VENDING MACHINES

Abstract: The present invention provides a vending machine comprising a plurality of carousels (20), each having a plurality of predetermined locations (28) for storing products for sale, a plurality of vending positions (10), each comprising: means (30) for the purchaser to select one of the desired products that are for sale, means (34, 36) for the purchaser to pay for the selected product and, means (40, 52, 54, 56) for delivering the product to the purchaser, means (22) for rotating each carousel independently of the other carousels, and control means comprising a memory for storing the location(s) on the carousels of each product for sale and which, in response to the selection of a product from one of the vending positions, is able to cause one of the carousels to rotate to bring a location carrying the desired product to the delivery means of that vending position and to activate the delivery means to deliver the desired product to the purchaser.

Description: Vending Machines Technical Field The present invention relates to vending machines. Background Art Vending machines presently available generally allow only a single vendor to purchase any item at any one time and if more than one vending position is required a corresponding number of vending machines must be provided. One problem associated with this approach is that vending machines are usually provided in public locations e.g. on railways stations, bus stations and on streets, where space is at a premium and a large number of vending machines provide an obstruction. This is particularly disadvantageous in railways stations and bus stations where evacuation procedures in the event of an emergency require the number of obstructions to be kept to a minimum. A further problem with vending machines is the limited number of items that can be dispensed from any one machine. Disclosure of the Invention The present invention is designed to overcome the above problems by providing a vending machine that can be used by two or more people simultaneously to purchase products. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a vending machine comprising: a plurality of carousels, each having a plurality of predetermined locations for storing products for sale, a plurality of vending positions, each comprising: means for the purchaser to select one of the desired products that are for sale, means for the purchaser to pay for the selected product and, means for delivering the product to the purchaser means for rotating each carousel independently of the other carousels, and control means comprising means which, in response to the selection of a product from one of the vending positions, is able to cause one of the carousels to rotate to bring a location carrying the desired product to the delivery means of that vending position and to cause the delivery means to deliver the desired product to the purchaser. Brief Description of the Drawings The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vending machine in accordance with the present invention, Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken through the vending machine along the line 2-2 shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a vertical section taken through the vending machine along the line 3-3 shown in Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken through a further embodiment of the present invention. Best Modes for Carrying out the Invention The vending machine shown in Figures 1 to 3 is generally circular in plan (although other shapes are, of course, possible) and includes four vending positions 10 at which a purchaser can select and pay for the product that he wants to purchase, and receive the product, as will be described in greater detail below. The diameter of the machine may be about 2m but larger or smaller diameters can of course be used. Referring to Figures 2 and 3, a cylindrical inner wall 12 supports eleven (or any other appropriate number) static shelves fixed to the central wall 12; instead of static shelves, eleven sets of radially-extending brackets 14 may be used, each set being at a different level within the machine. As shown in Figure 2, each shelf 14 includes twelve pairs of roller bearings 16 extending between inner wall 12 and the rim 18 of the shelf 14 (see Figure 2) . A carousel 20 is supported on each shelf 14 by means of the roller bearings 16 and can be rotated by means of drive motors 22 having drive pinions 24 that engaged the underside of each carousel and for that reason each carousel extends slightly further in the radial direction than the shelf 14. Alternatively, the shelf can be cut-away to allow engagement between the pinion and the carousel. If brackets are used to support the roller bearings 16, the pinions can engage the carousels in a space between two adjacent brackets. The rim of the carousel may be provided with teeth to engage the pinion of the drive motor 22 or alternatively the pinion 24 may be replaced by a soft-rubber roller which engages the underside of each carousel and rotates the carousel by frictional engagement. A separate drive motor 22 is provided for each carousel and the drive motors can be individually activated so that the carousels can be rotated independently of one another. A central cavity 26 is formed within the central wall 12 so that the vending machine can be built around a fixed object, such as a column supporting the roof of a bus or railway station. In this way, the obstruction caused by the vending machine of the present invention can be minimised since the obstruction caused by the column is already in existence and the addition of the vending machine will cause only minimal additional obstruction. Alternatively, the vending machine of the present invention may be free-standing in which case the internal cavity 26 can be utilised to house the drive motors 22 and other working parts of the vending machine. Each carousel 20 is divided up by dividers 29 into a number of compartments 28, which may be of equal or unequal size. The carousel 20 shown in Figure 2 has forty eight equally-spaced compartments of a maximum width of 50 mm, only a few of which have been indicated by the reference number 28. The goods to be sold are stored on the carousel 20 in the compartments 28. Some of the carousels have ninety six compartments of a maximum width of 25 mm. Obviously, the number of compartments depends on the nature of the goods to be dipensed. Referring now to Figure 1, each vending position 10 includes a bank 30 of switches each switch being associated with one of the products being sold; these