Sanden Corporation

Akihito Kurosawa

Osamu Anazawa

Masayuki Yoshihara

Yoshikazu Kokubun

Daigo Sunouchi

Kazuyuki Suzuki

Kohei Ushikubo

Shinji Todokoro

A vending apparatus comprises a cabinet for storing a plurality of items available for purchase; a memory for storing product data associated with the plurality of items; a message device for visually or audibly reproducing selected segments of the stored product data; an input device for receiving selection and designation data from a user in accordance with the data in the message device; a deposit mechanism for receiving payment for items selected for purchase; and a dispenser responsive to the deposit mechanism and the input device for ejecting items selected by the user for receipt by the user.

Vending apparatus for self-service store

A control device for a dispense mechanism is provided for eliminating failure of the dispense mechanism due to goods becoming stuck therein. In a dispense mechanism of the type wherein a rotating control plate is provided for restricting the motion of dispensing flappers, a control device is provided for controlling the operation of a motor which rotates the control plate. The control device provides a forward rotation signal to rotate the control plate and dispense goods in response to a dispense request. The control device further determines whether an article has become stuck by determining whether the flappers return to their original position while the control plate is being rotated. If an article is struck, the control device rotates the motor in the reverse direction such that the stuck article may be freed. Thereafter, the control device is rotated in a forward direction and again the determination is made whether the flappers have moved to their original position. This operation is repeated until either the flappers move to their original position or the motor is reversed a predetermined number of times, at which time the operation of the dispense mechanism is terminated.

Control device for a vending machine dispensing mechanism

An article dispenser for dispensing articles from a vending machine is disclosed. The article dispenser includes an article storage area which has a bottom opening through which articles are dispensed and an article dispensing mechanism which dispenses the lowermost articles stacked in the storage area through the bottom opening. The dispensing mechanism includes a rotating shaft which controls the opening and closing of the bottom opening of the storage area and is driven by a motor. The motor is controlled by a control device which starts the motor after receiving a start signal and which temporarily stops the motor after receiving a motor stop signal.

An article dispenser for dispensing articles from a vending machine is disclosed. The article dispenser includes an article storage area which has a bottom opening through which articles are dispensed and an article dispensing mechanism which dispenses the lowermost articles stacked in the storage area through the bottom opening. The dispensing mechanism includes a rotating shaft which controls the opening and closing of the bottom opening of the storage area and is driven by a motor. The motor is controlled by a control device which rotates the motor in a first direction as determined by selection switches and reverses the direction of the motor after it has rotated 90.degree. and returns the motor to its initial starting position.

Dispensing mechanism for vending machines

An article dispenser for a vending machine includes an article storage area having a front opening and a bottom opening with a dispensing mechanism having an article holding device disposed in the lower portion of the storage area. The storage area is defined by two side plates, a back plate and an upper plate, and the front opening of the storage area formed for loading the articles is partly covered by a pivotably supported stopper plate. A U-cross section shaped element is fixed on each side plate at a position to oppose the holding device of the dispensing mechenism and a free end of the U-shaped element extends into a rectangular hole formed through the stopper plate to effect engagement therebetween whereby partial deformation of the side plates is prevented by engagement between the U-shaped element and the stopper plate.

An article dispenser for dispensing articles from a vending machine includes an article storage area which has a bottom opening through which articles are dispensed and a front opening through which articles are loaded in a manner to form two vertically adjacent stacks. An article dispensing mechanism successively dispenses the lowermost articles stacked in the storage area through such bottom opening by the mechanism including a rotatable shaft which vertically extends within the storage area to divide the storage area into the two vertical stacks or columns. A control plate is fixed to the lower end of the rotatable shaft to control the operation of a pair of pivotally mounted doors positioned below the two vertical stacks of articles, respectively. As these doors open and close upon rotation of the rotatable shaft, the lowermost articles in the storage area are successively dispensed. The article dispensing mechanism further includes an article holder mechanism located at the lower end of the storage area to hold the articles in one stack, except for the lowermost article, in a stacked position during the opening of the door. The holder mechanism includes a holding surface portion which extends from one side of the rotatable shaft to frictionally engage the adjacent article in one stack to hold this article between the holding surface portion and the inner surface of the storage area, and a projection extending from the rotatable shaft at a level disposed below the holding surface portion. The holder mechanism further includes a pushing member extending from the rotatable shaft in a direction opposite to the direction of such projection, the pushing member acting to guide the lowermost article in a stack toward the outside of storage area bottom opening.

Vending machine dispensing mechanism

An article dispenser for dispensing articles from a vending machine is disclosed. The article dispenser includes an article storage area which has a bottom opening through which articles are dispensed and a front opening through which the articles are loaded to form two vertically adjacent rows. An article dispensing mechanism dispenses the lowermost articles stacked in the storage area through the bottom opening. This article dispensing mechanism includes a rotatable shaft which vertically extends within the storage area to divide the storage area into the two vertical rows or columns. A control plate is fixed to the lower end of the rotatable shaft to control the operation of a pair of flappers positioned below the two vertical rows of articles. As these flappers open and close upon rotation of the rotatable shaft, the lowermost articles in the storage area are dispensed. The article dispensing mechanism further includes an article holding mechanism located at the lower end of the storage area to hold the articles in both rows, except the lowermost articles, in a stacked position during the opening of the flappers. The holding mechanism includes opposite holding surfaces which frictionally engage adjacent articles in both rows to hold these articles between the holding surfaces and the inner surfaces of the storage area.

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Maebashi, Japan

Akihito Kurosawa