US1356345A - Package-dispensing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

w. P. DUN LA NY; I PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

' 1,356,345; y Pat nted Oct. 19,1920.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 1917.

- 5 SHEEISSHEET I.

W P. DUN LANY. PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 19!]. 1,856,345, Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

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W. P. DUN LANY.

' PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV,2Z, I91]. 7

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1 w W a W. P. DUN LANY. PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 19H. 1,356,345, Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

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Z5 Z7 a I I I I I I W. P. D UN LANY. PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 191?. 1,356,345. Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

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7 i f I I 2 Eli? UNETED STATES- PATENT orrics.

WILLIAM E". DUN LAN'Y, F OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN CAN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PACKAGE-DISPENSING APPARATUS.

(Driginal application filed December improvement in Package-Dispensing A pparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in package dispensing apparatus and is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 808,099, filed December 22, 1913.

The invention is hereinafter described in connection with a coin-controlled vending machine so arranged that the packages may be dispensed from any one of a plurality of reservoirs by the mere depositing of a coin in a slot common to all of them.

The invention has for a principal object the provision of means for automatically indicating whether or not each of the reservoirs has any ackages therein or is empty.

A further 0 ject of the invention is the improvement in the construction and arrangement oi the parts of such devices and a general cheapening of manufacture, substantially all of the parts being formedcf sheet metal.

A. still further object of the invention is the provision of such apparatus adapted for use as a coin-vending machine and as such preventing the discharge of'a package when a coin or the wrong size or denomination or a slug is introduced into the machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will he a parent as it is better understood from the following description when consideredin connection with the accompanying drawing illustrating a pre terred embodiment thereof.

(In the drawing.-

Figure l is a side elevation of a vending machine embodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.

Fig. 4- is a similar section taken on the line a e of Fig. 5., Figs. 3 and 4: being upon enlarged scales;

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

22, 1913, Serial No. 808,099. Divided and this application filed November 22, 1917. Serial no. ceases.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Figs. 7 and 8 are detail sectional views showing the operating key and associated mechanism, Fig. 7 showing the parts in normal position and Fig. 8 showing the parts after one of the keys has been operated and a package about to be discharged;

Fig. 9 is a detail vertical section taken sugstantially on the line 9-9 of Fig. 4; an

Figs. 10 and 11 are detail views of two of i the parts.

In saiddrawing, the vending machine is shown as having a base on which is mounted an outer shell or casing 21, the latter, in its front face, having a coin-receiving slot 22 and a window 23. Within the outside casing. are fourspaced, vertical extending rectangular reservoirs 2a in which are adapted to be stored the packages of peppermint or other condiment to be dispensed, such packages being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5 at 25 and in full in Figs. '2' and. 8. The packages from all the reservoirs are discharged onto an inclined floor 26. see Fig. 8 and are taken from the machine through the opening 27 in the front face-thereof.

inside the casing to'the rear of the coinreceiving slot 22 is pivotally mounted a coinreceiving chute 28, the same being pivoted on a fined rod or pin 29. The upper wall of the chute 98 is recessed as indicated at 30, 30 in Fig. 19 and in normal position the ends of a horseshoe magnet 31 project slightly therethrough, the magnet acting to hold any sing or piece of metal acted upon by magnetism. Nickels, for which this n1achine is primarily adapted to be operated by, are of course, not aliccted by the magnet and pass readily thereby. A nickel having been forced through the slot 22 will fall down the chute 98 and come to rest in the tapered bottom thereof as indicated at 82 in Fig 6. the chute being cut away on its under face as at 33. Projecting slightly into the recess termed hy the cut away portion of the chute is the upper end 34 of a lever 35 pivoted on a stationary pin 36, said lever eing held in normal position by a leaf spring 37 Pivoted in the upper part of the casing and near the center thereof, is a pivoted member 38 having a slot 39 therein in which operates a pin 40 secured to the pivoted coin chute 28. At its outer end, the member 38 is also pivotally connected to a vertically reciprocating rod 41, the latter being slotted as at 42 to provide clearance for the pivot 29. The rod 41 is notched as indicated at 43 and 44, the notch 43 being longer than the notch 44, for a purpose herein'after specified. Normally positioned in the slot 43, is a lug 45 formed integrally with the lever 35 and within the notch 44 normally projects another lug 46 formed integrally with the lever 35 at its lower end, it being noted that the lug 46 is closer to the shoulder 47 formed at the top of the slot 44 than is the lug 45 to the corresponding shoulder 48. The rod 41 is held in its uppermost or normal position by a spring 49 secured to the top thereof and to a stationary part of the casing. As will be understood, the foregoing described mechanism is located centrally of the machine between two of the reservoirs, see Fig. 4.-

