US3837300A

US3837300A - Coin receptacle vault

Info

Publication number: US3837300A
Application number: US00353224A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Karr
Original assignee: Sparton Corp
Current assignee: American Hofmann Corp
Priority date: 1973-04-23
Filing date: 1973-04-23
Publication date: 1974-09-24
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-24
Also published as: CA1003699A

Abstract

A vault particularly suitable for use in trucks employed to collect coins, such as from coin telephones and vending machines, the vault comprising a housing having a rear door wherein a wheeled cart may be readily placed within, and removed from the vault. The wheeled cart includes a plurality of coin box receptacle compartments arranged in rows, and the front side of the vault housing includes a plurality of rows of doors wherein the doors are sequentially linearly movable to align with and enclose a compartment, the displacement of a door providing access to an adjacent compartment, and the sequential door operation is repeated until all of the compartments in a row are filled and closed. Door latching means properly orient the doors with respect to their associated compartment, and door release means simultaneously releases the doors for resetting to the initial condition.

Description

United States Patent [191 Karr Se t. 24 1974 COIN RECEPTACLE VAULT Primary ExaminerDennis L. Taylor [75] Inventor. Willis F. Karr, Utica, MlCh. Attorney, Agent or Firm Beaman & Seaman [73] Assignee: Sparton Corporation, Jackson,

57 ABSTRACT [22] Flled' 1973 A vault particularly suitable for use in trucks em- [21] 'Appl. No.: 353,224 ployed to collect coins, such as from coin telephones and vending machines, the vault comprising a housing having a rear door wherein a wheeled cart may be [52] US. Cl 109/57, 109/53i9160g/46Zi readily placed Within and removed from the Vault [51] Int Cl E05 1/00 The wheeled cart includes a plurality of coin box re- [58] Fie'ld ceptacle compartments arranged in rows, and the 296/24 front side of the vault housing includes a plurality of rows of doors wherein the doors are sequentially lin- [56] References Cited early movable to align with and enclose a compartment, the displacement of a door providing access to UNITED STATES PATENTS an adjacent compartment, and the sequential door opl59,380 2/1875 Barnes 109/56 X eration is repeated until all of the compartments in a 675,900 6/1901 296/24 R row are filled and closed. Door latching means prop- 1 erly orient the doors with respect to their associated 2l04335 141938 29/6/24 R compartment, and door release means simultaneously 2l25139 7/1938 109/47 releases the doors for resetting to the initial condition. 2,585,919 2/1952 109/53 X 2,775,947 1/1957 Mosley 109/47 15 9 Drawmg F'gures l E w ",4 92

Pica fi \OO 1 a 22 ea so l g T: 2

8 l O i 34% 2 19 5m Lj/SO 4-8 44 l| VI B if 20 \ZOE sneer ear 4 COIN RECEPTACLE VAULT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention pertains to the field of portable vaults having a plurality of sealed compartments sequentially accessible and closable by a plurality of individual doors.

The wide usage of coin telephones and vending machines requires the periodical collecting of the coins from such devices, and telephone companies and vending machine operators employ collectors who are assigned routes for collecting the money accumulated. The frequency of collection varies considerably depending on the usage and location of the telephone or vending machine, and coin collection has become a significant phase in the operation of telephone companies and other owners of coin operated apparatus.

By necessity, a coin collection route must be of such duration and geographical layout as to make effective use of the truck and collector, and in the course of collecting many coin boxes the collector will often have accumulated several thousands of dollars. The safety of the operator and the money is of prime importance and concern as coin collectors are often the victims of robberies and theft. To discourage such problems the collected coin boxes are normally placed within a vault carried by the coin collecting truck or van, and those vaults presently available for coin collectionpurposes have provided some degree of safety and discouragement against holdups and theft.

However, present coin collecting truck mounted vaults have many disadvantages. A common construction employs a rotatable drum within the vault, and such drums require constant maintenance and repair, and many accidents occur during the handling thereof. Additionally, present coin collecting truck mounted vaults are very heavy requiring relatively large and expensive trucks, and adversely affect the handling of the truck.

Additionally, present truck mounted coin collecting vaults have been of such size and configuration as to adversely affect, and in many instances eliminate, rear visability through the truck compartment housing the vault. Also, the size and configuration of the vaults known in the art provide little working area within the collection vehicle, and loading and unloading procedures of the vault are relatively complicated, troublesome and somewhat dangerous.

