US2309693A - Coin changing vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 2,1943. T. o. R, DAHLBERG 2,309,693

COIN CHANGING VENDING MACI'IIII Filed Jah. 1o, 1940 2 sheets-sneekV 1 Fig.

Fwd @|55 Rhum Dam be@ I l N VE N'r Q.

I mi;

Feb. 2, 1943. l T. o. R. DAHLBERG 2,309,693

^ COIN CHANGING VENDING MACHINE Verd @lc-af ,FCKG f'd Dohlberg V INVENTQQ Patented Feb. 2, 1943 UNITED "EES TENT FFIACE COIN CHANGING VENDING MACHINE Application January 10, 1940, Serial No. 313,198 In Sweden January 14, 1939 3 Claims.

In coin changing vending machines for goods or the like provided with several coin insertion slots for various coin denominations, for example of the type described in British Patent No. 440,763, it sometimes happens that the coins in one of the coin receptacles become exhausted.

The object of the present invention is to produce a machine of this type in which a coin slot for such coins oi a higher denomination, the insertion of which would require the delivery of change from a pile of coins of a certain lower denomination, is automatically blocked when the number of coins in the coin receptacle for said lower denomination falls below a predetermined limit, and the blocked coin slot of the higher denomination is automatically unblocked as soon as, upon insertion of another coin into the coin slot of the lower denomination, the number of coins in the coin receptacle of said lower denommation rises again above said predetermined limit.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a front elevation, partly in section, of the device,

Fig. 2 is an end elevation, seen from the left hand side of Fig. 1 and partly in section, and

Figure 3 shows a section on the line III-III in Figure l.

Reference numeral I denotes the casing of a vending machine for goods or tickets, said casing having five coin insertion slots intended for 5, 10-, 25- and 50-re pieces and for l-krona pieces. The drawings show only the coin chute 2, the coin receptacle 3 and the delivery mechanism connected to the slot for the 5-re pieces. The delivery mechanism consists of an ejecting member 5 adapted to be reciprocated through an aperture 34 in the wall of the coin receptacle 3 by means of a link 33 actuated by a cam disc I and of an arm 'I adapted to be rocked upwards and downwards by a cam disc 5. The cam discs 4 and 6 are fast on the main shaft 32 of the machine which is rotated by a motor (not shown). A plunger 8, forming the bottom oi the coin receptacle 3 and provided with a groove I2,

, is retained by the free end of the arm 'I in the position shown on the drawings until the counting process has been nished and the delivery shaft 3 of the machine and the cam discs Il) thereon have assumed the positions corresponding to the entered amount as described in the British Patent 440,763. Then the arm I performs a rocking movement, and the pin II on the underside oi the plunger 8 is allowed to move down and, according to the angular position of the shaft 3, to bear against the periphery of the disc I3 or enter some one of the recesses made in the same. In the former case the ejecting member 5, upon being reciprocated, passes through the groove I2 in the plunger 8 and does not strike or take along any coin, while in the latter case the front end of the ejecting member strikes and pushes out one coin through a slot I3 in the front wall of the receptacle 3, as described in the above mentioned British patent.

If, for example, the vending machine above described is adjusted for a price of 15 Swedish re, the payments will perhaps most often consist ci two l0-re pieces, and, consequently, the machine will have to pay out a 5-re piece on every such occasion. The consequence will very likely be that the receptacle for 5-re pieces is emptied. In such cases machines used hitherto have been closed and put out of function until the emptied receptacle has been filled again. However, thanks to the present invention the machine will continue functioning, but the insertion of such coin denominations, in the above example 10-re pieces, as may require a delivery of 5-re pieces, is prevented. As soon as one or more 5-re pieces have been inserted in the machine it will be possible again to insert IO-re pieces. According to the invention the machine itself will thus ensure that a lacking coin denomination will be supplied to the emptied receptacle again. For obtaining this purposethe following elements have been addedin the embodiment shown on the drawings:

On the ejecting member 5 is rigidly mounted a bracket I4, in which a pin I5, adapted to pass with its free end through apertures I3 in the receptacle Wall, is displaceably but not rotatably supported. The pin I5 has fixed thereto a laterally projecting bracket 35 carrying parallel to` the pin I5 a rod I6, the free end of which has an oblique surface Il (Figure 3), and between the bracket I4 and the bracket 35, there is interposed a helical spring I8. If the receptacle 3 contains a suicient number of coins, the pin I5, when carried along by the displacement of the member 5, will strike with its free end against the edges of the coins and remain practically in the same position. However, since the spring I8 can be compressed, the member 5 is allowed to perform its movement. If, however, there are no more coins in the receptacle 3 than shown on the drawings, the pin I5will enter into the receptacle 3 through an opening I9 in the rear wall thereof, when the member 5 is displaced.

