Method And Apparatus For Packaging Coins

Abstract

Cylindrical packages of coins are dispensed at a plurality of stations onto a horizontal conveyor flight and moved continuously to an inclined conveyor. The inclined conveyor moves the coin packages in spaced relationship up an incline and discharges them to a hopper which reorients the packages in a stacked relationship. The packages are dispensed one at a time from the bottom of the stack in the hopper to opposite sides of an oscillating puck member which urges alternate ones of the packages in opposed directions into containers. The dispensing of the packages to the oscillating puck member is responsive to the presence of the containers and the number of packages moved by the puck member into the containers.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

While various coin wrapping devices have been developed for the purpose of wrapping a predetermined number of coins into cylindrical packages so that the coins can be easily handled in known quantities, it is still somewhat difficult to count the packages of coins and to place the packages into larger containers. Usually the packages of coins are allowed to drop into a box or similar container until the coin wrapping machine operator retrieves a full container and replaces it with an empty container. The full container is then moved by the operator to a counting station where the packages of coins are removed from their box, are counted, and are placed in a bag or other suitable container for delivery to a customer. The weight of the coins and the large number of coin packages placed in each bag make it an onerous task for the operator to count and bag the packages of coins.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly described, the present invention comprises a method and apparatus for packaging coins wherein small cylindrical packages of coins are delivered by a plurality of coin wrapping machines to a horizontal conveyor, the coin packages are conveyed continuously by the horizontal conveyor to an inclined conveyor, the packages are delivered in spaced-apart relationship by the inclined conveyor to a hopper, the packages are dispensed individually from the hopper to the opposite sides of an oscillating puck member, and alternate ones of the packages are pushed by the oscillating puck member in opposite directions to the openings of bags or similar containers. The system includes counters to record the number of coin packages moved into the bag openings, and in response to the counters the system terminates the movement of packages into the bags after a predetermined number of packages have been placed in the bags. The system operates automatically to place a predetermined number of coin packages into the bags, and then terminates this function until the full bag is replaced with an empty bag.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an expedient and economical system for placing small cylindrical packages of coins or the like into larger containers such as flexible bags, in a progressive, automatic system, wherein the manual labor required to achieve the desired result is minimized.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the method and apparatus for packaging coins.

FIG. 2 is a detail illustration of the lower portion of the coin wrapping apparatus and a portion of the horizontal conveyor belt.

FIG. 3 is a side detail illustration of the fluted transfer roll and the inclined conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a partial side cross sectional view of the drive means for driving the horizontal conveyor, inclined conveyor, and fluted transfer roll.

FIG. 5 is a front view with parts shown in section of the operator's station of the apparatus, showing the package hopper, oscillating puck, puck drive system, and coin package containers.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view, with a portion broken away, of a loading tray .

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now in more detail to the drawing, in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 shows in schematic fashion the method and apparatus for packaging coins which include conveyor means 10 and packaging means 11. Conveyor means 10 includes a horizontal conveying means 12, incline conveying means 13, and conveyor transfer means 14. Horizontal conveying means 12 is an elongated belt conveyor having an approximately horizontally disposed upper flight 16 movable in the direction indicated by arrow 17 and a return flight 18. A series of support rollers 19 are positioned beneath upper flight 16 to assist in maintaining the upper flight in an approximately horizontal attitude. Driving roller 20 of the horizontal conveying means is located adjacent conveyor transfer means 14, while an idler roller (not shown) is located at the opposite end of the horizontal conveying means.

Conveyor transfer means 14 comprises a fluted transfer roller 22 which is rotatable about an axis of rotation that is parallel to the axis of rotation of driving roller 20 of horizontal conveying means 12. Fluted transfer roller 22 comprises a series of equally spaced concave grooves or flutes 23 about its curved periphery, and the fluted transfer roller is spaced closely adjacent the end of the upper flight 16 of the horizontal conveying means 12.

