US3322302A - Jam release for cigarette dispenser - Google Patents

Description

M y W7 vv. BEHA ETAL 3,322,302

JAM RELEASE FOR CIGARETTE DISPENSER Filed Jan. 18, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 j 50 M {3K1 \52 JNVENTORS WALTER BEHA By WILHELM BENDER ATTORNEYS May 30, 1967 w. BEHA ETAL 3,322,302

JAM RELEASE FOR CIGARETTE DISPENSER Filed Jan. 18, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTORS WALTER BEHA BY WILHELM BENDER MM M ATTORNEYS United States Patent OfiFice 3,3225% Patented May 39, 1967 This invention relates to automatic cigarette dispensers of the magazine type such as shown in Rott et al. US. Patent No. 2,936,930. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an improvement in the cigarette dispenser of the Rott et al. patent and whereby a cigarette entering a trough in a longitudinally inclined position or in a transverse position relative to the trough will not be jammed and damaged by operation of the dispenser to drop the cigarette into the holding claw for movement into engagement with the electric igniter.

The operation of the cigarette dispenser to which the present invention is directed is fully shown and described in the above-mentioned Rott et al. patent, and reference is made thereto for description of the construction and operation of parts of the cigarette dispenser not directly related to the improvement of the present invention.

Thus, in the embodiment of the cigarette dispenser shown in FIGS. 1 through 11 of the No. 2,936,930, the dispenser includes a magazine chamber ing outwardly of a housing G. The pushbutton 2 may be manually operated so as to be pushed inwardly through an opening in the housing G, and is mounted on a pusher rod 3. The push button has a lateral groove 2a into which 32 may enter during a predeter- 3 is pushed inwardly by manual operation of the button 2. This angular lever 11 is formed to engage the face 13 of a slider 9 so that the slider 9 is moved from the left toward the right horizontally, as viewed from the front of the dispenser, and beneath hinged bottom plates .Z'il and 51 of the magazine chamber 1, responsive to pushing the button 2. Slider 9 is form-ed with a downwardly extending lug 25 which, together with the downwardly extending edge portion of an inclined closure plate 15, forms a trough 25. The bottom of this trough is formed by a fixed sheet member 19 having a downwardly extending portion 21 carrying the pivot pin 20 of the angular lever 11. The lowermost cigarette Z of the cigarette supply in the magazine chamber 1 is disposed in trough 25 before the dispenser is put in operation.

The bottom plates 59 and 51 of the magazine chamber 1 are movable up and down in mutually opposite directions. This oscillatory motion of the bottom plates serves the purpose of preventing the formation of mutual bracing or edging of the cigarettes in the magazine chamber 1, thus securing a reliable discharge of only one cigarette at a time. When the rod 3 is pushed inwardly by manual operation of push button 2, the slider 9 moves toward the right, as viewed from the front of the dispenser, until a portion thereof abuts against a pivoted pawl. This displacement of slider 9 entrains closure sheet 15 which lifts bottom time, slider 9 pushes against an angular member 52 pivotally connected with the bottom plate 51. This turns member 52 about its pivot in opposition to the force of the spring 53 so that the bottom plate 51 is forced downwardly. The movement of plate 51 is limited in both directions, by means of a guiding slot 54 and a guide pin 55 near the front edge of bottom plate 5 1.

The upwardly rotating bottom plate 5t and the downwardly rotating bottom plate 51 cooperate to move the cigarettes in magazlne chamber 1 against each other to preserve the necessary mobility of the individual cigarettes so that edging and clogging of the cigarette supply is prevented. The cigarette Z displaced from sheet member 19 transversely to the cigarette axis,

of slider 9 during movement of the slider toward the right. The claw 4 has a bottom piece 26 guided in a longitudinal slot 27 of trough 28 and which, in addition to forming a guide for claw 4, also serves to prevent the edging of the cigarette when dropping into the claw.

