US3009556A

US3009556A - Vending machines

Info

Publication number: US3009556A
Application number: US754618A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr William P Dillon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-08-12
Filing date: 1958-08-12
Publication date: 1961-11-21
Anticipated expiration: 1978-11-21

Description

Nov. 21, 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR

VENDING MACHINES Filed Aug. 12, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 04 il zzlz'avzfliaiiwz WWW ATTORNEY 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR 3,009,556

VENDING MACHINES Filed Aug. 12, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATT'ORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR 3,009,556

VENDING MACHINES Filed Aug. 12, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 M 3 j k? if! INVENTOR WZZZz'a/m 1? JzZZara, J2:

ATTORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR

VENDING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 12, 1958 INVENTOR Wi'liz'azrzffizZh 5' ATTORNEY is the modification of vending United States Patent 3,009,556 VENDING MACHINES William P. Dillon, Jr., 3206 Grace St. NW., Washington, DC. Filed Aug. 12, 1958, Ser. No. 754,618 3 Claims. (Cl. 194-75) The present invention relates to improvements in stamp vending machines and more particularly to vending machines which are operated by the depression of an operating handling which causes a shaft to rotate and then return to its initial position to thereby power web feeding, cutting and delivering mechanisms.

The present invention is particularly directed to improvements in vending machines of the general type disclosed in the patent to William V. Derby, No. 2,139,578, dated December 6, 1938, and especially relates to improvements enabling the operating handle to be operative with a shorter stroke requiring a minimum operating pressure. A further important feature of the invention machines as described in the said Derby patent to enable the stamps supplied to include an upwardly extending lead stamp for the purpose of facilitating the grasping of the stamps which are supplied by the person operating the vending machine. Still further, the operating handle and its associated mechanism are all mounted on the frame independent of the machine housing to facilitate removal of the housing without disturbing the operating parts of the vending machine and to facilitate side by side placement of two or more vending units.

Other and further features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a stamp vending machine constructed in accordance with the present invention, the vending machine being shown with the operating handle thereof in its elevated or normal initial position;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the stamp vending machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 33- of FIG. 2 showing a governor linkage which is desirably employed for limiting the speed of the operating handle in its return movement to elevated position;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are similar to FIG. 4 and show a step by step sequence in the operation of the stamp vending machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 shows an intermediate position with the operating handle partly depressed so that the stamp folding lever has been swung into a position of initial contact with the stamp supplying strip. FIG. 6 illustrates a further step in the operation corresponding to the operating handle in its fully depressed position. FIG. 7 shows a position intermediate the return of the operating handle to its initial elevated position. This intermediate position is selected to illustrate the position of the various operating parts immediately atfer the cutting knife has severed the stamps to be supplied from the strip thereof;

FIG. 8 is similar to .FIG. 1 and illustrates the operating mechanism with the operating handle in its fully depressed position;

FIG. 9 is a vertical section taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is a cross-section the line 10-10 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 4 with some of the levers omitted for the purpose of illustrating the knife release action;

FIG. 12 is a section taken on the line 1212 of FIG. 11;

taken approximately along 3,009,556 Patented Nov. 21, 1961 FIG. 13 is a detail perspective view of the knife relcasing component parts;

FIG. 14 is a detailed view of coin slot closing mechanism, this view being taken on the line '1414 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 15 is an elevation of the coin receiver;

