Improvements in Coin-Freed Vending Apparatus.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 4th Dec., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Coin-Freed Vending Apparatus.
I, LOUIS COEN of 88. Piccadilly, London, W. Tobacconist; 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 :-
This Invention relates to coin-freed apparatus for the automatic_vending of
cigarettes and other such articles and it consists of improvements in the Invention for
which I made application for Letters Patent on the 6th day of August 1897.
No. 18,373. The main object of these improvements is, first, to prevent damage to
the goods by rain which is liable to be driven in between the front plate or cover
and the delivery slide and, secondly, to prevent any slack motion of the delivery
slide when closed, such slack motion being apt to cause injury to the goods.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
Specification wherein Figure 1 is a front sectional elevation and Figure 2 is a side
sectional elevation of so much of a double machine as is required to illustrate the
improvements. The same letters of reference denote like parts in both Figures.
The goods to be sold, as before, are received one at a time into a trough d formed
in the delivery slide D which is adapted to work through a space or orifice beneath
the lower edge of the front cover plate B. The front flange or wall d² of the delivery
trough stands above the external level of the delivery drawer and the bottom of the
trough d is also above that level so that any water falling on the slide D cannot pass
into the trough d. It is however necessary to make further provision for excluding
the rain which, in the machine constructed as in the previous application for Letters
Patent, runs down the external face of the cover B and, forming beads of water at its
lower edge, passes by capillary attraction between the cover B and the top of the
flange of the trough. To prevent this, a second flange M standing up from the
slide D is provided, this flange being in front of, but separated from, the flange 2 by
a channel N. The upper part m of the flange M enters a corresponding recess in the
lower part of the cover B, the flange at front forming a continuation of the front of
cover B and being downwardly inclined at back so as to lead any water which may
gain admittance between the bottom of the cover B and the top of the flange M down
the back of the flange into the channel N and thence through gutters n in the sides
of the slide D away from the goods, the water that runs down the front of the
flange M passing inwards through holes in the bottom of the flange to the channel N.
A certain amount of slack of the delivery slide in its guides, in the direction of its
length, is necessary in order that the coin inserted in the slot may have time whilst
the slack is being taken up to act on and release the locking mechanism and thus
leave the slide free to be fully withdrawn. But, the extent of this slack motion before
a coin is inserted is such as to be apt to cause the coin slot d³ when the slide has
been pulled or shaken out, to be covered by the part A2 of the casing under which
the slide passes, the insertion of the coin being thus obstructed, and the vibration of
the slide also causing injury to the goods. To obviate these results, I employ the
device shewn, consisting of a two-armed latch lever pl p² pivoted at p to the coin-
guide d' which is fast on the delivery slide 1) the end of the arm p¹ projecting through
the coin-guide d'into the path traversed by the coin. The other arm p² passes through a
guide slot formed in a lug d³ attached to the slide, the end of the arm being adapted,

page_text: when the slide is pushed home, to fall by its own weight behind a shoulder e² on the
side of the fixed inner casing E, the clearance between the arm p² and the shoulder e²
being so small that there is practically no slack motion of the slide so long as the
device described is in its normal position. When however a coin is inserted in the
slot the arm p² is raised up by the coin acting on the end of arm p¹ until the arm p²
clears the shoulder e² thus leaving the slide free to be drawn out and so allow the coin
to act upon the locking mechanism as fully described in the application for Letters
Patent above referred to.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Constructing the delivery slide of a coin-freed vending apparatus with a flange
separated from the trough for the goods by a channel forming a gutter, the said flange
standing up from the slide and when the slide is closed fitting into a recess on the
bottom of the front or cover plate substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. The means substantially as described for taking up the slack of the delivery
slide when the slide is in its normal or completely closed position, consisting of a
pivoted latch lever adapted to be released by the coin inserted in the slot
substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 9th day of September. 1897.
A M & WM CLARK.
Chartered Patent Agents, 53. Chancery Lane. London.