US2973138A - Coin receiver - Google Patents

Description

L. L. EPSTEIN Feb, 28, 1961 COIN RECEIVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 20, 1959 Feb. 28, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 20, 1959 COIN REQEIVER Louis L. Epstein, 504 (llinton Ave, Newark, NJ.

Filed Mar. 20, 1959, der. No. 800,755

1 Claim. (Cl. 232-1) This invention relates to a removable coin receiver for coin-operated machines, such as music boxes and cigarette dispensing machines, for example.

An accomplished object of the invention is the provision of a coin receiver from which coins may not be extracted except in an authorized manner; unless the receiver is damaged, thus ensuring that the coin-containing receiver will be taken from the machine and delivered intact by a collector to his employer.

The mentioned receiver comprises a coin-holding receptacle, as a bag for example, which is releasably locked to a coin hopper, the latter having a series of gates permitting the falling of coins into said receptacle but preventing the removal of the coins by inversion or by a fishing tool.

The drawings illustrate one form of the invention, and in these:

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively top and bottom plan views of the coin receiver;

Figure 3 is a side elevation, partly broken away;

Figures 4 and 5 are broken elevations of the two ends;

Figure 6 is a vertical section from end to end, the coin receiving bag being shown fragmentarily;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 77 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a section on broken line 88 of Figure 6; and

Figure 9 is a detail view showing the locking of the bag to the top plate of the receiver.

Referring to the drawings for a detailed description, the numeral 1% indicates a top,or cover plate which has an oblong aperture Ill for the reception of coins. The cover plate also holds a key-operated lock 12. A key 15 is shown in Figure 6 as inserted into the lock. The cover has depending flanges 16 around it. A coin receptacle, illustrated as a bag 18, is sewed at its upper edge to a correspondingly shaped frame 19 of stout wire which fits snugly into the cover plate just inside flanges 16 of the latter. The cover plate fits into a frame 20 which has upright flanges 21 surrounding flanges 16 of the cover (Figures 1, 6 and 8). From the upper edge of one end of flange 21 of frame Zil, a horizontal retaining flange 22 (Figures 1 and 6) extends inwardly, and one end of plate is placed under this flange, to be retained thereby at that end. The other end of plate 1% holds the key operated lock 12, which has a turnable bolt 24- under the cover plate. The bolt is turnable by the key under a keeper 25 which rises from the inner edge of one end of frame-the end adjacent bolt 24 of the lock, the keeper being best shown in Figure 9. The entrance of the bolt under the keeper pushes a very small part of the bag before it under the keeper, as shown in Figure 8. The bag or coin receptacle is thereby locked to the cover plate.

Secured to, and depending from, the cover plate 10 is a coin hopper 30 which is within the bag and is open top and bottom to receive coins and discharge them into atent Patented Feb. 28, 1961 the bag. The hopper may be described as having a top portion comprising oppositely and inwardly inclined plates 32 and a body portion thereunder, all of which are secured to the cover plate 10. The inclined plates are spaced apart at their lower edges to provide an upper coin slot. The body of the hopper is oblong in cross section and comprises ends 33 and sides 34, the latter being flat. The ends 33 are similar to each other and comprise downwardly and inwardly sloping upper portions 35 lying under inclined plates 32, vertical intermediate portions and inwardly and downwardly inclined lower end portions 36. The latter are spaced apart to provide a coin slot for the exit of coins into the coin bag. Directly below the mentioned upper coin slot, and adjacent thereto, a shaft 38 has its ends mounted in the ends 33 of the hopper body and on this shaft are mounted a series of spaced, parallel gates in the form of wedge-shaped plates 42 adapted to separately and freely move from side to side, spacers 43 being mounted on the shaft between adjacent plates. The diameter of the spacers and of the upper ends of the plates is larger than the width of the coin slot thereabove, to direct coins to the sides of the gates. The lower edges of the gates are within the lowermost part of the hopper and are wider than the coin slot therebelow, and the ends of the edges are spaced from the sides of the hopper to an extent just sufficient for coins to pass. It will be noted that the inclined plates 32 constituting the top portion of the hopper extend down into the body of the same and thereby form internal pockets (Fig. 6) so that, if an attempt is made to shake out coins by inverting the device, and in the event that a few coins may pass the gates, which is improbable, they will be caught in said pockets. It is also to be noted that by having the plates independently pivoted, one group of plates may move to the right and the other to the left, so that coins falling to both sides of the plates may fall through on opposite sides of the plates.

What is claimed is:

Coin receiving and retaining means comprising a coin hopper, a coin receptacle around and depending from the hopper, the hopper comprising a body portion and a top portion, the latter comprising opposed, downwardly and inwardly inclined plates spaced at their lower edges to provide a single coin slot, a horizontal shaft mounted in said body portion of the hopper directly below and adjacent and parallel to said coin slot, at single composite gate comprising a series of parallel plates depending from said shaft and individually freely swingable from side to side, to allow passage of coins, said body portion of the hopper open at the bottom, said inclined plates of said top portion of the hopper forming angular pockets with the upper part of said body portion by extending thereinto, whereby, in an attempt to obtain coins from said receptacle by inverting the latter and the hopper, said plates direct any coins which might pass them into said pockets, said parallel plates being wedge-shaped with their wider ends lowermost, the lower part of said body portion of the hopper inclined inwardly from two sides toward the edges of said plates, the bottom opening of said portion narrower than the width of the lower ends of the plates, said coin receptable comprising a frame and a bag secured at its upper end to the frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 450,379 Sinclaire Apr. 14, 1891 480,108 Loch Aug. 2, 1892 1,063,758 Yeo June 3, 1913 1,110,268 Mitten Sept. 8, 1914 2,721,030 Hayes Oct. 18, 1955

Images