US1240595A - Delivery mechanism for vending-machines. - Google Patents

Description

E. M. PERFECT. DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR VENDING MACHINES.

AP PLI CATWN FILED MAY $3. I916.

Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

I 63mm an? A. PER/"56 E. M. PERFECT.

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR VENDING MACHINES.

Patented Sept. '18, 1917.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13. $916- E. M. PERFECT. DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR VENDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13'. 1916. 1,240,595. PatentedSept. 18, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEEY 3.

UNITED STATES rarnnr ()FEIGE.

EBER 'M. PERFECT, or

EvANsvILL'n, irfnIAn-Le, nssmneaor ens-ants To earner-s w. or EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

DELIIViERY MECHANISM Fora vENDI-Ne-Mnomnns.

Specification of letters-Patent.

Patented se t; 18-, "1-917.

impl cation filea'ita 'ls, 1916. s riai'nme'vgsev. I I

To'all w'hom it may concern: I

Be it kno'wvn that I, EBIJR MQPERF OT, a citizen of the Unitec'lStat'es, and -resident of Evansville, Indiana", have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in Delivery Mechanism for Vending-Machines, of which the following is'a specification eon tai'ning a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My inventionrelates to an improved 'delivery mechanism for vending machines of the class known as coin-co"ntr'olled, and my invention "consists in thenovel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and particular-1y designated in the claims found at the end of this specification.

The object of my 'invent'ion is to provide an improved coin-controlled delivery mechanism which shall be adapted to sell and deliver articles of various sizes and Weights, and of different materials, all of which may be contained Within the machine at the same time, ready for delivery upon the deposit article has been delivered and the machine I is empty.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a vending-machine embodying my invention. I

Fig. 2 is a side-elevation of the machine, with the side of the casing removed, to show the internal mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section, taken from the rear of the machine, on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig, 4 is a detail. side-elevation of por-' tioii of the uppe P 7 the mechanism Fig. 5 is a horizontal section, taken through the machine, on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 6 is a detail side elevation of the mechanism in the upper portion of the ma chine;

Fig. 7 is a similar View with the a different adpistment, and

Flg. 8 is a detail view of the coin-slot parts in bl' 'ock'ingplate, and the Empty sign 'c'a'rriedj thereby. V

By reason of the fact that my vendingmachine is arranged with a comparatively large article storage chamber, in which article's of different sizes (large, small, and

ing 9', and access to Which is afforded by Way of a rear door 3. v

Said rear door 3 extends the full height of the casing, an'd'is provided with common. hinges 4 and lock 5. I I

In the upper front corner of said casing is an article exhibiting-chamber 6, in which a sample article, such as 7, is supported upon a floor 7 Formed in the front of said casing 2 is a sight-opening S, in rear of which is -aglassplate 9 supportedin suitable holdingdevices 10, so that a clear view of the sample articlev contained in said exhibiting-chamber mayv be had by a person in front of the machine.

A vertical partition 11 separates the said article storage-chamber from said exhibit ing-chainber 6, and said partition extends below the E001" 7" of said exhibiting-chamber a considerable distance, so as to form he: neath the latter a mechanism-chamber 12, in which the operative parts of themachine are removably contained during use of the machine. v

13 indicates the front of the casing, Which is bodily detachable, together with a vertical plate 14;, carrying the important parts of the operating-mechanism.

Said vertical plate 14 ill be hereinafter called the frame plate, and it extends downwardly fror'nthe floor 7* of said exhibition chamber to a point near the base of the casing, Where it is cut off at an angle, as shown in Fig. 2;

A suitable money=till 15 is detachably carried upon a supporting-bracket 16 projecting at a right-angle from the internal surface of said front 13, at the lower end of said frameplate 14, and is removable therewith.

' A curved brace-sheet 17 has its outer and upper end secured to the said front wall by means of rivets or screws 18, whence 1t extends downwardly and rearwardly to the inner edge of said till-bracket 16, to which it is secured, for the double purpose of bracing said bracket, and to form a bad-coin chute.

