Patent ID: 6935530

Claim:
A dual station coin-operated vending machine, comprising: (a) a common housing defining an interior chamber; (b) a globe supported on said common housing and having a pair of compartments isolated from one another for containing separate types of product items, said compartments separately communicating with said interior chamber of said common housing; (c) a pair of coin-operated dispensing mechanisms each disposed in said interior chamber of and supported by said common housing below a respective one of said compartments of said globe, each of said dispensing mechanism being operable in response to depositing of a coin therein by a user to dispense product items from only a respective one of said compartments of said globe; (d) means for receiving product items dispensed by said dispensing mechanisms so as to provide access to the dispensed product items at an exterior location on said common housing; (e) a dual hopper supported in said common housing below said globe and above said dispensing mechanisms, said dual hopper including (i) a downwardly concave shaped top surface leading to spaced apart openings in said dual hopper which openings each underlie and align with a respective one of said compartments of said globe and overlie and align with a respective one of said dispensing mechanisms, and (ii) a raised ridge formed on and extending diametrically across said top surface of said dual hopper between said openings so as to isolate said openings from one another such that each of said dispensing mechanisms receive items only from said respective one of said compartments of said globe.