Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F9/00—Details other than those peculiar to special kinds or types of apparatus
  • G07F9/10—Casings or parts thereof, e.g. with means for heating or cooling
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07D—HANDLING OF COINS OR VALUABLE PAPERS, e.g. TESTING, SORTING BY DENOMINATIONS, COUNTING, DISPENSING, CHANGING OR DEPOSITING
  • G07D11/00—Devices accepting coins; Devices accepting, dispensing, sorting or counting valuable papers
  • G07D11/10—Mechanical details
  • G07D11/12—Containers for valuable papers
  • G07D11/125—Secure containers
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F1/00—Coin inlet arrangements; Coins specially adapted to operate coin-freed mechanisms
  • G07F1/04—Coin chutes
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F9/00—Details other than those peculiar to special kinds or types of apparatus
  • G07F9/06—Coin boxes
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S193/00—Conveyors, chutes, skids, guides, and ways
  • Y10S193/01—Coin chute

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an apparatus triggered by coins and used to deliver products or services, such as, for example, parking meters or public telephones.
• the present invention relates more particularly to the protection against theft of the parts stored in such devices.
• a coin-operated device includes a collection mechanism authorizing the delivery of a service or product in return for the payment of a corresponding sum in coins.
• a mechanism includes a whole path for the pieces which move essentially by gravity between an inlet, formed by the orifice for introducing the pieces and two outlets, in the low position, arranged below said inlet, namely a bowl of returned unused or unfit coins and a cassette or chest for cashed coins. Between the entry and the exits are arranged means of authentication of the coins introduced and means of pre-collection carrying out the temporary storage of the validated coins.
• such an apparatus comprises two separate compartments closed by separate doors, a first compartment in which is housed the various mechanisms serving for the operation of the apparatus and in particular the means of authentication and pre-collection of coins and a second compartment, more secure than the first, where the cassette is placed.
• the present invention aims to limit such fraud.
• the coin-operated apparatus for delivering services and / or products according to the invention comprises a coin collecting device, a coin storage cassette and a downflow passage ensuring the transfer of coins from the collecting device towards the cassette.
• the coin operated device is characterized in that the lowering passage for the parts cooperates with a shutter device comprising a movable hatch between an open position and a closed position of the passage, this device cooperating with means control capable of triggering the sudden movement of the hatch in its closed position in the event of disassembly of at least part of the cashing device.
• the shutter device comprises a ratchet locking device, this locking device being adapted to block the hatch in its closed position for the passage for the descent of the parts.
• the cashing device is housed in a first compartment and the cassette is housed in a second compartment, these compartments being separated by a wall crossed by a channel forming a passage lowering parts.
• the shutter device is housed in the second compartment.
• the ratchet locking device cooperates with a manual unlocking mechanism housed in the second compartment.
• this release mechanism comprises an operating handle extending at the rear of the cassette.
• the hatch is carried by an arm mounted to rotate at an axial end while the other axial end carries abutment surfaces intended to cooperate with the locking device to pawl, the arm cooperating with elastic return means forcing the hatch into its closed position.
• the hatch is kept in the open position against the antagonistic action of the elastic return means by the presence of the control means, the withdrawal of these control means causing the sudden movement of the hatch in the closed position.
• control means triggering the tilting of the hatch in its closed position are formed by a finger carried by the lower part of the cashing device facing the channel down, this finger being adapted to enter the channel when said lower part of the device collection is in position in its compartment, so as to prohibit the movement of the hatch in its closed position.
• the shutter device is mounted on a support structure surmounting the cassette.
• Figure 1 is a partial schematic perspective view of a piece-triggered device according to the invention
• Figure 2 is a top view of the shutter device shown in Figure 1, the shutter being in the "closed” position
• Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, the shutter being in the "open” position
• FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the supporting structure of the closure device shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
• FIG. 1 there is shown a coin apparatus provided, in general, to provide a product or service in exchange for payment of a corresponding sum of money, payment made by means of coins.
• a coin apparatus provided, in general, to provide a product or service in exchange for payment of a corresponding sum of money, payment made by means of coins.
• Such a device can for example be a public telephone, a vending machine for drinks or a vending machine for tickets.
• the device referenced 1 is a parking meter intended for the payment of parking spaces.
• This parking meter 1 has two separate compartments, respectively 2 and 3, arranged one above the other. According to the embodiment shown in Figure 1, each compartment is accessible by means of a corresponding access door, closed by an appropriate lock.
• the upper compartment 2 houses all of the mechanisms necessary for the operation of the parking meter. These various means are known in themselves and therefore do not require a more complete description. Compartment 2 also houses the coin collecting device 4.
• the collection device 4 essentially consists of a currency selector 41 and a pre-collection system 42.
• the currency selector also called CNM (acronym for Coin Validating Mechanism), has an orifice 43 for introducing the coins arranged in the upper part, its role is to determine the authenticity of the coins.
• This CVM 41 for example capable of recognizing the electromagnetic signatures of circulating coins of the type described in document EP203702, has two outlet orifices for the coins. A first exit where non-conforming or foreign currency coins are directed and a second exit for authentic coins.
• the first outlet is positioned vertically through an evacuation passage transferring the pieces by gravity to a rendering compartment, not shown, formed in the lower part of the cashing device, to which the user can access by means of a tilting shutter.
• the pieces judged to be authentic by the CVM 41 fall into a conduit which directs them to the pre-collection device extending under the CVM.
