Patent GB-893196-A (GB)
Title: Cup dispensers
IPC: G07F13/10
Filed: 1959-09-22
Abstract: 893,196. Coin-freed vending apparatus. NATIONAL REJECTORS (UNITED KING- DOM) Ltd. Sept. 22, 1959 [Oct. 6, 1958], No. 32206/59. Class 27. Means for dispensing cups one by one from a stack in a coin-operated drink-vending machine comprises cup-separating fingers 560, 561, Fig. 7, pivotally mounted in a head 500 for movement into and out of cup-engaging position, stack-supporting fingers 587 pivotally mounted in the head for movement into and out of stack-supporting position, and a member 660, Fig. 3, for moving the fingers between their two positions. The cups are arranged in stacks in a corresponding number of compartments formed by radial partitions in a cylindrical turret 476, Fig. 3, having a central hub which is telescoped over a pivot 430, Figs. 1 and 14, into locking engagement, permitting slip should jamming occur, with a Geneva gear 432 loosely fitting on the pivot. At the end of each index of the turret over a fixed base-plate 438, Fig. 3, a stack of cups in the compartment then registering with an opening 441 in the base-plate passes downwardly through the opening to the cup-separating and stack-supporting fingers 560, 561, 587 which are mounted peripherally around a fixed tubular head 500, Figs. 3 and 7, and are arranged to control the passage of the cups downwardly through a tube 610, depending from the head, on to a sliding door 130 closing an opening 104 in a fixed support, from which door they are subsequently discharged through the opening to the filling section of the machine. The head 500 has (a) four upper cup-separating fingers 560, 561, Figs. 3 and 7, mounted on vertical pivots and urged by springs 568 so that their operative lips 570 tend to be disposed inwardly of the head, (b) a lower cup-separating finger 572, Fig. 3, associated with each finger 560 for pivotal movement therewith and relative downward movement therefrom with its pivot shaft 579 against the action of a spring 580, and (c) four stack-supporting fingers 587, Figs. 7 and 19, each having a frusto-conical cupengaging portion 594 and mounted on a vertical pivot 584 about which it is urged inwardly by a spring 590 from the position shown in Fig. 7 and on which it is adjustable upwardly against the action of a spring 606, Fig. 19. The movement of the various fingers between their inner and outer positions is controlled by arcuate abutments 665, Figs. 3 and 7, on a control sleeve 660 mounted for oscillating movement on the head 500 by its link connection 694, Fig. 1, with a pin 278 on a disc 264 fixed on a vertical shaft 230 which is driven through crown gearing 238 from a motor 410. Also associated with the cup head 500 are upper and lower spring-urged feeler levers 282, 304, Figs. 3 and 28, having feeler ends 295, 317 co-operating with cups in a stack as they drop through the head; a control notch 663 in the sleeve 660 co-operates with rollers 290, 317 on these levers to control the action of the feelers and an extension 318 of the latter lever co-operates with the button 334 of an adjustable switch block 324. At the start of a one-revolution cycle of the shaft 230 (as the result of the insertion of a coin), a cup 740 is resting on the door 130, thus blocking the opening 104 in the support 100 as shown in Fig. 50 and the cups 742, 744 thereabove are supported by the separating fingers 560, 561 which are then in inward position. The first action of the shaft 230 is to cause a projection 244, Fig. 3, on the gear 238 to close a switch 216 to complete a holding circuit for the motor 410. After a brief interval, an arm 220, Fig. 3, on the lower end of the shaft releases the door 130 for return to open position by a spring 138 and the cup 740 drops through the opening 104 to a filling station. Thereafter, a pin 272, Figs. 14 and 16, which projects through the disc 264 on the shaft 230, is lifted by a cam surface 250 on a lower disc 246 rotatable on the shaft and so raises a lever 492 to withdraw a cam 499 and pin 496 from locking engagement with adjacent slots in the Geneva gear 432; the position of the cam 246 on the shaft is controlled in the cycle by its link connection 294, Fig. 28, with the feeler lever 282. The pin 272 next engages the gear slot vacated by the cam 499-and thus indexes the turret for one-sixth of a revolution, when the cam 499 and pin 498 again lock the gear. in position. During this movement, the control sleeve 660 has been rocked by the disc 264 and link 694 so that spring-urged rollers 688, Figs. I -and 3, are withdrawn from their normal positions in which they depress the pivot shafts 579 of the lower separating fingers 572 which are then lifted by the springs 580 into contact with the upper fingers 560. The fingers 560, 561, 587 are then disposed as shown in Fig. 52, but shortly before the completion of the index of the turret, the fingers 587 start to move inwardly as the abutments 665 are no longer