Automatic dispenser for bakery products and the like

An automatic dispenser dispenses individual items which may not be of a uniform shape, such as bakery products. The items to be dispensed are disposed on an inclined plate having a rocker pivotably mounted at the lower end. A retaining tongue is mounted adjacent to the rocker to prevent the movement of items from the inclined plate into the rocker. When one item is to be dispensed, the retaining tongue is lowered to restrict the motion of the items on the inclined plate while the item in the rocker is tilted out of the rocker to be made accessible to the user.

The present invention relates to an automatic dispenser for bakery 
products, particularly for special loaves of bread. 
Automatic dispensers today embrace a very wide and highly varied range of 
appliances making it possible to dispense products of various forms, from 
a cigarette pack to a baguette and including books of postage stamps, 
confectionery, etc. 
There are already known dispensers where the product samples are stacked on 
top of one another in a compartment, the first sample of the stack, 
located at the lower end of the compartment, being seated in a drawer 
which the user can open, after inserting the appropriate sum in the 
machine, thereby having access to the sample. When he closes the drawer 
again the samples which were on top fall and the next sample takes its 
place in the drawer. 
Another type of dispenser comprises a horizontal conveyor, to which 
grippers are fastened behind one another and support in pairs the product 
samples. As soon as the appropriate sum has been inserted in the machine, 
the foremost pair of grippers opens, thus freeing the sample which falls 
into a container accessible to the user by means of a flap which is 
released. The conveyor then starts to move so as to position the next 
sample above the container. 
Yet another type of dispenser comprises a horizontal helical transporter, 
in which the samples are arranged one behind the other, each sample being 
positioned between two turns of the transporter and resting on a plate 
located underneath the said transporter and set back relative to the first 
turn. The insertion of an appropriate sum into the dispenser commands the 
rotation of the helical transporter through a complete revolution, thereby 
advancing the product sample by one turn. The first sample of the series, 
being advanced in the first tun in this way, falls into a container 
accessible to the user by means of a flap which is released. 
However, the abovementioned dispensers scarcely offer, if at all, an 
adjusting device making it possible to match the dispenser to products of 
varied shapes and sizes. The present invention aims to overcome these 
disadvantages by providing an automatic dispenser which makes it possible 
to dispense an entire range of products of various shapes and sizes, 
particularly bakery products such as special loaves of bread, which 
generally take the form of short loaves, square loaves or round loaves, 
and croissants, brioches, chocolate-coated loaves or similar products 
collected in bags.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, it can be seen that the automatic dispenser 
according to the invention consists of a frame 1, the side walls of which 
support, by means of screws and bolts, two sets of two vertical supports 
2, 2' and 3, 3' of which one 2, 2' is located in front of the second 3, 
3'. 
Two axles 4, 8 and 6, 9 respectively, located one below the other and fixed 
at each of their ends to the supports 2, 2' and 3, 3' respectively, carry 
plates 10 on which the stored product samples are arranged. The plates 10, 
inclined so as to cause the product samples to slide towards their front 
end, are arranged in two rows of two plates separated from one another by 
means of two middle supports 2" and 3" supported by the axles 4, 8 and 6, 
9 respectively, the plates 10 of the upper row being supported by the 
axles 4 and 6 and the plates 10 of the lower row by the axles 8 and 9. 
Located at the front end of each of the plates 10 is a rocker 11 intended 
for carrying the product sample to be dispensed. 
Two rods 5, 7 and 5', 7' respectively, parallel to one another and arranged 
one above the other are fixed to the supports 2, 3 and 2', 3' respectively 
by means of the respective axles 4, 6 and 8, 9. 
The rod 5 is connected to a rod 5"A fastened to the middle supports 2" and 
3" by means of a horizontal axle 12 fixed to the lower face of the 
corresponding rocker 11. The same is true of the rod 5' connected to a rod 
5"B. In the same way, the rods 7 and 7' are connected to two rods 7"A and 
7"B, each of the axles 12 being mounted pivotably at its ends on the 
corresponding rods. 
Each axle 12 is connected, by means of a cable 13 passing via guides 14 and 
15 fixed to the lower face of the plates 10, to a control housing 19 
located in the lower part of the appliance under the support 3". 
A container 37 positioned under the lower rockers 11 and in front of the 
said rockers and fixed to the supports 2 and 2' makes it possible to 
receive the discharged product sample and make it available to the user. 
Two horizontal axles 16 and 17 are mounted pivotably on the supports 2 and 
2' at a short distance above the front end of the plates 10 and pass 
through the middle support 2" via an orifice (not shown). 
Fastened to each of the axles 16 and 17 by means of screws 18' are 
retaining tongues 18 consisting of two tongues joined together at their 
upper end in a V-shaped manner, distributed on the basis of one set of two 
tongues above each rocker, their spacing making it possible selectively to 
change their height and their effective width as a function of the product 
to be dispensed, and furthermore each of the axles 16 and 17 is fixed at 
one of its ends to a toothed pinion 20 located between the frame 1 and the 
support 2 and engaging with a rack 21 by means of a guide roller 22 fixed 
to the support 2 by means of a pivot 53. 
