US2019019A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 29, 1935. P. MILLER El AL 2,019,019

, VENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. Earl Riv/Z216 A TTORNEYS Oct. 29, 1935. MILLER ET AL 2,019,019

VENDIIIIG MACHINE File d Nov. 1, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H @921 772 m caz'zu ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 29, 1935. r AL 2,Ql9,019

VENDING MACHINE Filed NOV. 1, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEYS- Patented Oct. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES VENDING MACHINE Earl P. Miller and Albert R. McCallum, Detroit, Mich.

Application November 1, 1933, Serial No. 696,126

6 Claims.

Our invention relates to improvements in vending machines and more particularly to machines for vending newspapers, magazines and other periodicals.

We are aware that in the past vending machines have been produced for the distribution of newspapers, magazines and the like but none of these machines have been positive in action and none have proved successful commercially. The defects have been of a structural nature and due to the complexity of the mechanism which results in consequent high cost of initial production and in prohibitive maintenance expense. The machines or" the prior art have been impractical largely because of failure to stand up under service conditions. Failure to deliver the article which they were contemplated to vend, either due to jamming or improper operation of the parts or other causes, results in lack of confidence on the part of the buying public who use the machines so that they are entirely impractical from a commercial standpoint.

We have provided an improved form of vending machine for the purpose set forth which completely overcomes all of the objections to vending machines of the prior art, and which operates consistently without failure over long periods of time under severe service conditions, and requires little or no maintenance and may be produced at a small initial cost. The embodiment of the machine of our invention, shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the following description, is particularly adapted for and designed to vend newspapers and magazines but its use for the vending of other articles, package goods or otherwise, is fully contemplated.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved vending machine.

Another object of our invention is to provide a machine which is positive in action, that is, actuated by positive mechanical linkage as contrasted to spring action.

- Another object is to provide a vending machine having a mechanically operated ejector mecha- 45. nism of improved type.

Another object is to provide a machine which may be produced at low cost and one wherein all of the major parts are stamped of light metal.

Another object of our invention is to provide in 50 an improved vending machine of this type a novel system of cam and lever action for effecting the ejection of the object to be vended.

A further object of our invention is to produce a machine of the utmost simplicity of design and 65;: having a greatly reduced number of parts.

A still further object of our invention is to provide a machine of fool-proof design which cannot fail in operation on account of abuse on the part of the user.

A still further object of our invention is to provide an improved type of means for indicating the number of papers contained in the device at any time.

Another object of our invention is to provide novel means, in the machine of our invention, to 10 prevent jamming due to inserting a coin before the operating handle has been completely returned to its starting position.

These and many other objects and advantages will readily become apparent through a reading 15 of the following detailed description and an examination of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the vending machine of our invention shown with the cover 20 or housing removed.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the machine shown in Fig. 1 looking towards the machine from the right hand side of Fig. 1 illustrating the operating handle and linkage.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the machine taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the machine illustrated inFig. 1 looking towards the left hand side of the machine, with the cover or enclosing housing shown assembled on the machine in cross section.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1 with'the external housing of the machine omitted.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan detail view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 1 illustrating the ejecting mechanism of our invention.

Fig. 7 is a further enlarged vertical detail view taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6 illustrating the manner in which the operating cams raise the operating levers of the ejecting mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. '7 illustrating the operating cams and levers.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail horizontal section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. '7 illustrating the manner in which the operating arms and ejecting members are joined.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the cover housing of the device of our invention, parts being broken away to illustrate certain novel details.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged horizontal detail crosssectional View taken on the line I l--l l of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged detail view similar to Fig.

7 illustrating a modified form. of cam operating mechanism of our invention.

