US3490571A - Coin changer mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 20, 1970 J. A. BAUER V COIN CHANGER MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 29, 1967 FIG.3.

INVENTOR James A Bauer ATTORNEY WITNESSES Jan. 20, 1970 J. A. BAUER COIN CHANGER MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 29, 1967 25" FIGS.

FIGS.

Jan. 20, 1970 Filed Nov. 29, 1967 J A. BAUER COIN CHANGER MECHANI-SM 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG IO.

United States Patent 3,490,571 COIN CHANGER MECHANISM James A. Bauer, Monroeville, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 686,521 Int. Cl. G07f /24 US. Cl. 19410 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A coin responsive vending control and change maker having first and second coin detectors with means to route all coins equal to or above the vend price past the first detector to initiate a vend and to route all coins equal to more than the vend price past both the first and second detectors to initiate a vend and actuate change means to return change coins and further including switch means to cause the change means to return change in a combination of coin denominations or in a single coin denomination if the combination is not available. High speed pulse generating techniques coupled to pulse operated solenoid change coin release mechanisms provide fast response.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS So far as is known, this application is not related to any co-pending patent applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Coin controls for vending machines having means for returning change are well known. Most of these devices in practical use at this time are of the electro rnechanical type using coin sensing switches and stepping relays to provide the functions of received coin counting and change making. It is desirable to reduce the size and complexity of these mechanisms and the availability of solid state relays and counting circuits together with new electronic forms of sensing devices enable the design of less complex and more compact arrangements giving increased reliability and faster speed of operation.

PRIOR ART Reference may be made to US. Patents No. 3,307,- 671 to Shirley issued Mar. 7, 1967, and 3,323,626 to Akira Abe et al. issued June 6, 1967, as typical of the solid state forms of the prior art coin changers. Reference may also be made to US. Patent 2,257,132 to Christensen issued Apr. 1, 1941, showing the general use of photocells as coin detectors.

SUMMARY In accordance with the invention, a vending control and coin changer arranged to vend at a fixed price such as ten cents, and to give change for a quarter is provided using only a single photocell for sensing the collection of every other nickel, the collection of a single dime, or the collection of a single quarter to initiate a vend. A second photocell for sensing the collection of the quarter only is provided. to initiate a coin return in the amount of fifteen cents preferentially in the form of a nickel and a dime. If a dime is not available, the change is returned in the form of three nickels. Sensing switches in the coin storage tubes will return to the customer and not collect all quarter coins without a vend if there are insufficient coins in both nickel and dime tubes to make the fifteen cents change in either the all nickel or combination nickel and dime forms. An important feature and advantage of the invention is the elimination of "ice counting circuits or relays to count the coins received and a simple pulsing circuit is provided to automatically pulse the solenoid operated change release mechanisms. Preferentially, both the nickel and dime tube solenoid release mechanisms are pulsed substantially simultaneously with the pulsing of the vend relay whenever a quarter coin is collected, assuming the presence of sufficient coins in the nickel and dime storage tubes to make change. If there are insuflicient dimes, a switch in the dime storage tube will cause the circuit to pulse the nickel change solenoid three times for change payout. If both storage tubes are empty, a quarter coin is not collected and returned without passing either of the photocell sensors to initiate a vend, or to make change, and a no change signal may be displayed. However, the arrangement is such that the changer is still responsive to nickels and dimes for intitiating a vend when such coins are received and such coins are accumulated in storage tubes for future change making operations which will again be possible after sufiicient numbers of coins are in the storage tubes to actuate the coin tube switches for conditioning the change making functions of the system. Although this invention is particularly described in connection with a photoelectric type of coin sensing arrangement using a single light source and two photocells, certain features of the invention as will 'be apparent hereinafter are usable with other types of coin sensing devices such as pick-up coils or the like. Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent with reference to the following specifications and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional side view through the lower end of the coin slug rejector and the coin director passages of the invention with the light source and photocell detectors shown in the preferred arrangement;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are sectional views on the line H ll of FIGURE 1 showing the paths of passage for alternate successively collected nickels;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view as seen from above on the line VV of FIGURE 4 showing the different vertical planes of the coin director paths for different denomination coins to 'be collected;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 but taken on line VIVI of FIGURE 1 to show the coin director path for the dime coin to be collected;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 but taken on the line VIIVII of FIGURE 1 to show the coin director path for the quarter coin to be collected;

