GB2260636A - Coin-operated vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

In a vending machine Fig 2 for discharging articles by manual operation of lever after depositing a coin, a rotary plate 21 is rotated by the manual operation of the manual lever 20 and a driven plate 22 is rotated through the deposited coin which is received in a pocket formed by cooperation of the rotary plate and the driven plate. The driven plate drives the article discharging mechanism. The article discharging mechanism Fig 10 has a package separating mechanism for separating one package 50 from a package belt 51 having scored lines between adjacent packages to discharge it as the article. The package separating mechanism comprises a package guide roll 68 and elastic fingers, 77a, 77b which pinch the package onto the package guide roll with bending and rapidly return to the original shape from the bent shape by their elasticity to give a tension force to the package. The package is thereby separated from the package belt along the scored line. <IMAGE>

Description

VENDING MACHINE Background of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine and in particular, to a vending machine of a manually operated type, In a known vending machine of such a type disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication 21332/67, a genuine coin selected by a coin selector is introduced to a gap between a lever referred to as a coin plate and a fixed plate referred to as a coin guide plate. The coin is engaged in the gap because the coin is larger than the gap. When a manually operated lever is pushed down, the coin is pressed into the gap and enlarges the gap to move the coin plate. The coin plate is turned on a supporting pivot and moves a link lever in a direction to move a ratchet. The movement of the ratchet moves a discharging plate by one pitch to discharge an article.

In the known vending machine, the discharging plate is driven by a small movement of the coin plate when the coin is pressed into the small gap between the coin plate and the coin guide plate, it is impossible to move the discharging plate over a long stroke or several pitches by manual operation of the lever. Accordingly, the known machine is possible to vend relatively small articles but is not suitable to vend relatively large articles.

Further, articles to be sold are often packages each of which contains goods packed by a wrap member. In some cases, the packages are prepared as connected each other to form a strip of continuous long package string or belt. When the articles are sold, each package must be separated from the package belt. In a vending machine handling such package belt, any cutter is usually equipped for separating each package from the package belt. However, the cutter may injure operators who perform inspection and repair of the machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine of a manually operated lever type which enables an article discharging mechanism to move sufficiently to discharge a relatively large article by manual operation of the lever.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a vending machine handling a package belt which can separate each package from the package belt without use of any cutter such as blade.

According to the present invention, a vending machine comprises a mechanism for dispensing an article and means for receiving a coin to permit operation of the mechanism, the receiving means including a movable driving member and a driven member which are mechanically coupled by the received coin and which transport the received coin within the machine.

According to a preferred form of the present invention, a vending machine comprises: a machine housing having a coin depositing opening, a lever movement guide slit, and an article containing section; coin selecting means connected with the coin depositing opening for selecting a genuine coin deposited through the coin depositing opening to accept the genuine coin as an accepted coin: manual lever means having an end projecting outside the machine housing through the lever movement guide slit and being movable by manual operation of the projecting end along said lever movement guide slit; a rotary member rotatably supported on an axis and mechanically coupled with the lever means so that the rotary member rotates by movement of the lever means; a driven member having a rotary shaft rotatably supported on the axis, the driven member being adjacent the rotary member and cooperating with the rotary member to form a coin pocket for receiving the accepted coin as a received coin so that the driven member and the rotary member are mechanically coupled by the received coin and rotatable together to rotate the rotary shaft; and article discllarging mechanism coupled to the rotary shaft and responsive to rotation of the rotary shaft for discharging an article from the article containing section.

In the vending machine for handling as articles to be sold, packages continuously formed into a long package belt, each package containing a predetermined goods, the package belt having scored lines at portions connecting adjacent packages, the article discharging mechanism comprises: package feeding rotor means coupled to and rotated by the rotary shaft for transferring the package belt to feed a first one of the packages into package separating zone; and package separating means disposed in the package separating zone and coupled to and driven by the rotary shaft for receiving and separating the first package from the package belt, the package separating means comprises: package guide roll means rotated by the rotary shaft for receiving and transferring the first package thereon; and elastic finger means rotated by the rotary shaft for pinching the first package together with the package guide roll means and for applying tension force to the first package to separate the first package from the package belt along one of the scored lines.