Further, presently available coin collecting truck mounted vaults have not been of such construction and operation as to discourage falsification in the collection of coin receptacles, and have not been successful in thwarting many holdups and robberies.

It is the purpose of the invention to provide an improved vault for use with coin collection vehicles which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages of the known apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide a coin collection receptacle vault of the portable type for mounting within trucks and vans wherein the exposure to robbery and theft of significant sums of money is reduced, the weight of the vault is reduced as compared with prior constructions, and the configuration and size is such as to provide an improved rear vehicle visibility and truck handling.

Further objects of the invention include the provision of a coin collecting vault which reduces the likelihood of falsification of coin collecting and pilfering. 1ncreased working areas are provided in collection vehicles utilizing the vault of the invention, and the collected coin boxes may be readily removed from the vault in a quick and safe manner.

In the practice-of the invention the vault is of a rectangular configuration having a rear side and a front side. The rear side faces the rear of the vehicle and includes a door wherein a wheeled cart may be readily wheeled into, and removed from, the vault. The front side vof the vault is the only side thereof accessible to the driver and collector, and includes a plurality of doors arranged in rows for sequential movement in a linear direction. The wheeled cart includes a plurality of compartments also arranged in rows which align with the rows of doors, and in the initial position at the beginning of the collection route the doors are arranged such that one of the compartments at the end of a row, preferably the uppermost, is exposed for the reception of a money box receiving receptacle. After this compartment has been filled, the adjacent door is displaced to align with the filled compartment exposing the adjacent compartment for reception of a coin receptacle. After this exposed compartment is filled the next door in the row is displaced to close the filled compartment exposing the next adjacent compartment, and

so on.

In the operation of the invention a limited number of unfilled compartments are initially exposed, and as each compartment is filled it is closed. Thus, only one partially filled vault compartment is accessible at any one time, and only that money within the partially exposed compartment is exposed for possible theft.

The doors are mounted upon elongated rods for slidable movement thereon, and notches defined in the rods cooperate with spring biased detents located within the doors. The detents and notches engage upon a door being aligned with its associated compartment, and the rods are all interconnected to a release lever permitting simultaneous rotation so that rotation of the rods releases the notches from their associated detents permitting all of the doors to be simultaneously unlocked and returned to their initial position.

The rods are of a length greater than the length of the row of cart compartments so that access to a compartment in each row is initially provided, and all of the compartments will be closed by their associated door when filled. The use of a number of doors corresponding to the number of compartments within the wheeled cart permits the vault to be completely safely closed when filled, and the exposure at any time of no more than a partial compartment discourages holdups and falsification significantly reducing the exposure to loss as compared with prior coin collecting vaults.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The aforementioned objects and advantages of the invention will be appreciated from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational, partially sectional, view of a coin collecting truck using a vault in accord with the invention,

FIG. 2 is a front view of the coin collecting vault illustrating the top row cover in the open position,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the rear and side of the vault illustrating the rear door open and coin receptacles located in the uppermost row of cart compartments,

' FIG. 4 is a side, elevational, sectional view of the coin collecting vault as taken along IV-IV of FIG. 5, a portion of the cart wall being broken away for purpose of illustration, and the upper cover being shown in the closed condition,

FIG. 5 is a plan, sectional view illustrating the door release lever and linkages as taken along Section VV of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of a door guide rod,

FIG. 7 is a detail view of the upper portion of the vault illustrating the top row cover in the closed condi- DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A coin receptacle vault in accord with the invention is mounted within an enclosed truck or van as represented at 10 in FIG. 1. The van includes a rear side having a door, not shown, which is locked at the coin receiving terminal, and the coin collector driver normally does not have access to the rear of the truck and vault. The vault 12 is fixed within the van, preferably interme diate the front and rear wheels, for improved weight distribution and truck handling purposes, and one of the features of the invention lies in the fact that the height of the vault is less than the height of the truck compartment and rear visibility through the truck over the vault is possible. Usually, a heavy wire screen, not shown, is interposed between the vault and truck walls and roof so that the rear of the van and vault is not accessible from the front of the van interior.

The general configuration of the vault 12 in accord with the invention is best appreciated from FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5. The vault is of a generally rectangular configuration having a top panel 14, a bottom panel 16, side panels 18, a front side generally indicated at 20, and a rear side generally indicated at 22. The vault is preferably of a welded steel plate construction, and includes channel members 24, and box member 26 located at the vertically extending corners of the vault.

