US3288153A - Coin counting and wrapping machine - Google Patents

Description

NOV. 29, 1966 1 ARD ET AL 3,288,153

COIN COUNTING AND WRAPPING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 12, 1965 INVENTORS DARRELL L. BALLARD HAROLD STRATTON BY M W A TTORNE Y NOV. 29, 1966 BALLARD ET AL 3,288,153

COIN COUNTING AND WRAPPING MACHINE Filed July 12, 1965 r 4 Sheets-Sheet Z INVENTORS DARRELL L. BALLARD FIG. 2 HAROLD STRATTON ATTORNEY Nov. 29, 1966 D, BALLARD ET AL 3,288,153

COIN COUNTING AND WRAPPING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 12, 1965 lunch I /IVVEIVTOR$ DARRELL L. BALLARD HAROLD STRATTON BY W FIG.

ATTORNEY NOV. 29, 1966 L R ET AL 3,288,153

COIN COUNTING AND WRAPPING MACHINE 4 SheetsSheet 4 Filed July 12, 1965 Tm me. i

muhZDOO EMPZDOO v m W4 DF U i f .FZDOW n mo I I FNWNK MEL-23 INFZDO INVENTORS DARRELL L. BA LLA R D HA OLD STRATTQN y W ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,288,153 COIN COUNTIN G AND WRAPPING MACHINE Darrell L. Ballard, Flint, and Harold Stratton, Genesee County, Mich., assignors of thirty-three and one-third percent to Zetta Waara, Flint, Mich.

Filed July 12, 1965, Ser. No. 471,175 1 Claim. (Cl. 133-8) The present invention relates to a machine for counting and wrapping coins.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved machine for counting and wrapping a plurality of coins.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a coin counting machine improved means for counting out a preselected number of coins.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a coin counting machine means for counting out coins in groups each of which contains a preselected number of coins.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for wrapping groups of coins in individual wrappers, each group containing a preselected number of coins.

Briefly, the preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by a motor driven shuttle mechanism which causes individual coins to be forced past and to actuate an electrical switch, and thereafter to drop into an opened can wrapper supported in a metal tube standing upon a rotatable index table. Actuation of the electrical switch causes an electrical impulse to be registered upon a counting mechanism and, when a preselected number of coins have been thus counted and dropped into the wrapper, operation of the shuttle mechanism is caused to be suspended. Simultaneously with suspension of operation of the shuttle mechanism the index table is caused to index or rotate from one station to the next, carrying the filled coin wrapper into position for filling of the wrapper. Upon completion of indexing, the shuttle mechanism is caused to recommence operation, and the sequence continues to be repeated until the machine is manually turned off by the operator.

Other features, advantages and objects will become readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the left side and front of an improved coin counting and wrapping machine.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view from the right side and front of an improved coin counting and wrapping machine.

FIGURE 3 is a side sectional view from the right of the shuttle mechanism of an improved coin counting and wrapping machine.

FIGURE 4 is a schematic circuit diagram of an electrical circuit for an improved coin counting and wrapping machine.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, we provide a housing bearing a switch panel 12, an electrical counter 14, a visual count indicator 16, an operational signal light 18, a rotatable index table 20, a coin hopper 22, a vertical hopper tube 24, and a support bracket 26 for supporting the hopper and tube.

Novel shuttle mechanism generally indicated at 28 and best shown in FIGURE 3 is provided and includes a counting table 30 supported by bracket 26 below the lower end of tube 24 and a coverplate 32 mounted upon and in spaced, parallel relationship above table 30, providing a horizontal space 33 therebetween. A guide tube 34 is supported by and extends downwardly through the forward portion of table 30. A friction wheel 36 is ice rotatably supported below table 30 and extends upwardly through an aperture 38 in the table to the level of the upper surface thereof immediately rearward of guide tube 34. An electrical switch 40 of the microswitch variety is supported by coverplate 32 with the trigger 42 of the microswitch extending downwardly through an aperture 43 in the coverplate to a point directly above and in close proximity to wheel 36.

