US761075A - Vending-machine. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTBD MAY 31, 1904.

J. B. HURD. VENDING MACHINE. APPHOATION Hum we. 31, 1903.

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WITNESSES.

PATENTED MAY 31, 1904. J. B. Emu). VENDING MACHINE. APPLIGATIOH FILED AUG. 31. 1903.

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; UNITED STATES Patented May 31, 1904.

PATENT 7 OFFICE.

VENDING-MACHINE.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,075, dated May 31 1904.

Application filed August 31, 1 903.

i To all whom it may concern:

A Be, it known that I, JUDSON B. new a citi zen of the United States, residing at Brookland, inthe District of Columbia, have insales-counter being removed. Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the parts in different positions. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of a part of the sales-counter. Fig. 6 is a vertical section on theline 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective of one of the swinging bottoms carried by the article-hold ers. Fig. 8 isa perspective view of one of the swinging stops in the sales-counter; Fig. -9, a detail perspective of the shiftinglever carried by the .bottom shown in Fig. 7; Fig. 10,

a detail perspective of one of the tripping devices in the wrapping-room; Fig. 11, a perspective of the traveling releaser.

This invention is designed to do away with the employment of clerks in sales-rooms and for other purposes; and it consists of certain novel features of construction-and combinations of parts and appliances hereinafter described and-claimed.

Referring tothe drawings byrefereiice-let- Qters, A designates'a sales-counter located in a sales-room'and connected by conduit B, extending throughfthe wall C to the'store-room or wrapping-room, wherein is locateda suitable counter or casing'DIf I The sales-counter shown is divided centrally v and longitudinally bya partition E, an'din each of the compartments thus formed is mounteda carrier or conveyer consisting of a pair of sprocket-chains which are mounted on suitable sprocket-wheels G and extend through the conduit B into the counter D in the wrappingroom. Th1s conveyer carrles a series of buckets H, which are adapted to transfer the artiaccompanying drawings, in

\ the side of the counter.

each of these holders Iis normally closed by. .a swinging bottom L, whose side or cheek Serial N6. 171,444. on model.)

I cles from the store-room to the sales-counter and deposit them in their proper receptacle therein. p

In each of the compartments in the salescounter is mounted a series. of stationary holders I, just below the path of the outgoing 7 side of the carrier and just above a corresponding series of chutes or receptacles J, built into the counter, each of these chutes or receptacles being accessible through an opening K in The open bottom of plates embrace the sides of theholder and are pivoted thereto at M. A spring N connects the upper end of one of the side plates of this bottom to the side of the holder and by'its action tends to normally open the bottom by swinging it up to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3. The bottom is locked against this tendencyto open by means of a latch-lever O, pivoted to one of the side plates and extend- 7 ing upward abovethe holder far enough to en- 7 gage in a notch P, formed ina flange Q, run- I ning horizontally along the inner side of the sales-counter and serving to support one of the sprocket-chains F. The latch-lever O is nor- Q mally held in notch Pby a spring R. When this latch-lever is forced out of notch P in the manner hereinafter, set forth, the spring N normally draws it forward until it is stopped by the end of an arm S, which is carried by a vertic'al plate pivoted on theinner sideof the sales-counter and is normally pressed away from the conveyer-chains by a coil-spring T,

j and when the latch-lever is released from the end of the arm S by swinging the same inward toward the conveyer and away from the wall of the counter the spring N is allowed to act and quickly opens the bottom of the receptacle and permits the article thereinto drop into the corresponding chute J, where it will be accessible to the purchaser through the opening K. A plate S carries a stop S and an arm U, which latter extends horizontally above the stop-arm S and the adjacent carrier chain and is provided at its extremity with an upturned finger V, which comesv just opposite an opening in the side wall of the counter. This openingleads intoa pocket or conduit V, which extends the length of the counter and is located between the samplereceptacles X and the main part of the counter. Adapted to move in this conduit V, I have provided a releasing device which may be employed for the entire series of articleholders. This device may be constructed as shown in Fig. 11, having a casing W, made to fit the conduit and to move therein. lever is pivoted within this casing in any suitable manner, with one end extending above to form a handle W, the other end being adapted to swing inward against. the finger V as the handle is manipulated. By this means the stop-arm S will be swung out of the path of the lach-lever Oand the article will be dumped from the holder 1. To make it more diflicult forthe finger V and other dumping mechanism to be tampered with, the cover to the conduit V is made in two plates overlapduit; This traveling releasing device, which in this case consists of the caseW and pivoted handle W, I make in different forms. One is coin-controlled in its operation, and another is .constructed so as to make a record of the sales-made; but in each case the device has two parts, one of which is movable i n refererence to the other in order to effect a release of the article from the holder. At each side of the sales-counter I preferably locate a glass-covered sample-exhibiting receptacle X, these receptacles correspond ing in number and position to the articleholders within the counter, so that purchasers may select the articles desired by sample.

