US2039282A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Description

W J. F. BURKE VENDING MACHINE Y Filed Feb; 10, 1935 2 Shets-Sheet 1 J. F. BURKE VENDING MACHINE May 5, 1936.

Filed Feb. 10, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IIIIIII K airman/ Q Patented May 5, 1936 PATENT OFFICE VENDING MACHINE John F. Burke, Miami, FlaQassignor, by mesne assignments, to Da-Burk Holding Corporation, Miami, Fla., a corporation of Florida Application February 10, 1933, Serial No. 656,165

' 1 Claim. (01. 312-80) Another object of the invention is to provide a vending machine in which the range of movement of the element which transfers the article being dispensed from the magazine to the discharge chute or passage is not limited to the diameter of the coin, in consequence of which the extent of movement of the transfer means may be great enough to enable it to receive and discharge packages of considerable width.

Still another object of the invention relates to its adaptation to the vending of cigars under the ruling of the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the safeguarding of the payment of the tax, to the efiect that cigarettes can only be dispensed from the original stamped package and discharged substantially directly from said package.

The object of the present invention is to provide a magazine of which the original package, substantially opened, forms the major portion, so that the original contents remain therein'and from which the individual cigarettes are from time to time automatically withdrawn and discharged.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for engaging and holdingthe free portions of the original package when opened, in

position to avoid interference of said free portions with'the proper discharge of the cigarettes.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a protecting casing for the original package so constructed as to comply with theGovernment requirement that the revenue stamp and the caution notice shall both be at all times in full View.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings throughout the several figures of which, the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the original package beneath the protecting casing having the transparent sides;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the vending device;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the original paper package of cigarettes opened in readiness for insertion in the vending machine;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the sliding carriage showing the coin beneath the latch and in position for pushing the carriage;

Figure. 5 is a plan view of the carriage in latched position;

, not removed from the package.

Figure 6 is a section taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a section taken along the line 11 of Figure 5; and

Figure 8 is a section taken along the line 88 of Figure 5.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, the vending machine comprises a frame or casing designated in general by the reference character I having a top wall forming a slideway 2 for a carriage 3. The carriage is enclosed by a cover portion 4 having peripheral flanges 5 which telescope over the top of the frame or casing I leaving a space for the carriage. The top face 6 of the cover 4 is provided with a transfer opening 1, having sloping walls 8 and 9 at its forward and rear edges. Said sloping Walls are preferably separately formed of sheet metal'pieces which are bent so as to constitute beads l0 and II and are spot-welded or otherwise secured to the top face 6.

Figure 1 shows that the opening 1 is bounded I laterally by upstanding flan es l2 and I3, the same being in continuation of said beads and forming with said beads a rectangular frame adapted to receive within its perimeter a protective casing M which is preferably hinged as at I5 at one side and provided with a hasp and lock [6 on the other side. The details of construction of the casing l4 and the frame which receives it and the manner of securing the casing I 4 in place and locking it, are not essential to the invention and may be substituted by equivalent expedients without transcending the spirit of the invention. It is however essential that certain panels, for example, the top and front panels I1 and I8, respectively, be transparent so that the revenue stamp and the coupon notice on the cigarette package may be visible through the casing l4.

In positioning the original package of cigarettes with respect to thedischarge opening I in the top face 6, the ends of the package are cut away and one side of the package is cut longitudinally through the middle leaving the package in the condition shown in Figure 3. The cigarettes are Care must be taken to preserve the revenue stamp which is indicated at IS. The package is inverted, any suitable fiat object such as a card or another package of cigarettes being placed against the cigarettes in the opened package so as to hold them in place during the inversion of the opened package. The package which is represented by the reference character 20 is placed with its opened side downward and with the free portions 2| and 22 extending over the beads l 0 and I l. The revenue stamp is folded upward and over the intact side of the package as shown in Figure 1 so that it can be observed through the transparent panel 11. The

revenue stamp must of course be destroyed when the contents of the package have been depleted and it is removed to be replaced by a full package. The protective casing is then pushed down inside the beads l and II, clamping the free portions of the package wrapper in place as shown in Figure 2;

A carriage 23 slides upon the slideway 2 within the space between the casing I and the cover portion 4, said carriage comprising preferably a stamped metal plate having flat portions 24 and 25 forward and rearwardly of ,an' outlet slot 26. Said outlet slot is made of sufficient width to receive one of the individual articles to be dispensed; The carriage is provided with a front up-standing wall 21 having a slot 28 in the middle and a push rod 9 reaches through said slot and has a T-head 30 extending laterally and adapted to engage the up-standing wall 21 on opposite sides of said slot. The push rod 9' passes through the front wall 3| of the cover portion and through a boss 32 fixed to said front wall, a spiral spring surrounds said push rod between said boss and the push button 33 on the outer end of said push rod, said spring functioning to retract the push rod and with it the carriage when the push button is released after having been depressed.

