US2960374A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Nov. l5, 1960 s. KozELKA VENDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 22, 3.957

' i Nov. 15, 1960 s. Kozx-:LKA

VENDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2` Filed NOV. 22, i957 o 0 o o o o \||l o o o f o o o O O O o o o o oww, f o o o o o o o o o o o o a@ 'o o o f M O O fw fw o o o Ww o 00% 1\ o6 #lt n ..-l/mmm? -IiL L v-- .r l5 JLJJ... .EMUHH Inf,... HUF-L r r1 VENDING MACHINE Stephen Kozelka, 3938 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, lll.

Filed Nov. 22, 1957, Ser. No. 698,147

7 Claims. (Cl. S12-218) This invention relates to improvements in vending machines.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a vending machine for dispensing food products -in heated condition.

Another object of this invention is to provide a vending machine for separately supporting in separate compartments a food product, for example, a dish and/or tray of food products which is maintained in heated condition and which may be withdrawn upon the deposit of a coin.

Another object of this invention is to provide a vending machine having two tiers of compartments for foodstuffs, with a separate closure for each compartment, said compartments and closures being so arranged that upon each successive activation of the machine the uppermost unopened closure of one or the other tier will open to permit withdrawal of the foodstuff from the opened compartment.

Another object of this invention is to provide a vending machine having two separate tiers of compartments, with the compartments of one tier staggered with respect to the compartments of the other tier, and separate doors for closing each said compartment separately and means engaging each door and adapted to be actuated upon the the deposit of a coin to alternately release the uppermost closed door of one or the other tiers of doors.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevational view of the vending machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical broken away section taken on lines 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevational detail taken on lines 4-4 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 5 is a plan View taken on lines 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective partial View of the operating means for locking and releasing the doors of the compartments.

Fig. 7 is a broken section showing particularly the staggered arrangement of the doors and the manner in which they are released for opening.

The device comprises an upright casing or cabinet generally indicated at 10, the upper portion of which houses the shelves providing individual compartments for the food and the lower portion provides a housing for the heating elements for heating the food.

The upper portion of the cabinet has two inner vertically spaced Walls which divides the upper part of the cabinet into two outer compartments 18 and 20 and an intermediate compartment 22 best shown in Figure 5. The outer compartment 18 contains a plurality of horizontally spaced shelves 24 forming a tier of compartments 26. The outer compartment 20 also has a plurality of spaced shelves 28 forming a tier of compartments 30. The shelves are supported on suitable brackets secured to the walls of the cabinet. The shelves 28 in tier 30 are staggered with respect to the shelves 24 in tier 26 for the purpose to be described. The shelves are each provided with a plurality of openings 32 -for passage of the heat inside the cabinet.

Hingedly secured to the front of the cabinet as at 33, forwardly of each compartment 26, is a door 34, one door being provided to close each compartment 26 in the tier of compartments. Hingedly secured as at 35 to the lfront of the cabinet on the opposite side are doors 36, one door being provided to close each compartment 30 in the tier of compartments. Each of the doors are provided with a transparent portion 34a and 36a respectively through which the contents of the shelf compartment are visible. Each door has a knob 38. Each of the doors 34 is provided with a U shaped bracket 34b and each of the doors 36 is provided with a similar bracket 36b. These brackets are adapted to be engaged by the vertically sliding rods of the operating mechanism presently to be described. Each of the doors may be provided with a spring adjacent the hinge end to cause the door to swing open when it has been released.

The operating mechanism generally indicated at 40 is supported in the main in the rear of the central compartment 22 of the cabinet and includes an upper plate 42 which is iixedly attached to the inside of the top of the cabinet. This plate supports a pair of spaced guide rods 44. The bottoms of said guide rods are secured to a bottom plate 46 lixedly secured to the bottom of the cabinet. The two guide rods 44 slidingly support a bracket 48. The bracket has an enlarged central recess or opening 49 which surrounds the upper portion of a rectangular shaped vertically sliding bar 50. The bracket 48 is iixedly secured to the bar 50 by a screw 51 so that said bracket 48 and bar 50 move together.

The vertically sliding bar 50 is provided with a plurality of spaced horizontal openings 52, each of which receives a slidable pin 54. A portion of each pin normally extends forwardly and rearwardly of the vertical bar, as best seen by the upper pin in Fig. 4.

A horizontally positioned U shaped bracket 56 is lixedly secured as by a screw 57 to the vertical sliding bar 50 and said bracket has a pair of openings through which extend the vertical guide rods 44. The bracket 56 surrounds the vertical bar 50 and slides with said bar. Also secured to the lower end of the vertically sliding bar 50 by a screw 58 is a horizontally positioned block 60 having its opposite ends slotted and bore as at 62 to each receive in clamped position a forwardly horizontally extending rod 64. Bolts 65 are used to clamp same to the block. The front end of each of the horizontal rods 64 supports a at plate 66 each of which iixedly supports a vertical rod, one of the vertical rods being designated as 68 and best shown in Fig. 6 and the other rod iS designated as 7l?. These rods are pointed at their upper ends. As will be understood, the vertical rods 68 and 7i) move with the sliding movement of the Vertical sliding bar 50. The vertical rods 68 and 7@ act when in engagement with the door brackets 34b and 36h respectively to maintain the doors in locked position, as will be more fully described.

