US2251755A - Coin handling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Aug'. 5, 1941. w, G, PETERS 2,251,755

COIN HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 11 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet l f4 @Q6 24 30 2525 m24 3i 32 Z7? Vewor Ly/:MyW han A\18 5, 1941- w. G. PETERS COIN HANDLING APPARATUS 5 Shee'ts-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 11, 1939 Aug- 5 1941- w. G. PETERS 2,251,755

COIN HANDLING APPARATUS l Filed Jan. 1l, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 fda Je/@mwah Patented Aug. 5, 1941 COIN HANDLING APPARATUS William G. Peters, Oak Park, Ill., assigner to Richard Groetchen, Chicago, Ill.

Application January 11, 1939, Serial No. 250,389

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a coin handling, storing and discharging receptacle and apparatus. It has for one object to provide a coin carrier or reservoir. It has for another object to provide means for moving that reservoir or carrier so as to discharge a predetermined, variable number of coins or tokens.

Other objects will appear from time to time throughout the specification and the claims.

The device of thisinvention may be used in many connections. It may, for example, be used in a change-making or token-discharging machine. In the form here shown, it is particularly adapted for that use. It may be used in almost any association in which a movable coin carrier or reservoir is desirable or adaptable for use.

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a'perspective view of one form of the device with an enclosingA housing;

Figure 2 is a vertical, sectional detail on an enlarged scale taken at line 2 2 of Figure 1 with parts of the housing omitted and parts shown;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the coin reservoir or carrier with parts of its driving means and with parts omitted and parts broken away;

Figure 4 is a vertical, sectional detail taken at line 4 4 of Figure 3, illustrating the discharge of a coin or token;

Figure 5 is a vertical, sectional View taken at line 5 5 of Figure 2 on an enlarged scale;

Figure 6 is a vertical, sectional detail taken at line 6 6 of FigurerS;

Figure '7 is an elevation of one of the units used in the construction of the coin carrier;

Figure 8 is a sectional detail taken at line 8 6 of Figure 7.

Like parts are designated by like characters throughout the specification and the drawings.

In general, the mechanism is supported upon and preferably attached to a base member I. 'Ihis member may have a downwardly depending flange 2, which serves to strengthen and stiffen it. The particular details of the base member are not important. It will be of such size and strength as to support the parts mounted upon it. It is provided with a raised, hollow boss 3,

which serves a-s a support for 'the coin carrier.

to rest upon the top of the boss 3. The hub 8 of a lever 9 is positioned about the enlarged portion 6 of the shaft. 'I'he shaft may be again reduced as at I0, and it is this portion of the shaft which preferably carries the coin reservoir or carrier.k The reservoir includes a hub II mounted upon the shaft section I0 for rotation thereabout. A washer I2 may be inserted below the hub, and it will rest in part upon the enlarged shaft section 6. The shaft is reduced and threaded as at I3 to receive a nut I4, which holds the parts in place. The nut may have an integral flange I5, or instead of the ange I5 a. washer of the same general size and shape may be used.

The hub is provided with a groove I6. Positioned in this groove I6 is a body member I1 generally rounded and provided with a downwardly depending flange I8, which carries an outwardly projecting rack I9. TWO other body members 20 and 2I, respectively, relatively disclike in shape, are also received in the groove I6. Elach of them is provided with a generally angularly peripheral flange 22, 23. To the peripheral flanges 22 and 23 are secured a number of individual pocket-forming members. As shown in Figures 3 and 5 generally and particularly in Figures 'l and 8, these pocket-forming members comprise pairs of generally rounded members 24 and 25, which are joined by a neck portion 26. Extending from both top and bottom of the neck portion 25 are tongues 2'I and 28. In a completedcarrier, as shown in Figure 5 and also as suggested in Figure 7, the tongues 2'I and 28 are bent about the flanges 23 and 22,

l respectively. The members 24 and 25 are generally rounded in plan and are cut away as at 29. Along the cut-away portions, they may have one or more inwardly bent, inclined portions or lugs 29a. The members may also loe provided with indented ribs 30, 30, and they are preferably provided each with a pair of tongues or lugs 3|, 3| of such length that when the pocket-forming members are assembled the tongues'of each disclilre member extend to or overlap the edge ol' an adjacent disc-like member. The effect of this is to provide a means for fastening the edge of each pocket-forming member to its neighbor.

