Abstract:
A mechanical vending system for vending long cylindrical objects such as pencils or the like. The system comprises a cabinet housing the unvended pencils and a coin receptor mechanism for receiving the coins and vending one pencil at a time. The coins are deposited in a coin deposit box located in the interior of the cabinet thereof for storage until the service personnel retrieve the coins and restock the pencils in the cabinet. The mechanical pencil vending system has a simplified design, a low initial cost of manufacture, is easy to install and maintain, is totally independent of an outside power source, and will allow pencils and other long cylindrical objects to be vended in locations considered impractical because of the operating labor and the power requirements of vending machines heretofore. 
     The system comprises a cabinet having side panels, a base, a removable lockable top panel for restocking the machine, and a removable door in a back panel for maintenance of the invention, and an interior storage hopper for storing unvended pencils. Further, a front panel of the cabinet has a conventional coin receptor mechanism and a delivery aperture for the person to retrieve the vended pencil after inserting the proper amount of coinage and performing a complete vending cycle. 
     A companion Tablet Vending Machine is also disclosed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to mechanical vending machines. More particularly, this invention relates to a mechanical vending machine for vending pencils or other long cylindrical objects one at a time. 
     2. Description of the Background Art 
     Many coin operated vending machines have been invented over the years for dispensing various articles. Throughout the United States steps are being taken to improve vending machines. Vending machines have been in use for many years for dispensing many different size and shaped articles. The primary advantage of the vending machine is that they do not require the presence of an operator and hence reduce the cost of delivering the article to the consumer. The consumer merely inserts the proper coinage in the machine and self-operates the mechanism to have the desired product dispensed. The primary responsibility the owner of the vending machine has is to service and refill the machine on a periodic basis and to remove the coins deposited therein in exchange for the vended merchandise. 
     The invention described herein is a vending machine to vend a single pencil, one at a time. The invention has great utility in schools or any other place where pencils might be needed on the spur of the moment. Airports, bus stations and other places where the public gathers are appropriate locations for the invention. The invention requires no sales labor at all. Therefore the invention has a significant economic benefit over purchasing a pencil from a retail clerk in a retail setting. 
     The invention stores twice the amount of product as previous machines stored. This reduces the service labor by increasing the interval between service to restock the invention. 
     Further, the invention requires no outside sources of power, either electric or pneumatic in order to function. Therefore, the operating costs of the invention are extremely low. The only operating cost associated with the invention is the service labor to collect the coins from the coin deposit box and to restock the pencils in the storage hopper inside the cabinet. 
     Many systems have been developed in the past to vend long cylindrical objects. 
     For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,333 issued to Welsch discloses a dispenser for vending elliptical cigarette lighters. The dispenser having a flat pusher bar and a pusher plate to facilitate dispensing the cigarette lighters. The dispenser further has a mounting gate which pivots to prevent subsequent cigarette lighters from falling out of the discharge aperture. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 1,396,721 issued to Milawap discloses an apparatus to vend a drinking straw. The mechanism has a discharge plunger and a plurality of agitating fingers to keep the straws in a proper alignment prior to the delivery. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,431 issued to Garvin discloses a vending machine for dispensing cylindrical articles by using a pusher plate. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 1,602,765 issued to Green discloses a vending machine for dispensing automotive valve cores, by using an ejector bar and a swing biased gate. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 1,632,493 issued to McFarland discloses an access door for removing a vended product after the proper combination of coins has been inserted in the coin pusher bar. The design of the door prohibits the unauthorized removal of the unvended product from the vertically disposed storage container located above the door. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 2,870,895 issued to McDaniel discloses a vending machine with a pusher bar element slidable on a track for dispensing articles horizontally to a discharge point. 
     None of these previous efforts, however, provide the benefits attendant with the present invention. Additionally, prior techniques do not suggest, the present inventive combination of component elements as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, which is simple to use, with the utilization of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, assemble, test and by employing only readily available materials. Further, the present invention requires no outside source of power whatsoever to function. 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a vending system that is easily maintainable in the field by service personnel with a minimum of mechanical skills. 