For each reservoir, the number of which may be increased or' decreased as. desired, there is a pivoted operating lever or key 50, each of which is provided with a finger piece or button 51 which projects out through the casing and which is pressed by the operator when a coin has been placed in the machine. Each pivoted lever has detachably and pivotally connected therewith a yoke 52, the arms of which extend around the walls of the reservoir with which it is'associated and the rear piece 53 of which engages in slots 54 formed in the side walls of a pivoted trap door 55, the rear member 53 of the yoke forming a detachable pivotal connection therewith. Each trap door 55 is normally in the position shown in Fig. 7 and is so held by a pair of sprin s 56. When the lever 50 is depressed to its full amount, the yoke 52 will be pulled forward, thereby tilting the trap door to the inclined position shown in Fig. 8 and dumping a package 25 onto the inclined floor 26. Each pivoted lever 50 is connected to'its associated yoke 52 by a spring 83 to prevent parts becoming sepa rated and, as will be understood, when a trap door 55 is returned to, normal position, it will retract the yoke therewith and the latter in turn will move the lever or key 50 to its normal position, the latter being stopped by a rearwardly and downwardly projecting lug 57 which engages a horizontal partition 58, the latter having suitable openings therein through which the trap doors are movable to deliver the packages.

Common to all of the operating levers or keys 50, is a pivotally mounted U-shaped bar 59, the latter being suspended on a transversely extending rod 60. The bar 59 is operated by each and all of the keys, whenever one of the latter is depressed to its full extent, by upwardly extending lugs 61 on each key. Also pivotally mounted on the rod 60, and near the center of the machine, is a bell crank lever 62, the depending army of which is engaged by said U-shaped bar 59, see Fig. 5. The other arm of said bell crank lever is pivotally connected as at 63, to the lower end of the bar 41 and by which the latter is operated.

The operation of the parts so far described is as follows: When a nickel is dropped into the chute 28, it will come to rest at the point indicated at Fig. 6 and will be engaged by the upper end of the lever 35. When one of the operating levers 50 is depressed, it will swing the bar 59 forwardly and the latter in turn will swing the bell crank 62 which causes a downward movement of the bar 41. The downward movement of the bar 41 causes the member 38 to swing about its pivot and the pivoted chute 28 will be thereby swung about its pivot 29, the pin 40 operating in the slot 39. The coin in the chute will be prevented from rearward movement as the chute is swung about its pivot and the lever 35 will be thereby swung about the pivot 36 against the action of the spring 37. This movement causes the projection 46 to be withdrawn from the slot 44 and the downward movement of the bar 41 will be unobstructed until the shoulder 48 engages with the lug 45 and thereby releases the coin, since the lever 35 will ;be moved from engagement therewith. The coin being thus released, will fall and be deflected by the partition 64 past the glass window 65 against another partition 66 and by the latter will be guided through an opening 67 into the coin-receiving chamber 68. Normally there is a spring-controlled pivoted trap door 69 to hold a bad coin in front of the window 65 but when a good coin has been placed in the chute, the downward movement of the rod 41 will open the trap door 69 by means of a shoulder 70 which engages the trap door and opens it. The foregoing described operation will permit the operating lever or key 50 to be swung downwardly to its full extent, as shown in Fig. 8, which in turn will cause a tilting of the trap door 55 and discharge a package as hereinbefore described. In case a cent or a dime is inserted through the slot into the coin chute 28, it will fall through the chute and will not be held at the lower end thereof and will be deposited upon the trap door 69 in back of the window 65. In the event of a slug or piece of metal which is acted upon by magnetism, being put on the bar 41 will engage the lug didand be prevented from further movement. This in I turn prevents a complete depression of the operating lever 50 and consequently the trap door 55 will not be tilted and no package will be discharged. When a slug has been caught by the magnet 31, the slight initial movement allowed the pivoted coin chute 28, will strip the slug from the magnet and allow it to pass down the chute and the slug will fall through the opening in the bottom thereof and be deposited on the trap door 69 in back of the window 65. In this way, the operator can see if he has inserted a coin of the wrong size or if he has inserted a slug and operation of the machine will be prevented except in the cases where the.

