CA1037916A - Article dispensing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract This invention is a dispensing machine which can take the form of a vending machine or a sorting machine to channel out articles which can be operated automatically or manually; consisting of a channeled container in which the articles to be dispensed randomly placed if they are spherical, or placed in an arrangement such as that in a package carton, if bottles or cans; the container being located above an upper hopper which is channeled, which in turn is located above a lower hopper; the articles flowing from the container to the upper hopper and then to the lower hopper where they drop into vertical tubes thereby being sorted into an orderly arrangement and trapped by an escapement mechanism from where a determined number of ar-ticles are dispensed into an outlet shute; this machine being unique in its simplicity of operation, and in that there is no possibility of bridging or jamming, in that it will accept misshaped articles, and in that it will dis-pense articles regardless of their friction coefficients or weight.

Description

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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an article dispensing apparatus and more particularly to an apparatus ~or dispensing articles, preferably of spherical shape, wherein the articles are placed or dumped in a hopper in r.andom fashion and a predeter- -mined number may be selectively and repeatedly dispensed without jamming of the apparatus.
B~CKGROUND OF_THE INVENTION
In Canadian Patent No. 115,674, granted December 15, 1908, to Linsley, A COIN OPERATED ARTICLE DISPENSING MACHINE, ~ -is described for vending a predetermined number of spherical articles. The Linsley mechanism includes a dispensing tube with a spring biased, long trip lever pivotally secured between -its end. The lower end of the trip lever has a tongue which normally projects into the tube and the upper end has a T- ~ ;
shaped head, one part thereof adapted to swing into the tube.
Linsley requires a further pivoted trip lever which is actuated ~ , by dispensing articles. This further trip lever is located below `-. the tongue of the long trip lever and operates to retain such ' -tongue out of the tube during article dispensing. The further ~-~
trip lever is returned to its normal position by a counterweight arm when the predetermined number oE articles have been dispen~
sed thereby allowing the tongue to again project into the tube.
The path of the cross plate forming the T head in the ~-Linsley invention is circular and centered around a pivot `~
in the middle of the lever. Therefore, the object is lifted up a small distance as the cross plate moves into the tube.
` If the objects are sufficiently heavy and have high friction :; surfaces, the system will jam. Besides, the system will certainly fail if only two or three objects are to be dispensed, as the edge of the cross plate of the T head -~
will strike the object with downward oblique angle, causing the object to be trapped between the cross plate on one side and the tube on the other side, making free passage impossibl ~l~379~L6 The container in the Linsley inventron lS only suitable for marbles with highly smooth sur~aces and flexible articles such as spherical rubber articles with high friction surfaces could `
not be properly dispensed. Furthermore, in the Linsley-apparatus, objects with relatively high fric-tion surfaces are more likely to jam at the neck or the container before they flow into the tube, due to high forces applied randomly and in every - direction. ~
''''`; ' ' ' Canadian patent No. ~15,128 to Keller defines an article ^
- 10 vending mechanism which will only operate for elongate straws - and similar items. The length of the hopper is slightly greater than the length of the straws. Straws put into the hopper, sort themselves out to take an orderly arrangement, provided they `~
have been dumped in a manner in that they lie in a plane parallel to each other and to the surface of the ramp. ~ny other manner of dumping the staws will cause the vendlng system to jam. The Keller device includes a discharge member which has fingers to deflect the end portion of a ramp adjacent to the discharge member each time a straw is discharged whereby straws are juggled and elevated to enter a restricted passageway.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an extremely simple, reliable article dispensing machine r~
which does not jam, which can be electrically or manually -~ .
activated, and which provides for dispensing a desired number of articles.

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The invention in one broad aspect comprises an article .,x ; - - . , . . . - : . . ~:

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dispensing apparatus which has hopper means for hol~ing a plurality of randomly dumped articles to be dispensed and at least one dispensing conduit means which has an entrance and an exit area. Means define a prescrlbed path for articles from the hopper means to the entrance of the at least one dispensing conduit means and means are operatively associated with the prescribed path for rejecting any article moving toward the entrance which is not in the prescribed path. Dispensing control means are operatively associated With the conduit means for normally retaining a predetermined number of articles to be dispensed in the conduit means. Actuator means are operatively connected to the rejecting means and the dispensing control means whereby upon actuation thereof, the predetermined number ';~
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of articles in the at least one conduit means is dispensed and the rejecting means operates to reject any articles moving `
toward the entrance not in the prescribed path, The dispensing `
control means upon returning to the normal position permits r other articles to move from the prescribed path into the at least one conduit means.
, ~ .
~0 Preferably, the article dispensing apparatus has a hopper in which articles of spherical dimension are randomly placed.
Between the hopper and an artlcle discharging conduit, there-are a plurality of ramps on wllich the articles flow, under the ..
influence of gravity. The channels process the randomly arranged articles in the hopper into the desired orderly ~-arrangement as they move under the influence of gravity. The .. ~ , .
articles run to a vertical dispensing tube and are trapped by an escapement mechanism. A drum with spikes of a certain length -protruding from its surface, rotates when the machine is in operation in order to disengage and/or push away the articles ~ ;

