Coin escrow mechanism
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorSteven M. Faes
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A coin escrow apparatus for use with a pay telephone includes a frame defining accept and reject coin paths, and including a toggle mechanism for the temporary storage of coins independent of coin size and thickness, a coin accept gate mechanism, a coin release gate mechanism that allows coins to be either refunded or cashed out, a cash and/or refund gate mechanism, a coin reject path, a foreign object return path, and a coin deposit path. The toggle mechanism includes pairs of toggles that pivot to selectively block the coin accept path.
Claims13
A coin escrow apparatus for processing at least one coin in a coin operated machine, comprising:
- at least one frame having an accepted coin path defined thereon, said accepted coin path having at least one coin storage area;
- and
- a toggle mechanism having at least one lower toggle and at least one upper toggle each pivotally coupled to said frame and each associated with one of said coin storage areas, said lower toggle pivotal upon contact with the coin, said upper toggle cooperating with and pivotal in response to pivoting of said lower toggle to block passage of the coin along said accepted coin path, wherein the coin is retained in said coin storage area.
A coin escrow apparatus for processing at least one coin in a coin operated machine, said apparatus comprising;
- a toggle mechanism having at least one pair of cooperating toggles, each pair of toggles comprising at least one lower toggle and at least one upper toggle;
- wherein each lower toggle is mounted along a coin path for movement from a lower toggle first position to a lower toggle position second position, said lower toggle comprising an arm for contacting one of the coins traversing said coin path, wherein said contact between said arm and the coin moves said lower toggle from said first position to said second position;
- and
- wherein each upper toggle cooperates with said lower toggle and is movable between an upper toggle first position and an upper toggle second position, wherein said upper toggle moves from said upper toggle first position to said upper toggle second position in response to movement of said lower toggle from said lower toggle first position to said lower toggle second position, and wherein a portion of said upper toggle blocks said coin path when said upper toggle is in said second position.
A method of retaining a plurality of coins in escrow and sequentially releasing the plurality of coins, said method comprising:
- receiving the coins and directing the coins in series along a coin path;
- storing the coins in a series of coin storage areas along said coin path, each said coin storage area having at least one toggle mechanism adapted to retain at least one of the coins;
- and
- sequentially advancing each of the coins through each of said coin storage areas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.