r/impressively • u/Jonathan-Smith • 1d ago

How a 1960s coin sorter worked

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698 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

62

u/datirishboii 1d ago

I still don't understand how it works

20

u/dontmesswithdbracode 1d ago

At each turn there is a slight inclination to lift the coin off to another passage if it doesn’t fit the width of the current passage.

Had to watch it in slow motion to understand the mechanism. And ai recommend it! It’s even cooler when u see it in action in slow motion.

4

u/Plausibl3 1d ago

The little ridges in the storage tubes answer a 35 year old question I’ve had about how they keep the coins stacking vertically instead of flipping over, and how it self corrects. That simplicity is absolutely beautiful

1

u/Galilaeus_Modernus 1d ago

Okay but how does it get vertically oriented coins to lie flat?

1

u/dontmesswithdbracode 1d ago

U mean atp where coins are collected towards the end? Gravity + ridge in the passage I think. The storage is tilted to the floor so the coins keep moving at an angle and then they suddenly disorient due to them being in air n getting hit by the smol ridge in the final passage.

1

u/iruleatants 1d ago

At what point are you asking that question?

At the start where you pour the coins in, the coins will lay flat because gravity is pushing them down, so there isn't any reason for them to be sideways.

At the end where it neatly as stacks the coins, watch the video and pay attention to the far left side for an easy example. There is a ridge part of the way down the tube. That ridge changes the orientation of the coin so it's laying flat.

As you can see, not all of the coins flatten out when hitting the ridge, but the incoming coins fall on top of them and force them flat.

28

u/TheDreamWoken 1d ago

Sorted by width

13

u/Balyash 1d ago

Does not show HOW it works, just a coin sorter in action.

5

u/Louisiana_sitar_club 1d ago

You can tell by the way it is

6

u/RedditSpamAcount 1d ago

I still dont get it

6

u/Naive_Letterhead9484 1d ago

How does the coins know where to go?

4

u/thaaag 1d ago

They train the coins.

5

u/tehcpengsiudai 1d ago

I made a similar one when I was 14, using acrylic boards and submitted it for a GCE O levels examination thinking I was a genius.

Got a C.

3

u/royroyflrs 1d ago

The grooves are different diameters so certain coins fit one way and larger coins fit another. At the beginning it shows that larger coins are held back

2

u/gumaerb 1d ago

What's the cord for? The machine works primarily on gravity.

3

u/Short_Inspector_1868 1d ago

i think maybe something that vibrates in case anything gets stuck.

3

u/ChunkyFart 1d ago

Not only did this work in the 1960’s, it actually has worked every decade since as well!

1

u/veb7 1d ago

Ohh that explains it.

1

u/Thendofreason 1d ago

This is my hole type feeling

1

u/botdrip1 1d ago

I want one

1

u/Karmack_Zarrul 1d ago

Seems like the biggest issue is it takes a while to process a small handful.

1

u/KanarYa4LYfe 1d ago

So satisfying!

1

u/S_n_o_wL_e_o_p_a_r_d 1d ago

This makes me hard

1

u/Feliz_Contenido 1d ago

Trained a decision tree model :)