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~' ~1~37916 which may run above the channels. -~
The escapement mechanism consists of a Z-shaped toothed bar having upper and lower teeth or fingers. When the upyer fingers move through holes into the dispensing tube, the lower fingers ~ ~
move out of the tube. As the upper fingers move into the tube, `` -they trap the articles in the conduit or tube thereabove whereas the articles below will be dispensed into an outlet chute.
- Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention are ~ -defined specifically in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification. ~~
~RIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a better understanding of the present invention, ~ -- reference may be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a cross sectional side view of a dispensing machine embodying my invention, the machine having been illustrated in such a way to show its mechanism just after -articles have been dispensed;
Figure 2 is a perspective view on a smaller scale of the `
combination of the hopper;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the lower ramp with `~
channeled surface;
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the escapemen-t mechanism; ~ ;~
Figure 5 is a perspective view of the drum wlth protruding spikes in between which articles pass;
Figure 6 is an end view of the coin mechanism in which the coin is inserted, that a dispensing operation can be successfully achieved;
3U Figure 7 is a perspective view of a coin blockage chute and r~

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~37~ .6 an empty sign mechanlsm shown in a position where the tubes are filled with articles and a position where insufficient articles are in the tubes. -~
-. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The drawings illustrate an article dispensing machine for spherlcal objects, provided in accordance with the principles of the present invention.
The principles of the present invention will be better understood when embodied in a preferred form of article `~
- 10 dispensing mechanism, namely a spherical article (such as golf balls) dispensing apparatus, generally indicated by the numeral 10 on the drawing Figure 1. The dispensing apparatus 10 r includes a hopper 12 which has an internal storage area 14 for articles 16 at the bottom end of which there is a hopper bottom -^
sloping surface 18 supported crosswise by two "V" gussetts 20 in ~`
order to strengthen surface 18 when subjected to sufficiently i :
heavy article loads~ The preferred slope of surface 18 is about ~
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1545'. The articles 16 slide or roll over a ramp surface 22 below hopper surface 1~ which ramp surface 2~ makes an angle of about 12 with the horizontal. At the end of ramp surface 22, "~
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there is an opening 24 which extends from the lower end of surface 22 to the opposed wall 26 of hopper 12 (Figures 1 and

2). The length of this opening 24 is about 7 times the diameter ; `~
of the article 16, and the width of the same opening 24 is about 4 times the diameter of the article 16. The perpendicular distance 30 between the lower end of sloping surface 18 and surface 2~ is about 3-1/4 times the diameter of the article 16.
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The distance 34 between the lower end of surface 18 and wall 36 ;-~
of the hopper 12 is about 4-1/4 times the diameter of the articles 16. ~ `~
Below ramp surface 2~ and opening 24 is another ramp `~

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37~16 surface 38 which has trian~ular shaped dividers 40 which divide surface 38 into a plurality of downwardly direc-ted channels 42 within which the articles are dlrected. Channels 42 are spaced - equally on surface 38 and surface 3~ has a preferred slope of ~`~
1514'. Each of the dividers 4U extends from the edge of discharge tubes or conduits 46 (Figure 1) for a length of about 7~% of the surface 3~ in the direction of opening 24. The maximum height of the triangle divider 40 is located at the ~-~
entrance of tubes 46 and is preferably about 6U% of the diameter 10 of an article 16, with the lower acu~te angle of the divider 4U "
being located on surface 38.

