US2818213A - Control and counter actuating mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 31, 1957 D. c. PEARL 2,818,213

CONTROL AND COUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 16, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

Dec. 31, 1957 D. c. PEARL CONTROL AND COUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 16, 1954 CONTROLLED DEV/CE Fla 6 INVENTOR.

DOW/ L0 J3 PD? A coNrnor. AND COUNTER ACTUATING MECHANISM Donald C. Pearl, Lake Zurich, Ill., assignor to Raymond T. Moloney, Chicago, Ill.

Application August 16, 1954, Serial No. 450,085

3 Claims. (Cl. 235-92) This invention pertains to coin-control devices, particularly the measured-service variety adapted to close a switch and actuate some other instrumentality for a predetermined period of time in response to deposit of a proper coin.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a switch-operating means coacting with a measured-service coin switch and acting to operate a totalizing meter during the duty cycle by energizing the same only momentarily to thereby avoid holding the meter device energized throughout the period or cycle during which the main control switch remains operated.

A further object is to provide a one-way switch-operating lever means cooperable with a timing motor and switch-tripping means to actuate a meter or like switch positively but for only a brief interval during each timing operation notwithstanding that the timing motor normally acts upon the main coin-switch mechanism during the entire cycle to progressively condition the same for snapaction restoration to normal open-circuit condition abruptly at the conclusion of the allotted time period, the object being that the counter or like switch will be deliberately and fully operated to assure accurate counting, but need not be held energized during said time period.

Additional objects and aspects of novelty and utility characterizing the invention relate to details of the construction and operation of the switch-operating and control means described hereinafter in view of the annexed drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a time coin-controlled switch unit employing the new totalizeractuating means;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevational detail of the coinswitch and cooperating counter-switch parts of the unit of Fig. 1, the motor unit'being removed;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional detail of the motor, coin-switch and counter-switch assembly, taken to slightly enlarged scale, looking up in the direction of lines 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a schematic functional diagram;

Figs. 4a and 5b are perspective operating details for the one-way switch lever;

Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of the reverse or oneway switch operation.

In Fig. 1 there is shown the partial inside view of a coincontrol unit including a metal box 10 in which is housed a conventional coin-testing chute 11 adapted to accept a ten-cent coin through a top opening 12 and subject the coin to the usual testing operations as the coin descends toward an acceptance or reject exit at the bottom of the chute. If acceptable, the coin will gravitate from the testing device into an auxiliary coin-switch unit 14 (Fig. 2), which includes a narrow coin passage defined between a front wall plate 15 and a parallel rear plate, not

seen.

The accepted coin continues to gravitate to the exit tates Patent 0 ice 16, and on the way strikes the offset coin-engaging end part 19 of a switch-actuating lever 18 pivotally mounted at 18a on an adjoining switch housing 17, with the result that the lever is moved down into the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 2, and the offset end 19 thereof occupies the position indicated at 19a. Being of magnetically attractable material the offset part 19 is held in its position at 19a by a small, lower, permanent magnet 25 (Fig. 3 also), and will remain in this condition until forced out by the snap-action of a special kick-out hammer actuated by the timing motor.

As a result of the movement and holding by the lower magnet of the switch lever 18 in lowered position, as aforesaid, the contact leaves 30 of the principal control switch are closed by action of an insulating pin 20a on one of the balancing wings 20 of the hub structure of lever 18 pressing against the nearer contact 30 when the lever is depressed by the falling coin. Contacts 30 of the principal switch are thus held closed so long as the offset part 19 of the switch lever is held in the attracted position at 19a. The main switch lever 18 is preferably dynamically balanced by the wings 20 and appertaining hub structure, and may be of the type disclosed in the pending application of Frank G. Nicolaus, Serial No. 147,216, filed March 2, 1950, now Patent No. 2,800,212.

Means for tripping out the magnetically-held switch lever 18 includes a spring kick-out lever arm 35 (Fig. 2) clamped in a bracket 36 to project in the general direction of the main lever but at a level therebelow and having a free end portion 35a located about opposite the coin exit 16.

Spaced inwardly of said free end of the spring-blade tripping lever is a brass hammer stud 37 positioned such that when the spring arm is tensioned downwardly and let go, the stud hammer will fly back and strike the offset 19 and kick the latter part upwardly free of the holding influence of the lower magnet 25, thus abruptly breaking the principal circuit theretofore maintained by closure of contacts 30 by the switch lever means 18, 19, 20.

Time-controlled means for actuating the spring kickout lever 35, 37, as aforesaid, includes a clock motor 40 carried on a bracket 41 held in parallelism in front of the chute plate 15 by screws 42 (Figs. 1 and 3) engaged in the box wall.

