Improvements in Coin Operated Advertising and Vending Apparatus.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 2rd Apr., 1895-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1896
COMPLEUIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by SIEGFRIED SILBERBERG, of 79 W. 118th Street, in
the City and State of New York, United States of America, Merchant.]
Improvements in Coin Operated Advertising and Vending
Apparatus.
.
I, WILLIAM EDWIN HEYS of 70 Market Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and, in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
It has occurred to me that I can construct a novel advertising apparatus and
combine it with a vending apparatus as a more or less incidental feature, in such a
manner as to make a device which will attract great attention to the wares which it
may be desired to. advertise. I have, in fact, constructed such an apparatus in the
form of a closed box or casing in which the wares to be advertised are contained
and from which they are dropped one by one whenever a customer puts into the box
or casing the necessary coin for the purchase of one of the articles on sale. In
another part of the machine, shut off from the articles to be sold by a suitable
partition, make compartments containing suitable advertising matter. The coins
are thrust into the machine through an inclined passage-way leading to the foot of a
vertical channel, whence they are thrown up by a spring or other power through
the vertical channel into a chamber above the compartiments already mentioned.
Now, the purchasing coins, when thrust into the inclined passage-way, cannot
reach the bottom of the vertical channel until a suitable device, such as a push-rod,
is actuated from the outside of the apparatus; but when the push-rod is operated,
after the insertion of a coin, it acts, through the medium of the said coin, to rock a
lever controlling the position of the articles on sale and permits one such article to
drop into a small opening whence it is allowed to fall by gravity on the return of
the push-rod. As a matter of fact, the push-rod is restored by a spring and the
article of sale is forced along by the same spring, so that the act of throwing down
the said article into the reach of the customer is a positive act, which insures the
purchaser against any failure of the machine. An article is thus thrown down
every time the push-rod is operated, provided that a coin bas first been dropped into
the inclined passage-way. There is, accordingly, an actual sale of some article in
every instance. It will be understood that my machines will be constructed so as to
operate with special coins and no others; that is, one machine will be capable of
being operated by a dime, another by a five-cent piece, and another by a cent.
For the purpose of advertising 1 purpose attaching to the rear walls of the several
compartments reading matter which will call attention to the wares on sale. I should
add that the interior of these compartments is clearly visible from the outside of the
machine, a glass window being provided for that purpose. However, the articles on
sale are likewise held in full view behind a glass partition and these articles unay
themselves be supplied with advertising material in any desired form.
I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my apparatus, including both the vending and the
advertising portions thereof;
Fig. 2 is a section along line 4-4 in Fig. 4 looking toward the machine from
the rear;
:
11
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1

page_text: '
Fig. 4 is a section along line 3-3 in Fig. 2, looking toward the right; and
Fig. 5 is a detached plan view, of the push-rod and the parts connected therewith.
In the drawings, 1 is the casing of my apparatus, the same being divided off from
front to back by a vertical partition, 2. To the left of the partition, behind a glass
front wall, are, arranged the articles to be vended, which articles are represented in
the drawing as cigarettes. The chamber to the right of the partition 2 also bas a
glass front and is divided into compartments by a partition, 55, running lengthwise
of the chamber and the portion in front of the said partition 55 is. formed into
compartiments 51, 52, 53 and 54. The space behind the said partition is separated
off by partitions 60 and 61, running from front to back of the machine and forming
also two of the partitions of the forward compartments already mentioned. All the
compartments may, if desired, be roofed or covered in at their tops.
The cigarettes are held between the front and rear walls of my machine, their
support at the bottom being made up of two parts, one of which is a very thin
plate, 6, of spring metal secured at 8, and the other of which is a rigid piece, 9,
forming part of a slide, 10, which is adapted to move back and forth upon a floor or
base, 11. The slide 10 is provided near its forward end with a slot, 12, just large
enough to receive and hold comfortably a single cigarette. In the normal position
of the parts, this slot is wholly or partially under the front wall of the cigarette
chamber, so that a cigarette cannot enter it. But when the slide is moved backward,
a cigarette will drop into the slot and on the restoration of the slide to its original
position, the cigarette will be carried along under the chamber wall and will be
dropped over the edge of the floor 11. Upon being thus dropped, the cigarette will
fall upon an incline, 13, attached to the inside of the front wall of the machine and
will drop down from there to the floor or platform 14, where it can be picked up by
the purchaser.
In the act of being carried backward, the slide 10, through the medium of the
piece 9, acts upon the plate 6 in such a manner as to move its lower end somewhat
downward, this plate being of spring metal and yielding to pressure. When the
slide returns to place, the spring plate follows- it back and in this way stirs up the
cigarettes, or other articles, to prevent their becoming bunched or clogged and thus
interfering with the working of the machine.
If
The slide 10 has at the rear an opening, 15, which receives the upper end of a
lever, 16, attached to a horizontal rod, 17, running part way across the back of the
machine. There is also secured to the same rod near its opposite end a lever, 18, the
outer end of which is bent forward at 19 and curved downward at 20 at a point
where it comes into the path of the coin 21 in the passage way; 22. (See Fig. 4.)
When the coin is dropped into passage 22, it falls against the curved end 20 of the
lever 18, its other edge being held by the wall 23 forming part of the push-rod
apparatus as a whole. If the coin is too small, it drops between the wall 23 and the
curved end 20 and falls upon the platform 14 into the reach of the customer.
the coin is too large it cannot, of course, be thrust into the passage-way at all.
Now, the external part of the push-rod is shewn at 24 as a rod having a suitable
thumb piece on it; by means of which it can be pushed in. Attached to this
external push-rod and forming a part of the push-rod apparatus as a whole is a
frame, 25, made up of side plates 26 and 27 connected by the wall 23. The wall 23
is a vertical wall, but there is another wall, 29, which is horizontal and connects the
plates 26 and 27 along their tops, except for a slot, 30, in the wall 29. It is in this
slot that the coin 21 rests after first being dropped into the passage-way 22.
wall 29 is extended rearward and has connected with it a sort of yoke, 31, and also
a bar, 32, provided with holes, 33, 34, through which pass posts 35 and 36, which
are secured to or formed on a plate, 96, on the frame of the apparatus. To the same
plate is secured a post, 37, around which, between the plate 96 and the bar 32,
a spiral spring, 38, is arranged, the said spring serving to press the push-rod
apparatus outward after it has been pushed in by hand.
The
To the lower edge of the plate 96 are secured two springs, 41 and 42, one outside the
other, the inner one of which is a thin, flat piece of metal extending across the yoke 31