Referring now to the detailed description .and accompanying drawings in which like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, we have illustrated in Fig. 1 a pedestal IE on which the machine may be mounted. The vending machine of our invention is indicated generally by the numeral it .and comprises a plurality of parallel metal partition members I! spaced equidistant from each other to form individual compartments adapted to contain a newspaper, magazine or other article to be vended. In the modification of our device illustrated in the drawings there are'twelve of these individual compartments (see Figs. 3 and 5), although we contemplate the use of fewer or more compartments if desired. The compartments are vertically disposed and extend transversely of the machine from one end to the other when viewed from the front. As illustrated in Fig. 6, the end edges it of the partitions H are bent at right angles to form a closure for the side or end of each compartment. These ends ill form theside walls and may be fixed together by welding, or in any other suitable manner, to cross pieces H] which extend from the front to the rear and serve to tie thepartition members together in one unit (see Figs. 1, 3 and 6). Any other suitable manner of forming the plurality of compartments may be employed.

We thus provide a unit of twelve compartments all formed from stamped metal parts each adapted to contain a single magazine or newspaper in vertical position and the compartment being narrow enough to prevent the magazine or newspaper from folding or curling and always retaining the object to be vended in upright vertical position. We next provide a bottom Zll for each compartment which is movable out of alignment with the particular compartment for which it is the bottom closure by a simple and novel system of cams and operating levers hereinafter to be described. Each of the bottom members 26 closes one of the vertically disposed newspaper containing compartments. In the modification shown in the drawings we have twelve compartments and therefore twelve bottom members Zil. The bottom members 2E: are blade-like metal stampings extending transversely of the machine from end to end and disposed in one horizontal plane, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, and each bottom member is adapted to be moved out of alignment with its respective compartment by a sliding action. A support member l3 longitudinally slotted at M, extends from front to rear along each side of the machine directly below the cross pieces l9 and the blade-like bottom members 20 are slidably v mounted at their ends therein, and so held in close relation with the under side of the compartments.

We thus have a container divided into twelve vertically arranged compartments each closed by a slidable blade-like bottom member which retains the newspaper or article to be vended in the compartment when closed and which, when moved out of aligned relation or its closed position with its respective compartment, will permit the newspaper to drop downwardly out of the compartment since the bottom member Zli is the sole means of supporting and retaining the newspaper or other article to be vended in the compartment.

A receiving or delivery chute or tray 2| is disposed beneath the bank of compartments as clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, and as the newspaper is dropped it will fall into the tray or chute 2| which is open at its forward end to the access of the purchaser or operator of the vending machine.

We will now describe the novel and improved 5 mechanism of our invention by which each of the bottom closures 28 can be moved as hereinabove described to cause the newspaper of its respective compartment to fall into the delivery tray 2|. Our mechanism causes each of the com- 10 partments to be emptied consecutively commenc-' ing with the rearmost compartment, that is, the one shown in the extreme right in Fig. 3, and continuing one compartment at a time towards the front so that the front compartment, the one 15 illustrated at the left in Fig. 3 will be the twelfth and last compartment to contain a newspaper.

7 Referring now to Fig. 2, an operating handle or lever 2| is illustrated fixed to one end of a shaft 22 which shaft extends across the back of the go machine as illustrated in Fig. 5 and is rotatably journaled in portions 23 of the frame of themachine at both ends of the newspaper con-- taining compartment. Referring again to Fig. 2,. it will be noted that a tension spring 24 is secured at one end to an upstanding arm 25 of the frame of our machine and at the other end to a pin- 26 of the lever 2i, the spring 24 serving to yieldingly retain the operating handle in the positionshown which is the starting position or normal 9: position of the handle prior to an operating movement. The numeral 2? designates a hydraulic cylinder which is suitably associated with the operating handle 2| to retard the rate of return movement of the handle, and counter balance 35' the spring 24. Such oil cylinder controls are old in the art as door checks and the like. The operating lever 2| has an arm 28fixed at its inner end and extending downwardly therefrom to form a bell crank lever as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2., A downward movement of the handle 2| will ro-- tate the shaft 22 counter-clockwise, as viewed from the right end illustrated in Fig. 2, and will rotate the lower end of the bell crank arm 28 toward the rear of the machine.