The rear side 22 of the vault includes a relatively large door 28 hinged at 30, FIG. 5, which provides access to the vault for placing a wheeled cart 32 therein, or removing the same therefrom. The door 28 includes a levered locking mechanism 34, operating catches 36 which cooperate with latches 38, FIG. 3, mounted upon the vault rear side. The mechanism 34 is lockable by conventional key locking means, not shown, and the key thereto is normally only in the possession of the terminal unloading personnel, as is the key to the rear door of the truck. The rear door 28 includes an upper, inwardly extending abutment plate 40 having an elastomer stop 42, and a lower abutment plate 44 also includes an elastomer stop 46.

The front side of the vault is of a relatively complex construction and includes a plurality of rectangular compartment openings 48 mounted upon support structure affixed within the vault. The compartment openings 48 are arranged in vertical and horizontally extending rows defined by shelves 50 and walls 52, and in the illustrated embodiment thirty such compartment openings are illustrated. Of course, the number of openings may vary within, the scope of the invention, and the illustrated embodiment is that of a commercial product having a vertical height accommodating five compartment openings, and a width of six openings. In the illustrated embodiment the compartment openings 48 are all of identical vertical and horizontal dimension and configuration.

A plurality of vertically extending cylindrical door guide rods 54 are rotatably mounted within the vault front side in spaced parallel relationship. Each of the rods 54 is in alignment with a vertical wall 52 defining the compartment openings, and in the illustrated embodiment seven such rods are utilized. The rods 54 are rotatably mounted at their lower end in the base member 56, FIG. 4, and rotatably extend through openings in the upper support plate 58, FIG. 4, wherein the rod upper end is located adjacent the top panel 14. Thus, it will be appreciated that the rods 54 are of a length greater than the vertical height defined by a row of compartment openings 48, and the length of the rods is greater than the vertical height of a row of compartment openings by a dimension at least equal to the greatest vertical dimension of a compartment opening in a vertical row.

The rods 54 serve as the guides and support for a plurality of doors 60 slidably mounted on the rods 54 for vertical displacement thereon. The doors 60 are preferably of a heavy duty cast construction including a front face in which a finger receiving depression 62 is defined wherein the door may be readily lifted by the collector. The doors 60 also each include outwardly extending tongues 64 defined on the lateral door sides, which slidably engage with grooves 66 defined in the compartment opening walls 52, FIG. 8. Likewise, the lateral sides of the doors also include semicylindrical recesses 68 which slidably cooperate with the cylindrical configuration of the rods 54. Thus, the tongues and recesses firmly restrain the doors 60 from movement out of the plane in which the doors lie, yet permit the doors to be readily moved in a vertical direction in a linear manner parallel to the guide rods.

In order that the doors 60 may be latched with respect to the rods 54 the rods each include a plurality of notches 70, each notch includes a uniform depth portion 72, FIG. 9, and an upwardly inclined beveled or oblique surface 74 extending from the portion 72 toward the vertical center line of the associated door.

The doors 60 each include a pair of spring biased detent plungers 76, FIG. 9, which are slidably located in sockets 78 intersecting recesses 68 and are biased outwardly toward the rods 54 by a compression spring 80. As will be appreciatedfrom FIGS. 2, 6 and 9, the notches defined on each side of the rods 54 are vertically staggered so as to provide maximum rod strength. For this reason the detents 76 within the doors are also vertically staggered, so that the detents will each simultaneously engage a notch within each of the associated door guide rods upon a door 60 being aligned with a compartment opening 48, and thereby closing the associated compartment opening to access from the front side of the vault.

The construction and configuration of the notches 70 permits the doors 60 to be raised upon their associated rods 54, as the inclined surface 74 will compress the springs 80 upon upper displacement of a door with respect to the notches. However, as the lower portion of the notches is defined by a radial shoulder 82, downward movement of the doors is prevented once the detents engage a notch. Thus, when the notches 70 are disposed toward the detents 60 the doors may be moved upwardly, assuming an open compartment exists thereabove, but the doors are prevented from downward movement on the guide rods.

The position of the notches 70 and detents 76 is such that when the detents engage the notches the associated door 60 is aligned with a compartment opening 48, and seals the compartment opening against access from the front side of the vault.