FIG. 16 is a cross-section taken on the line 1616 of FIG. 15, and

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the stamps as they are supplied by the stamp vending machine of the invention.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the stamp vending machine 10 comprises a housing 11 including a pair of

upstanding plates

12 and 13 mounted upon a base 14. The vending machine 10 includes a coin receiver 15 mounted upon a plate 16 which is secured between the

plates

12 and 13 at the upper extremity of the vending machine 10', an operating mechanism 17 which is mounted between the

plates

12 and 13 upon the operating shaft 18 and an actuating mechanism 19 including an operating handle 20' which projects through a slot in the housing 11 and terminates at its forward end in a finger rest 21. The operating handle 20 is a bell crank lever pivoted at 22 to the side plate 12 and includes a lower forwardly and downwardly extending arm 23.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the coin receiver 15 includes a coin slot 24 and the vending machine 10 is intended to be rendered inoperative until a coin is deposited in the coin slot 24.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 8, the actuating mechanism 19 includes an operating lever 25 secured to shaft 18, the lever 25 comprising an upwardly projecting arm 26 carrying upper and lower sidewardly projecting lugs 27 and 28, respectively, a forwardly projecting arm 29 carrying forward and rearward sidewardly projecting lugs 30 and 31, respectively, and rearwardly projecting sector 32. A fixed pivot 33 extends sidewardly from the sideplate 13 and is fixed with respect thereto to pivotally support the lower end of link 34. The upper end of link 34 is pivotally connected to an upper operating link 35, the trailing end of which is longitudinally slotted as indicated at 36 and a lower operating link 37 which is longitudinally slotted as indicated 'at 38. As illustrated in FIG. 1, when the operating handle '20 is in its elevated position, the upper operating link 35 is positioned with the lug 27 at the forwardmost end of the slot 36 so that, upon a downward movement of the operating handle 20, the upper operating link 35 will immediately act upon the lug 27 to swing the operating lever 25 and thereby rotate the shaft 18. As will later more fully appear, the lower operating link 37 does not immediately engage the lug 28 so that control of the operating lever 25 by the lower operating link 37 is deferred until the terminal portion of the downward stroke of the operating handle 20.

The upper end of the link 34 is connected to the lower arm 23 of the bell crank operating handle 20 by means of the connecting rod 39.

Pivoted to the side plate 13 at 40* is a pivotable spring mount 41, the forwardly projecting arm 29 of the operat ing lever 25 being resiliently biased toward the spring mount 41 by means of a pair of

springs

42 and 43 mounted to straddle the pivot 40. The spring 42 which is remote from the operating shaft 18 is connected :to the forward lug 30 and the spring 43 which is close to the shaft 18 is connected to the rear lug 31. When the operating handle 20 is in its elevated position shown in FIG. 1, spring 42 is under tension sufiicient to force operating lever 25 into its initial position shown in FIG. 1. Spring 43 is also under tension and desirably holds the spring mount 41 horizontal. The lug 30, being further from shaft 18 than the lug 31, swings through a greater are and spring 42 is unduly extended as handle 20 'ap proaches the bottom of its stroke. This undesirable increase in resistance to the depression of handle 20 is minimized by the pivotal movement of spring mount 41 as illustrated in FIG. 8 (note arrow 44).

As can be seen in FIG. 1, upper operating link 35 is operative to rotate operating lever 25 at the beginning of the downward movement of handle 20 since upper lug 27 is at the forward end of slot 36. As lever 25 r tates, lower lug 28 moves more slowly than lower link 37 and finally contacts the forward end of slot 38 so that lower link 37 takes over the burden of transmitting movement of handle 20 to lever 25. At the beginning of the stroke, a knife is cocked against spring pressure and the mechanical advantage achieved by bearing against upper lug 27 is utilized to ease the pressure requirement. After the knife is cocked, the pressure burden is eased and mechanical advantage is sacrificed by having lower lug 28 become operative to minimize the required length of stroke of the handle 20.

As a result of the dual propulsion of operating lever 25 via handle 20, arm 23, connecting rod 39, link 34, upper and lower links 35 and 37 with their slots 36 and 38 and utilizing lugs 27 and 28 and the dual retraction of operating lever 25 via pivot 40, spring mount 41,

springs

42 and 43 and lugs 30 and 31 pressure requirements for moving handle 20 are minimized and, at the same time, the operating stroke of handle 20 is also minimized.

