US3481442A - Slug rejection mechanism for coin vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 2, 1969 J.w VAN HORN EI'AL 3,481,442

SLUG REJECTION MECHANISM FOR COIN VENDING MACHINE Filed April 15, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 F j INVENTOR 5 JOHN w- VAN HORN JIMMY CALVIN TEAGUE JACK A. PRICKETT BY MM 7204 M m Dec. 2, w VAN HORN ETAL 3,481,442

SLUG REJECTION MECHANISM FOR COIN VENDING MACHINE Filed April 15, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR JOHN w. VAN HORN J. |.MMY CALVIN TE UE JACK A. PRICKET ATTORNEYS Dec. 2., 1969 N. VAN HORN HAL 3,481,442

SLUG REJECTION MECHANISM FOR COIN VENDING MACHINE Filed April 15, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR JOHN W. VAN HORN JIMMY CALVIN TEAGUE v JACK A- PRICKETT BY JMWM 724L419 W A ORNEY-S Dec. 2, 1969 J. w. VAN HORN ETAL 3,431,442

SLUG REJEQTION MECHANISM FOR COI N VENDING MACHINE Filed April 15, 1968 4 SheetSSheet 4 INVENT OR JOHN W. VAN HORN JIMMY CALVIN TEAGUE JACK A. PRICKETT 21m MM mun ATTOR EYS United States Patent O 3,481,442 SLUG REJECTION MECHANISM FOR COIN VENDING MACHINE John W. Van Horn, Russellville, Jimmy Calvin Teague,

Dover, and Jack A. Prickett, Russellville, Ark., assign- 5 ors to Rockwell Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 721,405

Int. Cl. G07f 3/02, 9/0

US. Cl. 194-97 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to the provision of a slug rejection mechanism for use in coin vending machines, for example, automatic coin operated parking meters of the general type illustrated by United States Letters Patent 2,897,938, 2,901,078, 2,963,136 and 3,026,- 983, issued to R. W. Hamilton.

In the use of such prior art mechanisms, it was found that purchases could be made or that time could be set on the meters by use of a ring type washer of appropriate diameter or even the pull tab of the opener mechanism of the so-called self-opening beer cans. In the case of a washer, the washer will pass through the coin handling mechanism under the driving influence of the coin drive mechanism just like a coin of equal diameter effecting a purchase or setting the meter to register and dispense time equal to that purchased by a coin of comparable diameter. In the case of the pull tab, the purchase can be effected or full time corresponding to that purchased by a coin of a diameter equal to that of the circular portion of the pull tab will be set on the meter provided the pull tab maintains a position to present its circular portion normal to the coin traverse path in traversing the coin handling mechanism. Otherwise the pull tab will jam the coin handling mechanism at some point along the normal coin traverse path jamming the vending machine or the meter with the time pointer or indicator registering an increment of unused time and the trouble signal flag exposed to view in the meter window, In either case, the user of a slug will have attained his objective, making a free purchase of a commodity or free parking by use of a slug. While slug rejection mechcanisms have been proposed in the prior art for vending machines and parking meters, see for example United States Letters Patent 2,326,211 to F. W. Frye et al., 2,326,673 to W. Patzer et al., 2,660,283 to R. F. Broussard et al., and 3,262,540 to L. D. Sollenberger et al., these mechanisms all involve complicated and expensive constructions which must be built into the mechanisms and in certain of the structures (see Broussard et al. 2,660,283) disassembly of the mechanism is required to remove the slug.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to thwart the use of slugs and assure the vending machine and parking meter owners of full compensation and freedom from high service costs in removing a 3,481,442 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 detected slug, the present invention contemplates a simple inexpensive detection lever which operates to lock the coin handling mechanism against operation and at the same time prevents the passage of the slug beyond the coin insertion slot thereby preventing its entry into the coin handling mechanism and retains the slug in the coin insertion slot where it may be grasped and readily removed (1) by the vending machine or parking meter attendant in his normal policing of the Vending machine or parking meter or (2) by a subsequent user desiring to use the vending machine or parking meter.