Releasing of the doors from the rods 54 to reset the doors at their lowermost position is accomplished through a release lever 84 located within the interior upper region of the vault immediately below the top panel 14.

Each of the door guide rods 54 has a linkage lever 86 keyed thereto at the upper end, FIG. 5, and the linkages 86 are interconnected by a link bar 88. The central rod 54, and link bar 88 are pivotally interconnected by the manually operable release lever 84 having a handle portion 90 which extends toward the rear of the vault, as will be appreciated in FIG. 5. When the release lever is in the full line position shown in FIG. 5, it is maintained in this position by a holding catch 92, FIG. 4, affixed to the underside of the top panel. In this position the rods 54 are rotated to their maximum clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5, and the notches 70 will be disposed directly toward the doors supported by the associated rods. When the release lever 84 is pivoted in the counterclockwise direction to the dotted position of FIG. 5, each of the rods 54 is rotated counterclockwise approximately 90, and such rotation misaligns the notches 70 with respect to the detents 76, and the detents are *cammed" out of the notches and will engage cylindrical surface portions of the rods. Once the detents 76 are removed from the notches 70 all the doors 60 will simultaneously fall downwardly, and the lowermost door of each vertical row will engage the elastomer bumper 94 mounted upon the base member 56, FIG. 4. Such resetting exposes the entire upper horizontal row of compartment openings 48 to the front side of the vault, and the doors will be in the position illustrated in the four vertical rows of doors shown at the right in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2 the two left door rows have each had two doors raised upwardly one compartment opening so that the third compartment opening from the top is exposed and accessible.

When the doors are all in their lowermost position, and the upper horizontal row of compartment openings 48 is open, this upper row of openings can be preliminarily enclosed by pivoting the top cover 96 to the position shown in FIGS. 4 and 7. The top cover 96 is hinged to the top panel at 98, and is pivotable from the locked position shown in FIGS. 4 and 7 to the inoperative position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 wherein the cover is hinged over upon the top panel 14.

The cover 96 is maintained in the closed position of FIGS. 4 and 7 by a pair of outwardly movable pins 100 slidably received within sleeves 102 defined along the lower edge of the top cover. The pins may be padlocked together against relative inward movement by a padlock 104, FIG. 7, and upon removal of the padlock, the pins may be moved inwardly so that the pins are removed from openings 106 defined in the support channels 24 and the cover pivoted upwardly upon the top panel.

A cover plate 108 is mounted at the lower region of the vault front side 20 by a hinge 110, and the cover plate is disposed adjacent the doors 60 to enclose the clearance that exists between the lowermost door, and the vault base member 112 when the doors are in the uppermost position. Thus, the cover plate 108 prevents the fingers or toes from being placed below the doors 60 to prevent pinching when the release lever 84 is being operated from the back, and the cover plate thereby constitutes a safety feature.

Storage and conveyance of the coin receptacles is accomplished by the wheeled cart 32 which is normally located within the vault. The cart is movably mounted upon wheels 114 which are received within channel tracks 116 extending across the vault bottom panel 16 and extend rearwardly through the vaults rear side 22 across the truck bed to the rear of the truck.

The cart 32 includes a plurality of compartments 118,thirty in number in the disclosed embodiment, which are of a rectangular configuration defined by horizontal shelves 120, and vertically extending partitions 122. The shelves 120 are recessed slightly at their front and rear edges producing shoulders 124, FIG. 4, which prevent the receptacle boxes from inadvertently sliding from the cart compartments.

The orientation and positioning of the cart within the vault housing is best understood from FIG. 4. Elastomer bumpers 126 are interposed between the vault front side structure and the front cart mounted bracket 128, and the front cart wheel plates 130. Likewise, upon the closing of the rear door 28, the door elastomer stops 42 and 46 engage the cart rear bracket 132, and the rear wheel plates, respectively. Thus, upon the closing of the door 28, the cart is firmly located within the vault 12, and immovable with respect thereto.

The vertical positioning of the cart shelves 120 substantially aligns the same with the compartment openings 48 so that when the receptacle boxes 125 are inserted into the vault through a compartment opening, the receptacle boxes will actually be supported within the vault upon the cart shelves as shown on the lower cart shelf in FIG. 4. Of course, it is necessary that the coin receptacle boxes be inserted into the vault sufficiently beyond the compartment openings 48 in order to be fully supported on the cart shelves.

