Coin Assorter

• US 4,376,442 A
• Filed: 05/14/1980
• Issued: 03/15/1983
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GSTC Development Corporation
• Original Assignee: General Railway Signal Company
• Inventors: Davila, Jose E., Gomez, Jim H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reeves, Robert B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wacyra, Edward M.
• Application Number:
  US06/149,719
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• Field of Search: 133/1 R, 133/3 R, 133/3 A, 133/3 B, 133/3 C, 133/3 D, 133/3 E, 133/3 G, 133/3 H, 133/8 R
• US Class Current: 453/8
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/066 being coin-operated
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 3/10 provided by sieves arranged in series

Abstract

A fare collection system using a bus fare box that receives and counts paper currency and paper transfers and tickets into a paper collection chamber and receives and counts coins into a coin collection chamber and receives and collects operating data into a data storage unit, the operating data including fare classification, bus identification and mileage; a secure coupling is made to the fare box chambers and the data storage unit after satisfying mechanical and pneumatic and electrical security devices so as pneumatically to convey from the chambers the papers and coins therein to a central processing unit and to convey the data stored in the data storage unit to a data collection center; the paper is first conveyed in an air stream and separated from the air stream and deposited into a storage vault therefor, after which the coins are conveyed to a coin slowdown device and then discharged to a sorter-counter-recorder for coins and then to a secure storage vault, the air stream being pulsed during conveying of the paper and the coins to prevent clogging and clinging thereof to the walls of the various conduits through which the air stream passes; the intensity of the air stream is decreased during the conveying of the paper, increased during the conveying of the coins and thereafter again decreased and an air stream is directed countercurrent to the coins during dumping thereof into the coin-sorter-recorder to separate any retained paper therefrom; there also is disclosed a novel fare box, a novel paper counter-measurer, a novel extractor coupling, a novel slowdown mechanism, a novel coin sorter-counter and a novel fare box coin registering device.

Claims

1. A coin sorter comprising a stack of plates mounted for rotation within a peripheral housing about an axis inclined to the horizontal, the number of plates being at least equal to the number of different sizes of coins to be sorted, the plates each having a plurality of openings therein of a size slightly smaller than the size of the coins to be retained thereon, the openings in the plates increasing in size from the bottommost plate toward the topmost plate, a coin entry chute disposed above the uppermost plate for depositing a mixture of different sizes of coins thereon, pairs of cooperating projections arranged around each plate adjacent to the outer periphery thereof for catching a coin along the lower portion of the path of travel of said plate and for carrying the coin upwardly and past the highest portion of the path of travel of said plate, and a plurality of discharge openings respectively associated with said plates extending through said housing and disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the associated plate just below the highest portion of the path of travel thereof to receive the coins carried by said cooperating pairs of projections one-by-one thereinto.

2. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said plates is essentially flat.

3. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, wherein said axis of rotation is inclined to the horizontal at an angle from about 30°

to 75°

.

4. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, wherein said coin entry chute is disposed above the highest portion of the path of travel of said uppermost plate.

5. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, wherein one of said cooperating projections is disposed radially inwardly with respect to the associated coin and the other cooperating projection is disposed against the trailing edge of the coin to support the sme, the cooperating projection engaging the trailing edge of the coin having a height slightly less than the height of a coin to be engaged thereby so as to engage only one coin at a time.

6. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, and further comprising a plurality of discharge tracks extending into said openings for receiving coins therein.

7. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, and further comprising a plurality of discharge tracks respectively associated with said discharge openings, each of said tracks being covered and having a height slightly greater than that of the coin to be received therein.

8. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, wherein the periphery of said plates travels at a linear speed of about 160 to 320 feet per minute.

9. The coin sorter set forth in claim 1, and further comprising a foreign object discharge door in said housing in the part thereof disposed on the lower portion of the path of travel of said plates.

10. A coin sorter-counter comprising a stack of plates mounted for rotation within a peripheral housing about an axis inclined to the horizontal, the number of plates being at least equal to the number of different sizes of coins to be sorted, the plates each having a plurality of openings therein of a size slightly smaller than the size of the coins to be retained thereon, the openings in the plates increasing in size from the bottom-most plate toward the topmost plate, a coin entry chute disposed above the uppermost plate for depositing a mixture of different sizes of coins thereon, pairs of cooperating projections arranged around each plate adjacent to the outer periphery thereof for catching a coin along the lower portion of the path of travel of said plate and for carrying the coin upwardly and past the highest portion of the path of travel of said plate, a plurality of discharge openings respectively associated with said plates extending through said housing and disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the associated plate just below the highest portion of the path of travel thereof to receive the coins carried by said cooperating pairs of projections one-by-one thereinto, and a plurality of coin sensors respectively associated with each of said openings and sensing and counting the coins as the coins pass through said openings.

11. The coin sorter-counter set forth in claim 10, and further comprising a plurality of tracks extending through associated ones of said openings for receiving coins therein, said sensors being respectively mounted in said tracks for sensing the coins as they are discharged through said tracks.

12. The coin sorter-counter set forth in claim 10, wherein said sensors are light emitting diodes.