The cabinet supports a horizontally positioned inverted L shaped support plate 72 which extends across the front of the vertically sliding bar 50 and on which the lowermost pin 54 to be actuated is adapted to rest, as best seen in Fig. 6. Fixedly secured as at 73 to a cross bar 74 atiixed to the rear of the cabinet is a vertically positioned plate 76. The plate i6 is positioned rearwardly of the sliding bar 50 and for the major portion of its length is parallel to but is in spaced relation with respect to the vertical bar 50. The portion of the Vertical plate adjacent the rear of the support plate '72 curves or cams outwardly and rearwardly as at 78 and continues downwardly parallel to the vertical bar 50. The pins 54 on' the vertical bar 50 above the support plate 72 are prevented from being pushed rearwardly by their engagement with the upper portion 77 of the plate 76, but as the bar 50 slidingly moves down `with the rearward actuation of the pin 54 resting on the support plate 72, the l pin 54 on the support plate will be pushed rearwardly, as shown in Fig. 4, to clear the ysupport plate 72 vand permit the bar 5t) to drop by gravity one step to the next pin above.

A conventional coin operated mechanism may be employed and same is generally designated by the numeral 80. When the coin is deposited, the coin mechanism is released so that the horizontal extending rod 82 attached thereto is pushed rearwardly. Secured to said rod is a horizontally positioned U shaped plate S4 which surrounds the front of the pin 54 resting on the support plate 72. A support member 83 attached to support plate 72 slidingly supports the` plate 84. As the rod S2 is pushed rearwardly it moves with it the plate 34 to push the pin 54 rearwardly oit the support plate 72, thereby permitting the vertical sliding bar 5,0 to drop by gravity the distance of one pin so that the next pin 54 engages the support plate 72 to arrest the downward sliding of the vertical bar 50. On release of lthe coin slide a conventional spring 83a will retract the rod 82 and plate 84 and it will be ready for the next actuation. The pins S4 that are pushed rearwardly will remain in their rearward position until the vertically sliding bar 50 isvmanually slid upwardly when the food compartments are reloaded. When the bar 59 is slid upwardly manually the rearwardly pushed pins 54 will engage the curved or camrned surface 78 of the plate 76 and will'be pushed forwardly to their normal position, as shown by the top pin in Fig. 4.

As previously explained, the tier of compartments 26 are staggered with respect to the tier of compartments 30, that is the shelves 24 of the tier of compartments 30 are positioned at horizontal elevations between the shelves 28 in tier 30. This is also true of the doors for each compartment. This is illustrated in elevation in Fig. 1 and more clearly in Fig. 7.

The brackets 34b and 36h on the doors 34 and 36 respectively are shown in Fig. 7 and same are in alternately staggered position. When the food compartments are filled and the machine is fully loaded and the doors 34 and 36 are all closed, the vertically slidable bar 50 Vis in its uppermost position with the lowermost pin 54 of the vertical bar resting on the support plate 72 to support the vertical bar 50. In this position the vertical rods 68 will be in engagement with all the brackets 34h of the tier of doors 34 and the vertical rod 70 will be in engagement with all of the brackets 36b of the tier of doors 36 to maintain same in locked position. When a coin is deposited in the coin mechanism 80 and the rod 82 and plate S4 are pushed rearwardly, the lowermost pin 54 will be pushed ot the support plate 72 so that bar 50 slides down one step or one stage to the next pin S4. As this occurs, the vertical rods 68 and 70 which are attached to the bar S0 will also correspondingly move down the same distance. As the rod 70 which controls the tier of doors 36 moves down it will disengage from the top door bracket 36b in tier 30 to permit said door 36 to be opened, as she-Wn by the left side of Fig. 7. The other rod 68 which also correspondingly moves down the same distance but will still be in engagement with the `bracket 34h on the top door 34 of tier 26 and of course with the remaining doors in said tier to maintain same closed. With the next deposit of coin the second lowermost pin 54 will be pushed rearwardly to permit the vertical bars `68 and 70 to drop to the next pin S4. This simultaneously drops both rods 68 and 76 the same distance, however the rod 63 will become disengaged from the top door bracket 34h in tier 26 to permit saidV top door 34 to open, while retaining the remaining doors in said tier locked. The rod 70 will still be in engagement with the second uppermost door 36 in tier 30 and with the remaining door 36 in said tier to prevent them from opening. Thus with each successive downward movement of the vertical bar 50 the uppermost locked door of each tier is alternately released for opening. A coin box 81 receives the deposited coins.