To-repleni sh'the supply of articles in the holders I, I provide each of the buckets H with a peculiar form of dumping device. Eachbucket is providediwith a swinging curved bottom Y, which is pivotally hung on the innerwalls of the bucket at pivots Z by the upward-extending side plates or arms a, one of these arms beingconnected to the sides of the buckets by. a coil-spring 6, this spring beingso arranged that it holds the bottom normally in its closed position when onzone side of the pivot Z and normally in its open position when on the other side of said pivot, as shown, respectively, in Figs. 2 and 3. One of the arms a is provided with an extension 0, which when the bottom of the bucket is open will project above the surface of the counter D in the store-room asthe conveyer moves along under the top of the said counter, as shown most clearly in Fig. 10. v

Depending from the bottom Y is a finger d, which carries a lateral pin e, which when the bottom is closed and the pin is at its lowest point, as shown in Fig. 2, strikes against the inclined inner face'of leverO and first opens bottomY and then forces said lever out of its notch P by impinging against the cam-face f and permits the lever to engage the end of the stop-arm S, as heretofore describedI. As will be observed, this pin will not engage the cam f" unless the lever is resting in notch P, nor

responding receptacle has been emptied and needs refilling; To close the bottoms L, the

attendant simply swings the levers back again i to their original positions, as isevident.

It will be obvious-that the conveyers may I be operated by manual power or by suitable motive power and also that they may be moved continuously or intermittently. It will also be seen that in practice it will be convenient and in some cases necessary to place corresponding numbers or other characters on the holders i'n'the counter and the levers in the supply-roomin order that the attendant may be informed which holder in thesalescounter I has been emptied and may refill it with an ar ticle'of the same character. I

As hasbeen stated, when an article has been dumped fromone of the holders I the correspondinglever h is shifted. When the attendant in the supply-room desires to refill the empty hold er, he first closes the bottom thereof by pulling back the'lever connected thereto to its original position, which act not only closes the bottom, but locks it closed by allowing the leverOto'snap into its notch P. He next closes I the bottom of one of the buckets as it comes along underthe opening in the table D, this being done by swinging back finger 0 or by'deis closed, he drops into it the article, and then when the filled bucket reaches the empty holder in the sales-counter its pin 6 will strike l the locked lever O, which will swing the bottom Y backward far enough to carry its spring 6 beyond the center, so that said spring will thenact, as shown in Fig. 3, to hold the bottom open. When the bottom Y is .thus pushed up and back, the article will drop into the holder below. Then as pin 6 rides up the face of the lever 0 it passes into cam-groove f and forces lever 0 out ofnotch P and permits it to jump to the end of the stop-arm S. The pin 6 is prevented by lip Z from slipping off the enlargement Z on the lever before it passes into cam-groove i It will be observed that where several holders I are empty at the same time the attendant must be careful to send out the article that belongs to the nearest holder first, as the first article to go out will be dumped in the first IIS more or less idle.

empty holder, the second in the second empty holder, and so on until all the holders are filled.

It will be seen that this invention is a majehine combining a carrier apparatus with an functions being performed in the order I have stated compels the customer after ordering an article to wait until the goods can'be prepared and sent to, him. Such a machine has a further disadvantage in that with a reasonable amount of help at the supply-station when there is a rush of business orders will be sent faster than they can be filled, forcing the customers to wait still longer, and in the less active business hours the attendants will be My invention is intended, among other things, to obviate both of these disadvantages. The aim is to furnish instantaneous delivery to the customer and uniform employment to the attendant as nearly as possible, and I attain these objects by constructing my machine so that the three functions mentioned will be performed in a dilferent order and by adding another element-namely, means for storing articles at the sales-station ready to be delivered as soon as the customer has made his selection.

