Patent GB-920440-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to automatic vending machines
IPC: G07F5/26
Filed: 1959-09-28
Abstract: 920,440. Coin freed Vending. apparatus. R. HIRSCHSON. Sept. 28, 1959 [Oct. 8, 1958; June 11, 1959], No. 32937/59. Class 27. In vending apparatus of the multi-compartment or multi-magazine type, the opening of one door 2 or drawer prevents opening of other doors or drawers by means of separate blocking elements 4 which have shaped faces for cooperating with control elements 3 on the doors or drawers. Each compartment of a vertical column has a door 2, Fig. 1, on a horizontal pivot 1 and on opening of one door a lever 3 on the pivot pin strikes a blocking element 4 below and moves it down, together with any elements 4 below it so that these prevent movement of levers 3 on the doors below. The end of the lever moves into an arcuate gap 5 on the element and moves a surface 7 under the element so that any elements above the opened door are unable to move and prevent movement of the levers 3. When there are two columns of compartments side by side, two adjacent columns of blocking elements may be provided between the columns, one set of doors hingeing upwards and the others downwards so that the element columns move in opposite directions, the movement of one column being transferred to the other by a two-armed lever or by balls in a curved channel. Where articles are stacked in side-by-side columns with a single withdrawal means, the blocking elements are arranged in a horizontal row, as in Fig. 6; the withdrawal means may be a sliding drawer or a pivoted loop 54 with a ledge 72 for supporting articles above when an article is being withdrawn. In Fig. 10, a single column of blocking elements 4 serves two adjacent columns of compartments, the opening of one door moving the elements to prevent opening of other doors, with the exception of the laterally adjacent door. This door is locked by an arm 81 provided on each lever 3 wedging against one leg of a pivotable fork 78 so that the other leg moves into the path of an arm 81 on the lever 3 of the adjacent door. Alternatively, the fork member may be fixed and the arms 81 pivoted on the lever 3 and interconnected so that one or other would be blocked by a corresponding leg of the fork or the fork and arms may have linear movement parallel to the pivot 1. The fork may be horizontally mounted between two horizontal rows of compartments, as in Fig. 14. In a modification, Fig. 25, an arm 81 is provided on one only of the pair of laterally adjacent levers 3 and the distance of the surface 7 from the pivot 1 of this lever is reduced; the lever first pushes down an element and then the arm 81 cooperates with a curved lug 105 on the element above to move this down to meet the surface 7 and cause this element to block the adjacent lever 3. In Figs. 15 and 16, a lever 7 or 7a is mounted on each door pivot 1 or 1a, but the levers 3a are separately mounted on a spindle 1b one rigidly fixed to it and the other loosely mounted. If pivot la is rotated on opening a door, the lever 7a engages a projection 31 so that the lever 3a, rigidly connected to the spindle 1b is pivoted and moves the blocking element 4 above it upwards, an arm 83 on the spindle swinging in front of the lever 7 of the adjacent door to block it. The lower elements 4 are locked by the inner surface 7b of the lever engaging a block 30 on one of the elements. If the lever 7 and the loosely mounted lever 3 are pivoted, the arm 83 is not pivoted and merely slides along a surface 84 and prevents movement of the spindle 1b. In a modification, arms 81 on the levers 3 co-operate with a fork member 78 as in Fig. 10. Where a number of columns are arranged side by side and have a coin-release mechanism 59, 59a, Fig. 23, at each end for coins of different values, the fork members 78 have extensions 98, 98a engageable with projections 99, 99a on a second horizontal series of spring-loaded blocking elements 4b. Opening a door in one column will move some of the elements to one side to operate the coin mechanism at that end and a projection on the lower of the vertical blocking elements corresponding to that column can enter a recess 108 in an element 4b. The shifted elements 4b are in positions preventing the projections on other blocking elements 4 from entering recesses 108 and the unshifted elements are locked by the moved projections and, by means of their projections 99, 99a, prevent pivoting of the other fork members 78. Coin freeing mechanism.-The lowermost blocking element 4, Fig. 1, rests on a spring- loaded lever 10 which has an arm 13 normally blocked by a pin 16 on a spring-loaded lever 15. With coins in the channel 21, the lever 10 presses the lever 15 out of the way and moves the coin into a box 23. A coin return member 20 can be pressed in to pivot the lever 15 and a deflector 26 so that the coins are diverted to a return shoot 27. A feeler 28 on the coin return member and a block 29 on the arm 13 prevent simultaneous operation of the two devices. In Figs. 19 and 20, a similar arrangement for two-coin use between adjacent columns has a pair of levers 10, 10a on one spindle 11 and two levers 15, 15a on one spindle 14. A coin resting on one lever 15 will allow a lever 13 to tilt both levers 15, 15a and, to prevent a coin in the releasing device of lower coin value from allowing operation of the releasing device of higher coin value, one lever 10 is of sufficiently loose fit on its spindle that an arm 92 on the fork member 78 will move the lever sideways so that a finger 93 is removed from the coin path and allows the coin to roll into a coin-return shoot. The pairs of levers 10, 10a and 15, 15a may be replaced by single levers with pairs of coinengaging surfaces and slots. In Fig. 14, a plate 20a pivoted at 96 is moved by an arm 97 on the fork member 78 so that a coin from the lower value channel 21a is diverted to a coin-return shoot if the door of a higher value compartment is opened. In Fig. 6, the lever 10 having a coin slot 59 is pivoted on the last element 4 and co-operates with a lever 61 having a coin feeler pin 68. If there is a coin in the slot, the lever 61 is tilted clockwise when the pin 68 encounters the coin and a pin 66 on a latch 64 engages a U-shaped member 63 so that its other end is swung away from blocking engagement with a notch 60, allowing the lever 10 to be further displaced until it meets a projection 69 of the member 63. The lever 10 is then swung against the action of a spring 12 until the coin is in alignment with a discharge slot 70 and is freed when a bracket 55 on the element 4 pushes back the pin 68.