US2532978A - Coin collector apparatus - Google Patents

Description

De@o 5, 1950 G. M. wlLcox n 2,532,978

COIN CoLLECToR APPARATUS Filed Feb. 24, 1944 sv sheds-sheet 1 Dec. 5, 1950 G. M. wlLcox 2,532,978

COIN COLLECTOR APPARATUS Filed Feb. 24, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2- Dec. 5, 1950 G. M..w1l c`ox 2,532,978

COIN COLLECTOR APPARATUS Filed Feb. 24, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 loa 589'.. 5m l v 9 T 9 9 ya Li Patented Dec. 5, 1950 COIN COLLECTOR APPARATUS Granville M. Wilcox, Lincoln, R. I., assignor to Max L. Grant, Providence, R. I.

Application February 24, 1944, serial No. V523,741

2 Claims.

IMy present invention relates to improvements in coin collectors and has specific reference to van apparatus for displaying collected coins and for releasing the displayed coins in groups of a predetermined number.

It is the principal object of the invention to provide a collector which displays coins in sequence and automatically releases the displayed coins when a fixed number has been collected and displayed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a collector which receives and stacks deposited coins, and displays the deposited coins.

, Still another object of the invention is to provide an automatic display in multiple of deposited coins in the order of their deposit.

fl With the above and other objects and advantageous features in View, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed inthe detailed description following in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an illustrative collector device embodying the invention;

Fig. A2 is an elevation thereof; wFig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation, partly broken away ;v

' Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line ll-il of Figs:

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3;

` Fig. 6 is a, rear elevation;

Figs. '7, 8 and 9 .are detail Views, partly in section, showing va modified construction for the coin display arrangement.

It has been found desirable toprovide a coin collector which has a novel wide mouth hopper to permit coins to be dropped therein, the hopper stackingthe deposited coins in deposited sequence. Each coin, as it leaves the hopper, actuates an operating mechanism to deposit the coin in sequence, in a display device, the number and amount being simultaneously registered `if desired; when a selected vnumber of coins has been displayed as a group, for example, five coins, the deposit of the next coin actuates the operating mechanism to release the group into a suitable receptacle.

The drawings illustrate a preferred constructional embodiment of the invention, but the invention is not limited by the specific structural arrangement, as other suitable arrangements of parts may be utilized to obtain the desired oper- @amalgames-, .r

In the drawings, see Fig. 2, the collector includes a framework I0 of any suitable material, metal being preferred, divided into van upper coin deposit compartment Il, an intermediate coin display compartment I2, and a lower coin receiving compartment I3.

The coin depositcompartment houses a funnel shaped hopper I4, which as illustrated in Fig. 2 has an upper conical receiver I5 and a lower cylindrical stacking yportion I6, the upper edge of the receiver being preferably fianged as indicated at I'I to seat on the upperedges I8 of the framework. The hopper is preferably removable, but may be fixed in position if desired. As the coins are dropped into the conical receiver they become stacked in the stacking portion I6; this construction facilitates the depositing of coins, as there is no slot or narrow deposit'entry, and increases the speed of depositing, which is an important factor when the collector device is used for collecting transportation fares or other services where speedy collection is desirable.

The lower end of the stacking portion rests directly over an opening I9 in a transverse partition 20,-'which as illustrated comprises an upper plate 2I and a lower plate 22, the plates being fixed in the framework I0, as by means of screws or the like 23, see Fig. 4, which thread into `transverse angle bars 24 forming .part of the framework. As illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, the upper plate 2| is transversely recessed or slotted as indicated by the reference numeral 25, to slidably receive a transfer plate 26 which has an opening 21 to receive a deposited coin from the stacking portion. The slot 25 and the transfer plate 2B 5 are of the right thickness to receive only one coin at a time, and the `plates 2I and 22 are preferablyy of insulation material, for the purpose hereinafter described.

Referring now to Fig. 4, two spaced contact plates 28 are mounted in the lower insulating plate 22, the plates extending across the opening 21, as shown in Fig. 5, and projecting slightly above the upper surface of the plate 22 to be engaged by a. coin when it falls into the opening 21. The two contact plates are connected by of an upper finger 42, and has a depending nger.

43 for a purpose hereinafter described.