When the coin carrier is assembled as shown in the drawings, it comprises what might be called a dough-nut shaped carrier with a series of coin pockets arranged generally on the periphery of the carrier. While this carrier might be used in many associations, the one here shown in a change-making machine will sufce to explain its general utility and method of use.

A guard or enclosing rail 82 is positioned about the carrier and is supported by a bracketlike member 53, which may be secured to it by screws 34 and may be secured to the base I by screws 35. A coin-discharge chute 36 is positioned adjacent the coin carrier, and may be enlarged as shown particularly in Figure 3 to provide a portion which may have an edge concentric withthe carrier. The discharge chute is reduced and provided with a discharge orice or delivery member 31, which may terminate in an outlet portion 38. An inlet or feed chute member 39 has an inlet track or passage 49, as shown in Figures 3 and 6, through which coins or tokens are fed to the carrier. The details of this are not shown as the invention is not limited to any particular feed chute construction. Atits outer end, it may have a slot into which a coin or token is fed and from which it moves to the passage or track 48, and from which it movesY into the carrier. A housing 4I may be provided, and when provided may conveniently serve as a support for parts of the assembly. It may be provided lwith a transparent window or opening Ma through which the coin carrier is visible.

The means for operating the carrier to cause discharge of coins or tokens vwill now be described. It is to be understood, however, that this means is merely one example of a means for operating the carrier, -and thelatter is not limited in its use to this particular association. A stop d2 is secured to the base I and extends upwardly as shown particularly in Figures 2, 3 and 5 into the path of the lever 9. The lever 9 carries preferably adjacent its outer end a downwardly projecting pin 43. A'dog 44 is pivoted as at l5 upon the lever 9. It carries a point or inwardly bent member 46, which may engage the rack I9. Aspring 41., secured at one end to the dog 4-4 andat the other end to the lever 9, tends to holdthedog in contact with the rack., A second dog 48 is pivoted asV at 49 upon a member 59, which'rextends upwardly from the base I. A spring 59a is secured at one end to the dog 48 and at'the other to a point 5|, and tends to hold the dog in contact with the rack I9.

Anoperating bar or slide 52 is slidably mounted in suitable bearings 53, 54, and carries a handle portion 55, which extends outside of the housing, and by-means of which it may be readily moved; An eye .56 secured to the slide 52 loosely surrounds a pin 5,1, upon which a spring V58 is mounted. At one end, the spring bearsagainst the eye 56, and at the other against a head 59 on the pin 51. A stop member 59 extends upwardly from the slide 52, and serves to limit the movement of the slide in one direction, as will be described below. The slide 52 is provided with a perforation or opening 5I, within which the pin 43 of the lever 9 extends. By means of thisengagement of the pin 43 inthe perforation 5I of the slide 52, movement of the latter is communicated to the lever and through it and the dog 45 and the rack I9 to the coincarrier. v Y

Since in the-present mechanism the device comprises a coin or token dispenser, means are provided for inserting coins of several sizes. In the parti-cular form shown, means are provided for receiving dimes, quarters 'and half dollars, and automatic gauging and limiting means are provided whereby the number of coins or tokens discharged corresponds toV the value of the coin inserted. If a -dimeis inserted, two coins or nickels willbe discharged. If a quarter is inserted, ve will be discharged; and :so on. The coin chute for entering coins comprises a member 62, which is positioned in part outside of the housing 4I. The member 62 is preferably set at an angle with respect to the vertical to assist in electing undersized coins through openings described below. It includes an opening 63 for dimes, an opening 64 for quarters and an opening 65 `for half dollars. An inclined passage 96 is formed within the member 62. Openings 61, 58 and 69 are formed within the walls of the member `62 to eject under-sized coins. If a quarter is put into the slot 55, it will fall out through the opening Y61. If a dime is put in the slot 54, it will fall out through the opening 68; and if something smaller than a dime is put in the slot 63, it will fall out through the opening 69. The passage 55 is downwardly bent as at 19. Slidably mounted adjacent the bottom of the passage 19 is a coinmoving member 1I adapted to receive a coin of any size that can pass through the passage portion 19 and to hold it upright as indicated in dotted lines. The coin mover or escalator 1I is secured to a member Y12, which is itself slidably mounted upon a rod 13, carried at one end in an arm 14 formed as a part of the housing 62. At its other end, the rod 13 is supported on the member 15, which will be described below. As the coin is moved from the dotted line position to the position of the full line coin of Figure 2, it is carried under a gaugey arm 16. This arm is pivoted as at 11 upon a support 18. It is slotted intermediate its ends as at 1-9. One end of a spring is secured to the gauge arm 16. The other end of the spring 'is .secured to a pin 8| upon a supporter base member .82, which also carries the member 18. Mounted'for Vertical reciprocation in the base or housing 82 is a stopv member 83. It is provided with an upwardly projecting arm 84, which carries a pin 85, positioned within the slot 19. The stop member 83 is provided, preferably'on its lower edge, with a notch 86, which is the stop for no discharge."y provdedwith a notch 81, which is the stop for dimes, and with a. notch ,183, which is the stop for quarters. A portion'89 of the member 82 serves as the stop for half dollars. Formed also in the member'12 is a downwardly depending arm 90, within which the member 51 is positioned.

