US2571479A - Cup guiding device - Google Patents

Description

1951 R. E. PARKS 7 CUP GUIDING DEVICE Filed Feb. 19, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Ree/s E. PARKS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill 3/ INVENTOR. REG/S E, PARKS ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 16, 1951 R. E. PARKS CUP GUIDING DEVICE Filed Feb. 19, 1948 Oct. 16, 1951 R. E. PARKS CUP GUIDING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 19, 1948 JNVENTOR. Rea/s E. PAR/(S 7% @MW 2% I ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 16, 1951 UNE'EE S'i'i ATT QEEECE CU? GUIDING DEVICE of Delaware Application February 19, 1948, Serial No. 9,561

, 7 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to a device for guiding the falling movement of a cup, or a cup drop, and is particularly adaptable to use in an automatic drink vending machine wherein a paper cup is dropped into a position accessible to the customer upon the insertion of a coin and is thereafter filled with the beverage.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention consists in the novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.

The accompanying drawings, referred to herein and constituting apart hereof, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Of the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a cup drop embodying the present invention shown in its relationship to the cabinet and certain other mechanism of the automatic drink vending machine, said cabinet being shown in cross section and broken away;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cup drop shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3' is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through the central portion of the cup drop shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3';

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional View taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view of a modified embodiment of the cup drop of the invention; and,

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line L-l of Fig. 6

The present invention has for an object the provision of an improved device for guiding the drop of a cup. Another object isthe provision of a cup guide or drop which will surely and uniformly guide the falling motion of a cup from a higher to a lower place and position the cup, when it has completed its fall, in an upright position. The invention is particularly adapted to use with an automatic beverage vending machine, and provides a reliable device for guiding the fall of a paper cup from a cup dispensing mechanism downwardly to a position of rest under a faucet where it may be filled with a beverage at a place available to a customer. The

invention further provides a means for guiding the downward, inclined fall of an upright cup, maintaining said cup upright at all positions of fall and. final rest, preventing tilting or overturning of the cup at any time.

Referring now in detail to the illustrative emsediments of the invention shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings, the cup guiding device is shown in Fig. 1 as installed in an automatic drink vending machine wherein it is the front wall of the cabinet or casing, H is an aperture therein through which the custozner has access to the filled cup, and I2 is a transparent door which is preferably provided in aperture H and may be lifted to reach the cup. Such vending machines are provided with a drink dispensing faucet i3 and a paper cup supply Hi from which cups are separated and dropped individually by means of cup dispensing mechanism indicated generally by the numeral [5. As is clearly apparent in Fig. 1 of the drawings, it is necessary to provide means for guiding the upright cup after it is separated and released by the mechanism 45 in its downward and forward-tall so that. it will come to rest upright under the faucet l 3.

The cup guide or drop of the invention is preierably formed as an assembled unit which may be removably secured in position within the vending machine cabinet. In the illustration shown av horizontal brace or bracket 15. is provided for supporting other mechanism such as the elements I and lb, and also has a pair of depending plates ll having slots I8 whereby the cup drop unit may be secured by means of wing nuts l9.

The cup drop unit itself comprises a vertically arranged chute having an upper opening 23 (Fig- 2'), said chute being defined by a rear wall 2!, a front wall 22, and side walls 23 and 24, said walls being formed, illustratively, of sheet metal. The further enclosure of the cup drop comprises lower skirt'portions 25- which extend frern turned and strengthened frontedges '26 rearwardly and are curved to abut respective ones of the side walls 23 and 24. A bottom piece 2'! is provided centrally depressed and formed as a sump to discharge overflow or dripped liquid through a waste pipe 28. The framework and casing of the cupdrop unit is completed by a front, inclined baflle plate 29' which is secured to upwardly extending triangular portions 39 of skirt elements 25,. and is formed integrally with 3 horizontally disposed walls 3| abutting the top edges of skirts 25, and the chute side walls 23 and 24.

In order to carry the cup forwardly to the desired point beneath the faucet l3 during the latter part of its fall, the chute defined by the walls 2|, 22, 23 and 24 is formed to engage and guide the cup, maintaining it in an upright position at all times and preventing forward or backward or sidewise tilting. In order to fulfill this function the rear wall 2| is turned at its lower extent providing an inclined plane portion 35, as best shown in Fig. 3, said portion preferably having an angle of about 45 from the horizontal. The side walls 23 and 24 are turned substantially above their lower edges so as to provide on each a shoulder 36. These shoulders also are inclined at an angle to make them substantially parallel with the inclined bottom wall portion 35, about 45 in the example shown. The shoulders 36 and wall 35 are so spaced that the cup of the size to be used, when it has completed its vertical fall and contacts at a rear point on its bottom rim the wall 35, will contact at its turned upper periphery the shoulders 38 at points opposite to each other and displaced substantially 90 from the point of the bottom engaging wall 35 (Fig. 3). Thus a cup 31 such as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 in its falling position is retained in an upright position as it engages and moves down the wall 35 and its turned upper periphery 38 rides at two places on the shoulders 36.