holding them outwardly. As the turret registers a fresh stack of cups with the opening 441, that stack moves downwardly towards the cups already held by the lips 570 of the fingers 560, 561, the feeler 295 bearing against the sides of the falling cups at this time to prevent them from dislodging the cups on the lips 570. As the shaft 230 continues to rotate, the abutments 665 permit the stacksupporting fingers 587 to move into full supporting position as shown in Fig. 54 in readiness to intercept a cup 742 when this cup and those above it are released by outward movement of the fingers 560, 561, which is soon effected by the abutments 665 and followed successively by the door 130 being moved to block the opening 104 and the withdrawal of the fingers 587 by the abutments 665 so that the cup 742 drops on to the door. Still later in the cycle, the rollers 688 on the sleeve 660 engage fixed stops 516 and then press downwards the pivot shafts 579 and lower separating fingers 572 to ensure that the cup 742 is freed from the cup 744. At this stage. all the fingers are back in the position of Fig. 50, the cup 742 replaces the cup 740 on the door 130 and the shaft 230, having nearly completed one revolution, opens the switch 216 to deenergize the motor 410. In succeeding cycles, the cup 742 and those above it are dispensed without indexing the turret to feed a fresh stack of cups to the head 500, this being permitted because, whenever the feeler 295 (which is connected by link 294 to the cam 246) in its inner position contacts a cup, it so places the cam 246 that the latter raises the pin 272 at a point in the cycle when it is ineffective to rotate the Geneva gear 432. When, however, the feeler 295 feels no cup in the stack, it positions the cam 246 for operating the pin 272 and turret as described above. Should the turret be completely out of cups, the pin 272 indexes the turret for the few remaining cycles of the shaft 230 until the uppermost cup is below the feeler 317 which is then free to be spring-urged to a position in which the extension 318 engages the switch button 334 to illuminate a "switch empty" lamp and actuate the coin-rejecting circuit of the machine. Both the feelers 295, 317 are swung outwardly during downward movement of the cups and are only swung into fully effective positions towards the end of a cycle of the shaft 230. The diameters or thicknesses of the rims of the cups to be dispensed determine the setting of the inner positions of the supporting fingers 587, the extent to which the separating fingers 560, 561 can swing inwardly (which is limited by their engagement with the cups) and the timing during the cycle of these fingers. The setting of the inner positions of the fingers 587 is for this purpose provided by adjusting them upwardly on their pivots 587, Figs. 3 and 19, against the springs 606 by a sleeve-like ring 634 which is adjustable over a fixed stepped cam ring 620 by hand-operated means associated with a pointer and dial; the correct inner position is that in which the frustoconical surface 594 engages the cup. If desired, the ring 634 may be arranged also to set the inward limit of the fingers 560, 561 and these fingers may be adjustable vertically. To provide for the use of cups having appreciably different diameters, the cam ring 620 may itself be adjustable to several different positions. The machine provides ready means whereby the six-compartment turret used in the arrangement described above may be replaced by a ten-compartment turret, the new turret, with its appropriate Geneva gear, and the arm 492 carrying the cam 499 and pin 496 (which is then reversed so that a differently-disposed cam and pin are then effective) then being disposed on alternative pivots, a modified disc substituted for the disc 264, and the link 294 pivoted to a different point on the cam 246. Instead of arranging for the pin 272 to operate the lever 492 carrying the cam and pin for locking the Geneva gear 432, the pin 272 may be urged downwardly by a spring and the peripheries of the disc 264 and Geneva gear 432 are then arranged to coact to prevent rotation of the gear except during the indexing movement. Modified cup-separating fingers are provided in place of the fingers 560, 561, 572 whenever it is desired to use the machine without the door 130 and support 100. Both the fingers 561 and the lower fingers 572 associated with the fingers 560 are then provided with relatively long depending portions which, at their lower ends, have inwardly-disposed lips arranged to support and release a cup in place of the door 130. The filling of the cup, after it has been discharged in the manner described above, with the selected beverage, is controlled either by the switch 216 or one or more sets of switches arranged to be opened and closed by cams which are driven from the motor 410 and each made of two relatively-rotatable parts settable to produce the desired timing action of the cam.