Patent ID: 6085937
Filing Date: 2000-07-11
Classification: A63B,G07F

Abstract:
A dispensing apparatus for dispensing individual product units, said apparatus comprising:a base;a cabinet mounted on a top side of the base and including a display compartment;a carousel rotatably supported within the display compartment and including a plurality of vertically oriented product guides in an annular array, each product guide structured and disposed to contain a column of product units;a floor between the carousel and the base;a drop hole through the floor for receiving product units from the carousel, the drop hole being sized and configured to receive a single product unit therein;a handle connected to the carousel for selectively rotating the carousel for aligning the guides over the drop hole;a dispensing mechanism comprising:a slide cut-off assembly including:an upper plate between the floor and the carousel;a drop shelf offset horizontally from the upper plate and at a level below the drop hole;a slide mounting mechanism mounting the slide cut-off assembly for movement between a relaxed position in which the upper plate is positioned above the drop hole and the drop shelf is offset from the drop hole, and an extended position in which the upper plate is offset from the drop hole and the drop shelf is positioned below the drop hole;resilient means biasing the slide cut-off assembly towards the relaxed position;a carousel alignment mechanism for aligning the respective product guides above the drop hole; anda manually operated mechanism for selectively moving the slide cut-off assembly from the relaxed position to the extended position.