Inclined conveying means 13 comprises a belt conveyor having an upper flight 25 and a return flight 26. The upper flight 25 is inclined upwardly from fluted transfer roller 22, and a plurality of protrusions 27 are equally spaced along the length of the conveyor. As is illustrated in FIG. 3, the protrusions 27 are substantially identical to one another and are formed in the shape of a parallelogram, with the protrusions leaning in the direction of movement 28 of the upper flight of the conveying means. The protrusions 27 are fabricated from rubber and are attached to the belts of the conveyor by brads or other rectilinear attaching devices 29 across the length of the conveyor belt. The protrusions pass with the conveyor belt around the lower driving roller 30 and the upper driven roller 31, and the belt bends away from the underside of the protrusions and forms gaps 32 between the protrusions and the belt. With this connection arrangement between the conveyor belt and the protrusions, the protrusions do not have to flex as they pass with the belt about the driving and driven rollers 30 and 31, and relatively hard material can be used in the fabrication of the protrusions, if desired.

As is illustrated in FIG. 4, driving motor 34 is located beneath inclined conveying means 13, and the belt 35 extends between the sheave (not shown) of the driving motor 34 and the sheave (not shown) of lower driving roller 30 of inclined conveying means 13. Timing chain 36 is connected to chain sprockets 37, 38, and 39 of driving roller 30 of the inclined conveying means, the fluted transfer roller 22, and the driving roller 20 of horizontal conveying means 12. The timed relationship between horizontal conveying means 12, inclined conveying means 13, and conveyor transfer means 14, and the spacing between the protrusions 27 along inclined conveying means 13 and the spacing between the flutes of fluted transfer roller 22 as well as the linear speed of these elements and horizontal conveying means 12 is such that the flutes 23 of the fluted transfer roller 22 tned to receive the cylindrical packages of coins 40 from the horizontal conveying means 12 and transfer them in timed relationship to the spaces 41 between the protrusions 27.

As is illustrated in FIG. 2, the coins are formed in packages 40 which are approximately cylindrically shaped and are dispensed or dropped onto the upper flight 16 of horizontal conveying means 12 by means of a conventional coin wrapping machine having a dispensing attachment 42 that causes the packages to be dispensed onto the conveyor with the length of the packages extending across the direction of movement 17 of the upper flight 16 of the conveying means. The attachment 42 comprises a hinged door element 43 connected to the discharge portion of the coin wrapping machine 44 by means of hinge 45, and a reciprocatable actuating rod 46 is connected to the door element 43. Upon reciprocating the rod 46, the door 43 opens and closes as indicated by arrow 47, so that any package 40 of coins which has accumulated at the discharge portion of the coin wrapping machine 44 will be dispensed to the upper flight of the conveyor belt. Since the upper flight of the conveyor belt is oriented in an approximately horizontal attitude, the packages of coins will move in an orderly manner with the upper flight. In the usual embodiment of the invention, several coin wrapping machines 44 are located along the length of horizontal conveying means 12, so that the packages 40 are dispensed to the horizontal conveying means at several stations along the conveying means. Because of the cylindrical shape of the packages 40, if one of the packages 40 should be dispensed on top of another one of the packages 40, the upper package would merely roll off the top of the lower package and onto the conveyor belt without becoming disoriented.

The flutes 23 of the fluted transfer roller 22 are of a radius of curvature compatible with the cylindrical packages 40. The cylindrical packages 40 can be of varying diameter, such as a diameter as small as the U.S. dime or as large as the U.S. quarter. When the apparatus is used in countries having substantially larger diameter coins, the dimensions of the various elements of the invention can be varied as may be necessary so as to be compatible with the range of sizes of the coins. The spacing of the flutes 23 about fluted transfer roller 22 together with the speed and diameter of the fluted transfer roller corresponds with the spacing between the protrusions 27 and the linear speed of the inclined conveyor means 13 so that each flute 23 moves in timed relationship with respect to the inclined conveying means 13 to transfer a package 40 into a space 41. The spaces 41 between the protrusions 27 are smaller than twice the diameter of a package of dimes. This prevents two packages from accupying a single space 41 and allows the larger diameter packages to be handled by the apparatus. With this arrangement, the packages 40 normally are moved up the incline of incline conveying means 13 in equally spaced apart relationship with respect to one another.

