Check-actuated control mechanisms – Including specific check passageway – And movable check diverter
Patent
1992-01-08
1993-06-08
Bartuska, F. J.
Check-actuated control mechanisms
Including specific check passageway
And movable check diverter
453 3, G07F 104
Patent
active
052171000
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to devices for guiding coins to different and selectable paths after they have arrived at an inlet of the device.
The particular devices to be described are designed specifically for guiding coins which have been validated by an electronic coin validator to different paths which respectively lead to different storage locations each for a particular denomination of coin. In that situation, the validator will determine the denomination of the coin, and will control the guiding device so that it will deliver that coin to the path which leads to the correct storage location for coins of that denomination.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There is a requirement for different coin denominations to be stored separately, in coin mechanisms which have to give change, for example in vending machines, and in coin mechanisms which have to pay out prizes, for example in gaming machines.
Devices for separating incoming coins onto different paths have generally been referred to as coin sorters and include passive types and active types. In passive coin sorters, such as window sorters, the path of the coins is provided with fixed mechanical features so designed that coins of different denominations, because of their different dimensions, will depart from the path at different points and thereafter will travel to different storage locations. As the number of different denominations to be sorted increases, it becomes more and more difficult to design passive sorters that will operate reliably, and they become undesirably large. In active coin sorters, typically, a group of independently solenoid actuated gates is provided which can be switched into different configurations to divert an incoming coin onto any one of a number of outlet paths. These also tend to become bulky as the number of coin denominations to be sorted increases, and the plurality of actuators required makes them fairly costly and increases the chance of mechanical or electrical failure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to improve upon the performance and dimensions of the most commonly used coin sorters or guides in various different ways.
The invention provides a device for guiding an arriving coin, which is travelling edgewise, to a selected one of a plurality of exits of the device, comprising a guide having a coin entry to admit arriving coins and a coin outlet, and guide control means adapted to selectively position the coin outlet in register with any selected one of the exits, characterised in that the guide includes movable portions adjacent respectively to its entry and to its outlet so that the guide is of changeable configuration, and in that the guide control means is adapted to move said movable portions so as to change the configuration of the guide as its coin outlet moves between exits.
The invention, by virtue of the changeable configuration of the guide and the co-ordination of its configuration changes with the positioning of its outlet, enables the height and width of the device to be kept modest in relation to the number of different exits to which it is capable of guiding coins. This is especially the case when, as in the embodiments to be described, the exits involved are relatively numerous, closely-spaced, yet with extreme exits widely spaced apart, and are desired to have the coins emerge from them on substantially parallel paths. The invention also enables very sharp changes of direction of the guided coins to be avoided or, to put it another way, for the paths of the coins to be relatively smooth, which helps to maximise the number of coins per unit time that can be routed to appropriate exits.
Because the guide configuration changes according to the exit selected, the guide control means need only include a single motor or actuator for imposing the changes of configuration and of exit.
From a further aspect, the invention provides a device for guiding an arriving coin to a selected one of a plurality of exits of the device, comprising a guide for receiving arri
REFERENCES:
patent: 3916922 (1975-11-01), Prumm
patent: 4082099 (1978-04-01), Iwersen
patent: 4263924 (1981-04-01), Johnson
Thompson Trevor
Watkins Keith J.
Bartuska F. J.
Mars Incorporated
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