JPH0468673B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is arranged inside a slot machine, a money changer, a vending machine, etc., and is used to dispense a required number of coins (including coin-like coins such as medals). This invention relates to a hopper type coin dispensing device used for dispensing coins.

(Prior art and its problems) The conventional hopper type coin dispensing device was
As an example is shown in Publication No. 59-81784,
Since the coin guide for moving the coins conveyed by the rotor to the coin dispensing port had a fixed structure, there was a problem in that coins were likely to get caught.

(Object of the Invention) An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art.

(Structure of the Invention) The present invention takes a coin a in a hopper 1 onto a rotor 3 equipped with a plurality of arcuate blades 2, pushes the coin a with the arcuate blades 2, and transports the coin a toward a coin inductor 4. This hopper type coin dispensing device is configured to transfer coins a from the rotor 3 to the coin outlet 5 by means of a coin inductor 4, and has the following characteristic configuration.

The first feature is that the coin inductor 4 has a movable structure to prevent the coin a from getting caught.

The second feature is that the coin a, which was not guided well by the coin inductor 4, is removed by the coin inductor 4.
The coins can be guided toward the coin outlet 5 by a separator 6 placed near the coin outlet 5. However, although coin a may be separated by the separator 6 in the direction of escape, in either case, coin a is prevented from being caught.

The third feature is that the separator 6 is constructed as follows. That is, the separator 6 is constructed by supporting a separate roller 8 on a swing plate 7, and is biased by a spring 9 so as to draw the swing plate 7 toward the rotor 3 so that the separate roller 8 is moved near the outer periphery of the rotor 3. In addition to being positioned at the reference position P, the swing plate 7 is arranged to be swingable and movable in a straight line, so that the separate roller 8 can retreat from the reference position P toward the side opposite to the rotor 3, and the swing plate 7
It is constructed so that it can move left and right in response to vibrations.

(Embodiment) In the illustrated embodiment, 10 is a machine base, 11 is a base, and 12 is a drive mechanism, which includes a motor 12a and a speed reducer 12b.

The base 11 is arranged inclined with respect to the vertical plane as shown in FIG. 2, and has a circular recess 13 for rotatably supporting the rotor 3, and a coin outlet 5 formed on one side thereof. There is. A guide ring 14 is provided within the circular recess 13 and concentric therewith, and a coin guide 4 that retracts from the guide surface 14a of the guide ring 14 is disposed at a predetermined location on the guide ring 14. This coin inductor 4 is the third
As shown in the figure, it is composed of a retractable piece 15 and a spring 16 that urges it upward, and normally the retractable piece 15
protrudes above the guide surface 14a and functions to guide the coin a conveyed by the rotor 3 toward the coin outlet 5.

The coin outlet 5 is formed by cutting out the side of the base 11 and covered with a cover plate 40. Further, a guide piece 41 for guiding the coin a is fixed to the lower edge of the coin outlet 5.

The rotor 3 is rotatably fitted into the circular recess 13 with play. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotor 3 is composed of a disk portion 17 and a blade portion 18, and the disk portion 17 is provided with a ring hole 19 that loosely fits into the guide ring 14. and the disk portion 17
is loosely fitted into the circular recess 13 and the guide ring 14, so that the rotor 3 is attached to the base 1.
It is rotatably supported by 1. On the other hand, five arcuate blades 2 are formed in the blade portion 18, and a coin holding space Q is formed between these arcuate blades 2. Also, on the back side of each arcuate blade 2, there is a third
As shown in the figure, a groove 37 is formed to avoid interference with the projecting element 15.

A perforated disk 20 is fixed to the upper surface of the rotor 3 with screws 38. This perforated disk 20 communicates with the coin holding space Q 5
The coin-taking hole 21 functions to take the coin a in the hopper 1 into the coin holding space Q of the rotor 3 from each coin-taking hole 21. 22 is an agitator projection for stirring coins.

The rotor 3 rotates together with the perforated disk 20 in the clockwise direction in the figure. It is the drive mechanism 12 that rotationally drives the rotor 3, but in order to connect the two, the drive mechanism 12 is attached to the rotor 3.
Engagement holes 24 and 24a that engage with the second drive shaft 23 are provided.

The hopper 1 has a coin storage section 25 and a flange section 2.
6. 42 is an engagement hole provided in the flange portion 26; 43 is an engagement pin provided in the base 11;
Reference numeral 4 denotes positioning pins provided on the base 11, and the hopper 1 is detachably attached to the base 11 using these pins.

4 and 5 near the coin inductor 4.
As shown in the figure, a separator 6 has a swing plate 7 supporting a separate roller 8 and an auxiliary roller 28.
has been set up. The swing plate 7 has a vertically long pivot hole 2.
9, which fits into a fixed pivot 30 provided on the base 11. Further, the swing plate 7 is urged to be drawn toward the rotor 3 by a tension spring 9, and as a result, the separate roller 8 and the auxiliary roller 28 come into contact with the outer peripheral edge 3a of the rotor 3. There is. The position determined in this manner, that is, the position shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is the reference position P of the separator 6 and, in turn, the separation roller 8. Since the hole 29 is formed as a vertically elongated hole, the swing plate 7 can swing relative to the pivot shaft 30 and can move in a straight line. Therefore, the separate roller 8 can retreat from the reference position P toward the side opposite to the rotor 3 and can also move left and right as the rocking plate 7 swings.

