US3304691A - Apparatus for dispensing and semi-wrapping unwrapped food particles - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, 1967 J. o. PARKERy 3,304,691

APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING AND SEMI-WRAPPING UNWRAPPED FOOD PARTICLES 11'07222/ 0. Parez",

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Feb. 21, 1967 1.0. PARKER APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING AND SEMI-WRAPPING UNWRAPPED FOOD PARTICLES Filed July 22, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 zii-9.4.

Feb. 21, 1967 J. o. PARKER 3,304,691

APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING AND SEMI-WRAPPING UNWRAPPED FOOD PARTICLES Filed July 22, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Feb. 21, 1967 3,304,691 APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING AND SEMI-WRAP- PIN G UNWRAPPED F001) PARTICLES John 0. Parker, Spring St., Marion, Mass. 02738 Filed July 22, 1964, Ser. No. 384,369 8 Claims. (Cl. 53-183) The present invention relates to dispensers for particles, particularly such unwrapped food particles as candies, chewing gum, popcorn, and peanuts.

The use of coin-operated dispensers for such unwrapped food products, as those to which reference has been made, is wide spread. Such dispensers dicharge a predetermined number of particles, sometimes, as is the case with chewing gum, a single piece. The particle or particles `are delivered by some dispensers into the purchasers hands and by other dispensers into a receiver and removal thereof entails digital contact both with the delivered particle or particles and the receiver. Such dispensers are patronized most commonly by children in age groups having little or -no appreciation of the necessity of lcleanliness and of avoiding the contamination of food and, accordingly, existing dispensers must be regarded as presenting a real possibility of either being or becoming unsanitary.

The principal objective of the present invention is to provide dispensers in which unwrapped particles are delivered on a length of paper or other protective layer enabling them to be easily handled without risk of contamination either by manual Contact or contact with the receiver.

In accordance with the invention, this objective is attained with a dispenser provided with a paper roll, a receiver, means to draw paper from the roll and to deliver a length thereof to the receiver, `and means to discharge a single particle or a plurality of particles onto the delivered length. A gate blocks access to the delivered length and means operable by the opening of the gate separates the delivered length from the roll.

A particular objective of the invention is to provide that the paper withdrawing means is operative to so fold the vdelivered length thatritis a particle supporting and conriingchannel Another particular objective of the invention is toA provide that the paper withdrawing means includes a rotatable member, that the particle delivering means also includes a rotatable member and that the dispenser has a drive including a driving connection between those two members.

Another particular objective of the invention is to provide the drive for the paper withdrawing means `and the particle delivering means with a unit having two independently rotatable elements connectable by a disc of predetermined dimensions, a coin, for example, to permit the drive to be operated only to the extent that the rotatable member of the particle delivery means is turned from a particle receiving position into a position discharging particles on a delivered length of the paper.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention from which these and other of its objectives, novel features, and advantages will be readily apparent.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is a front perspective view of a dispenser in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a side view thereof on an increased scale,

FIGURE 3 is a top plan View, the cover being removed,

FIGURE 4 is a section taken approximately along the indicated lines 4 4 of FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 5 is a section taken approximately `along the indicated lines 5-5 of FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary side view of the dispenser with the side wall broken away to show the coin-0perated unit of the drive, and

FIGURE 7 is a section taken approximately along the indicated lines 7 7 of FIGURE 3.

The dispenser shown in the drawings has a housing 10 provided with a cover 11 and having an end port 12 permitting access to a receiver 13 when the gate 14 is raised. The receiver 13 is shown as of V-shaped cross section and extends rearwardly under the dispensing rotor 15 with its front secured to the sides of the housing 10 and with its rear end attached to a V-shaped cross member 16 having a transverse slot 17 extending vertically therethrough.

A shaft 18, rotatably supported at the rear of the housing 1t) by the sides thereof, has a roll of paper stock 19 detachably attached thereto. The paper stock 19 is a relatively wide strip or band and is fed between feed rolls 20 and 21 carried by shafts 22 and 23, respectively, rotatably supported by the sides of the housing, one above the other. The feed rolls have the additional function of providing the paper with a central, longitudinal fold-or crease line 24 and, to that end, the lower roll 20 tapers inwardly towards the center thereof and the upper roll 21 tapers outwardly towards its middle in a complemental, mating manner.

