US2389442A - Multiple-flavor vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 20, 1945. H. T. LARIMORE MUIVJTIPIlE-FLAVOR VENDING MACHINE Filed oct. 1e, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FMHMMWHMIHMMMMMWMMMMMMMM llllllllllllllllul INVEI'NTOR. Tllafzmore,

Hara@ BY M f/LMW Nov. 20, 1945. H. T.l LARIMORE I MULTIPLE-FLAVOR VENDING MACHINE Filed Oct. 16, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 20, 1945. H; T. LARlMoRE 2,389,442

MULTIPLE-FLAVOR VENDING MACHINE Filed Oct. 16, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 lll IIIJA A INFNTOR. BY Ham/g ZZarzmar @M VMW- l Filed Oct. 16, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 lINVENTOR. YUV/gy f @rz/'7.7202104 @am #MW Nov. 20, 1945; H. T. LARlMoRE MULTIPLE-FLAVOR VENDING MACHINE 5 snets-sheet 5 Filed Oct. 16, 1941 l INVENTOR Harz/gg Zlramof@ Patented Nov. 20, 1945 MULTIPLE-FLAVOR VENDING MACHINE Harvey T. Larimore, Congress Park, Ill., asslgnor to Kalva Venders, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application October 16, 1941, Serial No. 415,250

8 Claims.

My invention relates to vending machines and particularly vcoin-operated vending machines. The particular style of vending machine is one for delivering unit articles as for example, bottled beverages, and is so constructed that beverages of more than one flavor can be selected and dispensed from the same cabinet.

Among the objects of my invention is to provide a new and improved coin-operated vending machine which is so set up that it can deliver one articles at a time from one of a plurality of conveyors, the mechanism being such that after the coin has been deposited the purchaser can select which of the several conveyors he desires his purchase to be delivered from.

Another object of my invention is to provide a new and improved gravity-operated vending machine which is equipped with an indexing device manually operated and so constructed that only one article at a time is delivered from the conveyor to a delivery chute where the article is conducted to a vending position by means of gravity.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a new and improved vending machine for unit articles wherein the articles are moved partly by manual operation after the deposit of a coin and which includes a gear mechanism which begins to operate after delivery has started so that complete functioning of the machine will be assured for everycoin deposited and exactly one article will be made available to the purchaser, the object being further to return the manually operated delivery means automatically toan initial position after completion of one delivery operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a new and improved coin-operated vending machine which is simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture and one which utilizes manual operation to index articles to be delivered one at a time and deposit them over a gravity-operated trap door adapted to open when the weight of an article is pressed upon it and to automatically close after the article has passed.

With these and other objectsin view. my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device whereby the objects 'contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointedA out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of one embodiment of my device showinglthe relative position of a plurality o f endless conveyors.

Figure 2 is a top view of my device shown in Figure 1, partly in section and showing the indexing and delivery mechanism.

Figure 3 is a vertical view in section taken on 'the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of another embodiment of my device, partly in section showing a different unlocking mechanism.

Figure 5 is a partial side view on line 5 5 of Figure 4 shown partly in section..

In the design of vending machines, it is frequently-necessary that the purchaser of the articles to be vended be given some selection as to the particular article which he desires to buy. This is especially true in machines designed for vending bottled beverages. The taste of the public is usually such that more than one i'lavor of beverages must be dispensed by a machine if it is to have customer appeal. Machines have been designed in the past for making different beverages available to-a purchaser by his own selection but it has been found that most machines of this type are quite cumbersome and become expensive to manufacture. Furthermore, machines designed for a multiplicity ofavors of beverages in the past whenever they have been constructed so as to be manually operated require so much force to shift the mechanism through numerous operations or such an amount of time in delivering a single article to the purchaser that they have frequently been discarded as too cumbersome for practical operation.