Brief Description of the Drawing: Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a coupling mechanism for coupling a lever with a rotary shaft in the vending machine of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side view illustrating a mechanism for coupling the lever and a rotary plate in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a side view of the rotary plate; Fig. 5 is a side view of a driven plate shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a lateral sectional view illustrating an assembled status of the rotary plate and the driven plate; Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view illustrating an assembled status of the rotary plate and the driven plate; Fig. 8 is a side view of the coupling mechanism of Fig. 2; Fig. 9 is a plan view of a package belt; Fig. 10 is a side view of an article discharging mechanism according to another embodiment;; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the article discharging mechanism; and Figs. 12-15 are schematic views illustrating separation of one package from the package belt by combination of a package guide roll and fingers.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments: Referring to Fig. 1, a vending machine 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a machine housing 12. The machine housing 12 has a coin depositing opening 13 and a lever guide slit 14 in a front plate 15. The machine housing 12 further has an article containing section 16 in which articles to be vented are stored.

In the figure, a rotatable case 17 is mounted in the article containing section 16, the rotatable case 17 stores article and has a discharging port 18 in an outer surface thereof. The rotatable case 18 is mounted on a rotary shaft 19 and is rotatable together with the rotary shaft 19.

A lever 20 projects outside the machine housing 12 through the lever guides slit 14 and is selectively coupled to the rotary shaft 19, as described hereinafter.

When the lever 20 is moved along the lever guide slit 14 by manual operation after a coin is deposited through the coin depositing opening 13, the rotary shaft 19 is rotated together with the rotary case 19. Then, one of the articles is discharged through the discharging port 18.

Referring to Fig. 2, a coupling mechanism for coupling the lever 20 and the rotatable shaft 19 comprises a rotary plate 21 rotatably mounted on an axis of the rotary shaft 19 and a driver plate 22 fixedly mounted on the rotary shaft 19. The rotary plate 21 is mechanically coupled with the lever 20 through a gear coupling including an arcuate gear 23.

Referring to Fig. 3, the lever 20 is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin 24 supported in the machine housing so that the lever 20 is turnable around the pivot pin 24 by manual operation of the lever 20 along the lever guide slit (14, Fig. 1). The lever 20 has the arcuate gear 23. The rotary plate 21 is associated with a gear 25 which is geared with the arcuate gear 23.

Accordingly, when the lever 20 is manually turned around the pivot pin 24, the rotary plate 21 is rotated through coupling between the arcuate gear 23 and the gear 25.

The gear 25 is formed on one side surface of the rotary plate 21 but can be fixedly mounted on a shaft 26 on which the rotary plate 21 is mounted.

The lever 20 is manually operated to move from an initial end to the opposite end of the lever guide slit 14. As a result, the rotary plate 22 is rotated by a predetermined angle. In the embodiment, the predetermined angle is selected 1800. Thereafter, the lever 22 should be returned to the initial end by manual operation or by any spring means.

Returning to Fig. 2, a coin selector 27 is mounted in the machine housing 12 and is connected to the coin depositing opening 13. The coin selector 27 is for selecting a genuine coin deposited through the coin depositing opening 13 and accepts the genuine coin as an accepted coin. The coin selector 27 rejects a false or imitative con. The coin selector 27 is well known in the art. A known coin selector is used in the vending machine according to the present invention.

The rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 are selectively coupled by the accepted coin to rotate together with each other. That is, the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 cooperate with each other to form a coin pocket for receiving the accepted coin. When the accepted coin is received as a received coin in the coin pocket, the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 are mechanically connected with each other by the received coin. Accordingly, when the lever 20 is manually operated after a coin is accepted, the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 are rotated together to rotate the rotary shaft 19. As a result, one of the articles is discharged through the discharging port (18, Fig. 1).

