Abstract: A low power coin discriminator detects and identifies the denomination of a coin to activate a parking meter, telephone, or vending machine device. Initially the device is in a low power, dormant state. Insertion of a coin into the discrimator trips a switch which produces a wake-up pulse which turns on a microprocessor. The coin falls upon a piezoelectric element, a signal from which causes the microprocessor to activate a photoelectric sensor. The coin moves through the photoelectric sensor which determines the net cross-sectional area of the coin. The microprocessor samples the output of the photoelectric sensor to detect the minimum light incident upon the sensor at the point of maximum eclipse of the light beam. The microprocessor also samples the output of an integrator which integrates the output of the piezoelectric element to produce a numerical value proportional to the mass of the coin.

Abstract: When a commodity package fed out from a commodity column accommodating a plurality of commodity packages has been accommodated in a package holder of a transporter, the transporter is moved along a guide to transport the commodity package to a position above a heater and is allowed to fall into a receptacle of the heater by the operation of a dropping mechanism. When the commodity in the package has been heated by the heater, the commodity package in the receptacle is fed out up to an opening of the discharging chute and allowed to fall.

Abstract: An attachment for a vending machine. The vending machine includes a chute for inserting coins in the machine and includes a lever or button for actuating the machine to dispense an item after the coin has been inserted in the coin chute. The attachment includes a coin receptacle and an attachment member attached to the receptacle. The attachment member engages the coin chute and maintains the attachment in fixed position on the vending machine.

Abstract: A coin holding mechanism is adapted for use in new coin operated lock units and in retrofitting previously installed lock units of the type adapted for "free" service in order to prevent return of a coin deposit to a patron until the lock unit is in a condition wherein a key operated patron lock cannot be placed/returned to locked position in which the key of the patron lock can be removed in the absence of another coin being properly placed on deposit within the lock unit.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for dispensing fluid materials wherein the fluid is discharged from a nozzle at a rate controlled by a metering valve having a seat and a stem moveable with respect to the seat to modulate the flow. A servo-actuator connected in a feedback control loop is used to position the valve stem with respect to its seat in accordance with a control signal. The control signal is derived in accordance with the difference between a driving signal representing a desired flow rate and the sum of a pair of feedback signals. One feedback signal represents the actual flow rate while the other feedback signal is correlated to both the relative velocity and position of the stem with respect to the seat. The position-dependent velocity signal is generated by a transducer comprising a magnet and a coil influencable by the field of the magnet as the magnet and coil move relative one another.

Abstract: A countertop snack vendor in which a drum having a plurality of groups of circumferentially spaced article-receiving compartments is mounted within a cabinet for rotary movement around a generally horizontal axis with the groups disposed respectively behind normally locked elongated transparent doors, each of which spans a plurality of compartments of its associated group to afford a potential customer a view of a large number of articles. Each door is freed upon the deposit of money in the vendor for limited movement from a normally closed position to an open position at which a single compartment of the associated group is accessible.

Abstract: A coin exchanging machine has a coin case disposed at the bottom of a casing for accommodating a plurality of coin bundles, a coin pushing mechanism for pushing laterally a row of coin bundles piled up in the coin case, and a coin transferring mechanism for receiving a row of coin bundles from the coin case by pushing the coin bundles by the coin pushing mechanism and for feeding the coin bundles one by one into a coin accommodating space in response to the discharge of the coin bundles.

Abstract: A coin discriminating device which can carry out accurate coin discrimination free of error caused by drift and changes in the thermal characteristics of the detecting elements. The coin type is discriminated by detecting data on the magnetic characteristics of coins and comparing the detected data with reference data and also by computing the difference between the maximum and minimum values of the detected data and comparing the computed result with the reference value.