0n the other hand, automatic machines have likewise been designed utilizing a power-actuated device built into a selective machine ,and the necessary mechanisms have become complicated to such a degree that the cost of construction is prohibitive. Therefore, as dened in the objects of this invention, the applicants vending machine has been constructed to operate in a way which may be termed semi-automatic but which depends partly upon the manual operation of the purchaser to start delivery of the article purchased. The machine is simple in its construction and depends upon gravity to complete the delivery operation. By keeping the parts substantially simple, a plurality of conveyors each provided with a different avor, for example, can be assembled in one machine without unduly multiplying the cost. i

As shown in the drawings of the rst embodiment of my invention, the vending machine includes an insulated housing I0 within which all of the articles to be vended may be kept prior to delivery. A storage space I I may likewise be provided for a reserve supply of the articles to be vended. Within the housing there are provided three separate and independently operated endless conveyors identified by the characters lI2, I4 and I6. Th'ese conveyors as shown in Figures 1 and 3 have horizontal tracks I1, the rear ends of which are mounted upon a cross frame I8 and the front ends upon a cross frame 20. The rear ends of the conveyors are each provided with a toothed wheel 22 rotating about a stub sh'aft 24. At the front end, each endless conveyor is driven by a toothed wheel 26 which is secured to a drive shaft 26 journaled at the bottom in a bearing 39 on the cross frame 20 as shown best in Figure 3. Each track terminates at the cross frame 26 which is adjacent the point of deflection of the deflection of the conveyor chain by the toothed wheel 26. Each conveyor likewise is provided with a series of pins 32 spaced along the conveyor at intervals slightly greater than the width of articles which are to be carried upon it. As illustrated in Figure 1, these articles may be bottles 34 having a substantially cylindrical shape at the point where they are in contact with the pins.

The insulated casing l is provided with a topv 36 which covers all of vthe endless conveyors. Above the top there is provided a sheet-metal housing 38 which supports a frame carrying the indexing and delivery mechanism. At the left en(` of the housing, as viewed in Figure 1, there is provided a coin-selecting mechanism 49 of a conventional sort not forming a part of this invention which has in it a coin slot 42 designed to receive coins or tokens and pass them to the working mechanism of my invention and a coin return slot 43 for rejected coins.

Beneath the coin-selectingl mechanism there is a coin-actuated trip device which enables the coin to release the manually controlled indexing and delivery mechanism. The coin actuated trip device consists of a movable coin slot element 44 which has a coin slot 45 in vertical alnement with th'e coin slot leading from the coin-selector mechanism as best shown in Figure 2'. A bracket 46 is attached to the coin slot at one end.

For holding coins in the coin slot there is provided a somewhat U-shaped rocker arm 46 which has a plate 50 at th'e-left end as viewed in Figure 2 extending partLv beneath the coin slot 45 and in fact forming a movable bottom for the slot. The rocker arm is pivoted about the element I. At the other end, the rocker arm is provided with a stop arm 52 which is designed to abut against a shoulder 53, thereby limiting rotation of the rocker arm in a counter-clockwise direction. A voluntary coin return is also provided for. consisting of a push button (not shown) adapted to rotate the plate 50 in a clockwise direction around 5 I, allowing plate 50 to swing wide enough for the coin to drop past it by gravity into return chute and roll out the casing at 43.

Likewise pivoted about the point 5| is a lever element 54 which has attached to its left end, as viewed in Figure 2, a cam element 55 provided with' a sloping face 56. Also secured to the lever 54 is a latch 51 positioned adjacent a shoulder 56 with which it may engage and disengage during certain steps in the vending operation. At its other end the lever is provided with an arm 59 secured 4by a coiled spring 60 to a pin 6|. By means oi.' the coiled spring the lever is normally retained in the position sh'own in Figure 2.

The operation of these various parts will be described later in commotion with the machine as a unit. e

Extending from the coin mechanism, as viewed in Figure 2, is a slide bar 64 mounted upon a fiat plate 65 and held in slidable contact thereto by means of keepers 66 positioned within the housing 38. A portion 61 of the slide bar carries the shoulder 56, previously described, and has also secured to it the bracket 46. Secured to the bracket 46 at one endvis a long coiled spring 66 winch at the other end is fastened to a pin 66. ,Th'e spring normally tends to urge the slide bar toward the right as viewed in Figure 2. This action tends constantly to keep the coin slot element 44 urged toward the right to its normal position as shown in Figure 2 where it can receive a coin from the coin selector. A single coinactuated mechanism is provided for operating all of the plurality of endless conveyors.