Referring to Fig. 4, the rotary plate 21 has a coaxial annular rim 28 fixedly mounted on a side surfaces opposite to the gear 25 (Fig. 3). The annular rim 28 has a thickness slightly larger than a thickness of the coin and is partially cut away to form a discontinuous portion 29 in the annular rim 28. A distance between opposite ends of the discontinuous portion 29 is determined slightly larger than a diameter of the coin.

Referring to Fig. 5, the driven plate 22 is provided with a central circular land portion 30 and a coaxial outer annular rim 31 on a side surface facing the rotary plate 21. The land portion 30 has an outer diameter slightly smaller than an inner diameter of the annular rim 28 (Fig. 4) of the rotary plate 21. The outer annular rim 31 has an inner diameter slightly larger than an outer diameter of the annular rim 28 of the rotary plate 21. The land portion 30 and the outer annular rim 31 determine an annular groove 32 therebetween. The annular groove 32 has a depth slightly larger than the thickness of the coin.

The land portion 30 is partially cut away at diametrically opposite positions to form semi-circular recesses 33. Each of the semi-circular recesses 33 has a radius slightly larger than a radius of the coin. The outer annular rim 31 is also partially cut away at the diametrically opposite positions similar to the recesses 33 and is thereby formed with two discontinuous portions as coin introducing ports 34. Those recesses 33 and coin introducing ports 34 are connected and continuous to the annular groove 32, and cooperate with the discontinuous portion 29 of the annular rim 28 of the rotary plate 21 to form a coin pocket for receiving the accepted coin.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 are disposed adjacent to each other so that the annular rim 28 of the rotary plate 21 is loosely fitted in the annular groove 32 of the driven plate 22. The discontinuous portion 29 of the rotary plate 21 is angularly positioned at one of the coin introducing ports 34 when the lever 20 is positioned at tie initial end of the lever yuide slit 14. Titus, the coin introducing port 34 and the corresponding recess 33 form a coin pocket 35 together with the discontinuous portion 29 of the annular rim 28. The accepted coin 36 is received in the coin pocket 35 as shown in Fig. 7.

When the accepted coin 36 is received in the coin pocket 35 as a received coin, the rotation of the rotary member 21 due to manual operation of the lever 20 is transferred to the driven plate 22 through the received coin 35. Thus, the driven plate 22 and the rotary shaft 19 are rotated together with the rotary plate 21.

When the lever 20 is moved to the opposite end of the lever guide slit 14, the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 is rotated by an angle of 1800. Then the received coin 36 is discharged from the coin pocket 35.

In detail, the coin pocket 35 is inverted and the received coin 36 therefore drops out of the coin pocket 35 into a coin box (not shown) disposed under the driven plate 22.

Accordingly, the coupling between the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 is released and the rotary plate 21 is reversely rotated by returning operation of the lever 20 to the initial end of the lever guide slit 14. The driven plate 22 is maintained stationary. Thus, the discontinuous portion 29 of the annular rim 28 is positioned to the other recess 33 and coin introducing port 34 to form a fresh coin pocket for receiving a next accepted coin.

Referring to Fig. 8 together with Figs. 2, 6 and 7, the driven plate 22 is associated with a ratchet wheel 37 which is engaged with a ratchet 38 urged by means of a spring 39 so that the ratchet 38 engages with the ratchet wheel 37. Accordingly, the ratchet wheel 37 and the driven plate are prevented from reversely rotating.

The driven plate 22 is also associated with a positioning plate 40 which is fixedly mounted on the rotary shaft 19 or formed integral with the driven plate 22. The positioning plate 40 is provided with two cut-away portions 41 at diametrically opposite positions.

