US3201534A - Sequential switch for an automatic vending machine or the like - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 17, 1965 J. BRADY ETAL SEQUENTIAL SWITCH FOR AN AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE OR THE LIKE Original Filed March 14. 1957 Illrll I NVENTORS. KENNETH JOHN BRADY NEAL TOWNSEND BY V fi F PATENT AGENT United States Patent 3,201,534 SEQUENTIAL SWITCH FOR AN AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE 0R THELIKE Kenneth John Brady, C2236 Baywood Ave., Hayward, Calif., and Neal Townsend, San Francisco, Calif.; said Townsend assignor to said Brady Original application Mar. 14, 1957, Ser. No. 646,050, now Patent No. 3,001,670, dated Sept. 26, 1961. Divided and this application Sept. 25, 1961, Ser. No. 146,674

2 Claims. (Cl. 20033) This is a division of application Serial No. 646,050, filed March 14, 1957, now US. Patent No.' 3,001,670, issued September 26, 1961. The present invention relates to apparatus for dispensing articles and more particularly to a sequential switch for automatic vending machines for cigarettes or the like.

Vending machines for various articles and particularly for cigarettes and candy have come into wide use; most of these (are now completely automatic in that to obtain a selected article, the purchaser need merely push a but-ton to energize an electric dispensing mechanism which effects delivery of the selected article. Since a cigarette vending machine must contain a number of different brands to be commercially acceptable, a plurality of dispensing mechanisms and associated storage chutes for the articles must be provided. Costs of the machines r-un high as a consequence.

It is a general object of the present invention to reduce the cost of a vending machine without reducing its capacity by means of an overall simplification of design.

More particularly, it is a feature of the invention to reduce the number of expensive electro-mechanical elements in an automatic vending machine without destroying its fully automatic operation.

A further feature concerns the simplification of indi vidual part design so that each part is adapted for mass production by automatic equipment wherefore the cost per element is lowered.

Another feature concerning the design of individual parts enables a single part, in many instances,-to accomplish several functions formerly requiring a combination of several parts.

Simultaneously, the parts are designed to facilitate assembly operations whereby turther cost reduction is eifected.

In addition to the cost of the machine, the present invention is also directed toward the solution of problems encountered in the use of any vending machine. It is observed, for example, that certain brands of cigarettes are of greater popularity, which necessitates in known vending machines the utilization of several supply chutes or hoppers and associated vending mechanisms for a known brand of high popularity.

It is a feature of the present invention to provide a sequential vending mechanism whereby the pushing of a single button will dispense an article in turn from one of a series of supply chutes containing articles of like nature (e.g., the same brand of cigarette). This feature, it may be observed, will save the customer from the inconvenience of searching through a large number of buttons and the possibility of depressing a button associated with an emptied supply chute. Addition-ally, as will become apparent hereinafter, this feature eiiects further savings in the apparatus cost.

These and other objects of the invention will become move apparent from a perusal of the following description of a preferred embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG, 1 is an enlarged top plan view of a sequential relay arrangement forming part of the machine,

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the sequential relay 3,201,534 Patented Aug. 17, 1965 structure, portions thereof broken away to illustrate interior details of construction, and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

As described in our co-pending application, Ser. No. 646,050, filed March 14, 1957, now United States Patent No. 3,001,670, issued September 26, 1961, a cigarette vending machine includes a plurality of vertically-disposed chutes from which a single package of cigarettes can be dispensed by energization of a solenoid-controlled actuating mechanism connected to a suitable A.C. voltage source. However, in view of the aforementioned fact that certain brands of cigarettes are more popular than others so that it may be desirable to have three chutes, for example, loaded with a single brand of cigarettes, the connection to such source is arranged through a sequential relay generally indicated at in FIGS. 1 and 2. The use .of such a relay, as will become more apparent from the detailed description to follow, enables a cigarette package of a popular brand loaded into three chutes, for example, to be dispensed from one chute then another then the third and then a repeated sequential dispensing from the three chutes so that the supply in the three chutes again is uniformly depleted. The desired number of sequential relays 80 are suitably mounted on the vending machine and the detailed structure of an individual relay 80 is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

The wires from a number of the solenoids forming parts of the described'aotuating means are connected to a plurality of terminals 81 through 86 that are mounted in aligned relationship on an insulating plate 87 as shown clearly in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 1, a bus bar 88 is arranged on a second insulating plate 89 that is held in spaced relation to the first insulating plate 87 by means of an intermediate third insulating plate 90. When the three plates 87, 89, 90 are secured together by means of suitable machine screws 91, the bus bar 88 is aligned with but spaced from the plurality of terminals 81 through 86. A ratchet 92 composed of insulating material is disposed between the two outer plates 87, 89 within a cutaway portion of the inter-mediate plate 90 so as to slide along a path substantially parallel to the aligned terminals 81 through 86 and bus bar 88. The ratchet 92 carries a small connector 93 which may take the form of a carbon brush that is adapted to establish connection between one or another of the terminals 81 through 86 and the bus bar 88, (see FIG. 3). The slidable ratchet 92 is normally urged to its lowermost position, as viewed in FIG. 2) by a coil spring 94 tensioned between a screw 95 projecting from the ratchet 92 and a bar 96 firmly attached to the stationary insulating plate 89. From such lowermost position, the slidable ratchet 92 is moved upwardly by engagement of a pawl 97 with the ratchet teeth. This pawl 97 projects through a central cutaway portion in the plates 87, 89 from a plunger 98 mounted for axial and rotative displacement relative to an act-nating solenoid 99. A coil spring is compressed between the pawl 97 and stationary housing of the solenoid 99 so as to normally urge the plunger 98 away from the solenoid and such spring is also placed under a predetermined rotative tension so as to urge the plunger 98 and the pawl 97 thereon in a rotative direction such that the pawl is constantly urged against the teeth of the ratchet 92. When the solenoid 99 is energized from a suitable power source 101 by the depression of a button 102, as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1, the plunger 98 is drawn downwardly carrying the pawl 97 there-with. During such downward movement of the pawl 97, it rides over the rear sloping face of the adjacent tooth pivoting against the action of the coil spring 100 and ultimately is urged by such coil spring into the next toothed recess of the ratchet 92. Upon subsequent deenergization of the solenoid 99, the plunger 98 and the pawl 97 thereon move upwardly and the ratchet 92 is moved by the engagement of the pawl therewith. It will be understood thatlthe coil spring 100 that ac-tuates the return movement of the plunger 98 is stronger than the coil spring 94 which tends to hold the ratchet 92 in its lowermos-t position. Thus the ratchet 92 can move upwardly against the action of the latter coil spring 94.

