US3193139A - Dispensing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

July 6, 1965 E. F. IANNONE ETAL DI SPENS ING APPARATUS 1 S m ww 4 2 M k W o 5 Filed Aug. 26, 1963 y 6, 1965 E. F. IANNONE ETAL 3,193,139

DISPENSING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 26, 1963 rok/vf y 2 DISPENSING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 26, 1963 W TQENE Y S E m m M United States. Patent ,i v DISPENSING AFFARATUS Edmundll. Iannone, 12115 Clearglen Ave and Wood- Ward W. Holder, 421 N. Hill, both of Whittier, Calif.

' Filed Aug; 26,19635'Ser. No. 304,475 6 Claims. (El. 22 1 -224) This invention relates to a dispensing apparatus and more particularly to a dispenser for selectively dispensing relatively thin packets having irregular edges. n 1 The use ofin'dividually wrapped products is greatly increasingi'n recent times. 1 Or" particularly widespread use are packets which are relatively flat with a square or other rectangular outline. Examples of products dis pensedinsuchpackets ar'ez' powdered foods such as soup, cloths'forwashing, and cloths for shining shoes.

These packets have the outstanding characteristic that they are very cheap to manufacture and are rugged. This'results fromthe fact that such packets are essentially manufactured by placing the material to be packagedbetween two sheets or flexible material such as plastic and sealing-the peripheral edges by means suchas heat. The packets can be ver rapidly'made with the use of machines which'automaticallydispense into the packets the proper amount of material and seal them.

":Thepackets will'be 'used' a great deal more ifsome means can be providedfor selectively dispensing them. ln such case,"th'e pockets can be'sold on an individual basis without the'necessity'ofan' attendant thus gaining the" advantages of the coin'operated dispensing machines which 'are'in such wide spread'use in the country.

' -Wezhave found that there is a real need for a machine which can selectively dispense these flat flexiblepackets of materials such as a cloths'aturated with a particular chemical. in the past, there have been suggested devices for dispensing such flexible packets. However, in those cases thefiexible packets were joined together on opposite edges to form a long roll; which roll is placed in a machine which could dispensethe packets one at a time; However; such rolls have the'major disadvantage that the person servicing the dispenser is faced with the following dilemma.- If he replaces the partially used roll he will waste'the unused portion, or at least'waste his time joining-the unused portions to form a new roll. And, if he doesnt replace'the partiallyused roll at the' time of servicing, the dispenser may run out of supply before he returnsto 'service'the dispenser, thus causing a loss of incomes" Accordingly, 'thereis a need fOr a dispenser which can accommodatethe fiexibleflat packets on a more individual basis such as dispensing them from a supply stack. In such case the service attendant does not have to throw away any packets, but-merely has to place more packets on top'of the supply stack. n I

I In the past-there has been suggesteda dispenser for dispensingifroma supply stack the-flatfiexi'ole packets which the. present invention accommodates. However, in thatpriorsuggested devicethe packets hadto be placed in 'specialboxes .in order. to be useable in the machine. Thisis because the fi'eXible Pt Qketshave irregular edges All) and the devices have been unable to accommodate. those irregularities in the packets. Although thecost of the eirtr'a boxes is not great, the cost is very signiricant as compared to the price ofr the packets. Further, the cost of putting the packets in the boxes is very undesirable.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide new and improved dispensing apparatus. V

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved dispenser which can accommodate paclrets of irregular shapes.

It is another object of this invention to provide a dis I Patented-- July..6,..1965

"Ice.

2 pensing apparatus'whi'ch' is economical tomanutacture and operate.

It is still another object of this invention to provide-a dispensing apparatus having means therein for'selectively dispensing therefrom packets whichhave edges which are of irregular contour. i

"it is a still further object of this'invention to provide an improved means for gripping along'the 'edgesflat ob- 'ects'having'fiexible edges of irregular contour.