A suitable coin control device 30 is shown mounted on the machine and this particular coin control device does not form any part of our pres.- ent application. An arm 3| extends downwardly and toward the rear of the machine from the coin 5 control device and is pivotally secured" to the lower end of the bell crank lever 28 at 32. The arm 3| is locked against movement by the mechanism of" the coin control 3%! and will therefore prevent downward movement of the handle 2| because of 5 its connection therewith at 32 unless the proper, coin is inserted in the device, whereupon the arm 3| will be released and unlocked to permit-a. downward movement of the handle 2|. Any-suitable type of coin control for locking and releasing the 5 arm 3| may be employed.

The operating handle 2| forms the driving: force for the device of our invention through its rotation of the shaft 22 and the forward and backward movement of the lower end of the bell crank 55. arm 28.

We will next describe the novel means of transmitting the movement of the handle 2| to the closure members 23 to eifect their previouslydescribed action to eject the magazine, newspaper 70 or other object contained in each of the twelve individual compartments. Referring particularly to Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the accompanying drawings, it will be noted that each of the blade-like;

bottom members 20 has a. projection. stormed; 5

at each of its outer ends adapted to engage an aperture 35 formed in one end of an operating link 36, thus fixing each of the twelve members 20 at each of its ends between a pair of operating links 36 as illustrated in Fig. 9 of the drawings. A bank of twelve of these links 36 is provided at either side of the machine, one pair of links for each bottom member 20. The outermost pair of links 36 is the longest pair and is fixed to the rearmost closure member 20, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, and the next inwardly disposed pair of links 36 is connected to the closuremember 20 immediately forward of the rearmost closure member, and so on as shown in the drawings until the innermost pair of operating links 36 which will be the twelfth pair of links counting inwardly, will operate the closure member 20 for the front compartment. Each pair of levers is shorter than its next outwardly adjacent pair as shown in Figs. 6 and 9. The twelfth pair of levers, therefore, is the shortest pair. A more definite idea of the positioning-of these levers and their characteristics may be obtained from a careful observation of the drawings.

It will be apparent that rearward movement of the outermost pair of links 36 will move the rearmost bottom member 2|] out of alignment with the rearmost compartment and permit the newspaper contained therein to drop into the delivery tray 2|. Likewise, rearward movement of the next inwardly disposed pair of links 36 will actuate the bottom member 26 which is'next to the rear to empty its respective compartment and so on until the twelfth pair of links 36, counting inwardly from both sides, will eject the twelfth newspaper from the twelfthor front compartment.

The links 36 extend horizontally along each side of the container unit and each consists of a flat metal stamping placed on edge and immediately adjacent and slidably contacting another link to form the compactly arranged banks shown.

As has been previously described, the rear end of each link is fixed to and supported by the outer end of the bottom member 20 which it actuates. The forward end of each link 36 is supported by an upstanding cross member 38 (Fig. 7) A notch 39 is formed in the under side edge of each link 36 near its forward end which notch is adapted to fit over the top edge of the cross member 38, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 7 of the drawings, for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

An elongated slot 46 is formed in the upper side edge of each link 36 above the notch 39 of the underside edge. A pair of horizontallyextending arms 4|, one disposed over each bank of links 36 on either side of the machine, extend from the front to the rear of the machine (Figs. 6 and 7). The front end of each arm 4| has a downwardly depending portion 42 which is disposed above the slot 40 and is adapted to engage the forward and rear ends of the slot 40 in abutting relation when the link 36 is raised in a mannor to be hereinafter described.

A pair of vertically disposed guide plates 43 are arranged, one on either side of the twelve links 36, to guide the links and retain them in proper aligned position. Each plate 43 has a longitudinally extending slot 44 therein which is adapted to receive the ends of a cross pin 45 formed integral with or fixed to and extending across the forward ends of each arm 4|. It will be noted that the cross pins 45 ride in the slots 44 of the plates 43, and are slidable therein and reciprocate forward and back.