An engagement member 42 is urged onto the outer surface of the positioning plate 40 by means of a spring 43. The engagement member 42 is disposed to engage with one of the cut-away portions 41 when the driven plate 22 is located at an angular position where one of the coin introducing ports 34 is located under the coin selector 27. thus, the driven plate 22 is stationarily maintained at the angular position so that the accepted coin is reliably introduced into the coin pocket 35 through the coin introducing port 34.

Referring to Figs. 2, 5 and 8, the vending machine further comprises a stopper mechanism for preventing the rotary shaft 19 from forwardly rotating when no coin is received in the coin pocket 36. The driven plate 22 is provided with two grooves 44 in the outer surface thereof adjacent the coin introducing ports 34. A stopper lever 45 is pivoted at 46 in the machine housing 12 and has a stopper pin 47. The stopper lever 45 is urged by means of a spring 48 so that the stopper pin 47 engages with one of the grooves which is positioned under tie coin selector 27. Therefore, the driven plate 22 and the rotary shaft 19 are prevented from rotation by engagement of the groove 44 with the stopper pin 47.When the accepted coin is received in the coin pocket 35, the received coin pushes the stopper pin 47 against the spring 48 at a start of rotation of the rotary plate 21 and the driven plate 22 and disengages the stopper pin 47 from the groove 44.

The provision of the stopper mechanism prevents any erroneous article vending due to incorrect rotation of the article case 17 when no coin is not received in the coin pocket.

Now, description will be made as to an embodiment of the article containing section including an article discharging mechanism driven by the rotation of the rotary shaft 19 of the vending machine in Figs. 1-8.

Referring to Fig. 9, the articles are packages 50 each containing goods packed by a wrap member. A series of packages 50 are connected to each other to form a strip of continuous a long package string or belt 51.

The package belt 51 is scored or perforated along lines to form scored lines 52 at connecting portions 53 between adjacent packages 50 so that the package belt 51 is readily folded and separated into each package by application of tensile force.

Referring to Figs. 10 and 11, the rotary shaft 19 extends into the article containing section and is provided with a gear 54 fixed thereon.

A package feeding rotor 55 is fixedly mounted on a rotor shaft 56 which is in parallel with and is driven by the rotary shaft 19 through any transmission mechanism such as a gear (not shown) engaging with the gear 54.

The package feeding rotor 55 is generally a regular polygon member having an axial length generally equal to a width of the package belt 51. In the shown embodiment, the package feeding rotor 55 is a regular triangle member and is provided with recesses 57 in three sides for receiving package 50 of the package belt 51. The package feeding rotor 55 is usually positioned so that three recesses 57 are located at three different angular positions, that is, a package introducing position, a package feeding position and a vacant position. The package feeding rotor 55 rotates in the direction so that each of recesses 57 shifts from the package introducing position to the vacant position through the package feeding position.

From a pile of folded package belt 51, a leading edge of the package belt is led onto the package feeding rotor 55 and two packages at the leading edge, that is, a leading package and a next package, are received in the recesses 57 located at the package feeding position and the package introducing position. In response to rotation of the rotary shaft 19 over half a complete revolution, the package feeding rotor 55 rotates over one third (1/3) of a complete revolution, so that the recess receiving the leading package shifts from the package feeding position to the vacant position, the leading packages being fed to a separating zone.Another recess 51 located at the package introducing position shifts to the package feeding position, and the other recess 51 located at the vacant positi.on shifts to the package introducing position with the next package 51 being received therein.

The package feeding rotor 55 may be formed so that each of apexes 58 of the triangle member is axially divided into a comb teeth as shown in Fig. 11.

Alternatively, the package feeding rotor 55 may be formed with a plurality of regular triangle plates fixed together with gaps therebetween.

The package feeding rotor 55 is provided with side plates 55a at opposite ends of the regular triangle member for preventing packages from moving out of the recesses 57. In Fig. 11, one of the side plates 55a is shown and the other is omitted for illustrating the structure of the package feeding rotor 55.

