US802550A - Coin-handling machine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 802,550. PATENTED OCT. 24, 1905. G. S. BATDORF 6; T. W. FOWLER.

COIN HANDLING MACHINE. Arrmouron mum mum, 1904. RENEWED APR.18.1906.

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'Nm 802,550. PATENTED OCT. 24,1905. 0. S. BATDORF & T. W. FOWLER.

COIN HANDLING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR.10,1904. RENEWED APR.18.1905.

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INVENTORS I rlesJTBaI'cZwy' remMmr/Zw [er -PATENI UFFIQE JHARLES S. BATUORF, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND THOMAS W ALTER FOWLER, OF WASHINO'ITON, DlSlRIIC'l OF COLUMBIA, ASSlG-NORS, BY DIRECT AND M'ESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO PA'lENT CUSTODIAN COMPANY,

A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

COIN-"HANDLING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 24:, 1905.

11') (Lil whom, it 717,04 concern- Be it known that we, CnARLEs S. BAT- DORF, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of New York, and THOMAS WVALTER FowLER, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, citizens of the United States, have invented new and useful Improvements in Coin-Handling Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in machines for handling coins, and particularly to the machines of the type employing an inspection-table or a tabular surface upon which the coins are deposited and individually handled and inspected for counterfeit and mutilated specimens before said coins are allowed to pass into the con ductor or runway leading to the machine which. counts the coins and then assembles them in columns or bunches containing a predetermined number of coins of the same size and transfers the column or bunch to a wrapping mechanism which. applies a flexi- 2 5 ble wrapper or envelop thereto or where the coins after being counted are distributed or delivered to appropriate bags or other receptacles appropriately placed to receive the same in predetermined or other quantities.

It has not heretofore seemed possible to successfully combine with the counting-ma chine an assorting mechanism wherein miseellancous coins can be separated from a mass and advanced successively and dis- 3 5 tributed and then passed to the machine to be operated upon thereby and counted, because the known assorting-machines, as far as we are aware, all have their distributingchutes connecting directly with. the coin con- 4o ductor or runway and the coins emerging.

from the said chutes pass directly into the machine in rapid succession without an opportunity being given for observing the character of the coins entering the machines. Therefore counterfeit, plugged, and mutilated specimens and even pieces of lead, metal, and other disks of little or no value might be sent into the machine and be counted and assembled with good coins without difficulty, and their presence in sealed packages would not be ascertained until the package is broken for use, when it might be difficult to learn the source from whence came the spurious specimen. As the machines are designed to operate upon coins, (money) the importance of correctness in the count of the package and the ascertainment of the exact value of the contents of said package will be manifest.

The ins acction-table from which the coins are distri uted to the machine has been found of great convenience in the handling of coins, because of the facility with which it enables the operator to handle the coins which lie flat thereon and inspect and feel each coin as the same is slid over the glass or other smooth surface of the table. Because of this possible manipulation of the coins separately following closely the hand movement usually adopted by banks and other depositories of money for counting coins, the facility for detecting mutilated, bent, plugged, and counterfeit coins and the ease with which spurious specimens can be discarded before entering the machine are greatly enhanced, as both the senses of sight and touch are brought into play by the skilled operator and the danger of such coins or pieces being counted and assembled with good coins is reduced to a minimum, if not, in fact, made impossible.

In the present invention we have devised means by which we are enabled to use the important inspection or distributing table in connection with an assorting mechanism, whereby the miscellaneous coins placed in the assorter may be asserted and then deposited upon the table in segregated masses and then. each or any denomination passed into machine, each coin being separately handled and inspected, as before explained, to be counted and, if desired, assembled in a coin-column for wrapping.

Our invention consists, broadly, of a distributing or inspection table or surface interposed between an assorting mechanism. and the conductor of a counting-machine and having provision for receiving the coins in segregated masses.

Our invention further consists ofa machine having in combination an assorting mechanism and a tabular surface upon which the former discharges its coins in segregated masses.

The invention also consists of a machine of the character described having in combination a coin-assorting mechanism, the coinconductor of a coin-counting mechanism, and a tabular surface intermediate of the two and having provision for segregating the coins of the same size distributed from the assorting mechanism.

The invention further consists of a coin table having its surface divided into separate divisions or compartments each adapted to receive segregated coins of the same size and allow the same to be separately inspected.

The invention also consists of a coin-assorting mechanism in combination with a divided table, with each division thereof communicating with a discharge from the assorter and adapted to segregate the coins in masses of coins of the same size and a coinconductor of a counter communicating with each of the divisions of the table.

