EMPLOYING SAME The present invention relates to coin transporting apparatus and to coin validation apparatus employing such coin transporting apparatus.

Coin transporting apparatus can be used in many different situations. For example to transport coins for the purpose of counting the total value of a quantity of coins or to split a quantity of coins into preset batch values. Such apparatus can also be used where there is a quantity of coins of mixed denominations to be sorted into quantities of the same denomination for putting into coin bags or the like and/or to transport the coins to a sensing station in order to respectively determine the presence of non-legal tender, for example foreign coins or tokens. The aforementioned can be combined in one apparatus.

Known coin transporting apparatus use a rotary wheel having a series of indentations in the edge thereof to collect a coin and transport the coin stepwise to a suitable sensing/validation/counting station by means of rotation of the wheel. Another known apparatus has the coins provided on a plane the coins being guided by a blade or the like to an outlet where each coin is individually split off for sensing/validation/counting. By use of different blades, an element of preliminary sorting can optionally be introduced.

One of the problems with the aforementioned apparatus is that the throughput of coins is relatively slow. Whilst it is possible to speed up the movement of the coins, the possibility of jamming or incorrect or incomplete location of the coins limits the speed of movement of the coins.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, coin transporting apparatus comprises conveying means for conveying coins along a transport path, the conveying means including mechanical locating means for locating a coin on the conveying means; whereby coins correctly located by the mechanical locating means are held

against the conveying means under an applied force, the orientation of the conveying means being such that in the absence of sufficient applied force the coin will drop away during movement along the transport path. Preferably, the transport path extends vertically or in a direction with a vertical component such that coins not held on the conveying means will drop away during movement along the transport path.

We have devised a new type of coin transporting apparatus in which coins are conveyed along a transport path while being held in place by a combination of the mechanical locating means and an applied force.

The use of a combination of an applied force and mechanical locating means provides the advantage that the coin can be held in position by an applied force smaller than that required to support the entire weight of the coin. Incorrectly located coins or coins which lie on top of other coins, are removed from the transport path by virtue of the orientation of the transport path in a vertical direction or in a direction with a vertical component.

The applied force could be a component of gravitational force if the conveying means is suitably orientated to the vertical. In this case wiper means are preferably provided to assist in the removal of incorrectly located coins.

In the preferred arrangement, the apparatus further comprises suction means for generating the applied force.

In some cases, for example where the transport path extends vertically, means could be provided to dislodge incorrectly located coins, for example by vibrating the conveying means. However, preferably, the transport path extends in a direction with a vertical component at an acute angle to the vertical such that incorrectly located coins simply drop off the conveying means. The acute angle is typically less than or or equal to 10° although with a strong enough suction larger angles could be used.

In an extreme case coins could be held on the underside of a horizontally moving belt.

The conveying means could be provided by a stationary plate having grooves through which the mechanical locating means project and the suction means including apertures in the stationary plate, and wherein coins are conveyed along the transport path by movement of the mechanical locating means.

Preferably, however, the conveying means includes an endless belt entrained around rollers, the belt carrying one or more sets of mechanical locating means, each set associate with an aperture for communicating suction through the belt. This provides a more simple arrangement which is robust and less liable to jam. Typically, sets of mechanical locating means will be provided spaced apart along the conveying means in the direction of the transport path and most preferably the transport path will define a number of parallel subsidiary paths laterally spaced apart across the conveying means, each having sets of mechanical locating means spaced apart in the transport direction. Typically, in this case, mechanical locating means in adjacent subsidiary transport paths will be relatively offset in the transport direction.

The mechanical locating means can take variety of forms and for example may comprise a number of projecting studs arranged in a U-or V-shape. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the mechanical locating means comprises a pair of flanges arranged in a V-shape. Where the conveying means comprises a belt, the mechanical locating means may be formed integrally with the belt, for example pressed out of a metal, eg. steel, belt. In other examples, the mechanical locating means may comprise recesses in the belt.

Typically, the apparatus will further comprise a coin supply system for supplying coins to the conveying means. This coin supply apparatus may take any conventional form, for example a hopper.

In order to improve the manner in which coins are supplied to the conveying means, and where the conveying means comprises an endless belt entrained around rollers, a lower roller is preferably provided having a number of discs laterally spaced apart by an amount sufficient to accomodate the largest dimension of coin which is to be processed and in alignment with the sets, or a respective group of sets in the transport direction, of the mechanical locating means. With this arrangement, coins can be fed very efficiently onto the conveying means. However, due to the angular orientation of the conveying means, any coins which are incorrectly fed will drop back towards the lower roller and be fed again towards the conveying means.

