US2720209A - Adjustable drive means for coin gauging mechanism - Google Patents

Description

H. B. MILLER Get. 11, 1955 ADJUSTABLE DRIVE MEANS FOR COIN GAUGING MECHANISM Filed March 16, 1951 INVENTOR. Harry B. Ma /er ATTORNEYS- United States Patent ADJUSTABLE DRIVE MEANS FOR COIN GAUGING MECHANISM Harry B. Miller, Warwick, R. L, assignor to Max L. Grant, Providence, R. I.

Application March 16, 1951, Serial No. 215,951 2 Claims. (Cl. 133-8) This invention pertains to fare collecting and registering apparatus of the type wherein coins are presented one by one to diameter-gauging means (thereby to determine the denomination of the coin) by a rotor having peripheral pockets each designed to receive one coin and which is driven intermittently step-by-step thereby to bring coins one by one into the field of action of a movable gauging fingerand to hold the coin while it is being gauged, the present invention relating more especially to improved means for driving the rotor and gauging finger in accurately timed relation. Since the diameters of coins of certain denominations vary but little, the gauging means must be sensitive to very slight differences in diameter. Thus, when the coin is held by the rotor wheel while a gauging finger moves radially of the rotor to engage the outer edge of the coin thus held, it is highlyimportant that the pocket of the rotor which holds the coin which is being gauged be positioned very accurately with respect to the gauging finger during the gauging operation.

The present invention has for its principal object an improvement in the driving mechanism which actuates the gauging finger and rotor whereby it is made possible accurately to adjust the rotor relatively to the driving mechanism so as to assure proper location of the coin during the gauging operation. A further object is to provide adjustable connections between the rotor shaft and means for turning it, thereby to permit the rotor to be turned and adjusted relatively to the driving means, and in particular to adjust it relatively to the drive means for the gauging finger. A further object is to provide means whereby a rotor, driven intermittently by means of a Geneva gearing, may be adjusted relatively to the driven element of the Geneva gearing. A further object is to provide adjustable drive connections for the rotor which is readily accessible for adjustment of the parts. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical section on the axis of the drive shaft of the coin-positioning rotor of apparatus of the class described, and embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the rotor, showing the associated coin-gauging finger in gauging position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary horizontal section showing drive mechanism for actuating the gauging finger and the rotor in timed relation;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic rear elevation of one of the elements of the adjustable drive connections for the rotor; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the gauging finger in the inoperative position.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a portion of the frame of fare-collecting and registering apparatus of the type to which the present invention relates. This frame supports a downwardly and forwardly inclining plate P down which the coins slide after being deposited in a suitable hopper (not shown) the downwardly mov- "ice ing coins being directed by guide means (not shown) to a position such that each individual coin will be received in one of the pockets 12 of a rotor 11 which overlies the lower portion of the plate P. This rotor 11 has accurately spaced peripheral pockets 12 separated by radial arms T, each pocket being of a circumferential width to receive coins of any of the denominations for which the apparatus is designed and each pocket having an inner wall 12 (Fig. 5) which is a circular arc concentric with the axis of the rotor. At a point above the upper edge of the rotor, the plate P has a window W through which projects a movable gauging finger 45. This finger has an upwardly concave, arcuate lower surface 46 whose center of curva' ture is in the vertical axial plane O--O of the shaft 14 of the rotor, the arc of curvature of the surface of the coincontacting surface 46 being somewhat larger than that of the largest coin to be gauged.

The gauging finger 45 is moved up and down with the transverse midpoint of the finger moving in the vertical axial plane O-O of the rotor shaft. It is moved by connections not shown, actuated by a cam C (Fig. 3) fixed to the drive shaft S of the machine. Also fixed on this drive shaft S is the driver element F. of at Geneva gearing G, the driven element or star wheel 43 of the Geneva gearing being fixed to a horizontal shaft 37 (Fig. 3) which turns in bearings 33 and 39 (Fig. 1) carried by the machine frame.

The rotor 11 is fixed by splined connections 15 to the forward end of the rotor shaft 14 which turns in bearings 19 and 2t and whose axis is perpendicular to the plane of the coin-guiding plate P. Rearwardly of the bearing 20, the shaft 14 is reduced in diameter to provide a shoulder 17 and at its rear end the shaft is further reduced in diameter and screw threaded at 18 for the reception of a nut 33.

The shaft 14 is turned intermittently by the Geneva gearing so that after receiving a coin in one of its pockets, for example the pocket 12 (Fig. 2) the rotor will be turned just far enough to bring the center of this pocket into the vertical plane O-O of the rotor shaft, thereby positioning the coin K, contained in the pocket, directly beneath the gauging finger 45, the latter then being moved downwardly by the drive connections so that its concave under surface 46 engages the coin at the upper portion of the latter. Motion is transmitted from the Geneva gearing to the shaft 14 by means of a bevel pinion 36 fixed to the shaft 37 which carries the star wheel 43. The pinion meshes with a bevel gear 22, having a hub 25 which is mounted on the rear portion of the shaft .14, the forward end of the hub contacting the shoulder 17 of the shaft. The gear 22 is free to turn on the shaft except for the adjustable connecting means now to be described.

