GB920872A - Improvements in and relating to automatic vending machines - Google Patents

Abstract

920,872. Coin-freed vending machines. K. WIEGANDT, and W. WIEGANDT. June 26, 1959 [July 3, 1958], No. 21966/59. Class 27. A coin-controlled vending machine for dispensing relatively tall articles such as bottles comprises a sloping platform 12 supporting the bottles 1 in a number of parallel series, a belt conveyer 13 which is movable along the lower edge of the platform for conveying the bottles to a delivery hatch 7 and tiltable between a normal delivery position and one in which it is aligned with the platform to receive a row of bottles therefrom, and a pivoted control flap 30 which is actuated when there are no more bottles on the conveyer to cause the latter to tilt into its receiving position; the lowest row of bottles on the platform then slides partially on to the conveyer where it is stopped by the flap until the return tilting movement of the conveyer results in the flap being released to permit the row of bottles to slide completely on to the conveyer, a pivotal retaining bar 21 being provided for preventing the next lowermost series of bottles on the platform from toppling over. Upon each insertion of a coin, the conveyer is advanced a step to deliver a bottle to the hatch 7. When the last bottle on the conveyer has been delivered, the flap 30 is free to swing upwardly by the action of a spring 35 and in so doing closes a switch 34 to cause a motor to tilt the conveyer about the axis 15 into the position shown in the upper part of Fig. 2 for receiving a row of bottles from the platform 12. At the same time, linkage 26, 25, 24 is operated to swing the bar 21 upwardly from its normal retaining relation in relation to the upper parts of the bottles in the lowermost row on the platform. This row can then slide into a position in which the bottles are supported with their major portions on the conveyer by their engage. ment with the flap 30 which acts as a fixed stop by the contact of a bracket 32 thereon with a pin 33. The subsequent reverse operation of the conveyer-tilting motor effected, after a predetermined period, e.g. by a time-switch, results in the conveyer being tilted upwardly to block the delivery of further bottles from the platform as shown in the lower part of Fig. 2, the bracket 32 being freed from the pin 33 to release the flap 30 and permit the row of bottles to move completely on to the conveyer, and the linkage 26, 25, 24 swinging the bar 21 into its normal retaining position. The bottles on the conveyer are supported at their upper parts by a bar 41. The bars 21, 41 are adjustably mounted. As shown in Fig. 1, four platforms 12 are provided with a conveyer 13 adjacent the lower edge of each platform.