switches may be heat or capacitance sensitive and preferably bear a picture of the product concerned. A data display device, e.g. a colour monitor 32, a liquid crystal display or a cathode ray tube, can give further information on the products available and/or instructions on how t operate the vending machine. Each vending position also includes a coin receiving mechanism and bank note reader 34, a card reader 36 that can read credit cards and/or pre¬ paid cards; these pre-paid cards may allow a purchaser to purchase items up to a given value, for example £5, £10 or £20 (or equivalent amounts in other currencies) ; if the full value of the card is greater than the cost of the item purchased, the vending machine can deduct the amount of a purchase from the card and allow the purchaser to make further purchases up to the value of the balance of money at a future date. The card reader 36 preferably also includes a card dispenser so that pre-paid cards can be dispensed by the machine on payment through the coin and note reader 34. A unit 38 may also be provided for giving change. Each vending position has a flap 40 that can be released to allow the purchaser to remove the product he has purchased from the vending machine. The vending machine may also include a headpiece 42 that can include an information display, for example in the form of a moving dot matrix display, advertising the presence of the vending machine and/or the products available in the machine. Also incorporated in the headpiece 42 above each vending position are lights 44 (see Figure 3) for illuminating the vending positions. Between the four vending positions are panelled doors 46 each of which can be opened by releasing a lock (not shown) and swinging the door outward about hinge 48 (shown in Figure 2). Advertising posters can be displayed on each panelled door 46 and preferably the doors include a light unit 50 that can back-light the posters. By opening the panel doors 46, access to the carousels can be provided for restocking and/or access to the motors and other internal working parts of the machine for maintenance thereof. Behind each vending position, there is provided a chute or trunking 52 that is open to the outer periphery of the carousels so that products may be pushed off the outer rim of the carousels into the chute for dispensing the product ordered at any particular vending position. The products may be pushed off the carousels by means of a pivoted lever arm 54 carrying a roller 56 on its free end; only four such lever arms 54 are shown in Figure 3 (for the sake of simplicity of illustration) but a lever arm will be provided for each carousel at each of the four chutes 52. The lever arms 54 are moved by motors (not shown in Figures 1 to 3) . The bottom of the chute 52 is provided with a foam lining 58 that cushions the fall of a product from the relevant carousel so that it is not damaged. The fall of the product can be further checked by an upward flow of air in the chute 52 provided by fans 60, which forces air through passages 64, up through the chute and out through a grille 66. To further reduce damage to fragile products and to assist the handling of goods, e.g. socks, that are not themselves rigid, such products and goods should suitably be packaged in a rigid or semi-rigid container; for ease of stock-handling, all products are preferably packaged in a container of standard size to be accommodated within the compartments 28. Four bar code readers 68 are provided for each carousel, each reader being associated with one of the vending positions 10. The edge 70 (see Figure 3) of each carousel bears bar codes; these bar codes can be indicative of the products in the compartment opposite the chute 52 of the associated vending position 10 but more preferably they indicate which compartment is opposite the chute 52 of the various vending units; in the latter case, only one bar code reader need be provided for each carousel since it is possible for the central processing unit of the vending machine (discussed in further details below) to work out which compartments are opposite which chutes 52 by knowing the exact orientation of the carousel. Alternatively, the bar code reader can be dispensed with and the exact position of the carousel can be derived by the central processing unit monitoring how far forward or backwards the motors 22, which are formed as stepping motors have been moved; from this information and the memory, the central processing unit will know the exact position of all the carousels at any given time and the exact location of all the various products in the vending machine. The operation of the vending machine is controlled by a central processing unit (not shown) which includes a memory that holds the nature of the product held in each compartment of each carousel or whether the compartment is empty. Thus, when a product is requested by a purchaser at any vending position, the central processing unit rotates one of the carousels that bears that product to a position in which the compartment holding that product is opposite the chute 52 of the vending position, it then activates the motor of the pivot arm 54 opposite the chute of the respective carousel to push the product in that compartment off the carousel into the chute 52; simultaneously, it activates fan 60 to cause an upward flow of air in the chute 52. The central processing unit then releases a latch on the flap 40 allowing the product to be removed by the vendor; the unit also updates its memory that the product has been sold from that particularly compartment and so that compartment is now empty. As stated above, the positioning of the carousel opposite the chute 52 of any of the vending positions 10 can be controlled by feedback from the bar code reader 68 and/or by the central processing unit monitoring the advance of each carousel so that it knows exactly which compartments are opposite which vending positions and accordingly can rotate the carousel in one direction or another to bring a compartment bearing the desired product opposite to the chute 52. It is possible to use all four vending positions of the vending machine simultaneously since the central processing unit will rotate a different carousel to service each vending position. It will be appreciated that any given product will be provided on more than one carousel so that, in the event of each vending position requesting the same product, this product can be delivered from separate carousels. The stocking pattern of the carousels can be worked out so that any product can be supplied to any vending position