The distance between adjoining teeth of the ratchet 92 is equivalent to that between adjacent individual terminals 81 through 86 so that a single actuation of the ratchet 92 by the pawl 97 will effect movement of the connector 93 carried by the ratchet 92 precisely from one terminal to the next. Thus, ultimtaely, upon each actuation of the sequential relay 80 through depression of the button 102, connection is established between the AC. source (not shown) connected to the bus bar 88 of the relay and one of the terminals 81 through 86,,such connection progressing sequentially from the lowermost terminal to the uppermost, as viewed in FIG. 2. After each successive upward displacement of the ratchet 92, a detent 105 is urged by a leaf spring 106 into a position of insertion in the adjoining ratchet teeth to hold the same against downward displacement by action. of the spring 94 during the period when the pawl 97 is moving and has released its operative engagement with a given tooth.

After the ratchet 92 has reached its uppermost position, means are provided to remove both the detent 105 and the pawl 97 from operative engagement with the ratchet so that the same can be returned by the coil spring 94 to its lowermost position wherefore a renewed sequential connection with the series of terminals 81 through 86 can be instigated in the described fashion. In order to effect such release, a release lever 107 is pivoted on the insulated plate 87. Such lever 107 is normally held in an inoperative position by a coil spring 108 tensioned between thelever and a pin 109 on the plate 87 so as to urge the lever in a clockwisedirection to the position indicated in FIG. 2. However, when the machine screw 95 moves upwardly therewith to the uppermost position, such screw comes into engagement with the release lever 107 to urge the same in a counterclockwise direction against the action of the tensioned spring 108. When the solenoid 99 is now energized, the pawl 97 moves against the edge of the lever 107 pivoting outwardly until it lodges in a notch 110 at the outward end thereof. Upon a subsequent de'energization of the solenoid 99, the'pawl 97 moves with the lever against the rear face of the described detent 105 to pivot the same against the action of the leaf spring 106 away from engagement with the adjacent tooth. Therefore, both the pawl 97 anddetent 105 are displaced away from the ratchet 92 and the latter can return under the action of the tensioned'coil spring 94 to its lowermost position. When the machine screw 95 is removed from engagement with the release lever 107, the latter is rotated by the coil spring 108 and releases the pawl 97. The sequential relay 80 is now ready for a repeated sequence of connections with the terminals 81 through 86.

Six terminals -81 through 86 are shown in the drawingwill obviously be actuated one step sooner and only five terminals 81 through 85 will be included in the sequential operation. In the same fashion, if the screw 95 is moved to the next hole 112, only four terminals 81 through 84 will be incorporated in the sequential series to which connection is made. Thus,a popular brand of cigarettes which normally require the actuation of the release means associated with five chutes can be adjusted to accommodate merely four chutes. Regardless of the number of chutes containing a single brand of cigarettes, only one push button 102 is required as a consequence of the described sequential relay operation.

Various alterations and/or modifications can obviously be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Consequently, the foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of-the invention is to be considered as purely exemplary and not in a limiting sense, and the scope of the invention is to be in dicated by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sequential relay which comprises a bus bar, a series of terminals, a connector movable to establish connection between said bus bar and one of said terminals, means operative to effect movement of said connector sequentially from one terminal to another including a ratchet attached to said connector for movement therewith and an actuating pawl therefor mounted on an axial ly and rotatably displacea-ble plunger for'operative engagement with said ratchet.

2. A sequential relay according to claim 1 which comprises means for automatically returning said connector into connecting position with the first of said terminals upon completion of the sequential connection of said connector with a predetermined number of said terminals.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT K. SCI-IAEFER, Acting Primary Examiner.

MAX L. LEVY, ROBERT K, SCHAEFER, Examiners.

Claims (1)

1. A SEQUENTIAL RELAY WHICH COMPRISES A BUS BAR, A SERIES OF TERMINALS, A CONNECTOR MOVABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID BUS BAR AND ONE OF SAID TERMINALS, MEANS OPERATIVE TO EFFECT MOVEMENT OF SAID CONNECTOR SEQUENTIALLY FROM ONE TERMINAL TO ANOTHER INCLUDING A RATCHET ATTACHED TO SAID CONNECTOR FOR MOVEMENT THEREWITH AND AN ACTUATING PAWL THEREFOR MOUNTED ON AN AXIALLY AND ROTATABLY DISPLACEABLE PLUNGER FOR OPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID RATCHET.

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