It, therefore, is a primary object of the present invention to provide a simple inexpensive slug rejection mechanism which may either be built into the vending machine or parking meter initially or added to an existing vending machine or parking meter at moderate expense.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide a detector lever for sensing the presence in the coin insertion slot of a vending machine, such as a parking meter, of an open centered slug that will simultaneously lock the coin handling mechanism against normal operation and retain the slug in the coin insertion slot in position to be retrieved therefrom without the need of tools or disassembly of any portion of the vending machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION Still other objects will appear from the following description and appended claims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of an automatic coin operated parking meter or time vending machine mechanism illustrated in association with a portion of the enclosing housing containing the coin insertion slot and provided with the slug rejection mechanism of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a rear elevational view of the meter or vending machine mechanism of FIGURE 1 showing the slug rejection mechanism as it appears when viewed from the rear of the mechanism;

FIGURE 3 is a view of the interior of the meter or vending machine mechanism viewed from the rear of the mechanism with the rear supporting face plate removed;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the meter or vending machine mechanism viewed from the left side of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view of the slug detector and locking lever, its biasing spring, and attachment screw constituting the slug rejecting mechanism of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With continued reference to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are employed throughout to indicate the same parts, the present invention contemplates a slug rejection mechanism 10 composed of a combination coin detector and locking lever 11, a biasing spring 12, and an attachment screw 13 (FIGURE 5) for securing lever 11 and spring 12 to a portion of the vending machine or parking meter support frame 14 adjacent the entryway into the coin handling means 15 carried by frame 14. While slug rejector mechanism 10 may be readily applied to any vending machine coin handling mechanism wherein forceful insertion of a coin is employed to release the vending mechanism for operation, the invention is here illustrated in its application to a time vending machine of the multicoin automatic type parking meter M commercially identified as the Park-O-Meter Model K marketed by the Rockwell Manufacturing Company. The details of the vending or meter actuating mechanism aside from those parts which define the entranceway into the coin handling mechanism 15 in no way affect the operation of the slug rejection mechanism and, therefore, will be described generally and reference to the aforementioned Hamilton patents may be had for details of the meter which may not be clear from the following description.

Referring for the moment to FIGURE 1, the portion of the enclosing housing 16 defining a radially directed coin insertion slot 17 is disposed in close radially spaced relation to an arcuate stepped opening 18 formed in the annular wall 19 of dish-shaped coin pan assembly 20 fixed by screws 21 to front plate 22 of the mechanism support frame 23 composed of front plate 22, rear plate 24 and spacer posts 25 (FIGURE 4) fixedly joining plates 22 and 24. Coin pan assembly 20 at the lower clockwise end of opening 18 is formed with a thickened land 26 delimited along the adjacent edge of plate 22 by a wall 27 tangentially related to the outer peripheral face 28 of wall 19 of coin pan assembly 20 and an overhanging lip 29 and at its opposite edge by the inner face 31 of wall 19. As will be apparent from an inspection of FIGURE 4, the bottom 32 of coin pan assembly 20 is spaced slightly from front plate 22 due to the provision of annularly spaced rearwardly protruding lands 33 and a rearwardly protruding rib 35 formed integrally with bottom 32 and land 26 respectively to space bottom wall 32 from plate 22 sufficiently to accommodate a reset lever assembly 36 carried by cam assembly C (to be presently described) located between plates 22 and 24 and providing mounting posts 37 protruding through a suitable opening 30 (FIG- URE 3) in plate 22 and a trip lever 38 having an arm 39 formed at its upper end extending outwardly through opening 18 beyond wall 27 of land 26 and terminating in an upwardly directed hooked portion and a laterally directed upstanding release finger 40 disposed with its outer free end projecting forwardly through opening 41 to a point clockwise beyond the end of stepped opening 18 of coin pan assembly 20 for a purpose to be presently pointed out. Trip lever 38 adjacent and below the inner end of arm 39 is also provided with a forwardly directed right angularly related coin contact finger 45 extending forwardly through an opening 41a in wall 32 of coin pan assembly 20 and disposed inwardly from the coin entry area of stepped opening 18 a suflicient distance, determined by abutment of release finger 40 with the inner face 31 of wall 19 of coin pan assembly 20, to permit coins to be inserted freely only about halfway into the entry area of stepped opening 18 before contacting finger 45 and adjacent its lower end is provided with a slot aperture 46 (FIGURE 1) freely passing the shank of coin pan assembly securing screw 21 threaded into land 26. Trip lever 38 is normally biased downwardly to engage shank of screw 21 and cant lever 38 clockwise around screw 21 by biasing spring 48 connected at one end to spring connector arm 49 of trip lever 38 and at its other end to spring anchor post screw 51 which also serves to fix coin discharge chute 52 in place on front plate 22 beneath the arcuate coin discharge slot 53 formed in wall 19 of coin pan assembly 20.