The aforementioned operations occur during a portion of the inward movement of pusher rod 3 responsive to manual actuation of push-button 2. As described in the further inward movement of pusher rod 3, the cigarette is clamped in the claw 4 and is moved rearwardly into engagement with an electrically energized cigarette igniter which is energized responsive no useful purpose.

The present invention is particularly directed to those parts of the cigarette dispenser of the Rott et al. patent the invention, it has been found that occasionally a cigaand thus into the will occupy a slanted, inclined, or transverse position relative to the bottom of the trough, rather than lying in a horizontal position on the bottom of the trough. A cigarette in such an inclined or transverse position will be jammed and damaged by the bottom plates 50 and 51 when the gap therebetween is closed. The situation can be corrected only by re-opening the housing of the cigarette dispenser and removing the damaged cigarette.

An object of the present engagement with a cigarette in the inclined position in the trough, and as the bottom plates move in opposed directions to close the gap therebetween, so as not to damage such cigarette.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide such one bottom plate of the cigarette magazine with a spring biased downwardly extending wall which, upon return of the bottom plates to their inactive position, will serve to move a cigarette, having an inclined or transverse position relative to the trough, back into the cigarette magazine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improvement in the cigarette dispenser shown in the Rott et al. Patent No. 2,936,930 whereby the construction thereof is improved and simplified in such a manner that jamming and damaging of cigarettes falling into an inclined or transverse position in the trough will be prevented.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made to the following description of a typical embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the frontal portion of a cigarette dispenser embodying the present invention, partly in section and with the front wall being removed, the parts being shown in the rest position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating the position of the parts when a cigarette has been discharged into a transport trough; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the improved bottom plate of the cigarette magazine, in accordance with the invention.

In the drawings, only those parts of the Rott et al. cigarette dispenser are illustrated which are directly related to the improvement of the present invention.

As mentioned above, the cigarette dispenser includes a cigarette magazine chamber 1 including normally downwardly and inwardly sloping bottom plates 50 and 51. Bottom plate 51 is formed with a downwardly extending angular extension 60, and the corresponding member in the Rott et al. patent is fixed relative to the plate 51 as by being formed integrally therewith. The plate 50 and 51 are linked to the side walls of magazine chamber 1, and the upward and downward motions of the bottom plates serve the purpose of preventing the formation of mutual bracing or edging of the cigarettes in magazine chamber 1 so as to secure a reliable discharge of only one cigarette at a time.

When slider 9 moves toward the right, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, it entrains closure sheet 15 and moves this closure sheet to the right. This lifts bottom plate 59, closing the gap between bottom plates 50 and 51. At the same time, the depending edge of closure sheet 15 moves the cigarette in trough 25 toward the right on sheet 19. Simultaneously, slider 9 engages within a recess of an angular member 52 which is pivotally connected with the bottom plate 51. The engagement of slider 9 with member 52 turns member 52 about its pivot in opposition to the bias of a spring 53, so that bottom plate 51 is forced downwardly. This movement of plate 51 is limited, in both directions, by means of a guiding slot 54 in guide pin 55 which is near the front edge of bottom plate 51.

The upwardly and downwardly rotating bottom plates 50 and 51 cooperate to move the cigarettes in magazine chamber 1 against each other to preserve the necessary mobility of the individual cigarettes so that edging and clogging of the cigarette supply is prevented. The cigarette displaced from sheet member 19 transversely to the cigarette axis drops into a holding claw 4 and it is then transported to the igniter, all as described in Rott et al. Patent No. 2,936,930.

