WO1991012596A1

WO1991012596A1 - Trolley with coin lock

Info

Publication number: WO1991012596A1
Application number: PCT/EP1991/000261
Authority: WO
Inventors: Werner Müller
Original assignee: Systec Ausbausysteme Gmbh
Priority date: 1990-02-14
Filing date: 1991-02-09
Publication date: 1991-08-22
Also published as: ATE116460T1; DE59104030D1; ZA911078B; AU642970B2; IE910510A1; AU7212391A; EP0468022A1; EP0468022B1; CA2051657A1; PT96773A

Abstract

A trolley has a coin lock and a key for locking trolleys in a parking queue to each other or for releasing the trolley at the end of the column when a deposit coin is inserted in the coin lock. The coin lock locks the deposit coin when the trolley is released. To release the trolley, the deposit coin in the coin lock executes a movement in the direction of its axis of rotation.

Description

Transport trolley lait coin lock

Description

The invention relates to a transport trolley, in particular a shopping trolley, with a coin lock and a key for connecting one of the cars standing in a parking column or for releasing the car, preferably at the end of the column, by entering a coin into its coin lock, whereby the coin lock locks the coin when the car is released and releases the coin when the car is reconnected.

Transport trolleys with this deposit system are known in principle from DE-A 25 54 916 and are now on the market in various embodiments. In principle, each transport trolley is provided with a coin lock and a key, usually hanging on a chain. In the coupled state of the carriage, the key of the penultimate carriage or the key hanging at a collection point is in the coin lock of the carriage, whereas the own key is available for coupling the next carriage following.

In general, the wagon standing at the end of the column should be uncoupled. However, it is also possible to uncouple the carriages standing at the beginning of the column, or if the carriages are tipped over by the operating personnel. to be distributed to unlock the carriage column in the middle.

Since the release of a trolley is only possible by inserting a deposit coin into the coin-operated machine and the user only receives this deposit coin when he reconnects the trolley to one of the various collection points, the trolleys no longer stand around uselessly. You save personnel to search, collect and return the wagons and generally also manage with fewer, because the unused wagons are always concentrated at the points of need.

In order to further promote the spread of these trolleys with deposit system, the present invention is based on the task of reducing the effort for the coin lock, in particular its dimensions. As a result, the coin lock should be easier to integrate into the carriage, that is, it should protrude less into the loading space or beyond the outer contour. Last but not least, the coin lock should be characterized by ease of use and low production costs.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the deposit coin in the coin lock carries out a shift approximately in the direction of its axis of rotation when the carriage is released. The invention is based on the following finding: for which purpose a slide protruding from the coin lock is usually used, into which the coin is first inserted and which is then used to release the key of the front carriage must cover a fairly large sliding path. Even with the greatest design effort, the sliding path and thus also the length of the slide projecting from the coin lock can never be less than the coin diameter.

In contrast, the deposit coin in the system according to the invention executes its active path in the direction of the coin axis and consequently its displacement path and the resulting dimensions of the coin slot are significantly smaller than in the known systems. Usually you can get by with a displacement path that is in the order of the coin thickness. Depending on the design, a displacement of 1 mm to approx. 1 cm is recommended.

To implement this principle, it is advisable to store at least one actuator which is movable approximately in the direction of the coin axis in the coin lock, this actuator being in operative connection with the coin on the one hand and with the key on the other, and this actuator optionally with the coin locked Releases the key or releases the coin while holding the key.

The design can be carried out in such a way that the coin lock has a coin holder, which is preferably rigidly installed in the coin lock and has the shape of a bowl that takes up the coin with a slight clearance, and that at least one spring with a movable slide parallel to the coin axis moves under the Protection of cantilevers with its cross-section protrudes into the cross-section of the coin holder in such a way that it protrudes from the Deposit coin, but cannot be depressed by a next smaller one, whereby in the non-depressed position it interlockingly engages in recesses of the key inserted into a cavity of the coin lock, but in the depressed position releases it and at the same time in turn releases it from the locked key against spring pressure tensioned means is locked against springback and thus blocks the coin in the coin holder.

The slide is expediently designed as a cylindrical bolt with two annular grooves, the upper one of which is used to hold the coin in the coin holder in a form-fitting manner, the lower one is used both for releasing the key and for its own locking by means provided for this purpose. You get by with very few, easy to manufacture parts.

The means for locking the slide in its pressed-in position can be formed by a bolt which is guided into the cavity mentioned for the key and which engages in recesses in the slide when the key is pulled out by spring force, but releases the slide when the key is inserted so that he shifts the coin into its upper release position.

