US1752750A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Description

April 1930. F. MILLS 1,752,750

VENDING MACHINE Filed May 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l IMZZIZZET' QJ 2 W April 1, 1930. F. MILLS 1,72,750

VENDING MACHINE Filed May 4. 1929 2 Sheets-Shed 2 Patented Apr. 1, 1930 UNITE n: 'srATEs-i PATENT oFF c I I ,I'RED L. MILLS, OEOAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MILLS NOVELTY COMPANY, OF

CHICAGOQILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF. ILLINOIS vnnmus MACHINE Application "med-my 4,

. This invention relatesto vending machine r and more particularly to -such machines adapted for use at -homes,- apartment buildings and-like. places fordispensing staple ar- .ticles,sthe invention-being in the nature of an improvementor supplement to. the invention of my co-pending application, Serial r .NO736O5366, filed-May 4,1929.

Asset forth'in said co-pendingapplication,

'10 the machine requires for the operation thereof theruse of both--akey= and a coin and due to the factthat the keys will be in the hands? of only certain known, persons, the responsibility can'be traced to them-in-case a slug 1s tuse-d instead of a bona fide'ficoin to operate the -machine. In this way thepossibility of I loss. to. the vendor through the use of slugs 'inoperating the .machine isreduced to a minimumorcompletely eliminated. It may be,

however, that whenthe machine is used at the rear'of an apartment building it" will be pationized" by a number of-individuals living int'the apartment, each ofwhom-would be providedlwitha *key, andlwhi'le it would be possible .to confinethe responsibility for the a use ofzslugs-to those who wereprovided with 1 keys,:it wouldnotbepossible to fix the blame upon a particular -;one of; such: individuals 7 1; since anyone ofthenimight operate the ma- 7 which of them inserted the slug. In accord- 1 .uance with :the present invention the coin boxforreceiving the coins usedzin operating the machineisxdivided into a number of different compartments, and-4a device is pro- Vld6d f0l" directing the coinsinto one or another of said compartments. according to: the =.=part-i'cular key-used. r

1;" In this scheme of operation; the 5 keys fur,- nished thedifierent persons who .areto patronizei the 'machine will-differ, preferably 7 i as to ilengthyand the individual'keys willserve to move aswiveled hopper .or like means into V:registration with a.-c,ompartment of the coin. box particularly associated with the key em-' -;=;ployed.:: In this way, if a slug is found in 1. {any particular'compartment of the .coin'box;

"1 theL(responsibility:'for=inserting it may be wsutraced to the3-individual -whohas the 'key'p WhICh" servesto' arrange the hopper inxpos'n a chine and it' would not bepossible to tell 4929. Serial No. 360,367;

compartment.

- Other objects and advantages of the inventionawill be apparent as it is better understood from the'following description, which, taken in'connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof. 1

Referringto the drawings,

Fig, 1. is afront elevation of amachine in which my invention is embodied; certain parts thereof beingbroken'away, for convenience in illustration;

machine;

' on the plane 3-:3 in 'Fig. 1;

1 Fig. 4 is a perspective view'of the latching mechanism and I Fig. 5 is a view of the key employed in conjunction with a coin for-operatingthemachine, said view showing in dottedlines how the actuating lugs on difl'erent keys may be varied in length for the purpose hereinbefore explained. a

Themachine, as thusillustrated, comprises a casing 21 in which there is a series of compartments 22, these: being arranged in the particular embodiment/(shown in two tiers and eachcompartment .being adapted tocon- .tain a singlepackage of the commodity to be sold. Each compartmentisprovided with a door 23-whichhas a central glass panel 24 through whichthepackage 25 may be viewed. Each door isequipped witha latch, whichis shown indetail in Fig. 4;, said latch comprising a bell crank rmember 26 which is pivoted at 27 to a frame part 28, one arm 29 of said bell crank extending forwardly; through a slot 31 inthe front-32 of the casing "and the other arm-3301" said bell crank extending upwardly and carrying a stud 34 the end thereof,- said stud beingnormally in engagement with the side :of a bar 35 shown frag.- mentarily in said Fig. 4 andmorefully in Figs. 1 and 2. A-laterally extending lug 36 is provided upon said upper arm 33 of the bell crank and is adapted to be normally disosed'in notch "37 in' a' keeper'38 secured to the interior of thedoor bymeans ofrivets Fig. 2 isa front-to back section ofzsaid .Fig. 3 is a plan View taken substantially 39. Springs 41 secured at one end of the latching lugs 36 on the bell crank members 26and at the other end to the side of the casing serve to hold the studs 34 of the latching members against the side of the bar 35.

