gear: 100 series mechanical coin mechanism

Coin Mechanisms Inc. in Glendale Heights, Illinois was founded in 1968 to make. . .coin mechanisms. Have you ever thought about what goes into a coin mechanism? It's pretty cool.

I invite you to consider the elegant sophistication of the 100 series mechanical coin mechanism. Through the use of counter-weights, magnets and "ridge detectors", this compact bit of technology can tell the difference between a real quarter and a slug.

And if you're dropping a US nickel in, it gets even fancier:

In the case of the U.S. Nickel mechanism a bounce anvil is used to test the bounceability of the coin. Due to its magnetic properties, a genuine nickel passes quickly through the magnetic field and drops off the end of the rail in an arc that causes it to hit the bounce anvil at just the right angle which, because of the coin's elasticity, bounces it into the accept slot. A counterfeit coin, passing through the magnetic field at the same speed as a genuine nickel, will not have the same hardness or bounce characteristic as a genuine nickel an dwill miss the accept slot and be returned.

These mechanisms are so tough that CoinOp says "it is possible to clean the entire mechanism by putting it in through the cycles in your dishwasher (sic)." Wow.

If you woke up tomorrow and wanted to buy one of them, you'd have to shell out. . .wait for it. . . $18.85 for the U.S. Quarter mechanism from one of their distributors. Now start thinking about what you'd want to use it for.

Like a new version of the F.E. Erickson "Ask Swami" napkin holder. More on that later.