GB1319126A - Coin impeller - Google Patents

Abstract

1319126 Testing coins MARS Inc 8 Sept 1970 [16 Sept 1969] 43014/70 Heading G4V A coin passes through an arrester and arrives at an impeller 80 where it serves as the armature of a linear motor whose four coils 82, 84, 86, 88 are energized in an out of phase relationship, to produce a travelling magnetic field, by the use of A.C., alternate windings, and parallel circuits one of which comprises a capacitor 104. An electromagnet 106 and a weak permanent magnet 108 retard the coin which passes to a discriminator 20 where the trajectory of the coin is examined. As shown a start control 26 energizes the electromagnet 106 and impeller 80 for a prescribed time interval upon the arrival of a coin at a sensor adjacent the impeller. Any ferro-magnetic coins will be held by the impeller 80 when magnetized and will later pass under residual magnetism to the weak magnet 108 which provides sufficient retardation to cause the discriminator 20 to reject the coin. A coin support 12 may be formed with a slope of up to 5 degrees so that non-magnetic coins may roll through the apparatus at a velocity causing them to be rejected by the discriminator 20. Instead of a linear motor, a rotor fitted with electromagnets and rotated after activation of the start control may form the impeller. In a further embodiment, Fig. 1 (not shown), a rotor (16) fitted with three permanent C-shaped magnets impels the coin and a permanent magnet (18) causes retardation. In this latter embodiment or in the former embodiments, if the electromagnets are permanently energized, a scavenger (15) preferably extracts ferro-magnetic coins before they reach the impeller, and the weak magnet 108 may then be dispensed with.