Other and further objects'otthis invention will become apparent in the detailed description below in conjunction with the attached drawings wherein: Y

FIGURE 1 is a perspective 'v'iewof the exterior of one embodiment of my invention; i I

FIGURE 2 is a frontal cross-sectionalviewof the dispensing apparatus taken along line 2-2 in FIGURE 1;

FlLGURE 3 is'a fragmentary planview disclosingthe packet selecting means with the transfer shoe in the front forward position;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view disclosing the packet selecting means with the transfershoe'in the rear position;

FIGURE 5- is an exploded viewof a major portion of the operating-mechanism of the dispensing apparatus;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view'of the dispensing apparatustaken along-line 6-6 in FIGUR'E'Z;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary cross-sectional viewbf the dispensing apparatus taken"along"7- 7"in' FIGURE 2, but'with'so'me parts in another position;

FIGURE 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of'the'l'ower portion of the dispensing apparatus taken along line'8-"8 FIGURE 9 is a partial 'cros's sec'tional 'view 'of'th'e lower portion of the dispensing apparatus taken along line '9 9 in FIGURE 2; and,

FIGURE l0is an enlarged fragmentary viewof the coin clutch mechanism.

' Referring now to FIGURES land 2, the dispensing'apparatus has a housing ll-with a front lZwhich'is 'rern'ovable in order thatthe-attiendarit be able to' gain access to the interior of the housing to replenish the supply of packets to be dispensed: The disclosed'embodiment is'to' be used as a coin operated dispensing device. Acc'ofdingl'y, a money -slot'13 opens through the front of cover '12 to receive the coin into the mechanism inside." After 'a' proper coin has been'dropped'in'to slot 13, the person pulls handle 14 projecting'throug'h the cover lzdowriwa-rdly." Andyas the handle 14 reaches thelower position"a'packetisdispensed through'dispensing-slot '15." In the'eventthat'the coin is of the wrongdenomination, it 'is rejected e e mechanism inside of the'h'ousing andisreturned to coin returnslot 16. t v

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 5 to 7, the'particula'r embodiment of my invention will be 'describedin'further detail. Located in the housing 11 is a'supply holder'means indicated generally by-the arr'ow'Ztl-for holding 'as'upply stack of-packets indicated by the arrow 21; "The'dispensing apparatuses which we have constructed a'resized to accommodate packets approximately two inches by two and one-half inches and one-eighththick at t-heircenters. However,-naturally,' other sizes can beused' without detparting from the'sp'irit of the present invention.

Located at the lower end of thestack of packets 21-are restraining means indicated generally by the-arrows 24-for gripping severalof the lowerpackets for the purpose of permitting a transfer means, indicatedgenerally by the arrow 26, to move the lowest packet to a position-project-v ing out of the front 12 of the housingl1. As will be explained in greater detail .below, inthisparticular embodiment the restraining-means 24 is operated, by movement ofthe transfer-means 26. a

The motion of handle 14 is communicated to move the transfer means 26 through a lever mechanism 28. The 7 lever mechanism 28 generally comprises a drive lever 29 and an actuator lever 31 each of which are pivoted at I their upper ends at bolt 31. As described below, the

motion of the'handle 14 is transmitted'to actuator lever 39 and by means of a coin clutch means, indicated generally by arrow -32, the motion of the actuator lever 30 is only transferred to the drive lever 29 (and therefore, to the,

transfer means 26) when'a proper coin has been deposited chased, we have not shown the details of that mechanism.

If the coin is of proper size it will slide down the chute 3'7 to the coin clutch means 32 and take up the position of coin 38.

If the coin is "of the wrong denomination, such that it is too small or too heavy, the coin eject-ormechanismGS will automatically cause the coin to by-pass the chute 37 and fall out through bottom 39 of the coin ejector mechanism into the coin return 16. The manner in which the coin ejector mechanism 35 is able'to reject over-sized coins will be pointed out in further detail below.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, in more detaiL'th-e supply holder means Zil includes a left guide 41 and a right guide 42 which'constrain the stack of packets 21 on the.

respective sides, while the housing 11 furnishing a support on the rear side of the stack. At the lower end of the guides 41 and 42 are provided horizontalinwardly extending supports 43 which will engage the portions of the lowest packet along the left and right edges of the packet. In

strengthis suflicient'to grip the several lower packets in the stack to accomplish the intended function.