Reset lever assembly 36 is removably fixed to the mounting posts 37 of cam assembly C by screws 47 and functions to actuate the expired flag 43 and trouble flag 44 between their respective display and nondisplay positions during the time setting traverse of the coin through coin pan assembly 20 at which time the coin engages beneath the terminal lip 42 of right angularly related, outwardly bent vane formed on the free end of arm 51 of lever assembly 36 and moves lever assembly 36 and cam assembly C counterclockwise around the center point of coin pan assembly 20 for a purpose to be hereinafter pointed out.

Land 26 in vertically spaced relation to the head of screw 21 is provided with a horizontally directed slot 54 and a tapped aperture 55 for mounting a coin deflector lever 56 having spaced downwardly bent tabs 57 at its lower end fitted into slot 54, a veritcally elongated slot 58 in its body portion spanning aperture 55, an i tumed flange 59 along its outer edge terminating at its upper end below vane 37 in a pair of oval- shaped ears 67 and 68 respectively directed inwardly toward the transition wall 71 of opening 18 of wall 19. A mounting screw and coil compression spring assembly 72 threaded into aperture 55 through slot 58 and bearing against the body portion of lever 56 secures coin deflector lever tabs 57 in place in slot 54 with car 67 normally abutting wall 71 of opening 18 above the normal coin entry area at the clockwise end of opening 18.

Coin handling mechanism 15 conventionally includes a rotator shaft assembly 73 comprising a shaft having a reduced diameter threaded end 74 protruding forwardly freely through plate 22 and a centered opening (not shown) in the center of wall 32 of coin pan assembly 20, a pressed fitted pinion gear 75 disposed on the shaft to the rear of plate 22 and including a hub journalled in plate 22, cam assembly C (previously mentioned) journalled on the shaft in end facing relation to gear 75 and biased clockwise to its home position (see FIGURE 1) by biasing spring 76 (FIGURE 3) and fixedly mounting a signal actuating arm 77, a second compound gear assembly 78, the time drive gear assembly, journalled on the shaft immediately adjacent cam assembly C, and a reduced diameter shaft end journalled in plate 24. The threaded end 74 of the shaft of rotator shaft assembly 73 fixedly mounts coin rotator assembly 79 comprising a gear wheel 81 provided with three equiangularly spaced coin inspection openings 82 located midway between the respective adjacent ends of three angularly spaced arcuate coin catch plates 83 riveted to the back face of gear wheel 81 and provided along their radial outward edges with coextensive right angularly related coin drive and support flanges 84 (see FIGURE 1) extending axially toward bottom wall 32 of coin pan assembly 28 sufliciently to intercept arm 40 of release lever 38 so long as lever 38 is not rocked sufficiently in a counterclockwise direction to disengage arm 40 from the leading end of the coin catch plate flange 84 disposed at the clockwise end of stepped opening 18 at the time a coin is inserted through slot 17.

Pinion gear 75 of rotator shaft assembly 73 meshes with a gear wheel 85 fixed to a main spring barrel assembly 86 rotatably mounted on the winding arbor shaft 87 (FIGURE 3) of arbor gear assembly 89 which is journalled through winding arbor shaft 87 in plates 22 and 24. The journal connection to plate 22 is effected through a reduced diameter end of the winding arbor shaft 87 and the journal connection to plate 24 is effected through the seating of the enlarged diameter end of the winding arbor shaft 87 on a reduced diameter end of the hub flange of a main spring holding bushing 91 (FIGURE 2) protruding through plate 24 and an annular plate 92 fixed to plate 24 by screws 93 which also fix arcuate winding stem retainer plate 94 in place with its center portion seated in annular groove 95 provided in winding stem 90 to fix it against axial movement relative to plate 24 and winding arbor shaft 87.

As best seen in FIGURE 3, arbor gear assembly 89 also includes winding pawl and ratchet assembly 91 and an enlarged wheel gear 96 journalled on arbor shaft 87 and in meshing engagement with the small diameter gear of compound gear assembly 78 the larger gear of which meshes with drive pinion gear 97 of the time take-off gear shaft assembly 98 journalled through its opposite shaft ends between plates 22 and 24. Time take-off gear assembly 98 includes a take-off gear 99 which is engaged by idler gear 100 carried by idler arm assembly 101 journalled on shaft 102 which is in turn journalled in pivot screws 103 threaded into plates 22 and 24 adjacent their upper edges and also mounting in conventional manner indicator gear assembly 104 and its associated mechanism for setting time indicator pointer 105 to indicate the purchased increment of time on scale plate 106 during time setting rotation of rotator shaft assembly 73 and coin rotator assembly 79 under influence of main spring barrel assembly 86 in well known manner when an appropriate coin trips trip lever 38. Pointer 104, as will be clear from FIGURES 1 and 2, cooperates with the time scale of meter dial 105 to indicate the increment of purchased parking time which the users inserted coin purchases.