The invention further consists of the combination of a divided coin-inspection table, of a stepped gagebar, beneath which the coins of each division of the table are caused to pass before entering the counting-machine.

The invention also consists'of the assorting mechanism and the parts and constructions and combinations of parts, which we will hereinafter describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, forming art of this specification, and in which simi ar reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a coin-handling machine embodying a type of our invention. Fig. 2 is a modification showing a portion of a divided table with the divisions thereof communicating with independent distributing chutes or conductors. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on the line :0 a; of the assorter of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a modification to be referred to.

In carrying out our invention we wish it to be understood that we may use in connection with our divided or compartment inspection-table any of the well-known and any appropriate forms of assorting mechanism, and while we herein show and describe a particular form of assorter we do not restrict the invention thereto, as we consider that our invention is of sufficient scope to include any means by which miscellaneous coins may be assorted and then delivered through separate discharges to the several divisions of the table. e also do not limit the use of the table to any particular character of counting-machine, as it is capable of use with a counting-machine whose parts are adjustable to receive and operate upon coins of different sizes and where the machine may be changed to receive and successfully count all coins of the same size of any denomination. This table may also be used with a series of machmes each of which has 1 its conductor adapted to receive the coins contained in one of the divisions of the table.

The type of novel assorting mechanism here shown for illustrative purposes is of a vibratory character. It is capable of endwise movement by any of the well-known meansas, for example, the suspending links 10and it may be given a reciprocating or equivalent movement. by any suitable meansas, for instance, the devices shown, which include a link or connection 11 and a crank or equivalent driving means, as at 12. The receiving-hopper A may also be of any suitable character, and it may be stationary relative to the assorter proper. The assorter (shown in Fig. 1) includes an appropriate frame B, with a bottom and sides, and said frame may be set at such inclination that the coins will slide over the surface of the bottom to the appropriate points of discharge. This bottom may be straight or in the same plane throughout, Fig. 4, or, as shown, it may be formed with steps, as at 13, with the tabular surfaces between the steps provided with one or more rows of openings 14 of such size as to permit coins of certain sizes to pass through the same. The openings are graded in such succession that those at the upper or head end of the assorter are designed to receive and separate the smallest coinssay dimeswhile offering no obstruction to the passage of coins of larger size, which arrangement is carried out on the several stepped portions or divisions of the assorting-surface. Therefore there is a grading of the coins or a separation of the smaller coins from the larger during the travel of the coins over the grading-surface of the assorter. If desired, the coins of greatest sizesay the half dollarsn1ay pass over the tail end of the machine. As the coins pass from one division of the assorting-surface to the next division thereof they are tipped by passing over the stepped portions, and if one coin should be lying on another when they reach a stepped portion the tipping of the coins in falling from one surface to another will result in separating such coins to preserve the individual travel of each over the succeeding surface, which action is facilitated by the vibratory motion which is given the assorter. The coins which escape through the several openings of the assorter enter a hopper-like structure 15 below the same or equivalent means, by which the assorted coins are delivered upon the flat sur face of the table D. This table may be of the general character of the one shown, described, and claimed in Patent No. 751,246, granted to Charles S. Batdorf, one of the parties hereto, on the 2d day of February, 1904, and upon which table the coins are separately inspected and handled as they are fed therefrom by hand or otherwise into the conductor which leads to the counting-machine.

This table, however, in the present instance (and it may denote any form of tabular receiving-surface) has its surface divided into separate compartments or channels by means of division-strips or partitions 16, and one of the hopper-like structures is designed to deliver its coins into or upon one of the compartments or divisions of the table separate and distinct from the coins of a different size and denomination. Thus the mass of miscellaneous coins placed in the hopper and separated and graded according to size are delivered and collected upon the table in segregated groups or masses ready for a suceeedii'rg or subsequent manipulation and in full view and within the control of the operator. In this separated condition the coins of any one of the groups may be handled and separately inspected for impaired or counterfeit specimens and for dummies and then swept over the tabular surface into the re ceiving end of the conductor C, which leads to or is a part of the countinganachine (not shown) and which conductor is so placed relative to the point of discharge from the table that the coins swept off the latter will enter the conductor and proceed e11 their way to the counting devices, and which latter may be of any appropriate charactersuch,

for instance, as are shown and described in detail in the Batdorf patent, No. 751,246, before alluded to. I