In the preferred embodiment, we have used a pair of front brushes 45 which are attached 'to axles 46 respectively, each of which axles have an offset crank'portion 46a at the bottom thereof. The axles 46 are journalcd at their upper" end in upper journal member 47 having bearing holes 47a for that purpose (see FIGURE Near the rear of the housing 11 there is provided a pair of brushes 48 which are attached to axles 49 having their respective upper'ends journaled in the members 47 and having offset crank portions 49a attheir lower end.

In the dispensing apparatuses which we have constructed, we have found'thatnormal hogs hair bristle brushes will work quite satisfactorily. However, it should be understood thatthe restraining means could be made of v such material as nylon and the fingers which are inserted between the packet can be made somewhat thicker. The fingers must have enough flexibility that theymay accommodate the irregularities in the contours of the edges of the packets and .will not grip the lowest packet so hard that the transfer shoe cannot move it. v

Referring now to FIGURES'Z to 7, the transfer means 26 and the means of actuating the restraining means 24 will be described in detail. Disposed just below the left and right guides 4-1 and 42 is a generally U-shaped guide bracket 51' having a webportion 51 with a left flange 52 and a right flange 53 extending in these respective directions. The bracket 50 is secured to the rear wall of the housing 11 by suitable means passing" through a mounting plate 54 provided at the rear edge of the bracket 50.

Disposed at the center of the web portion 51 is a guide 7 slot 56 whichcooperates' with the transfer means 26 as will be described shortly. At the forward edge of the web FIGURE 2 the edges of the individual packets appear quite straight, i.e., planar, however, such is almost never the case. Spaced just above the supports 43 are front flanges 44 which function to assist the restraining means in restraining the packets above the lowest packet from moving forwardly with the lowest packet. It should be 7 noted that the lower edge of the front flanges 44 are preferably spaced above the support 43 a distance equal to about one and one half times the thickness of the packets:

As will be described shortly the lowest packet is moved to its position projecting from dispensing slot 15 by means of a transfer shoe which engages the underside of the lov est packet and moves it. Accordingly,.we provide means for selecting the lowest packet to be dispensed.

In the preferred embo'diment, the lowest packet is se-l lowest packet in a direction away from the next above packet at a proper time in relation to the movement of the transfer shoe, while gripping the packets-above. This diminishes the friction between'the lowest packet and the next-above packet to a point substantially less than the frictional forces between the lowest packet and 'thetrans fer' shoe--whereupon the lowest packet will move with the shoe toa position projecting from dispensing slot 15.;

Asmentioned above, a major difliculty isencountered in gripping thepackets adjacent the particular packet to' portion 51 is-a pair of'depending portions 57 which are to receive one end of the spring for returning the mechanism for operating the restraining means 24.

It should also be noted that the left flange 52. is pro- I vided with a rear bearing slot 58'and a front bearing slot 59 extending laterally through the left edge of the flange. And, disposed in operative relation with the said slots 58 and 59 is a retainer spring 69 mounted by a screw 61 to the flange 52. This particular construction is used in order that the brushes and 48 may be quickly positioned in the apparatus, facilitating manufacture and maintenance. In practice, the upper end of the particularaxlc, e.g., axle 46 is inserted into hole 47a. The spring 60 is moved outwardly in order to allow the axle 46 to be received into slot 59 where the spring will hold it when the spring is released. The right flange 53 of the bracket 50 is similarly conv 'structed. Rear bearing slot 63 and frontbearing slot lected by the restraming means 24 slightly displacing the I be dispensed. This 'is because the irexible edges of the 1 packets are irregular. In FIGURE the packets edges are shown to be quite regular in their shape, However, in practice, the packet edges are almost never the samecontour because of handling in loading and other reasons.