• the CVM determines the value of each of the pieces passing through it and sends this information in the form of a digital or analog signal to a control device formed by a microcontroller, not shown, comprising in a known manner a central processing unit CPU, a RAM, ROM and EEPROM, analog-to-digital converters and various input and output interfaces.
• a microcontroller not shown, comprising in a known manner a central processing unit CPU, a RAM, ROM and EEPROM, analog-to-digital converters and various input and output interfaces.
• the parking meter 1 issues a parking ticket for a period corresponding to the amount paid and collects the amount due. The coins are then transferred from the pre-collection system 42 to the compartment 3 for storage.
• the lower compartment 3 which is a secure compartment in particular in that it has reinforced walls, is used to house a cassette 5 in which the collected parts are stored while waiting to be collected.
• the cassette 5 has an upper wall provided with an opening 6 for introducing the parts. This opening 6 is intended to be positioned under a channel 7 for lowering the pieces coming from the cashing device 4.
• the channel 7 crosses the wall 9 separating the two compartments 2 and 3 and opens into the upper compartment 2 at the outlet of the collecting device 4.
• the wall 9 has a corresponding orifice.
• the outlet zone of the channel 7 opening into the secure compartment 3, above the cassette 5, cooperates with a shutter device 8 mounted on a support structure 10 which is housed in the secure compartment 3.
• the mounting of the shutter device 8 on a specific support structure 10 is not limiting of the present invention, the shutter device being able to be fixed for example directly on the wall 9.
• This supporting structure 10 detailed in Figure 4 is intended to substantially match the internal walls of the secure compartment 3 and come to create a false ceiling inside which is housed the shutter device.
• the shutter device 8 On the upper face of the wall 13, facing the wall 9, is fixed the shutter device 8 as well as the channel 7 for the descent of the parts which protrudes above said wall 13 to which it is fixed for example by welding.
• the wall 13 has an orifice for the passage of the parts in the extension of the channel 7, an orifice which comes to face the opening 6 for introducing the parts of the cassette 5 when the latter is in place in said obviously parallelepiped.
• the side walls defining the channel 7 have a slot 14 intended for the passage of a shutter hatch as will be detailed below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
• the shutter device 8 shown in Figures 2 and 3 essentially comprises a flattened arm 80 rotatably mounted at one end about an axis extending perpendicular to the wall 13.
• This arm obtained by cutting a thick metal plate appropriate, includes two extensions.
• a first extension 82 forming a hatch is more particularly shaped to penetrate the slot 14 and close off the interior passage of said channel 7 and a second extension 83 forming a crenellated stop intended to cooperate with a ratchet mechanism 85.
• the arm 80 is therefore able to be rotated against the upper surface of the wall 13.
• a return spring 81 however tends to bring the arm 80 against the channel 7, the hatch 82 then coming into the slot 14 to close the passage inside said channel.
• the pre-collection device 42 includes a locking finger
• the arm 80 is kept locked in this blocking position of the channel 7 thanks to a ratchet mechanism 85 which exerts its action against the crenellated stop end 83 of said arm 80.
• This ratchet mechanism 85 being inaccessible from compartment 2 , it follows that the arm 80 can not be moved regardless of the forces exerted on it from the upper compartment 2.
• the end 83 have several abutment surfaces allowing the blocking of the arm 80 at different stages of closure and not not only when the hatch 82 completely closes the internal passage of the channel 7 and this, so as to further increase security vis-à-vis any fraudster.
• This ratchet system 85 plays the role of a non-return device allowing movement of the arm 80 only in one direction, namely that of closing the channel 7.
• the ratchet mechanism 85 is formed by a metal part made up of two flat arms 87 and 88 joined in V. This part, positioned in the vicinity of the free end 83 of arm 80 when the latter is in the "closed” position, is rotatably mounted in its middle part around an axis extending perpendicular to the wall 13. A return spring 89 tends to rotate the part so that the arm 88 is located behind the arm 80, in contact with the crenellated abutment surface carried by the end 83 of the arm 80.
• a reset rod 15 rotatably mounted along one of the side walls of the support structure 10, in this case the wall 12.
• This rod 15 comprises a rod having two end parts folded substantially at right angles. A lower end forming an operating handle 16 extending inside said parallelepipedal recess and a second control end 17 opening out above the wall 13, substantially above the ratchet mechanism 85 and the free end 83 of the arm 80. In the rest position when the shutter device is in its "open" position in FIG. 2, the handle extends at the rear of the cassette 5.
• the control end 17 of the rod pivots in the same way and then comes to bear first against a pin 86 projecting by the arm 87 of the ratchet mechanism 85.
• the action of the end of the rod 17 on the pin 86 has the effect of rotating the arm 87 and therefore the arm 88 which is integral with it, against the antagonistic action of the spring 89.
• This rotation of the arm 88 is exerted clockwise and tends to move the arm 88 away from the crenellated abutment surface of the extension 83 at the end of arm 80, which is unlocked and can therefore be moved.
• the channel 7 being free, it is then possible to reposition the collecting device and to insert the finger 40 into the channel 7 up to the slot 14.
• the locking finger being in the position partially closing the slot 14, it is possible to return the rod in the opposite direction to its initial rest position.
• the arm 80 then rests in its "open” position, the hatch 82 abuts against the finger 40 under the action of the spring 81.
• the finger 40 can be elastically retractable, which makes it possible to replace the pre-collection device 42 even when the hatch 82 closes the channel 7 in line with the opening 14.
• the channel 7 may not be integral with the wall 13, but be fixed directly to the separating wall 9.

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Control Of Vending Devices And Auxiliary Devices For Vending Devices (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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ID=8857170

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (21)

Family Cites Families (17)

• 2000
  • 2000-11-30 FR FR0015633A patent/FR2817377B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2001
  • 2001-11-22 AU AU1420802A patent/AU1420802A/xx not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-11-28 US US10/432,297 patent/US7604107B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2001-11-28 EP EP01982667A patent/EP1340202A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-11-28 WO PCT/IB2001/002216 patent/WO2002045036A1/fr not_active Ceased

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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