COIN HANDLING SYSTEM FOR VALIDATION, SORTING, AND DISPENSING COINS

• US 20070029159A1
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Published: 02/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crane Payment Innovations, Inc. (Crane Company)
• Original Assignee: Telequip Corporation (Crane Company)
• Inventors: Peterke, Hamlin, Janway, Jeff, Bisson, Jack, Pitman, Robert, Quattrini, Victor, Stanley, Don, Stump, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,517,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 194/302
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 3/123 the coins being deflected off rails
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 3/14 Apparatus driven under control of coin-sensing elements
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 9/00 Counting coins in combination with coin-sorting G07D3/16; Handling of coins not provided for in the other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A system for handling coins employs a front end coin acceptor and validator that feeds a sorter mechanism. The sorter mechanism utilizes a substantially horizontal track module to load coins by denomination into an arrangement of bins. The coins are ejected by means of a solenoid onto the track module that provides a path according to the denomination of the coin into the proper bin.

Claims

1. A coin handling system comprising:

a storage and dispensing unit having a series of bins to receive coins and store coins in bulk for the purpose of dispensing;

a sorter unit for receiving coins and distributing the coins to the bins of the storage and dispensing unit, said sorter unit further comprising;

a track module, mounted substantially horizontally in the system, constructed to direct coins in a path to said bins of said storage unit; and

an ejector module mounted to receive coin from the acceptor and to forcibly propel coins into the track module to cause the coins to travel to the the series of bins.

2. The coin handling system of claim 1, further comprising an acceptor unit for receiving coins, validating the coins authenticity, identifying the denomination thereof and passing said coins to said ejector module.

3. The coin handling system of claim 1 further comprising a controller unit for activating the ejector in response to an indication that a coin was received.

4. The coin handling system of claim 3, wherein the track module comprises an array of tracks, each track of said array providing a path to a bin associated with a particular coin denomination;

wherein the ejector module is mounted for movement into alignment with one of the tracks of the array; and

wherein the controller unit causes said ejector module to move into alignment with one of said tracks according to an identified denomination and to propel a coin along the path provided by the aligned track.

5. The coin handling system of claim 3, wherein the track module comprises:

a coin rail extending towards the series of bins to provide a path to input openings constructed in each of the bins; and

a series of gates constructed in the rail, each of said gates aligned with the opening of a particular bin associated with a specific coin denomination;

wherein the ejector module is mounted in alignment with the rail to forcibly eject a coin along the rail; and

further wherein said controller unit activates one of said gates to direct the ejected coin to one of the bins according to an identified denomination.

6. The coin handling system of claim 1 wherein the ejector module comprises:

a coin pocket constructed to provide a chamber for receiving coins from the acceptor unit; and

an electrically actuated solenoid striker operatively associated with the coin pocket to forcibly eject a coin from the chamber upon activation.

7. The coin handling system of claim 1 wherein the storage and dispensing unit comprises:

a chassis constructed to support the series of bins and wherein each of the bins is mounted on the chassis by means of a hinge and the bins are constructed to pivot on the hinge to permit dumping of the bin contents while attached to the chassis.

8. The coin handling system of claim 7 wherein the chassis is slidably mounted in the coin handling system for movement between an operating position and a position in which the bins may be dumped.

9. The coin handling system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the bins is a default bin for receiving coins when the coin cannot be otherwise handled by the system.

10. The coin handling system of claim 3 further comprising a sensor positioned at the ejector to sense the receipt of a coin by the ejector to generate and send a signal to the controller indicating said receipt.

11. The coin handling system of claim 10 further comprising:

a bin full sensor operatively associated with each of the bins to generate and send a signal to the controller indicating that a bin is filled to capacity.

12. The coin handling system of claim 11, further comprising:

a bin position sensor operatively associated with each of the bins to generate and send a signal to the controller indicating that the bin is in operational position.

13. The coin handling system of claim 4 wherein the ejector is moved by an alignment drive, further comprising:

a drive motor connected to the ejector module through a transmission and adapted to move the ejector module into alignment with a track; and

a position encoder operatively associated with the ejector module to generate and send a signal to the controller indicative of the position of the ejector module.

14. The coin handling system of claim 13, wherein the transmission is a rack and pinion and one of said rack or pinion is connected to the ejector module.

15. The coin handling system of claim 4 wherein the comptroller unit comprises:

a memory

a sorter processor, and

a program stored in the memory and executable by said sorter processor to move the ejector module into alignment with one of the tracks of the array of tracks according to the denomination of a coin being handled.

16. The coin handling system of claim 5, wherein the controller unit comprises:

a memory

a sorter processor, and

a program stored in the memory and executable by said sorter processor to actuate one of the gates according to the denomination of a coin being handled.

17. The coin handling system of claim 9, wherein the controller unit comprises:

a memory

a sorter processor, and

a program stored in the memory and executable by said sorter processor to direct coins to said default bin when the coin cannot otherwise be handled by the system.

18. The coin handling system of claim 3 further comprising multiple sensors positioned in the system to generate signals indicative of the position of a coin in the system, at least one of said sensors generating a signal indicative of:

receipt of a coin by the ejector module, passage of a coin to a bin, and exit of a coin from the dispenser.

19. In a coin handling system having a sorter for directing coins to multiple coin holding bins, at least one of which is a common default bin, a method of controlling the passage of coins to the default bin comprising:

checking to determine if the coin is valid currency;

checking to determine if the sorter is operational;

checking to determine if the coin is supported by the handling system;

checking to determine if a destination bin is full; and

directing the coin to the default bin in the event that it is determined that one or more of said checked events have occurred.

20. A coin sorter unit for a coin handling system comprising:

multiple bins for receiving and storing coins by denomination;

an array of tracks, each track of said array providing a path to one of said multiple bins associated with a particular coin denomination;

an ejector module mounted for movement relative to the array tracks into alignment with one of the tracks of the array; and

a controller unit adapted to cause said ejector module to move into alignment with one of said tracks according to an identified coin denomination and to actuate said ejector module to propel a coin along the path provided by the aligned track.

21. A coin sorter unit for a coin handling system comprising:

multiple bins for receiving and storing coins by denomination;

a coin rail extending towards the multiple bins to provide a path to input openings constructed in each of the bins; and

a series of gates constructed in the rail, each of said gates aligned with the opening of a particular bin associated with a specific coin denomination;

an ejector module mounted in alignment with the rail to forcibly propel a coin along the rail; and

a controller unit adapted to activate one of said gates to direct the ejected coin to one of the multiple bins according to the denomination identified by the acceptor unit.

22. A coin storage unit for a coin handling system comprising:

at least one bin for receiving and storing coins by denomination;

a support member constructed to support the at least one bin and wherein the at least one bin is mounted on the support member by a hinge and the bin is constructed to pivot on the hinge to permit dumping of the bin contents while attached to the support member.