A dog 45, pivoted at 46 and spring biased at 47 is used to insure that operation of handle 20 must be completed before

springs

42 and 43 are effective to return operating lever 25 to its initial position.

In accordance with preferred construction, the powering lever 48 is connected via link 49 to a governor 50 having a flywheel 51 to limit the velocity of the return of handle 20 to its elevated position (see FIG. 3). The handle 20 is elevated by spring 52 secured between the lower end of link 34 and the free end of arm 23.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 9, the operating mechanism 17 comprises a plurality of levers mounted upon the opperating shaft 18. Secured to the shaft 18 is a powering lever 48, the remaining levers being free to rotate about the shaft '18. With reference to FIG. 9, it will be seen that the shaft 18 supports, in addition to the powering lever 48, an inner lever 53 carrying an eccentrically mounted knife setting pin 54, the inner lever 53 being secured to a sleeve or collar 55 which rotatably surrounds the shaft 18. Fixed to the inner end of the sleeve 55 is a stamp folding lever 56 and mounted upon the sleeve 55 adjacent the stamp folding lever 56 is a knife adjusting lever 57 and, adjacent said knife adjusting lever 57 is a knife holding lever 58. Mounted adjacent the stamp folding lever 56 on the side opposite to the knife adjusting lever 57 is a coin discharge lever 59. The operation of the coin discharge lever 59 will be described hereinafter.

Mounted upon the stamp folding lever 56 is a coin triggered lever 60, the powering lever 48 being formed with an inwardly extending flange 61 which is normally locked with the coin triggered lever 60. As will later more fully appear, when a coin is inserted in the coin slot 24', and when the coin discharge lever 59 is operated to discharge the coin, the coin triggered lever 60 is not effected by the downward movement of the operating handle 20 so that the normally locked position of the flange 61 is maintained and the movement of the powering lever 48 is transmitted to the remaining levers which operate the stamp supplying mechanisms.

The coin triggered lever 60 is pivoted at 62 to the stamp folding lever 56 and is provided with a rearwardly projecting hook 63 which is spring biased by means of spring 64 to cause the hook 63 to grasp flange 61 of powering lever 48. The lever 60 is provided with a flange 65 which normally is positioned to be engaged by 2. depending coin-pivoted lever 66 which acts via stop flange 67 to pivot the lever 60 about pivot 62 to move hook 63 out of engagement with flange 61. Accordingly, unless a coin is deposited in slot 24, the powering ever 48 becomes disengaged from the stamp folding lever 56 so that movement of handle 20 is ineffective to achieve any of the stamp supplying operations.

As the powering lever 48 swings, the stamp folding lever 56 moves with the powering lever 48 as explained hereinabove and the knife adjusting lever is carried with the stamp folding lever via the adjustable interconnecting pin 68 which extends through suitable openings in the knife adjusting lever 57. At the same time coin discharge lever 59 also swings as a result of spring pressure applied by the spring 69 which extends between a flange 70 on the rear of the coin discharge lever 59 and the free end of the inner lever 53. In this manner, the coin deposited in the slot 24 is ejected from the coin receiver 15. The coin discharge lever 59 is maintained in the position shown in FIG. 4 before the handle 20 has been operated by a sidewardly extending lug 71 on the stamp folding lever 56. As previously indicated, the stamp folding lever 56 extends from the sleeve 55 (see FIG. 9) and, accordingly, the swinging movement imposed upon the stamp folding lever 56 by the powering lever 48 is transmitted to the inner lever 53.

It will be observed that the pin 54 carried by the inner lever 53 is eccentrically positioned with respect to the shaft 18 so that the pin 54 swings downwardly through an are when the operating handle 20 is depressed.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, the pin 54 engages with a knife depressing slide 72 and particularly with a hookportion 73 which is formed in the lower end of the slide 72. The upper end of the slide 72 is formed with a slot 74 which is guided on the headed guide pin 75. The slide 72 is resiliently held in elevated position by the spring 76, one end of which is secured to the slide 72 and the other end of which is fixed to the upstanding plate 13. When the inner lever 53 is rotated, the pin 54 swings downwardly to lower the slide 72 and then, upon further swinging movement of the pin 54, the slide 72 is freed for return movement by the spring 76. The slide 72 is formed with a lug carrying flange 77, the lug of which extends through a longitudinal slot 78 in a knife lowering link 79. Thus, when the slide 72 is lowered, the lug carried by the flange 77 lowers the link 79 to lower the knife 80.