An important application of the invention is in coin discriminating apparatus in accordance with a second aspect of the invention which comprises coin transporting apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, and coin discriminating means for discriminating coins transported by the conveying means along the transport path.

The coin discriminating means can be of any conventional form for determining the characteristics of coin, for example its denomination.

In a very simple case, the coin discriminating apparatus can just provide an identification of the coin but preferably the apparatus further comprises a coin sorting means for removing a coin from the conveying means and supplying it to a predetermined location in dependence upon the discrimination of that coin by the coin discriminating means.

The coin sorting means preferably comprises one or more pusher members which can be selectively actuated to push a coin off the conveying means towards the predetermined location. Most conveniently, where the conveying means includes apertures for communicating suction, the or each pusher member is actuated in use to extend through the appropriate

aperture. In other cases, where the conveying means comprises a belt, the pusher member may simply be applied to the belt behind the coin, the belt flexing to dislodge the coin. The pusher member itself can be of any convenient form but in a preferred example has a spring at its leading end which provides a cushioning function.

The pusher member could be actuated in a number of ways but preferably is solenoid actuated and most preferably comprises a solenoid operated plunger.

Typically, the coin sorting means can sort coins into more than one predetermined location while a receiving hopper is preferably provided at the or each predetermined location. The coin discriminating apparatus can be used in a variety of ways, for example to sort coins by denomination, to batch coins of a single denomination into batches of predetermined quantity, or a combination of the two. For example, the apparatus may further comprise monitoring means for monitoring the number of coins sorted to a predetermined location and for indicating when that monitored quantity has reached a predetermined value.

Some examples of coin sorting apparatus incorporating coin transporting apparatus according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a side view of one example of the transporting apparatus;

Figure 2 is a plan of the support plate of the conveying system shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation, partly cut away, of the plate shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a plan of of the leading end of the conveyor system shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of the control system;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4 but of a second example;

Figures 7A and 7B are schematic side and end elevations respectively of part of a third example; and, Figure 8 is a schematic, partial view of a fourth example.

The apparatus shown in Figures 1 to 5 comprises an endless belt 1 entrained around three rollers 2-4, one of which, 4, is driven, and an idler drum 5. Coins are supplied to the drum 5 along a supply plate 6 from a hopper 7 and slide towards the drum. As will be described below, the coins are picked up by the conveyor belt 1 and transported along a transport path 8 extending from the drum 5 to the drive roller 4 past a number of coin sorting paths 9 into which the coins are selectively urged. The belt then returns via the idler pulley 3 to pick up further coins.

A portion of the belt l is shown in Figure 4 as it passes under the drum 5. As can be seen in Figure 4, the drum 5 comprises five laterally spaced discs 10-14 mounted on an axle 15. The drum is frictionally rotated in a clockwise direction as shown in Figure 1.

The belt 1 is divided into four subsidiary transport paths 16-19 spaced laterally across its width. Each subsidiary transport path 16-19 has sets of mechanical locators 20 spaced substantially equally along its length, the mechanial locators each comprising a pair of flanges 20A, 20B positioned to define a "V" coin location position. At each coin location position the belt also has an elongate aperture 21. It will be noted that the coin location positions 20 of adjacent subsidiary transport paths 16-19 are offset in the direction of movement of the belt.

As the belt l is driven past the drum 5 it passes over a plate 22 forming one surface of a suction chamber 23. The plate 22 has a generally rectangular form with a set of four elongate grooves 24-27 (Figure 2) extending along it.

the grooves being aligned with respective sets of apertures 21 in the subsidiary transport paths 16-19 defined by the belt 1. Each groove 24-27 has a set of spaced apertures 28, two being indicated in Figure 2, through which vacuum is communicated from the suction chamber 23. The suction chamber 23 itself is evacuated by a vacuum pump (not shown) . As the belt 1 passes over the plate 22 therefore it is sucked towards the plate along the grooves 24-27.

Underneath the plate 22 and within the chamber 23 are positioned 44 solenoids 29 each having a plunger 30 aligned with a respective aperture 28. Each plunger 30 has a small compression spring 30' at its tip.

Upstream of the solenoids 29 are positioned a set of four coin discriminators 31-34 laterally spaced apart across the plate 22 in alignment with respective subsidiary transport paths 16-19.

Each solenoid 29 is aligned with a respective coin sorting path 9. The paths 9 shown in Figure 1 correspond to the 11 solenoids cooperating with the groove 24 and subsidiary transport paths 16. There will be further coin sorting paths provided which are not shown in Figure 1. The coin sorting paths are connected by conventional slideways (not shown) to respective collection bags.