Abstract: A vending machine includes a plurality of selection switches corresponding to a plurality of items to be sold respectively, and in response to insertion of coins and the subsequent operation of any of selection switches, the item corresponding to the selection switch is vended. A RAM is installed associatedly with a microcomputer, and this RAM contains memory areas for storing the sales quantity and the sales amount on item basis, and these data are renewed at every vending. The RAM further contains a price memory area for storing the sales price of each item. When any of selection switches is operated in ready state of the machine, the price of the item corresponding to that selection switch is read from the RAM and is displayed on the inserted-amount display. Furthermore, when a selection switch is depressed in the state when the management mode is set up, the price of the item corresponding to that switch is displayed likewise.

Abstract: A system in which an easily replaceable cartridge containing conveyor mechanisms such as wheels and belts, and a base for mounting the cartridge transports documents. The cartridge includes a carcass having a plurality of recesses in which respective wheels are disposed. When the cartridge is not mounted on the base, the wheels are retained within the recesses in contact with the carcass by belts which encircle the carcass. The base includes a plurality of bearing members of like member to the wheels. When the cartridge is mounted on the base, the wheels are engaged by the bearing members. The base is provided with a tensioning device which, when operated, tensions the belt and spaces the wheels away from the carcass, permitting them to rotate freely about their associated bearing members. At least one of the wheels is retained upon a hub assembly by a click-on, click-off mechanism requiring only single handed operation.

Abstract: The disk shaped articles or coins to be sorted are conveyed by an entrainment belt on a base plate in conveying direction along a guide rail. Dependent on their diameter, the coins are separated out of the conveying path at respectively one of the sorting stations. The outward transfer ensues by a high-speed sorting belt into whose sphere of influence the coins respective proceed when, as a consequence of their diameter, they are lifted off from the base plate at one side due to their inherent motion in conveying direction, being lifted off by means of a wedge-shaped deflection element. The sorting belt then withdraws the coin to be transferred out of the conveying path under high acceleration, so that it proceeds into a collecting shaft. Such as apparatus functioning with an exclusively mechanical arrangement allows a high sorting speed given a compact structure.

Abstract: The invention relates to a back-edge stop in the form of a cross-member for sheet stackers of sheet-fed presses having a vertically positionable intermediate stacker which forms a relatively large stack, the cross-member being pivotally connected to the sheet brake by way of a link parallelogram support. A sheet brake has disposed on it fixed sheet stops and at least one further fixed sheet stop having a recess in which a brush is pivotally mounted, the bristles of the brush being inclined forwardly and downwardly and extending into the major surface of the stack a distance substantially equivalent to the difference in sheet size. As the intermediate stacker rises and falls, the brush is pivoted, by way of an inclined cam surface on the cross-member, this surface being connected non-positively to engage an actuating edge of the brush to make a controlled pivoting movement around a horizontal axis extending transversely to the direction of sheet movement.

Abstract: A bill delivering apparatus for delivering accumulated bills to a horizontally spaced-apart position within a bill receiving and dispensing machine wherein the accumulated bills are automatically dropped into the bill delivering position by a scraping member when a supporting plate bearing the accumulated bills thereon is horizontally retracted. This makes it possible to reliably and easily deliver the bills while keeping them in accumulated condition only by dropping them into the bill receiving and dispensing mouth without need for the complicated clamping mechanism of the prior art for pressing the top and bottom surfaces of the accumulated bills. In the bill delivering apparatus, the supporting plate is automatically retracted by the engaging member and the bills accumulated on the supporting plate are delivered to a transaction port when the accumulated bills are horizontally moved by the movement of the slide rails.

Abstract: A toothpick dispenser with an elevated base having opposite end mount pedestals that rest on a supporting surface with the elevated base mounting a toothpick box that is slideable back and forth between opposite end limited positions. One position is established by limit position contact of the box with one of the pedestals and a lock device mounted in the elevated base at the mount pedestal at the other end is movable into an end limit blocking position for the box when the elevated base is put down on a supporting surface. There are two toothpick dispensing grooves in the upper surface of the elevated base, one for each of the opposite end positions of the toothpick holding box with the back edge of each groove being rounded to prevent jamming up of the dispenser box by either square centered toothpicks or round centered toothpicks whichever is being dispensed.

