Improvements in Advertising and Vending Machines
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 24th Mar., 1897
[Communicated from abroad by SIEGFRIED SILBERBERG, of 79 West 118th
Street, New York, in the United States of America, Merchant.]
Improvements in Advertising and Vending Machines,
I SAMUEL SIDNEY BROMHEAD of 97 Newgate Street London, Patent Agent
(communication from abroad) do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to provide a combined advertising and vending
apparatus, of a new and improved form, and to such end the machine of my
invention consists 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 or counter for the purchase of one of the
articles on sale; mechanism actuated by the coin-forcing plunger or mechanism
through the medium of the coin for releasing one of the articles on sale for each
coin inserted in the machine; mechanism for returning to the purchaser improper
coin inserted; a device for registering the number of articles on sale delivered by
the machine to purchasers; although it is not to be understood that the invention
is limited to a machine necessarily comprising at once all the devices or mechanisms
before mentioned, for the invention consists in certain various combinations or
arrangements of devices and parts, and in the construction of certain devices and
parts all substantially as hereinafter fully described, set forth and claimed.
The construction of said machine is fully shown and described in the following
specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, wherein similar
letters or numerals of reference designate like or equivalent parts wherever found.
throughout the several views, and in which:
Fig. 1, is a front view of said device in elevation.
Fig. 2, is a side view of the lower portion of Fig. 1 looking from the right, on
the line of said Fig. 1.
Fig. 4, is a similar view of said Fig. 1 on the line z-z, showing the merchandise
compartment, and delivering mechanism thereof.
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 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

page_text: one macame and will drop down from. there: to the floor or platform 14, where it
can be picked by the purchaser.
In the act of being carried forward, 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.
T
The slide 10 bas 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 upper end of which is bent sideways at 20 and extends to a point in the
passage-way 22 where it comes into the path of the coin or counter 21.
When the coin or counter is dropped into the passage 22, it falls into the slot 30
in the top wall 29 of the inverted, three-sided,,hollow rectangular piece 25, forming
the extension of the push-rod, and being held in such slot, is pushed rearward by
the cross-wall 23 upon movement of the push-rod rearward. If the coin is too
small it drops down through the slot 30 within reach of the purchaser, but if it is
too large it comes in contact with the central portion at 19 (Fig. 2) and as the
push-rod is pushed back into the machine it remains in place until the rear large
hole 22 in the push-rod comes beneath it, when it drops through that down into
reach of the purchaser, as also do any superfluous coins of the proper size which
may have heen inserted simultaneously in the passage 22.
The outer end of the push-rod 24 is provided with a suitable thumb-piece by
which pressure is exerted against it, and at the rear it is provided with the three-
sided, hollow, rectangular-shaped piece 25 (Fig. 2) before referred to, made up of
vertical side-plates 26, the cross-plate 23 and the horizontal plate 29, all of which
are preferably formed integral with one another and of suitable cast metal. The
slot 30 to receive the coin is formed through the top plate 29 rearward of the cross-
plate 23 and serves to hold the coin' upright and on edge until driven rearward by
the push-rod, and immediately forward of this slot 30 is the large opening. 22"
through the push-rod, which allows of the large size coins, or any excess in the
number of proper sized coins inserted at once in the reception slot, to be at once
returned to the purchaser, by falling through the same immediately upon the
actuation of the push-rod. Connected with the rectangular portion 25 of the push-
rod at the rear is a yoke 31', preferably of the shape shown extending rearward
from which is a rod or post 37 on which is mounted a spiral spring 38 the other
end of which surrounds a similar short post projecting inward from a suitable
lug 32 secured to the main frame of the machine, to the bottom of which lug 32
are secured the springs 41 and 42, the purpose of such spring 38 being to force the
push-rod back to its normal position the instant it has been pushed fully back and
released from pressure.
To the outer end 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 exteuding across the
yoke 31 and into the space between the walls or plates 26, and constituting the coin
spring: The free ends thereof are directly under the vertical chamber 43, through
which the coin is to be thrown, as will' appear liereinafter. The outer or striking
spring 42 also extends into the space between the plates 26, but not quite so far as
the coin-spring 41. At one side of a hammer head 47 on the outer end of the
striking spring-42 is a small lug, which is so related in position to a plate 46 on the
wall 27 of the pusli-rod as to be struck by the beveled side of the said plate 46
when the push-rod is thrust' in, and so put the striking spring 42 under tension:
The plate 46 is provided with ratchet teeth which prevent the push-rod from being
pulled back by hand after the lug has come into engagement with the first of the
said teeth. The restoration of the pushi-rod takes place through the action of the
spring 38, after a complete pushing in of the rod and' after the lug has passed'
beyond the end of the toothed plate 46 and has sprung upward.against the lower