from at least one of the carousels. The central processing unit can also keep stock of the amount of each product that has been sold and this information can be sent by the central processing unit, for example via a land line, to a central monitoring office so that it is possible to do an immediate stock-take of the vending machine and re-stock it if necessary. In addition, the central processing unit can be arranged to alert the remote central monitoring office if the stock of any one product falls to a predetermined level. The sequence of operations performed by the central processing unit (CPU) to vend a product are as follows: 1. Detect the selection of a product by a vendor pressing one of the buttons of the bank 30 at a particularly vending position (which we will call position "A"), 2. Supply instructions to the monitor 32 instructing the insertion of money and/or a card into units 34 to 36, 3. Read from the memory of the CPU the price of the product selected and either (a) compare that price with the amount of money that has been inserted into unit 34 and, if necessary, give change to unit 38 or (b) deduct the payment for the product from the card in unit 36, 4. Identify a compartment on a carousel bearing the desired product, 5. Rotate the selected carousel to bring the compartment bearing that product to a position opposite the chute 52 of vending position "A", 6. Activate the fan 60 to provide a flow of air up the delivery chute of position "A" , 7. Activate the pivot arm 54 at position "A" associated with the chosen carousel, 8. Release the flap 40 of position "A", 9. Detect when the flap 40 has been opened by the vendor and the product removed and then lock the flap 40 again, 10. Update the memory of the CPU to record the sale of the product from the compartment. The vending machine can be used to sell foods, in which case it could be chilled by a chilling unit (not shown) . One advantage of the present invention is that it can remain in operation while it is being re-stocked or during maintenance since the operation of each carousel is independent of the other carousels. Thus each carousel can be fitted with isolation and resetting switches and the operation of one carousel inactivated by means of its associated isolation switch for restocking or maintenance; when so isolated, the CPU can be arranged to divert all sales to other carousels. The embodiment shown in Figure 4 is substantially the same as that described in connection with Figures 1 to 3 (and accordingly further description will not be given, the same reference numbers being used throughout Figures 1 to 4 to indicate the same features); however, in Figure 4, the product chute 52 is provided on the inside of the carousels and extends under the lowest carousel to deliver any product to a position behind the flap 40 of the desired vending position; also the dispensing arms 54 and rollers 56 are provided on the outside of the carousels (in Figure 4, the motors 55 powering the dispensing arms and rollers 54, 56 are shown). The arrangement of Fig 4 has the ,. advantage that, for a given diameter of the vending machine, the diameter of the carousels may be larger than in the embodiment of Figure 1 to 3, thereby allowing more stock to be carried; also access to the internal workings of the vending machine is easier, thereby facilitating maintenance. 0 5 0 5

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A vending machine comprising a plurality of carousels (20), each having a plurality of predetermined locations (28) for storing products for sale, a plurality of vending positions (10), each comprising: means (30) for the purchaser to select one of the desired products that are for sale, means (34, 36) for the purchaser to pay for the selected product and, means (40, 52, 54, 56) for delivering the product to the purchaser, means (22) for rotating each carousel independently of the other carousels, control means which, in response to the selection of a product from one of the vending positions, is able to cause one of the carousels to rotate to bring a location carrying the desired product to the delivery means of that vending position and to cause the delivery means to deliver the desired product to the purchaser. 2. A vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product delivery means of each vending position includes a chute (52) located adjacent the outer perimeter of the carousels (20) and capable of receiving a product from any one of the carousels. 3. A vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product delivery means of each vending position includes a chute (52) located adjacent the inner perimeter of the carousels (20) and capable of receiving a product from any one of the carousels. 4. A vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control means comprises a memory for storing the location(s) on the carousels of each product for sale. 5. A vending machine as claimed in claim 4, wherein each carousel is rotated by means of a stepping motor controlled by the control means and wherein the position of each carousel is held in the memory of the control means by monitoring the advance of the motor. 6. A vending machine as claimed in claim 4, wherein each carousel carries bar codes, each code being associated with one location and the machine includes a bar code reader capable of reading the codes and transmitting information from the codes to the control means to indicate which location of the carousel is opposite the delivery means of each vending position. 7. A vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein each carousel carries a bar code at each location, each bar code being associated with the product in that location, and the machine includes a bar code reader capable of reading the codes and transmitting information from the codes to the control means to indicate which product is opposite the delivery means of each vending position. 8. A vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carousels are annular and the vending machine includes a central void. 9. A vending machine as claimed in claim 8, which is built around a pillar or other part of a building or structure. 10. A vending machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of carousels is equal to or greater than the number of vending positions.

Inventors: CORLEY DAVID ROBERT, JACKSON MARTIN BURTON, WOOD PETER VINCENT, CORLEY, DAVID, ROBERT, JACKSON, MARTIN, BURTON, WOOD, PETER, VINCENT
Applicants: LONDON THAMES ADVEND LTD, LONDON THAMES ADVEND LIMITED
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G07F11
IPC codes: G07F9, G07F11