To prevent a user from inserting a flat tool, wire or the like through the coin insertion slot 17 to actuate reset lever assembly 36, the illustrated meter includes a squeeze lever 106 (FIGURES 1, 2 and 3) pivotally mounted at 107 (FIGURE 3) to the inside of plate 22. The free end of lever 106 is bent at right angles and terminates in an elongated blocking vane 108 which slopes outwardly and upwardly as viewed in FIGURES 1 and 2 from its lower end and is normally biased by spring 109 (FIGURE 3) to its home position in abutting engagement with the arcuate outer edge of stepped opening 18 above the coin entryway into coin pan assembly 20 to block the passage between coin insertion slot 17 and the vane 50 of reset lever assembly 36.

Referring for the moment to FIGURES 3 and 4, it will be seen that coin detector and locking lever 11 and its biasing spring 12 are secured at their lower ends to meter support frame 14 by screw 13 in a vertically directed frame recess delimited at the right and below the clockwise end of stepped opening 18 by a vertically extending abutment lip 29 and extend upwardly along frame 14, and that spring 12 is disposed in overlying relation to the main body of lever 11 with its free end engaged behind a laterally extending tab 111 formed approximately midway along the length of lever 11 at the right side to bias lever 11 toward the bottom wall of the frame recess and counterclockwise to abut its left edge with abutment lip 29. The upper end of lever 11 is bifurcated opposite coin insertion slot 17 to form a short leg having a laterally tapering axially convex nose portion 112 the tip of which overlies the portion of stepped opening 18 of wall 19 of coin pan assembly 20 into which a coin or slug inserted through coin insertion slot 17 is delivered and a longer leg 113 extending upwardly past hook ended arm 39 of trip lever 38 and transversely widened immediately above hook ended arm 39 of trip lever 38 to provide a locking shoulder 114 overlying arm 39 inwardly of its hooked end. At a level opposite the lower edge of arm 39 leg 113 is bent out of the plane of the body of lever 11 toward the enclosing housing 16 and it terminates above the right angular bent end of squeeze lever 106 in an inwardly bent locking lip 115 (FIGURES 1 and 2). Lip 115 is spaced above the right angularly bent end portion of squeeze lever 106 at the side of blocking vane 108 in position to intercept an outwardly bent tab 116 (FIGURE 1) formed on the right angularly bent end portion of squeeze lever 106 and prevent rising rnovement of squeeze lever .106 unless a solid face coin is inserted in the meter to engage the tip of nose portion 112 and pivot lever 11 clockwise around securing screw 13 against the counterclockwise biasing force of spring 12 to shift shoulder 114 out of the path of movement of tab 116.

SLUG REJECTION OPERATION Assuming meter M is properly wound to condition the main spring of spring barrel assembly 86 to drive rotator shaft assembly 73 and coin rotator assembly 79 counterclockwise as seen in FIGURE 1 to traverse inserted coins from the entranceway of coin handling means 15 through the coin pan assembly 20, levers 11, 36, 38 and 106 will be disposed in their respective home positions (see FIG- URES 1 and 4) under influence respectively of spring 12, spring 76 of cam assembly C, spring 48 and spring 109. In this normal home position of meter M, the left body edge of lever 11 will abut lip 29, the rear body face of lever 11 will abut the bottom wall of the frame recess, nose portion 112 of the short leg will be interposed between the inner end of coin insertion slot 17 and the coin entrance portion of coin handling means 15, looking shoulder 114 will be disposed in slightly spaced relation above the upper edge of arm 39 of release lever 38 in the path of movement of the upwardly directed hook portion of arm 39, and locking lip will be disposed in upwardly spaced relation in the path of movement of tab 116 of squeeze lever 106; trip lever 38 will be disposed with release finger 40 abutting the inner face of wall 19 of coin pan assembly 20 positioning coin contact finger 45 to engage the leading edge of the entering coin or slug and the hooked end of arm 39 in outwardly spaced relation to shoulder 114 of lever 11; reset lever assembly 36 and its associated cam assembly C will be positioned as seen in FIGURE 1 to dispose vane 50 and its lip 42 in overhanging relation to the counterclockwise end of stepped opening 18; and lever 106 will be positioned as seen in FIGURE 1 with blocking vane 108 abutting the arcuate outer edge of stepped opening 18 and interposed between coin insertion slot 17 and vane 50 of reset lever assembly 36.