Projecting from the motor housing (Fig. 3) is a driven shaft 45 having fixed thereon a small collar from which project radially three cam pins 44 so disposed as to engage the free end portion 35a of the spring kick-out lever as the collar is rotated slowly by the motor, which, in the embodiment shown, turns the shaft 45 through one revolution in 3 minutes; since there are three cam pins the kick-out lever will be actuated once every minute.

Installed within the box 10 is an electromagnetically actuated totalizing meter or counter 50 (Fig. 1) of known construction and having an actuating coil 51 shown schematically in Fig. 4. Heretofore, it has been necessary to connect said counter-actuating coil in parallel with the winding 40a of motor 40 with the result that the counter coil remained energized for the duration of the timing cycle. This was wasteful of current and also more costly in that a more expensive electromagnet was required for the counter to withstand the heat generated in each duty cycle.

According to the present improvements, coil 51 is pulsed only momentarily during each duty cycle by a special one-way switch means coacting with the kick-out lever. As viewed in Figs. 2 and 3, the special switch is carried on an angle bracket 53 clamped at 36 with the spring kick-out lever, the switch being shown to advan tage in Fig. 3 and being a stack-type switch with a pair of normally separated spring contact blades 54 clamped between insulating wafers 55, along with an operating spring blade 56 which has a free end 57 projecting somewhat beyond the contact blades and is separated from the latter by a strip of fish paper 58.

Pivotally mounted at 68 on the motor bracket 41 is a one-way lever 61 (Fig. 3) movable in a vertical plane (Fig. 1) and having its downward movement limited by one of the mounting screws 62 for the timing motor (as in Fig. 3), this lever further having its outer end struck over at right angles to provide the offset 63 upon which is mounted by screws 64 a one-way actuating finger 65 for the special counter switch. The spring blade 56 is so dimensioned and positioned in relation to the arc of travel of the actuating finger 65 that the latter presents an upper leading edge 65A to the outside face of the spring blade 56 upon upward travel of the one-way lever 61, pressing the blade 56 inwardly toward the contacts 54 and causing the latter to come together in closed circuit relation; but on the downward travel of the one-way lever the finger 65 presents a lower leading edge 65B against the inner face of the spring blade 56 and moves the latter outwardly and away from the contact blades so that there is no switch action whatever by this action. These operations are illustrated schematically in Figs. 5a and 5b.

The lever 61 actuates the switch means 56 only when moving in one direction (upwardly) as aforesaid, and it is therefore conveniently referred to as a one-way lever.

Referring to Fig. 6, it will appear that owing to the arcuate path of blade 65 the latter will strike the centered switch member 56 on opposite sides on the way up or down, the operation in only one of these directions effectively actuating the switch.

Oscillation of the one-way lever 61 is effected as a function of cocking or tensioning of the kick-out lever 35 by means of the provision of another offset 66 (Fig. 3) underlying said spring lever 61 so that as the cam pins 44 press the free end of the latter downwardly the oneway lever will be pivoted clockwise or upwardly, as seen in Figs. 1 and 4, and close the counter switch contacts in the manner heretofore described. When any motor cam pin trips off the free end of the kick-out blade to effect abrupt release of the latter to free the principal control switch from magnetically held condition, the oneway lever is likewise abruptly released and gravitates counterclockwise back to the fully-lowered normal position shown in Fig. 4, it being pointed out that (as seen in Fig. 1) the position of this one-way lever is partially raised and is above the stop screw 42.

The switch lever 18 (Fig. 2) is normally raised by action of the nearer one of the coin switch spring blades 30, in which position the magnetically attractable end 19 of this lever is opposite an upper permanent magnet 22 adjustably held by set screw 23X in a brass collar 23 staked into an upset lug 24 on plate 15.

The purpose of this upper magnet 22 is to hold the lever 18 against fraudulent actuation, as by jarring the unit, this feature being more particularly described in the aforesaid application Serial No. 147,216. The weight of the deposited coin is sufiicient to start and force lever 18 downwardly into the zone of influence of the lower magnet 25 as heretofore described.

The operation of the device in view of the simplified showing of Fig. 4 is as follows: assuming acceptance of a proper coin by the testing device 11, said coin will gravitate onto the offset end 19 of the main switch lever 18 and dislodge the latter from the normal holding influence of the upper permanent magnet 22.

The weight of the coin moves the main lever 18 to fully lowered position in which the offset end is held by the lower permanent magnet 25, one of the hub parts 20a of the main lever bearing against and closing together the main switch contact blades 30 to operate any controlled device 70 (such as a vending or amusement machine) via conductors 68, 69.