     A further object of the invention to provide a system with storage capacity for a large number of articles to reduce the frequency of service for reloading new merchandise. 
     It is a still further objective of the invention to provide a system for vending the pencil one at a time in a manner to prevent jamming therein. 
     A still further object of the invention is to provide a system that discourages theft of the unvended merchandise and the unauthorized removal of the coins contained therein. 
     A still further object of the invention to provide a system that is not dependent on any external power source to have the product vended. 
     It is a still further object of the invention to provide a system that is dependent upon gravity alone to deliver the vended product to the purchaser. 
     It is a final object of the system to provide a system which can store in excess of seven gross of pencils, thereby increasing the service interval and reducing the labor required to restock the merchandise. 
     Although there have been many inventions relating to mechanical vending systems for vending a long cylindrical object, none of the inventions have become sufficiently compact, low cost and reliable enough to become commonly used. The present invention meets the requirements of a simplified design, low initial cost, low operating cost, ease of installation and maintainability, and independent of an outside power source. 
     The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is defined by the appended claims with the specific embodiment shown in the attached drawings. For the purpose of summarizing the invention, the invention comprises a machine to vend pencils or other long cylindrical objects. More particularly, the invention comprises a cabinet having side panels, a base and an interior storage hopper in an upper portion thereof for receiving and storing the unvended pencils, and further having a front panel with a conventional coin receptor mechanism, a delivery aperture for the person to retrieve the vended pencil after inserting the proper amount of coinage and performing a complete vending cycle. The cabinet has a removable lockable top panel allowing restocking of the pencils in the interior storage hopper by a service person. The removable rear panel allows maintenance and repair of the vending apparatus, the vending apparatus being located in the middle portion of the cabinet to vend one pencil on each complete vending cycle. A coin deposit box shelf is located in the middle portion of the cabinet and is horizontally disposed for supporting a coin deposit box, the coin deposit box being for storage of coins delivered by the coin receptor mechanism during the vending cycle. In addition, a drop shelf inclined forwardly is located in the lower portion of the cabinet to receive the vended pencil from the storage hopper and deliver it to the delivery aperture in the front panel of the invention. 
     The interior storage hopper has a sloped pencil storage tray rigidly attached to the front panel and a second sloped pencil storage tray rigidly attached to the side panels of the cabinet for storing the unvended pencils. The interior storage hopper also has a transverse collating chute downwardly depending from a central portion thereof for collating the pencils into a single sequential file for vending one and only one pencil through a transverse vending aperture which is at an end of the transverse collating chute remote from the interior storage hopper. The unvended pencils are held in the transverse collating chute by a plurality of spring biased gates, each gate having a first member rigidly attached to an underside of the second sloped pencil storage tray and a second member downwardly disposed and parallel to the transverse collating chute, and a shaft therebetween for allowing rotatable motion of the second member when the pencil is vended. The second member of each gate has a retention arm which is rigidly attached to an end remote from the shaft for keeping the unvended pencils in the transverse collating chute. 
     The coin receptor mechanism has an outer portion which is of a conventional design with a slidable handle adapted to receive coins. The inner portion of the coin receptor is located inside the cabinet and supports a &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock having a plurality of pencil pushrods which are horizontally disposed on an innerside thereof, each pencil pushrod being for urging slidable contact with the retention arm of each gate upon commencement of the vending cycle. The &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock further has an agitator bar on an upper section thereof for engaging the pencils in the interior storage hopper through a rectangular aperture prior to the pencils entering an upper portion of the transverse collating chute. 
     The major advantage of the invention over the prior art is in the fact that the invention is extremely simple to manufacture and maintain. The invention utilizes conventional coin receptor mechanisms. Further, many of the mechanical components within the machine itself are readily available off the shelf hardware items, such as the spring loaded gates. The balance of the machine is fabricated of metal, preferably sheet metal. 