page_text: and into the space between the walls or plates 26 and 27. 'Its free end is directly under
the vertical channel 43 through which the coin is to be thrown, as will appear herein-
after. The outer spring, 42, also extends into the space between the plates $26
and 27, but not quite so far as the spring 41. At one side of a hammer head, '47, on
the outer end of the spring 42 is a lug, '45, which is so related in position to a
plate 44 on the wall 27 as to be struck by the bevelled side of the said 'plate 44,
when the push-rod is thrust in, and so put the spring 42 .under tension. The
plate 44 is provided with ratchet teeth, 46, which prevent the. push-rod from being
alled back by hand after the lag 45 has come into engagement with the first of the
said teeth. The restoration of the push-rod takes place through the action of the
spring 38, after a complete -pushing in of the rod and-after-the lug 45 has passed
beyond the end of the toothed plate 44 and his sprung upward against the lower
surface of the spring 41. Now, the head 47 is directly under the vertical
channel 43. Accordingly, when the spring is released, as above described, the said
hammer head will fly upward and strike the bottom of the spring 41, just under the
centre of the said vertical channel. Before this happens, the push-rod, including the
plates 26 and 27 and the wall 23, and the other connected parts will have been
moved inward, carrying the coin to a point just at the bottom of the vertical
channel 43 and just above the free end of the spring 41. The impact of the hammer
head upon the spring 41 just beneath the coin itself, will throw the coin upward
through the vertical channel into the chamber above the same whence it may fall
into a suitable receptacle or come to rest upon the roofs of the advertising compart-
ments. At the same time, this act will not cause a nicking or abrasion of the edge
of the coin, such as would be made if the hammer head should strike the coin itself.
The hammer head is now in such a position that it offers no obstacle to the return of
the push-rod, the lug 45 being above the plate 44, as shewn in Fig. 2.
It remains to describe the means whereby the pushing in of the rod operates,
when a coin has been inserted, to cause the dropping of an article of sale. It does
this by reason of the fact that the coin 21 pushes against the curved end 20 of
the lever 18 and thus gives the pivot rod 17 a partial rotation, carrying with it.
the lever 16. The said lever, standing in the opening 15 in the slide 10, moves the
said slide and lets a cigarette fall into the slot 12 during its rearward movement.
As the push-rod returns to its normal position, carrying with it the lever 18 and its
connected parts, the lever 16 moves the slide back with it and throws out a cigarette
in the manner already described.
If no coin is present in the passage way 22, the pushing in of the rod will not
in any way affect the lever 18 and its connected parts and will not cause the dropping
of one of the articles of sale.
In order that no jarring or other accidental or malicious action may effect the
movement of the slide 10 and the consequent dropping of an article of sale, I provide
a catch 75 upon the pivot rod 17 and cause to co-operate with it a spring detent 76
in the manner clearly shewn in Figure 4.
It will be clear that other articles besides cigarettes can be vended through the
described machine, and it will also be manifest that either cigarettes, cigars or other
articles can be sold through my machine directly from the original package, it being
only necessary to take out one end of, say, a cigar box and insert it with the open
end downward into the vending chamber at the left of the machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The advertising and vending apparatus constructed and operating substantially
as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
2. A combined vending and advertising apparatus, comprising a chamber having
a support for a number of articles to be sold, and a chamber constituting the
advertising portion of the machine, the chambers being arranged adjacent to each
other and being separated by a suitable partition, in combination with a coin

page_text: passage choked by a lever upon a rocking shaft, a push rod adapted to tilt the said
lever and the shaft through the medium of the coin, a channel leading up into the
advertising chamber, and a spring at the bottom of the said channel, the said spring
being released when the push rod has been fully operated, whereby one of the articles
of sale is dropped, and at the same time the coin is thrown up into the upper portion
of the advertising chamber, substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated
by the accompanying drawings..
*1100K