The rack 21 is accommodated between the pinions 20 and the guide rollers 22 
and is extended in its upper part by a cylindrical rod 21', the end of 
which is seated in an electromagnet 23 fixed to the support 2 and equipped 
with a retention stop (not shown) for retaining the rack 21 and performing 
the function of raising the rack 21 over a distance of a few centimetres. 
That part of the cylindrical rod 21' located outside the electromagnet 23 
is seated in a spring, of which one end is in contact with the 
electromagnet 23 and the other end in contact with a shoulder formed in 
the rack 21. 
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be seen that the control housing 19 
consists of two support plates 25 and 25' connected to one another by 
means of two horizontal bars 26, 27 and a horizontal axle 28, the ends of 
which are fixed to the supports 25 and 25, by means of nuts 29. A rotor 
(not shown) of a motor 30 fixed to the front part of the outer face of the 
support 25' is fixed to a transfer shaft 31, to which are fastened four 
cams 32 separated from one another by spacers 33. Each cam 32 is in 
contact, in its lower part, with a roller 55 which is seated in a notch 54 
machined at one end of a lever 35 perpendicular relative to the shaft 31 
and which is fixed to this lever 35 by means of a pivot 34, the lever 35 
being mounted pivotably about the axle 28. 
Fastened to the other end of the lever 35 on the lower face of the latter 
is a retention head 38 fixed, at one end, to a cable 13 which has 
previously passed through a tensioning detent support 57 screwed to the 
upper end of the supports 25 and 25' by means of screws 50, in the rear 
part of the housing 19. 
This same end of the lever 35 is also stressed by a vertical spring 58 
fastened, at its upper end, to the lever 35 by means of a pin 39 and, at 
its lower end, by means of a pin 41 to a vertical screw 40, the lower end 
of which is fixed by means of a nut 43 to a return support 42, itself 
fixed to the supports 25 and 25' by means of screws 48. 
The same end of the lever 35 comes in contact, via its lower face, with the 
end of a retention finger 44, the other end of which is connected, by way 
of a duct made in its support, to an electromagnet 45 located in the rear 
part of the control housing 19. 
The support 47 is common to the four electromagnets used in the housing 19, 
and it is fixed to the supports 25 and 25' by means of screws 51, each 
electromagnet 45 being fixed to the support by means of screws 46. The 
axle 28 passes through the levers 35 via a duct 52 located near their 
centre, five spacers 36 surrounding it in order to keep the levers 35 in 
place. 
Referring to FIGS. 5a to 5d, the various operating steps for the discharge 
of the article can be seen. FIG. 5a shows the machine at rest, the 
retaining tongues 18 being raised, and the rocker 11 and the levers 35 
being in the position of rest. 
After the user has made his selection from the four possible articles, he 
inserts the appropriate sum in the machine, thus causing the energization 
of the electromagnet 23 and the electromagnet 45 corresponding to the 
rocker 11 on which the desired article is arranged, the other 
electromagnets 45 not being energized. The electromagnet 23 causes the 
rack 21 to rise and thereby pivot the toothed pinions 20 and the axles 16 
and 17 in the anti-clockwise direction, turning the retaining tongues 18 
down against the article located at the rear of the article 56 arranged on 
the rocker 11. The energized electromagnet 45 causes the retraction of the 
corresponding retention finger 44 which is therefore no longer in contact 
with the lever 35 associated with it. The other levers 35 remain in 
contact with the retention fingers 44 associated with them (see FIG. 5b). 
After a very short interval of time, the motor 30 starts up, causing the 
rotation of the cams 32 against which the rollers 55 bear. In the concave 
part of the cam 32, the roller 55 corresponding to the energized 
electromagnet 45 remains bearing against the cam 32 by means of the force 
of the spring 58 which causes the corresponding lever 35 to pivot in the 
clockwise direction about the axle 28, thus pulling the corresponding 
cable 13 downwards. This brings about the pivoting of the corresponding 
rocker 11 about its axle 12 and the fall of the article 53 into the 
container 37, this taking place while the articles located behind the 
article 56 remain retained by the tongues 18. The other levers 35 remain 
stationary because they are still in contact with the corresponding 
retention fingers 44 which prevent any rotation in the clockwise direction 
about the axle 28 (see FIG. 5c). 
The rotating cams 32 subsequently return to the position of rest, and the 
roller 55 corresponding to the energized electromagnet 45 remains in 
contact with the corresponding cam 32 and returns to its initial position, 
thereby causing the rotation of the lever 35 in the anti-clockwise 
direction by means of the spring 58, the effect of this being to return 
the corresponding table 13 and the corresponding rocker 11 to their 
respective positions of rest (FIG. 5d). 
Finally, the last phase involves cutting off the supply of electricity, 
thus causing the rack 21 to return to the position of rest under the 
effect of the spring 24, thereby pivoting the toothed pinions 20 and 
therefore the axles 16 and 17 which raise the tongues 18. When these 
tongues 18 are raised, the products arranged on the plate 10 corresponding 
to the rocker 11 which has just tilted slide in such a way that the 
article 56 is immediately replaced on the rocker 11. The de-energization 
of the electromagnet 45 causes the retention finger 44 to return to the 
position of rest under the effect of a spring (not shown), the retention 
finger 44 coming into contact with the corresponding lever 35 once again. 
In particular, the retaining tongues 18 shown in the accompanying FIG. 1 
can be replaced by a set of two or three vertical tongues uniformly spaced 
above each rocker.