In order to guide and depress the package into the recess 57 at the package feeding position, a.guide plate 59 is disposed opposite the recess at the package feeding position. The guide plate 59 is rotatably supported on a pivot pin 60 in parallel with the rotor shaft 60 which is supported at an end of a lever 61. The lever 61 is rotatably supported at the opposite end on a fixed shaft 62 which is supported in parallel with the rotor shaft 56 by the machine housing. A spring 63 is provided to urge the lever 61 so as to depress the guide plate 59 onto the recess 57 at the package feeding position. When the package feeding rotor 55 rotates, the apex 58 pushes up the guide plate 59 against the spring 63.

In order to guide one package 50 into one recess 57 shifted from the vacant position to the package introducing position and to prevent the package from floating from the recess, a pinch roller 64 is provided to be pressed onto the apex 58 between recesses 57 located at the package introducing position and the vacant position. The pinch roller 64 is rotatably supported on a pair of tension levers 65 are biassed by a spring 64 so that the pinch roller 64 is pressed onto the apex 58.

In the separating zone, a package guide roll 68 is provided to receive and transfer the package 50 fed from the package feeding rotor 55. The package guide roll 68 is mounted on a roll shaft 69 which is parallel with the rotary shaft 19. The roll shaft 69 is provided with a gear 70 engages with the gear 54 of the rotary shaft 19 and thereby rotates one revolution by rotation of the rotary shaft 19 over half of a complete revolution.

The package guide roll 68 may be a single roll body but may be a plurality of disks 71 assembled with gaps therebetween shown in Fig. 11. The package guide roll 68 is disposed so that the gaps receive the comb teeth of each apex of the package feeding rotor 55. The package is reliably transferred from the recess 57 at the package feeding position to the package guide roll 58.

A central one 72 of the plurality of disks may have a radius larger than that of the other ones. Thus, the package is reliably guided without deflection sideward.

In parallel with the roll shaft 69, another shaft 73 is supported on the machine housing 12. The shaft 73 has a gear 74 engaging with a gear 75 on the roll shaft 69 and rotates one revolution by rotation of roll shaft 69 over one revolution.

The shaft 73 is provided with a hub 76 which is provided with a plurality of fingers 77 radially extending therefrom. Two fingers 77a at opposite ends are angularly spaced by an angle of 900 from the other fingers 77b. All of the fingers 77 have a radial length larger than a distance from the outer surface of the hub 76 to the outer surface of the guide roll 68 or the smaller disks 71 so that the ends of the fingers 77 are interfered with the outer surface of the guide roll 68, when the fingers 77 are rotated together with the shaft 73.

The fingers 77 are made of elastic material having a !hardness of 45 degrees by JIS. such as chloroprene rubber, ethylene plopylene rubber or the like.

The guide roll 68 may also be made of the similar elastic material.

Accordingly, after the fingers 77 come into contact with the outer surface of the guide roll 68, the fingers 77 are gradually bent with rotation of the roll 68 and fingers 77 and eventually disengaged from the guide roll 68. Then, the fingers 77 rapidly return to the original shape from the bent shape by the elasticity.

Referring to Fig. 12, when the package feeding rotor 55 and the package guide roll 68 rotate in the direction and when the fingers 77 rotates in the opposite direction, the opposite end fingers 77a firstly come into contact with the outer surface of the package guide roll 68 through side peripheries of the package fed from the package feeding roller 55 to the package guide roll 68.

Thereafter, the side fingers 77a are gradually bent as shown by 77a by rotation of the package guide roll 63 and fingers 77a. Eventually, the side fingers 77a rapidly depart the package guide roll 68 and are returned to their original forms as shown at 7711a by their elasticity. At the time, the side fingers 77a momentarily give tension force to the side peripheries of the package 50, so that the package 50 is partially separated from the adjacent or the next following packages at the both side peripheries along the scored line 52, as shown at 78 in Fig. 13.