page_text: surface of the coin-spring 41. Now, the head 47 is directly under the vertical!
channel 43. Accordingly when the striking-spring 42 is released, as above.
described, the hammer head will fly upward and strike the bottom of the coin-
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 coin-
spring 41. The impact of the hammer head upon the coiu-spring 41 just beneath.
the coin itself, will throw the coin upward through the vertical channel 43 into the-
chamber above the same. At the same time, this act will not cause a nicking or
abrasion of the coin, such as would be mude 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 being above the plate 46 as shewn in Fig. 2..
Arrived in the chamber above the vertical channel the coin is thrown into the
space behind the partition 55, into one or the other of the narrow spaces between.
the said walls and the partition 60 and 61.
Suppose now the coin or counter drops into one of the compartments at the front
of the machine it will come to rest upon one of the floors or pans 62, 62. Now the
said floors or pans are pivotted to a rod 63 toward the back of the machine and they
are also connected with arms 64, 64, which extend beyond the pivot and have
detents 65, 65 extending downward from the said arms below the pivot. To the
rear end of each of the arms 64 is centrally pivotted a spring catch or detent 66,.
the lower end of the same being just ahore a platform 67 extending rearward from
the partition 68 which divides the lower part of the machine from end to end.
There are two platforms 67, each of them wide enough to span two of the
catches 66, or, rather, to span two of the narrow spaces already referred to,
the partition 65.
behind
The coin or counter which falls into one of these narrow spaces is left standing
on its edge on one or the other of the platforms 67, and the said coin or counter
stands thus, just behind an arm of the yoke 31. If, now, the push-rod is thrust
inward carrying the yoke with it, it will push the said coin or counter against the
lower end of one of the catches 66, and release the upper end of the said catch
from engagement with the edge of the opening 97, beneath which the said catch is.
located. It will be understood that the coin or counter which has thus entered
the vertical channel is subsequently pushed into the locked receptacle 94 at the
,back of the machine, remaining there until it is taken out by the owner.
On the return of the push-rod by reason of the action of the spring 38, one of the
lugs 70, 70, 70, 70 on the top of the yoke 31 will strike against the detent 65 and
pull the catch back into place, and with it the floor or pan of the adjacent
compartment. To assist in the restoration of the catch in the proper manner, a
little spring 71, is provided on each of the arms 64, the said spring lying between.
the said arm and the lower end of the catch.
It remains to describe the means whereby the pushing in of the rod operates,
when a coin or counter has been inserted, to cause the dropping of an article of
sale. It does this by reason of the fact that the coin or counter 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 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 upou the pivot-rod 17 and

page_text: cause to co-operate with it a spring detent 76. Secured to the lever 16 which
actuates the merchandise or cigarette delivering slide 10, is a connecting-rod
attached to a spring-pawl and ratchet device which actuates the merchandise
counter A in such manner that the register thereof will register one, for each full
delivery movement of the slide 10.
I do not intend to limit myself, therefore, to a machine using coins, or to one
using counters of any shape, size or form, nor in fact to any particular construction
of the whole or any of the parts, or manner of combining the parts, of said device,
but :-
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. A machine of the class described, constructed substantially as described, and
for the purposes set forth.
2. A combined advertising and vending apparatus comprising compartments for
the receipt of coins or counters and other spaces for allowing the coins or counters
to pass through, the said other spaces being choked by catches supporting the floor
of the said other spaces, a separate chamber for the articles of merchandise in
combination with a coin passage choked by a lever upon a rocking shaft, a push-
rod adapted to tilt the said lever and shaft through the medium of the coin or
counter, a channel leading to the space above the said other spaces 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 merchandise may be
dropped, and at the same time the coin or counter be carried into a position to fall
into other places, or fall into a suitable receptacle, and a counter, or registering
device for registering the number of articles of merchandise delivered, and a
counter or registering device for registering the number of coins or counters
passing through the machine substantially as shown and described.
3. A combination vending and advertising apparatus, comprising a chamber
having a support for a number of articles of merchandise and a chamber con-
stituting 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 or counter 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 a coin or
counter, a vertical coin or counter 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 merchandise
is dropped, and at the same time the coin is thrown up through the vertical
channel into a suitable receptacle, and a counter or registering device for registering
the number of articles of merchandise delivered by the machine, substantially as
shown and described.
1