The manual indexing and delivery mechanism for the conveyor nearest the coin slot includes a rod 1li provided with a handle 1I adapted to be grasped by an operator. 'I'he rod is slidably mounted at the point 12 in' the housing 36 and at a, corresponding point at the rear of the housing. Normally, the rod is held by a coiled spring 13 in a retracted position as shown in Figure 2. On one side of the rod is a toothed rack 14 and this is designed to mesh with teeth 15 of a toothed wheel 16. 'I'he wheel in turn rotates freely on a stub shaft 11 which is journaled at two points. one on the top 36 of the casing and the other at the fiat plate 65 forming a, part of the frame within the housing 36. It will be noted that the teeth 15 occupy approximately two-thirds of the circumference of the wheel 16. The other onethird of the wheel consists of a similar series of teeth forming projections and depressions 16 and the smaller section of the circumference is separated from the larger section by a pair of recesses 19 and 19' having a depth slightly greater than the depth of either the space between teeth or the depressions. Adjacent each wheel 16 there is provided a ratchet 68 pivoted at the point 6I and retained by a coiled spring 82 in the positions shown in Figure 2. It will Ibe noted that the ratchet extends into the recess 19 in each of the wheels 16 when in normal position. There is also provided above each wheel a member pinned to the respective stub shaft and having thereon a series of three shoulders 63 spaced substantially 120 degrees from each other. On the upper surface of each wheel is a pawl 64 pivoted about the point 85 carried by the wheel and spring pressed into-normal position by the leaf spring 66. The

action of the pawl upon the shoulders is to provide a driving or indexing connection between the wheel and the stub shaft during a forward movement of the rod 16.

Likewise in this particular embodiment, there is a pinion 66 pinned to the stub shaft 11 and meshing with a second toothed wheel 89, as shown A to best advantage in Figure 3. 'Ihe second toothed wheel is pinned to the drive shaft 26.

As viewed in Figure 1, the opposite parallel sides of each endless conveyor are separated by l a partition wall 94. There are also provided outside walls |96 set back from the front and it will be noted that the partition wall extends beyond the drive shaft 28 toward the -front end of the machinewhere a portion of thepartition wall overlies the pins 32 as they round the bend at the front end of the endless conveyor. It is also important to note that the partition wall extends only to a point substantially above the tops of the pins so that they are free to pass beneath it as they pass round the bend.

750 Adjacent lthe front or delivery end of the conspace between the front wall of the housing I0 and an intermediate wall 98 located rearwardly with respect to the front wall. In the bottom is an aperture 99, somewhat greater in diameter than the diameter of the largest bottle or cylindrical article to be dispensed. This aperture is located slightly to one side and near the front end of the conveyor as viewed in Figure l.

pressed to a closed position as shown in Figure 3. A delivery passage |02 leads from the trap door downwardly and then outwardly toward the front of the housing. At -the front, guard plate |03 partly closes the passage but has in it an opening |04 through which a delivered article can pass. At the lower side of the opening there is provided a shelf |06 which is designed to catch and retain an article after it has been delivered.

When the machine is set up to dispense more than one flavor of beverage, an interlocking mechanism is provided in order to prevent operation of more than one conveyor at a time. In

A trap door |00 hinged at the point |0| is spring tition on to a trap door in the same manner as addition to the slide bar 64, there is provided a slide bar i I0 and another slide bar ||2 in longil tudinal alinement with each other. For example, the leithand end of slide bar ||0, as viewed in Figure 2, abuts against the righthand end of slide bar 64 and the righthand end ||3 of slide bar ||IJ abuts against the lefthand end of lili' of the slide bar H2. Another end H5 of slide bar ||2 abuts against a stationary portion of the` slide bar i0 has an oblique face H6 at the left end and H0 at the right end. Similar oblique faces |20 and |2| are provided on opposite ends of the slide bar I2.