The rear end of the arm 4| on the right hand side of the machine, the end shown in Fig. 2, is pivotally fixed at 32 to the lower end of the bell crank 28 of the lever 2|. The rear end of the arm 4| which is fixed on the left hand side of the machine, the end shown in Fig. 4, is pivotally attached at 46 to the lower end of a link 41. The other end of the link 47 is fixed on the outer end of the shaft 22.

It is therefore apparent that a downward movement of the operating lever 2| will rotate the shaft 22 and cause the bell crank 28 of the right side of the machine and the link 41 of the left side of the machine to be swung toward the rear and move both arms 4| toward the rear of the machine. A downward movement of the lever 2| thus causes a rearward movement of each arm 4 The downwardly depending end portion 42 of the arm 4| will reciprocate above the slot 45 of each link 36 when the link 36 is resting on the cross member 38 with the notch 39 engaging the upper edge of the member 38.

We employ a novel cam means to raise the forward end of each pair of links 36 into operative engagement with the arm 4| to cause the links to move rearwardly and eject the newspapers. It will be apparent that if the forward ends of the outermost pair of links 36 are raised, to lift the notch 39 thereof upwardly out of engagement with the upper edge of the member 38, and bring the slot 45 thereof into engagement with the end 42 of the driving arms 4|, that particular pair of links36 would be moved rearwardly with the arms 4| because of the abutting engagement of the end 42 with the rear end of the slot 40.

The cam means provided to raise the forward ends of each pair of links 36 into engagement with the arms 4|, in consecutive order, to effect actuation of the respective bottom member '26 associated with each pair of links includes the following. A horizontally disposed shaft 50 extends transversely of the machine in front of the newspaper compartments. On each end of this shaft is mounted a bank of twelve disc cams iii, one for each link 36 arranged to alternately raise the forward ends of one pair of links 36, com mencing withthe outermost pair of links and consecutively raising each succeeding pair counting inwardly from the outermost pair.

The twelve disc cams of each bank are joined to each other to form a unit by suitable studs'or screws 52 (Figs. '7 and 8). One of these banks of cams is disposed under the forward ends of each of the banks of links 36 and the cams are disposed rearwardly of the cross members 33.

A cam disc 5| is provided for each link 36 and the underside edge of the link is adapted to ride on the periphery of its particular cam. A portion of the periphery of each cam is cut away to permit the links to rest on the cross members 38 when the fiat side of the cam underlying the link is uppermost.

The Object is to raise the outermost pair of links 36 into operative engagement with the driving arms 4| first and so effect rearward movement of the bottom 26 of the rearmost compartment, and then the next inwardly disposed pair of links and so on to the last and innermost pair.

This is accomplished by cutting away a correspondingly greater portion of the periphery of each succeeding cam disc to cause one link to be raised at each predetermined amount of rotation of the bank of cams 5|. The amount. is determined by the number of links. Thus for a twelve link unit as the embodiment herein described, one twelfth more of the periphery is cut away of each cam disc from the outermost to the innermost, as clearly shown by the dotted lines in Fig. '7.

Therefore each rotation of of a revolution will turn the periphery of the next succeeding cam into operative position to raise its respective link.

At the starting point the cut away portion of the periphery of all of the cams is uppermost to permit all of the links to rest upon the cross member 38. The shaft 50 is then rotated of a revolution to rotate the cams a similar amount and'the high point of the first or outermost cam will raise its overlying link 36. The shaft is then rotated another of a revolution with a like result, that is the high point of the next inwardly disposed cam 55 will raise its overlying link 36. r The outermost or first cam will continue to retain the outermost link '36 in raised position because %i of its periphery has not been cut away and the link will therefore ride the periphery for it of rotation.