The dispensing rotor 15 is fast on a shaft 25 having one end rotatably supported by one side of the housing 10 with its other end within an independently rotatable sleeve 26, as may be seen in FIGURE 7, supported by the other housing side and provided with a crank handle 27. The sleeve 26 and the shaft 25 are interconnected by a generally indicated clutch 28 rendered operative when a coin 29 is insertedv in the coin slot 30.

The shaft 25 also is provided with a pulley 31 connected to a pulley 32 on the roll shaft 22 by a belt 33 and with a ratchet wheel 34 engaged by a pivoted latch 35 as may be best seen in FIGURE 4, thus to permit rotation of the shaft 25 only in a paper delivering direction, counter-clockwise las the dispenser is viewed in the drawings.

The dispensing rotor 15 is located above the rear part of the receiver 13 and is provided with a pair of diametrically opposed, outwardly opening pockets 36 midway between its ends, each dimensioned to receive and hold a predetermined volume of particles 37 from the container 38 when it is positioned under t-he hopper 39 which so ts the rotor 15 as to block the lateral escape of the particles and provided with an arcuate trailing skirt 4() preventing escape of particles as a pocket 36 moves under the hopper 39. The hopper 39 is removably supported by the cover 11 and is shown as having an `annular rim 41 to receive the mouth of the container 38. The cover 11 is also provided with an arcuate shield 42 preventing the escape of particles from a full pocket until the rotor is turned into a discharging position for that pocket,

The clutch 28, as may be best seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, consists of a disc 43 fast on the sleeve 26 and an abutting, somewhat larger, disc 44 fast on the shaft 25. The

rear face of the disc 43 has a pocket 45 closed by the disc 44 and opening through its periphery, the pocket 45 being dimensioned to receive and hold a coin 29 with a portion exposed for engagement with a 4pin 46 carried by the disc 44 adjacent its periphery, thereby connecting the discs 43 and 44 so that'they turn together. A spring 47 yieldably holds the disc 43 with its stop pin 48 in engagement with a stop shoulder 49 providing a normal position in which the pocket 45 is under the coin slot 30. The disc 43 can be turned by the crank handle 27 through with t-he stop pin 48 then engaging the stop shoulder 5t) in which .position of the disc 43, the pocket 45 is disposed downwardly to discharge its coin for later removal through the door 51. A shield 52 prevents a coin from escaping from the pocket 45 until the discs have been turned through 180. When the coin drops from the pocket 45, the discs 43 and 44 are no longer interconnected and when the crank yhandle 27 is released, the spring `47 rotates the disc 43 back into its normal position, the ratchet wheel 34, and the latch 35 holding the rotor 15 against turning therewith.

When the crank handle 27 is turned manually to the extent permitted by the stop shoulders 49 and 50, the dispensing rotor 15 has been turned through 180 with one pocket 36 moved from a filling to its discharging position and the other pocket 36 moved from a discharging position to its filling position. At the same time the feed roll 20 has been rotated to effect, in cooperation with the roll 21, the drawing of a predetermined length of paper from the roll 19 and the delivery of a length under the rotor 15 as a removable lining for the receiver 13, the lining 4having a V-shaped form. It will be noted that the paper stock is wide enough to extend beyond the ends of the rotor 15.

The gate 14, blocking access to the port 12, is supported by arms 52 shown as extending into the housing through slots 53 when they are supported by a transverse pivot 54. The rear ends of the arms 52 are pivotally connected to a cutter 55 vertically slidable in a slideway 56 for entry into the slot |17 of the member 16, the cutting edge of the cutter being V-shaped as may be seen in FIGURE 5. In practice, the weight of the ports are such as to yieldably maintain lehe gate 14 in its closed position` When the gate 14 is raised to enable the purchaser to remove his purchase, the cutter 55 is moved downwardly to sever the length of paper lining the receiver so that the purchased food particles may be removed by utilizing the severed and creased length as a supporting semi-wrap therefor.

I claim:

1. In a dispenser for loose, unwrapped food particles such as peanuts and loose candies, a paper roll, a recessed receiver, means to draw paper from said roll and deliver a predetermined length thereof to said receiver, means to discharge a plurality of particles on said delivered length over said receiver, a gate blocking access to the delivered length and its load of food particles, and means operable by opening said gate to separate the delivered length from the paper roll rearwardly of said particle discharge means.