In another application, Serial N 0. 188,689, by Charles S. Batdorf, filed January 12, 1904, there is disclosed a mechanism whereby the coin-conducting means of the machine is capable of such adjustment that the single machine may be set to accurately operate upon coins of all denominations, by which is meant that the machine may be set for, say, half-dollars and then be adjusted to receive all coins of another denomination and different size, and which adjustments provide for the correct handling of all coins of the same size from the largest and to and including the smallest coins. IVith such an adjustable machine a divided table is of great value, because the miscellaneous coins having been assorted and the coins eollected in segregated groups the machine may be set for the coins of one group, and when the supply is exhausted the machine may be set for the coins of another group, thereby enabling us to count the different groups in succession and during substantially a sin le continuous run of the machine, thereby 'aeilitating the rapid handling of the coin. At the same time the coins of each group have been separately handled and inspected by the operator, and if any mutilated, counterfeit, or irregular coins have been included in the miscellaneous mass put into the hopper of the assorter they are instantly detected and discarded. The coins as they are delivered from the table pass under a gage-bar E, the under surface of which is disposed above the surface of the table a distance equivalent to the thickness of a true coin of the denomination that is contained in the corresponding division of the table, whereby any bent coins in the group will be held back from the coinconductor, which is desirable when the coins are to be wrapped to preserve the evenness of the wrapped package. The gage-bar may be a continuous one, extending across each of the divisions of the table, in which event its under surface will be stepped to respond to the different thicknesses of coins of the several groups.

If desired, the single conductor before described may be substituted by a number of independent conductors F, each designed to connect with one of the divisions of the table and each leading to its own individual counting mechanism, which arrangement may be desirable when a series of independent counting-machines for handling coins of different sizes are used.

In Fig. 1 the assorter B is represented as having a straight and unbroken surface set at an incline and over which the coins slide as they are delivered from the hopper A. This asserting-surface has the graded openings arranged in succession, and each group of openings deposits the graded coins into its appropriate hopper 15 for delivery into a divlsion of the inspection-table.

The operation of the machine will be readily understood from the foregoing, and it will be apparent that a mass of miscellaneous coins associated with defective coins, dummies, or worthless pieces may be separated each. from the other in graded groups and then placed uponan inspection-table, where the improper specimens can readily be detected and discarded before they can enter the counting-machine. It will also be apparent that the grading operation may be performed coordinately with the counting operation, thereby saving time in handling the coins.

As the present improvements relate to the inspection-table and its combination with an assorter and the placing of the table between the inlet to the counting-111achine and the assorter and said invention has no reference to any particular counting mechanism, we have not deemed it necessary to illustrate the counting mechanism, but to show only the conductor leading thereto, by which term conductor we mean any conduit, runway, or other channel or passage along which the coins pass on their way to the counting devices.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters. Patent, is-

1. A machine of the character described having in combination an asserting mechanism, a tabular surface upon which the coins are assembled in. segregated. groups, and the coin-conductor of a counting-machine communicating with said tabular surface.

2. A machine of the character described having in combination means for assorting coins, a tabular surface communicating with the assorting means for collecting the coins in segregated and exposed groups, and the conductor of a coin-counting machine in open communication with the said surface.

3. A machine of the character described having in combination means for assorting coins, the conductor of a coin-counting machine, and a tabular surface intermediate of the assorter and conductor and communicating with both.

4. A machine of the character described having in combination means for assorting coins, an inclined conductor of a countingmachine, and a tabular surface between the assorting means and conductor and upon which coins are collected in segregated and exposed groups containing coins of the same size said surface having one portion connecting directly with the entrance to the conductor.

5. A machine for handling coins having in combination means for assorting coins, a coinconducting means, and a divided inspectiontable upon which the assorted coins are delivered in segregated groups, said table having a portion in open communication with the entrance to the conductor whereby the coins may be delivered directly thereto.

6. A machine for handling coins having in combination a divided coin-inspection table, a coin-conductor communicating therewith, and a coin assorter having a perforated stepped surface and chutes communicating with the divisions of the table.

7. In a machine for handling coins an inspection table having divisions in which coins are collected in segregated groups, in combination with a gage-bar having its under surface stepped to correspond to the dif ferent thicknesses of coins contained in said divisions. p

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of the subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES S. BATDORF. THOMAS VVALTER- FOXVLER.

WVitnesses as to Charles S. Batdorf:

J. W. BATDORF, N. V. FALLow.

\Vitnesses as to Thomas lValter Fowler:

C. W. FOWLER, HOWELL BARTLE.

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