Above the rod 10 there is attached a plate 65 which extends above the upper surface of the rod and lies in the same plane as the slide bars. Similarly the slide bar 10' has a plate 65" attached to it and the slide bar 10" has plate 65" attached to its upperside. Each one of the plates 65', 65" and 65" has an oblique face |22 which has the same direction as the adjacent oblique face of the slide bars on the left as viewed in Figure 2. The right hand edge |23 of each plate 35', 65" and 65"' extends in a direction parallel to the rods 10, 10' and 10" so that it can pass by the end of the slide bar on the right side of each respective rod.

The sloping surfaces ||6 and |20 are to provide a beveled clearance so that there will be no binding when the slide bars ||0 and ||2 are moved respectively from left to right after they may have been moved from right to left during the course of a dispensing operation. The movement of spring 68 returns them from left to right to normal position after operation.

An alternative construction is shown in Figures 4 and 5, which embodies amodiled form of coin control and coin return. The general setup of the conveyor mechanisms is the same inr previously described. I

In the alternative construction, there is shown a housing |30 and a conveyor |3| beneath the vhousing on which are positioned pins |32. The

conveyor is driven by a toothed wheel |33 which is pinned to a drive shaft |34 mounted within the housing. A manually actuated rod |35 is mounted by means of brackets |36 and |31 to the housing extending through the front wall and lis provided with a knob |38, by means of which it can be operated manually. A coiled spring |39 is secured by means of a screw |40 at one end and to a stationary bracket |4| on the machine at the other end for automatically returning the rod to initial position. On one side of the rod is a rack |42 which meshes with teeth |43 of a pinion.v The pinion rotates freely about the shaft |34. On the pinion a pawl i is pivoted at the point |45 and is continually urged in a clockwise direction by means of a leaf spring |40. The pawl is carried by and rotates with the pinion when it is rotated by means of the rack. When rotated. the pawl engages shoulders |41 which extend outwardly from a sleeve the bottom side as described in connection with Figures 4 and 5 as that described in connection v Figures 1, 2 and 3, which is adapted to slide between slide bars |52 and |53. The slide bars i turn are held by keepers |54 and |55. i

Likewise within the casing, there is provided a coin selecting mechanism designated generally by the character |60 and within the mechanism is a coin slot |6| into which coins are deposited after -having passed through the selecting meehanism. Beneath the coin slot is an elongated coin supporting element |65 pivotally mounted by means of a pin |66. The coin supporting element has an extension |61 at the other side of the pin |66.. A coiled spring |68 attached to a bracket |69 continually urges the supporting element to the normal position shown in Figure 4, which is directly beneath the coin slot IGI.

On the slide bar is a block |10 pivoted at the point |1| to the block and provided with a coin contacting finger |12, the end of which lies adjacent the coin slot. On'the stationary portion of the machine is a locking element |13 adjacent the path of travel of the slide bar |52. On the block is provided a similar locking element |14 adapted to engage the iirst locking element. There is also provided an abutting end |15 which normally rests on top of the first-mentioned stationary locking element. A coiled spring |16 attached at one end to one side of the block and at the other end to a pin |11 normally holds the block so that the locking elements are in potential engaging positions. A second coiled spring |13 attached to the block at one end and to a stationary portion of the frame at the other normally holds the slide bar |53 in a retracted or normal position.

Likewise on the coin contacting nger |12 is provided recess |19, the function of vwhich will be described under the topic Operation.

In Figure 5 are shown details of a colnreturn mechanism attached to the side of the coin selecting unit |69. 'I'he coin return mechanism consists of a manually depressible element |96 pivotally mounted at the point |9| to the coin selecting mechanism and provided with a spring |42 for maintaining lt in a normal position. Attached 'to the manually depressible element is a reciprocating lever |69 pivotally mounted at the point |64 at one end and having an elongated slot |65 at the other end within which is positioned a pin |66, in turn secured to a pivoted arm |91. The arm |61 is pivotally mounted by means of a pin |98 to the side of the coin selecting mechanism. A coiled spring |99 is attached to the lowermost end |99 of the lever |96 and to the pin |96 on the arm |91. A coin return passage |92 is shown at the lower lefthand side of Figure 5, which is adapted to receive coins which are to be returned to the purchaser. Coins roll down the slot and pass outwardly from the machine to a return receptacle |93. Likewise adjacent the bottom of the slot |6| is' a coin retaining purse |94 within 'the machine which co1- lects coins which have been accepted for the sale of articles which are vended.