In order to rule out any misuse of the coin machine, it is advisable to work not only with one slide, but with several spatially distributed slides, which have to be depressed at the same time so that the key of the neighboring car is released. Further features can be found in claims 6 to 8. Another development of the invention is aimed at not prescribing a specific deposit coin for the user, but rather giving him the choice between two different deposit coins. This is particularly recommended in areas near the border where different currencies are used. For this purpose, two coin holders of different sizes are installed in the coin lock according to the invention, which cooperate with the same slide (s). The coin holders are expediently arranged upright and on both sides of the cavity for the key. In this case, the coin lock is no longer loaded with coins from above, but from the left or right.

Since the slide must have correspondingly offset active surfaces for engagement with the coins in the case of coins of different sizes, it may be expedient for manufacturing reasons to form the slide by three successive sections in the longitudinal direction, of which the middle one with the key, the two outer ones each correspond to a deposit coin, the sections being resiliently braced with one another in both axial directions.

Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of two exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing; shows

0 shows a column of shopping trolleys coupled to one another

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a first design of the coin lock from above with a partial section along the line E in Fig g. 8th; 6 shows a section along the line B in FIG. 6; FIG. 7 shows a section along the line D in FIG. 7; FIG. 7 shows a section along the line F in FIG. 1 shows a view similar to FIG. 7, but with an inadmissible unlocking attempt;

10 shows another design for two deposit coins in vertical section;

11 shows the same view as FIG. 10, but with the coin locked;

Fig. 12 shows a vertical section through Fig. 10 along the line G and

13 is a side view of FIG. 11 in the direction of arrow H.

It should also be noted that FIGS. 6, 7 and 9 are sections in the parting plane of the coin lock housing, that FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 6 and the left half of FIG. 8 on the one hand, FIG. 3, 5, 7 and the right half of FIG. 8 on the other hand each represent the same operating states.

The coupling principle is first illustrated in FIG. One can see there numerous shopping trolleys A which have been driven against one another and each have a coin lock B and are thus connected via a flexible element 5 to the respective neighboring trolley or to a stationary collection point C. If a wagon - generally the wagon standing at the end of the column - is to be uncoupled, a pawn coin must be inserted into its coin lock, whereupon the coin lock releases the connection to the wagon in front of it. Conversely, the user gets his coin back when the car is recoupled. T-

1 to 9, the structure and mode of action of a first exemplary embodiment of the invention will be explained in the following.

A lower housing part 1 of the coin lock B is connected with rivets 2 to an upper housing part 3 and is in turn fastened on the handle tube 6 of a shopping cart by means of a screw 4 with the interposition of a flat belt 5. At the free end of the flat belt 5, a key 8 is fastened by means of rivets 7. This is not shown in the drawings, however the key 8 of the same type, which is attached to the end of the flat belt 5 ', which belongs to the next carriage in the parked column in the direction of travel.

In holes 9 and 9 ', which sack! ocharti g end under overhangs 27 of the housing part 3, cylindrical bolts 10 and 10 'are displaceable and are under the action of compression springs 11. The bolts 10, 10' have annular grooves 12 and 13.

The housing parts 1 and 3 form between them a cavity 14 of such a height that the key 8, which is made of sheet metal of approximately coin thickness, can be easily inserted. The cavity 14 contains two bars 15 and 15 'with lugs 16 and a bridge 17 which is under the action of a compression spring 18.

The system is initially in the state shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8, left half, in which the carriage, on the handle tube 6 of which the device shown is mounted, is connected to the next carriage via the flat band 5 ' is. 6 that the key 8 cannot be removed, since the bolts 10 and 10 "partially engage in recesses 19 which it has on the side. At the same time, it holds the bridge 17 against with its front edge 20 the action of the spring 18 back and over i re lugs 16 and the latches 15 and 15 'out of engagement.

On the upper side of the upper housing part 2 there is a surface 21, into which the cup-like coin holder 22 is sunk in the region of the overhangs 27. This is dimensioned so that the coin fits into it with little play, and its central axis is approximately in the same plane as the axes of the bolts 10 and 10 '. The bores 9, 9 'are also arranged in such a way that their cross-section projects into the coin holder 22 by a little less than the difference in radii of the deposit coin to the next smaller coin. At the edge of a stop 23 is also available.

If a deposit coin is now inserted (from the left in FIG. 1) over the surface 21 until it is in contact with the stop 23, then, as can be seen from the left half of FIG Ring grooves 13 of the bolts 10 and 10 '.

When it is then pressed down into the coin holder 22, it simultaneously moves the bolts 10 and 10 'downward against the action of the springs 11 by approximately their thickness, until they assume the position shown in FIG. 8 on the right. The ring grooves 12 reach the height of the cavity 14, so that, as can be seen from FIG. 7, the key 8 to the right can be pulled out, whereby the carriage equipped with the subject matter of the invention is free for use. At the same time, however, the spring 18 pushes the latches 15 and 15 'partially over the bridge 17 and the lugs 16 into the annular grooves 12, specifically before the key 8 has left them. The bolts 10, 10 'can thus neither rise again under the action of the springs 9 nor be raised in any way from above, which has the consequence that the coin, although largely visible, remains positively caught.

