Check-actuated control mechanisms – Including means to test validity of check – By testing material composition
Patent
1998-07-14
2000-04-18
Bartuska, F. J.
Check-actuated control mechanisms
Including means to test validity of check
By testing material composition
194343, 194346, 194351, G07D 508
Patent
active
060503882
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for selecting objects inserted for payment purposes into a dispenser of goods or services.
A particularly advantageous application of the invention lies in the field of dispensing services, such as tickets for travel or for vehicle parking.
A dispenser of goods or services in exchange for payment in coin is known, e.g. from American U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,393,891 and 5,404,986, in which coins are inserted one by one through an insertion orifice, generally in the form of a slot. The coins inserted into the dispenser in this way are received by a selector device mainly constituted by a circularly shaped transport member suitable for being rotated about its axis which extends horizontally. In said transport member, there is provided a housing corresponding substantially to a sector of a circle, in which the coins are received one by one after being inserted into the dispenser, said housing having previously been put into communication with the insertion orifice.
By rotating about its axis, the transport member brings the coin that is to be found in the housing to a measurement zone where various operations are performed to verify conformity, in particular the diameter of the coin is determined by measuring the time it takes to move past an optical sensor, and the metal from which the coin is made is analyzed by a magnetic measurement performed statically, with the transport member being stopped in the field of an electromagnetic detector.
Then, from said stop position, the transport member can turn either in a first direction of rotation to direct the coin to a pre-encashment block if the coin is recognized as being in conformity, or else, otherwise, in a second direction of rotation, opposite to the first, towards an outlet for returning the coin.
That selector device known in the state of the art nevertheless suffers from the drawback of requiring the movement of the transport member to be stopped in order to analyze the metal of the coin present in the housing, and that slows down the coin processing system.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to propose a selector device for selecting objects inserted by way of payment into a dispenser of goods via an insertion orifice, said device comprising a transport member provided with a housing designed to receive said objects singly and suitable for bringing an object placed in said housing into a measurement zone where means are disposed for verifying conformity of said object, which selector device makes it possible to accelerate the operations of verifying conformity so as to reduce the length of time objects are present in the measurement zone and thus reduce the time interval between two successive objects being inserted by the user into the dispenser.
According to the present invention, the solution to the technical problem consists in that said selector device also comprises drive means suitable for imparting a non-reversible continuous movement to said transport member along a path during which said housing passes from an initial position of communication with said insertion orifice to a final or waiting position, passing through said measurement zone in continuous manner, said means for verifying conformity receiving sampling signals sampling the movement of the transport member.
Thus, as explained in detail below, it is possible for the metal constituting the coin to be analyzed, for example, without requiring a pause in the measurement zone, with this being a consequence of the fact that it is possible to establish indicative parameters specific to the metal used from measurements taken at accurately reproducible positions of the coin in the measurement zone, which positions are provided by the sampling signals.
It is in this sense that the invention provides for said means for verifying conformity to comprise means for magnetically analyzing the material of said objects, suitable for expressing said analysis in terms of c
REFERENCES:
patent: 4407312 (1983-10-01), Davila et al.
patent: 4625851 (1986-12-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 5050719 (1991-09-01), Shimizu
patent: 5404986 (1995-04-01), Hossfield et al.
patent: 5429222 (1995-07-01), Delay
Bartuska F. J.
Schlumberger Systemes
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