Coin wrapping apparatus

Claim 1

A coin wrapping apparatus to operate with accumulating means for stacking a predetermined number of coins in the form of a cylinder; wrapping means for winding the stack of coins with a length of tape; means for transporting the stack of coins from said accumulating means to said wrapping means; a tape supply; a guide roll mounted in said apparatus adjacent to said tape supply; a driving roll mounted in said apparatus opposite to and closely spaced from said guide roll; a selectively energizable electromagnet unit adapted, when energized, to move said driving roll toward said guide roll into engagement with tape guided over the guide roll, thereby to cooperate with said guide roll to feed the tape from said tape supply to said wrapping means; a cutter blade positioned downstream relative to said driving roll along the direction of travel of the tape, and being responsive to stretch of the tape by said wrapping means for cutting the tape, guide means mounted in said apparatus between said guide roll and said wrapping means; and control means for said apparatus comprising a first cam disc rotatably mounted in the apparatus, means for rotating said disc at a predetemined speed, and a microswitch electrically connected to said electromagnetic unit and to an electric power supply, said microswitch including an actuator member adapted to engage and be actuated by the periphery of said cam disc, the periphery of said cam disc including a first raised surface portion adpated to engage said actuator to close said microswitch and a second recessed surface portion that allows the microswitch to open, thereby to periodically energize and deenergize said electromagnet unit, said wrapping means being activated in response to deenergization of said electromagnet unit to wrap said stack of coins, whereby when said electromagnet is energized, said driving roll feeds a required length to tape to said wrapping means, and when said electromagnet unit is deenergized and said wrapping means is activated, the required length of tape is cut and wound around the stack of coins while feeding of the tape by said driving roll is stopped, said wrapping means comprising, three wrapping rolls respectively located in a predetermined array at the vertexes of an equilateral triangle, two connecting levers, each having one of said wrapping rolls mounted at one end thereof and each being pivotally mounted in said apparatus at their mid-portion on fixed pivot points, a connecting rod having opposite ends pivotably connected to the ends of said connecting levers remote from said one ends thereof, said connecting rod and said connecting levers being disposed with respect to each other such that the opposite ends of said connecting rod and said fixed pivot points always are located at the corners of a parallelogram, a first arm having the other of said wrapping rolls mounted at one end thereof and pivotally mounted at its other end on one of said fixed pivot points, a second arm, said other to said wrapping rolls also being mounted, simultaneously, at one end of said second arm, and said second arm being pivotally connected to said remote end of one of said levers, a second cam disc rotatably mounted in said apparatus for rotation by said rotating means at said predetermined speed; and a control lever pivotally mounted in said apparatus at its mid portion on a fixed pivot point and having one end cooperatively connected to said connecting rod and its opposite end engaging the periphery of said second cam disc, first spring means for biasing said control lever to move its one end away from the cooperative connection with said connecting rod, second spring means for biasing said connecting rod to positions wherein said wrapping rolls are forced to converge and hold the stack of coins therebetween, and said second cam disc having a predetermined peripheral configuration selected such that when said second cam disc does not act on said control lever, the action of said first spring means causes said control lever to move away from the cooperative connection to said connecting rod to allow the connecting rod to move under the pulling action of said second spring means, thereby allowing said wrapping rolls to hold a stack of coins therebetween, and when said second cam disc acts on said control lever to cause said connecting rod to move against the pull action of said second spring means, thereby keeping said wrapping rolls away from each other.