Patent ID: 7066351

Claim:
A sanitized dispensing mechanism for a vending machine, comprising: (a) a receptacle attached to a vending machine adjacent to an exterior opening thereof and defining an interior chamber and a rear opening behind said interior chamber contiguous with the exterior opening of the vending machine through which rear opening an item discharged from the exterior opening of the vending machine is received into said interior chamber, said receptacle having a bottom opening below said interior chamber; (b) a barrier mounted across said receptacle between said interior chamber and said bottom opening thereof and adjacent to said rear opening thereof and the exterior opening of the vending machine and adapted to undergo movement between receiving and dispensing positions such that at said receiving position said barrier receives the item from the vending machine through the exterior opening thereof and said rear opening of said receptacle and retains the item in said interior chamber blocking the item from dropping through said bottom opening of said receptacle whereas at said dispensing position said barrier releases the item from said interior chamber allowing the item to drop through said bottom opening of said receptacle onto a hand of a user of the vending machine; and (c) an actuating device mounted adjacent to said receptacle and coupled to said barrier, said actuating device including an operating lever extending to exteriorly of said receptacle and the vending machine and adapted to be gripped and moved by the user between first and second positions to cause said barrier to move between said receiving and dispensing positions and the item to drop from said interior chamber of said receptacle onto the hand of the user; (d) wherein said receptacle includes (i) a pair of side walls laterally spaced apart from one another, said side walls defining therebetween at lower edges thereof said bottom opening of said receptacle, said side walls defining therebetween at rear edges thereof said rear opening of said receptacle, (ii) a front wall extending between and interconnecting said side walls at front edges thereof and being disposed opposite from said rear opening of said receptacle, and (iii) a top wall extending between and interconnecting said side walls at upper edges thereof and being disposed opposite from said bottom opening of said receptacle, said side walls, front wall and top wall together defining said interior chamber of said receptacle.