Side fenders 49 extend between the delivery end of horizontal conveying means 12 and the receiving end of inclined conveying means 13 and about fluted transfer roller 22. If the horizontal conveying means 12 is oversupplied with packages 40 so that inclined conveying means 13 and fluted transfer roller 22 cannot accomodate all of the packages 40 delivered by the horizontal conveying means, the packages will accumulate in the vicinity of fluted transfer roller 22 and tend to pile up in this vicinity until the supply is depleted by the orderly transfer of the packages by the fluted transfer roller 22 onto inclined conveying means 13. The fenders 49 which are located on both sides of the conveyor means tend to keep the packages 40 from inadvertently falling from the conveyor means during the backlog of packages.

When a backlog of packages 40 accumulates in the vicinity of fluted transfer roller 22, there are some occasions when one or more of the packages may tend to stand on its end on one of the protrusions 27 of inclined conveying means 13. Since it is undesirable to have the packages conveyed in this manner by inclined conveying means 13, spring finger 50 is supported in a suspended position over the upper flight 25 of the inclined conveying means 13 and tends to wipe any package 40 off the conveyor if the package extends substantially above the level of the top surfaces of the protrusions 27. The packages so wiped away from the inclined conveying means then tend to fall back between the fenders 49 toward fluted transfer roller 22, where the package re-enters the conveying system.

As is illustrated in FIG. 5, the packages 40 are discharged from the upper end of inclined conveying means 13 by falling over the upper end of the conveying means into a guide or chute 52, and move through the chute in the direction indicated by arrow 53 under the influence of gravity into hopper 54. Guide 52 includes inclined bottom wall 55 and side walls 56 and 57 which converge toward each other at the lower end of the guide. An adjustable guide block 58 is pivotally connected to side wall 56 by means of tightening screw 59, so that the lower edges of the inclined bottom wall 55, the converging side walls 56 and 57, and adjustable guide block 58 define an outlet opening 60 through which the packages 40 can pass. The height of the outlet opening can be adjusted by pivoting guide block 58 about its tightening screw 59.

When the packages 40 are discharged from the upper end of inclined conveying means 13, the packages are reoriented from an attitude where they extend approximately normal to their direction of movement to an attitude where their lengths extend approximately parallel to their direction of movement as they pass through guide 52. Concave shoe 61 is positioned in guide 52 at the junction between side walls 67 and inclined bottom walls 55 and tends to cause one end of the package 40 to be moved through a higher path than its opposite end as the package moves down the incline through the guide. This lifting effect on one end of the packages 40 causes each package to turn from a sideways attitude toward an end-to-end attitude as the packages traverse the guide 52.

Guide 52 is located at one side of hopper 54, and when the packages 40 emerge through the opening 60 of guide 52 and fall into hopper 54, the packages assume a horizontal attitude. Hopper 54 includes a relatively wide upper receiving portion 63, and then is constricted in its lower portion into a tortuous path 64 with downwardly inclined sections 64, 65 and 66. Because of the width, depth and length of the downwardly inclined sections 64, 65 and 66 of the hopper 54, it is impossible for a package 40 to move downwardly through the hopper 54 in an attitude other than a horizontal attitude. The packages 40 tend to stack in a horizontal attitude upon one another in the manner illustrated. The lowermost package 40 comes to rest in a concave motor-driven oscillating dispenser tray 68. Dispenser tray 68 functions as a dispensing means and oscillates between its full line position and its broken line position to individually dispense packages 40 in sequence from hopper 54 to a transfer station 69 beneath the dispenser tray.

The upper wall section 70 of downwardly inclined section 66 of hopper 54 is formed with a hinged door 71 which is pivotal about hinge 72 and is normally maintained in its closed position by means of latch 73. Wall section 70 is flexible and is connected at its upper edge to door 71 by spot welding or other conventional connecting means, and the position of wall section 70 is determined by threaded positioning screw 74 which is threaded through the door 71 and protrudes against the upper surface of wall section 70, and by coil tension spring 75 which urges the wall section 70 upwardly against the positioning screw 74. If relatively small diameter coins are being processed through the system, positioning screw 74 is rotated to urge the wall section 70 further into the section 66 of hopper 54, or if larger diameter coins are to be processed, the positioning screw is rotated in the opposite direction to allow the coil tension spring 75 to pull section 70 up and form a larger passage through the hopper.

