US2627961A - Coin control - Google Patents

Description

fi 1953 w. M. BURNSIDE 2,627,961

\ com CONTROL Filed Feb. 1, 1946 2 SHEETS-SHEET l 1 60272 Esiiry 6%1056 71 r/72,5 Mazda Feb. 10, 1953 w, BURNSlDE 2,627,961

COIN CONTROL 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed Feb. 1 1946 alier' .iarwszdlz Patented Feb. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE COIN CONTROL Walter M. Burnside, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Raymond T. Moloney, Chicago, Ill.

This invention pertains to coin handling and control devices, and has as its principal object the provision of fraud-preventive means in the nature of an auxiliary attachment for coin testing chutes.

A further object is the provision of a coin control unit, adapted for attachment as an auxiliary means to a coin testing chute of the gravity type, and including control means, such as a switch, actuated by a coin received in the attachment, and an electromagnetically controlled arm for deflecting the received coin into engagement with the switch, with circuit connections controlled by the switch to close an operating circuit for a coin-controlled device, and also to govern a circuit for the electromagnetically controlled arm such that the latter will be withdrawn to permit the coin to move additionally in the coin passage of the attachment, together with fraud-preventive means in the nature of a special filament or wire-trapping runway adapted to cause captive coins, that is coins having a thread or fine wire connected thereto for purposes of withdrawal or repeated actuation of the control, to become trapped and ineflective for such fraudulent operation of the control.

Further objects of the invention are: the provision in a control chute of the class described of a trapping coin runway directing received coins into engagement with a coin switch or like control device; a coin blocking and deflecting arm normally held by electromagnetic means in operative position in the coin passage below said runway, such that a received coin will gravitate down said runway and engage and operate said switch; the provision of circuit connections by which a controlled device, such as a vending machine or the like will be operated by actuation of said switch; the provision of further circuit connections by which the electromagnetic means is controlled to cause withdrawal of said deflecting arm so that the coin may continue progress in the coin passage, particularly in the direction back and downwardly beneath the lower end of said runway; the provision of trapping formaations in said runway which will entrap the thread, string, wire or the like of a captive coin; the provision of circuit connections by which the electromagnetic means is again energized after operation of the coin switch, such that said deflecting arm will be restored to a blocking position in the coin passage so that a captive coin cannot be retracted; and the provision of auxiliary coin blocking means actuated cooperatively with the blocking arm to hold following coins in the main coin testing chute for which the novel control device is an auxiliary attachment.

Additional objects and aspects of novelty in the invention relate to details of construction and operation of the illustrative embodiment shown in the annexed drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational View of the novel control unit in operative attachment with a schematically shown coin testing chute and a schematically shown controlled device;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the control unit;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the control unit with the cover plate removed;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section along lines 4-4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section along lines 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, the novel coin control unit I0 is shown attached by bolt and nut means H, through an integral lug l2 (Fig. 3)' to a projection 13 on a conventional gravity type coin testing chute It in position to receive acceptable coins from the latter as they leave the acceptance exit (not seen) in the lower left-hand corner of the testing chute, it being the function of the latter to test coins deposited therein (at the upper left-hand corner thereof) and to reject unacceptable coins from one or more reject passages, either at the bottom of the side drop-out chute l5, or in the region It of the lower right-hand edge portion of said testing chute, in a manner well-known in the art. 1

The novel control unit, as shown in Fig. 3, includes a main plate 18 having attaching lugs 12, I2a, l2b formed as part thereof, and opposite, upset, side flanges l9 and 20, the latter forming, when the cover plate is in position, a chute passage in the unit.

Secured to the main plate, as by spot welding or the like, is a downwardly inclined trapping runway 2| pitched toward side flange IS with its lower terminus 22 spaced from said flange a distance sufficient to permit a coin to gravitate or drop therepast with an inclination toward said side flange.

Formed in said runway are a plurality of notches 23 (see Fig. 4 also), and the lower extent of said runway has its side edge, nearest the cover plate, relieved and angled as at 24 to form, with said cover plate, a thread or wiretrapping slot between said angled edge and the cover plate .25.