Said bar 35, as best shown in Fig. 1, is provided with a series of notches 43 in the edges thereof, said notches being adapted to be suc cessively brought into registration with the in studs 34 of the, several latching devices, as

pivoted at 47 to a supporting plate or bracket 48 on the interior of the casing, is provided to hold said barin raised position, said control member Orfinger being provided with a hookedportion 49 at the lower end thereof Which is urged toward said bar and into one of the notches 45 by means of a spring 51 which is wound around a stud 52, being secured at one end as indicated at 53 and the 9 other end thereof bearing against a lug 55 on the upper end of said member 46, urging the latter in clockwise direction about the piv- 0t 47. Said member 46 is provided with an arm 56 extending laterally fromthe upper 35 end thereof into a coin chute indicated by the 1 y fder 63 and to engage a member 69 pivoted at 71 to an upright 72 and connected by a link "reference character 57. Said coin chute leadsupwardly to a coin slot 58 and a stud 59 is provided in the lower part of said coin chute to obstruct the passage of a coin 61 when the latter is dropped into the slot. The

position of the coin,as shown in full lines in Fig.1, is such that it is held between the arm 56 of the member 46and a bolt 62 of a key lock 63, the bolt being adapted to be moved 1 toward the left insaid Fig. 1 bythe turning of a key in said lock in manner which will be readily understood. Such action tends to move the coin toward the left in said Fig. 1, y w

jturningthe member 46011 its pivotto cause the same to disengage the bar 35, permitting thelatter to drop until re-engaged by the, l member 46 which enters the next notch 45 aft= er the coin has passed down the coin chute, as shownin dotted lines in Fig. 1.

. lower left in Fig. 1,"itbeihg-noted that the ment. The" notches for thecompartments above aresimilarly'arranged in staggered re i Thefirst coin inserted causes the bar to drop only sufficiently to permit actuation of the-latch for the compartment shown at the lationship and successively decrease in length so that one compartment after another may be successively opened, and after the bar is dropped to the lowermost position, or at any time for that matter, an authorized person having access to the machine through a nornially locked side door 63 may raise said door to the uppermost position, thereby locking the compartments which have been opened, it being understood that they would be refilled before being locked.

It will be observed that it requires the conjoint use of a key and a coin to actuate the ;member.46 so that in case a slug is inserted it will be known that it was used by someone having possession of a key. In order that the particularperson using the slug may be identified,however, I provide adevice shown in the lower part of Fig. 2 and in Fig. 3, whereby the coin or slug will be directed into one oranother of a series of compartments 65 provided in a coin box indicated generally at 66, according to the particular key used,

the keys furnished to different persons authorized to patronize the machine being of different length and each adapted to actuate the device just mentioned in such way as to direct the coin or slug to a particular com- .partment which may thus be identified with thekey used. The key, which is indicated.

by the reference character 67, is provided with a lug 68 at the end thereof, which may be of, varying length, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5,the inner end of the key being adaptedto protrudethrough the lock cylin- 73witl1 an arm 74 rigid with a swiveled hopper75 which is pivoted to said upright 72 and has a flaring mouth portion 76 into which the lower end 77 of thecoin chute 57 extends, said hopper narrowing toward the compartments 65 of the coin chute, which compartments.correspond in number to the number of commodity compartments provided in the casing 21.

1A counter-weight 79 is provided on the arm/74 to hold the hopper 75normally in registration with the passageway 78 at the left in Fig. 2, the lower end of the hopper being moved toward the right to a greater or less extent according to the length of the key employed and thusbrou ght into registration :with any one of the passageways 78, the particularone being determined by the length of thefilug 68 onthe key.

It isthought that the invention and many iofitsattendantadvantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be; apparent that various changes may be-madewin the formyconstruction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the construction hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A vending machine comprising a commodity container, locking mechanism there for requiring the use of both a key and a coin for the operation thereof to unlock the container, a coin box having a plurality of compartments therein, and means operable by the key to direct the coin used in the operation of said locking mechanism into one or another of the compartments in said box according to the length of the key employed.

2. A vending machine comprising a commodity container, locking mechanism therefor requiring the use of both a key and a coin for the operation thereof to unlock the container, a coin box having a plurality of compartments therein, and means operable by the key to direct the coin used in the operation of said locking mechanism into one or another of the compartments in said box according to the particular key employed, the lock being adapted to receive diiierent keys.

3. A vending machine comprising a commodity container, locking mechanism therefor requiring the use of both a key and a coin for the operation thereof to unlock thecontainer, a coin box having a plurality of compartments therein, and means operable by the key to direct the coin used in the operation of said locking mechanism into one or another of the compartments in said box according to the particular key employed, the lock being adapted to receive keys of difierent length.

4:. A'vending machinecomprising a com modity container, locking mechanism therefor requiring the use of both a key and a coin for the operation thereof to unlock the container, a coin box having a plurality of compartments therein, and means comprising a swiveled hopper operable by thekey to direct the coin used in'the operation of said lockingmechanism into one or another of the compartmentsin said box according to the particularkey employed, the lock being adapted to receive different keys.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name to this specification. V

FRED L. MILLS.

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