Oscillating puck member 78 is movable back and forth in a rectilinear path across transfer station 69. The top surface of transfer station 69 is formed by work table 80, and puck member 78 is driven by puck drive system 81 located beneath the work table. Puck drive system 81 conprises driving motor and gear reduction unit 82, driving sheave 83, driving belt 84, driven sheave 85, and linking arm 86 and 87. Linking arm 86 rotates in unison with driven sheave 85, and linking arm 87 is connected at one of its ends to the end of linking arm 86 and at its other end to slide block 89. A pair of slide bars 88 support slide block 89 beneath work table 80, and oscillating puck member 78 is connected by means of supporting pins 90 to slide block 89. Supporting pins 90 extend through a slot 91 in the work table 80. When motor 82 is energized, the pulley and linking arm arrangement of the puck drive system 81 function to move slide block 89 back and forth on its guide rods 88, thus driving oscillating puck member 78 back and forth in the directions indicated by arrows 92 across the work table 80 of transfer station 69.

Counting switches 93 and 94 are located near the end or ends of the rectilinear path of travel of puck member 78. Counting switches 93 and 94 are offset to one side of the slot 91 through which the pins 90 of puck member 78 move so that the counting switches will not interfere with the movement of the puck member 78. The switch levers of the counting switches 93 and 94 extend upwardly through slots 95 and 96 in the work table 80. Puck member 78 includes an undercut portion 98 which is in alignment with the levers of counting switches 93 and 94 so that the puck member will pass over the counting switches without actuating the counting switches. When a package 40 is pushed by the puck member 78 across the transfer station 69, the package 40 will depress the arm of a counting switch, so that the counting switches function to count the packages transferred across the transfer station but the counting switches do not count the movements of the puck member 78.

Work table 80 slopes downwardly from its upper horizontal section and has inclined side sections 100 and 101. The side sections are recessed downwardly from the horizontal section, and containers 102 and 103 are supported on the downwardly inclined side sections.

The containers utilized in this form of the invention comprise flexible bags or sacks 105 and loading tray 106 inserted in the sacks. As is illustrated in FIG. 6, each loading tray is generally open-ended and includes bottom wall 108, opposed side walls 109 and 110, upper support 111 extending between the upper edges of the side walls 109 and 110, and rounded handle-support element 112. Strut 114 extends across one open end of the loading tray between the opposed side walls 109 and 110, and flexible leaf spring 115 is connected to strut 114 and extends in a downward and inward direction toward bottom wall 108. Flexible leaf spring 115 together with its supporting strut 114 functions as an admitting means for admitting packages into the tray and for preventing packages from being removed from that end of the tray. When a package is moved through the opening 116 defined between the bottom wall 108, the opposed side walls 109 and 110, and strut 114, the flexible leaf spring will flex inwardly when engaged by a package to allow the package to be moved through the opening into the tray; however, the configuration of flexible leaf spring 115 is such that the package normally will not be allowed to move back out of loading tray through this opening.

A series of spaced-apart rectilinear protrusions 118 extend upwardly from the bottom wall 108 of each loading tray 106. The protrusions 118 are formed as spaced corrugations in bottom wall insert 119, and the protrusions function to keep the packages 40 oriented in a parallel relationship with respect to one another and parallel to the rectilinear protrusions 118.

The top surface of puck member 78 defines a slot 117 which normally is in alignment with the lower end of flexible leaf spring 115 of a loading tray 106 when the loading tray is properly positioned on an inclined section 100 or 101 of the work table 80. When the puck member 78 moves toward the ends of its path, the flexible leaf spring si received in the slot 117 while the remaining side upper portions of the puck member pass around the sides of the flexible leaf springs to urge a package beyond the leaf spring into the loading tray.