` As a means for discharging the coins or tokens, the slide 52 carries a cam 9i.. Thecam is arranged to contact a roller 92. The discharge mechanism also includes a shaft 93, which carries the roller 92, and is slidably mounted in a support 94, which may form a part-of the base I. At its lower end, the shaft 93 carries a head 95. A spring l95 is positioned about the shaft 93 and bears at one end against the head 95, and at the other against the base I or the member 9d or some suitable abutment. At its upper end, the shaft 93 carries a discharge member 91, which as shown particularly in Figure 3 has an arcuate portion 98. As shown in Figure 6, the arcuate portion is upwardly enlarged and extends up wardly above the portion 91. As shown in Figure 4, the arcuate enlarged portion 98 may extend into the cut-away parts 29 of the rounded coiny pocket members 24 and 25. As a means for returning the slide 52 to its original position, a spring 99 is provided. At one end, the spring is secured to a pin |99, which may be mounted on the base I. to a pin IDI, secured to the slide 52. After a coin has been moved under the gauge arm 1B and tokens have been discharged, it is moved from. that point and discharged through the It is At its other end, it is securedv chute 102 in the member 15. Ordinarily, it will be discharged in a coin box or some place of safety, the `details of which are not here shown. |03 is a guide for the discharge member 91 and l 04 is a stop member formed on or attached to the pin 93 to limit its lower movement.

Although I have shown an operative form of my device, it will be understood that many changes in the form, shape and arrangement of parts might be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I wish that my showing be taken as in a sense diagrammatic. v

The application is a continuation, in part, of

my application Serial No. 58,911, led January The use and operation of this invention are as follows:

With the parts as shown, the machine is ready to be operated. As shown in full lines in Figure 2, a dime X has been used and two tokens have been discharged. A half dollar has been inserted and lies in the escalator 1l, as shown at Y. If the handle 55 is pulled to the right, it moves the slide 52, carrying the escalator to the right and first dislodges the coin X andcauses it to drop through the ychute 162. It then moves the coin Y under the gauge arm 16. Further movement of the handle does not move the escalator because the portion 12 strikes the portion 15 as a stop.

Since the half dollar is now in position under the gauge arm., it has raised the latter to its maximum height and has carried with it the stop member 83 to its maximum upper` limit. When now further movement of the handle and slide to the right occurs, all of the notches 86, 81 and 88 being out of the path oi the stop 61|, the latter .continues until it strikes the portion B9 of the member 82. During the first part of the movement in the slide, the lever 9 is not moved because the opening 6l in the slide is so much larger than the pin 43. A lost motion connection is thus provided to permit the discharge of the coin X and to permit, also, the positioning of the coin Y under the gauge arm and the movement of the gauge arm and the stop member. As the movement of the slide 52 continues after the member 12 has stopped, the lever 9 is now rotated and the dog 46 engaging a tooth of the rack I9 rotates it and the coin carrier. The amount of this rotation is limited by the yContact of the stop 60 with one or another of the notches in the member 83. With the use of the maximum coin Y, as Aabove mentioned, the stop 60 does not strike the notches but moves until it strikes the member 89, thus giving to the coin carrier its maximum rotation, and that rotation will in the present case have been enough to bring ten coincarrying pockets with the tokens which they enclose into the discharge position.

