US765649A - Coin-controlled vending-machine. - Google Patents

Description

v PATENTED JULY 19, 1904 VW. B. BARTRAM.

GOIN CONTROLLED VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION HLEDJAN. 25. 1904.

No MODEL. v

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q31 1 l IIIII llllll IIIIH' l Ill l BY 5" mom@ i' l UNITED STATES Iatented July 19, 1,904.

PATENT OFFICE.

WALKER B. RARTRAM, oF REDDING, CONNECTICUT, AssIeNoR oF TWC- THIRDs To CHARLES H. ELMoRE AND FRANK o. RADGER, oF wALLINe- FORD, CONNECTICUT.

COIN-CONTROLLED VENDlNG-NIACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 765,649, dated July 19, 1904.

Application led January 25, 1904. Serial No. 190,594. (No model.)

To l/ZZ lull/0771, t puny con/cern:

Be it known that I, WALKER B. BAR'IRAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Redding, in thc county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coin Controlled Vending-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following' to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to coin controlled vending-niachines,and has for its object to provide a simple, efcient, and economical machine of this description; and with these ends in view my invention consists in certain details of construction and combination of parts, such as will be hereinafter fully set forth and then specilically designated by the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application, Figure 1 is a perspective illustrating my improvement as it appears in condition for use; Fig. 2, a plan View with the top cover removed; Fig. 3, a plan of the interior of my'machine with the rotary disk removed; Fig. 4, a section at the line fr; a: of Fig. 3, showing the parts in their normal condition; and Fig. 5 is likewise a section at the line m m of Fig. 3, but showing the position which the parts assume immediately after a coin has been placed within the Inachine.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

1 is a casing within which is supported an inclined runway 2.

3 is a supportingledge around the interior of the casing and at the top thereof, and 4 is a cross-bar extending' from side to side of the casing at the top and provided at its middle with a small stud 5.

Pivoted near the lower end of the runway is a tilting lever 6, whose lower extremity is bent upward in the form of a tongue 7 for the purpose presently to be explained. Carried by the lower end of this lever beyond the pivotal point thereof is a pocket 8, the floor of which is substantially a continuation of the iioor of the runway and which is provided with sides, but is open at each end, and immediately beyond this pocket is a housing 9,

which is immediately over and communicates with the coin-receptacle 10. The pocket 8 extends within this housing, and the normal distance between the roof 11 of the latter and the floor of the pocket is less than the diameter of the coin to be used as an operating factor in my machine.

12 is a rotatable disk which is centered by means of the stud 5 and which is supported upon the ledge 3 and cross-bar 4. This disk is provided at its periphery with slots 13, that are radially disposed, and rising along one edge of each slot is a fin 14.

15 is a rock-shaft journaled in vertical position inside the casing and carrying at its lower extremity a linger 16, which normally extends beneath the bottom of the lower end of the lever 6, (owing to the action of a coilspring a, whose extremities are connected, respectively, to said finger and to a pin b near the bottom of the casing,) but at a short distance therefrom, while the upper end of said rock-shaft carries a trip 17, which slightly overlaps the upper surface of the disk, so as to be within the field of travel of the fins 14 when said disk is revolved. The upper extremity of the tongue 7 in normal position is elevated and extends within one of the slots 13, so as to lock the disk as against rotation. As the disk is rotated step by step these slots will register with the upper end of the coinrunway 2, so that the coin may be inserted through said slots into said runway.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: The packages or articles to be vended are placed upon the disk near the outer edge thereof and between the slots, as is illustrated at 18 in Fig. 2, and a standard coin, such as a nickel, is the value of each of such packages. When a nickel has been inserted through one of the slots into the runway, it will roll down the latter into the pocket 8, and the weight of the nickel will cause the lever 6 to tilt until the floor of the pocket rests upon the finger 16, the distance between said fioor and the roof l1 at this time being still less than the diameter of the nickel, so that the latter will not yet drop into the coinreceptacle 10. This tilting of the lever by means of a coin will cause the tongue 7 to be lowered and withdrawn from the slot, the position of the various parts at this time being shown at Fig. 5, the nickel beingI illustrated in dotted lines. The operator now turns the disk by placing his thumb or finger against one of the fins le, which is exposed through the opening 19 in the cover,'and as the disk is turned one of these fins near the opposite side of the disk will strike against the trip 17, thereby throwing thesame to one side and effecting the withdrawal of the finger 16 from beneath the floor of the pocket 8, whereupon the lever 6 will tilt still farther, so that the distance between the fioor of the pocket and the roof 11 will be greater than the diameter of the nickel, and the latter will then roll into the coin-receptacle, while the pocket being relieved of the weight of the nickel the lever will be restored to normal position.

