US1661440A - Single-package-vending machine - Google Patents

Description

H. R. MlTCHELL SINGLE PACKAGE VENDING MACHINE March 6, 1928.

' Filed July 14. 1923 Z a m I 6 W! 1L 1 5 1 2 4 1 0 z 4 6 5 5 r A a v m- Pl/(d v Harry R. Mitchell Nf-mifi Patented Mar. 6, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT. or ice.-

HARRY a. MITCHELL, oTsEA TLE, WASHINGTON, ass-lemon To MITCHELL TRonUcTs COMPANY, 01? SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, A, CORPORATION OF WAsHINGTON.

smern-raoxnen vnnnrne MACHINE.

Application filed July 14,

My invention relates to an improvement in vending machlnes such as that shown in my Patent No. 1,473,828, and which is intended for vending a single package. as, for 6 instance, a package of chewinggum.

Many such vending machines must be employed to secure a large volume of sales, and consequently they must be cheap to man-- ufacture and they must be simple. It is the particular object of my present invention to simplify my former device and to make it cheaper to manufacture, and also to refine it and add details which will improve the operation of the device. In addition to the general simplification of the device, it is specifically my object,-

first, to provide means controlled by the insertion or delivery of the package from the machine to clear or obstruct the coin.

chute so that after delivery of a package another coin may not be inserted; second, to provide a dog which will prevent unauthorized removal of a coin after it has been inserted into the coin chute; and third, to provide simple and convenient means which are easily accessible for mounting or dismounting the casing from its support and for locking it in place thereon orunlock-- ing it.

My invention comprises those novel parts and combinations thereof which are shown inthe accompanying drawings, described in the specification, and particularly defined by the claim terminating the same. 7 In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention in the form which is now preferred by me. Figure 1 is an elevation of the casing and the mechanism mounted therein,taken from the rear and with the supportingplate .removed.

Figure 2 line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section looking toward the rear and approximately on the line of the coin chute.

Figure 4 is a section looking toward the rear and through the package receiving chamber.

As in my former device, a casing 1 having a coin slot 10 in its upper side and a delivery opening 11 in its bottom side is removably supported upon a plate 12. As a convenient and cheap means of supporting the casing from the plate, and withal one 1923. Serial No. 651,670.

which is accessible to the proper party and yet ordinarily inaccessible, I have provided. inwardly and downwardly directed fingers 13 upon the supporting plate 12, these engaging in upwardly and outwardly directed slots l in the upper corner of the casing 1. A'ilange 15 is turned. upwardly from the inside bottoincorner of the casing'l and a locking cam 16, rotatable in the plate '12, is adapted to engage the flange 15 after the fingers 13 have been'engaged-in the slots 14. This firmly holds the casingto the plate.- The cam 16 may be controlled-'bya non circular head-17'which is engageable by'aj suitable tool, as a socket wrench, insertible through the delivery opening 11. l

Within the casing l-is-provided a package-receiving chamber 20 terminating in a. delivery chute 21. V A gate 2, pivoted in the casing, serves to separate the chamber 20 from the chute 21. A dog 3, pivoted-inthe casing at 30, engages a complemental dog 23upoi1 the gate 2 to retain the gate in closed position when a-package is inserted. A spring 31 maintains the dogs 3 and 23 in engagement. 1 1 I v 7 The spring 31 also engages a coin chute 4 which is pivoted in the casing 1 at 41 and which is provided with anend 40-which projects from the side of the casing land which is pressed to operate the coin controlmechanism. The coin-controlled mechanism is similar to that shown in my patent referred to above, and consists of the chute 1 which has a stop 12 arranged to stop a coin O of the proper size opposite a notch43in theside of the'chute 1. Smaller coinspass at 4.0. A release 34 on the same lever, 33 1 which carries the dog 3 will enter the notch: v 43 when the end 10 of the coin "chute is 1s a section approxlmatel'y' on pressed inward,providedno coin is lodged in the coin chute. If a coin is lodged there'- in, this coin is so positioned by the stop 42 that it will engage the release 34 to disengage the dogs 3 and 23, thus permitting the gate 2 to drop by gravity. In this respect also my present device is similar to that shown in the co-pending application referred to.

