ES346168A1 - Rotatable vending gate for vending machines - Google Patents

Abstract

A cylindrical vending gate 20, for releasing bottles (60, Fig. 4, not shown) or cans 15, 40 (Fig. 2) from a stack in the magazine 11 (Fig. 1) above the gate, rotates abouts its axis on shaft 21 and is divided up into two cages 20 and 25 each with end spiders 20a, 20b and 25a, 25b, supporting rods 22, 23 and 24 and 26, 27 and 28 respectively, parallel to the shaft 21 about which the cages rotate in an anticlockwise direction by means of a reciprocating member 30 and bell crank 31. The cages are axially aligned and normally fixed relative to the shaft 21 since the shaft and the holes in the spiders through which the shaft passes both have hexagonally cross-section. The portions 51 and 52 of the shaft however have circular cross-section, so that by pushing the end of the shaft against spring 53, the circular portions engage the spiders of cage 20, freeing this cage so that it can be moved relative to the shaft and altering the relative positions of the rods of the two cages. With the rods all aligned, a single column of long bottles (Fig. 4) may be dispensed, or by moving cage 20 until its rods are fully out of phase with those of cage 25 as possible (Figs. 2 and 3), two tandem columns of shorter cans may be dispensed, releasing cans alternately from each column as the gate states.