In this embodiment, when the separate roller 8 is at the reference position P, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,
It is configured such that a line N connecting the center S of the roller 3 and the pivot shaft 30 and a center line M of the pivot hole 29 substantially coincide with each other. At this time, the separate roller 8 is located on the left side of the line N, and the auxiliary roller 28 is located on the right side.

A counter lever 31 is pivotally supported on the swing plate 7, and a counter roller 32 is attached to one end of the counter lever 31, while the other end 33 is attached to the cover plate 40.
It is arranged so as to cross a counter sensor 34 such as a photocoupler attached to the base 11 via the counter. In this embodiment, the counter lever 31
The separate roller 8 is supported by a shaft 35 that pivots thereon. The counter lever 3
1 is held by the return spring 36 at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. As a result of the detection of the passing of coin a, the number of passing coins a is counted.

Next, the operation of the coin dispensing device having the above configuration will be explained.

The rotor 3 and the perforated disk 20 are the drive mechanism 1
When rotated clockwise in the figure by 2,
The coin a in the hopper 1 is taken into the coin holding space Q of the rotor 3 through the coin taking hole 21.

The coin a in the coin holding space Q is pushed forward by the arcuate blades 2 and conveyed toward the coin guide 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the coin a comes into contact with the coin inductor 4, its direction is changed and the coin a is guided toward the coin outlet 5. When coin a passes through coin outlet 5,
As described above, the number of passing sheets is counted by swinging the counter lever 31. The inductor 4 has a movable structure, and in this embodiment, the retractable element 15 is urged upward by a spring 16 to move up and down. Among the coins a that have come, the coin a that takes an abnormal posture (the probability of that happening is low) sinks the recess 15 below the guide surface 14a of the guide ring 14, and tries not to pass over the coin guide 4 as it is. . Further, when there is no coin a in the coin holding space Q, the coin a that flies in from the coin receiving hole 21 may be in a similar state. In the conventional example, there was a problem in which such a coin a butts against the fixed coin inductor (clamping), but in the present invention, the coin inductor 4 has a movable structure.
This problem can be solved.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the coin a, which has not been guided toward the coin outlet 5 by the coin guide 4, comes into contact with the separation roller 8 of the separator 6. Most of the coins a in this state are guided to the coin delivery port 5 by the action of the separation roller 8, as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the separate roller 8 contacts the outer peripheral edge 3a of the rotor 3 and rotates at high speed, so that the coin a can be guided to the coin outlet 5 more smoothly.

In Fig. 6, although the probability is extremely low, the center T of coin a is on the line L connecting the center of curvature V of the arcuate blade 2 and the center W of the separate roller 8, and a collision between the three parties occurs. shows a case where this is a problem. In the case of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the swing plate 7 moves straight toward the side opposite to the rotor 3 against the spring 9 urging it, and the separate roller 8 retreats toward the side opposite to the rotor 3. At the same time, as the swing plate 7 swings in the direction of the arrow, the separate roller 8 swings in the direction of the arrow, so that the above-mentioned jamming is prevented and the coin a is guided toward the coin outlet 5. Further, in this embodiment, the axis 30 is located at E with respect to the line L.
Since it is in an eccentric position, the swing plate 7 is configured to automatically swing in the direction of the arrow in response to the pushing pressure of the coin a, and the majority of the coin a is in the state shown in FIG. can be guided toward the coin outlet 5.

There are rare cases where the coin a is swung to the right from the state shown in FIG. The coin a is guided again to the coin holding space Q of the rotor 3 by the action of the auxiliary roller 28 (escape action), thereby preventing the problem of jamming.

The present invention can be configured in various ways other than those shown in the above embodiments. For example, the coin inductor 4 may have a movable structure composed of a rotating body. Furthermore, the form of the separator 6 is not limited to that shown in the above embodiments; for example, the form of the separator 6 is
8 may be used. Furthermore, it is also possible to configure the spring 9 that biases the rocking plate 7 with a torsion spring.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to achieve the effect of reliably solving the problem of coins getting stuck, as detailed in the description of the embodiments.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is an exploded perspective view showing the component parts, FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main parts, and FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 show the rotor, separator, and FIG. 3 is a front view showing the relationship between coins. 1... hopper, 2... arcuate blade, 3... rotor, 4... coin inductor, 5... coin delivery port,
6... Separator, 7... Rocking plate, 8... Separate roller, 9... Spring, 28... Auxiliary roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A coin in a hopper is taken onto a rotor equipped with a plurality of arcuate blades, the coin is pushed forward by the arcuate blades and conveyed toward a coin inductor, and the coin is transported by the coin inductor. In the hopper type coin dispensing device configured to transfer coins from the rotor to the coin delivery port, the coin inductor has a movable structure, and a separate roller is supported on a swing plate near the coin inductor. arranging a separator, biasing the rocking plate with a spring so as to draw it toward the rotor, and positioning the separation roller at a reference position near the outer periphery of the rotor;
The rocking plate is arranged to be swingable and linearly movable, and the separate roller can retreat from the reference position toward the side opposite to the rotor, and can also move left and right as the rocking plate vibrates. Features a hopper type coin dispensing device. 2. A hopper type coin dispensing device in which the rocking plate according to claim 1 supports an auxiliary roller located on the front side of the separate roller in the rotor rotation direction.