Operation of the solenoids 29 is controlled by a microprocessor 35 (Figure 5) which has 44 output lines 36 one connected to each of the solenoids 29. In addition, the control processor 35 receives coin discrimination information from the coin discriminating circuits 31-34. Operation of the control processor 35 will be described below.

In a typical operation, a group of unknown coins is tipped into the hopper 7, the coins passing through the outlet of the hopper onto the inclined plate 6. The drum 5 is rotated in a clockwise direction and the coins are gradually sorted to pass between respective pairs of the discs 10-14. Each coin is then picked up by a pair of mechanical locators 20A, 20B and is carried around the

lower periphery of the drum 5 into the transport path 8. The coin will cover the associated aperture 21 so that as soon as the coin reaches the upstream end of the vacuum chamber 23, it will begin to experience suction through the appropriate groove 24-27. This suction in combination with the mechanical locators 20A, 20B will hold the coin in position on the belt as the coin is transported upwardly but at an acute angle to the horizontal. This acute angle is typically in the range 80-90°. The coin then passes over the appropriate coin discriminating circuit 31-34 which carries out a conventional discriminating process to determine the denomination of the coin. This information is then fed to the control processor 35. The control processor 35 knowing the speed of movement of the belt 1, and the position of the solenoid 29 corresponding to the appropriate ejection point for that denomination of coin, actuates the solenoid at a time at which the coin is passing the correct coin sorting path 9. This actuation causes the plunger 30 to be moved outwardly through the appropriate apertures 21, 28 where it will push the coin off the belt and into the coin sorting path 9. The coin then rolls down into the collection hopper or bag.

In some circumstances, it is possible that more than one coin will be picked up by the mechanical locators 20A, 20B as they pass under the drum 5. Only coins held in the locators and subject to suction will be carried upwards. The residue, when reaching the vertical or near vertical attitude will fall back to be reprocessed. Any two (or more) coins overlapping in the locations will have the outermost coin fall back, the removal being assisted by brushes or fingers. For example, two coins could be picked up in a locator, one coin above the other. In these circumstances, the two (or more) coins would be carried around the lower periphery of the drum 5. Due to the slope of the transport path 8, the poorly located coin less influenced by the vacuum will fairly quickly drop off the

belt 1 back towards the drive 4, when they can be reprocessed. Brushes 40 will then assist the removal of any remaining mislocated coins. In all cases, this will occur before the coins reach the discriminating circuits 31-34.

The control processor 35 also monitors the number of coins which have been sorted to a particular location. It does this by recording in a memory the number of times it has actuated each plunger 30. This facility can also be used to enable other functions such as coin batching to be achieved where the processor is told that only a predetermined number of coins should be sorted to a particular location.

It will be appreciated that a number of variations of the coin transporting apparatus and coin validation apparatus are possible. For example, the belt 1 is not limited to having four subsidiary transport paths but may have any number. The coin discriminating circuits will typically be of the eddy current type but could be of any other suitable detector types, such as optical or mechanical recognition and sizing devices including edge recognition detectors. In addition, the apparatus need not use solenoid-controlled plungers 30 for ejecting coins but may use other suitable means, e.g. a high pressure compressed air source. Also, the plungers 30 could act on the belt rather than pass through apertures 21.

In the examples described so far, flanges or spigots 20A, 20B have been used to define the mechanical locators 20. Figure 6 illustrates an alternative configuration in which the mechanical locating means 20' is defined by a recess 41 in the belt. The diameter of the recess is chosen to be larger than the largest coin to be processed so that correctly fed coins will lie within the recess.

Also, in the examples described so far, the belt 1 has passed along a transport path 8 with a vertical component. Figures 7A, 7B illustrate an arrangement in which the belt 1 travels along a horizontal path but is inclined to the

horizontal as shown in Figure 7B. In this case, the locators 20A, 2OB are turned through 90° relative to their orientation in Figure 4. In order to supply coins to the horizontally moving belt, some belt twisting would be required between the position shown and the coin hopper. In the examples described so far, coins have been held on the belt by a combination of the mechanical locators 20A, 2OB and suction. It is envisaged that the use of a positive suction force will not be necessary in certain circumstances. For example, the belt transport shown in Figure 1 could be modified to have a near vertical orientation with the angle α greater than 90° such that the component of gravitational force at right angles to the belt is sufficient to help in retaining correctly located coins in the designated position and the component in line with the belt is sufficient to cause mispositioned coins to fall off the belt. This configuration will be assisted by the use of the brushes 40 to remove extra coinage.

In a further modification, shown schematically in Figure 8, the transport path includes a curved section 41, the angle a initialy being less than 90° with suction to assist in holding located coins but enabling extra coinage to fall from the belt. Later the angle α is greater than 90° and there is no suction in the area in which the coin is ejected from the belt into the sorting paths 9.