FIG. 8 is a detalied fragmentary vertical section of one of the coin storage tubes showing the details of the solenoid operated coin payout change mechanism;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIGURE 8 but showing the solenoid of the change making mechanism in the energized position as a change coin is being released; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic wiring diagram of the vending control and coin changer circuit of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED- EMBODIMENT Reference will now be made to FIGURES 1 through 7 of the drawings for a description of the details of the coin sensing apparatus of the invention. The coin sensing apparatus of the invention is designed to match the lower end of a standard form of slug rejector commonly in use at this time. An example of such a slug rejector is the slug rejector made by the National Rejectors Co. .of St. Louis, Mo. identified as their Model No. 1l5054. As is Well known in the art, these slug rejectors are necessary to sort the nickel, dime and quarter coin and to separate and reject all counterfeit coins or slugs. The

sorted coins are passed from the bottom of the slug rejector in three diiferent respective vertical planes for the respective different coins, i.e. nickels, dimes and quarters. As seen more particularly in FIGURES 1 and 5 of the drawings, the nickel coins passed by the slug rejector are dropped in the vertical plane towards the front of the rejector while the dime coins are passed in the vertical plane 11 rearwardly of the vertical plane 10 and the quarter coins are passed in the vertical plane 12 furthest to the rear of the slug rejector. The nickels passing through the vertical plane 10 are caused to engage the flip-flop mechanism 14 which is a standard feature of all slug rejectors and in passing the flip-flop 14 alternate successive nickels are passed in two alternately different directions. It is assumed that the flip-flop 14 at the start of a coin collection operation is in the position shown by FIGURES 1 and 3 of the drawings. The first nickel 15 in passing through the passage 16 pivots the flip-flop 14 from the position shown in FIGURE 3 to the position shown in FIGURE 4 and moves downwardly to hit the shoulder 17 of the coin director and bounce into the nickel storage tube 18 without passing the photocell coin detecting aperture 19. The second nickel received then engages the flip-flop 14 in the position shown by FIGURE 2 of the drawings and follows the second path to pass the coin sensing photocell aperture 19 before being deflected by the shoulder 17 into the nickel receiving tube 18. When the coin nickels accumulated in the storage tube 18 are sufficient to substantially fill the storage tube as shown by FIGURE 3 of the drawings, a nickel such as the nickel 20 will remain in the position shown so that a subsequent nickel received will be deflected from the change making storage collection tube 18 through the passage 21 to the passage 22 leading to the money box.

When a dime coin is deposited, it is routed by the slug rejector into the vertical passage 11 and into the coin director passage 24 shown by FIGURE 6 of the drawings past the photocell coin sensing aperture 19 into the dimestorage tube 25 of the change maker and when the level of accumulated dimes reaches near the top of the storage tube the next received dime such as the dime 26 will assume the vertical position shown so that a subsequently received dime will be deflected thereby into the passage 22 leading to the money box.

As shown by FIGURE 7 of the drawings, any quarter coin passed by the slug rejector through passage 12 will also pass into the passage 30 of the coin director of the invention to be passed in front of the coin sensing photocell aperture 19 and also the coin sensing photocell aperture 31 directly to the passage 22 leading to to the money box.

The details of the coin sensing photocell and light arrangement are most clearly shown by FIGURE 1 of the drawings with the light source 35 positioned to direct beams of light through both the apertures 19 and 31 to impinge upon the respective photocell detecting elements 36 and 37. Thus the photocells 36 and 37 are illuminated except when a coin 15 passing through a respective coin director passage and momentarily intercepts the light through either the apertures 19 and 31. Summarizing the description of the invention thus far, it will be seen that coin director apparatus has been provided to route different denomination coins in different paths past either one of the apertures 19 and 31 for the coin sensing photocells 36 and 37 respectively. In such manner, every other nickel collected intercepts the beam of light in the aperture 19 impinging on the photocell '36 while every dime collected also intercepts the beam of light in the aperture 19 the same as every quarter collected intercepts the light in the aperture 19 impinging on the photocell 36. Thus when any coin equal to or above a vend price of ten cents is collected a beam of light impinging upon the photocell 36 is momentarily interrupted to trigger the control circuit of the invention to initiate a vend signal to the vending machine. In addition whenever a quarter coin is collected, it passes in the passage 30 to intercept the beam of light through both the apertures 19 and 31 so that in addition to triggering the photocell 36, the photocell 37 is triggered when the light beam impinging thereon is momentarily interrupted by the passage of the quarter coin in front of the aperture 31. The signal from the photocell 37, due to the momentary interruption of light thereupon, is connected to the control circuit of the invention to initiate the return of change in the amount of fifteen cents in a manner to be later described in more detail.

