US694960A - Coin-controlled telephone. - Google Patents

Description

No. 694,960. Patented Mar. ll, E9112.

8. P. EBEY.

CHIN CONTROLLED TELEPHONE.

(Application filed Aug. 3, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SYLVESTER P. GREY, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANKLIN HOWENSTEIN, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

COIN-CONTROLLED, TELEPHONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 694,960, dated March 11, 1902.

pplicat fi ed August 9 Serial No. 70,831. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

.Be it known that I, SYLVESTER P. GREY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort lVayne, in the county of Allen, in the State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin-Controlled Telephones; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will-enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

Myinvention relates to improvements in coin-controlled telephones. e e

The object of my present invention is to provide a cheap, simple, and reliable coincontrolled call-box attachment for telephones adapted to be employed with equal facility upon private telephones and public stations,

. so constructed and arranged that a coin or its equivalent must be deposited in my improvement by each user of the telephone that is, both by the speaker and the one spoken tobefore the circuit will be established between the said parties.

My invention relates to the use of a vertically arranged coin chute detachably mounted upon the call-box and discharging at its lower end into a coin or toll receptacle, a coin-arrester rotatablymounted in the coinchannel, and means for normally locking the said coin-arrester in position.

The principal novelfeature of my improvement resides in the construction and arrange ment of the coin-arrester and the means for normally locking the same. i

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my invention in position upon a proper call-box, broken away in part to show the coin-channel and the operating mechanism arranged thorein. Fig. 2 is a front View of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of my improved coin-arrester and the means for locking the same in position in the coin-chute, which is broken away in part. Figs. 4 and 5 are details of the upper end of the coin-chute, showing the modified forms of the upper open end of the coin-channel.

All parts of my improvement are preferably made of suitable metal.

Referring now to the drawings, the vertical coin-chute l, of any proper contour and dimensions, preferably of the irregular form shown, consists of two plates 2 and 3, secured together in parallel arrangement by proper bolts or screws 4. The plate 2 is provided upon its inner facewith a longitudinal recess 5, which forms the coin-channel, whose outer side is closed by the removable plate 3, which is held in position by the said screws i. This coin-channel 5 is open at both ends. The coin-chute thus constructed is rigidly secured to one side of the call-box 6 by the screws 7 or other proper manner and has its lower end arranged in a slot Sin the side of a proper coin box or receptacle 9, which is also rigidly secured to the said call-box inany suitable manner, as by a proper holdingscrew 10, which passes through the back thereof. Access is afforded to the interior of said coinbox by means of a door 11, which of course is kept locked in use.

The plate 2 at a suitable point on its rear edge has a lateral slot 12, Fig. 3, in which is mounted acoin-arrester consisting of a revoluble disk 13, loosely mounted on the pivot 14, having one end thereof fixed in the said plate 2. This disk has a slightly-curved radial slot 15 at a suitable point in its periphery, adapted to receive and contain the receiver-hook 22 when it is in its normal position, with the receiver suspended therefrom, and also has its perimeter provided with a radial recess 16, adapted to normally receive and arrest the coin 1'7 orits equivalent, Fig. 3. At each side of the said recess 16 the perimeter of the disk 13 has the radial lugs 18 and 19, respectively, whose functions are about to be described. Within the coin-channel 5 and in cooperative relation with the said disk 13 is pivotally mounted the pendent spring pressed pawl 20, whose lower free end has a lug or hook 24 upon its rear face, adapted to engage the said lug 19, and thereby limit the.

rotation of the disk in a forward direction. The upper pivoted end of the said pawl 20 is protected against contact with or interference by the descending coin by means of the lug 21, whose thickness is equal to the depth of the coin-channel. To the forward portion of the said pawl 20 is rigidly fixed in any proper manner a suit-able spring 23, whose free end bears against the adjacent wall of the said coin-channel and is adapted to normally support the said pawl in the position shown in Fig. 3, thereby limiting the forward rotation of the said disk 13 by a holding engagement with the said pawl 20.

