US3312512A

US3312512A - Vending machine article delivery chute arrangement

Info

Publication number: US3312512A
Application number: US451575A
Authority: US
Inventors: Francis A Gasparini
Original assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
Current assignee: CBS Corp
Priority date: 1965-04-28
Filing date: 1965-04-28
Publication date: 1967-04-04
Anticipated expiration: 1984-04-04
Also published as: DE1474945A1; NL6605635A; BE680259A; GB1140050A; ES326046A1; CH460416A

Description

- A ril 4, 1967 v F. A.. GASPARlNl 3, 2,

I VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE ARRANGEMENT Filed April 28, 1965 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 7 Francis A. Guspclrini- ATTORNEY April 4, 1967 F. A. GASPARINI VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE ARRANGEMENT C5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 2 April 4, 1967 F. A. GASPARIN] 3,312,512

VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHU'IE ARRANGEMENT Filed April 28, 1965 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I FIG. 4.

i- 4o 34 I 4|; 46 47 I I l I I I I I I l a United States Patent 3,312,512 VENDING MACHINE ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE ARRANGEMENT Francis A. Gasparini, Longmeadow, Mass, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a

corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 28, 1965, Ser- No. 451,575 Claims. (Cl. 312- 35) The present invention relates to vending machines.

Vending machines of the type having a plurality of sideby-side article storage columns within the vending cabinet together with a vending opening in a faced Wall of the cabinet are well known. When such machines are arranged and intended to vend refrigerated articles, each vending opening should be as small as possible to reduce the refrigeration load as should be obvious to one skilled in the art. Also, when the vending machine is refrigerated, the cabinet should be as compact as possible for a given capacity of stored and chilled objects. For example, when bottled cold drinks are to be stored and vended, the SldC- by-Side columns of stored bottles should be as close together as possible and the vending opening should be only slightly larger than the maximum cross-sectional dimensions of the bottle used. In order to convey a bottle to be vended from any one of a plurality of side-by-side storage columns to a relatively small vending opening, a chute is customarily provided.

In order to provide the desired compactness of the vending machine, the above-mentioned chute must have sharply converging and angled wall surfaces which are sometimes troublesome in that a bottle being delivered from a storage column to the vending opening may become wedged or jammed and not continue to move by gravity towards and through the vending opening.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved chute arrangement for a vending machine that will minimize the possibility of binding, jamming, of wedging of an article being delivered from any one of a plurality of side by-side article storage columns to a vending opening.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine having an improved article delivery gravity chute that is so constructed and arranged as to impart added motion to the articles being delivered thereby and insure a lively action to prevent the articles from binding, wedging, jamming or otherwise halting in their movement by gravity from any one of a plurality of side-by-side positioned storage columns to a vending opening in the cabinet of the vending machine.

In accordance with the invention, an article delivery chute having downwardly converging side walls and a forwardly and downwardly sloping bottom wall is supported within a vending machine cabinet to interconnect the delivery ends of a plurality of side-by-side article storage columns to a vending opening. More particularly,

' the chute is pivotally supported within the vending cabinet by support members positioned intermediate the width of the chute and resilient means are interconnected between the vending machine cabinet structure or vending mechanism and the chute at points spaced from the pivotal support members whereby the chute is constrained to a normal position yet is resiliently movable when an article is being delivered thereby to the vending opening to thus impart a lively motion to the article being vended and prevent the jamming, wedging or binding of the article passing through the chute. In the preferred arrangement of the invention, one of the pivotal support members is connected to an upper portion of the chute in a plane behind the columns of stored articles while the other pivotal support member is connected to a lower portion .of the chute in a plane ahead of the column of stored articles as seen from the front or vending opening of the machine. Also in a preferred embodiment of the invention the downwardly sloping bottom wall of the chute may be provided with a ridge extending from sideto-side and intermediate the upper and lower portions of the chute to thereby provide an increased sloping portion of the bottom wall surface toward the vending machine opening. It has been found that the aforementioned ridge surface in the bottom Wall of the chute serves to impart a desirable orientation or movement to the article being vended as it is deposited and moved on the chute towards the vending opening.