In order to accommodate these irregularities along the edges of the packets, we provide sets of a large number of fingers which are inserted laterally into the side of the I stack and thereby grip the packets near the bottom of the! stack. Each of the fingers arejndividually rather flexible K in order to accommodate the irregular edges. However,

because of the large number of them their aggregate 64 are provided to receive the axles 49 and 46 respectively. Similarly a retainer'spring 65, anchored to the flange 53 by a screw 66 releasably holds the axle 46 and 419 in operative position.

erally in the center thereof. The cam-plate 63 has a pair of left elongated openings 76 disposed near the left side ofthe plate. And, as will become evident, these slots 76 receive the crank portions 46a and 49d of the respective brushes 46 and 49 on the left side of the supply stack Zll. Adjacent theright side of the' cam-plate 68 is another pair of elongated openings '71. Similarly'to elongated openings 76, the elongated openings 71 receive the offset crank portions 46aand 49a of the respective brushes on the right side of the stack.

Disposed at the rear. of the cam-plate 68 is a pairof depending portions 72. As can be seen best in FIGURES 2, 6 and 7 a pair of return springs74 are secured at their rear endsto the depending portion 72 and at their respecand A8...

arrangement the cam-plate 58 is normally urged towards its'for a i i i lThe office of cam-plate 68 is to swing the brushes and 48 at the proper time. To this end, the respective crank portions46q and 49a of the axles 46 and 41 are received into the elongated openings 79 and 71 as mentioned above. ,And, in order to support the cam-plate 68 from the bottom, each of the crank portions 46a "and 49a have fastened thereon a collar 75. v With this arrangement, when the cam-plate 63 is moved toward the rear of the housing 11 the brushes 45 and 4 8 assume a position such as shown in FIGURE 4 out of the way ofthe stack of packets 21. Then when rearward force is taken'away from the cam-plate 68 the springs '74 return the cam-plate forwardly swinging the brushes 45 and 48 ninety degrees into engagement with the stack of packets 21 such as' illustrated in FIGURE 3. "As mentioned previously, the restraining means 24 is preferably operated by force received from the transfer means. Thereby the proper coordination of timing between"theoperation of the two means can be easily achieved. This coordination of timingwill become apparent in'the following description of the transfer means '26 and the manner in which it cooperates with cam-plate Disposed just :above the web portion 51 of the bracket 'isa" transfer shoe 77 having a friction pad 78 thereon. Athreaded hole'79 is located in the bottomof'theshoe. Disposed just below the web portion 51 is located aslide bracket'Stl' having a depending arm 81 at its rear end. At its forward end the slide bracket St) is provided'with an upstandihg guide portion 82 and a smaller upstanding index '83 attheupper edge of the guide portion. Through the center of the bracket 80 is a hole 84. Also provided is a -shoulder-bolt 85 which extends through the-hole 84 and the slot 56 and is threaded into the hole 79 in the'transfer shoe 77 whereby the shoe and the bracket 80 sandwich the 'web'p'ortion 51-bet-ween them in sliding relation. The insome dex S3 is received into a hole (not shown) the bottom of the shoe 70' to prevent rotation of the shoe relative to .the bracket'80; The guide portion 82 and the shoulder portion of the shoulder bolt 85 function to guide the assembly comprising shoe 77 and bracket $0 along the guide 'slot5'6; e

Before leaving the description of the transfer means as rit'seems appropriate to make a few comments about the friction pad'78. The fr-ictionpad 78 may be made-of anyone of a number of materials having a very high co- "efficient of friction.--However, we have found-thatvery good results are obtained-by making the pad ofnatural latex. It should be understood that although we show a pad .of friction material which is cemented to the shoe, the grip on the lower-most packet could :be obtained inother ways.