     A second advantage of the invention is that is entirely mechanical and requires no outside sources of electrical or pneumatic power to function. The simplicity of the invention precludes any great amount of maintenance and should it be necessary, the maintenance can be preformed easily in the field by someone who possesses a minimum of mechanical skills. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent structures do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the vending machine. 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section taken along the lines 2--2 of FIG. 1 with the invention in a ready-to-vend status. 
     FIG. 3 is a similar cross section taken along the lines 3--3 of FIG. 1 with the invention in a in-process vending status. 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of the invention taken along the lines 4--4 of FIG. 2. 
     FIG. 5 is a front sectional view taken along the lines 5--5 of FIG. 2. Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective of the tablet vending machine invention. 
     FIG. 7 is a vertical cross section showing the relative horizontal position of the moving parts of the tablet vending machine invention taken along the lines 7--7 in FIG. 6. 
     FIG. 8 is a similar cross section showing the movement of the vended tablet taken along the lines 8--8 of FIG. 6. 
     FIG. 9 is a compound cross sectional view along the lines 9--9 in FIG. 8. 
     FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the tablet controller. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the invention is comprised of a cabinet 10 having a removable top panel 12 and a removable right side panel 14. The top panel 12 has a lockable latch 16. The cabinet 10 also has a front panel 18, a left side panel 20, a rear panel 22, and a base 24. The cabinet 10 is fabricated completely of metal, preferably sheet metal. 
     The front panel 18 has a conventional coin receptor mechanism 26 with a slidable handle 28 and receptor slots 30, 30&#39; adapted to receive a plurality of coins. It should be noted that if only one coin is required, the receptor slots 30, 30, can be modified to receive only one coin. The front panel 18 has a pencil delivery aperture 32 with a finger slot 34 in the bottom thereof through which to grasp the vended pencil. A downwardly inclined shelf 36 in the bottom interior portion 38 of the cabinet 10 has an end 40 rigidly attached to the front panel 18 and a second end rigidly attached to the rear panel 22 for delivering the vended pencil forward to the pencil delivery aperture 32. 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, but more particularly to FIG. 2, an interior storage hopper 44 with a front sloped storage tray 46, a rear sloped storage tray 48 and a transverse collating chute 50 therebetween is positioned in the upper interior portion 52 of the cabinet 10. The transverse collating chute 50 is adapted to urge the pencils into a single line sequential file to be vended one at a time. The rear sloped storage tray 48 has a plurality of spring biased gates 54 on the underside thereof. Each gate has an upper portion 56 fastened to the underside of the rear sloped pencil storage tray 58 by fasteners 60, preferably by rivets or screws, a bottom portion 62 free to pivot rearwardly and a torsion shaft 64 therebetween. A retention arm 66 is rigidly attached and obliquely disposed to a lower end 68 of the bottom portion 62 of each gate 54 for retaining the unvended pencils in the transverse chute 50. 
     The front sloped storage tray 46 has a rectangular aperture 70 adapted to receive an agitator block 72 which is attached to an &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74. The &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 is attached to an interior portion 76 of the slidable handle 28. The agitator block 72 has a stepped cross-sectional configuration for entering the rectangular aperture 70 in the interior storage hopper 44 above the chute 50 and realigning the unvended pencils for sequential single file entry into an entry aperture 78 in an upper portion 80 of the chute 50. A plurality of control springs 82 each having an end 84 attached to the innerside of the front panel 86 and a second end 88 rigidly attached to the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 are in spring tension communication for urging the return of the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 to a ready-to-vend status. The innerside of the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 90 has a plurality of pencil pushrods 92 rigidly attached for pushing the single vended pencil rearward while retaining the other unvended pencils in the chute 50, precluding their escape as the single pencil is dispensed. The bottom portion 62 of each gate 54 is pivoted rearwardly to allow one pencil to drop out of the chute 50 onto the inclined shelf 36 as the slidable handle 28 is pushed rearwardly. As best seen in FIG. 3, the slidable handle 28 is slid rearwardly to complete the vending of the pencil and also stretches the control springs 82 to bias the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 to return to a ready-to-vend status. 
