Patent ID: 8145351

Claim:
A storage machine for objects comprising: (a) a compartment system comprising a plurality of compartments and at least one closure mechanism; (b) a machine housing at least partially enclosing said compartments, said machine housing comprising a central predefined access orifice; (c) at least one drive system for effecting a controlled displacement of the at least one closure mechanism; (d) a control system; and (e) at least one safety system to ensure extensive, increased personal safety with respect to risks posed by automated sequences and with respect to automatically activatable moving devices; wherein said at least one closure mechanism is displaceable relative to the central predefined access orifice in order to permit or prevent access to a specific, individual compartment or to a specific group of adjacent compartments; wherein the ability of the at least one closure mechanism to move depends on an access right verifiable by the control system; wherein the at least one safety system comprises a safety switch system having a manually operated security button for producing at least one automatically driven movement of the at least one closure mechanism selected from the group consisting of a closing movement and an opening movement, and a timer switch element with a predefined release time for starting at least one operation of the at least one closure mechanism selected from the group consisting of a closing operation and an opening operation so that a limited time is set for effecting the closing movement, wherein the at least one closure mechanism cannot be automatically directly closed other than if deliberately released and supervised by a user.