Also the latex material couldbe coated directly on Further, a less desirable, but useable approach would use vacuum to grip the lower-most packet.

ment of the cam-platens swings the. various, brushes 45 Having described the restraining means 24 and the transfer means 26 in some detail, we will turn our attention to the. lever-mechanism 28 and the manner in which the moingly moved. Slightly less than half-way up the drive fior example, :thepad could be removably clipped to the shoe. the shoe.

129 is swung about its pivot at 31 the shoe 77 is correspondlever 29 there is located an offset portion 94 havin g a for wardly facing coin-slot 95 formed therein. And, just below the top of the drive lever 29 is located a spring tab 96 which receives the rear end of a drive spring 97 which in turn is secured at its forward end to an anchor tab 98'onthe left guide 41,

I Just below the upper end of the actuator leverBO is located a spring tab 100 whichreceives therethrough the rear end of return spring 101 which is secured atits forward end to the above mentioned anchortab 98. At'its lower end 1&2, the actuator lever 30 has been bent'complementarily to the offset portion Q4 on the drive lever '29 and a rearwardly facing coin-slot 103 has been provided at a position in line with the coin-slot 95 on the lever 29 When thele'vers 29 and '30'arelin' forward positionfas shown in FIGURE '6, the coin-slots 95 'and1'03 are in a position where theywill'receive 'acoineXitin'g the chute 37 which coin will function to transfer force from the actuator lever '30 tothe' drive lever '29. See FIGURE 10 in particular where the coin 38 is'so functioning. 1

: As can best be seen in FIGURE 5','t-he'drive lever 29i's "slightly offset near 'its uppe r end at 104. And it' should also be noted that the actuator lever 30 is slightly offset at 165, a point which is substantially below the pontio'n'104. This is done in'order'that the handle 14 ma'y'ex-tend and operate in this just described area between the'two levers '29 and30.'

/ The manner in which the handle 14'cooperates with the lever m echa-nisn1'28 will now be "described; I The handle handle 14 towards its upper position shown in FIGURE 6.

Midway of the'length ofthe handl-ell-there isa-dependting-tab 113 having a roller H t-mounted: on a stub shaft 115; The roller 1-14 is on the'right side of-the tab 113 and is therefore shown in dash lines. As the hand-leis moved downward the roller'114-engage-s forwardedge'llG (see'FIGURE 5 of the actuator lever 30 moving the'l'ever .rearwardly. Y And'if'a coin, such as-coin 38 is disposed in the coin- slots 95 and 102,- the rearward motionof the arm 60 is, transferred to thelever 29- and thence to thearm 81 to move the transfer shoe 77 and the restraining means 24. --Extending above the handle 'ld-is-a-coin reject actuator arm'12t) having a small-flange 121 extending to the left therefrom, It-should be noted thatthe-arm 12tl is -bent out oftheplane of the-handle-Mand therefore, is located to the left of the drive lever 29; -(See FIGURE 2.) 3 Extending through the flange 121 is an adjustable screw 122.

By the geometry of the handle- 14 and the arm 12!) in relation to the location of aulever 123 on the coirrreject mechanism-35, .eachtime'the handle 14is moved-to its lower position (as seen in FIGURE 7) the .screw 122 .en-

gages. and depresses the lever .123. in the coin mechanism. This lever 123 has the function .ofejectingany :over' sized .coius which are stuck in the mechanism. ,-Since. any over sized coinsdeposited into the dispensing apparatus .would not move downint-o the coin clutch. mechanism 32,..the

handle -14Ycan be depressed to clearthe coinreject mechanism 35 withoutthenecessity.of dispensing.a-packet.,,, As

,mentioned previously, the coin reject mechanism35 is con- .ventionaland the lever 1213 is alsoconventional. Accord- ,ingly, the manner in which the lever t123works inthe, in-

terior of the coin mechanism ,35 .Will notbe. described further.

I Referring nowjtoli-aridiftliepreferred manner in which thecoin isdisplaced from the .cointclutch means 32 will be described. Atv the, rear. endofthe left upper journal member 47 there i-s located a coin displacement slot 125. J-ust above the. slot 125. islocated a coin displacer lzeswingablyjoumaled on ashaft 127011 a bracket 128 fastened tothe rear wall of the housing 11.