Operation of Figures 1, 2 and 3 In operation of the first described embodiment of my invention, a coin or slug is deposited in-` the coin slot 42 and after passing through a suitable coin selecting mechanism passes into the coin slot 45 in the coin slot element 44, as best shown in Figure 2. The coin 'while in the coin slot 45 rests upon the plate 50 in operative position. After the coin has been thus deposited, the operator grasps the handle 1| of the yrod 10 and pulls it forward against the tension of the spring 13.

When the rod 10. moves forward it engages the slide bar 64 and by means of the oblique face 64 forces the slide bar in a direction from right to left as viewed in Figure 2. Movement in this direction forces a coin held in the coin slot 45 against the sloping surface 56 of the cam 55 and action of the coin against the sloping surface thereby pivots the lever arm 54 in a clockwise direction about the pin The lever` arm being thus pivoted causes the latch 51 to be raised out of contact position with the shoulder 58 before contact is actually made and permits continued free movement of the slide bar in a leftward direction. The bar continues moving leftward until the coin slot element passes beyond the leftmost edge of the plate 50 and at that point the coin drops down into a collecting purse (not shown). This occurs at the outermost thrust of the rod and simultaneously with delivery of an article from the end of the conveyor. The operator can then release the handle 1|, the spring 13 will return the rod to initial position and the spring 69 will likewise return the slide bar 64 and attached mechanism to itsnormal position wherein it will be locked against a subsequent vending operation by reason of the latch 51 being in potential engagement with the shoulder 58. It will be apparent that unless a coin is dropped into the coin slot 45 so that it can engage the sloping surface 56, there will be no unlocking of the slide bar 64 and it will be impossible to pull the rod 19 outward through an indexing and delivery operation. y

Furthermore, the relationship of the teeth on the wheel 16 with the rod 10 is such that for each reciprocating movement of the rod, the conveyor is advanced a distance Just suiilcient to push one article from the delivery end into the delivery pocket. As the rod moves forward in the manner just described, the rack 14 by reason of meshing with the teeth of the wheel 16 rotates the wheel 16 in a clockwise direction. Since the pawl I4 is carried by the wheel 16, clockwise rotation of the wheely 16 will rotaie the pawl I4 and force it against the shoulder 99. Rotation of the member carrying the shoulder Il -will rotate the stub shaft 11 and the pinion 9| which in turn will rotate the second wheel 49 thereby imparting to the wheel 89 a counterclockwise rotation. 'I'his means that the drive shaft 26 rotates counterclockwise and causes the leftmost parallel track of the endless conveyor to move from the rear toward the front of the machine as viewed in Figure l.

As the conveyor thus advances, one of the articles I4 carried by it is pushed by the respective pin 92 into the delivery pocket 96. T'he article is prevented from continuing on around the end of the conveyor by reason of the interposi- .tion of the portion 95 of the partition wall. 'I'he article strikes against the wall 95 and is thus knocked from the conveyor into the delivery pocket. In the pocket the article falls upon the trap door |00 and due to its own weight. forces the trap door open and passes downwardly into the passage |02, through which it is conducted by gravity to the shelf |05. Here the operator can take hold of and remove the article from the machine.

During the indexing and delivery operation as the wheel 16 rotates, the ratchet 6|! is pivoted about the point 8| in a counterclockwise direction and the end initially received within the recess 19 successively engages the projections 14 on the smaller section of the wheels circumference. The ratchet thus serves to prevent reverse rotation of the wheel once the delivery operation starts. The wheel 16 can only be rotated in a clockwise direction until the ratchet 80 is received in the second recess 19 at completion of a single vending operation.

After this has happened, the ratchet can be pivoted in a reverse or clockwise direction as the wheel 16 reverses and returns to normal position. During the return rotation of the wheel in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 2, the pawl 94 is carried around and eventually pivots over the top of the next successive shoulder 83 and engages it on the opposite side preparatory to the next vending operation.