The typical use and operation of a coin collecting receptacle vault in accord with the invention will now be described:

Initially, the cart 32 will be located within the vault 12 as shown in FIG. 4. The rear door 28 will be locked shut and thus the cart is firmly located within the vault. Each of the cart compartments 118 will contain an elongated coin box receiving receptacle 125, in which the coin boxes from coin telephones, for instance, will be received. All of the doors 60 will be in their lowermost position and thus the uppermost horizontal row of compartments 118 and compartment openings 48 will not be closed by a door 60. However, the top cover 96 is swung down to the position shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, and padlocked, and thus the receptacles 125 located within the uppermost compartments 118 are enclosed, and cannot be removed from the vault, either intentionally or accidentally.

The release lever 84 will be in the full line position of FIG. wherein the notches 70 will be disposed toward the doors 60 supported by the associated rods 54.

The collector-driver proceeds to the first coin telephone from which a collection is to be taken and removes the coin box therefrom, substituting an empty coin box. The padlock 104 is removed, the pins 100 are moved inwardly and the top cover 96 is then pivoted to the inoperative position of FIGS. 2 and 3. The upper row of compartments and compartment openings are now accessible, and the collector removes a receptacle 125, places the telephone coin box within the receptacle, and then returns the receptacle to the compartment shelf upon which it was originally supported. Three or four telephone coin boxes may be placed in a single receptacle 125, depending on the size of the coin boxes, and upon the receptacle being filled, the collector, after returning the receptacle to cart compartment 118, raises the door 60 immediately below this compartment and compartment opening until the detents 76 engage with the notches 70 and thus lock the door in alignment with the compartment and compartment opening containing the filled receptacle. Up-

ward movement of the door 60 is prevented by engagement of the door with the vault plate 58, which functions as a stop, and once the door is aligned with the filled compartment, and the detents thereof engage with the notches, the collector no longer has access to the filled receptacle and the same is safely locked within the vault.

The upper vertical movement of the door 60 immediately below the compartment containing the filled receptacle is possible due to the oblique surfaces 74, which cam the detents inwardly upon vertical movement of the door. However, vertical downward movement of the door is prevented due to the radial notch shoulders 82.

The above described process is repeated, and the collector will normally fill all of the receptacles 125 first located in the upper horizontal row. As each receptacle is filled with coin boxes the door 60 immediately therebelow is raised to secure the receptacle within the vault and the collector no longer has access thereto. Thus, it will be appreciated that the only coin boxes that are exposed to theft or pilfering would be those in a partially filled receptacle contained in a compartment 118 which has not yet been closed by a door due to its only being partially filled. In this manner the exposure to money loss is minimized, and the. collector continues his collections until the route is completed, or all thirty of the compartments 118 have been filled with coin boxes and receptacles. When all of the coin receptacles have been filled, all of the doors 60 will have been raised one compartment wherein each compartment and opening 48 is closed by a door.

The collector-driver then returns to the collection terminal and backs his van into the unloading dock. Unloading personnel opens the rear of the van, and unlocks the rear door 28 of the vault. The cart 32 is rolled out of the vault on the tracks 116 and taken to collection and counting apparatus. A new empty cart is rolled into the vault 12, and this carts compartments 118 will be filled with empty receptacles 125. At some time after opening the vaults rear door 28, and prior to closing the same, the release lever 84 will be pivoted to the dotted line position of FIG. 5 which rotates the rods 54 and misaligns the notches with the detents 76 permitting all of the doors 60 to simultaneously fall under gravitational force, and the lowermost doors 60 will engage the elastomer bumper 94. Thus, again, the uppermost horizontal roll of compartment openings 48 is accessible, and the top cover 96 will usually be pivoted to the closed position and locked with the padlock 104, particularly if the next collection does not occur until the next day. The vault is again ready for collection purposes and the aforementioned cycle of opera tion will be repeated.

The top cover 96 serves as a temporary enclosure for the top row of compartments and is not usually employed to safeguard money. Its purpose is primarily to discourage tampering with the upper row of recepta cles prior to the collection beginning and to prevent the upper receptacles from being thrown from the vault in the event of sudden stops. The top cover could be used as a temporary vault door if a partially filled receptacle was located in one of the upper cart compartments, but normally once the top cover is opened, it is not again closed until the cart has been removed and a new cart installed.

