A coin-controlled manually operated envelope-vending machine having a vertical supply compartment whereby the lowermost envelope of the supply is available to a yieldable vending member having a horizontal reciprocal movement for engagement with a portion of the lowermost envelope so as to displace the same exteriorly of the machine to facilitate the complete removal of the envelope therefrom.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The coin-controlled manually operated vending machine of this invention 
provides a vending mechanism whereby the sealing flap of the envelope is 
presented to a vending member having reciprocal movement within the 
apparatus, whereby such sealing flap is exposed through a vending slot and 
made accessible exteriorly of the apparatus so that the same may be 
grasped and pulled so as to withdraw the entire envelope from the machine. 
By utilizing the sealing flap of the envelope, the vending machine may be 
arranged whereby one or more envelopes may be simultaneously vended 
through a single operation. To accomplish this, all that one need do is to 
nest a plurality of envelopes so that the sealing flaps thereof overlap 
one another. By this arrangement, upon reciprocal movement of the vending 
mechanism, more than one envelope may be readily vended through a single 
slot and by a single operation. 
Within the mechanism there is a vertical supply compartment in which the 
envelopes to be vended are stored. These envelopes are adapted to rest 
upon positioning rods extending transversely with respect to the 
reciprocal movement of a vending plate. The vending plate will have 
engagement with one of these rods and be yieldably cammed through a 
vertical plane into a vending position with respect to the sealing flap of 
an envelope for the purpose of displacing the same through a delivery slot 
provided in the front wall of the apparatus.

The envelope vending machine of this invention, as shown in FIG. 1, 
comprises a cabinet 10 having a front wall 11, the medial portion 12 of 
which is tapered inwardly to where it terminates into a depending recessed 
panel 13. The cabinet 10 includes side walls 14, a rear wall 15, as well as 
a top and bottom wall 16 and 17, respectively. 
The front wall 11 by a bracket 18 supports in a substantially vertical 
plane a supply compartment 19. This compartment 19 consists of side walls 
20 and 21, as well as a front wall 22, together with a bottom wall 23. 
As shown in FIG. 5, the front wall 22 of the vending compartment 19 
provides an open slot 24 which registers with a dispensing slot 25 formed 
in the recessed panel 13 of the cabinet 10, as shown. Mounted on the panel 
13 of the cabinet 10 beneath the dispensing slot 25 is a coin slide 26 of 
the type well-known in the art and which is known as a "full-stroke" coin 
slide, in that, while it has a reciprocal movement, the direction cannot 
be reversed until movement in either direction is through a complete path 
of travel. 
While the coin slide 26 forms no part of this invention, it does provide a 
vertically extending actuating finger 27 mounted on the interior end of 
the coin slide 26 which, when properly conditioned, will actuate the 
vending cycle of the apparatus. For the coin slide 26 to be properly 
conditioned, it requires that a proper denomination of coin be placed in 
the coin receptacle 28 provided by the coin slide 26. 
Extending between the side walls 20 and 21 of the supply compartment 19 are 
a pair of horizontally extending, as well as horizontally spaced, support 
rods 29 and 30. Disposed between each of the rods 29 and 30 on the 
interior surface of each of the side walls 20 and 21 is a roller 31 (only 
one being shown in FIG. 5), the purpose and function of which will 
hereinafter be made more apparent. 
As shown in FIG. 5, the bottom wall 23 of the supply compartment 19 is from 
the rearward edge thereof notched so as to provide guiding edges 32 and 33. 
These guiding edges 32 and 33 are adapted to be disposed into corresponding 
horizontally aligned notches 34 and 35 formed in the parallelly extending 
arms 36 and 37 of a U-shaped carrier 38. Fastened to the carrier 38 as at 
39 is a depending lip 40 of a vending plate 41. The vending plate 41 
provides a substantially rectangular, flat surface 42 which has a portion 
43 angularly bent out of the normal plane of the face 42 in a depending 
direction, which in turn continues into a horizontal run 44 that 
terminates into an angularly upstanding flange 45. The flange 45 
constitutes a pusher which, in its normal condition, extends out of the 
slots 24 and 25 heretofore identified. 
As viewed in FIG. 3, the vending mechanism is in its normal inoperative 
condition. As there shown, the vending plate 41 is disposed beneath the 
support rods 29 and 30. Contained within the supply compartment 19 is a 
stack of envelopes, one of such envelopes E being figuratively shown in 
FIGS. 3 and 4. These envelopes have their sealing flaps S facing downward 
and adjacent the front wall of the supply compartment 19. 
When a proper coin is placed in the coin slide 26 and the slide is pushed 
inwardly of the apparatus, the finger 27 thereof will engage the depending 
arm 36 of the carrier 38 and will cause the same to be moved rearwardly 
over the bottom wall 23 of the compartment 19 through the full stroke of 
the coin slide 26. At such time the mechanism will be in the condition 
shown in FIG. 4. The vending plate 41 will have been moved rearwardly such 
that the rearmost supporting rod 29 will be now disposed between the 
angular portions 43 and 45 of the vending plate 41. By the disposition of 
the rod 29 into the recessed area of the vending plate 41, the same 
through its inherent biased condition will have a substantially vertical 
movement with respect to the carrier 38, such that the pusher 45 will 
engage the bottommost envelope E and slightly raise the same off the 
supporting rod 29. 
As the coin slide 26 is moved in an opposite direction, the finger 27 will 
engage the opposite arm 37 of the carrier 38 and, together with the 
vending plate 41, move the same in a forward direction whereby the rod 29 
will engage the depending portion 43 of the vending plate 41 and cam the 
same in a downward direction against its normal yieldable bias. However, 
by the time the rod 29 is performing its camming function, the pusher 45 
will already have engaged and become disposed beneath the sealing flap S 
of the envelope E. This is diagrammatically shown in FIG. 6. As the coin 
slide 26 continues its reciprocal movement, the pusher will force the 
sealing flap S of the flap E about the second supporting rod 30 and out of 
the slots 24 and 25. In this position, the sealing flap S of the envelope E 
can be grasped and the envelope can be completely removed with respect to 
the cabinet 10. As the envelope is pulled through the supply compartment 
19, the leading edge portion thereof will pass off the rod 30 and onto the 
opposite disposed rollers 31, which will aid in the movement of dispensing 
the envelope through the slots 24 and 25. 
The above operation will be accomplished notwithstanding that a plurality 
of envelopes are nested so that their sealing flaps overlap each other. 
Thus, for example, three envelopes may be nested with their sealing flaps 
overlapping each other, the innermost one of which will be engaged by the 
pusher 45 of the vending plate 41 as the same is reciprocally moved within 
the cabinet 10 of the vending machine. 
While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction 
for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and 
modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, 
therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of 
construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and 
modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.