Further objects, features and the attendant advantages of the invention will be apparent with reference to the following specification and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a typical vending machine cabinet that may embody the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the lower portion of the vending machine cabinet wall showing the vending opening therethrough;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of the lower portion of a vending machine with the front wall removed and showing the pivotally and resiliently supported vending chute of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 3, partly in section with various details of the vending machine omitted to more clearly show the chute of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detailpartly in section of the upper pivotal support for the chute; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the lower pivotal support for the chute.

Although the invention will be particularly described in connection with a cold drink multiple-flavor manuallyoperable post-select vending machine it should be understood that the chute arrangement of the invention may be used with any multiple column vending machine in which articles are to be conveyed by the chute from the delivery end of any one of a plurality of side-by-side columns to a relatively small vending opening in a face Wall of the vending machine cabinet.

FIG. 1 of the drawings shows a vending machine having a cabinet 10 and containing six columns of cold drinks each controlled by a single manually-operated postselection lever 11-16 respectively. A vending opening 20 is provided in a front face wall of the cabinet 10 and may be provided with a hinged closure flap 21 as more clearly shown by FIG. 2 of the drawing. When a chilled bottled drink is to be delivered through the vending open ing 20 it is deposited from a selected one of the side-byside storage columns upon actuation of a selected one of the handles 11-16 onto the vending chute generally indicated at 30 by FIG. 3 of the drawings and conveyed thereon by gravity through the pivotal closure 21 of the vending opening 20 to rest upon the delivery stop 22.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings the vending chute 30 is comprised of inwardly and downwardly converging side walls 31 and 32 and a downwardly sloping bottom wall 33 that also is sloping forwardly towards the front wall of the vending cabinet 10 and the opening 20. Upstanding side walls 34 and 35 are also provided to guide an article being delivered towards the lower delivery point of the chute. A pivotal support member 40 is secured to the upper portion of the bottom wall 33 of the chute intermediate the width of the chute and preferably at a central point intermediate the width of the chute. 'It will be noted that the upper pivotal support member 40 is normally positioned in a vertical plane to the rear of the article storage magazine frame member 44 as seen from the front of the cabinet 10. A lower pivotal support member 41 is secured to a lower portion of the bottom wall 33 of the chute at a point intermediate the width of the chute and preferably in vertical alignment with the upper support member 40 but in a vertical plane ahead of the article storage magazine as seen from the front of the cabinet l0. The upper support member 40 is provided with a pin or projection 42 adapted to be received in a suitable aperture 43 of the vending machine cabinet structure or mechanism frame member 44. The lower support member 41 is provided with a slot 45 through which may be keyed a pivotal support pin 46 secured to an angle 47 :hatis in turn fastened to the vending cabinet support frame member 48. A snap ring or lock washer 49 may 3e provided to removably secure the pivotal support member 41 of the chute to the cabinet support pin 46.

A first spring member 50 is secured between a frame portion 51 of the vending mechanism and the point 52 on :he vending chute 30, which point is remote from either 3f the

support members

40 or 41. A second spring mem- Jer 52 is interconnected to the vendiing mechanism frame it 53 and the point 54 of the pivotal chute 30 which point remote from the

support members

40 and 41 and the JOiIlt of connection 52 for the spring 50. Thus the ivotal chute 30 is constrained to a normal position as shown by FIG. 3 of the drawings but is allowed to move )r pivot about the

pivot points

42 and 46 when an article :0 be vended is dropped thereon to be moved by gravity )0 thevending opening 20. Such resilient movement of :he vending chute 30 imparts a lively motion to the trticle being vended. In addition when an article to be vended is selected from a column nearest the side wall of the vending machine the pivotal vending chute 30 can Jivot and tilt towards that side thus providing additional :learance and preventing the article from binding or jamning between the delivery end of the article storage :olumn or mechanism frame and the delivery chute.

