Methods for coin sorting, coin change mechanism, and public telephone operable therewith

A public telephone operable to receive coins from a first coin set as a fee for a connection, comprising:

• a coin-changer portion that receives coins from the first coin set and is operable to return to a user a portion of the received coins, the coin changer comprising:
• a trigate movable to a first, a second and a third position, wherein, in the first position, the trigate delivers a received coin to a return chute;
• a first mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin of a first denomination from the first coin set when the trigate is in the second position, wherein the first mechanical coin sorter separates received coins having different denominations;
• a second mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin of a second denomination from the first coin set when the trigate is in the third position;
• a first coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that receives the temporarily stored coins and individually routes each coin to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return under the control of a processor;
• and,
• a shuttle that delivers the temporarily stored coins to the collect/return manifold.

A coin mechanism comprising:

• a coin-discrimination portion for determining acceptability of received coins and denomination of acceptable coins, wherein acceptable coins belong to a first coin set;
• a coin-changer portion that receives acceptable coins from the coin-discrimination portion and is operable to return a portion of received acceptable coins, the coin changer comprising:
• a first mechanical coin sorter that separates received coins belonging to the first coin set having different denominations;
• a first coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that receives the temporarily stored coins and individually routes each coin to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return according to a determined disposition;
• and
• a processor to determine the disposition of each coin.

A coin changer suitable for use in a public telephone, the coin changer comprising:

• a trigate positionable in a first, second and third position;
• a first mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin of a first denomination belonging to a first coin set when the trigate is in the second position, the sorter operable to segregate coins delivered thereto by denomination;
• a second mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin of a second denomination belonging to the first coin set when the trigate is in the third position;
• a first escrow hopper comprising one receiver for each coin denomination segregated by the first mechanical coin sorter, wherein each receiver provides temporary storage for denominationally-segregated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that is operable, under the action of a processor, to individually route each coin delivered thereto to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return, and
• a shuttle physically adapted to receive coins from each receiver and to deliver such coins to the collect/return manifold.

A method for providing change in a public telephone, comprising the steps of:

• delivering acceptable coins from a first coin set having a plurality of different denominations to a mechanical sorter;
• sorting the coins by denomination with a first mechanical sorter;
• storing, the denominationally-sorted coins in receivers, one denomination in each receiver;
• determining a disposition for each denominationally-sorted coin, the disposition being one of either routing the coin to a coin return or routing the coin to a coin-collection reservoir;
• and
• routing each coin, individually, in accordance with the determined disposition.

A public telephone wherein a fee for a connection for a specified period of time is payable with an amount of coins from a first coin set having a plurality of different denominations of coins, comprising:

• a coin mechanism having a coin-discrimination portion for determining coin acceptability, and a coin-changer portion that receives acceptable coins from the coin-discrimination portion and is operable to return a portion of the amount of coins if the connection is not maintained for the specified period, the coin changer comprising:
• a first mechanical coin sorter that separates coins from the first coin set having different denominations;
• a first coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins;
• and
• a collect/return manifold that receives the temporarily stored coins and individually routes each coin to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return according to a determined disposition;
• the public telephone further comprising an appropriately-programmed general-purpose processor to determine the disposition of each coin.

A public telephone wherein a fee for a connection for a specified period of time is payable with an amount of coins from a first coin set, comprising:

• a coin mechanism having a coin-discrimination portion for determining coin acceptability, and a coin-changer portion that receives acceptable coins from the coin-discrimination portion and is operable to return a portion of the amount of coins if the connection is not maintained for the specified period, the coin changer comprising:
• a first mechanical coin sorter that separates coins from the first coin set having different denominations;
• a first coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that receives the temporarily stored coins and individually routes each coin to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return according to a determined disposition;
• a mechanism for routing a discriminated coin to one of three locations;
• and
• a second mechanical coin sorter that separates coins from a second coin set having different denominations, and a second coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins from the second coin set.

A public telephone operable to receive coins from a first coin set as a fee for a connection, comprising:

• a coin-changer portion that receives coins from the first coin set and is operable to return to a user a portion of the received coins, the coin changer comprising:
• a trigate movable to a first, second and a third position, wherein, in the first position, the trigate delivers a received coin to a return chute;
• a first mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin from the first coin set when the trigate is in the second position, wherein the first mechanical coin sorter separates received coins having different denominations;
• a first coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that receives the temporarily stored coins and individually routes each coin to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return under the control of a processor;
• a shuttle that delivers the temporarily stored coins to the collect/return manifold;
• and
• a second mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin from a second coin set when the trigate is in the third position, wherein the second mechanical sorter separates received coins having different denominations.

A coin mechanism comprising:

• a coin-discrimination portion for determining acceptability of received coins and denomination of acceptable coins, wherein acceptable coins belong to a first coin set;
• a coin-changer portion that receives acceptable coins from the coin-discrimination portion, is operable to return a portion of received acceptable coins, and is operable to determine the denomination of coins belonging to a second coin set, wherein, received coins belonging to the second set are considered to be acceptable by the coin-discrimination portion, the coin changer comprising:
• a first mechanical coin sorter that separates received coins belonging to the first coin set having different denominations;
• a first coin-escrow hopper that temporarily stores the separated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that receives the temporarily stored coins and individually routes each coin to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return according to a determined disposition;
• a second mechanical coin sorter that separates received coins belonging to the second coin set having different denominations;
• and
• at least one device that is operable to direct a non-acceptable coin to the coin return to direct a coin belonging to the first coin set to the first mechanical coin sorter, and to direct a coin belonging to the second coin set to the second mechanical sorter.

A coin changer suitable for use in a public telephone, the coin changer comprising:

• a trigate positionable in a first, second and third position;
• a first mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin belonging to a first coin set when the trigate is in the second position, the sorter operable to segregate coins delivered thereto by denomination;
• a first escrow hopper comprising one receiver for each coin denomination segregated by the first mechanical coin sorter, wherein each receiver provides temporary storage for denominationally-segregated coins;
• a collect/return manifold that is operable, under the action of a processor, to individually route each coin delivered thereto to one of either a coin-collection reservoir or a coin return, and
• a shuttle physically adapted to receive coins from each receiver and to deliver such coins to the collect/return manifold;
• a second mechanical coin sorter that receives a coin from a second coin set when the trigate is in the third position, the sorter operable to segregate coins delivered thereto by denomination;
• and
• a second escrow hopper comprising one receiver for each coin denomination segregated by the second mechanical coin sorter, wherein each receiver provides temporary storage for denominationally-segregated coins.

A method for providing change in a public telephone, comprising the steps of:

• delivering coins to a mechanical sorter;
• sorting the coins by denomination, wherein, the step of sorting further comprises:
• sorting up to three different denominations of coins in the mechanical sorter;
• and
• the step of delivering further comprises delivered up to three coins at a time to three steering vanes, one coin to each steering vane;
• storing, the denominationally-sorted coins in receivers, one denomination in each receiver;
• determining a disposition for each denominationally-sorted coin, the disposition being one of either routing the coin to a coin return or routing the coin to a coin-collection reservoir;
• and
• routing each coin, individually, in accordance with the determined disposition, wherein the step of routing further comprises:
• delivering coins from the receivers to a plurality of steering vanes, each steering vane operable to route a coin to a coin-collect channel leading to the coin-collection reservoir, and a coin-return channel leading to the coin return, one coin at a time to one channel at a time;
• and
• individually routing the coins in accordance with the determined disposition using the steering vanes.