proper coin has been used. In order to prevent the simultaneous operation of two or more operating levers or keys when a nickel has been inserted in the machine, I provide aplurality of loosely and independently slidable bars 71,- see Fig. 9. These bars are mounted in slotted tangs 72 struck up from the horizontal partition 58. Each of the bars 71 is beveled at its ends, as shown at 7 3, and their lengths are.

so proportioned that the beveled ends thereof are normally positioned beneath the keys 50. The end keys project slightly below the tops of the end bars 71 so that the latter cannot be pushed out therebeyond. When an end key is depressed, all the bars'71 will be slid along until the bar at the opposite end comes into engagement with the key at.

that end and just enough clearness will be provided to permit the key being operated to pass by the end of the bar 71 adjacent thereto. When an intermediate key is depressed, the bars will be separated until the and members thereof come into engagement with the end keys and clearness will be thereby provided for the passage ot the key being operated upon between the ends of the bars 71 adjacent thereto. In this way, it will be seen that only one key at a time may be depressed since there is only clearance enough "for one key at a time. In front of each reservoir there is pivotally mounted an indicator 74, said indicators being mounted on a transversely extending rod 7 5. Each indicator is provided with a depending projection 76 which normally projects into the path of the packages 25 and the indicator thereby held in the position shown in Fig. 7. Each indicator is inscribed with the word Empty and with the name of the condiment being. vended, the indications being arranged as shown in Fig. 11. When there are packages in the reservoir, the indicator will be held, as shown in Fig. 7, with the name (peppermint) opposite a window 77. When, however, no packages are in the corresponding reservoir, the indicator will fall by gravity and the inscription Empty 'w1ll appear before the window 77. In this way, the purchaser is apprised of the fact that the reservoir corresponding to the key which he wishes to operate contains packages or is empty.

In order to prevent more than one package being discharged at a time from any reservoir, there is provided a plurality of spring-controlled detents 78, one for eachreservoir. Each detent 78 has a projection 79 thereon which works through a slot 80 in the rear wall of the reservoir, said projection 79 being normally held from engagement with the packages in the reservoir by the rear arm 53 of the corresponding yoke 52, the normal position of the detent 8 being. as shown in Fig. 7. When a key 50 is depressed and the trap door 55 tilted therewith, the yoke 52 will be moved from engagement with the detent 78 and the projection 79 on the latter will engage the lowermost package remaining in the reservoir as shown in Fig. 8. At the same time, the depending lug 76 of the indicator 7 1 will engage the lower front corner of the lower- .most package remaining in the reservoir and the package will thus be frictionally held by the detent 79 and the lug 76. In order to prevent tampering with the mechanism or removal of a coin after the same has been inserted through the coin slot, the bar 41 is provided with a projection 81, see Fig. 5, which covers the slot 22 when the bar a1 is pulled downwardly From the preceding description it will be seen that I have provided a vending machine of relatively few parts and simple arrangement, and so designed that the majority of the parts may be formed from stamped sheet metal.

I have herein shown and described my improvements as adapted for vending packages of peppermint but, as will be understood, the machine may be readily adapted for dispensing other styles of packages. It is also evident that the number of reservoirs may be increased or decreased by either duplicating or omitting the keys and directly associated parts therewith for each reservoir. And although I have herein shown and described in detail what I now consider the preferred embodiment of my improvements, yet changes and modifications other than those herein suggested may be made without departing from the spirit lit) of my invention and all such changes and modifications are contemplated as come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism, a plurality of reservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverse bar controlled by said mechanism and controlling each key, a tilting bottom for each reservoir, means operated by said bottom for sustaining and releasing the next to the bottom article in the reservoir, means whereby each key may operate the bottom of its reservoir, and means whereby the operation of any key locks the other keys against operation.

2. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism, a plurality of reservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverse shaft controlled by said mechanism, means whereby each key is controlled by said shaft, a tilting bottom for each reservoir, means operated by said bottom for sustaining and releasing the next to the bottom article in the reservoir, means whereby each key may operate the bottom of its reservoir, and means preventing the operation of two keys simultaneously.

3. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism a plurality of reservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverse shaft controlled by said mechanism, means whereby each key is controlled by said shaft, a tilting bottom for each reservoir, means operated bysaid bottom for sustaining and releasing the next to the bottom article in the reservoir, means whereby each key may operate the bottom of its reservoir, and means whereby the operation of any key locks the other keys against operation.

4. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism, a plurality of reservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverse shaft controlled by said mechanism, a transverse bar swingable with said shaft and controlling each key, a tilting bottom for each reservoir, means operated by said bottom for sustaining and releasing the next to the bottom article in thereservoir, means whereby each keymay operate the bottom of its reservoir, and means whereby the operation of any key locks the other keys against operation.

5- The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, key levers, a transverse bar connected with said mechanism and controlling each key lever and movable when said mechanism has been released, a plurality of reservoirs arranged along said bar at the rear thereof, depressible key levers one for each compartment, a tiltable floor for each reservoir, means connecting 1 said floors with their "respective key levers, a forwardly one key lever locks each against operation.

spring-pressed detent for each reservoir adapted to bear against the next to the lowermost article in the reservoir, means whereby said detent is released from the article when the fioor is in closed position, a front detaining element for each reservoir, and means whereby the operation of other key lever 6. The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, finger keys, a transverse bar connected with said mechanism and controlling each key and movable when said mechanism has been released, a plurality of reservoirs arranged along said bar at the rear thereof, depressible keys one for each compartment, a tiltable floor for each reservoir, means connecting said floors with their respective keys, a forwardly spring-pressed detent for each reservoir adapted to bear against the next to the lowermost article in the reservoir, means whereby said detent is released from the article when the floor is in closed position, a front-forwardly and rearwardly movable detaining element for each reservoir, and means whereby the operation of one key locks each other key against operation.

7, The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, key levers, a transverse bar connected with said mechanism and controlling each key lever and movable when said mechanism has been released, a plurality of reservoirs arranged along said bar at the rear thereof, depressible key levers one for each compartment, a tiltable floor for each reservoir, means connecting said floors with their -respective key levers, a forwardly spring-pressed detent for each reservoir adapted to bear against the next to the lowermost article in the reservoir, means whereby said detent is released from the article when the floor is in a front detaining element for each reservoir, a lever for each reservoir having .at its inner end said front detaining element and at its outer end an indicator arm which embraces closed position,"

and is stopped by said transverse bar, and

having an intermediate supportingrpivot, and means whereby the operation o-f'one key lever locks each other key lever against operation.

8. The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, a transverse rock jsh'aft connected therewith, and movable when said mechanism has been released, a plurality of reservoirs arranged along said shaft at the rear thereof, depressible key levers one for each compartment, means by which each key lever is controlled by, said rock shaft, a tiljtable floor for each reservoir, means connecting saidfloors with their respective key levers, a forwardly spring-pressed detent for each reservoir adapted to bear against the next to the lowermost article in the reservoir, means whereby said dctent is releasedfrom the article when the floor is in closed position,- a front detaining element for each reservoir, a lever for each reservoir having at its inner endlsaid front detaining element and at its outer end an indicator arm which embraces and is stopped by said transverse rock shaft, and having an intermediate supporting pivot and means whereby the operation of one key 10 lever locks each other key lever against operation.

Signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM P. DUN LANY. Witnesses:

L. E. Wonenun'rn, G. P. Lnnnmz.

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