Mounted on the side flange I9 is a leaf-spring or jack type of switch 2'! in which one of the contact springs has a coin-engaging ofiset 2'le at its lower end and projecting through a cut lSa in said flange so as to be engaged by a coin departing from said lower end 22 of the runway.

Spaced inwardly of the chute passage opposite switch offset 212 is a coin blocking and deflecting arm 28, which is situated below terminus 22 of the runway and below the level of the notches 23.

As shown in Fig. 2, arm 28 is attached to the armature 29 of an electromagnet 30, and pivots on frame piece 3! at 32, spring 33 normally urging said armature into the dotted line position to withdraw said arm 28 from the coin passage. The electromagnet is attached by a nut, not seen, in an extruded boss portion at 34 on the cover plate, said nut (or alternatively a screw), threading onto the core portion 35 of the electromagnet.

When the electromagnet is energized, the blocking arm 28 is projected into the chute passage in the full line position shown in Fig. 2, there being aligned holes 31 (Fig. 1) in the cover plate 25, and 38 (Fig. 3) in the main plate l8 through which said arm may project and move as aforesaid.

A pair of coin deflectors 4B and 4|, Fig. 1, secured to the main plate. by spot welding, serves to direct coins leaving the control unit through a bottom exit passage 42.

The control unit is completed by application of the cover plate 25, which is held in position by nut and bolt means 25a, said plate being spaced from the main plate by the notch-forming projections of the trapping runway, and also by an in-turned edge portion 25b of cover plate 25 located just behind the electromagnet in Fig. 1, but not visible in the views.

A channel-shaped metal shield 44 is fitted around the switch 21, the shape of this shield being visualized best in the sectional view of Fig. 4:, and. portions thereof being variously sectioned in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, also, said shield .being held a in position by the same bolt and nutmeans it:v

utilized to mount the switch 2'1. The purpose of this shield is the prevention of access to the switch for fraudulent operation thereof by wire feelers and probes.

A further control means actuated by the novel unit includes (Fig. 1) a coin-blocking feeler 50 rockably carried on a shaft 5| seated in the coin testing chute l4, and having a small bellcrank 52 exteriorly of the testing chute rockably connecting with a short link 53 secured as at 54 to theelectromagnet armature, such that rocking motion of said armature imparts corresponding motion to shaft 5| to project or withdraw the coin blocking feeler 50 into the exitv portions of the testing chute.

In the view of Fig. 1, the operation of the blocking feeler is such that it moves toward the observer out of blocking position; thus, so long as the electromagnet is energized, the crank leverages will project the blocking feeler into nonblocking position so that a coin may leave the testing chute exit and enter the control unit to actuate the control switch, whereupon the electromagnet is momentarily tie-energized so that the blocking feeler 52 moves into coin-blocking position to block transfer of further coins to the control unit until the preceding coin has cleared the switch to permit closing of the electromagnet switch contacts again for projection of the main blocking and deflecting arm 28 into normal operative position, otherwise it might be 4 possible to cause faulty operation of the unit by a succession of immediately following coins, one of which, for example, could miss the switch operating projection 21c altogether due to absence of the deflecting portion 28.

Circuit connections for the control unit are shown in Fig. 1, wherein the terminals 65 and 61 of the electromagnet are connected by conductors 60a and Gill; to normally closed contacts 27a and 211) on coin switch 21, conductor 60b having in series therewith a power source or battery 62 and master switch E3, which is closed while the apparatus is in operation so that the electromagnet is normally energized through closed contacts 22a, 271), until a coin strikes the projection 21c of contact 2142, separating the latter from contact 2719 and de-energizing the electromagnet.

When switch 21 is coin operated as aforesaid. normally open contacts 210 and 21d are closed to actuate the controlled device 535 from its power source or battery 65, said controlled device being optionally a vending machine, amusement or service device.

Summary of operation Having in mind the detailed operation of parts and circuit means hereinabove described, the general operation of the device is as follows: In Fig. 1, a coin is deposited in the testing chute M and gravitates in the general direction of the arrows through said chute to leave the latter in the region of the lower left-hand corner thereof, assuming said coin to be good or acceptable; otherwise such coin would be rejected from the lower right-hand region iii of said testing chute.