     When the slidable handle 28 is released by the person, the control springs 82 urge the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 forwardly to the front, positioning the invention for another cycle. In the meantime, the coin drops into a coin deposit box 94. The coin deposit box 94 rests on a plate 96 rigidly attached to the innerside of the front panel 86. It should be noted in FIG. 3 that as the pencil pushrods 92 contact the lowermost pencil, it pushes the pencil rearwardly. The pencil does not stay attached to the pencil pushrods 92 as shown in FIG. 3. The purpose of FIG. 3 is to illustrate the path of the vended pencil during the vending cycle. The pencil is pushed rearwardly and likewise the subsequent pencil location indicators show the path of the vended pencil as it drops onto the inclined shelf 36 leading to the pencil delivery aperture 32. The vended pencil is retained at the pencil delivery aperture 32 by an edge 98 of the front panel 18 slightly above a forward edge 100 of the inclined shelf 36. 
     The agitator block 72 agitates the pencils during the vending process and maintains the remaining supply of unvended pencils in a parallel and aligned relationship within the interior storage hopper 44 to urge continued falling in a sequential manner into the transverse collating chute 50. This can best be seen in FIG. 3. A notched aperture 102 in a lower portion 104 of the chute 50 is adapted to receive the pencil pushrods 92 and allow the pencil pushrods 92 to pass through the chute 50 and shove one pencil rearwardly out of the bottom 106 of the chute 50 onto the inclined shelf 36. 
     An inner portion 76 of the slidable handle 28 is rigidly attached to the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, when a coin is inserted into the slot 30 of the coin receptor 26 and pushed rearwardly, the slidable handle 28 travels approximately four inches to allow the pencil pushrods 92 to release one pencil, while the agitator block 72 on the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 enters the rectangular aperture 70 in the interior storage hopper 44 and agitates the unvended pencils so that they remain parallel and aligned to the chute 50 at all times. This design allows over seven gross of pencils to be laid into the interior storage hopper 44. Previous inventions only dispensed about three gross of pencils between service intervals. This allows the service person to come around less frequently to refill the invention. As the pencil pushrods 92 shove one pencil out of the bottom 106 of the chute 50, the lower portion 62 of each spring biased gate 54 pivots out of the way while retaining the balance of the pencils within the chute 50, and returns as the fully biased control springs 82 urge the &#34;L&#34; shaped pushblock 74 to return forwardly to a ready-tovend status, thus preparing the machine for the next cycle. 
     Also disclosed, but not claimed, is a tablet vending machine 200 that can be installed adjacent to the pencil vending machine 10. The advantages of the tablet vending machine 200 over the prior art is it is extremely simple in design and fabrication. The tablet vending machine 200 utilizes a conventional coin receptor 202 with modifications. The tablet vending machine 200 is very simply and easily manufactured and can be maintained by a person with a minimum of mechanical ability. The tablet vending machine 200 requires no electricity and can be installed in remote locations where electric power is unavailable. 
     Referring specifically to FIG. 6, the tablet vending machine 200 is comprised of a cabinet 204 having a front panel 206, a top panel 208, a rear panel 210, a right side panel 212 with a removable door 214 and a lockable ledge 216, and a left side panel 218. The cabinet 204 is fabricated entirely from metal, preferably sheet metal. The front panel 206 has a lower section 220 and an upper section 222 in a stepped relationship with the lower section 220 having a tablet receiving aperture 224 and a finger aperture 226 for claiming the vended tablet. The conventional coin receptor 202 is located in the upper section 222 and has a slidable handle 228 with a plurality of coin slots 230, 230&#39; and an upwardly projecting end 232 on an outer end of the handle 228. The coin receptor 202 is adapted to allow the slidable handle 228 to be pulled out beyond an outer edge 234 of the coin receptor 222. A notched aperture 236 in a front face 238 of the coin receptor 202 allows the upwardly projecting end 232 to extend beyond the outer edge 234 of the coin receptor 202. 