A bushing 44 receives the lower end of tube 24 and extends into an aperture 46 in coverplate 32 above the rear portion of table 38 so as to provide a space between the lower end of the bushing and the upper surface of table 30 slightly greater than the thickness of one of the coins to be counted but less than the thickness of two such coins, so as to allow clearance for but a single coin therebetween. A shuttle 48 adapted for forward and rearward reciprocal motion is slidingly received within space 33 and is yieldingly urged toward its rearmost position by a pair of compression springs 50, 50 which rest in a pair of channels 52, 52 in table 30 flanking space 33. A striker member 54, rigidly connected at its forward end to the rear of shuttle plate 48, is slidingly supported within a bushing 56 mounted upon a bracket 58 atop housing 10. A disk 60, eccentrically mounted upon a flywheel 62, forms a cam to contact the rear end of striker 54 for the purpose of imparting reciprocating motion to the striker and hence to shuttle plate 48. Such reciprocal motion of shuttle plate 48 is of sufficient amplitude to cause the forward edge of the shuttle plate to be alternately withdrawn rearwardly past the rear lower edge of tube 24, whereby the lowest coin stacked in the tube is permitted to drop into space 33 atop table 30, and then to be forced forwardly a suflicient distance to push such coin between and into operative contact With friction wheel 36 and trigger 42 of switch 40. An electrical motor 64 imparts rotations to wheel 62 and, through a belt 66 interconnecting the wheel and friction wheel 36, imparts rotation also to the friction wheel, thereby providing motive power for operating shuttle mechanism 28.

Index table 20 is rotatably mounted upon housing 10 about a central spindle 70, extends below guide tube 34, and is arranged for rotation about the spindle by a conventional turntable motor (not shown) in a conventional manner. A plurality of regularly space-d circular recesses 72 are provided in the upper surface of table 20 near its periphery, each adapted to receive and support in upstanding position a metal tube 74 closed at the bottom and containing an opened coin wrapper 76, and arranged to carry such tubes and wrappers, one by one, to a position of registration below and in vertical alignment with guide tube 34, whereby to receive coins dropping downwardly from the tube, as the index table is rotated from station to station. A solenoid 78 bearing an upwardly extending plunger 80 is mounted within housing 10 below table 20 and guide tube 34. Plunger 80 is spring loaded to normally extend upward through an aperture 82 in housing 10 and a bore 84 in a recess 72 of table 20 positioned below guide tube 34, whereby to provide a stop for halting rotation of the table, to retain a tube 74 and wrapper 76 supported by such recess in registration with the guide tube, and to elevate such tube 74 into. contact with the bottom of the guide tube, all as best shown in FIGURE 3.

Appropriate conventional electrical wiring, circuitry, switches, relays, and other electrical elements, one form of which is illustrated schematically in FIGURE 4, are provided to operate the shuttle, counter, index table, solenoid, and other mechanical elements of the invention in the manner hereinafter described.

In operation, a plurality of tubes 74, wrappers 76, and a bushing 44 are selected, all of appropriate size for the denomination of the single type Olf coins to be counted and wrapped. Wrappers 76 are opened, inserted in tubes 74, and the tu'bes'inserted in recesses 72 in upright position. Bushing 44, with the lower end of guide tube 24 received in the top thereof, is inserted into aperture 46 of cover plate 32. Index 20 is then positioned so that one tube 74 and wrapper 76 is below and in registration with guide tube 34. Plunger 80 then moves upward through aperture 82 and bore 84 to elevate the tube 74 into contact with guide tube 34 and to retain the tubes in mutual registration. Counter 14 is set to the number of coins which it is desired to have counted and wrapped in each wrapper.

With the coins to be counted placed in hopper 22, the shuttle mechanism is set in operation by actuation of motor 64. Motor 64 causes rotation of flywheel 62 and disc 60, imparting reciprocating movement to shuttle plate 48. As shuttle plate 48 moves forward, it contacts and pushes forwardly upon ta ble 3th the single coin permitted by bushing 44 to be presented within space 33 below the bushing, forcing such coin between friction wheel 36 and the trigger 42 of switch 40. Contact with the coin causes trigger 42 to close switch 44) and thereby to register an electrical impulse upon counter 14 and indicator 16 Friction wheel 36, when it is contacted by the coin, forces the coin further forward within space 33 until the coin drops downwardly through guide tube 34 into wrapper 76. Shuttle plate 48 moves rearwardly after reaching the limit of its forward traverse and, as it clears bushing 44, allows another coin to drop from tube 24 onto table 30' below the bushing, in position to be pushed forwardly by the shuttle plate when it moves forwardly again. As each coin in turn is thus counted and dropped into wrapper 76, its weight and that of its successors cause it to assume a horizontal, stacked position within the wrapper.