Insertion of an open centered washer or the pull tab of a self-opening beer can, will result in rejection of the slug leaving the slug with its trailing end portion projecting outwardly from coin insertion slot 17 as will now be pointed out. The entering edge of an inserted slug will pass from the inner end of coin insertion slot 17 into the entry portion of arcuate slot 18 to engage nose portion 112 of lever 11 as it passes from slot 17 to slot 18 forcing lever 11 to swing clockwise (see FIGURE 4) around securing screw 13 and pass the leading ring portion of the slug into engagement with finger 45 of trip lever 38. Upon engagement with finger 45 the open center area of the slug will have reached a position opposite nose portion 112 freeing lever 11 to swing counterclockwise around securing screw 13 under the biasing influence of spring 12 to its home position with shoulder 114 overlying arm 39 of trip lever 38 in position to intercept the hook end of arm 39 and locking lip 115 positioned to intercept the tab 116 of squeeze lever 106. Upon application of further inward force upon the slug to overcome the spring bias force on trip lever 38 and swing trip lever counterclockwise to release coin rotator assembly 79 for counterclockwise driving movement, the open center of the slug will remain opposite nose portion 112 of lever 11, the hooked end of arm 39 of trip lever 38 will abut shoulder 114 of lever 11 and tab 116 of squeeze lever 106 will abut locking lip 115 thus preventing coin registering movement of coin rotator assembly 79 and movement of blocking vane 108 from its blocking position between coin insertion slot 17 and vane 50 of reset lever assembly 36. As a consequence, the coin handling mechanism 15 will be effectively locked against operative movement with the slug still exposed at the outer end of coin insert slot 17 and the slug cannot enter the coin rotator assembly 79 to elfect normal vending operation of the coin handling mechanism 15, in this case the purchase of parking time dispensed by parking meter M.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the simple slug rejector lever 11 with its biasing spring 12 may be interposed between the coin insertion slot and coin handling mechanism 15 of any type of vending machine where a traversing coin is ememployed to effect a vending operation to prevent entry of a slug into the coin handling mechanism and retain the slug in positon for ready removal from the coin insertion slot. The present invention, therefore, provides an inexpensive slug rejection means that may be readily installed in existing coin vending machines to prevent operation of the vending machine by open centered slugs and at the same time prevent jamming of the vending machine.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In an automatic coin vending machine including a normally latched power driven coin handling mechanism, a coin entryway and a coin actuated trip lever engagable by a coin passing from an adjacently related coin insertion slot provided in a housing for said coin handling mechanism to said coin entryway, slug rejecting mechanism interposed between said coin handling mechanism and the adjacently related coin insertion slot comprising rejector lever means pivoted for limited swinging movement laterally of the path of movement of a coin passing from said coin insertion slot toward said strip lever between a first coin blocking position and a second nonblocking position, spring means normally biasing said rejector lever means to said first position, a first lever portion comprising a camming nose normally disposed across the entryway in the coin handling mechanism in coin blocking position opposite said coin insertion slot and a second lever portion formed and normally positioned to intercept and lock said trip lever against full unlatching movement, said lever means being effective upon forceful insertion of a solid faced coin to engage said camming nose portion and shift said rejector lever means to said second position and maintain said rejector lever means in said second position until full unlatching movement of said trip lever is effected and the coin is received in said power driven coin handling mechanism to be driven thereby to actuate said vending machine and effective upon insertion of an open centered slug to shift said rejector lever means to said second position only until the open center of the slug is disposed opposite said camming nose permitting the biasing spring to snap said rejector lever means to said first position where it will intercept and lock said trip lever against full unlatching movement and retain said slug between said coin handling mechanism and said coin insertion slot until retrograde removal of said slug through said coin insertion slot is effected to free the vending machine for normal operation.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said coin handling mechanism includes a coin actuated lever means having a vane portion engagable by a coin received in and driven by said power driven coin handling mechanism for effecting operation of the vending machine, a squeeze lever having a blocking vane formed on its free end, and spring means normally biasing said squeeze lever in a direction to position said blocking vane between said coin actuated lever means and said coin insertion slot to prevent insertion of a tool through said coin insertion slot to effect operation of said coin actuated lever means and wherein said second lever portion includes means positioned to intercept and lock said squeeze lever against movement from its blocking position when an open centered slug is inserted through said coin insertion slot.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said rejector lever means comprises an elongated lever formed at one end with a through aperture adapting said lever for pivotal connection to a shouldered edge portion of said coin handling means at one side of said coin entryway, and formed at its other end to provide said first lever portion and said second lever portion as laterally spaced edge portions, a headed pivot screw having its shank extended through said aperture of said one lever end and threaded into said edge portion of said coin handling means and wherein said spring means comprises a coil spring interposed between the head of said pivot screw and the opposing face of said elongated lever and having one end bent to form a spring finger extending along said opposing lever face to engage behind a laterally directed tab formed on the lever edge opposite from that which forms said first lever portion and its other end abutting the shoulder of said edge portion of said coin handling means thereby tensioning said spring finger to bias said lever toward said coin entryway thereby yieldingly positioning said camming nose across said coin entryway.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said automatic coin vending machine comprises a parking meter including a coin handling mechanism comprising a clockspring driven rotary coin drive plate disposed in a coin pan assembly having a peripheral wall arcuately apertured to form a coin entryway, said coin pan assembly being fixedly secured to a frame support plate with its bottom wall spaced from said frame support plate in the general area of said coin entranceway and provided with a through opening adjacent said coin entranceway and wherein said coin actuated trip lever is pivoted at one end to said frame support plate for movement beneath the spaced portion of said coin pan assembly bottom wall and spring biased to a first normal position with its other end curved and thereby disposed to normally project outwardly beyond the peripheral wall of said coin pan assembly between first and second lever portions of said coin rejector lever means and terminates in a hook portion disposed upon tripping movement to engage a portion of said second lever portion when said rejector lever means is in its first postion and is further provided respectively with an upstanding coin engaging finger and an upstanding stop finger projecting through said pan assembly bottom wall through opening to intercept the edge of a coin entering said coin entryway and to normally engage and arrest driving movement of said rotary coin drive plate.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said coin handling mechanism further includes a time reset lever assembly including a lever having a vane at one end normally disposed to assume a position closely adjacent the arcuate aperture of said coin pan assembly peripheral wall to intercept a coin driven along said coin entryway by Said clockspring driven rotary coin drive plate and a squeeze lever pivoted at one end to said frame support plate and spring biased to normally position its other end, provided with a blocking vane, in juxtaposition to said one end of said time reset lever to prevent entry of a tool through said coin insertion slot to actuate said time reset lever and in subjacent juxtaposition to said second lever portion of said coin rejector lever means, said other end of said squeeze lever being provided with a tab disposed upon movement of said squeeze lever from its normal position to engage a second portion of said second lever portion when said rejector lever means is in its first position.