Referring now to FIGURES 8 and 9 of the drawings, the details of the lower end of one of the change making coin collection storage tubes such as the dime storage tube 25 are shown and will be described. A stack of dimes 49 is shown to be supported in the lower end of the storage tube 25 in suflicient amount to keep the spring pressed switch 41 in the position shown. As long as the switch 41 is in the position shown, the control circuit of the invention to be later described is conditioned to pay out coin change in the form of a nickel and a dime but should the reservoir of dimes in the storage tube 25 be less than that shown, the switch 41 will move inwardly of the storage tube and will signal the control circuit of the invention to return the change in the form of three nickels. The nickel storage tube for change coins is not shown in detail but is similar to that of the dime tube shown by FIGURES 8 and 9 of the drawings and is also provided with a sensing switch such as the switch 41 for the dime storage tube to be switched when there are insufficient nickels in the nickel storage tube for making fifteen cents change and this switch will cause the control circuit of the invention to return any quarter without change and to also have displayed an exact change sign so that the customer will not attempt to secure a vend by depositing a quarter coin.

The lower end of each storage tube such as the dime storage tube 25 is provided with a slide 42 having an aperture in which the lowermost dime in the stack of dimes 40 is received. An electric solenoid 43 has an armature 44 with a pin 45 adapted to strike the toggle 46 and move the slide 42 to the right of the drawing to the position shown by FIGURE 9 of the drawings when the solenoid 43 is energized. Thus the lowermost dime 42 in the stack of dimes 40 is dropped as shown to the change payout passage of the vending machine. It should be noted that the pin 45 of the armature 44 of the solenoid 43 does not engage the toggle 46 until near the end of its energized stroke so that a hammer action for desirable fast movement of the toggle 46 and coin slide 42 is obtained with a minimum of power required for energizing the solenoid coin. At the end of the pulse of electric energy applied to the solenoid 43 the spring 47 returns the coin slide 42 back to the position shown by FIG- URE 8 of the drawings so that the then lowermost dime in the stack of dimes 40 may be received in the aperture of the coin slide 42. The arrangement of solenoid coin release mechanism for the nickel storage tube 18 is exactly the same as the slide for the, dime storage tube just described except for the size of the coin receiving aperture in the coin slide at the bottom of the storage tube.