Said contacts 30 also close circuit via conductors 68, 69 for the winding 40A of the timing motor, and in due course one of the cam pins 44 will flex the kick-out spring 35 to the dotted-line tensioned position and suddenly free the same to snap back upwardly and throw the brass hammer stud 37 against the held offset 19 on the main switch lever and kick the latter upwardly and free of magnet 25.

While the kick-out blade is being tensioned downwardly by a cam pin, the one-way lever 61 is pivoted clockwise, owing to the presence of its inner offset 66 beneath said kick-out blade, and pushed downwardly with the latter. The clockwise or upward travel of the oneway lever causes the finger on its outer offset 63 to flex the actuator blade 56 inwardly and close the contact blades 54 together and energize the counter coil 51 via conductors 71, 72, 73; and when the kick-out blade is abruptly released, the one-way lever will also be released and drop counterclockwise back to normal position, this time flexing the spring actuator blade outwardly and therefore ineffectively relative to the contact blades 54.

Thus, the counter is operated once during each duty cycle of the main switch mechanism and is held energized for only a portion of the duration of said cycle, notwithstanding that it is actuated cooperably with the main control switch by power derived ultimately from the timing motor while the latter is tensioning the kick-out release means for operation.

The long leverage on the counter or one-way lever 61 provides a relatively faster motion for the finger 65 in actuating the counter or meter switch means 56, so that the duration of energization of the meter coil 51 is further shortened. In addition to shortening the duration of the closed-circuit time for the counter, a further advantage arises in eliminating one of the sources of faulty operation of the counter owing to accidental and deliberate pulling-out of the power-line plug, the restoration of which could cause false actuation of the counter in the old system where the counter coil was held energized for the full duty cycle.

I claim:

1. In a switch-operating mechanism, in cooperative combination: a first switch device including an actuating part movable from operated to non-operated conditions; a spring blade device mounted to be flexed into taut condition for release to strike said part of the switch device and dislodge the same from said operated condition; a motor connected to be energized by actuation of said first switch device, and cam means driven by said motor to flex said spring device to tautened condition and abruptly release same to dislodge the switch device as aforesaid; a long lever pivoted near said spring blade device to be turned from a starting position in a first direction in the aforesaid flexing operation; and a second switch device actuated by said lever in movement thereof in said first direction to transiently actuate said second switch device, but not effectively actuating the latter in reverse movement; said spring blade device upon release as aforesaid permitting said lever to turn in a direction opposite to said first direction for return to said starting position; and a counting device including electrical operating means therefor connected for energization by said second switch device for actuating the counting device under control of the aforesaid transient actuation of said second switch device.

2. In a measured-service switch mechanism, in cooperative combination: a timing motor and rotary cam means slowly turned thereby; a spring transiently tensioned and abruptly released periodically by said cam; a first switch including an actuating member movable into an operated position adjacent said spring and adapted to be dislodged from said position by said release action of the spring; a one-way switch-operating lever pivoted near said spring and having a long lever arm and also a short lever arm with a portion disposed on a side of said spring to be engaged and moved thereby only by tensioning action of the spring, whereby to pivot said lever and the long lever arm in a certain direction against the action of gravity, said lever arm dropping in the opposite direction following release of said spring; second switch means actuated by means on said long lever arm only in movement of the latter in said certain direction; and a meter device connected to be operatively controlled by said second switch means; together with circuit means including said first switch operable for starting and stopping said motor, said first switch being connected with said motor to control the latter responsive to movement of said first switch actuating member into and out of operated position as aforesaid.

3. In combination, a first switch-operating member having a normal and an operated position and means yieldingly holding same in said operated position at least and appertaining first switch means actuated thereby in said operated position; a spring hammer adapted to be tensioned by movement in a certain direction and released Cir for reverse movement to strike an operating blow upon said first switch-operating member in the operated position of the latter; together with a timer motor and cam turned thereby to tension said spring hammer; a second switch-operating member mounted adjacent said spring hammer and pivotable in a first direction by the latter in tensioning movement thereof in said certain direction and to pivot reversely by gravitation when said spring hammer is released as aforesaid; and a second switch means including a member transiently engaged and moved by a part of said second switch-operating member in both directions of movement of the latter, said transiently engaged member being moved in opposite directions corresponding to the opposite direction of movement of the second switch-operating member; and said second switch means having contacts closed by movement of said transiently-engaged member in only one direction of movement thereof; and a meter device connected to be operatively controlled by said contacts; together with circuit means controlled by said first switch means in said operated position thereof to operate said timer motor.

No references cited.

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