GB423298A - Improvements in apparatus for testing metal coins, tokens, or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

423,298. Testing coins ; magnetic separators. LYTTLE, R. J., 53A, Park Avenue, Ashfield, near Sydney, Australia. Oct. 1, 1934, No. 28060. [Class 27] [See also Group II] A coin-testing apparatus comprises a casing 1, Fig. 1, containing an electromagnet 2, Fig. 4, having a primary winding 3 connected to a source of alternating or interrupted current, and a secondary winding 5, the coils of which are wound so that the induced current in one coil is opposed to that in the other. In the circuit of the coils 5 is a measuring instrument, such as a milli-ammeter, which is calibrated by placing genuine coins 17 in proximity to one pole of the magnet 2 and obtaining the marks 10 on a dial 8 to which a pointer 11 reaches, when a switch 24 is closed. The circuit is adjusted or tuned, so that the pointer remains at zero in the absence of a coin, by sliding the coil 5 or by a soft iron member 12, a fine tuning being obtained by an iron member 14 having an adjusting screw 15. To test a coin, the switch 24 is closed and an armature 20 having two pins is attracted into a shoot 18 in which the coin is inserted. The coin rests on the pins in proximity to one of the magnet poles and the position of the pointer on the dial 8 is observed. If the coin is not genuine the pointer will not reach the proper mark 10 for that denomination of coin. When the switch 24 is opened, the coin drops down to the operator. When a very delicate instrument 7 is used, a rectifier is provided in the circuit 5. For automatically separating genuine from spurious coins subjected to the test, the coins 17 roll from a hopper 30, Fig. 7, under a rotating wheel 35 which prevents jamming, to a vertical shoot 36 where they are received in pockets of a rotating wheel 37. While in the pockets, the inductance test is applied and if the coin is spurious it passes through a branch shoot 42 to a receptacle 58. If the coin is genuine the entrance to the shoot 42 is blocked by a rocking member 45 and the coin passes down a shoot 60 from which it is passed by a wheel 61 to a receptacle 69, each coin in its passage rocking an arm 65 and through a link 68 actuating a counter. The wheels 35, 37, 61 are driven by an electric motor 71, Fig. 11. When the coin is genuine, the pointer 11 reaches a contact 55 on the dial 8 and closes the circuit of a relay 53, thereby closing at 52 the circuit of an electromagnet 48. The consequent movements of its armature 47 rocks, through a link 49, the member 45 and causes an abutment 44 thereon to close the branch shoot 42. The armature 47 also closes a contact 74 and cuts out a resistance 72 in the circuit of the motor 71 so that the wheels 35, 37, 61 are driven at a greater speed, and enable genuine coins to be dealt with expeditiously. The sides 38, 63 of the shoots 36, 60 are resilient to prevent jamming.