresponding to the angular spacing of the contact points |24. A second dog or pawl |28 is resiliently held against the toothed face of the ratchet wheel by a spring |30, and is adapted to hold the ratchet wheel |22 in the position to which it has been advanced by the pawl |25.

The ratchet wheel |22 is resiliently biased to rotate in a clockwise direction, such movement being limited by the engagement of a pin |32 on the ratchet wheel (Fig. 3) with a lug |34 formed on the magazine base casting 50. A release lever |35 (Figs. l and 8) is pivoted at |35, its lower arm being adapted to engage the pawl |22 and move the latter to disengaging position, and its upper arm having an extension |40, the extremity |22 of which lies in the path of movement of the coin slide I2 and is adapted to be engaged and moved thereby whenever the coin slide is moved to its innermost position. The lever |35, is preferably biased to the position in which it is shown in Fig. l, as by a spring |44.

Any desired one or more of the contacts |24 may be connected to one side of a source of electricity, shown as a battery |46, by means of a plurality of switches |48 individually identified by the letters a to h inclusive. These switches may be manually operated by means of Suitable keys |48' as shown in the aforesaid patent of Harry Kozel et al., or may be closed by other suitable means depending upon the particular use to which the apparatus of my invention is to be adapted.

The contactor |20 is connected through a switch |55 with one end of the winding of solenoid l0, the other end of the winding being connected to the battery |46. The switch is normally closed, but is adapted to be opened at each operation of the solenoid 18 by a lever |52, which is shifted by a stop |54 to open the switch |50 and by a stop |56 to close the switch. The stops |54 and |55 are secured to the tongue 14 of the slide 68. f

As shownv in Fig. 8, the switch contacts H4, H6 Iare connected in series with the winding of solenoid S6 and battery |46.

The coin or token handling apparatus of my invention operates in the following manner: The coin or token is inserted in the opening I4 of f' the coin slide |2 and the slide pushed inwardly to bring the coin to a position adjacent the depending ear ||8 attached to the contact ||4, whereupon if the coin is of greater than a predetermined diameter the switch contacts H4, ||6 will be closed, thereby energizing the solenoid 96, causing the plunger to be pulled inwardly and shifting the shutter or gate 90 from the position in which it is shown in full lines in Fig. 5 to the position in which it is shown in dotted lines in said ligure. The apparatus will thus be conditioned to eject coins from the magazine 46 containing the larger coins or tokens.

Upon closing any one of the switches |4842 to |48h, a circuit from the battery |46 through the closed switch |48 through one or more of the contact points |24, contactor |20, switch |50 and solenoid it back to the battery |46 will be completed. Upon energization of the solenoid 'I8 its plunger 16 will draw the coin ejector 68 to the right (Figs. 3, 5, 6, and 8), thereby ejecting one coin or token from the magazine 45,

permitting the coin or token to drop into a suitable receptacle or tray, illustrated in Fig. 1 as a drawer |58. As the plunger i5 of the solenoid i8 reaches its innermost position the stop |54 moved thereby swings the lever |52 to open the.

switch |50 thereby de-energizing the solenoid 12. The solenoid plunger 'i5 will thereupon be pulled outwardly by the spring 80, the pawl |26 engaging the ratchet wheel |22 to advance the latter (counterclockwise, Fig. 8) an angular distance corresponding to one tooth oi the ratchet wheel, in which position the latter will be held by the spring pressed pawl |28. In Fig. 8 the contactor |261 is shown in its initial position and if the switch |43a is the switch which has been operated, the contactor |22 will thus be moved from contacting engagement with the contact point |24 connected to the switch Mita.

Thus when the stop |55 operates the lever |52 to close the switch |50 upon the completion of the return stroke of the plunger l5, the solenoid 'i3 will not be re-energized because of the open circuit between the contacter |20 and the contact point |24 connected to the switch lima. If, however, one of the switches |48 has been closed, the solenoid will operate the coin ejector slide a number of times determined by the contact point |24 to which the closed switch |48 is connected. Closing the switches Ia to |48g inclusive will therefore cause ejection of one to seven coins or tokens respectively, while closing switch |4821, will cause the ejection of fteen coins or tokens.

If a coin or token of small diameter is inserted in the opening of the coin slide i2 and the latter operated, the coin will not be suiiiciently large to engage the depending ear i8 of the oontact member ||4 and the switch H4, IBS will therefore remain open. The solenoid 92 will thus not be energized and the shutter will be retained in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 5 by the shutter return spring Upon closure of one of the switches |48 under these conditions, the coin ejector will be operated to eject coins or tokens from the magazine 42 only, since the lowermost coin removed from Vthe magazine 4E by the coin ejector slide will not be permitted to fall out of the opening l2 of the ejector` slide, and thus will be Whenever the coin slide i2 is operated, the end 'thereof engages the extremity |42 of the lever |35 and causes the latter to swingv the pawl |28 (Fig. 8) clockwise, thereby releasing the ratchet wheel |22 for operation by its torsion return spring to its normal position in which the stop pin |32 on the ratchet wheel engages the fixed stop |34 (Fig. 3).