The downwardly inclined side sections 100 and 101 of the work table 80 both include hinged brackets 120 and 121. The brackets 120 and 121 are identical and are approximately Z-shaped. As is illustrated in the right portion of FIG. 5, bracket 121 is movable to a position with its leg 122 resting flat against the inclined section 101 of the work table and with its second leg 123 extending at a right angle upwardly from the inclinde side section 101 of the work table. Bag 105 and its loading tray 106 are placed upon leg 122 and on the inclined section 101 of the work table 80, and the second leg 123 of the bracket 121 causes the loading tray to fit snugly up toward the horizontal section of work table 80. After the bag 105 and loading tray 106 have been filled with packages 40, the handle 112 of the loading tray can be grasped and moved in an upward arc as indicated by arrow 125 to a generally upright attitude. The bracket pivots about its hinge 124. As illustrated in the left portion of FIG. 5, the third leg 126 of bracket 120 and its turned-under flange 127 support the bag and loading tray together with the packages enclosed therein in the position approximately as illustrated. The loading tray 106 can then be withdrawn from the bag 105, and the packages 40 will be allowed to move out the lower open end of the loading tray and stay within the confines of the bag 105. The bag and its packages can then be removed from the vicinity of the work table, the loading tray inserted into another empty bag, and the empty bag and loading tray placed on the work table in the position illustrated in the right portion of FIG. 5. Bracket 122 hinges about its hinge between the two positions illustrated.

Actuating switches 130 and 131 are positioned beneath the side inclined sections 100 and 101 of the work table, and the switch plungers of the switches protrude through openings in the work table. The switch plungers are actuated by the presence of a bag and loading tray 106 resting on the inclined sections of the work table as illustrated in the right portion of FIG. 5. When the bag and loading tray are pivoted to an upright attitude as indicated in the left portion of FIG. 5, the actuating switches 130 are opened.

In order to correlate the movements of dispenser tray 68 with the movements of oscillating puck member 78, position switches 132 and 133 are located at the path of cam 134 on driven pulley sheave 85 of puck drive system 81. Switches 132 and 133 function to actuate the rotary solenoid (not shown) which causes dispenser tray 68 to oscillate between its full line position and dash line position. When the cam 134 closes switch 132, puck member 78 will be in its far left position and the rotary solenoid will cause dispenser tray 68 to oscillate and dispense a package 40 to transfer station 69. As the pulley sheave 85 continues in its rotation, linking arms 86 and 87 will move the oscillating puck 78 back across transfer station 69 so that the discharged package 40 will be pushed by the puck member into the container 103. When the puck member reaches the far right end of its rectilinear path across transfer station 69, cam 134 will actuate switch 133 which will again energize the rotary solenoid of dispenser tray 68, thus causing a package 40 to be dispensed to the now-opposite side of oscillating puck member 78. As each package 40 is moved into a container 102 or 103, it is counted by its engagement with counting switches 93 and 94. The operator is able to set a predetermined number of desired packages into the control system (not shown) so that when a predetermined number of packages has been placed in one of the containers 102 or 103, the control system will disable its respective control switch 132 or 133 so that the switch will no longer be able to actuate the rotary solenoid of the dispenser tray 68 and no more packages 40 will be placed in a container 102 or 103. If the opposite container has not yet reached its quota of packages, the system will continue to function to load the opposite container until the predetermined number of packages have been loaded. The switch 132 or 133 will then be disabled by the counting system so that the rotary solenoid will not be energized by the switch 132 or 133 and will not function to oscillate the dispenser tray. When both containers 102 and 103 have received their capacity of packages 40 as set by the operator in the control system, dispenser tray 68 will no longer function to dispense packages to the transfer station 69 and the movement of oscillating puck member 78 will no longer function to load packages into a container.

When a container has received its quota of packages 40, the operator lifts the container from the position illustrated in the right portion of FIG. 5 to an upright position as indicated in the left portion of the figure, withdraws the loading tray 106 from the bag 105, removes the bag from the work table, inserts the loading tray in another empty bag, and places the empty bag and loading tray back on the inclined section of the work table. When a switch 130 or 131 detects the presence of a new container, it reactivates the counting system and the switch 132 or 133 in its circuit is rearmed and the dispensing of packages from dispenser tray 68 commences again for that particular container. When both full containers have been replaced with empty containers, both switches 132 and 133 will be rearmed and the system will function to load on both sides of the work table. Thus, the control system together with swtiches 93, 94, 130, 131, 132, and 133 function as means responsive to the location of said oscillating puck member, the presence of the containers at the opposite ends of the path of the puck member and the number of packages moved into the containers for correlating the operation of the dispenser tray with the operation of the oscillating puck member, so that packages are dispensed from the hopper on opposite sides of the oscillating puck member and are moved by the oscillating puck member into the containers until a predetermined number of packages have been moved into each container.

