Unidynamics Corporation

Umc Industries, Inc.

Robert L Stadler

Leonard P Falk

Leonard A Ficken

James R Alford

An auxiliary dispenser for a merchandise vending machine of the type comprising a cabinet, a delivery bin at the front of the cabinet, near the bottom, and a merchandise dispensing apparatus in the cabinet above the bin for dispensing merchandise to the bin, the dispenser adapted to be mounted behind the bin, below the dispensing apparatus. The dispenser comprises a bank of at least one generally inverted-J shaped magazine for holding articles. The bank is preferably pivotally mounted at its upper end to pivot upwardly to facilitate filling. Each magazine has a generally vertically extending straight portion and a forwardly extending curved dispensing portion. A spring-biased guide member urges articles in the magazine upwardly toward the curved dispensing portion, the guide member can be releasably locked at the end of the magazine to facilitate filling. An ejector member is mounted for reciprocal motion generally transverse to the magazine to push an article upwardly out an opening in the top of the magazine. The ejector member is connected with a linkage to an eccentric drive member on a motor to reciprocate. The ejector member may be provided with a gripping surface to pull articles displaced when another article is ejected back into the magazine.

Auxiliary article dispenser for vending machines

An article vendor comprising a cabinet having a front and a rear and left and right sides, front and rear banks of article holding magazines with each bank having a plurality of the magazines arranged in banks with the magazines extending horizontally one above another from adjacent one side of the cabinet to adjacent the other, each magazine being adapted to hold articles to be vended in a first horizontal row for being dispensed from the left end of the magazine and in the second horizontal row for being dispensed from the right end of the magazine, each magazine in the front bank being constructed for ejection of articles at the left and right ends thereof toward the front and each magazine in the rear bank being constructed for ejection of articles at the left and right ends thereof towards the rear. A constant force spring biases each row of articles in each magazine toward the respective ends of the magazine and an ejection mechanism is provided at each end of the left and right banks of the magazines for selectively dispensing the end articles in the magazines.

Article vendor

An article vendor, particularly for food products such as sandwiches, salads, lunch platters and dessert items, wherein the articles are stocked on endless belt conveyors extending in rear-to-front direction in a cabinet having a front window for merchandising display of the articles. The conveyors are arranged in tiers one above another and side by side in each tier, and the vendor includes an elevator movable up and down at the front of the conveyors for receiving an article from any one (or more) of the conveyors and transporting it to a delivery station. Upon selection by a purchaser of an article on a particular conveyor, the elevator is raised to the level of the tier which includes the selected conveyor, and that conveyor is indexed forward one step to dispense the forward article therefrom on to the elevator, after which the elevator is lowered to the delivery station.

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Overland, MO, United States of America

Robert L Stadler