As previously stated, the switch H4, ||5 may be manually operated by mean's of a suitable key ||8a (see Figure 8) instead of being operated by the coin or token. For example, the apparatus of my invention could readily be used to deliver a predetermined number of coins or tokens of two (or more) certain denominations or sizes. In this event the operator would close returned to the magazine.

the switch H4, H6 by means of such key ll8a i just prior to closing the desired switch I 43a to |4812, and retain the switch H6, H6 closed during the coin ejecting operation. In restaurants and other places of business where the customer must exchange currency for tokens to be used in the purchase of food or other commodities, the apparatus of my invention is of particular utility since it enables the cashier very quickly and accurately to deliver the desired number of tokens of the desired denomination.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of my invention it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the basic principles thereof may be utilized in many variant and different forms without departing from the basic principles of my invention.

I therefore desire the claims which follow to be construed to cover all such modifications and variant constructions by which substantially the results of my invention are obtained in substantially the same way.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In a coin or token handling apparatus, the combination of a plurality of coin magazines, a common coin ejector movable between a position in which it receives coins or tokens from the magazines and a position in which the coins or tokens are discharged from the ejector, and a shutter movable below said ejector to prevent coins or tokens from one magazine from being discharged from the ejector while permitting free discharge from the ejector of coins or tokens from another of the magazines.

2. In a coin or token handling apparatus, the combination of a plurality of coin magazines, a coin ejector operable to receive coins or tokens from both of said magazines, a receptacle for receiving coins or tokens removed from said magazines by said ejector, a shutter operable to prevent the delivery from the ejector of coins of one of said magazines to said receptacle while permitting free discharge from the ejector of coins from another of said magazines, a coin slide mechanism, and means controlled by a coin of a predetermined size inserted in said mechanism to govern the operation of said shutter.

3. In a coin or token handling apparatus, a plurality of vertical magazines for coins or tokens, a movable plate having openings adapted to register with said magazines, means below the movable plate for preventing the coins from falling therefrom except at a discharge position of the plate, and a movable member at said discharge position adapted to retain coins in certain of the openings in the first said movable plate while permitting coins to fall freely from at least one other opening of the movable plate.

4. In a coin or token handling apparatus, a plurality of vertical magazines for coins or tokens, a movable plate having openings adapted to register with said magazines, means below the movableplate for preventing the coins from falling therefrom except at a discharge position of the plate, a movable member at said discharge position adapted to retain coins in certain of the openings in the rst said movable plate while permitting coins to fall freely from at least one other opening of the movable plate, and means causing a predetermined number of movements of the movable plate whereby a corresponding number of coins are discharged from at least one of the magazines.

5. In a coin or token handling apparatus, a

plurality of vertical magazines for coins or tokens, a movable plate having openings adapted to register with said magazines, means below the movable plate for preventing the coins from falling therefrom except at a discharge position of the plate, a movable member at said discharge position adapted to retain coins in certain of the openings in the first said movable plate while permitting coins to fall freely from at least one other opening of the movable plate, and coin controlled means for positioning said movable member.

6. In a coin or token handling apparatus, a plurality of vertical magazines for coins or tokens. a movable plate having openings adapted to register with saidmagazines, means below the movable plate for preventing the coins from falling therefrom except at a discharge position of the plate, a movable member at said discharge position adapted to retain coins in certain of the openings in the first said movable plate While permitting coins to fall freely from at least one other opening of the movable plate, means causing a predetermined number of movements of the movable plate whereby a corresponding number of coins are discharged from at least one of the magazines, and independent coin controlled means for positioning said movable member.

7. In a coin handling apparatus, the combination of a pair of selectable coin magazines, a coin ejector common to both said magazines for removing coins therefrom, a shutter cooperable with said ejector, and selectively operable means for shifting said shutter in directions to prevent discharge from said ejector of coins received from the non-selected magazine while permitting discharge from the ejector of coins received from the selected magazine.

8. In a coin handling apparatus, a pair of coin magazines, a coin receptacle, a coin ejector slidable beneath said magazines for removing coins from one or the other of the magazines and delivering the same to said receptacle, electrically controlled means for effecting the selective operation of said ejector once or a plurality of times for removing a corresponding number of coins from one of said magazines, a member associated with said ejector and laterally shiftable with respect thereto to a position for preventing the discharge of coins by the ejector from said last mentioned magazine for permitting discharge of coins by the ejector from said other magazine, and electrically controlled means for moving said shiftable member to said position.

9. In a coin handling device, a pair of coin magazines, an ejector common to said magazines for receiving coins from both magazines and provided with a shiftable shutter normally in a position for preventing discharge from the ejector of coins received from one of said magazines while permitting discharge of coins from the ejector of coins received from the other magazine, operating means for shifting said shutter to a position for permitting discharge of coins from said rst mentioned magazines while preventing discharge of coins from said second magazine, operating means for said ejector and electrically actuated control means for effecting the actuation of said ejector operating means once or a plurality of times for effecting the discharge of a corresponding number of coins from one or the other of said magazines as predetermined by the position of said shutter.

Eli/IL GOODIi/Ill.

Images