If the car is pushed back into the park after use and the key 8 of the next front car is reinserted into the cavity 14, the key 8 presses with its front edge 20 both the bridge 17 and the tabs 15, 15 'via the lugs 16 the starting position back, the recesses 19 covering the cross section of the bores 9 so that the bolts 10, 10 'snap into the upper position under the action of the springs 11. At the same time, they lock the key 8 against being pulled out and raise the coin 24 to the level of the surface 21, so that it can be easily pushed out to the left.

From Fig. 8 it is easy to see that the fingers 10, 10 'cannot be reached because of the overhangs 27. In order to unlock the key, both bolts would also have to be pressed simultaneously. Because of the visibility of the coin, the incentive to over-load the system is also not particularly great for normal consumers. / 0

On the other hand, the idea suggests that after using the car, the system should be stimulated with some improvised tool to release the coin so that the car does not have to be pushed back. If one pushes the bridge 17 back by placing one approximately in the middle, the bars 15, 15 'do not follow and the coin remains blocked. If, on the other hand, the bridge 17 is hit strongly from the side or the tool is even positioned approximately in the direction of the arrow 25 on the nose 16 of the bolt 15, the parts 15, 17, 15 'become jammed against the walls of the recess 14 long before Latch 15 is pushed out of engagement. If one tries to push both bolts out of engagement simultaneously with the rectangular width of the recess 14 and thus without tilting the bridge 17, this plate itself penetrates into the ring grooves 12 and holds the bolts 10, 10 'in place . In order to outsmart the system, an actual follow-up is required.

The fastening screw 4 is already installed when the device is installed. It can then be tightened through an opening 26 in the upper housing part 3, for which purpose the bridge 17 can be pushed back with a suitable tool. Later, the path to the screw is always blocked either by the coin 24 or the key 8, so that the device cannot be unscrewed by unauthorized third parties. If necessary, the screw is then best made accessible by using a key 8 with a corresponding hole.

The use of a flat band 5 and the fastening thereof by means of the screw 4 under the housing part 1 / /

does not constitute a necessary feature of the invention. Instead of the flat strip, another flexible, partially flexible or rigid element could also be used.

The following should be mentioned to complete the teaching. Of course, such a device must not be such that the coin can be taken out with the key located on the respective device itself. In the devices according to the prior art, because of their own size, the length of the chain required to hang the trolleys together is so small that it does not extend around the device. With the subject matter of the invention, on the other hand, it may be necessary to install stiffened sections in the flexible member using a technique familiar to the person skilled in the art.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 10 to 13. It allows the use of two different deposit coins.

To facilitate understanding, parts which correspond to one another have been provided with the same reference symbols as possible in the previous figures, the reference symbols assigned to the smaller pawn coin being supplemented with a and the reference symbols assigned to the larger coin having been supplemented with b.

As can be seen in FIGS. 10 and 11, a coin holder 22a or 22b is installed in the coin lock there on the left and right of the cavity 14 for inserting the key 8, and each coin holder has displaceable edges perpendicular to the coin plane Slider 10a or 10b so that the coin lock can be operated from each coin holder.

The slides 10a and 10b function according to the same principle as in the previously described embodiment, they are only matched to the different diameters of the deposit coins provided and are therefore offset relative to one another.

For manufacturing reasons, the slides 10a and 10b are not formed in one piece as in the previous exemplary embodiment, but are separated from one another by a separate intermediate piece 10c and 10c ¹ . This intermediate piece 10c or 10c 'is resiliently clamped between the two sliders 10a and 10b or 10a' and 10b 'and engages in the recesses 19 of the key 8 when no coin is inserted, cf. Fig. 12.

In addition, the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'correspond to the bolts 15 and 15' already described, which in turn are operatively connected to the bridge 17 via the lugs 16.

If the transport trolley is coupled, the key 8 of the trolley in front of it is in the coin lock, the bolts 15, 15 'together with their bridge 17 are pressed against the action of the spring 18 into the housing of the coin lock and are consequently located the bars 15, 15 'no longer engage with the intermediate pieces 10b and 10b'. This state is shown in FIGS. 10 and 12. / 3rd

If a deposit coin 24 is now pushed into the coin lock (perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in FIG. 11) until it is above the coin holder 22b, it comes into engagement with the grooves 13 of the sliders 10b and 10b '. The subsequent active displacement path of the coin, which is expediently carried out directly by hand, but can also be brought about mechanically, then shifts all slide parts to the same extent and in the same direction as the coin is displaced. This state is shown in Fig. 11.