At this time, there is assumed to be no coin in the control unit i0, so that switch contacts 21a and 21b are closed to energize electromagnet 30, as a result of which the deflecting arm 28 is projected into the chute passage of the control unit, While the auxiliary blocking feeler 5!! is withdrawn from the testing chute passage to permit the deposited coin to travel into the control unit.

Upon entering the control unit, said deposited coin drops onto the trapping runway 21 and departs from the latter in the manner of the coin C shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, thence to drop in between the deflecting arm 28 and switch portion 226, in the manner of the coin C2, thereby opening contacts 21a, 27b to de-energize the elec tromagnet, and closing contacts 210 and 27a. to operate the controlled device or vending machine. Thereafter, in normal operation, said coin would drop against deflectors 48 and/or 4! and out the exit passage 42 into a suitable collecting receptacle, not shown.

At the time the coin C2 operates the switch 2! as aforesaid, the electromagnet becomes momentarily de-energized, causing operation of the crank and shaft means 5!, 52, 53 (Fig. 1) so that the auxiliary blocking feeler 50 is projected into blocking position in the testing chute to pevent another coin from immediately following into. the control unit until coin C2 has had time to clear switch 21 Assuming now an attempted fraudulent operation of the apparatus by a captive coin, which may also be represented by the coin G2 with a fine thread or wire W attached thereto, such coin could reach the position of coin C2 and 0perate switch 27, but as soon as the blocking deflector 28 is withdrawn responsive to de-energization of the electromagnet, such coin would drop in a general direction toward the lower deflector 4|, that is, toward the lower end of the trapping runway, and the thread W would tend to work into the angled trapping slot at 24, Fig. 4; meanwhile, the blocking deflector will have returned to normal position, so that attempts to retract the captive coin cause deflection of the same toward the right and toward the slots 23, and the more effort is made to lift the coin out, the greater is the movement of the coin toward the right, by reason of the pitch of the trapping runway, so that the thread or wire W is almost certain to become trapped in one of the notches 23; but whether it does or not, the coin remains trapped to the right of deflector 28 and beneath the runway 21.

The path of a coin through the testing chute is an alternate or tortuous one, so that about the only motion which can be imparted to the captive coin is in a generally upward or retractive direcportion 21s to cause repeated operations of the vending machine or the like, 65, were it not for the blocking action of arm 28.

In general, the trapping function of the notches 23 prevents recovery of the captive coin by withdrawal, and usually such a coin will drop into the collecting means if the thread or wire W is light enough, as it must be for the attached coin to negotiate the testing chute without being rejected thereby; and it follows that such coin must be a genuine one to avoid such rejection.

Thus, the control unit prevents more than one operation of the controlled instrumentality or vending machine by a captive coin; it also prevents recovery of a captive coin but in general permits such coin to drop from the control unit once it is trapped and released by the manipulator.

Trapping means analogous to the runway means 2l-23 are shown in the application of Nels A. Nelson, Serial No. 611,544, filed August 20, 1945, now Patent No. 2,539,855, issued January 30, 1951.

It should also be observed that one of the use-j ful advantages of the horizontally offset switch,

deflector, and runway means, with upward offset of the runway, also, resides in the fact that it is,"

virtually impossible to impart any horizontal swing to a captive coin sufiicient to carry thecaptive coin back to the switch past the deflector 1 even though the deflector may be momentarily withdrawn by subsequent deposit of a good, free coin for the sole purpose of getting it out of 5 way, as is possible with many prior types of trapping deflectors.