-Referring now to Fig. 3, the solenoid 3d has an armature having a normally upstanding end 44; this upstanding end operates the transfer plate 26 yand a counter wheel release mechanism by means of a bell crank @5, pivoted at i6 to a depending support ill xed to the framework. 'I he upper Y'end 48 of the bell crank projects through suitable aligned slots @6 in the upper and lower transverse plates, see Fig. 5, to seat in an opening 55 in the transfer plate, whereby downward movement of the solenoid armature swings the bell crank end d8 and thrusts the transfer plate 26 and the coin positioned in its opening forwardly; the transfer plate is subsequently returned by means of a spring i having one end' fastened to a post 52 secured to the framework, and the other end fastened to an upstanding finger 53 of the transfer plate, which extends through a suitable slot 5 6 in the upper plate 2i and may be used to actuate a coin counter (not shown), which may be removable.

Movement of the bell crank also resets the farma- :7

ture of theelectromagnet by pressing against the finger 43, with a downwardly extending nnger 43a, thus breaking the circuit and stopping chatter of the solenoid.

When the solenoid is actuated the transfer' plate is moved forwardly to transfer the coin in the transfer plate opening to a display device in the display compartment i2. As illustrated in Eigs. 2 and 3, a plate 55 is vertically mounted on theframework, and is provided with a vertical rectangular slot 56; two s-maller plates 5l', 58 are mounted in back of the plate 55, to slightly overlap the vertical sides of the slot 5,6, whereby a glass or transparent panel may be mounted in the slot 56 to seat on the overlapping edges of the vertical plates 5l, 53 and thus display the coins therein to view. The thickness of the plate 55 is preferably the thickness of the glass, panel, and the thickness of the plates 5l, 52 is slightly greater than the thickness of the coin to be de.- posited.

Mounted in rear of the plates 51, 58 is a backing device 59, the lower end 6G being in the form ofl a back plate, and the upper end 6| being in the form of a narrow tongue bending upwardly and rearwardly and forming the base of a coin drop housing 62, the sides 63 being triangular and secured to the framework and the lower transverse plate 722, and having bent over fingers @Il to receive and support the upper end 6l of the backing device.

The upper portion of the coin drop housing is directly under the path of movement of the transfer plate, whereby forward movement of the transfer plate permits the coin to drop into the housing 32 and slide down over the back-ing `device and into the vertical space between the inner" edges of the two plates 5l and '561 The spacingof the plates 5T and'58, and the thickness of the passageway thus formed, is gauged to accommodate only one coin at a time, whereby the coins are stacked vertically for display. The downward movement of the coin is stopped by a nger '65 which is normally positioned at the lower end in the path of movement of the coin, and which is part of a bent` lever 66 pivoted to the framework at 5l. E lach addition-alecm rests on top of the previous coin until a group of a predetermined number of coins is displayed.

The bent lever 65 has its upper end 68 curved as shown in Eig. 3, and has a transverse linger 68a. at its lower end provided with an opening through which the reduced end 69 of a push pin l0 extends, the push pin 1l) being slidably mounted in the framework and extending outwardly from the front so that the lever 166 may be manually moved when required. The upper end 63 of the bent lever is positioned adjacent a resilient metal blade 'I I, secured at its rear` end to the upper end 6I of the backing `device y59, and having` an upwardly extending stop pin 12 which passes through a suitable opening- 13 in the upper end 6i for the purposeV of stopping passage of a coin down into display pOsi'tion, as hereinafter described.

Referring now to Eig. 3, the forward end I4 of the 'ben crank 45 is pivotedto a link 15- which n; turn is pivoted to a` swing plate 16, rotatably mounted as at 'VI to an angle iron or the like 18 secured to the framework. Pivotallyv mounted on the pivot '|"I is a toothed wheel 19 having a nurnber of spaced laterally extending teetl 80, one tooth Sd being of greater lengthY than'the others. The swing plate hasA a spring pressed actuating pawl tl to movably engage the teeth 80, and the angie iron i8 has a spring pressed stop pawl 82 to successively stop backward movement', of` the toothed wheel.