During this displacement movement, the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'of the slide are moved out of their engagement with the key 8. As a result, the compression spring 18 can engage the latches 15 and 15 'with the slide intermediate pieces 10c and 10c'. This state is shown in Fig. 11. It can also be seen there that the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'have two recesses 10e and 10f and 10e' and 10f offset in the direction of displacement, so that the intermediate pieces 10c and 10c 'both in the left end position according to FIG. 11 as well as in the not shown right ^" end position can be locked by the bolts 15. The coin 24 is then secured against removal until the key 8 is inserted into the cavity 14 and the bolts 15 are pushed back when the trolley is recoupled.

The two embodiments described have the advantage in common that the active actuation path of the coins takes place in the direction of the coin axis and consequently very small actuation paths and a particularly compact design of the coin lock are achieved.

Claims

Patent claims

1. Transport trolley, in particular a shopping trolley, with a coin lock and a key (8) for connecting one another to a car standing in a parking column or for releasing the car, preferably at the end of the column, by entering a coin (24), the coin lock the deposit coin locks when the carriage is released and releases the deposit coin when the carriage is reconnected, characterized in that the deposit coin (24) carries out a shift approximately in the direction of its axis of rotation when the carriage is released in the coin lock.

2. Transport trolley according to claim 1, characterized in that the displacement of the deposit coin (24) is in the order of the size of the coin.

3. Transport trolley according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one approximately in the direction of the coin axis movable actuator (10) on the one hand with the coin (24), on the other hand with the key (8) is in operative connection and this actuator (10) optionally with locking IT

the coin (24) releases the key (8) or releases the coin (24) by locking the key (8).

4. Transport trolley according to one of the preceding Ansprü¬ che, characterized in that the coin lock has a coin holder (22) in the form of a coin (24) with close clearance receiving bowl and that at least one spring-loaded, approximately parallel to the coin axis movable slide (10) with the protection of overhangs (27) with its cross-section so far into the cross-section of the coin holder (22) that it can be depressed by the coin, but not by a next smaller one, whereby it When not in the pressed position, it engages in recesses (19) of the key (8) inserted into a cavity (14) of the coin lock, but in the pressed position releases it and at the same time, in turn, by means (15) braced against spring pressure (18) by the locked key , 17) is locked against springback and the coin is blocked in the coin holder (22).

5. Transport trolley according to claim 4, characterized in that the slide (10) is designed as a cylindrical bolt with two annular grooves (12, 13), of which the upper (13) for positively holding the coin in the holder (22), the lower (12) is used both for releasing the key (8) and for its own locking by the means (15, 17) provided for this purpose.

6. Deposit system according to claim 4, characterized in that that the means for locking the slide (10) are designed as a ledger (15) in the cavity (14) for receiving the key (8) which, when the key (8) is pulled out, by spring force in recesses (12) of the Slider (10) engages, but when inserting the key (8) the slider (10) and thus the coin releases.

7. Transport trolley according to claim 6, characterized in that two mutually opposite slide (10, 10 ') are provided and that the means for locking the slide (10, 10') two on opposite Seitenwän¬ the cavity (14) adjacent latch (15) with an intermediate bridge (17) which is in engagement with the bolts, the bridge (17) being pulled by a spring (18) when the slides (10, 10 ') are depressed when the key (8) is removed. presses the bolt (15) into recesses (12) of the slide (10, 10 '), whereas the bolt (15) and the bridge (17) release the slide (10, 10') when the key is inserted, so that they move together with the coin to its upper release position.

8. Transport trolley according to claim 7, characterized in that the bridge (7) has such a ratio between length and width at its points of contact with the bars (15) that when trying to push one of the bars (15) out of engagement, is tilted between the bars (15) so that clamping occurs.

9. Transport trolley according to one of claims 3 to 8, characterized in that the coin lock has two coin holders (22a, 22b) of different sizes, which optionally cooperate with the same slide (s) (10, 10 ').

10. Transport trolley according to claim 9, characterized in that the coin holders (22a, 22b) are arranged edgewise and aside of the cavity (14) for the key (8).

11. Transport trolley according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the slide (10, 10 ') is formed by three successive sections in the longitudinal direction (10a, 10c, 10b; 10a', 10c ', 10b'), of which the middle Section (10c, 10c ') with the key (8), the two outer sections (10a, 10b; 10a', 10b ') each correspond with a token (24).

12. A trolley according to claim 11, characterized in that the slide parts 1 pieces (10a, 10c, 10b; 10a ', 10c', 10b ') are spring-loaded in both axial directions.

13. Transport trolley according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a screw which can be reached by a bore (26) in the housing upper part with a tool is provided for fastening the housing (1, 3) of the coin lock on the carriage (4th ) is always covered either by the coin (24) or the key (8) during operation.

14. Coin lock for a trolley according to one of the preceding claims.