Each succeeding of a rotation will raise the next succeeding link. The position of the cams and links in Figs. 7 and 8 indicate that the first two cams have been rotated enough to raise the outermost pair of links and the third cam is in position to raise the third link on the next rotative movement. The cam bank has therefore been rotated of a revolution in Figs. 7 and 8. a

It is therefore apparent that, one pair of links will be raised at a time and moved rearwardly by the arms ii to eject the newspaper from one compartment at a time.

Springs 54 are fixed to the lower portion of the cross member 33 and the front ends of the links 38 as shown to yieldingly retain the links down upon the outer peripheral surface of the cams 5i, and to retain the notch 39 in interlocking 'rela tion with the cross member 38 prior to lifting by a cam and prevent any accidental dislodgment.

Means is provided to rotate the cam links 5! of one revolution upon each complete downward movement of the operating lever 2 I. This means comprises a ratchet 55 fixed to the shaft 50 immediately inwardly of the left hand bank of cams. A pawl 56 adapted to engage the ratchet is car- .ried by a rocker arm 57 rotatably mounted on the shaft 59; adjacent the ratchet 55 as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. A link 58 is pivotally secured at. its forward end at 59 to the upper end of the rocker arm 51 and at its rear end at 6!] to a link iii. The link iii is fixed to the shaft 22 (see Figs. 4 and 6). The pawl and ratchet are arranged to rotate the cams 5i of a revolution upon each complete rearward movement of the link 58 and its rocker arm. One downward. movement of the operating handle 2| therefore rotates the cam bank 5! t; of a revolution and raises one pair of the links 36.

A strong fiat snap spring 62 mounted on the, frame of the machine engages the ratchet teeth and prevents accidental movement of the cam bank. A coil spring 63 serves to return the rocker arm 51 and its pawl to their original position.

A spring friction clutch of a type well known in the art is indicated at ill in Figures 1 and 6, and is associated with and mounted on the shaft 50 and fixed to, the frame of the machine to frictionally retard the movement of the shaft. 56;

An indicator of a novel type is provided to indicate to the user of the vending machine how many newspapers or other articles have been ejected therefrom and how many are yet contained therein, This indicator is clearly shown in Figures 1 and 5 and comprises an annular spiral cam. 12 which isfixed to the shaft 50. Anindicator'arm or needle 13 is pivotally mounted on the front face of the container at 14 and has an outwardly projecting stud i5 fixedthereto which is adaptedto, ride on the spiral periphery of the cam l2.- ,0ne complete revolution of the shaft 50 will cause the stud 15 to travel from the lowest point on the cam to the highest point and so shift or rotate the needle indicator 13 from the right to the left; The needle 73 is urged to the right and the; stud I-5 urged against the spiral periphery of the cam 721 by a. suitable spring 76 shown in Figure 3. The proper indicia or numeral 1 to 12 arelaidout on the front surface of the container in a manner which will require of a revolution of the shaft 5a to move the indicator needle from one number to the other. The indicating apparatus is adjusted so that when all of the twelve containers are filled with newspapers and all of the links 36- are resting downwardly upon the cross. member 318 with the cut-away peripheries of all of the cams uppermost, the indicator will point to the numeral 12. As the pawl and ratchet drive mechanism rotates the shaft 58 and accom panying' cam banks of a, revolution, the indicator will be moved to the next numeral 11 to indicate that the newspaper in the twelfth or rear-most, compartment has been delivered and that there are eleven newspapers remaining to be delivered. In. the position of the mechanism as illustrated my the drawings, particularly as we have noted in Figures 7 and 8, the outermost pair of links have been raised and the rearmost pair of compartments emptied, and therefore the indicator needle points to the numeral 10 to indicate that the compartment l2 and compartment II have been emptied.

