Combination coin and mileage minder

• US 5,112,276 A
• Filed: 05/07/1991
• Issued: 05/12/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ronald A. Spaeth
• Original Assignee: Ronald A. Spaeth
• Inventors: Spaeth, Ronald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Spar, Robert J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOWE, SCOTT
• Application Number:
  US07/696,719
• Time in Patent Office: 371 Days
• Field of Search: 453/50, 453/51, 453/52, 453/53, 453/54, 235/114, 235/113, 40/495, 116/317, 116/318, 206/0.8, 206/0.81, 206/0.84, 221/309
• US Class Current: 453/54
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/00 Arrangements for holding or mounting articles, not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 7/087 for stowing money or valuables, e.g. using safes
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 1/08 hand actuated

Abstract

A coin dispenser and numerical register (10) having first, second, third, fourth and fifth numerical wheels (13), (15), (17), (19) and (21) and first, second and third coin receptacles (23), (25) and (27), mounted in a portable housing (11), is described. The first coin receptacle has a sleeve (37) for mounting a plurality of coins (35) while the first numerical wheel is mounted on a shaft (49) with an associated registering gear (51). The first coin receptacle and the first and the second numerical wheels are serviced by a common wire (47). The wire forms a spring (47b) that is disposed in the sleeve of the first coin receptacle for advancing the plurality of coins after an upper most coin is removed from the receptacle. The wire also forms a pawl (47c) in ratchet engagement with the registering gear of the first numerical wheel and an associated registering gear of the second numerical wheel. The pawl allows the wheels to only be easily turned in one direction for registering the indicia in their respective indicia openings in the face plate of the housing. The other coin receptacles and numerical wheels are in similarly cooperative relationships through servicing wires forming springs for the coin receptacles and pawls for the gears of the wheels. The housing is adapted to be mounted on a sun visor in an automobile with a mounting clip (75).

Claims

1. A combination coin dispenser and numerical register device which comprises:

(a) a housing means having a bottom wall and at least one sidewall extending from the bottom wall to a face plate, the face plate providing for at least one coin opening for dispensing coins at an edge of the face plate of the housing means and at least one indicia opening;

(b) at least one sleeve means depending from an underside of the face plate inside the housing means, the sleeve means having spaced apart ends providing an opening along a longitudinal axis of the sleeve means for mounting a plurality of coins in the opening of the sleeve means with the opening of the sleeve means in communication with the coin opening in the face plate of the housing means;

(c) at least one wheel means mounted inside the housing means on a shaft means, the shaft means extending through the face plate of the housing means to allow for rotation of the shaft means and the wheel means being provided with indicia so that when the shaft is rotated, an indicia on the wheel means is indexed in the indicia opening in the face plate of the housing means;

(d) an indexing means mounted on the shaft means adjacent to the wheel means inside the housing means; and

