Coin handling – Deliverer – Rotary
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-31
2003-09-30
Walsh, Donald P. (Department: 3653)
Coin handling
Deliverer
Rotary
C074S810100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06626751
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an improved compact transmission mechanism for driving a pair of output shafts by a reversible motor in a coin dispensing apparatus and more particularly to a simplified and economical switching gear mechanism that automatically responds to the output of a reversible electric motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is directed to improvements in vending machine equipment wherein maintenance and costs are important factors. Vending machine equipment has been required to become more compact while still being required to handle the dispensing of coins and tokens for change or jackpots in gaming machines.
Generally, a coin hopper has components driven by a motor through a gear transmission system so that the motor can rotate in a clockwise direction and a counter-clockwise direction. Coin hopper equipment is usually driven to output coins from a bulk hopper. In a large capacity hopper equipment that is suitable, for example, in gambling and gaming machines, a large number of medallions or coins are stored and dispensed. As used in this application, the terminology “coin” includes not only coins of a monetary currency, but also can include medallions, disc-like medals, tokens, etc.
An example of a large capacity coin hopper can be found in the laid open Japanese Patent Application No. 11-251,652. Referring to
FIG. 9
, a perspective view of the hopper equipment is disclosed. A cross-sectional view of the motor drive transmission assembly is shown in
FIG. 9. A
rectangular support or baseboard
4
extends in a vertical installation position and is supported by a pair of support frames
3
. On one surface of the baseboard
4
, a primary tank
1
for coin storage having a cylindrical shape is disclosed. Attached to this primary tank
1
is a larger capacity slanted or angled barrel case
10
with a secondary tank of a large pot like configuration having an opening
5
for receiving bulk coins. As can be readily determined, the primary tank
1
, the intermediate case member
10
and the secondary tank
2
can store a large number of coins in bulk quantity. Within the primary tank
1
, a deep plate-like dispensing disc
50
as shown in
FIG. 10
is capable of contacting and releasing coins in a controlled manner. The deep plate-like disc is mounted for free rotation.
Mounted within the intermediate case member
10
is a flexible belt
14
with teeth or projections
15
that can be utilized for elevating the coins from the secondary storage tank
2
and dropping the coins into the deep plate-like disc
50
. Thus, rotation of the belt
14
can distribute the coins to the primary tank I and as is conventionally known, the disc
50
or other structure can interact with the coins and selectively dispense the coins one by one.
To provide the rotational movement, a gear case
41
is fixed on the back surface of the baseboard
4
as can be seen in FIG.
10
. An electric motor
40
can be appended from the gear case
41
so that the electric motor
40
can drive a small pinion gear
44
which is fixed to a shaft of the electric motor
40
. The cross-section view of this gear arrangement is seen in FIG.
10
. The pinion gear
44
can in turn mesh with a larger gear
45
. The gear
45
is freely mounted within bearings to rotate. An output gear
46
further meshes with the large gear
45
and is also mounted for free rotation. Attached to this output gear
46
is a primary clutch member
47
and a secondary clutch member
48
. The primary clutch member
47
can rotate the primary output shaft
42
when the electric motor
40
is rotated in a first positive direction. In this rotation, the primary output shaft
42
is coupled to a disc
50
for sending out the coins in the primary tank
1
. The secondary clutch member
48
rotates a secondary output shaft
43
when the electric motor
40
is driven in a reverse direction. The secondary output shaft
43
is in turn coupled to a belt
31
, see
FIG. 9
, by an intervening driving of the pulley
38
, the belt
37
, the pulley
36
shown in
FIG. 9
, and the shaft
34
. This belt
31
, while not shown, is coupled to the belt
14
for driving the coins in the case
10
.
In summary, the disc
50
, for picking up and sending the coins in a controlled manner, is rotated by the action of the primary clutch
47
when the electric motor
40
is rotated in a positive direction. At this time, the belt
14
for coin carrying is stopped by the action of the second clutch
48
. When, however, the electric motor
40
is reversed, the second output shaft
43
is rotated by the action of the second clutch
48
. As a result of this drive, the belt
31
is activated. During this activation, the disc
50
is not rotated by the action of the primary clutch
47
. Thus, in this disclosure, either the disc
50
is rotated or the belt
14
is rotated in a selective manner, depending upon the direction of rotation of the electric motor
40
.
As can be seen from
FIG. 10
, this arrangement requires a number of components and increases the size requirements of the coin dispenser. Additionally, since a pair of one-way clutches are utilized, there is always the possibility that inertia forces may jar and cause wear and vibration when the motor is reversed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was developed in order to simplify transmission switching gear arrangement for dealing with a reversible motor. The present invention was also designed to decrease the number of parts and to simplify the transmission switching gear equipment. Additionally, the present invention was designed to absorb any reaction forces by a sudden stopping or reversing of the motor. The present invention was also designed to provide a relatively uncomplicated activation of one of two output shafts that can be automatically determined by a positive-reverse switching cycle relating to the direction of rotation of the motor.
The present invention provides a transmission assembly in a coin handling apparatus that can automatically activate one of two output shafts. A primarily stepped gear, which is freely mounted on a fixed shaft, includes a helical gear meshing with an output pinion of an electric motor. A spur gear is coaxially mounted on the shaft. A link unit comprising a pair of elongated movable boards or link members sandwich the primary step gear and are rotatable about the fixed shaft. Radially outward from the fixed shaft is a transfer shaft that extends between the respective link members and a second step gear is freely rotatably mounted on the transfer shaft and includes a switching gear that meshes with a coaxial spur gear. The spur gear can mesh with respective output shaft gears to respectively drive the desired output shafts. Positioned between the movable boards or link members and the primary step gear are elastic members such as spring like ring members to provide a frictional force between the primary step gear and the respective link members. Depending upon the rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor, the pinion gear will drive the helical gear to move upward or downward axially relative to the fixed shaft
23
. When driven upward, it will cause a frictional engagement through an elastic spring member to drive the upper link member to rotate in a specific direction, thereby bringing the switching gear into engagement with a gear train to drive one of the output shafts. Conversely, a reverse driving of the pinion gear will drive the helical gear shaft downward to engage the lower elastic spring member to frictionally move the lower link member and rotate the large switching gear in the other direction to engage a transmission gear assembly to drive the other output shaft. As can be appreciated, the spring mounting can absorb some of the thrust forces that can occur upon a reversing of the electric motor.
As can be further determined, the number of parts and components utilized are substantially less than the conventional transmission mechanisms that have h
Asahi Seiko Co., LTD
Beauchaine Mark J
Walsh Donald P.
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