Referring now to FIGURE 10 of the drawings, the control circuit of the invention will be described. All of the circuit elements will not be discussed in detail since it is believed that their function and nature is obvious to anyone skilled in the art. The photocell 36 for initiating the vend is connected to the circuit including the transistors 70 and 71 to the vend relay 72 of the vending machine in a manner to energize the vend relay 72 upon momentary interruption of light from the light source 35 upon the photocell 36 whenever coin is collected in the amount equal to or above the vend price. The change making photocell 37 is connected in a circuit including the transistors 73 and 74 together with the dime storage tube switch 41 in the position shown to pulse simultaneously both the dime change solenoid 43 and the nickel change solenoid 43A to return one dime and one nickel each time a quarter coin is collected and passed to intercept the light from the light source 35 upon the photocell 37. If there are insuflicient dimes in the dime storage tube 25, the switch 41 will be switched from the position shown to connect the change making signal from transistor 73 to the pulsing circuit including transistor 7578 for connecting a series of three pulses through the transistor 79 to pulse the nickel payout solenoid 43A three times. The diode 80 prevents the dime change solenoid 43 from being pulsed simultaneously with the nickel solenoid 43A when the pulsing signals are received through transistor 79. However as previously described when the dime storage tube switch 41 is in the position shown by the drawings, the single pulse signal is connected through transistor 81 and diode 80 to simultaneously pulse both the dime solenoid 43 and the nickel solenoid 43A one time. The source of operating current for all of the circuit elements of the control circuit is a conventional source of alternating current applied to lines 90 and 91 and to the rectifying circuit including the rectifiers 92-95. A switch 96 in the nickel change storage tube 18 similar to switch 41 in the dime storage tube 25 is provided to control the operation of the coin reject solenoids 97 and 98. Solenoid 97 when energized will allow nickel and dime coins to be collected while solenoid 98 when energized will allow twenty-five cent coins to be collected. With the nickel storage tube switch 96 in the position shown both the solenoids 97 and 98 are energized from a source of alternating curent through line 100 and the normally closed vending machine empty switch (not shown) so that all coins deposited can be collected. If the vending machine is empty, the source of alternating current in the line 100 will be interrupted by the vending machine empty switch so that neither solenoid 97 and 98 will be energized and all coins deposited will be returned to the customer. If there are insufficient nickels in the nickel storage tube 18 to enable the payout of three nickels in change, the switch 96 will be moved from the position shown so that the coin return solenoid 98 will not be energized and all quarter coins will be returned to the customer. At the same time, electric current will be con nected to the line 101 to energize the exact change signal sign (not shown). The switch 102 is a manual push button switch within the mechanism to enable a service man to pulse the change payout solenoids 43 and 43A for test purposes.

It is believed that the features and advantages together with that operation of the invention should now be apparent considering the foregoing description. It should be understood that other sensing devices may be used in place of the photocells 36 and 37 to actuate the pulsing and signaling circuit of FIGURE in the manner described and such circuit changes as would be required for different electrical forms of sensing elements would be obvious to anyone skilled in the art. Various modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A coin responsive vending control system adapted to provide a vending control signal upon receipt of at least ten cents in coin and to give change upon receipt of twenty five cents in coin comprising, only first and second coin detectors, first coin passage means for passing a deposited dime coin past only said first detector to actuate said first detector, second coin passage means for passing a deposited quarter coin past both said first and second detectors to actuate both said detectors, third coin passage means for passing every other one only of a deposited nickel coin past only said first detector to actuate said first detector, means responsive to the actuation of said first detector to produce a vending control signal, a first coin storage receptacle for collecting dime coins from said first coin passage, a second coin storage receptacle for collecting nickel coins from said third coin passage, change making means, means responsive to the actuation of said second detector to operate said change making means to discharge one coin respectively from each of said first and second coin receptacles, said first coin receptacle having a switch to be actuated whenever there is less than a desired number of dime coins therein, the actuation of said switch being responsive to control the operation of said change making means to prevent the discharge of one dime coin from said first receptacle and to cause three nickel coins to be discharged from said second receptacle when said change making means is operated while said switch is actuated.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which said change making means includes a first pulse generating means and a second pulse generating means, said first and second coin receptacles having solenoid operated coin discharge means connected to said first pulse generating means to be simultaneously operated to discharge a coin from each receptacle for each pulse generated by the first pulse generating means, the operation of said change making means by the actuation of said second detector being normally effective to cause said first pulse generating means to generate one pulse, the operation of said change making means by the actuation of said second detector while said switch is actuated being effective to prevent said first pulse generating means from generating a pulse and to cause said second pulse generating means to generate three pulses in rapid succession, and means connecting said second pulse generator to the discharge means of said second coin receptacle only to thereby pulse three times the coin discharge means of the second coin receptacle only for a change making operation while said switch is actuated.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 957,135 5/1910 Asbury 194-1 3,175,670 3/1965 Ofifutt et al 194-10 2,237,132 4/ 1941 Christensen. 2,571,596 10/1951 Meredith et al. 194-10 2,876,883 3/1959 Baker et al 194-10 3,086,536 4/ 1963 Klopp. 3,200,828 8/1965 Oifutt et al 194-10 X 3,335,838 8/1967 Schuller et al 194-10 SAMUEL F, COLEMAN, Primary Examiner

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