Said till 15 is yieldingly held in place upon its supporting-bracket 16 by a fiat spring 19, so that said till may be quickly detached and. dumped upon the removal of said front, the upper side of said till being open, of course. v

The articles to be sold are designated, in the present instance, by the numeral 7, and are all shown of the same size; but it is obvious that they need not be so, on account of the novel arrangement of the article stand now to be described.

The articles 7 are temporarily supported in the article storage-chamber 1, each upon a dumping-plate 20, oneabove the other, and surmounted by a weighted follower 21, which latter is preferably made of sheetmetal and rectangular in form, and supplied upon its interior with any suitable form of weight, such as sand, a piece of iron, or buck-shot.

Said follower 21 and said dumping-plates 20 are of course located in a horizontal position when in use, as shown. (See Fig. 2).

Said dumping-plates 20, carrying the articles '7, as well as the said follower 21, are guided freely by suitable vertical guide-bars 22, secured to the inner walls of said article storage-chamber 1 by means of nails or the like, 23.

24 designates fixed supporting-brackets, secured to the walls of said article storagechamber 1, at a point beneath the lowermost one of the series of dumpingplates carrying the articles 7. so that whenever said lowermost plate is shoved horizontally until one of its ends passes beyond the adjacent supporting-brackets 24, the said plate and the article immediately above (and lying upon it) will. be dumped, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and said dumped article will drop down onto the delivery chute 25, from whence it can be readily removed by the purchaser inserting his hand through the article-delivery opening 26 at the base of the machine.

Said supporting-brackets 2% are located upon the opposite walls of the casing, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, but the do not project so far as to obstruct the fall of said clumping-plates or the dumped article.

After a plate carrying an article has been dumped. as just described, said dumped plate is caught at its rear edge, by its oppositely-projecting integral ears 27 riding upon the rearwardly-inclined tracks 28, and slides thereon rearwardly until it comes to rest in a vertical position, ready to be used p ver a)gain in refilling the machine. (See After one of said plates 20 has beendumped with its supported article, the stack of articles 7 and the plates 20 interposed between them, gravitate toward said supporting-brackets 914, until the lowermost plate comes in contact with and is arrested in its downward movement by the said brackets, when the machine is ready to deliver again, and so on until all the superposed articles 7 and plates 20 are disposed of in the manner described, when the machine should be refilled.

The numeral 29 designates perforated integral ears on the opposite edges of said delivery-chute 25, by means of which said chute is secured to the walls of the casing.

As soon as the uppermost (and last) one of the superposed dumping-plates of the arranged series has been dumped, as described, there is nothing to prevent the weighted follower 21 from passing to a plane below that of the said supporting-brackets 21, and it does so until it rests upon and depresses the underlying horizontal arm 30 of the vertical sliding bar 31, which latter carries at its upper end the coin-slot blocking plate 32.

Said sliding bar 31 is thereupon moved downwardly a corresponding distance, and said coin-slot blocking-plate is carried with it until said plate rests behind, and covers, the coin-slot '33, and prevents the entrance of any coin through said slot, and also displays the word Empty at the sight-opening 33 through the glass plate 34-, as long as the machine remains unfilled, and until the said follower 21 is elevated out of contact with the said horizontal-arm 30, by

spring 31 The said vertical bar 31 is provided with guide-slots 35 which are engaged by screws or pins 36, fixed in the said frame-plate 14, on the side thereof which is opposite that which carries most of the mechanism. (See Fig. 4).

Said spring 31" normally holds said coinslot blocking and Empty sign mechanism elevated such a distance that said coin-slot blocking mechanism and said Empty sign are elevated to plane above said coin-slot and said Empty sight opening, thereby permitting coins to be inserted through said coin-slot and allowing an observer to use the'm'achine in purchasing as many articles as desired, as long as any articles remain in the article storage-chamber.