     The slidable handle 228 of the coin receptor 202 has an interior section 240 fastened to a piece of flat bar stock 242 having a first end 244 with fasteners 246, preferably rivets or screws, the flat bar stock 242 having a half-twist configuration and having a second end 248 rigidly attached to a tablet controller 250. 
     A tablet delivery slide 252 for storing and vending tablets is located in the bottom section 254 of the cabinet 204. The tablet delivery slide 252 has an upper shelf 256 horizontally oriented for storing a plurality of ready-to-vend tablets in a stacked relationship, a lower shelf 258 horizontally disposed adjacent to the tablet receiving aperture 224 for holding the individually vended tablet, and an inclined shelf 260 therebetween. A vertically oriented guide rail 262 is attached to an edge 264 of the tablet delivery slide 252 for urging the vended tablet to remain on the tablet delivery slide 252 during the vending cycle. The tablet delivery slide 252 has an end 266 rigidly attached to an innerside 268 of the front panel 206 and a second end 270 rigidly attached to an innerside 272 of the rear panel 210 rear panel. The vertical guide rail 262 keeps the vended table on the tablet delivery slide 256 during the vending cycle. 
     The tablet controller 250 has a plurality of rectangular tubes oriented in a telescopic relationship with each other. The tablet controller 250 having an outer tube 274 vertically disposed, and within the outer tube 274 an intermediate tube 276 with a stop 278 rigidly attached at a top end 280, and within the intermediate tube 276, an innermost tube 282. The innermost tube 282 has a lower portion 284 having a tablet gripper tube 286 with a downwardly disposed hook 288 for engaging an edge of the topmost tablet during a vending cycle and a lower end 290 having an arcuate shaped cam follower 292 downwardly disposed for riding side-to-side on the top of the stack of unvended tablets. 
     The tablet controller 250 is at all times slidably mounted on the stack of tablets so that the arcuate shaped cam follower 292 is free to ride side-to-side horizontally on the stack of tablets. Likewise, the innermost tube 284 is free to ride up and down on the stack of tablets within the intermediate tube 276. The innermost tube 284 has an aperture 294 adapted to threadbly receive a limit screw 296 to engage a lower edge 298 of the intermediate tube 276 when the innermost tube 284 is raised to a maximum point when a full load of tablets is loaded on the upper shelf 256 of the tablet delivery slide 252. 
     The hook 288 on the tablet gripper tube 286 is designed to engage a rearmost binding edge of the topmost tablet for vending when operated by the proper amount of coins. FIG. 7 shows the invention in its ready-to-vend status before receiving a coin. A spring biased wire 300 has a first end 302 attached to an aperture 304 in the interior portion 240 of the sliding handle 228 and a second end 306 is attached to an eyelet 308 fastened to an upper corner 310 of the cabinet 204 for urging completion of the vending cycle. 
     A tablet guide plate 312 is rigidly attached to the innerside 314 of the upper front panel 222 and deflects the vended tablet downwardly onto the inclined shelf 260 as it slides off the top of the stack of tablets. Additional tablets are stored on a base 316 under the upper shelf 256. As the supply of tablets diminishes, service personnel can retrieve the tablets from the base 316 below the upper shelf 256 and stack them on the upper shelf 256 for future vending. 
     As best seen on FIG. 7, the coin receptor 202 is shown with the slidable handle 228 in solid lines at the ready-to-vend status. The leftward arrow &#34;a&#34; indicates the slidable handle 228 being pulled forwardly to a position where a coin can be inserted. The rightward arrow &#34;b&#34; indicates the slidable handle 228 being slid rearwardly and the tablet controller 250 being slid rearwardly to the rear of the stacked tablets where the hook 288 engages the rearmost edge of the topmost tablet. Then the slidable handle 228 is pulled forwardly as indicated by the &#34;c&#34; arrow beyond the outer edge 234 of the coin receptor 202. This allows the topmost tablet which is in vendable communication with the hook 288 to move forward to a point where it is deflected downwardly by the tablet guide plate 312 and falls onto the inclined shelf 260. This can best be seen in FIG. 8. 
