879,573. Coin-freed vending apparatus DEAN BROS. (ENGINEERS) Ltd. March 26 1958 [May 30, 1957], No. 17131/57. Class 27 In a coin-freed vending machine comprising a container for articles, coin-control mechanism and a rotary delivery device having a delivery element under the container partly rotatable by a hand grip, the container and the delivery element are easily removable to permit changing within the casing the commodity containers and delivery elements. The coin-control mechanism also permits of interchange of parts to make it operable by one coin only or a plurality of coins. One or more containers 8, Fig. 8, of channelsection are mounted in a rectangular casting 1, Fig. 1, by vertically spaced, downwardly projecting, hooks which engage with transverse rods 6, 7, carried within brackets 40a, 5a on the casing. The container 8 is locked in position by a spring- loaded cranked rod 12 which is swung over to engage the cranked portion with the top hook, an extension 11 of the rod 12 being held by detents 14, 15 to secure the rod in the releasing and engaging positions. Below the container 8 is mounted in the casing a coin-receiving and control mechanism 3 of the rotatable delivery device which may be of the progressive type disclosed in Specification 761,927 or of the oscillatable kind disclosed in Specification 368,819. The delivery discs 27, 28, Fig. 8, are removably mounted on a spindle 4, which is rotatably supported in the casing 1 on an inner spindle 24 fitted at one end with a turning knob 25. At the other end is a coin-receiving member 26. The delivery discs 27, 28 may be assembled over the end or ends of the spindle 4, which may be of polygonal cross-section, and secured between movable collars 4e, 4f, Fig. 4, by axial pressure provided by a screw or other means, or, to avoid removal of the spindle from the casing when changing the discs to accept commodities in packets of different size, the discs may be made radially removable by assembling them as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The discs 27a and 28a are slotted to slide radially over flats 4b formed on the spindle and are then rotated and moved outwards so that the slots are engaged by keying projections 4c, 4d. The discs are forced outwardly against fixed collars 4e, 4f by slotted collars 29a, 29b and springs 29d carried in recesses in the collars. When a two-column container is mounted in the casing 1, the spindle may carry two pairs of delivery discs having two recesses each, the discs being mounted on the spindle 4 in staggered relation so as to deliver alternately from each column. The coin-control mechanism may be modified to take one, two, or more coins by interchangeable pawl-plates 30 mounted on a removable pivot 30d, and one delivery disc only may be fitted below each column of articles. Preventing coin insertion. The container 8 has an upturned hook to receive the lower end 18 of a wire 19, Fig. 1, which is connected to a bell-crank 20 having a slot-covering arm 22. The slot 2 is uncovered when articles are in the container 8, but when a weight riding on the top packet has been lowered to a position in which a peg extending from the weight engages the end 18 of the wire as the last article is delivered, the bell-crank arm 22 is moved to close the coin-slot 2. The wire 19 may be swung aside as shown in Fig. 4 when re-stocking or replacing the container 8.