When it is-desired to remove the vending chute 30 in )rder to gain access to other portions of the vending nachine within the vending cabinet it is only necessary to remove the snap-ring 49 and disconnect the springs 50 and 52 before pulling the chute forwardly out of the cabinet. it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the pivot support pin 42 will simply withdraw from tthe aperture 43 while the slot 45 moves outwardly off of the support pin 46.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the downwardly sloping bottom wall 33 of the chute 30 may be provided with a ridge 36 to define an increasingly sloped portion towards the lower delivery end of the chute. The ridge 36 may extend substantially across the bottom wall at a point intermediate the upper edge and the lower delivery edge of the bottom wall 33. It has been found that the ridge 36 of the bottom wall of the chute imparts a desired orientation or movement to the article being vended as it is deposited upon the chute and contacts the ridged portion of the bottom wall thereof. Obviously, the ridged portion of the bottom wall may take different positions and angles within the spirit of the invention to accommodate different sizes and shapes of articles being vended and the claims of the invention are not to be limited to a particular configuration of ridge for the bottom wall of the chute.

Various modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A vending machine comprising, a cabinet, a vending opening in a face wall of said cabinet, a plurality of side-by-side article storage columns within said cabinet, an article delivery chute interconnecting the delivery ends of said columns and said vending opening, means pivotally supporting said chute intermediate its width along a pivot axis in general alignment with the chute longitudinal axis within said cabinet, and resilient means interconnecting said chute and said cabinet at points spaced from said pivotal supporting means to resiliently constrain said chute to a predetermined position while per mitting motion of said chute during delivery of an article being vended.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which said chute is provided with side walls converging downwardly towards said vending opening and a bottom wall sloping forwardly and downwardly towards said vending opening.

3. The invention of claim 1 in which said chute is provided with side walls converging downwardly towards said vending opening and a bottom wall sloping forwardly and downwardly towards said vending opening, said bottom wall having a ridge extending from side-to-side at a. point intermediate its length to define an increased sloping portion of the bottom wall surface towards said vending opening.

4. The invention of claim 1 in which said means pivotally supporting said chute is comprised of an upper pivotal support member secured to an upper surface of said chute and a lower pivotal support member secured to a lower surface of said chute, said upper and lower support members being secured to said chute in substantial vertical alignment with each other.

5. The invention of claim 4 in which said upper support member is secured to said chute in a plane behind said article storage columns and said lower support member is secured to said chute in a plane ahead of said article storage columns from said vending opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,412,368 12/1946 Tascher 21149 2,441,519 5/1948 Terhune 312-36 X 2,903,155 9/1959 Whitefied 2211 15 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

JOHN PETO, Examiner.

Claims

1. A VENDING MACHINE COMPRISING, A CABINET, A VENDING OPENING IN A FACE WALL OF SAID CABINET, A PLURALITY OF SIDE-BY-SIDE ARTICLE STORAGE COLUMNS WITHIN SAID CABINET, AN ARTICLE DELIVERY CHUTE INTERCONNECTING THE DELIVERY ENDS OF SAID COLUMNS AND SAID VENDING OPENING, MEANS PIVOTALLY SUPPORTING SAID CHUTE INTERMEDIATE ITS WIDTH ALONG A PIVOT AXIS IN GENERAL ALIGNMENT WITH THE CHUTE LONGITUDINAL AXIS WITHIN SAID CABINET, AND RESILIENT MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID CHUTE AND SAID CABINET AT POINTS SPACED FROM SAID PIVOTAL SUPPORTING MEANS TO RESILIENTLY CONSTRAIN SAID CHUTE TO A PREDETERMINED POSITION WHILE PERMITTING MOTION OF SAID CHUTE DURING DELIVERY OF AN ARTICLE BEING VENDED.