The lower portion of the cabinet may be used as a storage chamber and is provided with a conventional electrically operated heating element designated generally by the numeral 86 for the purpose of heating the interior of the cabinet and the food contents therein, or if desired, a refrigerating unit may be provided for refrigerating the food. The foodstuff may be placed on dishes or trays D in each compartment and same is removable with the opening of their respective door in their particular compartment.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made from the foregoing without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A vending machine including a cabinet having two separate tiers of compartments, the compartments of one tier being staggered with respect tothe compartments of the other tier, a separate door for closing each compartment separately, a vertically sliding member having a plurality ofhorizontally spaced slidable pins, a support on which the lowermost of said pins rests to support said vertically sliding member, a pair of vertical rods supported by and movable with said vertically sliding member with one of said rods engaging the doors of one tier and the other rod engaging the doors of the other tier to normally maintain all said doors in closed position, means for pushing the lowermost pin rearwardly off of said support to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly one step to the next highest pin and simultaneously move said vertical rods downwardly one step to release the uppermost unreleased door of one or the other of said tiers.

2. A vending machine including a cabinet having two separate tiers of compartments, the compartments of one tier being staggered with respect to the compartments of the other tire, a separate door for closing each compartment separately, a vertically sliding member having a plurality of horizontally spaced slidable pins, a support on which the lowermost of said pins rests to support said vertically sliding member, a pair of vertical rods supported by and movable with said vertically sliding member with one of said rods engaging the doors of one tier and the other rod engaging the doors of the other tier to normally maintain all said doors in closed position, means for pushing the lowermost pin rearwardly off said support to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly one step to the next highest pin and simultaneously move said vertical rods downwardly one step to release the uppermost unreleased door of one or the other of said tiers, each successive downward movement of said vertically sliding member adapted to correspondingly move said vertical rods downwardly one step at a time to alternately open the uppermost unreleased door of said tiers.

3. A vending machine including a cabinet having two separate tiers of compartments, the compartments of one tier being staggered with respect to the compartments of the other tier, a separate door for closing each compartment separately, a vertically sliding member having a plurality of horizontally spaced slidable pins, a support on which the lowermost of said pins rests to support said vertically sliding member, a pair of Vertical rods supported by and movable with said vertically sliding member with one of said rods engaging the doors of one tier and the other rod engaging the doors of the other tier to normally maintain all said doors in closed postion, means for pushing the lowermost pin rearwardly off said support to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly one step to the next highest pin and simultaneously movesaid vertical rods downwardly one step to release the uppermost unreleased door of one or the other of said tiers, and means positioned rearwardly of said pins and engaging said pins to push them forwardly upon the upward movement of the vertically sliding member when again closing said doors.

4. A vending machine having a tier of compartments, a separate door for closing each compartment separately, a vertically sliding member having a plurality of horizontally spaced slidable pins, a support on which the lowermost of said pins rests to support said vertically sliding member, a vertical rod supported by and movable With said vertically sliding member with said rod engaging the doors of said tier of compartments to normally maintain all said doors in closed position, means for pushing the lowermost pin rearwardly oft of said support to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly one step to the next highest pin and simultaneously move said vertical rod downwardly one step to release the uppermost unreleased door of said tier of doors.

5. A vending machine having a tier of compartments, a separate door for closing each compartment separately, a vertically sliding member having a plurality of horizontally spaced slidable pins, a support on which the lowermost of said pins rests to support said vertically sliding member, a vertical rod supported by and movable with said vertically sliding member with said rod engaging the doors of said tier of compartments to normally maintain all said doors in closed position, means for pushing the lowermost pin rearwardly ofi said support to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly one step to the next highest pin and simultaneuosly move said vertical rod downwardly one step to release the uppermost released door of said tier of doors, and means positioned rearwardly of said pins and engaging said pins to push them forwardly upon the upward movement of vertically sliding member when again closing said doors.

6. A vending machine including a cabinet having two separate tiers of stationary compartments, the compartments of one tier being staggered with respect to the compartments of the other tier, a separate pivotally mounted door for closing each of said compartments separately, each said door having a locking opening, a vertically sliding member, a vertical rod for each tier of doors, said vertical rods supported by said vertically sliding member with each rod passing through each locking opening in its respective tier for simultaneously locking all of said doors in the tier, means associated with said vertically sliding member to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly with each actuation to simultaneously move said vertical rods downwardly to release the uppermost unreleased door of one or the other of said tiers.

7. A vending machine including a cabinet having two separate tiers of stationary compartments, the compartments of one tier being staggered with respect to the compartments of the other tier, a separate pivotally mounted door for closing each of said compartments separately, each said door having a locking opening, a vertically sliding member, a vertical rod for each tier of doors, said vertical rods supported by said vertically sliding member with each rod passing through each locking opening in its respective tier for simultaneously locking all said doors in the tier, means associated with said vertically sliding member to cause said vertically sliding member to move downwardly with each actuation to simultaneously move said vertical rods downwardly to release the uppermost unreleased door of one or the other of said tiers, a coin operated member, said last mentioned means adapted to be actuated with each deposit of a coin in the coin operated member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,087,748 Fanning Feb. l7, 1914 1,726,525 Clark Sept. 3, 1929 1,839,840 Fry Jan. 5, 1932 1,925,199 Mills Sept. 5, 1933 2,644,735 .lames July 7, 1953

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