- The length of the opening 24 is about equal to the width of ramp 38. Preferably, the length does not exceed the total width of channels 42 (Figure 3) and is not less than 93% of the total width of channels 42. From Figure 2, it will be appreciated that the length of opening 24 is not equal to the width of hopper 12 so that the inner sides 48 of hopper 12 may slant or slope to direct articles 16 to the opening 24 as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Surface 18 and ramp 22 may also have dividers 52 to provlde a more orderly direction to and enhance the movement of articles 16 along the respective ;~}
surfaces. ~
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Articles 16 on surface 38 are arranged randomly within the ~;
first 30% of surface 38 directly under opening 24. The articles r are positively arranged in an orderly manner through the channels 4~ and therefore slide or roll over the surface 38, ~
under the influence of gravity, until they enter tubes or - -- conduits 46 (Figure lJ. Articles 16 moving in channels 42 pass between spikes 5~, one article between two laterally spaced spikes (Figure 5), the spikes 58 being located in the same planes as the dividers 40. Spikes ~037~6 ` 58 (Figure 5), remove or reject and push away any articles which , may run over the orderly arranged articles in channels 42.
Spikes 58 are secured to drum 60 which is mounted in the _ `
apparatus for rotation on shaft 62 upon appropriate actuation oE
the dispensin~ mechanism. The drum diameter is about 2 1/4 ` times the diameter of the-articles 16. Concentric shield 68 ~ -above drum 60 keeps articles which may have been pushed upward by spikes 58 from being carried over the drum 60 and cracked or broken articles which might have stuck on the spikes 58 would be also freed by shield 68. Rotatably mounted on shaft 62 which extends from an end of drum 60 is a pinion 70 and spaced above '`
pinion 70 is a wheel bearing rack guide 72. Between rack guide 72 and pinion 70 and in operative relationship thereto is rack 74 which is located at one end of actuator rod 76, the other end of rod 76 having a knob 78 thereon for pulling outwardly. The ;
rod 76 extends through an appropriate slot in the front wall of ~ ~
the dispensing apparatus. `~;
A pair of latches 80 and 82 (Figure 1) are pivoted at one ~ --end through pivot 84 to a disc 86 which disc is secured to an end face of drum 60. The other end of latches 80 and 82 are biased for contaet with the teeth of pinion 70, springs 88 -~
effeeting sueh bias. As previously noted, pinion 70 freely rotates on shaft 69 whereas disc 86 and drum 60 are rigidly ,~ -secured to shaft 62. Sirclips (not shown) and disc 86-prevent pinion 70 from sllding horizontally along shaft 62. The latches "~
80 and ~2 are directed through the pinion 70 by a 15 angle from the horizontal.
A series of links 100, 102 and 104 are pi~otally mounted at ' -pivots 106, 108 and 110, respeetively, to fixed portions of the apparatus. Link 100 is eonnected to actuator lever 76 through lost motion mechanism 112 including pin 114 on actuator lever 76 and slot 116 on link 100 and links 100 and 102 are connected through a lost motion mechanism 118 through pin 120 on link 100 379~6 and slot 122 in link 102. Link 102 is interconnec~ed to link 104 through link 124 which is pivotally connected through pivots 126 and 128 to an end of each of links 102 and 104, `respectively. Link 104 is connected to an arm 130 of escapement mechanism 132 through lost motion mechanism 134 which includes pin 36 on arm 130 and slot 138 on the other end of link 104 from pivot point 128. ~ ;
Escapement mechanism 132 includes opposed side bars 140 with upper tooth bar 142 and lower tooth bar 144 having . : ~
oppositely extending teeth 146. Each tooth 146 on bar 142 is adapted to project transversely in and out of a respective slot ~ ~
148 in a tube 46 and each tooth 146 on bar 144 is adapted to ~;
_ project into and out of the direction of flow of articles from ;- end 150 of a respective tube 46. Bar 140 is mounted on the inner end of arm 130 which inner end has bearing wheels 152 ; : ~ .
adapted to move in bearing guides 154 which are secured to ; opposed stationary parts of the apparatus, such as its side r walls. The movement of arm 130 and bar 140 is reciprocal and is effected by reciprocal movement of actuator rod 76. The vertical distance between upper tooth bar 142 and lower tooth bar 144 is e~ual to the dimension of the desired number of articles 16 to be dispensed per tube 46 and the distance may be made selectively adjustable as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
The apparatus may have a cover 160 and a knob 162 to lift -~
off the cover in order to randomly dump into hopper 14 the - articles to be dispensed. 1 Articles dispensed from tubes 46 fall into a dispensing - chute 164 and may be removed from the apparatus by opening door 166 in its front wall.
Figures 1 and 6 illustrate a coin mechanism which may be associated with the dispensing mechanism. ~hen a coin is ~ inserted through slot 170 in a front wall of apparatus 10 it is :