The operation and manner of employing my invention thus described is obvious and, briefly stated, is as follows: lVhen the patron desires to make a telephone-call, he calls the central station in the usual manner; but before the receiver-hook 22 can be elevated to close the circuit in the usual manner the disk 13 must be rotated forward to the position shown in dotted outline in Fig. 3. This, however, can be done only by means of a coin or its equivalent.. By dropping a proper coin as, for example, a'penny-in the upper open end of the said coin-channel it will roll down by gravity and be received by the said recess 16 of the disk 13, Fig. 3. The coin 17 nearly fills the space between the vertical edge of the recess 16 and the adjacent edge of the said pawl 20, whereby the force of the retractingspring, (not shown,) by which the said hook 22 automatically assumes the position shown in Fig. 3, will force the lug 18 forward into contact with the upper portion of the said pawl 20, thereby forcing the free end of said pawl forward against the tension of the said spring 23, as shown in dotted outline in Fig. 3. The lug 19 is normally slightly out of contact with the lower end of the said pawl, as shown, whereby a sufficient forward movement of the disk 13 to enable the lug 19 to engage ordinarily the lower end of the pawl 20 will, when the coin 17 is in position in the recess 16, force the said pawl forward, thereby enabling the lug 19 to pass the said pawl without any contact therewith, after which the said coin will freely pass by gravity downward between the said disk and the said pawl and through the lower end of the said coinchannel into the said coin-receptacle. It is obvious that when the receiver is again placed upon the hook 22, which passes through the slot 15 of the disk 13, its weight thereon will rotate said disk back to its normal position, the lug or hook 24 having its lower face so inclosed as to permit the lug 19 to readily pass the same in its return movement. The person thus spoken to over the line will of course have to deposit a coin in like manner in a duplicate of my improvement arranged as described on his call-box before his receiver-hook 22 can so rise as to establish his circuit with the central station, whereby each time the line is thus employed two coins must be deposited, one at each end of the line.

If desired, the upper open end of the coinchannel 5 may have its sides corrugated in any desired manner, as shown in Fig. 5, to admit only a predetermined form of metallic checks instead ofcoins, which checks can be supplied to each telephone subscriber, and at the public stations where coins are used the upper end of the channel will be constructed as shown in Fig. 4:.

Obviously all parts of my invention can be variously modified in its details of construction without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, which consists in the novel coin-controlled cooperation between the coin-receiving'disk, actuating receiverhook, and the holding-pawl.

The coin-arresting disk 13 is limited against rotation rearwardly by the engagement of the lug 18 with the adjacent inner face of the coin-channel, which is preferably beveled, as shown.

Having thus described my invention and the manner of employing the same, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. In a coin-controlled telephone, an upright chute having a longitudinal open-ended coin-channel therein; a coin-arresting disk revolubly mounted in said coin-channel, having a radial slot for the receiver-hook and a peripheral coin-receiving recess and provided with peripheral lugs at eachside of said recess to limit the rotation of said disk as described; a spring-pressed receiver-hook arranged in said slot and adapted to actuate the said disk; a spring-pressed holding-pawl pivotally mounted in said channel in cooperative relation with the said disk; and a coinreceptacle adapted to receive the coins as they are discharged from the said chute.

2. In a device of the class specified, a coinchute having an open-ended channel through which the coin is fed; a coin-arresting disk revolubly mounted in said channel having a coin-arresting peripheral recess and means for forming a holding engagement with the receiver-hook, and provided with limiting peripheral lugs adjacent to said recess; and a pivoted spring-pressed holding-pawl mounted in said channel in cooperative relation with the said disk.

3. In a coin-chute the combination of a receiver-hook; a coin-arresting disk revolubly mounted in said chute in an actuating engagement with the said hook, and provided with a peripheral coin-receiving recess and with a pair of peripheral lugs for the purpose specified; and a spring-pressed pawl pivotally mounted in said chute and adapted to holdingly engage the said disk.

l. In a device of the class specified a coinarresting disk revolubly mounted in a coinchute having a peripheral coin-arresting recess and a pair of peripheral lugs as described; a receiver-hook arranged in an actuating engagement with the said disk; and a spring pressed pawl mounted in said chute in a 00- operative relation with the said disk asdefor limiting the forward movement of the said 10 scribed. disk against the stress ofthe said hook.

5. A coin-chute having a longitudinal coin- Signed by me at Fort Wayne, Allen county, channel therein; a coin-arresting disk rota- 1 State of Indiana, this 23d day of July, 1901. tably mounted in said chute in cooperative T relation with an actuating receiver-hook; a SYLVESTER GREX receiver-hook engaging said disk and adapted Witnesses ll to automatically actuate the same when the AUGUSTA VIBERG,

receiver is removed therefrom; and means WATTS P. DENNY.

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