Manually activated apparatus for timing intervals of different length

摘要

A parking meter includes a timing unit, a coin receiver which can receive coins of different diameters, and a first and a second normally blocked lever which are biased for movement in mutually opposite directions about a joint axis of rotation into detecting engagement with a plurality of angularly spaced points on the circumference of the coin in the receiver, so as to detect the diameter of such coin. A manually operable arrangement serves to unblock the levers for their movement, and for subsequent joint angular displacement through a distance which is dependent upon the detected coin diameter. A control arrangement on one of the levers sets the timing unit to an interval whose length is a function of the aforementioned distance.