37 indicates a guide-flange on the upper rear corner of said'follower 21, to engage the rear guide-bars, as shown in Fig. 4;, and

form a .stopito prevent the rear-ward movement, and dumping of said (follower when same 'is depressed below the aower ends of said rear guide-bars. I

When a proper coin, or check, 38, is inserted in the :said coin-slot 83 it rolls edgewise down the inclined coin-chute '89 until it reaches-and drops into the enit-slot .40 in the iower edge of said chute, when it falls uponithe rear arm of 1a V shaped rocking .blocking' device 41 and depresses said armto a downwardly-inclined position, and thence rolls into the weight and size testing device, whichwill now be described in detail. Said coin blocking device 41 is pivoted at 42 upon a pivot-pin :or screw located at the lower edge of ascoin blocking chamber 43 which is directly below the said coinehu-te 39,: the inner and lowerend of said chamber opening directly into a combined coin-hopper and size testing deviice 44.-

said coin-chute and blooking chamber are provided with suitable pertor-ated flanges 4-4, by means of which they are riveted, or

' otherwise secured in position upon one face of the said frame-plate 14. g

A stop-pin -45 limits the forward move ment of the said blocking device 41.

Said coin 38, upon engaging said blocking-device 41, rocks the same from its normal position, as shown'by solid lines in Fig. 6, to the position in which it is shown by dotted lines, and then :said coin rolls into said 'coin hopper '44, as lieionendesoribed, and depresses same if said coin is sufficiently heavy, and if said coin isof :suflicient (or the proper) weight said coin will pass-off the inner :end of said hopper, and drop into the underlying chute 46, and land in the coin-space between the inner end oi the pusher-bolt 47 and a laterally-projecting lug 48 on the horizontal sliding dumping-plate pusher-bolt 49, both of said pusher-bolts be ing .mou-nted to slide in suitable horizontal guides secured to said frame-plate 14 by means :of rivets or screws.

Said pusher-bolt 47 is mounted on one side of said frame-plate 14, as shown in Fig. 6, and said other pusher-bolt 49 is mounted upon the opposite side of said plate.

Suitable coils.prings (preferably two of them arranged at an angle to each other as shown in Fig. 4) 50 have their converging inner ends connected to said dumping-plate pusher-bolt 49 by means of screws or pins '51., and their opposite ends attached to said frame-plate 14 at a point-near the front edge of the latter, by means 0f suitable pins :52, whereby said pusher-bolt will be normally retracted, as shown.

But the said coin 38 will be shunted be fore it falls into saidcoin space by a coin blocking-arm 53, whichiis caused to slide beneath and catch said falling coin whenever the deliverydever is partially depressed by a careless person, beforea coin is placed and the shunted coins will fall upon said blocking arm in said chute 46, and be thereby caused to fall directly to the said delivery-chute 25, and be returned to the owner.

The :action of the rejected coin, just described, takes place upon the side of the said frame-plate which 'is :shown in Fig. 2, so that said rejected coin misses the till 15., which "is located upon the opposite side of said frame-plate. If said delivery-lever 54 is fullydepressed, alter a coin has reached the said coin-space between the inner end of "said coin pusherbolt 47and said lateral lug 48 on the said dumping-plate pusher-bolt 49, then said pushersbolt 47 will push said coin inwardly against :said lug, and carry coin andxlug (and of course) the dumping-plate pusherbolt inwardly, and said last named bolt will engage the lowermost one of said horizontally-placed dumpingplates 20,and shove it if the adjacent supporting-brackets, when it will fall and dump its :article into the delivery-chute 25, where said article can be reached by the purchaser.

Said delivery-lever 54 ex-tends upon the exterior of the"vending-machine through a slot 55 formed .in' said front 13.

' Said delivery-lever is preferably, as shown, in the form of a bell-crank lever, with its inner rarm passing downward upon the interior of the mechanism-chamber 12, and thereat engaging a pin 56 projecting from one side of the said coin pusher-bolt 4 7, to

operate said bolt, as described above. A suitable coin pusher-bolt spring 57 is fixed as shown to one side of said frameplate 14, and arranged to "engage said pin 56, to normally retain said bolt in a retracted position.

Said bell-crank delivery-lever 54 is pivoted at 58 to a suitable bracket 59 fixed upon one side of said frame-plate 14.

A slot 60 is formed inthe side-wall of the guide 61 in which said coin pusher-bolt operates, for the necessary movementxof said pin 56.

