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I have a similar problem with what is described here http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Electronic_20Pay-to-Park except that I would like to see a portable hand held machine that I could slip the nozzle into the tiny self-pay slot at my local non-automated pre-pay parking lot and have it dispense the $3.00
in pennies, nickles or dimes directly into the slot. It would speed up the process of slipping in $3.00 worth of pennies into the slot and would eliminate the fumbling with all those coins or trying to fold multiple times the bills necessary to pay the parking.
The device would consist of a handle, trigger, battery compartment, centrifuge-like coin impeller, nozzle with slot stabilizer and a coin roll holder or two.
The device would also double as a coin shooter in case someone would want something like that.
Electronic Pay-to-Park
http://www.halfbake...ronic_20Pay-to-Park
Please use the link function [krelnik, Oct 04 2004]
Triffid gun
http://www.bbc.co.u...iffids/attack.shtml
The device proposed here might be useful for the small, sproutling triffids. [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
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Or, preferably, a card swipe or EZ-Pass-style proximity device, charging you only what you use. |
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I think you are being a bit overly specific in your design (there are many other machines with coin slots into which one might want to insert coins). Portable devices which dispense precisely-counted coinage are certainly baked, though I don't know of any that will automatically insert the coinage into a slot. As such, a device to count cointage and insert it into a slot might be novel and useful except for one major concern: many devices with coin slots are designed to have coins inserted fairly slowly. While one could design a device to insert coinage very rapidly, the device would be worse than useless if it inserted coins faster than the accepting device could count them. Make the device insert coins at a leisurely pace, though, and the device won't save much time. |
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Hmmm.. Appears that either Krelnik thinks I didn't look at the article that I link in the first sentence of my write-up, or.. the system added the link for me? |
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Day of the Triffids? That doesn't look like the 1962 b-movie classic. |
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E-Z Pass..Yes I too would like an E-Z pass parking system, but most lots like these are antiquated, non-automated, pre-pay put the money in the slot systems that date back to when parking may have been a quarter or so for a day. No automation here. No worry about the device accepting the change not being able to count it fast enough because only the person who opens the box each day counts it (and hopefully they will get it right, unless you underpaid...then hope they just figure you actually do have enough in the slot). Also most machines that do count coinage now also accept bills and do (sometimes) give change. |
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Appears that only supercat and bungston actually read my write-up with any bit of coherence. |
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I'll have to thank snarfguy, waugsqueke, and Freefall to stay on topic next time by not deleting their responses.. |
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cc1091: Are you saying that you're used to parking fee collection boxes that don't mechanically count the money, but just collect it until someone comes by to check on it? That's rather different from the common parking meter in the U.S., which is a coin-operated timer. Insert coin, turn handle, insert coin, turn handle, ad nauseum. These devices are entirely clockwork driven, and all necessary power for their operation is derived from the user turning the handle. |
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These type of non-mechanical devices are quite common in large northern cities in the US where an old building has been raised for urban renewal and only a concrete pad has been installed in its place. Of course the other common type is where you drive your car on the lot, hand the keys to some guy (who was probably camping in a cardboard box the night before), and let him park the car as close to the others as he can so they can jam as many cars onto one lot as possible. Then you pay to get your keys back (if you show up before the attendant goes home..er..to the bar). On the periphery of the downtown, the unautomated, unattended parking pay by honor systems are more common. Of course, you can choose to not pay, or to under pay. But once you do that enough times on those few days that they do check everyone, they begin to know your vehicle. Then they just start looking for your vehicle and a few others in order to write enough tickets to make the parking system happy. |
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My plan, is to make an autofeeder that will deposit the required coinage (preferably pennies) directly into the slot. Taking the time to plug the pennies (or even dimes and nickles) into the slot is too time consuming. |
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Most parking meters here exist lining the streets (though a few multilevel parking lots use meters instead of parking attendants). Most have an LCD display and only take quarters (I think it is a quarter for 12.5 minutes). Parking in an attended lot is anywhere from $5.50 to $15 a day (the $15 a day place includes a car wash and a coffee shop..both are extra). |
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