The wall 35 and shoulders 36 are preferably polished to afford as little friction as possible to the cup, and it will be apparent that the cup is positively guided downwardly and forwardly in the same upright position it had in its initial, free fall. The front wall 22 is provided with a curved lower edge 40 forming an opening for egress of the cup from the chute, and the curve is so plotted that the forward part of the periphery 38 of the cup is, at all positions of its descent down the wall 35 and shoulder 36 in a vertical position, just out of contact with said curved edge. Thus, a slight forward tilt of the cup would result in its engagement at its periphery 38 at two points with the edge '40. The cup would therefore either be returned to its vertical position to continue its fall out of contact with edge 40, or would continue its fall in contact with edge 40 guided in a substantially vertical position.

A removable grill 4! is provided as a platform for the delivered cup under the faucet l3, and said platform is slightly backwardly tilted by inclining the forward ends 42 of the bars thereof so that the rearward extents 43 of said bars will have a gentle slope. The extents 43 of said bars may have an inclination of 4 or from the horizontal, for instance, so that any tendency of the cup delivered out of the chute to topple frontwards will be overcome.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings the construction of the cup drop is generally similar to that already described for the first embodiment, except that a pair of parallel bars 45 are secured to the inclined wall portion 35 serving as guide members to be engaged by the bottom of the cup. The falling cup in this embodiment therefore is guided at four points, two spaced about the periphery of the bottom and two spaced about the periphery of the top on the shoulders 38, whereas in the earlier embodiment the cup has a single contact point on the wall portion 35.

The embodiment of Figs. 6 and '7 likewise illustrates the use of arms 48 which may be formed as integral extensions at the lower forward corners of side walls 23 and 24 of the chute. Said arms 46 are arranged to lie closely adjacent the upper rim 38 of the cup when the latter has been delivered and is resting on the grill 4|, preventing side tipping whether caused by the momentum of the cup or the clumsy handling thereof by a customer.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific mechanisms shown and described but departures may be made therefrom, within the scope of the accompanying claims, without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What I claim is:

1. A cup guiding device comprising, in combination, a vertical chute having front and side walls, an inclined bottom wall to be engaged by the bottom edge of a cup falling through said chute, and

a shoulder on each said side wall extending into the chute, parallel to said bottom wall, and adapted to engage a cup sliding down said bottom wall adjacent the upper edge thereof and maintain it vertical, said front wall having a curved lower edge plotted to lie closely adjacent the upper edge of a cup throughout its travel as it slides downwardly along said bottom wall and shoulders.

2. A guiding device, for association with a vertical chute at its discharge end thereof and in vertical alignment therewith, for a cup having an enlarged upper peripheral ring comprising, in combination, an inclined surface to be at the discharge end of the chute to be engaged only by the rear bottom edge portion of the cup, and a pair of spaced surfaces substantially parallel to and spaced above said first surface to be engaged by the cup at said peripheral ring, said spaced surfaces being of a length suflicient to extend over the length of the discharge opening of the chute.

3. A guiding device in accordance with claim 2 wherein the inclined surface below the parallel surfaces is a pair of spaced surfaces parallel to one another to engage the bottom rear half of the cup.

4. A guiding device in accordance with claim 2 wherein a pair of spaced arms are secured to the spaced surfaces and positioned to lie closely adjacent either side of the top edge of a cup when the cup has substantially cleared the spaced parallel surfaces.

5. A cup guiding device comprising, in combination, a vertical cup discharging chute, a pair of inclined, parallel surfaces spaced along the lateral length of said chute to engage a cup falling through said chute along its top side edges thereof, and a second inclined surface below said parallel surfaces and parallel thereto to engage only the rear bottom edge portion of the cup when falling through said chute whereby the cup will be maintained in an upright position at all times.

6. A cup guiding device in accordance with claim 5 wherein the front wall of the chute has a curved lower edge plotted to lie closely adjacent the upper edge of a cup throughout its travel as it slides downwardly along said inclined surfaces.

'7. A guiding device for a cup having an enlarged upper peripheral ring comprising, in combination, a vertical chute, an inclined surface secured to the back wall of the chute, said inclined surface engaging the rear bottom edge portion the cup along each side top portion of said cup 5 whereby the cup will slide downwardly and outwardly in an upright position during its entire passage.

REGIS E. PARKS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Morris June 18, 1901 Standish Mar. 4, 1911 Love Aug. 5, 1924 Freedman May 14, 1929 Skreta Aug. 4, 1936 Mills Oct. 5,-1937 Nicholson June 15, 1943

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