Normally, that is to say; when the push rod and carriage are in the retracted position shown in Figure 5, the imperforate flat portion 24 of the carriage lies beneath the opening I in the top face 6 and forms a valve closure therefor. The walls 3 and 9 slope only to a slight degree and the flat face 24 lies closelyadjacent the free ends of said walls forming therewith a bottom wall of a magazine, the sides of which and top are constituted by the original cigarette package itself. It is thus obvious that the capacity of the magazine thus formed is no larger than necessary to contain the number of cigarettes in the original package, and that the cigarettes are still in the original package when in said magazine, this being a requirement of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

When the carriage 23 is pushed inward through the depression of the push rod 9', the slot '26 traverses the opening in the bottom of the magazine so that a cigarette falls into it and the dimensions of said slot are such that not more than one cigarette can enter it at a time. The sliding of the flat faces 24 and 25 along the bottom layer of cigarettes tends to roll them, communicating a rotary motion to the cigarettes in the layersabove and tending to lower them along the sloping walls 8 and 9, the cigarettes being thus very thoroughly agitated each time a cigarette is dispensed, thus preventing jamming of the contents of the original package and ensuring reliable delivery of the cigarettes.

The carriage serves the well known function of receiving a cigarette from the magazine and transferring it to a discharge port or aperture which is here designated as a slot 34 in the slideway displaced with respect to the opening I in .the bottom of the magazine and associated with a chute 35 down which the released cigarette slides and is delivered to an external trough 36. The ,trough 36 has means such as the gravity operated flaps 31 and 38 for compelling the grasping of the cigarette by the middle portion and not by the ends. By this means contamination is prevented of those portions of the trough 36 traversed by the ends of the cigarettewhich may be placed in the mouth. The gravity flaps 31 are merely exemplary of other means which may be used to pro tect the end portions of the cigarettes.

The carriage 23 is designed to be operated by a coin 39 introduced through a suitable coin slot 40 and interposed between the carriage and the push rod. Since it is desired to have the carriage execute a range of movement greater than the diameter of the coin, means must be provided for locking the carriage in its retracted position, otherwise the extent to which the push rod 9' can be depressed would bring the same into contact with the carriage and permit the latter to be moved without the insertion of the coin. Locking means is therefore provided which in the present instance comprises a latch 40 hingedly mounted along the rear side of a rectangular coin chamber 4| formed in said carriage. Said latch is constituted as an elongated flap having an angular flange 42, see Figure 6, extending along its free edge and so bent as to form an acute angle with the slideway with which it coacts. Leaf springs 43 secured to said carriage normally hold the flap down into engagement with the slideway. Pins 44 are provided, one on each side of the slideway as indicated in Figures and '7. In the retractile movement of the carriage, the inclined flange 42 slips over the pins 44, coming down on the outer sides thereof and preventing the movement of the carriage in a forward direction. When a coin is deposited through the slot 40 within the coin chamber 4|, said coin falls freely in a position to be engaged by the T-head 30 of the push-rod. When the coin is so pushed, its edge first strikes the inclined flange 42 of the latch 40, lifting said latch above the level of the pins 4|, the height of which pins is not greater than the thickness of the coin. Further movement of the I push rod slides the coin beneath the latch to the position shown in Figure 4 in which the coin now engages the downwardly extending flange 45 at the rear of the coin chamber. Further movement of the push rod transmits the thrust through the coin to the carriage and the latter is pushed. When the latch is released, the range of movement of the carriage is determined solely by the amount that the push rod can be reciprocated and by the engagement of the rear end 46 of the carriage with the inner side of the flange 5 of the cover portion. When the carriage has reached the limit of its forward movement the coin has come to a slot 41 in the slideway and drops through into a coin drawer 48 in the manner indicated in Figure 2.

It will be'understood that while I have found this specific latching means and release therefor to be efllcient and practical, it is only secondarily of the essence of the invention and may be substituted by suitable equivalents.

What I claim is:

A vending machine comprising a frame having a. slot forming a magazine outlet, means for receiving a single cigarette through said magazine outlet and for ejecting the same, said magazine outlet being adapted to be overlain by an opened package of the articles to be vended with the opened side downward, and a casing enclosing said package and having bottom edges thereof cooperating with said frame to clampably holdethe free edges of the open side of said package.

JOHN F. BURKE.

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