As shown in the drawings, the vending machine is set up to dispense three different avors of bottled goods, though it is, of course, to be understood that any reasonable'number of different flavors could be included equally well. In order that only one article from one conveyor may be delivered for the deposit of a single coin, an interlocking mechanism between the respective manually operated indexing and delivery mechanism is necessary. When in operation, the locking mechanism is so shifted that when one rod 10 is pulled, forward, neither of the other rods can be pulled forward at the same time. This is accomplished by means of the previously described sliding bars 64, ||0 and H2. When, for example, the rod 10 at the lefthand end of the machine is pulled forward, setting in operation the indexing and delivery mechanism for its respective conveyor, the slide bar 64 is moved from right to left.

This is accomplished by means of the coacting that the plate 85',- rastened to the upperside oi the rod 10, is drawn forward with it when the rod is pulled forward. The plate thus moved will be drawn past the left-end face of the slide bar ||0, and the bar'will remain locked in position. Similarly, the slide bar ||2 by reason of having its lefthand end ||4 abutting against right hand end ||3 of member I i0, will be locked in position. When this is trMue, neither of the rods 10 or10" to the right oi' the rod,10 can be drawn forward by reason of the fact that their respective plates 85" and 65" will abutr against the oblique ends of the stationari'ly held slide bars which thereby lock the rods in normal position.

If, for example, the middle rod 10" is bein pulled through an indexing and delivery movement, the two outside rods 10 and 10" will be locked in their respective normal positions. .The rod 10" will, of course, be locked byl reason of slide bar I2 being held in normal position when the plate 55 is moved past the end ||4. Movement of the plate 65 in a forward direction will push the slide bar I from right to left by action of the oblique faces at 04" against each other. When slide bar |0 moves underneath the rod 10, it will be placed in the path of the plate 05 and thereby prevent the rod from being pulled forward. Therefore, only the middle conveyor mechanism can discharge an article to its respective delivery passage. Movement of the slide bar 54 by the endwise thrust oi the slide bar ||0 will actuate the coin mechanism in the regular way.

When there is no coin in the coin slot 45, the slide bar B4 will be locked in position as previously described by reason of the shoulder 58 coming into engagement with the latch 51. When the slide bar 54 is locked in position, it will likewise lock slide bars ||0 and ||2 in position and none of the manually actuated rods can be pulled forward through a dispensing operation.

Operation of Figures 4 and 5 In order to vend an article by operation oi' the alternative mechanism shown in Figures 4 and 5, a coin C is inserted into the coin selecting mechanism from which it passes into the coin slot |6|, which in this instance is stationary at all times. There the coin is supported edgewise on the coin supporting element |65, as shown both in Figures 4 and 5. When the coin has reached this position, the knob |38 is drawn outwardly, moving the rod |35 and rack |42, which in turn rotates the conveyor mechanism and advances an article on the conveyor to a, delivery position. Meanwhile, the plate |5| on the underside of the rod |35 shifts the slide bar |52 along a path on the upper surface of a supporting plate 200 from right to left in the manner described in connection with Figures 1, 2 and 3. As the slide bar' moves toward the left, the coin contacting finger |12 engages the side face of ythe coin C before the locking element |14 engages the corresponding locking element. |13.` As the finger contacts the coin, thevblock |10 is rotated in a clockwise direction about the point |1I. The locking element |14 is lifted out of a position where it can engage the element |13.

As the slide bar continues to pass toward the left, a side element |95 of the coin slot extends into the recess |19 and engages the coin contacting linger. As the linger, together with the slide bar |52, continues to move toward the left, contact of the side of the coin slot with the linger lifts the ringer out of engagement with the coin. The coin thereafter remains entirely free within the slot IBI. As the slide bar passes to the lefthand end of its movement, it engages the extension |81 of the ccin supporting element, movesit from the solid line position shown in Figure 4 to the dotted line position there shown. With this movement, the co'in supporting element passes from beneath the slot IGI to the lefthand side thereof, as viewed in Figure 5 and the coin released from .this support, passes into the purse |94 for collection.