Abstract: Apparatus for stacking conical objects includes right hand and left hand side walls which are joined by divergent walls to define a tapering horizontal cross-section column in which the spacing between the opposite walls is shorter than the length of any one of the conical objects. The conical objects can be placed manually in the top of the column 1 but only in a given orientation (thanks to the tapering horizontal cross-section of the column) and only when hooked on a retaining finger projecting into the column through the side wall. The conical object at the top of the stack thus settles into an inclined orientation which it retains when the retaining finger is released to drop the cone down the column, thanks to an inertia brake to retard the wider diameter end of the falling cone and preventing the cone from becoming vertical. The retaining finger at the foot of the column releases only the bottom cone and allows any cones above it to become indexed downwardly into the bottom-most position.

Abstract: A cut sheet feeder feeds out a cut sheet from a first paper cassette when a bidirectional pulse motor for driving paper feed rollers rotates forward and from a second paper cassette when the bidirectional pulse motor rotates reversely, and can suppress feed-out of the cut sheet from the wrong paper cassette when the pulse motor starts to rotate. The feeding of the cut sheet from the wrong paper cassette is suppressed by stopping the motor at a predetermined phase. A first memory stores the predetermined phase and a second memory stores the current phase. A controller compares the contents of the first and second memories and applies a drive pulse to the motor until the contents of the memories coincide. A loop is formed in the cut sheet prior to the comparison of the contents of the memories to permit the motor to be rotated in the proper direction.

Abstract: The label dispenser and holder includes a rectangular frame having a bottom support member, a top member, a pair of spaced apart end members, a back member, and a front member. At least two rectangular label dispensers are positioned within the holder. The holder includes various brackets which permit it to be universally mounted to various types of supporting surfaces, including a bracket for detachably securing the holder to a person's belt. The dispenser box of the present invention includes a pair of spaced apart slits in the side wall of the box. A guide member is within the box and includes a central portion positioned adjacent one of the slots and a pair of leaf portions extending in opposite directions from the central portion. The leaf portions and the central portion are in close spaced relationship to the side wall adjacent the elongated slot.

Abstract: A coin-box placed adjacent to a television receiver is interposed in the path of a signal input line that supplies program signals to the receiver. Signals on some program channel (the "free" channels) are permitted to pass through the coin box at all times. The purpose of the coin box is to require payment for the reception of programs on certain other selected frequency channels (the "pay" channels). One or more band rejection filters (frequency traps) are utilized within the coin box to normally prevent reception of the pay channels. A bypass circuit, controlled by a relay, permits the pay channels to be received during time periods that have been paid for. The coin-box is lockable for security purposes and contains a timing circuit, a relay, and other controls. The selection of pay channels as well as the various control parameters may be adjusted at will by the proprietor of the establishment in which the television set is located.

Abstract: A coin stacking apparatus includes a conveyor for conveying coins edge-wise one at a time and delivering each of the conveyed coins in its horizontal position. A receiver receives the coins from the outlet end of the conveyor in a stacked condition. The receiver includes two endless belts running along the length of the receiver and cooperating with each other to form a coin receiving space therebetween. Each of the endless belts has a supporter extending therefrom. The supporter includes a surface on which the coins are to be placed. The surface is inclined upwardly and forwardly relative to the direction of the conveyor.

Abstract: A paper feed control device for controlling a paper feed level, or height, to a predetermined one by moving up and down a tray which is loaded with a stack of papers by a motor or the like. A proportional relation between the number of papers fed as counted by a paper counter and the number of encoder pulses which is associated with an amount of movement of the tray is calculated to determine how many pulses will appear before a near-paper-end condition is reached. Based on a result of the decision, the paper feed is controlled.