Thereafter, the other fingers 77b come into contact with the package 50 on the package guide roll 68 and are then bent depressing it onto the package guide roll 68, as shown at 77'b, in Fig. 14. Eventually, the fingers 77b rapidly depart from the outer surface of the package guide roll 68 and return to their original form is shown at 77'b Fig. 14. At the same time, the fingers 77b momentarily give tension force to the package 50 and separate the package 50 from the next package at the scored line 52 as shown in Fig. 15. The separated package 50 is then flipped by the fingers 77b and drops on a shoot 79 towards an article accessing opening 80.

Thus, the discharging operation of the discharging mechanism is completed for one article vending.

Claims (20)

1. A vending machine having a mechanism for dispensing an article and means for receiving a coin to permit operation of the mechanism, the receiving means including a movable driving member and a driven member which are mechanically coupled by the received coin and which transport the received coin within the machine.

2. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 1, comprising manual operating means, the driving member being a rotary member mechanically coupled with the manual operating means so as to rotate upon movement of the manual operating means.

3. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the driven member is rotatably mounted co-axially with the rotary member and forms a coin receiving pocket therewith whereby the driving and driven members are mechanically coupled for rotary motion by the received coin.

4. A vending machine which comprises: a machine housing having a coin depositing opening, a manual lever movement guide slit, and an article containing section: -coin selecting means connected with said coin depositing opening for selecting a genuine coin deposited through said coin depositing opening to accept the genuine coin as an accepted coin:: manual lever means having an end projecting outside said machine housing through said manual lever movement guide slit and being movable by manual operation of said projecting end along said manual lever movement guide slit; a rotary member rotatably supported on an axis and mechanically coupled with said manual lever means so that said rotary member rotates by movement of said manual lever means; a driven member having a rotary shaft rotatably supported on said axis, said driven member being adjacent said rotary member and cooperating with said rotary member to form a coin pocket for receiving said accepted coin as a received coin so that said driven member and said rotary member are mechanically coupled by said received coin and rotatable together to rotate said rotary shaft; and article discharging mechanism coupled to said rotary shaft and responsive to rotation of said rotary shaft for discharging an article from said article containing section.

5. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said manual lever means is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin supported in parallel with said axis in said machine housing so that said manual lever means turns around said pivot pin by the manual operation, said manual lever means is provided with an arcuate gear, said rotary member is associated with a gear engaging with said arcuate gear so that said rotary member is rotated by movement of said manual lever means.

6. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 4 or Claim 5, wherein said rotary member has a coaxial annular rim fixedly mounted on a side surface, said annular rim having a thickness slightly larger than said coin and being partially cut away to form a discontinuous portion therein, a distance between opposite ends of said discontinuous portion being determined slightly larger than a diameter of said coin, said discontinuous portion forms a portion of said coin pocket.

7. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said driven member is provided with a central circular land portion and a coaxial outer annular rim on a side surface facing the rotary member, said land portion has an outer diameter slightly smaller than an inner diameter of said annular rim of said rotary member, said outer annular rim has an inner diameter slightly larger than an outer diameter of said annular rim of said rotary member, said land portion and said outer annular rim determining an annular groove therebetween with a depth slightly larger than the thickness of said coin, said land portion is partially cut away at an outer periphery thereof to form a semi-circular recess with a radius slightly larger than a radius of said coin, said outer annular rim is also partially cut away to from a discontinuous portion as a coin introducing port at a position corresponding to said semi-circular recess, and said rotary member and said driven member are disposed adjacent to each other so that said annular rim of said rotary member is loosely fitted in said annular groove of said driven member, with said discontinuous portion of said annular rim being angularly positioned at said coin introducing port, whereby said coin introducing portion and said semi-circular recess form said coin pocket together with said discontinuous portion of said annular rim of said rotary member.

8. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 7, wherein said land portion being provided with two semi-circular recesses at diametrically opposite positions, said outer annular rim is also provided with two coin introducing ports at diametrically opposite positions, said discontinuous portion of said rotary member is alternatingly and angularly positioned at one of said coin introducing ports 34 to form said coin pocket.

9. A vending machine as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 8, wherein said driven member is associated with a ratchet wheel, and a ratchet is mounted to be urged by spring means on said machine housing to engage with said ratchet wheel so that said ratchet wheel and said driven member are prevented from reversely rotating.

10. A vending-machine as claimed in any of Claims 4-to 9, wherein said driven member is also associated with a positioning plate provided with a cut-away portion at an outer periphery, an engagement member is mounted on said machine housing and is urged onto the outer surface of said positioning plate by means of spring. said engagement member is disposed to engage with said cut-away portion when the driven member is located at an angular position where said coin introducing port is located under said coin selector to thereby stationarily maintain said driven member at the angular position so that said accepted coin is reliably introduced into said coin pocket.

11. A vending machine as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 10, which further comprises a stopper mechanism for preventing said rotary shaft from forwardly rotating when no coin is received in said coin pocket.

12. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 11, wherein said stopper mechanism comprises: a groove in the outer surface of the driven member adjacent said coin introducing port; a stopper pin; stopper lever means having said stopper pin and pivoted at said machine housing; spring means urging said stopper lever means so that said stopper pin engages with said groove which is positioned under said coin selector 27.

13. A vending machine as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 12, wherein said articles being packages continuously formed into a long package belt, each package containing a predetermined goods, said package belt having scored lines at portions connecting adjacent packages, wherein said article discharging mechanism comprises: package feeding rotor means coupled to and rotated by said rotary shaft for transferring said package belt to feed a first one of said packages into package separating zone; and package separating means disposed in said package separating zone and coupled to and driven by said rotary shaft for receiving and separating said first package from said package belt, said package separating means comprising: package guide roll means rotated by said rotary shaft for receiving and transferring said first package thereon; and elastic finger means rotated by said rotary shaft for pinching said first package together with said package guide roll means and for applying tension force to said first package to separate said first package from said package belt along one of said scored lines.

14. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 13, wherein said package feeding rotor means is a regular polygon member having an axial length generally equal to a width of said package belt, said polygon member having package receiving recesses in sides surfaces thereof.

15. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 14, wherein one of said recesses is positioned as a package feeding recess at a package feeding position when rotation of said rotary shaft due to said manual operation of said manual lever means is completed, one package received in said package feeding recess being fed as said first package by next operation of said manual lever means.

16. A vending machine as claimed in Claim is, which further comprises: guide plate means for guiding and depressing said one package into said package feeding recess; and means supported on said machine housing for urging said guide plate means to depress said one package.

17. A vending machine as claimed in Claim 15 wherein another one of said recesses is positioned as a package introducing recess at a package introducing position, and which further comprises: pinch roller means cooperating with said package feeding rotor means for guiding said package belt to introduce as an introduced package a package of said package belt thereinto and for preventing said introduced package from floating from said package introducing recess.

18. A vending machine as claimed in Claiml3, wherein said elastic finger means comprises a plurality of fingers arranged in said axial direction, two opposite end fingers are angularly spaced from the other fingers, said opposite end fingers, upon rotating, firstly coming into contact with said package guide roll means and gradually bent to pinch both side edges of said first package with said package guide roll means, then said opposite end fingers rapidly and momentarily departing said package guide roll means to give tension force to said first package to thereby partially separate said first package from said package belt along one of said scored lines.

19. A vendi.ng machine as claimed in Claim 18., wherein said other fingers come into contact with said package guide roll means after said opposite end fingers, said other fingers are also gradually bent to pinch said first package with said package guide roll means, then said other fingers rapidly and momentarily departing said package guide roll means to give tension force to said first package to thereby completely separate said first package from said package belt along said one of said scored lines.

20. A vending machine substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.