As soon as the vending operation has been completed, the spring I18 returns the slide bar |52 Vto its initial position and the coiled spring |15 rotates the block |10 back to its initial position where the locking elements |13 and. |14are again in position for potential engagement.

If no coin has been inserted and the manually operated rod |35 is pulled outwardly, the coin contacting finger will move to a position Where the side |95 of the coin slot is positioned within the recess |19. This will not occur before the locking elements |13 and |14 become engaged. rI he mechanism will, therefore, be locked against a delivery operation.

Under circumstances where the Prospective vendee, after depositing his coin, does not wish to complete a vending operation, the coin may be voluntarily returned to the purchaser by manipulation of a suitable means. When return of the coin is desired, the operator depresses the manually `depressible element by means of a push button |91. This in turn shifts the lever |83 downwardly, as viewed in Figure 5. During its movement downward, the lever shifts the arm |81 in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot point |88 until the arm assumes the dotted position |01" shown in Figure 5. At this point, the coin supporting element |65 will be in the dotand-dash position |65' shown in Figure 4. When the coin supporting element has been moved to the righthand side of the coin slot IBI, as viewed in Figure 5, support for the coin C will have been removed and the coin will pass out of the slot into the coinretum passage |92, down which it will roll to the coin return slot |93.

By making a resilient, loose connection between the lower end of the lever |83 and the pivoted arm |81, a freedom of movement is provided which prevents binding of the parts, especially under circumstances where the manually depressible element is given a sudden blow in order to effect return of the coin.

There has thus been provided a, dispensing mechanism wherein the working parts have been reduced in number so that substantially a minimum number of them are used for indexing a conveyor and moving it through a dispensing operation a sufiicient distance only to place an article carried thereon into such a position that the remaining part of the dispensing operation is accomplished by gravity acting'upon the article itself.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my device without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modied forms of structure which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a dispensing machine for articles, an insulated casing, a horizontally positioned endless i conveyor in said casing including spacers for engaging and impelling said articles toward a disdischarge end and a bottom inthe pocket located below the level of the conveyor having an aperture therein, a trap door normally spring pressed to a position closing said aperture'. said casinghaving a normally open delivery recess communieating with the trap door aperture and a shelf therein for retaining said articles after delivery in a position accessible to an operator. and means l .having a reverse direction at said discharge end.

wall portions for vsaid casing'forming a pocket adjacent the discharge end and a bottom in the pocket located below the level oi' the conveyor having an aperture therein, a trap door normally spring pressed to a position closing said aperture, a delivery passage below said aperture, said casing having a normally open delivery recess communicating with the passage and a shelf therein i'or retaining said articles after delivery in a position accessible to an operator, and manually actuated means connected to the conveyor' having an indexing device operative to move the conveyor during each operation thereof to Van amount substantially equivalent to the distance between adjacent spacers for delivering onearticle at a time.

3. A vending machine for articles comprising a frame, a conveyor and an actuating mechanism therefor, said actuating mechanism including a manually operated rod slidably mounted on the frame andspring retained in a normal retracted position, a rack on said rod, a vertical stub shaft in the frame having a wheel thereon and rotatable relative thereto, said wheel having one portion of its circumference meshing with the rack, a series of projections and depressions in the remaining portion and a pair of recesses separating the ends of said portions, a pivoted ratchet spring pressed in normal position within one of said recesses serving during rotation of the wheel to predrive shaft geared to said stub shaft and connected to the conveyor, said conveyor having an endless track comprising a flexible conveying element in driving relationship with the drive shaft and having spaced projections for impelling said articles to a discharge station, and a mechanically V releasable lock normally holding said rod in inoperative position.