It will be observed in FIGS. 4 and 5 that the knife holding lever 58 having a knife holding recess 81 is resiliently biased by spring 82 against the knife 80. When the knife 89 is lowered sufliciently by the slide 72, it assumes a position opposite the recess 81 and the lever 58 moves forwardly by means of spring 82 so that the knife is trapped within the recess 81. Thereafter, upon further swinging movement of the inner lever 53, the knife setting pin 54 swings out of the hook 73 of the slide 72 and the slide 72 moves upwardly via spring 76, this upward movement being permitted by movement of the lug carried by the flange 77 Within the slot 78 in the knife lowering link 79.

The knife adjusting lever 57 carries an inwardly ex tending lug 100 which moves past a platform 84 pivotally connected to the knife holding lever 58. On the return movement of handle 20, lug 100 engages platform 84 and moves the knife holding lever 58 to release the knife 80 from within the recess 81. The action of the lug 10% upon the platform 84 will be described more fully hereinafter.

With reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the stamp folding lever 56 is provided at its free end with an inwardly extending stamp folding and conveying flange 85. As will be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the flange 85 is swung through a stamp conveying channel 86 which terminates at the knife 80 in a knife block 87, and thence across a stamp guide plate 88 which is overlain by a pair of stamp folding pins 89.

The stamps are supplied in strip form from a roll 90 which is trained about a recessed element constituted by a centrally grooved roller 91 and thence beneath the platform 88, the strip of stamps being held against the underside of the platform 88 by the strip guide 92, the strip guide 92 being resiliently biased into stamp holding position by means of the spring 93.

It will be observed in FlG. 4 that the strip of stamps includes a portion extending forwardly of the platform 88, this forwardly extending portion of the strip of stamps be ing constituted by the free end of the strip of stamps remaining after operation of the knife 80 upon the previous section of stamps and being identified by the numeral 94. The forwardly extending portion 94 is thrust upwardly by the strip guide 92 as shown in FIG. 4. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the stamp folding flange 85 has swung past the channel 86 and engaged the underside of the forwardly extending portion 94 'of the strip of stamps. Further swinging movement of the stamp folding lever 56 carries the flange 85 further to the rear of the stamp section 94 and the flange 85 carries the forwardly upwardly extending portion 94 beneath the stamp folding pins 89 whereafter the flange 85 passes over the projecting portion 94 and the resilience of the strip of stamps elevates the free end of the portion 94 above the flange 85 as shown in FIG. 6. Upon the return stroke of the stamp folding lever 56, the flange 85 catches the folded stamps (the forward surface of flange 85 carries pins which engage with the perforations between adjacent stamps) and the forwardly extending portion 94 is carried by the flange 85 into the channel 86 carrying with .it the strip of stamps from the stamp roll 90. When the flange 85 has moved a suflicient distance to withdraw the proper number of stamps from the roll 90, as shown in FIG. 7, the cutter 80 is released to sever the group of stamps being conveyed through the channel 86 by the flange 85 and to provide a new forwardly extending portion of stamps 94.

FIG. illustrates some details of construction and it will be seen that the roller 91 is formed with a central recess 95 into which a feeler arm 96 can move when the strip supplied from stamp roll 90 is exhausted. The feeler arm 96 is employed to indicate the exhaustion of stamps by pivoting a flag to cover the coin slot 24.