As the vault 12 in accord with the invention uses a plurality of small doors and compartments, and as the collector does not have access to a compartment after the same has been closed by a door 60, exposure to theft or holdup is limited to that money which is con tained within a partially filled receptacle and opportunity for falisification and tampering with the collected coins is minimized.

In the disclosed embodiment the door guide rods 54 are vertically oriented so that the door movement is vertical, and this embodiment is preferred as gravitational forces cause the doors to drop during resetting. However, it will be appreciated that the inventive concept would be present in a variation wherein the rods 54 were horizontally disposed and locking movement of the doors took place with a horizontal displacement of the doors to the right, or left, for instance. In such a variation the notch and detent construction would be identical to that shown, but resetting of the doors to their initial position would have to occur from a manual or mechanical displacement of the doors in a horizontal direction once the rods 54 had been rotated to disengage the notches and detents. Further modifications within the spirit of the inventive concept may be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A receptacle vault particularly suitable for portable use in the collection of money receptacles comprising, in combination, an enclosed vault including front and rear sides, a plurality of compartments defined within said vault each having an opening disposed adjacent said front side, said openings being disposed in a substantially common plane, said compartments being linearly aligned and related to each other defining a row of compartment openings, elongated door guide means mounted upon said vault front side aligned with said row of compartment openings and substantially parallel to and adjacent said opening plane, a plurality of doors slidably mounted on said door guide means in a plane substantially parallel to and adjacent said openings plane, each of said doors being of a configuration substantially corresponding to the configuration of a compartment opening and adapted to close a compartment to access from said front side upon being slidably aligned with a compartment opening, and latch means holding a door within a compartment opening when aligned therewith.

2. In a receptacle vault as in claim 1 wherein the length of said elongated door guide means is greater than the length of said row defined by said compartment openings by a distance substantially equal to the dimension of a door and compartment opening in a direction parallel to said door guide means, and the number of doors equals the number of compartment openings whereby said doors may be positioned to initially provide access to one of said compartments.

3. In a receptacle vault as in claim 1 wherein said latch means includes first lock means mounted on each of said doors, and second lock means selectively cooperating with said first lock means defined on said door guide means.

4. In a receptacle vault as in claim 3 wherein said door guide means comprise parallel rods rotatably mounted upon said vault front side, a rod being disposed upon each side of said row of compartment openings, said second lock means comprising radially extending notches defined on said rods, rotation of said rods releasing said notches from engaging first lock means to permit displacement of door means from an associated compartment opening.

5. In a receptacle vault as in claim 4 wherein said first lock means comprise a pair of slidably mounted spring biased detent plungers mounted upon each door, each plunger engageable with a notch defined upon different associated door guide rods upon alignment of the associated door with a compartment opening.

6. In a receptacle vault as in claim 1, a wheeled cart received within said vault, said compartments being defined on said cart, said rear side including a door providing access to said vault whereby said cart may be placed within and removed from said vault.

7. A receptacle vault particularly suitable for portable use in the collection of money receptacles compris-.

ing, in combination, an enclosed vault including front and rear sides, a plurality of compartments defined within said vault each having an opening disposed adjacent said front side, said openings being disposed in a substantially common plane, said compartments being linearly related defining both vertically and horizontally defined rows, a plurality of elongated door guides mounted upon said vault housing front side, said door guides being in spaced, parallel, vertically disposed re lationship located intermediate said compartments and disposed in a plane substantially parallel to and adjacent said compartment openings plane, said door guides being of a vertical height greater than the vertical dimension of a row of said compartment openings by at least the vertical height of the tallest compartment opening within a vertical row, a plurality of doors vertically slidably mounted upon said door guides, each door being located between and mounted upon a pair of adjacent door guides, said doors within each vertical row corresponding in number and configuration to the compartment openings within the associated row, each of said doors within a vertical row being located at an open position immediately below its associated compartment opening to be closed, and slidable upwardly to align with and close its associated opening, stop means limiting upward movement of the uppermost door within each vertical row of doors positioning the uppermost door in alignment with its associated compartment opening to close the same, and cooperating latch means defined on said door guide means and said doors latching said doors against downward movement upon being aligned with its associated compartment opening.