The coin displacer 1 26 is biased downwardlyby aspi ing 129 to a position where heel 12% engages the rear 'o'f'th'e housing 11 and cam surface 130 is positioned to weight 133 is used.

engage the coin 38.

As the arm 14 is'depressed and the levers 29 and 30 move rearwardly, the coin .38 moves along the upper surface of the member 47. When the coin 38 moves. to the position just forward of the slot 125 the cam surface 130 engages the upper edge of the coin 38. Further rearward movement of the coin 38 raises the coin displacer .126 against the spring 129. Further, rearward movement eliminates the support of the member 47 because of the slot 125 and the displacer 126 forces the coin 38 downward out of its position in the coin-slots 95 and 103.

When the coin 38 is forced out of the coin-slots 95 and 103' the handle .14 will remain depressed and the lever 30 will remain in the rearward position. However, the drive spring 97 will snap the drive lever 29 forwardly moving the shoe 77 forwardly and as the shoe 1 14 (which is transferred to the actuator lever 30 through the roller 114) will move the drive lever 29 rearwardly. As will be'pointed out in further detail below, during this rearward movement the friction pad 78 is not engaging the lowest packet of the supply.

As the arm 29 moves the shoe77 approximately 75% of the way toward the rear, the depending arm 81 en gages the rear'end 86 of the slot 69 inthe cam-plate 68 and begins to move the cam-plate rearwardly also. This action swings the brushes 45 and 48 from the engaging position shown in FIGURE 3 to theout-of-engaging position shown in FIGURE 4 when the shoe 77 is at its rear- I mostposition. When the brushes 45 and 48 move out moves forwardly the brushes willrswin'g into engagement with the stack of packets. It should be noted in the illustrated apparatus that the brushes 45 and 48 are in the position of engagement throughout around 75% of" the motion of the transfer shoe 77. That is, the brushes '45 and 48 will remain in the position shown in FIGURE 3 .until the transfer shoe 77 is approximatelythree-quarters of the way to the rear. For illustration the shoe "77' is shown in phantom line 130a at the said position. At that point, the further motion of the shoe 77 will swing-the brushes 45 and 48 out of the way. Conversely the brushes 45 and 48 begin to swing back into engaging position just as soon as the shoe 77jstarts'forwardly. There- 'fore the brushes are in engagement with the stack of j packets 21 during the great bulk of the motion of the' transfer shoe 77 7 When the coin is displaced from the coin-slots '95 and. 103 it falls downwardly into a coin bin 132. Asbest seen in FIGURE 2 a coin shield 131 is provided to eliminate the possibility that the coin might :fall into thecoin re-z turn 16. I a

As mentioned previously, the, present invention has the abilityof accommodating packets with irregular contours. However, the reliability of the present apparatus is diminished if the stack of packets gets too low, e.g., four or five. This is true even though normally a stabilizing In order to effectively shiit off the machine and return the coin deposited by pnospective users, the following apparatus is provided. As can best be seenflin FIGURE 2 there is located a supply indicator 134 pivotally mounted at 135 to the rear of the housing 11. The indicator 134 has a laterally projecting sensing finger 136 which extends over and engages the side ofthe stack of packets 21. The pivot 135 is, considerably to. the left of the center of gravity of the indicator 134. Therefore, the indicator leans the finger 136. against the stack' of packets 21. Above the finger 136 is an upwardly extending arm137 which terminates in a coin-diverting finger 138 which 7 projects into the interior of the coin mechanism .35. By

' of engagement with the stack, the stack of packets 21 will drop slightly downwardly to come to rest on the supports Then, just as the shoe reaches its rearm ost position,

cooperation of the slot 125 and the coindisplacer 126 displaces the coin from the coin slots 95 and 103 whereupon the shoe 77 commences to move forward.