4. In a vending machine for articles comprising a frame, a conveyor and an actuating mechanism therefor, an improved actuating mechanism including a manually operated horizontal rod slidably mounted on the frame and spring retained in a normal retracted position, a rack on said rod, a vertical stub shaft in the frame having a wheel rotatable thereon, said wheel having substantially two-thirds of its circumference toothed and meshing with the rack, a series of depressions and projections in the remaining third and a pair of recesses separating the larger portion from the smaller portion of the circumference, a pivoted ratchet spring pressed in normal position within one of said recesses serving during rotation of the wheel to prevent an intermediate partial reverse motion of said wheel until said ratchet enters the other recess, means anchored to the lstub shaft having shoulders spaced at angular intervals and a spring-presser', dog on the wheel engageable therewith, a drive shaft geared to said stub shaft and connected to the conveyor, said conveyor having a horizontal endless track comprising a flexible conveying element in driving relationship with the drive shaft and having projections spaced thereon at intervals corresponding to a 120 angular rotation of said wheel for impelling said articles to a discharge station, a deilector extending over the conveyor for removing articles from the conveyor and a mechanically releasable lock normally holding said rod in inoperative position.

5. In a vending machine for dispensing articles having a coin release, an actuating mechanism, a plurality of endless conveyors for said articles, and an insulated casing for housing the conveyor, an improved actuating mechanism comprising a frame positioned above the casing, a hand operated axially slidable rod positioned horizontally on the frame having an end adapted to be grasped by the operator, said rod having a series of teeth extending therealong in the form of a rack, a shaft and pinion mechanism for translating movement of the rod to the conveyor, said conveyor being positioned horizontally in the casing and having spaced projections thereon for propelling said articles to a discharge location, a normally closed trap door lin the casing adjacent and below the discharge end of the conveyor communicating with the outside of the casing and a delivery recess for receiving delivered articles.

6. In a vending machine for dispensing a variety oftypes of units, 'a plurality of endless conveyors one for each type of unit and an insulated casing for housing the conveyors, an improved actuating mechanism including a frame, a plurality of hand operated axially slidable rods positioned horizontally on the frame having an end of each adapted to be grasped by an operator, each said rod having e. series of teeth extending along one side in the form of a rack, a series of shafts and pinions for translating movement of each rod through a drive shaft to its respective conveyor, said conveyors being positioned horizontally in the casing and having projections thereon for propelling said units to a discharge location, a normally closed trap door in the casing adjacent and below the discharge end of the conveyor communicating with the outside of the casing anda delivery recess for receiving delivered units, said actuating mechanism having an interlocking mechanism shiftable by each respective shaft during a dispensing movement into locking engagement with all the remaining shafts.

7. In a. vending machine for dispensing a variety of types of units, a plurality of endless conveyors one for each type of unit, an insulated casing for housing the conveyors, and an actuating mechanism including a frame positioned above the casing, .a plurality of hand operated axially `slidable rods, positioned horizontally on the frame having an lend of each adapted to be grasped by an operator, each said rod having a series of teeth extending along one side in the Aform of a rack, a series of shafts and pinions for being positioned horizontally inthe casing and having projections thereon for propelling said units to a discharge location.

8. In a `vending machine for dispensing a variety of types of units, a plurality of horizontal endless conveyors one for each type of unit, an insulated casing for housing the conveyors, and an actuating mechanism including a frame positioned above the casing, a plurality of hand operated axially slidable rods, positioned horizontally on the frame having an end of each terminating in a knob, each said rod having a series of teeth extending along one side in the form of a rack, a plurality of vertical stub shafts mounted in the frame and a primary toothed wheel loose on each stub shaft meshing one respectively with each rack, a unidirectional connection between the wheel and the shaft, a pinion iixed on each shaft, a plurality of vertical drive shafts positioned one adjacent each rack and a secondary toothed wheel mounted one on each drive shaft meshing respectively with the adja` cent pinion, each said drive shaft having a portion thereof extending downwardly into the casing and having a drive wheel attached thereto, said horizontal endless conveyors being positioned in the casing one connected to each said drive wheel, projections on the conveyor spaced apart a distance in excess of the width of each unit for propelling said units to a discharge location, a deflector at said location for removing said units from the end of the conveyor, a normally closed trap door in the casing adjacent and below the discharge end of the conveyor communicating with the outside of the casing and a delivery recess for receiving delivered units, said actuating mechanism having an interlocking mechanism shiftable by each respective shaft during a, dispensing movement into locking engagement with all the remaining shafts thereby limiting the dispensing operation to one unit at a time.

HARVEY T. LARJMORE.

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