8. In a receptacle vault as in claim 7 wherein said door guide means comprise rods rotatably mounted upon said vault, said latch means including notches defined in said rods and spring biased detents mounted in said doors engageable with said notches upon a door being aligned with its associated compartment opening.

9. In a receptacle vault as in claim 8, release means connected to said door guide rods for rotating said rods to disengage said notches and detents permitting said doors to fall to said open position.

10. In a receptacle vault as in claim 9 wherein said release means includes a release pivotally mounted within said vault housing, and linkage means connecting said rods to said release lever for simultaneous rotation of said rods upon actuation of said release lever.

11. In a receptacle vault as in claim 7, a wheeled cart received within said vault housing, said compartments being defined on said cart, said rear side including a door providing access to said vault whereby said cart may be placed within and removed from said vault.

12. A receptacle vault particularly suitable for portable use in the collection of money receptacles comprising in combination, an enclosed vault having front and rear sides, a rear door defined in said rear side, a wheeled cart within said housing removable therefrom through said rear door, a vertical row of money receptacle receiving compartments defined in said cart, vertically extending door guide means mounted on said frontside of said housing, a plurality of vertically movable doors mounted upon said door guide means in alignment with said row of compartments, said doors initially being disposed below alignment with the uppermost compartment whereby access to said uppermost compartment is provided, upward displacement of the uppermost door aligning said door with the uppermost compartment preventing access thereto and exposing the next lowest compartment to access, said next lowest compartment being closable by the next lowest door upon alignment therewith, and cooperable latch means defined on said door guide means and said doors maintaining said doors in closed alignment with the associated compartment.

13. In a receptacle vault as in claim 12 wherein said door guide means comprise rods rotatably mounted upon said vault, said latch means including notches defined in said rods and spring biased detents mounted in said doors engageable with said notches upon a door being aligned with its associated compartment.

14. In a receptacle vault as in claim 13, release means connected to said door guide rods for rotating said rods to disengage said notches and detents permitting said doors to fall to said open position.

15. In a receptacle vault as in claim 14 wherein said release means includes a release lever pivotally mounted within said vault, and linkage means connecting said rods to said release lever for simultaneous rotation of said rods upon actuation of said release lever. l =l

Claims

1. A receptacle vault particularly suitable for portable use in the collection of money receptacles comprising, in combination, an enclosed vault includIng front and rear sides, a plurality of compartments defined within said vault each having an opening disposed adjacent said front side, said openings being disposed in a substantially common plane, said compartments being linearly aligned and related to each other defining a row of compartment openings, elongated door guide means mounted upon said vault front side aligned with said row of compartment openings and substantially parallel to and adjacent said opening plane, a plurality of doors slidably mounted on said door guide means in a plane substantially parallel to and adjacent said opening''s plane, each of said doors being of a configuration substantially corresponding to the configuration of a compartment opening and adapted to close a compartment to access from said front side upon being slidably aligned with a compartment opening, and latch means holding a door within a compartment opening when aligned therewith.

7. A receptacle vault particularly suitable for portable use in the collection of money receptacles comprising, in combination, an enclosed vault including front and rear sides, a plurality of compartments defined within said vault each having an opening disposed adjacent said front side, said openings being disposed in a substantially common plane, said compartments being linearly related defining both vertically and horizontally defined rows, a plurality of elongated door guides mounted upon said vault housing front side, said door guides being in spaced, parallel, vertically disposed relationship located intermediate said compartments and disposed in a plane substantially parallel to and adjacent said compartment opening''s plane, said door guides being of a vertical height greater than the vertical dimension of a row of said compartment openings by at least the vertical height of the tallest compartment opening within a vertical row, a plurality of doors vertically slidably mounted upon said door guides, each door being located between and mounted upon a pair of adjacent door guides, said doors within each vertical row corresponding in number and configuration to the compartment openings within the associated row, each of said doors within a vertical row being located at an open position immediately below its associated compartment opening to be closed, and sliDable upwardly to align with and close its associated opening, stop means limiting upward movement of the uppermost door within each vertical row of doors positioning the uppermost door in alignment with its associated compartment opening to close the same, and cooperating latch means defined on said door guide means and said doors latching said doors against downward movement upon being aligned with its associated compartment opening.

15. In a receptacle vault as in claim 14 wherein said release means includes a release lever pivotally mounted within said vault, and linkage means connecting said rods to said release lever for simultaneous rotation of said rods upon actuation of said release lever.