The release of the knife 80 is more clearly illustrated in FIGS. ll, 12 and 13. Referring to these figures it will be seen that the knife holding lever 58 has pivotally sethe exception of a slight further forward movement which takes place for the purpose of locking the knife 80 in the recess 81. When the lever 58 is stopped after an intermediate swing, the stamp folding lever 56 continues its swinging movement carrying with it the knife adjusting lever 57 being illustrated with particular clarity in FIG. 12.

The knife adjusting lever 57 is formed with a plurality of openings 99 through which the pin 68 may project to vary the position of an inwardly projecting lug 100. The platform 84 is spring biased downwardly by spring 101 and the forward end of the arm 98 is formed with an upin the path of a lug 103 which extends downwardly beneath the channel 86. On the initial swing of knife holding lever 58, lug 103 bears againct the cam surface 102 to pivot the arm 98 and remove the platform 84 from permit the lug 100 to pass the platform 84. After the cam 102 passes the lug 103, spring 101 returns the platform 84 to its lowermost position. Upon the return swinging movement of the knife adjusting lever 57, the lug 100 strikes the platform 84 and moves the platform 84 and with it the knife holding lever 58 to release the knife 80. On this return swing of lever 57, the cam 102 again engages lug 103 to permit the lug 100 to pass platform 84 after knife 80 is released.

The vending machine desirably includes a mechanism indicating exhaustion of stamps which is shown on an enlarged scale in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16. As can be seen in FIG. 14, the feeler arm 96 is normally in the position shown in full lines, the arm 96 being prevented from entering the recess 95 of the roller 91 by the strip of stamps. When the strip of stamps is exhausted, the arm 96 is drawn upwardly by the spring 104 which is secured to a crank extension of the arm 96. The end of the arm 96 remote from the recess 95 is formed with an upwardly extending member engaging with the link 105. As can be seen in FIG. 14, the link 105 is moved to the left (to the right in FIG. 15) and this pivots the flag 106 from the position shown in full lines in FIG. 15 to the position shown in phantom where it covers the slot 24, the flag 106 pivoting about the pivot 107.

The overall operation of the stamp vending machine of the invention can be briefly set forth as follows:

When the handle 20' is depressed, the shaft 18 is rotated in a counter-clockwise direction in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7, swinging the powering lever 48 in a counter clockwise direction. If a coin has been deposited in slot 24, the coin discharge lever 59 ejects the'coin in a manner which will be described hereinafter to lower the coin pivot lever 66. With the lever 66 in lowered position, the coin triggered lever 60 remains in position grasping the flange 61 of the powering lever 48 so that the operating mechanism 17 will be operated by the rotation of shaft 18. As the various levers swing in a counterclockwise direction, the knife '80 is lowered by the pin 54 acting upon the slide 72 and the knife holding lever 58 bears resiliently upon the knife until the knife 80 is lowered sufficiently to enable lever 58 to move and trap the knife 80 in recess 81. The stamp folding lever 56 continues to swing in a counter-clockwise direction until the flange draws the stamps beneath the folding pin 89 and finally, at the end of the downward thrust of the handle 20, the flange 85 passes over the free end of the stamps and the stamps flip upwardly so that the flange 85 will grasp the stamps at the fold upon its return movement toward the channel 86. During the return movement of flange 85, the stamps are drawn from the roll into the channel 86. When a sufiicient number of stamps (as determined by length) is drawn into channel 86, the lug on the knife adjusting lever 57 engages the platform 84 to thrust the knife holding lever 58 in a clockwise direction to release the knife 80 and thereby sever the desired length of stamps. These stamps are conveyed to an opening at the forward end of the channel 86 by the flange 85 on the return movement of the stamp folding lever 56. Since the stamps have been folded with an upward fold, the lead stamp projects upwardly as indicated at 108 to facilitate grasping of the stamps which are supplied, the stamps as supplied being shown in perspective in FIG. 17 (see also FIG. 4). If the lead stamp were turned downwardly, as in the prior art, it would be difficult to grasp, this being a disadvantage of prior art construction.

