GB731924A - Improvements in or relating to automatic delivery units - Google Patents

Abstract

731,924. Sales and sale service. BRITISH VITAMIN PRODUCTS ENGINEERING CO., Ltd. Dec. 29, 1952 [Sept. 26, 1951], No. 22499/51. Classes 27 and 116. An automatic delivery unit for liquid containers which are gravity fed and held against delivery by a gate adopted when actuated to permit the passage and delivery of a prescribed number of containers has means for delivering simultaneously one or more drinking straws. As shown in Fig. 1, a heat insulated cabinet has inclined guideways 14 for bottles 12 leading to vertical shoots 16 having star wheels 22 at the bottom which are released to deliver one bottle under gravity and a straw 26 from a compartment 25 between the shoots 16. Each guideway ends with a pivoted flap 17A, 17B which has an end blade spring 19 and is spring-urged upwardly by a spring 18, the flap only allows movement of bottles from a guideway when the next higher guideway has been evacuated. The star wheels 22 are mounted on shafts splined to a shaft 32 in a detachable casing secured to the back of the apparatus. The shaft 32 has three, six toothed cams 33, 34 and 35. The cams are rotated simultaneously; the cam 33 delivers a bottle, the cam 34 is a safety device and the cam 35 releases a straw. The cam 35 has a pawl 37 mounted on a pivot also carrying a lever 40 adjustably bolted to the pawl. The end 42 of the lever is urged by a spring-pressed plunger 43 to engage a pivoted contactor arm 44 of an electromagnetic relay 45 which is operated by a coin to rotate the contactor arm and pawl 37 to allow the weight of the bottle 12A to rotate the star wheel and release a bottle. The pawl 37 being then returned by the plunger 43. To prevent more than one bottle being delivered inadvertently, a pivoted pawl 38 is urged by a spring- pressed plunger 46 to contact the cam 35 and has a sear engaging a sear 47 on the pawl 37 whereby rotation of the pawl 37 rotates the pawl 38 which re-engages with the cam and with the pawl 37 after the delivery of a bottle. To ensure the pawl 38 has time to re-engage with the cam; the movement of the cam is braked by a spring- pressed plunger 49 engaging the second cam 34 which has its teeth facing in the opposite direction. To release a straw arms 51 contact the cams 35. The arms are mounted on a rotatable shaft 52, Fig. 6, connected by a lever 54 with a lever 55 pivoted to a lug on a pair of lever arms 57 pivoted at 58. The end of the levers 57 engage between stops 59 on a shaft 27 under the action of a spring 60. When the cam 35 rotates, the arms 51 also rotate to cause the rod 27 to move longitudinally to disengage a straw. The rod is returned by the spring 60. The apparatus may selectively dispense one or two kinds of bottles. A refrigerating chamber below the guideways circulates cooled air through rotating vanes 28 and pipes 29 with holes.