Referring to FIG. 3, the angular extension 60 of bottom plate 51 is hingedly connected to the bottom plate at hinges 61 and 62, and is biased to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 by a coil spring 63. As previously mentioned, it sometimes happens that a cigarette, such as the cigarette Z of FIGS. 1 and 2, will fall into trough 25' so that it is at an inclined or transverse position with respect to the horizontal surface 19. If wall 60 were rigid, upon closing of the gap between the plates 50 and 51, this cigarette Z would be jammed and damaged. This would require removal of the cover of the dispenser in order to obtain access to magazine chamber 1 to remove the damaged cigarette Z With the present improvement in the Rott et al. cigarette dispenser, such jamming and damaging of the cigarette is prevented in a simple and secure manner. When a cigarette, such as cigarette Z falls in an inclined or transverse position into the gap between the two bottom plates 50 and 51, the relative motion of these two plates in closing the gap therebetween will cause the spring biased hinged member 60 to be swung back about its hinges 61 and 62 so that the cigarette will not be damaged despite its disoriented position. As bottom plates 50 and 51 return into their initial position, as shown in FIG. 1, the inclinedly positioned cigarette Z will be forced back into the cigarette magazine 1 by the spring bias on depending member 60. Consequently, the necessity for removing the cover of the cigarette dispenser to remove a damaged cigarette is obviated.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigarette dispenser having a cigarette magazine chamber including first and second bottom walls pivotally suspended adjacent their outer edges and sloping downwardly and. inwardly toward each other normally to define a gap between their inner edges having a width sufficient to permit one cigarette at a time to fall into a substantially horizontal trough from which it may be displaced laterally into a reciprocable claw for transport to an igniter and delivery, when ignited, to an access opening in the dispenser; the first bottom wall being swung upwardly and the second bottom wall being swung downwardly, during such displacement of the cigarette from the trough, to substantially close the gap therebetween to an extent suflicient to prevent movement of a cigarette from said chamber into the gap, to prevent mutual bracing or edging of the cigarettes in the magazine chamber; one of said walls having an extension extending downwardly from the inner edge of its cigarette support surface and forming part of the means defining the gap, the extension and the inner edge of the other wall, during closing of the gap, crushing any cigarette extending transversely or inclinedly of the trough into the gap: the improvement comprising means mounting said extension of the innner edge of said one wall for displacement outwardly relative to said gap only upon engagement with a cigarette projecting from said trough into said gap, said means operating said extension to force a jammed cigarette out of the gap into the trough upon return of said bottom wall portions to their normal positions.

2. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said means includes means biasing said extension inwardly relative to said gap.

3. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said means hingedly connects said extension to the inner edge of the cigarette support surface of said one wall.

4. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 3, in which said means includes means biasing said extension to a limiting position in which it extends at a predetermined angle from said support surface and defines one edge of said gap.

5 5. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 3, in which said extension is mounted on said second bottom wall.

6. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 5, in which said means includes means biasing 5 said extension to a limiting position in which it extends at a predetermined angle from said second wall and defines one edge of said gap.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Danubio 221-205 X Copeland 221-205 X Mayer 221147 Rott et a1. 221--15 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN A CIGARETTE DISPENSER HAVING A CIGARETTE MAGAZINE CHAMBER INCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND BOTTOM WALLS PIVOTALLY SUSPENDED ADJACENT THEIR OUTER EDGES AND SLOPING DOWWARDLY AND INWARDLY TOWARD EACH OTHER NORMALLY TO DEFINE A GAP BETWEEN THEIR INNER EDGES HAVING A WIDTH SUFFICIENT TO PERMIT ONE CIGARETTE AT A TIME TO FALL INTO A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL TROUGH FROM WHICH IT MAY BE DISPLACED LATERALLY INTO A RECIPROCABLE CLAW FOR TRANSPORT TO AN IGNITER AND DELIVERY, WHEN IGNITED, TO AN ACCESS OPENING IN THE DISPENSER; THE FIRST BOTTOM WALL BEING SWUNG UPWARDLY AND THE SECOND BOTTOM WALL BEING SWUNG DOWNWARDLY, DURING SUCH DISPLACEMENT OF THE CIGARETTE FROM THE TROUGH, TO SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSE THE GAP THEREBETWEEN TO AN EXTENT SUFFICIENT TO PREVENT MOVEMENT OF A CIGARETTE FROM SAID CHAMBER INTO THE GAP, TO PREVENT MUTUAL BRACING OR EDGING OF THE CIGARETTES IN THE MAGAZINE CHAMBER ; ONE OF SAID WALLS HAVING AN EXTENSION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY

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