Referring again to FIG. 4, it will be seen that a coin deposited in slot 24 will slide downwardly through the channel 109 and into a coin-receiving opening 110 in a coin slide 111, the coin slide being formed with a downwardly extending flange 112. which is connected by means of link 113 to the upper extremity of the coin discharge lever 59. Upon operation of the coil slide 111, the coin is thrust rearwardly past a cam extension 114 on the coin pivot lever 66, the coin thrusting the lever 66 downwardly as it passes over the cam 114 for the purpose previously indicated. The coin is then deposited in an opening 115 where it drops into a coin chute (not shown) thus preventing an accumulation of coins in the coin receiver 15 and thereby eliminating difliculty caused by coins piling up in the coin receiver.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 15 and 16, a coin detent 116 is pivoted to pin 117 so that, when one coin is deposited the slot 24 will not accept a further coin. The pin 117 is supported by flanges 118.

The invention is more fully defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In a vending machine comprising web supplying, cutting and delivering means actuated by a shaft which is rotationally oscillated to operate said machine, the improvement comprising a powering lever secured to said shaft for back and forth pivotal movement with the rotational oscillation of said shaft, a sidewardly projecting flange carried by said powering lever, said flange being oscillated by said powering lever through an arcuate path, a folding lever having means operative upon oscillation thereof to fold the web which is supplied, said folding lever being freely mounted for pivotal movement about said shaft, a coin triggered lever pivoted to said folding lever and comprising a hook portion, spring means biasing said hook against said flange to key said folding lever to said powering lever, abutment means movably mounted and normally positioned to contact said coin triggered lever upon swinging movement thereof to cause said hook to release said flange and coin-operated means for moving said abutment means out of the path of said coin triggered lever.

2. An improvement as recited in claim 1 in which said abutment means is mounted for movement, said abutment means including a cam positioned in the path of a coin slide, and said shaft carries a coin-ejecting lever which moves a coin deposited in said slide into contact with said cam to move said abutment out of the path of said coin triggered lever so that rotation of said shaft will be inoperative to actuate said web supplying, cutting and delivering means unless a coin is present in said coin slide.

3. In a vending machine comprising web supplying, cutting and delivering means actuated by a shaft which is rotationally oscillated to operate said machine, the improvement comprising a coin receiver mounted to overlie the operating mechanism of said machine and including a coin slot for the insertion of coins therein, a coin slide for receiving coins inserted in said coin slot, a coin-ejecting lever mounted on said shaft and connected with said coin slide whereby rotation of said shaft will pivot said coinejecting lever to operate said coin slide and thereby eject a coin from said coin receiver, a powering lever secured to said shaft, movable means linking said powering lever to said coin-ejecting lever, said movable means being operative until moved to effect said linking and being inoperative upon movement thereof to etfect said linking, means depending from said coin receiver and positioned in the path of said movable means to move said movable means unless said depending means is itself moved, said depending means including a cam extending into said coin slide for contact and movement by a coin present therein whereby said depending means is moved out of the path of said movable means when a coin present in said coin slide is ejected by said coin ejecting lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 13,549 Reichhelm Apr. 1, 1913 1,084,242 Werden Jan. 13, 1914 1,215,862 Richardson Feb. 13, 1917 1,680,729 Davis Aug. 14, 1928 1,698,656 Ream Jan. 8, 1929 1,898,146 Slezak Feb. 21, 1933 1,949,541 Hartman Mar. 6, 1934 2,112,607 Pooley Mar. 29, 1938 2,139,578 Derby Dec. 6, 1938 2,158,790 Arthur May 16, 1939 2,165,744 Boettinger July 11, 1939 2,627,752 Nicolaus Feb. 10, 1953 2,706,020 Freers et al Apr. 12, 1955 2,725,228 Seward Nov. 29, 1955 2,742,282 Ervin et al. Apr. 17, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 936,971 Germany Jan. 5, 1956