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~(~37~16 conveyed via coin chute 172 into a groove between finger 174 of cam 176 and pin 178 which is secured to pivoted element 180. ..
The groove is carefully sized to hold the appropriate coin for operating the mechanism and apparatus. Cam 176 is secured to pivot 108 and accordingly when cam 176 is prevented from turning through its appropriate angle for dispensing articles, link 102 ~:
is prohibited from turning fully and in the result the -dispensing of articles is prohibited. Spring 182 biases element :~
180 to a specific initial position. ~ :~
If a coin inserted into chute 172 is smaller than the . regular or proper coin, it will slide through the groove between `
pin 178 and finger 174 to a separate coin return chute 184 and : :~
come out of the machine through a coin return slot 186. In this .
case attempting to pull actuator knob 78 will cause slight -~
rotation of cam 176 but finger 174 will contact pin 178 and link 102 will not be permitted to pivot the required amount to operate or permit operation of the dispensing mechanism. ~ : ~
Similarly if a coin is larger than the proper coin, it will not ~ ;;~;.
enter the groove between pin 178 ànd finger 174 but will be slid over pin 178 when cam 176 beglns to rotate and the coin will .~
also be directed to an appro~riate coin return chute 184. :: :
Finger 174 again catches pin 178 in the circumstance and cam 176 ~ ~ .
is prevented from further rotation thereby preventing rotation of link 102. When a proper coin has been used it is held within the groove and xotation of cam 176 causes the coin to raise pin 178 and pivot element 180 thereby permitting fingers 174 to avoid the pin 178 and permit continued rotation through the appropriate angle for dispensing articles. Eventually the proper coin drops to chute 190 and is directed to a coin tray 192.
If an operator using an appropriate or proper coin actuates lever 76 only part of its full travel and then stops, ratchet and spring biased pawl mechanism 194 associated with cam 176 - 1~3791~;
will prevent any attempt to push in or return actuator lever 76 - to its initial position. In order to have actuator lever 76 returned to its initial position, full travel of lever 76 is required. Spring 198 biases the pawl to take a specific initial position.
Figure 7 shows a simple mechanism which will indicate when no articles are in the various dispensing tubes 46. A thin wire member 200 which is pivoted on pivot 202 to one side of tube 46 will no longer be forced into a ver-tical position by the presence of articles in tube 46 as the weight of wire element 204 and sign element 206 will be sufficient to cause the end of such sign 206 to drop into an appropriate position in coin chute slot 170, thereby preventing further insertion of any coin. ;~
Guide 208 constrains wire element 204 to only rotate in one plane and another slot or window may be provided although not shown where visual reading of an empty sign is possible.
It will be apparent that it is not necessary to control operation of the dispensing mechanism through a coin mechanism ~`
and people skilled in the art will appreciate that actuation of the dispensing mechanism will be accomplished by means other than manually pulling lever 76. An appropriate coin operated ~--solenoid operation would be possible and various other means of initiating actuation of the dispensing mechanism will provide equivalent operation. The randomly placed articles dumped into hopper 12 will gravitate through surfaces 20, 22 and 38 to the dispensing tubes 46. Upon the insertion of an appropriate coin into the coin mechanism and the pulling of lever 76 the dispensing of articles commences. Through the rack and pinion and latch mechanism associated with the drum 60, the drum is rotated in a clockwise manner upon pulling of the lever rod 76. At the same time through linkage 100, 102, 124 and 104, teeth 146 of lower tooth bar 144, normally blocking the exit 150 of tube 46 will begin moving to the right. At the same :' ~ A
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time, the tooth bar 142 with teeth 146 will begin moving to the right with the teeth 146 enterincJ the tube 46 through slot 1~8.
The spacing between teeth 146 of the bars 142 and 144 are such ~-that the number of articles to be dispensed per tube is predetermined and this distance is adjusted accordingly. Those articles between the two bars 142 and 144 are permitted to drop down through chute 164 for collection as ma~ be desired.
` Lever rod 176 is returned to its normal position which ~
returns the escapement mechanism 132 to its normal position ~ -- 10 permitting additional articles to drop into the appropriate ~;
tubes as those articles above the teeth of upper tooth bar 142 are permitted to drop down in tube 46. Their exit however is prevented by the teeth of lower tooth bar 144. In view of the pinion and latch mechanism associated with the drum, the - return of lever rod 76 to its normal position does not cause - rotation of drum 60. The mechanism is in condition for Eurther dispensing of articles upon repeating the above operation.
It will be appreciated that various modifications of ~
the structure of this dispensing apparatus is possible without ` -departing from the inventive concept of my invention. The hopper and the various channeled surfaces 18, 22, 38 can be covered with thin rubber pads or made of high strength plastic in order to decrease noise when dumping the objects randomly ; and to eliminate rust. Further, the upper and lower toothed bars 142 and 144 could be interchanged with spring loaded tooth bars and/or attached to rubber suction cups in order to dispense cubic articles, for example~ Further, the drive linkage between the actuator lever 76 and the escapement mechanism can ; be actuated by a crank or could be motorized in operation to provide automation.
Moreover, it will be appreciated that the outlet chute 164 could be part of the tubes 46 with appropriate divided channels that the articles can be dispensed in various .. . . . .