In the coin control device 39 shown associated with the machine of our invention, we have provided two coin receiving slots 89 and 8! for different size coins with a rotatable selector partition 82 which may be adjusted by the owner of the vending machine to receive the desired size coin. The numeral 83' indicates a coin returnchute and the numeral 83 a pull lever for operating the same so that the purchaser may cause his coin to be returned if the device does not operate.

We have illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 a novel device for preventing the insertion of a coin in either of the coin receiving slots to or 8| when the operating handle 2| is in any other than its starting position. The operating handle in all of theflgures of the drawings is shown in raised or starting position. The strong spring 24 is designed to return the handle to this position after each operation, but as an added precaution t prevent jamming of themachine by inserting a coin before the handle is returned to its starting point, we have provided the novel feature shown. This device comprises an arm which is a flat stamping pivotally mounted for swinging movement at 89 on the inner surface of the housing SI of our vending machine and adapted to extend along the entire length of the slot 92 in which the operating handle 2| reciprocates in its upward and downward movements and is adapted to close the slot 22 when swung fiithe position indicated in Figure 10. The operating handle 2i projects through the slot 92 in the housing 9i and a beveled edge portion 93 of the member 99 is adapted to engage the underside of the operating handle 2i when the handle is in its raised and starting position as shown in the drawings. A spring 9 is fixed to the member 90 in the housing 53! and urges the member 99 to the right as shown. It is apparent that when the operating handle 25 is pressed downwardly, it'will exert a cam-like action on the beveled edge 93 of the swinging member 95 and cause it to swing to the left throughout the entire downward movement of the operating handle and the member 9.9 will not be returned by the spring 94 to the position shown in the drawings until the operating handle is raised to its uppermost position because of the design of the member 99 with its cut away beveled portion 93 disposed as shown. When the member 99 is swung to the left, it will completely close both oi the coin receiving slots 88 and St to prevent the insertion of the coin except when the operating handle 2! is in starting position.

We have illustrated in Figure 12 a modified form of cam means for raising the forward end of the links 35 which is for the same purpose as the cam means and operates with the same effect except that the particular design illustrated in Figure 12 permits a more rapid and abrupt raising of the outer end of the link 36 and consequently a faster action which in some cases is found to be desirable. We effect this result by reversing the pawl and ratchet action and the direction of the rotation of the shaft 59 through suitable linkage so that the shaft rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 12. The underside of the link 38 has a notch 95 cut therein and the portion of the periphery of the cam 5| which is cut-away has an abutment 96 formed therein by the manner in which it is out, which abutment as is adapted to engage and abut one end of the notch 95 as shown in Figure 12 immediately prior to the raising of the link 36. In each of the cams the abutment 96 is brought into contact with the edge of the notch 95 of the link 35 by the rotative movement immediately preceding the one designed to raise that particular link. On the next rotative movement of of a revolution of the shaft 52, the abutment 96, disposed as it is in the notch 95 of the link 36, will kick the link 35 upwardly very abruptly to cause it to ride on the outer periphery of the cam as contrasted to the more gradual raising of the link 36 in the form of our invention hereinbefore described. The result effected in every way is the same with the one exception that the link 36 will thus be raised more quickly with a sharper and faster action.

In the operation of the device of our invention, the user or prospective purchaser of the magazine or other article vended places a coin in one of the slots 80 or 8! which releases the coin control locking mechanism and permits the handle 2! to be rotated downwardly. One downward movement of the handle 2! will cause the cam mechanism 5| to raise one pair of the links 35 into engagement with the driving arms 4! and carry that particular pair of links 36 rearwardly to eject the newspaper from the compartment. The user then receives his newspaper in the delivery tray 2!. The spring 24 returns the operating handle to its uppermost position and the device is ready to eject the newspaper from the next succeeding screw head 99 is fixed in the outer end of the 5 shaft 50. This arrangement permits the resetting of the cam when the vending machine is being refilled.