     FIG. 8 discloses the three different positions of the hook 288 during the vending cycle. The &#34;B&#34; position of the tablet gripper tube 286 indicates the position of the hook 288 at the rear of the stacked tablets in the in-process vending status. The primary position for hooking a tablet is shown at &#34;B&#34; with the hook 288 having slipped down to engage the rearmost edge of the uppermost tablet. Position &#34;B,&#34; indicates the hook 288 traversing the top of the stacked tablets to an approximate mid-point and the belly of the stacked tablets causing the tablet gripper tube 286 to slide upwardly while the hook 288 remains engaged with the uppermost tablet. &#34;D&#34; indicates the point at which the hook 288 stops after engaging a rearmost edge of the uppermost tablet prior to completing the vending cycle. The position shown at &#34;D&#34; indicates the uppermost tablet being shoved over the edge of the stack, engaging the tablet guide plate 312 and deflecting downwardly towards the inclined shelf 260. However, the arcuate shaped cam follower 292 keeps the tablet from falling over until the slidable portion of the handle 240 (shown in phantom lines) is slidably moved beyond the outer edge 234 of the coin receptor 202 to approximately the position shown as &#34;d&#34;. Then the tablet drops to position &#34;E&#34; and then &#34;F&#34; and then to the inclined shelf 260 and finally to the lower shelf 258 where it can be retrieved through the tablet vending aperture 224 by the person. 
     Referring again to FIG. 8, &#34;b&#34; and &#34;d&#34; indicate the relative position of the slidable handle 240 during the extremes of the vending cycle and the corresponding position of the spring biased wire 300 as at b and at d&#39; respectively, as the spring biased wire 300 is urged to return to the ready-to-vend position. 
     A coin receipt box 318 disposed below the inner portion 240 of the slidable handle 228 rests on a coin box plate 320 for storage of the coins. The coin box plate 320 is rigidly attached to an innerside 314 of the front panel 206. The coins are removed from the coin receipt box 318 at the proper time when the service person services the machine 200. 
     As best seen in FIG. 9, the stack of tablets are constrained frictionally by a plurality of pads 322. The pads 322 being made of strips of carpeting or sponge rubber or foam rubber. The pads 322 hold the stacked tablets in the proper alignment at all times when the service person stacks the tablets in the machine 200. The flat bar stock 242 is rigidly attached to the tablet controller 250. 
     The back panel 210 is adapted with an offset 324 to allow the hook 288 to project beyond the rearmost edge of the tablets in order to grip the uppermost tablet. Also, the hook 288 is slanted to urge the tablets to the left about 10 degrees. The slant urges the vended tablet to slidably communicate with the smooth left side panel 218 of the cabinet 204. This precludes the vended tablet from catching on the guide rail 262 on the right side of the tablet delivery slide 252. 
     FIG. 10 is an enlarged view for better understanding the motion of the hook 288 for engaging just one tablet at a time as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The arcuate shaped cam follower 292 rides the topside of the uppermost tablet while the hook 288 rides above and over the top of the stack and then drops down and engages the rearmost edge of the uppermost tablet. 
     In use and operation, the person utilizes the tablet vending machine 200 by pulling the slidable handle 228 forward slightly to expose the coin slot 230, 230&#39;, inserting the coin and slidably moving the handle 228 backward to urge the hook 288 to engage the rearmost edge of the uppermost tablet. Then, the person pulls the slidable handle 228 forward, thereby sliding the uppermost tablet from the stack and dropping it down onto the inclined shelf 260. The vending aperture 224 is configured so that even a child&#39;s hand can not go up the tablet delivery aperture 224 and steal tablets from the stack. Of course, the extra tablets stored on the base 316 behind the inclined shelf 262 and below the upper shelf 256 are inaccessible due to the fact that the inclined shelf 260 spans the width of the cabinet 204 to preclude any possibility of reaching under the upper shelf 256 from the tablet delivery aperture 224 to steal the extra tablets. 
     The present disclosure includes that contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of structures and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.