(e) at least one advancing means mounted inside the housing means and servicing the sleeve means and the indexing means, the advancing means having a proximal portion and a distal portion, wherein the proximal portion of the advancing means advances the coins along the longitudinal axis of the sleeve means after an upper most coin is removed from the coin opening in the face plate of the housing means and wherein the distal portion of the advancing means is in engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means to maintain the wheel means in a particular position, so that the shaft means selectively indexes the indicia on the wheel means in the indicia opening in the face plate of the housing means for viewing by an operator.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein there is a first, a second and a third coin opening with an associated first, second and third sleeve means in communication with the respective coin openings and a first, a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth indicia opening in the face plate of the housing means with an associated first, second, third, fourth and fifth wheel means on respective shaft means with associated indexing means for selectively indexing the indicia on the respective wheel means in the respective indicia openings in the face plate of the housing means, wherein one of the three coin openings corresponds to at least one of the five wheel means through a first advancing means and wherein the first advancing means is a first spring means having a proximal portion that advances a plurality of coins along a longitudinal axis of the sleeve means after an upper most coin is removed from the one of the coin openings and a distal portion in ratchet engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means of at least one of the wheel means for selectively indexing the indicia on the one of the wheel means in its respective indicia opening in the face plate of the housing means for viewing by an operator.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the first spring means is mounted inside the housing means with the proximal portion of the first spring means extending in an opening in the first sleeve means to advance the plurality of coins in the first sleeve means after the upper most coin is removed from the first coin opening and with the distal portion forming a first and a second pawl means, the first pawl means in ratchet engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means of the first wheel means for selectively indexing the indicia on the first wheel means in the first indicia opening and the second pawl means in ratchet engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means of the second wheel means for selectively indexing the indicia on the second wheel means in the second indicia opening and wherein a second spring means is mounted inside the housing means and has a proximal portion extending in an opening in the second sleeve means to advance a plurality of coins in the second sleeve means after an upper most coin is removed from the second coin opening and a distal portion having a third and a fourth pawl means, the third pawl means in ratchet engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means of the third wheel means for selectively indexing the indicia on the third wheel means in the third indicia opening and the fourth pawl means in ratchet engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means of the fourth wheel means for selectively indexing the indicia on the fourth wheel means in the fourth indicia opening and wherein a third spring means is mounted inside the housing means and has a proximal portion extending in an opening in the third sleeve means to advance a plurality of coins in the third sleeve means after an upper most coin is removed from the third coin opening and a distal portion having a fifth pawl means in ratchet engagement with the indexing means on the shaft means of the fifth wheel means for selectively indexing the indicia on the fifth wheel means in the fifth indicia opening.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the sidewall extending from the bottom wall of the housing means is comprised of spaced apart front and back sidewalls with opposed end walls between the sidewalls and wherein the sleeve means in communication with the coin opening in the face plate of the housing means, depends from the underside of the face plate, spaced from the front sidewall of the housing means, with the coin opening in the face plate extending from the sleeve means to the front sidewall for removing coins from the coin opening.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein a rim means extends from an upper surface of the face plate of the housing means, along the periphery of the coin opening, the rim means having a first cross-section less than the diameter of a coin for retaining the coin in the sleeve means adjacent to the coin opening and with the coin opening having a second cross-section beneath the rim means, greater than the diameter of the coin, for enabling a first coin to be removed from the sleeve means by sliding the first coin along the second cross-section of the coin opening towards the front sidewall of the housing means.

6. The device of claim 3 wherein the first, the second and the third coin openings are adapted for dispensing dimes, nickels and quarters, respectively.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the wheel means has a top face and a bottom face with the top face adjacent to an underside of the face plate of the housing means and inscribed with the indicia which are viewed by an operator of the device in the indicia opening in the face plate of the housing means.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein the indicia on the wheel means are numbers.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the shaft means is provided with a knob means for rotating the wheel means to change the indicia in the indicia opening in the face plate of the housing means.

10. The device of claim 9 wherein the knob means is knurled.

11. The device of claim 1 wherein the indexing means is a gear means with teeth selectively inclined to ratchet with the distal portion of the advancing means so that the wheel means can only easily rotate in one direction around a longitudinal axis of the shaft means.

12. The device of claim 1 wherein the indicia opening is adjacent to the back sidewall of the housing means.

13. The device of claim 1 wherein the proximal portion of the advancing means provided in the sleeve means is a coil spring means.

14. The device of claim 1 wherein the advancing means is mounted to a bar means, mounted on the bottom wall of the housing means.

15. The device of claim 13 wherein a guide plate means is mounted on the coil spring means adjacent to the plurality of coins in the sleeve means to guide the coil spring means along the longitudinal axis of the sleeve means.

16. The device of claim 1 wherein the housing means is made of a plastic.

17. The device of claim 1 wherein the housing means is made of a metal.

18. The device of claim 1 wherein the housing means is provided with a mounting means which is adapted for mounting the device in an automobile.

19. The device of claim 18 wherein the mounting means is a clip for mounting the device on a visor in an automobile.