US2734680A - Gravity-actuated closure for coin- - Google Patents

Description

W. W. JONES Feb. 14, 1956 GRAVITY-ACTUATED CLOSURE FOR COIN-CONTROLLED DEVICES Filed Dec. 16, 1952 United States Patent 9 GRAVITY-ACTUATED-CLOSURE FOR COIN CONTROLLED DEVICES Whitney W. Jones, 1 hiladelpl1ia, Pa..

Application December 16, 1952, Serial No. 326,263

2 Claims. (Cl. 232-44) The object of the invention is to provide improvements in coin-controlled devices of many types, and especially in means for guarding the entrance through which coins are inserted for controlling operation of the device, particularly when the device is out of doors or otherwise exposed to the weather, including rain, snow, sleet, dust and the general dirt, that would otherwise be liable to enter the device through such an aperture, and sooner or later cause a clogging of the passageways and interference with the operating parts. This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Serial No. 250,257.

In order to illustrate the invention, but without limiting its scope in any way, it is here shown and described as being applied to an ordinary parking meter, by which upon inserting one or more of the proper coins the meter indicates the length of time remaining before a vehicle must be moved from the meter-marked location, or one or more additional coins must be inserted in said meter in order to extend the permissible period for parking at such location.

Another object is to locate the coin entrance beneath an overhanging projection from a generally upright wall of the meter, the lower edge portions of said projection approaching one another sufliciently to provide a fairly continuous support for a ball or sphere housed within said projection, except and until such ball is displaced upwardly by the manual insertion of a coin into said meter, the wall of said meter to the rear of said overhang being provided with a preferably circular opening for the passage of the coin, which opening is of such size and so arranged as to be closed by said ball at the same time that the downwardly directed opening of said housing is closed by said ball.

A further object is to provide rearwardly of said meter wall a chute or passageway into which a coin is directed, by and upon the operators finger pushing the coin upwardly and rearwardly through said housing overhang, while said ball is displaced by the coin and the finger, as the coin is pushed through said lower and rearward openings in sequence, until upon releasing such coin beyond said rearward opening it is free to drop through said passageway, and said ball again falls to its initial lower operative position upon withdrawing the operators finger from said housing.

With the objects thus briefly set forth, the invention comprises further details of construction and operation, which are hereinafter fully described in the following specification, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary section of a portion of the front (or other) wall of a coincontrolled device, including a projecting overhang forming a housing for the ball that normally closes the coin entrance; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the front or forward wall of any type of coin-controlled meter or other device is represented by the fragmentary portion 1, from an upper 2,734,680 Patented Feb. 14, 195.6.

ice

part of which projects anintegral extension 2' having. a

wardly to form a semi-circular seat 7 for a. ball closure .8.

Beneath said extension the wall of saidmeter. or, the like is provided outwardly with an upwardly and rearwardly slanting surface 9, that serves as a guide for a coin 10 towards an opening 11 in said meter wall, that is partially spanned by a plate 12 secured to the rearward or inner surface of said wall 1, and provided with a circular aperture 13 of sufficient size to pass a coin of the proper denomination, as it is pushed upwardly by a finger 14 of the operator, first against and along said slanting section surface 9, into and through said housing and through said meter wall, as said ball closure is simultaneously pushed upwardly into substantially the dash-and-double-dot position 15.

In order to more definitely direct the movement of the coin towards the plate aperture 13, two generally triangular guide flanges or webs 16 form integral forwardly and upwardly converging extensions of said meter wall, connecting the same with the lower edge portions of the housing walls 5 and 6, and thus forming spaced means to guide the coin into and through said ball housing. It is to be noted that whereas it is preferable to form said housing and said guide flanges integral with said meter wall and with each other, they may be initially formed otherwise and unitarily assembled, if preferred, as for example by welding them together.

Rearwardly of said meter wall 1, any desired form of coin chute may be positioned so as to receive a coin that has passed through said aperture 13. However, for purposes of illustration such a chute is here represented as comprising a forward wall 17, that extends downwardly from and is in effect a substantial continuation of the plate 12, and a rear wall 18 that is equally spaced from said forward wall, but extends upwardly beyond said forward wall to a point at least as high as the upper limit of said aperture 13, in order to form by its uppermost portion 19 an arresting means for a coin pushed through said aperture, and at the same time a directing member, such that when such coin is released by the removal of the operators finger, it will be in such position as to drop freely into and downwardly through said chute, which may be bounded transversely by side walls 20 or their equivalent. With a chute and entrance aperture thus protected from the weather, it will be realized that a meter provided with such a closure and housing structure as herein described can never conceivably become inoperative, as the result of the coin entrance aperture being blocked by ice or snow, or its internal mechanisms affected by rain or the like entering said coin aperture, as has heretofore given so much trouble particularly in certain latitudes. This long sought result is further made possible by the fact that both the downwardly directed entrance to said housing and the coin aperture 13, are normally closed simultaneously by the ball 8, as long as it is not elevated against the force of gravity for the short period necessary to insert a coin into the meter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The combination of a coin-controlled mechanism, with a casing having an annular coin-passing aperture, an overhanging shelter extending outwardly from said casing above and in front of said aperture, and a gravityactuated ball positioned beneath said shelter as a housing, and guide means operative to direct said ball when actuated by gravity to normally close said aperture.

2. The combination of a coin-controlled mechanism, with a casing comprising an upwardly extending wall 3 having a coin-passing aperture, a sheltering hood extending from said wall above and in front of said aperture, said hood having a downwardly opening aperture large enough to pass a coin moving inwardly towards said first aperture, and a ball within said hood having a normal position closing said first aperture to prevent the admission of dust and moisture, said ball being directed by an inclined inner surface of said hood to said normal position, in which said ball also substantially closes said hood aperture. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Price Sept. 22, 1885 Tregurtha Aug. 5, 1890 Colton Mar. 1, 1892 Baker July 2, 1918 OConnell Feb. 3, 1925 Adams Aug. 30, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Jan. 3, 1924

Images