Mounted on the shaft 14 to the rear of the gear 22 is a sleeve 28 which is splined or keyed to the shaft so as to turn with the shaft without slippage. This sleeve 28 has a radial flange 24, preferably integral with the sleeve, which lies immediately to the rear of the rear face of the gear 22. The opposed faces of the gear 22 and flange 24 are finished for frictional contact one with the other. Rearwardly of the flange 24 there is arranged an annulus 27 having a central opening X (Fig. 4) of a diameter somewhat larger than the external diameter of the sleeve 28 and having a plurality of circumferentially spaced openings 30 which receive clamping screws 31 which have threaded engagement with internally threaded openings 23 in the gear 22. By tightening these screws 31 the gear 22 may be drawn firmly into contact with the flange 24 so that the flange is constrained to partake of the rotation of the gear. The sleeve 28 is secured against axial movement on the shaft by means of the nut 33, preferably with a lock washer 31' interposed between it and the rear edge of the sleeve 26.

Preferably a collar 34, secured to the shaft 14 by a pin 35 is located at the forward end of the bearing 20, thereby to prevent axial movement of the shaft 14 in its bearings.

Rotation of the pinion 36 by the Geneva gearing intermittently turns the gear 22, and since the gear 22 is normally clamped to the flange 24, such rotation of the gear 22 likewise turns the shaft 14.

In adjusting the machine preparatory to its operation and while the drive shaft S is stationary, the screws 31 are loosened, thus leaving the gear 22 free on the rotor shaft 14. In this condition of the parts the rotor may be turned by hand and so adjusted relatively to the position of the parts which determines the downward movement of the gauging finger 45 that as the finger starts to move down, the coin-holding pocket of the rotor will come to rest with its center of transverse width exactly in the vertical plane of the axis of the rotor. This insures the gauging of the diameter of the coin between the arcuate surface 12 of the rotor and the concave surface 46 of the gauging finger. After having adjusted the rotor to insure this relative arrangement of the parts, the screws 31 are tightened, thus rigidly securing the gear 22 to the flange 24. In the orderly operation of the machine, the several pockets of the rotor will be brought one after the other into proper relation to the gauging finger and will dwell in this position while the gauging operation is taking place.

While one desirable embodiment of the invention has been illustrated by way of example, it is to be understood that the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modifications falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a multiple coin fare collecting and registering apparatus wherein deposited coins slide down an inclined plate while leaning against said plate, a drive shaft, a rotor overlying and in substantial contact with that surface of the plate down which the coins slide and which is fixed to a shaft whose axis is perpendicular to the plate, the plate having a window adjacent to the peripheral edge of the rotor, the latter having circumferentially spaced, peripherally open, coin receiving pockets, a gauging ele ment within said window in the plate and which is movable toward and from the periphery of the rotor, the gauging element having a concave coin-contacting edge whose centerof curvature moves in a radial plane of the rotor, each rotor pocket being of a circumferential width suflicient to accommodate a coin of the greatest diameter which is to be registered, each coin sliding down the plate, while in the plane of the rotor, and entering edgewise into a rotor pocket, each pocket having a convexly curved bottom whose center of curvature is in a radial plane of the rotor, drive connections actuable by the drive shaft, normally operative to move the gauging element and the rotor intermittently in timed relation such that the rotor stops while the gauging element moves radially inward toward the center of the rotor to contact its curved edge with a coin in a rotor pocket, in combination, means whereby the rotor may be turned manually while the drive shaft is stationary for initially adjusting a selected rotor pocket so that its center of width-is in the same radial plane as that in which the center of curvature of the coin-contacting edge of the gauging element is located.

2. In multiple coin fare collecting apparatus of the kind having an inclined plate down which coins slide while leaning against the plate, a rotor overlying and in substantial contact with the plate and which is fixed to a shaft whose axis is perpendicular to the plate, the shaft extending rearwardly through an opening in the plate, the rotor having spaced, peripherally open coin receiving pockets separated by rigid radial arms, each pocket being of a circumferential width suflicient to receive a coin of the largest diameter which is to be collected, the coins sliding down the plate while lying in the plane of the rotor and moving edgewise into the rotor pocket, the inclined plate having a window therein spaced from the highest point of the edge of the rotor and a gauging element projecting through the window and overlying the edge of the rotor, the gauging element being movable toward and from the edge of the rotor with the center point of its width moving along a radius of the rotor, the gauging element having a downwardly concave coin contacting surface whose radius exceeds that of the largest coin to be gauged and whose center of curvature is in the vertical plane of the axis of the rotor shaft, in combination, means for moving the gauging element and rotor in accurately timed relation comprising a shaft having fixed thereon a cam which actuates connections whereby the gauging element is moved radially toward and from the edge of the rotor, a Geneva gearing whose drive element is fixed to said last named shaft, a third shaft, to which the driven element of the Geneva gearing is fixed, a pinion on said third shaft, a gear which is loosely mounted on the rotor shaft at a point rearwardly of said inclined plate, said gear always meshing with the pinion, a sleeve splined on the rotor shaft for rotation therewith, said sleeve having a radial flange, one face of which engages the face of the gear, an annulus loosely surrounding the sleeve and which engages the opposite face of the flange, and clamping means for drawing the gear and annulus toward each other thereby normally to hold the gear in driving relation to the flange so that the shaft is turned in time with the gear.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,096,172 Johnson May 12, 1914 1,443,193 Phelps Ian. 23, 1923 1,691,408 Palmer Nov. 13, 1928 1,947,456 Bock Feb. 20, 1934 2,307,957 Reynolds Jan. 12, 1943 2,390,012 Timm Nov. 27, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 603,663 Great Britain June 21, 1948

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