Coin dispensing apparatus
AssigneeMars, Incorporated
InventorKim Thomas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A changegiver having: an acceptor for accepting coins for payment; a number of coin stores each for storing coins; a control circuit; a dispense outlet; and a dispenser for dispensing coins from the stores into the dispense outlet, under control of the control circuit, in which, in a single payout operation involving the payout of multiple coins, the control circuit is arranged to pay out a first number of coins, and to pause until the occurrence of a predetermined condition before paying out a second number of coins. The first number may be sufficient to occupy a substantial portion of the payout tray but not to overfill it. The predetermined condition may be the elapsing of a predetermined time, or the entry of a predetermined command.
Claims17
A coin payout apparatus comprising a plurality of coin stores each for storing a plurality of coins, a control circuit, and a dispenser for dispensing a predetermined quantity of coins from the stores into a payout receptacle, under control of the control circuit, in which the control circuit is arranged to pay out a portion of said quantity of coins sufficient to occupy a substantial portion of the payout receptacle but not to overfill it;
- to delay paying out further coins until the occurrence of a predetermined condition;
- and to continue paying out further coins after the occurrence of the predetermined condition.
A method of dispensing a plurality of coins comprising the steps of:
- testing whether further dispensing would overfill a payout receptacle;
- if so, reducing the rate of dispensing coins for a period sufficient to allow emptying of the payout receptacle;
- and then;
- if necessary, paying out any remaining coins to be dispensed.
A changegiver comprising:
- means for accepting payment;
- a plurality of coin stores each for storing a plurality of coins;
- a control circuit;
- a dispense outlet;
- and
- a dispenser for dispensing coins from the stores into the dispense outlet, under control of the control circuit in which, in a single payout operation involving the payout of a predetermined quantity of coins, the control circuit is arranged to pay out a first plurality of coins, and to delay paying out a second plurality of coins until the occurrence of a predetermined condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.