Formal changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described without departing "from the spirit or substance of the broad invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a vending machine, a container having individual compartments for containing the articles to be vended, a closure member extending across the bottom of each compartment and projecting beyond either side end thereof, two banks of operating links one disposed on either side of the compartments, a link in each bank associated with the projecting ends of the closure members in a manner whereby one pair of links is connected with one closure member, a pair of manually operated driving arms one extending over each bank of links along each side end of the machine, said arm adapted to reciprocate forwardly and rearwardly of the machine, a depending hook portion formed on the forward end or each of said operating arms, a notch formed 80 on the upper edge of the forwardly disposed end of each of the links adapted to be brought into engagement with the hook member of the operating arm, a bank of cams one disposed on either side of the machine under each bank of links and 85 driven by the same source of power as the operating arms, said cams arranged immediately below the forward ends of the links and adapted to raise one pair of links at a time in consecutive order into engagement with the hook members of the operating arms to cause the individual and consecutive actuation of the individual closure members of each compartment in consecutive order.

2. In a device of the class described, a compartment, a cross-wise extending closure member for the bottom of said compartment, a pair of links having their ends attached to the outer ends of the closure member, an operating arm extending over each of said links, a bell crank 60 lever associated with said operating arms and adapted to reciprocate said arms forwardly and rearwardly over said links, and a cam disposed on the under side of the forward end of each of said links adapted to raise the forward end of each of said links into operative engagement with each of said operating arms to cause said arms to move said links rearwardly when the arms are reciprocated by the bell crank lever and so move the closure'member out of alignment with the compartment, said cams being operatively associated with the bell crank lever to raise said links into engagement with said arms upon an operative movement of said bell crank lever.

3. In a machine of the class described, a plurality of individual containers, a closure member for each container, a pair of links fixed to the ends of each closure member and adapted to reciprocate forwardly and rearwardly and so move the closure member out of alignment with its particular container, a common operating arm for each group of links, said arm adapted for rearward and forward movements and manually driven, cam means for causing the pair of links for each closure member to be associated with the operating arm'intermittently and in consecutive order upon each Completed rearward and ity of links and having a downwardly depending portion at its end thereof, said arm being driven forwardly and rearwardly of the device over the links, a slot-formed in the upper edge of each of the links adapted to be brought into engagement with the driven arm to cause that particular link to be driven rearwardly and forwardly by the 3 arm, a rotatable disc cam disposed under each 20 of the links, each link riding on the outer periphery of one of said disc cams, a portion of the periphery of each of said disc cams being cut away to permit the links to be normally disposed downwardly out of engagement with the driven arm,

the amount of the periphery of each cam which is cut away being predetermined to cause each adjacent succeeding cam to raise the particular link which rests upon its outer surface into engagement with the operating arm upon a predetermined fraction of a revolution of the group of cams.

5. In a device of the class described, a driving arm having a downwardly depending end por tion, a driven link having a slot formed in its upper edge disposed below said downwardly depending end portion, a rotatably driven disc cam 5 disposed beneath said driven link and engaging the under surface of said link, a portion of the periphery of said cam being cut away to permit the link to lie below the driving arm out of en- I gagement therewith, and pawl and ratchet means associated with the driving arm to cause said cam to be rotated'a predetermined fraction of a revolution upon a driving movement of said arm to cause the uncut portion of the periphery of the cam to'be brought into engagement with the under side of the driven link and bring the slot of saidlinkinto engagement with the downwardly depending portion of the driving arm. 7

6. In a device of the class described, a driven link adapted for engagement with a. driving arm, a rotatable disc cam disposed on the under side of said link and adapted to raise said link into operative engagement with the driving arm, a slot formed in the under side edge of said link,

a shoulder formed in the periphery of said cam 85 adapted to abut the end of the slot of said link in a manner whereby said link will be thrown abruptly upwardly upon a rotative movement of said cam.

EARL P. MILLER. ALBERT R. McCALLUM.

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