2. In a dispenser for loose, unwrapped, food particles such as peanuts and loose candies, a paper roll, a receiver, means to draw paper from said roll and fold and deliver a predetermined length thereof to said receiver as a lengthwise valley, means to discharge a plurality of particles on said delivered length, a gate blocking access to the delivered length and its load of food particles, and means operable by opening said gate to separate the delivered length from the paper roll.

3. In a dispenser for loose, unwrapped, food particles such as peanuts and loose candies, a paper roll, a receiver, a rotatable feed member to draw -paper from said roll and fold and deliver a predetermined length thereof to said receiver as a lengthwise valley, means to discharge a plurality of particles on said delivered length and including a rotatable delivering member, a drive including a driving connection between said paper feed member and said particle delivering member, a gate blocking access to the delivered length and its load of food particles, and means operable by opening said gate to separate the delivered length from the paper roll.

4. In a dispenser for loose, unwrapped, food particles such as peanuts and loose candies, a paper roll, a receiver, a rotatable feed member to draw paper from said roll and fold and deliver a predetermined length thereof to said receiver as a lengthwise valley, means to discharge a plurality of particles on said delivered length and including a delivering rotor, a drive including a driving connection between said paper feed member and said rotor, said drive including a manually operable actuating unit, said unit including a pair of elements connectable by a disc of predetermined dimensions, a gate blocking access to the delivered length and its load of food particles, and means operable by opening said gate to separate the delivered length from the paper roll.

5. The dispenser of claim 4 in which the manually operable actuating device includes first and second independently rotatable, co-axial elements, each including a shoulder projecting towards the other, the first element including a crank, the second element being connected to said drive, resilient means yieldably maintaining the first element in a first position in which the disc may be inserted between the shoulders of the elements to interconnect them, means to limit the extent to which the rst element may be rotated, the disc then being in a position to drop from between said shoulders by gravity, and means confining the disc between the receiving and dropping positions.

6. In a dispenser for loose, unwrapped, food particles such as peanuts and loose candies, a paper roll, a receiver, a rotatable feed member to draw paper from said roll and fold and deliver a predetermined length thereof to said receiver as a lengthwise valley, means to discharge a plurality of particles on said delivered length and including a rotor having a pocket in its side and rotatable between a first position in which the pocket is disposed upwardly to receive particles and a second position in which the pocket is disposed downwardly to discharge the particles, means to retain the particles in the pocket between the two positions, a drive for the rotatable member and the rotor including a rotatable unit, said unit including two elements normally rotable independently of each other and including shoulders spaced to be interconnected by a disc of predetermined dimensions when the unit is rotatable between positions corresponding to the two positions of the rotor, a gate blocking access to the delivered length and its load of food particles, and means operable by opening said gate to separate the delivered length from the roll with its load of particles.

7. The dispenser of claim 6 in which the rotatable unit includes a spring operable to return one element of the unit to the position corresponding to the particle receiving position of the rotor and means to prevent rotation of the rotor in that direction.

8. In a dispenser for loose, unwrapped, food particles such as peanuts and loose candies, a paper roll, a recessed receiver, means to draw paper from said roll and deliver a predetermined length thereof as a lengthwise valley, means to discharge a plurality of particles on said delivered length over said receiver, a gate blocking access to the delivered length and its load of food particles, and a vertically movable knife to separate the delivered length from the paper roll, a transversely pivotable arm interconnecting said gate and said knife.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 565,479 8/1896 Maclay et al. 53-179 X 1,003,814 9/1911 Scofield 221--93 1,813,935 7/1931 Knee 221--25 3,113,530 12/1963 Versterinark 221-93 FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner.

N. ABRAMS, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN A DISPENSER FOR LOOSE, UNWRAPPED FOOD PARTICLES SUCH AS PEANUTS AND LOOSE CANDIES, A PAPER ROLL, A RECESSED RECEIVER, MEANS TO DRAW PAPER FROM SAID ROLL AND DELIVER A PREDETERMINED LENGTH THEREOF TO SAID RECEIVER, MEANS TO DISCHARGE A PLURALITY OF PARTICLES ON SAID DELIVERED LENGTH OVER SAID RECEIVER, A GATE BLOCKING ACCESS TO THE DELIVERED LENGTH AND ITS LOAD OF FOOD PARTICLES, AND MEANS OPERABLE BY OPENING SAID GATE TO SEPARATE THE DELIVERED LENGTH FROM THE PAPER ROLL REARWARDLY OF SAID PARTICLE DISCHARGE MEANS.

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