Patent GB-898156-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to automatic vending machines
IPC: G07F11/34
Filed: 1960-02-09
Abstract: 898,156. Coin-freed apparatus. SKUMAWITZ, M. Feb. 9, 1960 [Feb. 20. 1959; June 25, 1959; Jan. 20, 1960], No. 4577/60. Class 27. A coin-controlled bottle-vending machine comprises a plurality of inclined conveyer channels 51a, 51b, 51c, Fig. 1, a delivery opening 52, Fig. 2, at the lower ends of the channels, locking means 40, 41 associated with each channel for holding the bottles in place and releasing only one bottle at a time from the respective channel, and control means for so operating the locking means that bottles are released from the various channels in sequence. The machine is enclosed in an insulated casing 50 provided with one or more cooling units 56, and the channels, which may be U-shaped as shown or S-shaped, discharge at their lower ends to an inclined shoot 54 leading to the opening 52 which is provided in a hinged door 50a. at the front of the casing. Disposed at the outlet end of each of the channels are two pairs of locking levers 40, 41, of which the different pairs are carried on separate rocking shafts, (e.g. 42, 43, Fig. 4, for the channel 51 a) arranged to be controlled in such a way that, when the levers 40 are swung down to release a bottle, the levers 41 are positioned to prevent succeeding bottles from following along the channel until the levers 40 are again in stop position. Follower levers 42a, 43a, 44a, 45a on the ends of the rocking shafts associated with the channels 51a, 51b co-operate with cams 7, 8, 9, 10 rotatable on a sleeve 17, and follower levers 46a, 47a on the rocking shafts of the channel 51c co-operate with cams 11, 12 rotatable on a sleeve 15. The cams are driven from a hand crank 36 through a slipping clutch 25, 26 and gear 39 meshing with a gear 21 which is mounted on the sleeve 15 for rotating the cams 11, 12 and meshes with a gear 20 similarly mounted on the sleeve 17 for rotating the cams 7 . . . 10. Upon insertion of a coin, a locking lever is released from engagement with a disc 37 connected with the gear 39 so that the crank 36 can thenbe rotated through one revolution when the locking lever is again effective. One revolution of the crank results in the two sets of cams being rotated through one-third of a revolution, and the setting or shape of the cams is such that the three sets of levers 40, 41 are so operated that the bottles are released successivly from the three channels upon successive rotations of the crank. In any particular rotation of the crank, only the levers 40 of one channel are swung to release position, the levers 41 of that channel being then in raised stop position. The crank 36 is so mounted in a bearing sleeve 33 in the hinged door 50a that, when the door is closed, the crank is positively connected to the coupling nut 28 of the clutch 25, 26. The channels are formed of perforated metal plates having raised edges 55, Fig. 2, formed preferably of tapered rubber, for supporting the bottles in the inclined position shown. Alternatively, the channels have transversely-ribbed surfaces 64a, Fig. 15, so arranged in relation to the locking means 40, 41 that each bottle, when stationary, always rests upon a surface facing downwardly towards these means. The inclined discharge shoot 54 may consist of a series of parallel rollers each consisting of a central shaft provided with either a set of spaced elastic discs (Fig. 12, not shown), the diameters of which may progressively diminish from the ends of the shaft towards the centre, or two resilient cups (Fig. 12, not shown) arranged with their open ends abutting centrally of the shaft. The modified machine shown in Fig. 18 has the vertical arms of the channels spaced apart to accommodate at least two bottles side by side and with brackets 115 on the side walls to provide a sinuous path for the bottles; these brackets, which may be of rubber or synthetic resin, are in the form of bent strips of angular or semi-circular shape, rods or bars. An alternative form of locking and release means at the lower end of each channel consists of flaps 205, 206, Fig. 21, fixed to rocking shafts 213, 214 so as to project downwardly into the channel; a control lever 217 on each shaft 214 bears against the periphery of a cam disc 219 which is connected by linkages 224, 225 with the corresponding rocking shaft 213. The three discs 219, which are peripherally toothed so as to mesh with each other, are driven by ratchet gearing effective upon the central disc, and the timing action of the discs and linkages is such that the flaps 206, 205 act as described above for the levers 40, 41. A sensing lever 234 projecting into one of the channels swings downwards when the channel is sufficiently empty and so raises a warning arm 235.