Patent ID: 6968974
Filing Date: 2005-11-29
Classification: B65G,G07F

Abstract:
1. An article dispensing apparatus, comprising: an article storage area; an article grasping mechanism; a positioning mechanism coupled to the article grasping mechanism for controllably positioning the article grasping mechanism so as to be aligned with a given article stored in the storage area, for controllably contacting and extracting said article from the storage area, and for controllably positioning the article grasping mechanism so as to transport said article to a dispensing area; a control mechanism for controlling operation of said article grasping mechanism and said positioning mechanism; a quick release device coupled to the article grasping mechanism and responsive to an input for facilitating a quick release from said article grasping mechanism of the article being handled; and a rotating linkage mechanism having one end adapted to contact said positioning mechanism when said hose positioning mechanism is positioned for delivering said article to said dispensing area, and said linkage mechanism having an other end adapted to provide said input for operating said quick release device.