During the first phases of'the'forward movement of the shoe 7'7,'the brushes 45 and 48swing into engagement with the stack and the bristles are forced in between the packet next above. tween the other packets spaced apart, but we are not conlower packets of the stack forcing them apart. This decreases the friction between the lowest packet and the (It also decreases the friction becerned about them since there is no lateral force applied to them.) This action also "forces the lowermost packet slightly harder down on the friction'pad 78 on the trans- ;fer shoe thereby increasing the frictional forces between the lowest packet and the pad 78.- As the shoe 77 continuesto move forward it carries the lowest packet with i-tand moves the packet to apoint where it projects from the dispensing slot 15 sufficiently that the purchaser can grasp the packet and pull it the rest of the way out of the machine;

At this point the lowest packet in the stack 21 is actually supported by the bristles of the brushes and '48 rather than the support 43. V (This can be. seen in FIGURE 2.) This is preferred for the following reasons. If,

'when the purchaser removes the 'packetwhich he has purchased,;the bristles are too weak to prevent the re- 5 mainder of the stack .21 from'forcing the then lowest packet down'onto the supports 43, the said lowest packet the conventional wayv that the coin reject mechanism 35 works, when the arm 137 moves to the right, the finger 138 intercepts the path of fall of the coinsand'diverts f them past the chute 37 down through the bottom 39 of the coin mechanism into the coin return 16. And ascan V be seem-when the supply of packets 21 gets so low that the top of the stack is below the lower edge of the sensing finger 136, the supply indicator 137 will swing towards the right causing finger 138 to deflect the coins.

In operation the dispensing apparatus is operated ,as follows. A coin is deposited into coin slotv 13 and falls through tube 34 intothe coin reject mechanism 35. If

'the coin is-an improper one it. will be rejected as explained above. If the coin is a proper one it will be diverted into the'chute 37 and .fall into a position enclosedby coin-slots 95 'and,103. With the coin in the coin-slots 95. and 103 downward movement of the handle prising:

will be engaged by the friction pad 78 the next time the 'shoe 77 is moved rearwardly.. If this happens there is 'anincreased possibility that the pad 78 will grip the the preferred mechanism which swings the brushes 45 'and 48 back and forth, a mechanism which would selectively rotate thejbrushes always in the same direction.

This has the effect of intermittently moving the brushes intoand out of engagement with the stack of packets, however, the mechanism is more complicated.

Accordingly, it is our intention that the present inven- ;tion should be limited solely bythe appended claims. 'We claimt 1. Apparatus for dispensin individually a plurality of fiat pockets having irregular edges, said apparatus commeans 'to hold said packets in a stack with their respec-.

tive flat faces abutting; means for selectively'moving the lowest packet slightly ina direction away .from'the 'next above packet, said means including a large number of thin, flexible fingers, which may be selectively inserted between said edges and packets;

and transfer means for moving said lowest packet substantially from its position to which it was moved relative to the next above packet.

2. Apparatus for dispensing individually a plurality of fiat packets having irregular edges, said apparatus comprising:

means to hold said packets in a stack with their respective fiat faces abutting;

a large number of individual fingers operatively connected to said supply containing means for movement between a first position out of engagement with any of the packets in the supply containing means and a second position projecting between the lowest packet in the stack and the packet next above, said fingers being grouped in sets, each set having a plurality of fingers, the fingers of each set being substantially contiguous, each of said fingers being flexible and weak so that they will deform sufiiciently to receive an edge of the packet between adjacent fingers;

means for moving said fingers between said first and second position;

and means for moving said lowest packet substantially when said fingers are in said second position.

3. Apparatus for dispensing individually a plurality of flat packets having irregular edges, said apparatus comprising:

means to hold said packets in a stack with their respective flat faces abutting;

means for selectively gripping the packet next above the lowest packet, said means including a plurality of sets of fingers, each of said sets including a plurality of individually flexible and weak fingers which will accept therebetween an edge of the packet next above the lowest packet but which cooperate together to grip the packet next above the lowest packet;

and means for moving said lowest packet substantially from its position immediately below the gripped packet, said last mentioned means being operatively connected with the means for selectively gripping the next above packet so that the next above packet is gripped as the transfer means moves the lowest packet substantially.