Another advantage of the disclosed structure is the fact that a captive coin, abandoned in the chute and left hanging, does not necessarily dis able the machine against operation by legitimate coins, because such captive coin will generally be lodged close up beneath the runway, or in a position substantially below or at one side of the Having thus described my invention forpur- "poses of disclosure in Letters Patent, what I claim is:

1. In a coin chute, a captive-coin trap comprising a chute section into which a coin gravitates, a switch to be operated by a said coin, a

movable deflector spaced from said switch such that a coin of predetermined diameter lodged between the same and said switch will actuate the latter, means yieldingly urging the deflector out of deflecting position, electromagnetic means in a circuit normally closed by said switch to hold said deflector in deflecting position, and a coin trap including at least a runway portion angled downward toward said deflector and switch with a lower terminus disposed above and away from said deflector on the side of the latter away from said switch, a filament trapping formation in said chute section adjacent said runway, and the lat- .ter and said deflector in normal position cooperating to trap a captive coin and prevent retraction thereof upwardly therepast,

2. In an anti-captive coin control, a coin-operated switch, a guide directing coins downward- 1y toward said switch, a movable deflector spaced horizontally opposite from said switch and below said guide, coins from the latter passing down between said deflector and switch to engage and actuate the latter, means controlled by said switch normally moving said deflector into deflecting position, means acting responsive to coinoperation of said switch for withdrawing said deflector from deflecting position, connections through said switch for actuating a controlled instrumentality responsive to coin-operation thereof, said deflector positioned relative to said guide to permit a captive coin to gravitate beneath the guide and away from the switch and the deflector when the deflector is withdrawn as aforesaid, and to block retractive movement of said coin from beneath the guide and into operative engagement with said switch and a captive coin filament trap spaced from said deflector on the side thereof away from said switch.

3. A coin chute mechanism for preventing fraudulent switch operations by captive coins, said mechanism comprising a coin chute having a downwardly directed coin guide with a lower terminus directing a coin into a confined space permitting a coin to gravitate freely on opposite sides of a vertical line spaced away from said terminus in the direction of downward coin travel, a coin switch spaced from said terminus on a side of said line remote from the terminus, a movable deflector situated below said terminus and opposite said switch a distance to cause a descending coin of certain diameter to engage and operate the switch, a spring normally urging the deflector into non-deflecting position and laterally out from between the switch and said terminus so that a coin may gravitate downwardly and away from the switch in a general sense back toward and beneath said terminus; electromagnetic means normally energized by a circuit closed by said switch to move the deflector into deflecting position, whereby a coin descending between the deflector and switch will actuate the latter and cause momentary withdrawal of the deflector by the spring and subsequent restoration of the deflector to deflecting position upon movement of the coin away from the switch and toward said terminus, as aforesaid, said deflector in restored deflecting position blocking backward movement of said coin against the switch for any repeated actuation thereof, a captive coin thus '7 blocked being: trapped between the restored-de fiector and said terminus region of the guide; said switch including circuit control contacts for a controlled instrumentality.

4. In a coin chute including a chute passage occupying a vertical plane with a coin entrance at an uppermost level therein, a switch having an operating member exposed in the chute passage to be engaged by a coin edgewise therein, a movable deflector projecting into said passage and spaced horizontally from said operating member to be engaged by opposite edgewise portions of a coin of certain diameter engaged with the operating member as aforesaid; electromagnetic means normally energized by a circuit controlled by said switch to position said deflector normally opposite said operating member for coin operation of the latter as aforesaid; a spring operable to withdraw the deflector when said electromagnetic means is deenergized by coin-operation of said switch; coin-guide means in the chute above said operating member and deflector and offset in a horizontal sense from both of the latter in the same particular direction away from the switch and deflector to guide a coin in between the same; said offset coin-guide means being positioned and directed to cause a captive coin to gravitatingly swing in a horizontally onset sense in said particular direction from a position between the operating member and deflector,

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 412,469 Cochran Oct. 8, 1889 452,068 Ashwell May 12, 1891 525,623 Root Sept. 4, 1894 659,533 Kann Oct. 9, 1900 777,525 Long Dec. 13, 1904 1,584,414 Whalen May 11, 1926 1,757,801 Higgins, Jr. May 6, 1930 1,933,686 Sharpnack Nov. 7, 1933 1,950,361 Lindberg Mar. 6, 1 934 1,966,413 Long July 10, 1934 2,189,740 Mills Feb. 6, 1940 2,323,255 Sutherland June 29, 1943 2,360,241 Kuhl Oct. 10, 1944 2,392,511 Thompson et al Jan. 8, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 24,528/1899 Great Britain Dec. 8, 1900

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