The spaces near the edge of the disk between the slots are filled successively with the vendible packages or articles with the exception of the last space, which is closed completely by a removable cover 20, so that when the packages have all been vended there can appear no slot within which to drop a nickel. Of course this same result may be brought about by entirely omitting' .one of the slots; but I prefer to utilize the means shown, since I am enabled to withdraw the cover and to place it in any desired space between the fins, and thereby start the vending at any convenient location.

I can omit the sides of the housing 9, if desired, since all that I require is a ledge or roof to cooperate with the ioor of the pocket in the manner above set forth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a coin-controlled vending-machine, the combination of a properly-supported rotatable disk having radially-disposed slots in its periphery and fins rising from one edge of each of said slots, an inclined coin-runway with whose upper end said slots communicate, a tilting lever whose innerend is bent upwardly and extends normally within one of said slots, a pocket carried by the inner end of said lever at the lower extremity of said runway, a stop immediately below the lower end of said pocket which cooperates with the floor of the latter to normally prevent the coin from passing within its final receptacle, and the vertical rock-shaft carrying at its lower extremity a finger which normally extends beneath the floor of the pocket and provided at its upper extremity with a trip which overlaps said disk and is within the field of said fins, substantially as set forth.

2. In a coin-controlled vending-machine, the combination of the inclined coin-runway, the depressible pocket at the lower end of said runway, the stop which cooperates with said pocket to normally prevent the release of the coin, the rotatable disk having at its periphery radially-disposed slots capable of registering successively with the upper end of said runway, means operating in harmony with said pocket for normally locking said disk against rotation, a finger at a short distance below said pocket and operating as a stop to prevent the final depression of said pocket, and means operated by the rotation of said disk for withdrawing said supporting-finger whereby said pocket will be finally depressed by the weight of the coin, substantially as set forth.

3. In acoin-controlled vending-machine,tl1e combination of the rotatable disk having in its periphery radially-disposed slots, the inclined coin-runway with which said slots communicate, the depressible pocket at the lower end of said runway, a roof cooperating with said pocket to normally prevent` the release of the coin from the latter, means controlled by the elevation and depression of said pocket for locking and releasing said disk, a finger for normally preventing the final depression of said pocket, and means controlled by the rotation of said disk for withdrawing said finger, whereby said pocket will be finally depressed by the weight of the coin and the latter permitted to pass into a suitable receptacle, substantially as set forth.

4. In a coin-controlled vending-machine,the combination of the rotatable disk provided at its periphery with slots, the inclined coinrunway withwhich said slots communicate, the normally'clevated and depressible pocket at the lower end of said runway, the roof which cooperates with said pocket to prevent the release of the coin until the final depression of said pocket, the tongue rigid with said pocket and normally elevated within said slots to lock said disk as against rotation, a stop normally extending' slightly below said pocket for preventing the final depression of the latter, and means operated by the rotation of said disk for withdrawing said stop and thereby permitting the final depression of said pocket, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WALKER B. BARTRAM.

fitnessest JOHN A. MARTIN, CLIFTON D. ALLEN.

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