6. Slug rejector attachment means for installation in automatic coin vending machines including a trip lever latched, power driven rotary coin handling mechanism having a peripherally disposed arcuate coin entryway one end of which is disposed opposite said trip lever and a coin insertion slot of an enclosing housing comprising a rejector lever member apertured at one end for pivotal attachment to said coin handling mechanism in position to dispose its other end, composed of a first coplanar edge portion having a laterally outwardly projecting camming nose and a second laterally spaced opposite edge portion inclined upwardly out of the plane of said lever member and formed along its inner edge with a laterally inwardly directed portion overhanging the space between said first and second edge portions to define a downwardly facing abutment shoulder and formed at its upper end with a rearwardly bent lip, said camming nose being interposed between the opposing end of the coin insertion slot and said one end of said arcuate coin entryway in one extreme pivoted position of said lever member; and screw means, including a coil biasing spring having one end bent to extend along the upper face of said lever member with its free end locked behind a spring retaining tab formed on the outer edge of said second edge portion, adapted to secure said rejector lever member and said coil biasing spring to said coin handling mechanism in operative relation to normally bias said lever to said one extreme pivoted position unless a solid face coin is positioned in said one end of said arcuate coin entryway to engage said camming nose and shift said rejector lever member to its other extreme position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1922 Giles.

9/1933 Gilmore et a1. 10/1952 Booth et a1. 19497 US. Cl. X.R.

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