While the apparatus disclosed herein is constructed to expediently handle packaged coins without breaking open or otherwise damaging the packages of coins, the apparatus has been constructed to accommodate individual coins which may have been placed in the system by mistake or by damage to a package of coins. As illustrated in FIG. 1, inclined coin slide 140 is positioned below the return flight of inclined conveying means 13 and coin drawer 141 is positioned beneath the delivery end of horizontal conveying means 12, fluted transfer roller 22 and the lower end of inclined slide 140. As illustrated in FIG. 5, coin drawer 142 is positioned beneath work table 80. The coin drawers and coin slide are positioned at the locations where any loose coins would be likely to drop from the system, and the coin drawers can be opened to retrieve any coins collected by the drawers.

While this invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A method of placing approximately cylindrical packages of coins or the like in containers comprising the steps of arranging the packages in parallel relationship with respect to one another along an approximately horizontal path extending across the length of the packages, moving the packages along the approximately horizontal path to an inclined path, transferring the packages from the approximately horizontal path to the inclined path, moving the packages up the inclined path toward the upper end of a hopper while maintaining the packages parallel to one another, arranging the packages horizontally and in parallel relationship with respect to one another in the hopper, continually dropping the packages from the lower end of the hopper to a transfer station, moving alternate ones of the packages dropped to the transfer station in opposite lateral directions toward containers, counting the packages as they move from the transfer station to a container, terminating the dropping and moving of the packages to one of or both of the containers after a predetermined number of packages moved toward the container have been counted.

2. The method of claim 1 and wherein the step of arranging the packages in parallel relationship with respect to one another along an approximately horizontal path extending across the lengths of said packages comprises dispensing the packages from a plurality of coin wrapping machines at different stations along the path onto a conveyor belt.

3. The method of claim 1 and wherein the step of transferring the packages from the approximately horizontal path to the inclined path comprises moving the packages from the approximately horizontal path to the inclined path in timed relationship with the movement of the packages up the inclined path.

4. The method of claim 1 and wherein the step of arranging the packages in a parallel relationship with respect to one another in the hopper comprises dropping the packages from the upper end of the inclined path, guiding the packages down an inclined path into the hopper, and turning the packages into alignment with their direction of movement down the inclined path.

5. The method of claim 1 and wherein the step of arranging the packages in a parallel ralationship with respect to one another in the hopper comprises stacking the packages horizontally in a downwardly extending tortuous path.

6. A method of placing cylindrical packages of coins or the like in containers comprising dispensing the packages one at a time to a transfer station, moving alternate ones of the packages in opposite lateral directions from the transfer station into separate containers, counting the packages as they are moved from the transfer station toward the containers, terminating the movement of packages into one of the containers after a predetermined number of packages have been moved into the container and moving each of the packages dispensed to the transfer station into the other container, and terminating the movement of packages into the other container after a predetermined number of packages have been moved into the other container.

7. The method of claim 6 and further including the steps of dispensing packages from a plurality of sources to a conveyor means, and continuously moving the packages with the conveyor means to a hopper means, and wherein the step of dispensing the packages one at a time to a transfer station comprises dispensing the packages one at a time from the hopper means to the transfer station.

8. A method of placing approximately cylindrical packages of coins or the like in containers comprising accumulating the packages in a horizontal attitude in an upwardly stacked relationship in a hopper, dispensing the packages one at a time from the lower end of the hopper to a transfer station below the hopper, moving alternate ones of the packages in opposite lateral directions into containers positioned on opposite sides of the transfer station, counting the packages as they move from the transfer station toward the containers, terminating the dispensing and moving of alternate ones of the packages to one of the containers in response to a predetermined number of the packages having been moved from the transfer station to the one container while continuing to dispense and move packages to the other container, and terminating the dispensing and moving of packages to the other container in response to a predetermined number of the packages having been moved from the transfer station to the other container.