GB807511A - Improvements in or relating to automatic machines for vending drinks and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

807,511. Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing liquids in cups. CHADBURNS (LIVERPOOL) Ltd. July 6, 1956 [July 7, 1955; Sept. 3, 1955; Jan. 6, 1956; May 2, 1956], Nos. 19627/55, 25354/55, 495/56 and 13463/56. Class 27 The cup-dispenser of a coin-freed. beverage-vending machine comprises means for subjecting a cup, above that next to be delivered, to Lateral pressure so as to promote the separation of the cups from the stack. In the version shown in Fig. 12, the cups C are stored in nested stacks in a magazine 13 rotatable by #th of a revolution each time an inserted coin energizes a motor M to rotate a shaft 20 having a crank 46 which, through a link 47 and cable 48, operates a pawl and ratchet mechanism 27, 28 on the magazine shaft. A stationary bowl 30 is located below the magazine and has a delivery opening 35 below which is a shoot 36 leading to a vending position 15. Inner and outer tapered rails 33, 34 at the top of the bowl separate off the lowermost cup of each stack as they approach the delivery position and depending curved tongues prevent tilting of the cups. A pivoted wedge-shaped cam 37 is engaged at its end 37a by the stack moving to the delivery position and its other end 37b presses on the following stack between the lowermost and next-above cups in order to break any vacuum causing the lowermost cup to stick in its stack. Extending round a part of the base of the bowl is a smooth runner 32 which is inclined upwardly beyond the delivery position so that a cup that has dropped partially from its stack but has not been delivered is raised again to its normal position in the stack. A delivered cup falls down the shoot 36 and is guided by a tongue and a guide ring on to a gapped ring at the vending position 15. When the cup reaches the gapped ring, a cam 43 on the shaft 20 acts through a cable 45 to deliver water and carbon dioxide through a carbonating device 18 and a selected cam 49, 50 or 51 keyed on the shaft 20 operates a pump 52 on one of three syrup tanks S1, S2, S3. The cams are shifted to appropriate positions on the shaft by a slidable bar 55 connected by a cable 54 to a selector handle 53 and a gate wheel 58 on the shaft co-operates with stop members 59 on the bar 55 to prevent movement of the bar once the cycle of operations of the machine has commenced. The bar also operates a switch 60 and float rods 61 in the syrup tanks control switches in circuit with the switch 60 to illuminate lamps on the front of the machine if the tanks become empty. Other lamps indicate if the machine is in full working order or if the supply of cups, water or syrup has been exhausted. In a modification, Fig. 14, the magazine rotates only as each stack of cups becomes exhausted and releases a motor switch and the cups are released at each actuation of the machine by cam devices 63 pivotally mounted on a stationary ring 64 connected eccentrically to a movable ring 65 moved angularly by the cable 48. The cams are shaped to separate off the lowermost cup and at the same time support the rest of the stack. To speed up delivery of the cups, the released cups may be supported temporarily on a plate 68, Fig. 15, pivoted at the bottom of the shoot 36 and raidly swung to one side when a cam on the shaft 20 actuates a cable 69. A notch 72 in the plate engages a tongue on a bracket 70 if the plate is bent upwards by unauthorised persons attempting to gain access to the interior of the machine. To prevent drip, the liquid delivery nozzle or nozzles, may be pivotally mounted and arranged to be swung upwards after delivery by a cable operated by a cam on the shaft 20 or on the magazine rotating mechanism.