When the solenoid armature is actuated by deposit of a coin, the forward end ofV the bell crank moves the swing plate, and the actuating pawl 3l turns the toothedwheel; at the same time the coin is transferred to drop into the display slot, where it is stopped by the finger 65 of -the bent lever, the stoppin 'l2y being held out ofj the path of movement by the spring blade 1|. Each deposited coin is successively exposed to view as indicated in Fig. 2, until a group of n'the desired number corresponding to the number of 'short teeth tf; is reached. The next coin deposited causes the long tooth 86a to engage the back portion of the bent lever; this moves 'the stoppin `l2 inwardly to stop passage of the coin', and moves the finger' t5 out to release the group of displayed coins. Further movement of the counter releases the stopped coin to displayV position. The'gronp of released coins is directed by a rearwardly bent flange 83 at the lower end of the plate 55 into a receptacle, (not shown), in the coin receptacle compartment I3.

The operation -of the novel collector is there-- fore as follows: Any number of coins may bedel-- posited in the coin hopper, itA being essential'th't the coins be of the proper size and ofthe requis thickness. The coins are stacked in the stacking portion, and the lowermost coinV slides into nthe' opening in the transfer plate, and closes tl'ieelecl trical circuit to operate the electromagnetand the solenoid, thus producing 'movement ofv thel transfer plate to deposit the lowermos't coin A"in the display panel and to turn the toothed wheel, the other coins beingv similarly transferredavd the wheel similarly turned. Thetoothdwh 'l may be connected to a coin registeringdevic of" any standard type, by suitable mechanism (not shown). When the desired number of coins, such as for example ve, is displayed, the next movement of the wheel moves the release lever to release the displayed coins as a group, while stopping movement of additional coins to the display panel. If the release lever fails to function, or if it is desired to release a smaller number of coins, the push rod is pushed manually to release the displayed coins. The invention is therefore simple and effective in operation, and results in the release of deposited coins in groups while aording an opportunity for inspection of the group as a unit before release to a coin receptacle.

Under certain conditions, it is desirable to provide a mechanism for preventing possible jamming of the collector because of bent or otherwise marred coins. This is preferably accomplished by mounting the backing device so asV to be manually movable to widen the coin passage in the display device, and an illustrative construction for accomplishing this function is shown in Figs. '7 to 9.

In this construction, the framework Illa is provided with the front plate 55a and the back strips 51a and 58a. The backing plate 85, however, is movableand mounted on four headed support pins 86, each provided with springs to urge the backing plate towards the strips 51a and 58a; the yupper portion 81 of the backing device is preferably separate and secured to the coin receiving housing 88. As illustrated in Fig. 9, two spaced supports 89 are secured to upper and lower portions of the backing plate 85, and are pivoted to the arms 99 of a U-shaped member 9|, this member having a manually operable extension handle 92 and being pivotally mounted on a pivot rod 93 mounted in lugs 94 secured to the framework. A manual pull on the handle 92 turns the U-shaped member and pulls the backing plate 85 back against the springs of the support pins, thus releasing any bent or marred coins which have lodged in the vertical display channel.

While I have described an illustrative constructional embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that alternative constructional arrangements may be used to accomplish the desired sequence of operations for different coin collection devices without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

-1. In a coin collector, a coin display compartment comprising an elongated coin passageway having side edges spaced to receive one coin only and having a backing plate and a transparent front plate spaced to receive one coin in thickness only, a housing for receiving deposited coins, and transfer mechanism for transferring coins in sequence into said passageway, whereby said coins are displayed in said passageway edge to edge. a movable stop at the lower end of said passageway movable to release the displayed coins from said passageway, means for moving said stop after a predetermined number of coins have been transferred to said passageway, comprising mechanism actuated by a subsequently deposited coin, and means operated by said mechanism to prevent passage of said subsequently deposited coin into said passageway until the displayed coins have been released and the movable stop is in non-release position.

2. In a coin collector, means for receiving deposited coins in varying amounts, means for displaying said coins, means for transferring the coins in sequence from the receiving to the displaying means, until a group of a predetermined number of coins is displayed, means responsive to the transfer of an additional coin for releasing the group, and means for withholding movement ofr said additional coin to the displaying means until the group has been released.

GRANVILLE M. WILCOX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Daugherty Jan. 4, 1944

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