62. indicates another bell-crank lever, which is forked at its lower end andpivoted at'63 to said frame-plate, so that its shorter (horizontal) arm will engage beneath the per end of said rocking-lever contacts with a depending-projection on the under side of said coin-hopper 44, and tilts said hopper on its pivot 66 and causes the latter to discharge any coin that have been allowed to reach it inadvertently;

Said discharged coin will, as previously described, be intercepted by the said blocking-arm 53, which at such moment underlies the said discharged coin and shunts it down into the said delivery-chute, as previously described.

Said rocking-lever is pivoted at 67 to the said frame-plate 14.

The numeral 68 designates an adjustable balancing-weight for the said coin hopper as, said weight being provided (in the present case) with a screw 69 which is threaded into a perforation formed in the said depending projection 65 of the said hopper, so that by turning said weight it will be moved nearer to or farther from the pivot 66 of said hopper, and thereby balance the same until the proper space is normally permitted (or arranged for) between the free delivery-end of the hopper and the adjacent partition 11, to allow a coin of the proper weight and diameter to pass in said space into said chute 46, or to fall upon the said shunt or blocking arm 53 when the latter is interposed, as previously described.

After an article has been delivered, as previously described, by the full depression of the said delivery-lever 54:, the coin which caused said delivery-action will be dropped into the till-chute 71 and gravitate to the said till 15, whence it will be removed by the attendant, as is usual in machines of this class.

As the inward movement of the said coin pusher-bolt continues the delivery movement above-described, the lateral lug 48 extending to a plane above that of the center of said pushing coin, and being inclined to fit the inclination of the periphery of said coin, causes said coin to run off the inner end of said bolt-guide 61, and be forced downwardly into the underlying till-chute 71.

I do not limit myself to the exact form and arrangement of the parts herein shown, as it is evident that the same may be changed by skilled mechanics, as they see fit, to operate by substantially the same means in substantially the same way, with out departing from the scope of my inven tion.

Further description of the operation of my machine is deemed unnecessary, as that already recited will be ample for all who are skilled in the art.

Said front 13 is provided, of course, with a suitable lock 72, whereby it may be removably secured in position, and the till be protected from thieves.

' I do not herein claim the fraud preventive device, as I have made that the subject-matter of a divisional application, filed Decemher 4th, 1916, Serial No. 135,014,. a

I claim the following as my invention:

1. An improved vending-machine, comprising: a casing; a series of article-supporting plates mounted to be shoved endwise upon fixed brackets; the fixed brackets upon which the lowermost one of said plates is mounted; ears on the opposite edge of 'each plate, at one end thereof; opposite inclined tracks which said ears slide upon after they have been shoved off of the fixed brackets; and a coin-operated bolt which engages the said lowermost plate and shoves the same bodily off of said fixed brackets toward and onto said inclined tracks.

2. An improved vending-machine, comprising: a casing; fixed brackets in said casmg; a series of horizontal article-support ing plates superposed upon said fixed brackets, to support articles, and to be consecutively first moved bodily in a horizontal plane until one end is shoved off of its fixed brackets; a pusher-bolt for pushing the lowermost one of said plates off of its fixed brackets at one end; ears on said plates, ex-

tending beyond the edges ofthe plates in opposite directions, at the end of said plates which is opposite the end which is engaged by said pusher-bolt; and opposite tracks which are downwardly-inclined, and onto which said ears are pushed Whenever said plates are shoved by said pusher-bolt.

3. An improved vending-machine, comprising a suitable casing, a series of horizontal article supporting-plates supported in said casing to slide edgewise and to be dumped after having been slid edgewise, downwardly-inclined tracks onto which said plates are delivered after having been slid edgewise and dumped with the articles carried by them, whereby the dumped plates are carried automatically out of the path of the next plate and articleto be dumped, a weighted-follower resting upon the uppermost one of said supporting-plates before it has'been dumped, and a flange on the uppermost rear corner of said weighted-follower, forming a stop, to prevent the said follower from being slid edgewise, and means actuated by a coin, for bodily sliding said plates edgewise and causing them to be delivered onto said inclined tracks after having been dumped.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in'presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EBER M. PERFECT.

W'itnesses:

FRANCIS W. WINANS, JOHN J. NOLAN.

Copies 01' this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0.

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