When counter 14 has recorded the passage past switch 40 of the precise, preselected number of coins for which the counter was set, it interrupts that electrical circuit of motor 64 and energizes solenoid 78 and the turntable motor. Energization of solenoid 78 causes plunger 80 to be Withdrawn from aperture 82 and bore 84, releasing turntable 20 and allowing tube 74 to drop fully into recess 72. The turntable motor then causes turntable 20' to rotate until the next recess 72, bore 84, tube 74 and wrapper 76 are in registration with guide tube 34, whereupon the spring loaded plunger 80 again rises upward through aperture 82 and bore 84 to halt rotation of the table, retain tube 74 and its contained wrapper in registration with guide tube 34, and elevate tube 74 into contact with the guide tube. The interruption in the electrical circuit of motor 64 is then terminated, causing the shuttle mechanism to recommence operation and the cycle to repeat itself. The tube 74 containing the filled coin wrapper 76 is manually removed from its recess 72, the open end of the wrapper manually tamped down, the wrapped roll of coins is removed, a new, open Wrapper placed in the tube, and the tube replaced in the recess while the next cycle is in progress. The machine continues to count out and stack within wrapper 76 the preselected number of coins until hopper 20 is empty. The operator then switches off the machine.

If desired, conventional mechanical braking means may be employed to expedite the halting of rotation of flyw heel 62 and hence reciprocal motion of shuttle 48 simultaneously with the interruption of the electrical circuit of motor 64 when the preselected number of coins have been l tf It is to be understood that the forms of the invention herewith shown and described are to be taken as preferred embodiments of the same and that resort may be had to various changes in construction without departing from the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is: 1

Means for counting out and packaging in wrappers a selected number of coins comprising,

a vertical tube for holding a plurality of coins in stacked arrangement, 7 v

a horizontal table spaced below said tube a distance greater than the thickness of one such coin and less than the thickness of two such coins,

a shuttle adapted for reciprocal forward and rearward motion upon said table and disposed during-its rearward motion to be withdrawn beyond the rear edge of said tube to permit the lowermost of said stacked coins to fall from said tube upon said table, and during its forward motion to contact and to push such coin forwardly upon said table,

an electrical switch arranged to be actuated by contact with said coin and to register such contact upon a counter,

a friction wheel arranged to contact and force said coin past said switch,

a vertically arranged coin guide extending through an aperture in said table forwardly of said switch and friction wheel and disposed to receive and guide said coin downwardly through said table,

means for imparting reciprocating forward and rearward motion to said shuttle and rotary motion to said friction wheel,

a horizontal platform arranged below said coin guide and adapted for rotation about a vertical axis offset from said coin guide,

index means for releasably retaining said platform in successive stations of rotation,

a plurality of upstanding tubes, each adapted to support an opened coin wrapper therein, respectively supported upon said platform at regular arcuate intervals and equidistant from said axis of rotation of said platform, and respectively arranged to be in registration with and below said coin guide to dispose such wrapper to receive coins falling from said coin guide, when said index table is at a station of rotation,

and means for electrically de-energizing said shuttle to halt forward motion thereof, and for rotating said platform from each station of rotation to the next successive station of rotation, when said counter has registered contact with a pre-se'lected number of coins.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,239,251 9/1917 B atdorf 133--8 X 2,881,975 4/1959 Bower 1338 X 3,032,162 5/1962. Huckins 1338 X 3,187,759 6/1965 Rausing 133-8 X FOREIGN PATENTS 114,405 12/ 1941 Australia.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. S. H. TOLLBERG, Assistant Egcqminer,

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