The first function of the machine after the customer has indicated his selection is to deliver the goods from the store already on deposit at a sales-station, and the communication of an order to the supply-station comes after and as a result of the act of delivery to the customer, the goods being sent to be in readiness for a subsequent purchaser.

If several articles of the same kind are on hand at the sales-counter, there may be a rush of custom at the business hours without exhausting the supply or causing the customers to wait, and a limited amount of help at the supply-station may be kept uniformly busy.

I have described a machine especially adapted for vending goods; but I Wish it to be understood that my invention applies to any machine adapted to perform substantially the functions herein described, substantially in the same order, to save labor and time, or for other purposes.

Having fully described my invention, what claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. In a carrier and delivery machine adapted to connect distant points as a supply-station with a delivery-station, a carrier apparatus between said points, means at the delivery-station for holding articles for selection and dethe carrier apparatus.

livery, means for releasing an article selected from said holders, and means for communicating a notice to the supply-station, said communication having a relation in each case to the release of an article from a holder at the delivery-station and the refilling of the holder with an article for subsequent selection, whereby delivery may follow selection without waiting for communication and transmission.

2. In a carrier and delivery machine adapted to connect distant points as a supply-station with a delivery-station, a carrier apparatus between said points, means at the delivery station for holding articles for selection and delivery, means for releasing from said holders an article selected, and means for communicating a notice to the supply-station for the refilling of said article-holder, the communication of said notice resulting from the act of selection and the operation of delivery, whereby a supply in advance may be kept at the delivery-station and the selector may receive the article selected Without awaiting the aetionof In a carrier and delivery machine'adapted to connect distant points as a-supply-station with a deliveryrst'atiommeans at the deliverystation for holding articles of merchandise to be released for delivery as they are selected, means for releasing an article selected from said holders, means by which each of said holders may be refilled from the supply-station with an article corresponding to the one released from said holder.

4. In a carrier and delivery machine adapted to connect distant points, as a delivery-station with a supply-station, a carrier apparatus between said points, a series of article-holders at the delivery-station adapted to hold articles of different varieties, said holders being numbered or otherwise designated, each to correspond to the kind or variety of article it is to hold, means for releasing each article from its holder, means related to the releasing of an article from its holder which enables the holderin each case to be refilled by the carrier apparatus with an article from the supply-station of a variety corresponding to the number of said holder.

5. In a vending-machine the combination of the following parts: a vending element, a carrier apparatus and a communicating device; said communicating device being operated by the action of the vending element and adapted to enable the vending element to be resupplied with articles by the carrier apparatus; the vending element being provided with means for holding on deposit articles ready to be delivered as they are selected by a customer without his having to await the actionof the carrier apparatus.

6. In a vending-machine aseries of articleholders adapted to hold articles of merchandise ready to be delivered when selected by a customer, a separate releasing-point related to each of said holders, a conduit or way connecting said points, and a releasing device adapted to move along said way and to be employed for the release of the articles from any of said holders.

7 In a vending-machine aseries of articleholders each adapted to hold an article to be released for delivery when selected; a separate releasing-point related to each of said holders; a conduit or way connecting said points; and a releasing device adapted to move along said way and to be employed for the release of the article from any of said holders;

said releasing device having a plurality of parts one of which is movable in reference to another of said parts to effect the release of an article from a holder.

8. In a vending-machine a series of articleholders each of which is adapted to hold an article to be released for delivery when selected; a separate releasing-point related to each of said holders; a releasing device adapted to operate unattached to any said holders and to engage with either of said releasingpoints to release an article from any holder in said series; said releasing device having a plurality of parts one of which is movable in reference to another of the said parts to effeet the release of an article from a holder; whereby one releasing device may serve several holders and the device may be made to record its own transactions, and for other purposes specified.

9. In a vending-machine aseries of holders each adapted to hold an article to be released for delivery when selected in combination with a releasing device adapted to release the article from each or either of said holders in said series without being fixed to either of said holders; said releasing device having a plurality of parts one ofwhich is movable in reference to another part to eifect the release of an article from a holder.

10. In a vending-machine a series of articleholders each adapted to hold an article to be released when selected; in combination with a releasing device common to the whole series of holders and adapted to operate unattached to any holder and to release from either holder the article therein contained; said releasing device having a plurality of parts one of which is movable in reference to another of said parts.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 31st day of August, 1903.

JUDSON B. HURD.

Witnesses;

R. W. BISHOP, (J. D. DAvIs.

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