4. Apparatus for dispensing packets, said apparatus comprising:

a housing, said housing having an opening formed in one side thereof;

means for holding a supply of packets within said housing;

a large number of individual fingers operatively connected with said supply holding means for movement between a first position out of engagement with any of the packets in the supply holding means and a second position projecting between the lowest packet and the packet next above, said fingers being grouped in sets, each set having a plurality of fingers, the fingers of each set being in close relation, each of said fingers being flexible and weak so that they will deform sufiiciently to receive an edge of a packet between adjacent fingers;

means for moving said fingers between said first and second positions;

transfer means for transferring the selected packet to a position projecting at least part way out of said opening;

a handle projecting from the interior of the housing to a position outside of the housing, said handle being movable between a first position and a second position, said handle being operatively connected with id said transfer means for causing the latter means to move the selected packet through the opening when the handle is moved from the first position to the second position.

5. Apparatus for dispensing packets, said apparatus comprising:

a housing, said housing having an opening formed in the front thereof;

means for holdin a supply of packets in a stack within said housing;

a large number of individual fingers disposed on either side of the stack of packets, said fingers being grouped in sets, each set having a plurality of fingers, said fingers being operatively connected with said supply holding means for movement between a first position out of engagement with any of the packets in the supply holding means and a second position projecting between the packets at the bottom of the stack;

means for moving said fingers between said first and second position;

transfer means for transferring the selected packet to a position projecting to a position at least part way through said opening, said transfer means being operatively connected with said means for moving said bristles whereby movement of the transfer means operates the means for moving said fingers;

a handle projecting from the interior of the housing to a position outside of the housing, said handle being movable between a first position and a second position, said handle being operatively connected with said transfer means for causing the latter means to move the selected packet through the opening when the handle is moved from the first position to the second position.

6. Apparatus for dispensing generally flat pockets having irregular edges, said apparatus comprising:

supply means to hold said packets in a stack with the irregular edges exposed to either side of the stack;

selecting means including a plurality of brushes having bristles, said brushes being mounted on either side of the stack for movement between a first position where the bristles are out of engagement with the packet in the supply means and a second position projecting between the packets at the lower part of the stack, said bristles having a sufiicient strength to support the weight of the stack;

transfer means movable in first and then in a second direction for moving the lowest packet in the stack in the second direction substantially from its position, said transfer means being operatively connected with the selecting means so that the bristles are moved from the second position to the first position prior to movement of the transfer means in said second direction and then are moved back to the second position as the transfer means moves in the second direction, whereby the bristles hold the lowest packet out of engagement with the transfer means during the motion of the latter means in the first direction, permit the stack to drop into engagement with the transfer means, and then separate the lowest packet from the next above packet while the transfer means is moving in the second direction whereupon the lowest packet is moved with the transfer means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/32 Podel 221238 X 2/55 Smith 221-236

Claims (1)

1. APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING INDIVIDUALLY A PLURALITY OF FLAT POCKETS HAVING IRREGULAR EDGES, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: MEANS TO HOLD SAID PACKETS, IN A STACK WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE FLAT FACES ABUTTING; MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY MOVING THE LOWEST PACKET SLIGHTLY IN A DIRECTION AWAY FROM THE NEXT ABOVE PACKET, SAID MEANS INCLUDING A LARGE NUMBER OF THIN, FLEXIBLE FINGERS, WHICH MAY BE SELECTIVELY INSERTED BETWEEN SAID EDGES AND PACKETS; AND TRANSFER MEANS FOR MOVING SAID LOWEST PACKET SUBSTANTIALLY FROM ITS POSITION TO WHICH IT WAS MOVED RELATIVE TO THE NEXT ABOVE PACKET.

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