Patent Application
20070212998
The invention relates generally to devices for processing mixed denominations of coins, that is, devices for sorting or verifying coins.
Banks and other business handle mixed denominations of coins. The coins must be sorted by denomination, and the sorted coins are wrapped or bundled for deposit or later use in cash registers or change machines.
Coin processing machines, such as coin sorters and coin verifiers, have been developed to mechanically process mixed denominations of coins. Coin sorters sort the coins. Coin verifiers verify that sorted coins are made up of only coins of a single denomination. Coin verifiers are often used prior to wrapping or bundling coins discharged from a coin sorter.
My pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/249,067 “High Speed Coin Processing Machine”, filed Jan. 11, 2005 and incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, discloses a high-speed coin processing machine. The machine disclosed in the '067 application drives coins from a hopper to a processing device on one side of the hopper. An endless belt drives coins released from the hopper to the processing device.
Although my high-speed coin processing machine performs reliably to process coins at high speed, it is always desirable to modify the machine to process coins even more efficiently.
The invention is directed to an improved coin processing machine having a number of coin processing devices that operate in parallel to process coins. In one particularly advantageous embodiment, the coin processing machine is of the type disclosed in my '067 application.
A coin processing machine in accordance with the present invention includes a coin feed that supplies at least two streams of coins to respective coin processing devices. The coin processing devices operate in parallel to process coins more efficiently than conventional coin processing machines that employ only a single coin processing device.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention a plurality of belt drives are spaced around the periphery of a turntable that drives coins received from a hopper against an outer peripheral wall. The wall includes a number of discharge openings. Each belt drive is adjacent a respective discharge opening and receives the stream of coins discharged from the opening. The belt drive drives the coins to a respective coin processing device.
The belt drives operate independently of one another and enable coins to be simultaneously fed to multiple coin processing devices to be processed in parallel. Parallel processing improves efficiency of the machine while retaining all the benefits of the single-drive machine disclosed in my '067 application without increasing the speed or size of the turntable.
In one embodiment of the invention the belt drives are located on opposite sides of the hopper. One belt drive feeds coins in a first, clockwise direction to a first coin processing device and the other belt drive feeds coins in a second, counterclockwise direction to a second coin processing device.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying two drawing sheets illustrating one embodiment of the invention.
Hopper 12 has an inlet 22 that deposits coins on a turntable or rotatable disk 24 forming the floor of the hopper 12. The disk 24 is driven in the direction of arrow 26 by an electric motor (not shown). A stationary outer wall 28 extends along the outer periphery of the disk 24 and includes two diametrically-opposite openings 30, 32 where coins are discharged from the hopper. Coins on the disk 24 are urged by centrifugal force against the wall 28 and move along the wall in the direction of disk rotation to be discharged from openings 30, 32.
A singulating plate 34 mounted on the wall 28 extends over the disk 24 at hopper discharge 30 and a similar singulating plate 36 is mounted on wall 28 at hopper discharge 32. Plates 34, 36 are spaced above the disk 24 by a distance less than twice the thickness of the thinnest coin to be processed (a dime if processing US currency). A single-layer stream of coins is discharged from beneath each singulating plate 34, 36 at respective hopper discharges 30, 32 in a direction substantially tangential to the disk 24.
Processing devices 14, 16 share a common stationary plate 38 best seen in
Illustrated coin processing devices 14, 16 are designed to sort denominations of coins by coin diameter. Each device 14, 16 includes a number of coin slots 48 arranged along respective coin path 40, 42 and extending through the thickness of plate 38. The size and arrangement of the slots in the illustrated embodiment are intended to sort U.S. coin denominations. Sensor arrays 50, 52 upstream of the coin slots in respective coin paths 40, 42 electronically sense and count the denominations of the coins moving along the coin path. Operation of sensor arrays 50, 52 are disclosed in the '067 application and so will not be described here.
Belt drive 18 is associated with coin processing device 14 and drives coins discharged from hopper discharge 30 to coin processing device 14. Belt drive 18 defines a coin path 54 that that is substantially tangential to both the hopper disk 24 and circular coin path 40. Belt drive 18 includes an endless flexible belt 56 whose lower belt run is spaced above and extends along the path 54. The belt run engages the coins and drives the coins along path 54. Construction and operation of the belt drive 18 to drive coins from the hopper to coin processing device 14 is described in my '067 application and so will not be repeated here.
Belt drive 20 is like belt drive 18 and is associated with coin processing device 16. Belt drive 20 includes an endless flexible belt 58 like flexible belt 56 that drives coins discharged from hopper discharge 32 to coin processing device 16. The coins are driven along a coin path 60 that is substantially tangential to both the hopper disk 24 and circular coin path 42.
Coin processing device 10 has two coin processing devices 14, 16 that act simultaneously and in parallel, thereby effectively doubling the speed of the coin processing device shown in my '067 application. Operation of coin processing device 10 is as follows.
Hopper disk 24 is rotating at speed and discharges two single-layer streams of coins from respective hopper discharges 30 and 32. Each stream of coins is accelerated by belt drive 18 or belt drive 20 to space the coins apart as they are delivered to the first coin processing device 14 or second coin processing device 16.
Coins moving along coin path 40 or coin path 42 pass sensor array 50 or sensor array 52 respectively, and the denomination of each coin is sensed electronically. The sensor arrays 50, 52 preferably each sends a signal representing the denomination of the coin passing the array to a central processor (not shown) that accumulates the total number of coins and total value of coins passing through each coin processing device 14, 16 and the coin machine 10 as a whole.
The illustrated coin processing devices 14, 16 sort coins by denomination. In other embodiments coin processing devices 14, 16 can be coin verifiers or some other type of coin processing device.
The illustrated coin machine 10 has a hopper having two discharge openings to feed two coin processing devices. In other embodiments of the invention additional discharge openings and respective drives can be provided to feed additional coin processing devices. If necessary the radius of the hopper disk can be increased to provide sufficient room to fit the additional coin processing devices. The rotational speed of the hopper disk may need to be increased to reliably discharge coins from the additional hopper openings, or a different feed arrangement can be used to form the coin streams.
The illustrated embodiment has separate drive motors for turntable 24 and each of drive disks 44, 46. In other embodiments a common motor can drive two or all three of turntable 24 and disks 44, 46. Belt drives 18, 20 also are provided with separate drive motors, but a common motor can be provided to drive both belts 56, 58.
While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that this is capable of modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.