Adjacent the upper end of the coin chute l I have pivoted a lever 5, one end 51 of which forms a dogprojecting into the path of a coin entering the chute, to be engaged and depressed thereby to permit the coin to pass.

The other end of the lever 5 is provided with a weighted stop lug 52 which normally maintains the dog 51 projected into the path of a coin entering the chute. The lug engages the side of the chute & to prevent upward movement of the dog 51 beyond its normal position. This provides a simple gravity-controlled dog which can be depressed by a coin entering the chute, but which will not permit the coin to be pushed upward past it. Thus it retains in the chute any coin which has been dropped thereinto and which has passed beyond the dog 51. Figure 3 illustrates the operation of this dog, the solid line position of the coin C illustrating a coin which can not be passed upward beyond the dog 51, and the dot-and-dash line position of the coin and dog representing that which would be assumed as a coin is entering the chute. I- have shown also a stop on the chute 4 which is engaged by the lug 52 as this is raised by the passage of a coin. The purpose of the stop 45 is to prevent excessive movement of the weighted lug 52 to throw it past its own side of the central pivot of the lever 5. If it were permitted to pass to the opposite side of the pivotthe dog 51 would be thrown out of rather than into the chute.

Adjacent the upper end of the chamber 201 have pivoted a vane 6. This vane normally lies without the chamber 20 but lies against the side of a package which is positioned therein and supported on the gate 2. This vaneis provided with a finger 61 which projects toward the coin chute t. Normally when the vane 6 is held raised by a package in the manner just described, the finger 61 clears the coin chute. However, when a package is delivered from the chamber .20 by the dropping of the gate 2 the vane (5 drops by gravity, and the finger 61, forming a part thereof, is permitted to swing through the arcuate slot 46 to a position,

best shown in Figure 4, where it blocks the coin chute 4. This linger (31 l'ies near the upper side of the casing and when in the position shown in Figure at prevents the insertion of a coin into the chute i to such a distance that it may not be withdrawn. It will be evident that the vane 6 swings down whenever the package is delivered from the machine and in so doing swings down the finger 61 into position to prevent the insertion of an additional coin. The careless user of the box is thereby prevented from losing a coin by inserting it into an empty box. It will be noted that the device is gravity-controlled and actuated throughout, as far as possible. It is intended to stand vertically, so that the package will drop from it by gravity. The gate 2 swings out of the way by gravity when released. The coin is positioned for actuation by gravity, and a smaller coin is rejected solely by gravity. Entrance of a second coin is prevented by the gravity-actuated vane (3, and removal of the purchasing coin is prevented by the gravity-controlled dog .31. It follows that to reset the machine, and to extract the coin, it is only necessary to remove and invert the casing l. Thereupon the coin drops, and as the dog 51. drops by gravity to the dotand-dash line position of Figure 3, the coin pas es the dog and falls from the coin slot 10. The vane 6 likewise falls into a vertical plane, a new package drops into the chamber 20, and the gate 2 is then permitted to drop into position, a slight pressure thereon through the delivery chute 21 forcing back the dog 3 to permit the gate to pass, and the dog then engaging the gate to lock it. The casing is then reinverted and replaced upon the plate 12.

Vt hat I claim as my invention is:

A single package vending machine comprising, in combination, a casing. including a package-receiving chamber, coin-controlled means, including a coin chulc, for retaining the package in said chamber, a pivoted vane mounted adjacent the upper end of said chamber to move into or out of the same, said vane being directly cngageablc by a package within the chamber to be moved thereby out of the chamber. and movable thercinto by gravity as the package leaves the chamber, and a finger projecting from the free end of said vane into the coin chute and movable with said vanc to olistruct the coin chute or to leave the same unobstructed, as the vane moves into or from said chamber, respectively.

Signed at Seattle, King County. ashington, this 23rd day of June, 1921).

HARRY R. MITCHELL.

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