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Claims (12)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An article dispensing apparatus comprising:
hopper means for holding a plurality of randomly dumped articles to be dispensed;
at least one dispensing conduit means having an entrance and an exit area;
means defining a prescribed path for articles from said hopper means to the entrance of said at least one dispensing conduit means;
means operatively associated with said prescribed path for rejecting any article moving toward said entrance which is not in said prescribed path;
dispensing control means operatively associated with said at least one conduit means for normally retaining a predetermined number of articles to be dispensed in said at least one conduit means;
actuator means operatively connected to said rejecting means and said dispensing control means whereby upon actuation thereof, said predetermined number of articles in said at least one conduit means is dispensed and said rejecting means operates to reject any articles moving toward said entrance not in said prescribed path;
said dispensing control means upon returning to said normal position permitting other articles to move from said prescribed path into said at least one conduit means.

2. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said rejecting means includes a drum having a plurality of radially extending spikes, which drum, upon actuation of said actuator means rotates in one direction whereby the spikes reject any article moving toward said entrance and not in said prescribed path.

3. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said prescribed path means includes a series of slanting surfaces upon which said articles move under the influence of gravity, one of said surfaces having at least one channel means for directing articles to the entrance of said at least one conduit means.

4. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 3 wherein there are a plurality of conduit means and channel means, said channel means being defined by elongate upright triangular dividers on said one surface with the maximum height of said divider adjacent the entrance of said conduit means.

5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein said rejecting means includes a drum having a plurality of radially extending spikes in longitudinally spaced planes, each plane of spikes being in the same plane as the plane of a divider.

6. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said rejecting means includes means for rotating said drum only in one direction.

7. The article dispensing apparatus according to claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein said dispensing control means includes upper and lower tooth means, mounted for reciprocal movement in and out of the exit area of said at least one conduit means and normally preventing any article from being dispensed, said upper tooth means being spaced from said lower tooth means a predetermined distance in accordance with the number of articles to be dispensed at one time from said at least one conduit means, said upper tooth means normally out of operative association with said at least one conduit means, a slot in said at least one conduit means adapted to accommodate said upper tooth means, (claim 7 cont'd) said lower tooth means moving away from said exit means and said upper tooth means moving through the slot upon actuation of said dispensing control means.

8. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 having a plurality of dispensing conduit means and wherein said prescribed path means includes three vertically spaced ramps upon which said articles move under the influence of gravity, one of said ramps being adjacent to and having channel means for directing articles to respective entrances of said plurality of conduit means.

9. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said channel means being defined by elongate upright triangular dividers on said one ramp surface with the maximum height of said dividers less than a diametric extent of an article and adjacent the entrance of said conduit means, and said dividers having a length less than about 30% less than the length of said one of said ramps.

10. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said rejecting means includes a drum having a plurality of radially extending spikes, which drum, upon actuation of said actuator means rotates in one direction whereby the spikes reject any article moving toward said entrance and not in said prescribed path.

11. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said dispensing control means includes upper and lower tooth means, mounted for reciprocal movement in and out of the exit area of said at least one conduit means and normally preventing any article from being dispensed, said upper tooth means being spaced from said lower tooth means a predetermined distance in accordance with the number of articles to be dispensed at one time from said at least one conduit means, said upper tooth means normally out of operative association with said at least one conduit means, a slot in said at least one conduit means adapted to accommodate said upper tooth means, said lower tooth means moving away from said exit means and said upper tooth means moving through the slot upon actuation of said dispensing control means.

12. The article dispensing apparatus according to claim 9, 10 or 11 wherein said articles have a shape selected from the group consisting of spherical and cylindrical and have a diametric extent d, an uppermost ramp of said vertically spaced ramps has a slope of about 15°45', an intermediate ramp has a slope of about 12° and the said one of said ramps has a slope of about 15°14', and wherein lower ends of said uppermost ramp and intermediate ramp define first and second openings respectively in association with opposed sides of said hopper, said first opening having a width approximately 4-1/4 x d, and said second opening having a width of about 4 x d, the length of said second opening not less than about 93%
of a total width of said channel means.