After the maximum movement permitted by the stops has occurred, the handle 55 is released and the slide is returned by the spring 9.9 to its original position. The spring 58 assists during the initial part of this movement because it has also been compressed. As the slide reaches its position of rest or its initial position, the cam member 9| contacts the roller 92 and raises the member 93 which carries the discharge member 91 and 93, and, thus, moves that member from the full line position of Figure 4 to the dotted line position of that figure in which it is carried up into the cut-away portions 29 of the coin pocket-forming members 24 and 25; and it dislodges and discharges all coins or tokens which and no coin has been inserted-there will bey nothing present to hold the gauge arm 16 up .and the stop 60 will contact the notch 86, and

this will occur before the coin carrier has been rotated at all. Therefore, no coins or tokens will have been moved into the path of the discharge member and none will be discharged upon the release of the handle. Thus, the gauging and stop mechanism provides means forpreventing unauthorized discharge of coins and for automatically discharging the proper number of coins.

I claim:

1. In combination in a mechanism of the class described, means for receiving, storing and dis-` charging coins, said means comprising an operating slide, manual means for moving it in one direction and means for returning it to its original position, movable stop means for limiting the movement of said slide in one direction, stop positioning means operatively connected to said slide for positioning said stop during the initial movement of said slide towards said stop, a coin carrier` associated with said slide and comprising an assembly having a coin carrying section formed to provide a plurality of coin receiving pockets, and carrier driving means to be moved by said slide and having carrier engaging means, means comprising a lost motion connection between said carrier driving means and said slide whereby said carrier remains stationary during the stop positioning movement of the slide, and means for discharging coins from said carrier.

2. A Icoin carrier comprising a body portion having a peripheral flange extending therefrom and above and below said portion, and a plurality of coin pocket defining members perpendicular to the plane of said body and secured to and projecting radially outwardly beyond said ange, said members each being provided with a cut-away portion extending inwardly from the underside thereof and adapted to receive a coin ejector, and each of said members being further provided with laterally directed coin supporting lugs positioned on opposite sides of said cut-away portion, the outer extremities of said pocket deining members being spaced to provide an outwardly opening discharge mouth for each of said pockets.

3. A coin carrier comprising a body portion, a peripheral flange on said body portion, and a plurality of coin pocket dening members perpendicular to the plane of said body and secured to said flange, said members being provided with cut-away portions extending inwardly from their lower edges and adapted to receive a coin ejector, downwardly inclined coin positioning lugs carried by each of said pocket dening members, each -of said pocket defining members being provided -with a laterally extending coin supporting lug, said coin supporting lug of each member being secured to an adjacent pocket dening member, and positioned between said cut-away portion and a radially outwardly directed coin discharge opening provided between adjacent pocket defining members.

' 4. A 'coin carrier comprising a lplurality of site" directions, and a plurality of coin pocket members perpendicular to the plane of said plate members and secured to said flanges'and extending outwardly beyond them, said coin pocket members being formed in joined pairs, each pair having a plurality of integral lugs formed as an integral part of said pair, each lug secured to one of said anges.

5. A coin carrier comprising a plurality of plate-like members, each having a peripheral flange, the said anges being aligned With each other, said plate-like members positioned together With the said anges extending in opposite directions, and a plurality'of coin pocket members perpendicular to the plane of said plate members and secured to said'anges and extending outwardly beyond them, said coin pocket members being formed in joined' pairs, eachpair having a plurality'of integral lugs formed as an integral part of said pair, each of said lugs secured to one of said 'anges, each coin pocket member provided with a laterally bentlug adjacent itslower edge, said lug `forming 'a stopv to prevent coins falling through the bottom of a pocket.

'6; A .coin carrier comprising a plurality of platehlike -members, each having a peripheral flange, said plate-like members positioned together with the anges extending in opposite directions, and a plurality of coin pocket members secured to said iianges and extending outwardly beyond it, said coin pocket members being formed in pairs, each pair having a plurality of integral flange engaging lugs formed as an integral part of said pair, said lugs secured to said anges, each pocket member provided With a cut-away portion adapted to allow the entrance of a coin discharge means, and an inwardly bent, coin-positioning lug adjacent each cut-away portion, said lugs projecting into the coin receiving space.

7. In combination in a coin-handling means, a supporting body member, a peripheral flange secured thereto, a plurality of pairs of coin pocket members perpendicular to the plane of said body member and secured to said flange, each of said pairs of members comprising tWo pocket-forming members and an integral portion joining them together, there being harige-engaging members on said joining portion secured to said flange. and laterally disposed lugs on said pocket-form ing members, the lugs of each member being secured to those of an adjacent member.,

WILLIAM G. PETERS.

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