Of course, the rod I6 will then also be carried along, its oblique surface H now cooperating with a pin 20. Said pin, which is secured to a two-armed lever 22 rockable around a shaft 2|, is now forced in the direction indicated by an arrow in Figure 3, the lever 22 being thereby rocked in the direction also indicated by an arrow in Figure 1. A spring actuated locking `roller 23 cooperating with the lever 22 is thereby brought out of its locking engagement with the lever 22 and the latter is forced into the position indicated by dot-dashed lines in Figure 1, in which position the locking roller has-entered into locking engagement with a recess 2:1 provided in lever 22. The portion 25 of the lever 22 has simultaneously assumed a position in which it blocks the coin insertion slot for the 10-re pieces. By a suitable marking 25, visible through an opening 3| in the casing l, there may also be indicated that the said insertion slot is blocked for the present.

The lever 22 remains in its position indicated by dot-dashed lines in Figure 1 until one or more -re pieces have been `inserted into the slot for said coin denomination. As soon as a coin has been inserted into said coin slot, the lever 22 is automatically returned to its original position. This is effected by the following elements:

The machine described above is provided, in known manner, with reciprocable push-rod or control members 36, by means of which coins standing on edgerin the coin chutes are moved from said chutes to the coin receptacles. Therefore, if a 5-re piece has been inserted into the coin chute for said denomination, as shown in Figure 1, the push-rod member 26, when being displaced in thedirection indicated by an arrov.7 in Figure l, will strike against said coin, whereby the latter will serve as coupling member and, against the action of a spring 2l, carry along a movable portion 29 of the coin chute with a pin 28 in the above-mentioned direction. The pin 28 now contacts with a projection 36 formed from the lever-22 and, consequently, forces the lever 22 into its initialposition in which it is retained by the spring biased roller 23. The coin slot for the -re pieces thus becomes unblocked, and any coin denomination may again be insertedinto the machine.

Of course several embodiments cf the device are possible within the scope of the invention, and the device may advantageously be applied to various vending machines for articles and tickets without the inventive idea being therefore abandoned.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a coin receiving and change giving mechanism comprising, for each coin denomination, a coin receptacle to accommodate a pile of coins,

a coin chute leading to said receptacle and being provided with a coin receiving slot, and coin ejecting means to deliver coins of said denomination from said receptacle, a shiftable element, a resilient drive for said element operable to urge displacement thereof in one direction, said element having a portion disposed normally in front of an aperture provided in the wall of a receptacle for coins oi' a lower denomination at a predetermined level to substantially prevent displacement of said element upon operation of said resilient drive when the pile of coins in said receptacle projects above said predetermined level and to penetrate into said coin receptacle, thereby permitting displacement of said shiftable element by said resilient drive when the latter is operated while the uppermost coin of said pile is below said level, a blocking member operatively connected with said shiftable element and adapted to block the coin receiving slot of a different and higher coin denomination when said element is displaced, and means to restore .said blocking member to its inoperative position when a coin has been inserted into the coin receiving slot of said first mentioned lower coin denomination.

2. A mechanism, `as Vclaimed in claim 1, in which said resilient drive comprises a resilient coupling between said shiftable element and the coin ejecting means of said lower denomination.

3. A mechanism, as claimed in claim l, in which the coin chute of said lower denomination includes a movable portion and a reciprocable member so arranged that a coin inserted into the coin slot of said lower denomination forms a connector between said reciprocable member and said movable portion to permit displacement of the movable portion by the reciprocable member when a coin has been inserted in said coin slot, said means for restoring said blockingmember to its inoperative position being operatively connected with said movable portion of the coin chute.

TORD OLOF RICKARD 'DAHLBERG

Images