Patent ID: 6840399

Claim:
A vending machine, comprising: a cabinet, a article storage area locked in the interior volume of the cabinet; a suction hose formed of a substantially continuous material having one end for extracting articles from said storage area and another end connected to a source of suction; a hose positioning mechanism coupled to said suction hose between said one and said another end, for controllably positioning said one end so as to be aligned with a longitudinal axis along which a given article is stored in said storage area, and hose drive means co-located with said hose positioning mechanism for controllably driving said hose in a direction aligned with said longitudinal axis so said one end can extract a article from said storage area, wherein said hose positioning means and said hose drive means both impart storage requirements on said suction hose as a result of said controllable positioning and controllable driving of said hose, and wherein a single hose storage area is provided in said vending machine for meeting said hose storage requirements.