Patent ID: 7474938

Claim:
An automated article dispensing device for dispensing articles to a plurality of users, the device comprising: a) a plurality of storage compartments configured for storage of a vertical stack of cloth articles, said storage compartments arranged in a plurality of tiers; b) a plurality of cloth articles deployed in at least some of said storage compartments in vertical stack configurations; c) at least one dispensing outlet; d) an article delivery system configured to retrieve a top-most article from at least one said stack and deliver said article to said dispensing outlet, said article delivery system including a plurality of article retrieval systems equal in number to the number of tiers of said storage compartments; e) a user interface unit accessible to the users; and f) an on-board processing unit configured to control said article delivery system, said on-board processing unit being in electrical communication with said article delivery system, and said user interface unit.