Article dispensing – With article treatment – With cooling or heating
Patent
1995-01-24
1997-02-04
Terrell, William E.
Article dispensing
With article treatment
With cooling or heating
221150A, 221150R, 221 2, 221263, 221265, 221203, B65D 8300
Patent
active
055989470
ABSTRACT:
The unattended machine has a hopper for holding an inventory of uniformly-sized, individual, frozen or refrigerated portions of food and for maintaining the inventory in a frozen or refrigerated condition. Insertion into the machine of a genuine dollar bill is verified by an electro-optical mechanism which signals control and monitor circuitry to initiate food preparation by causing a microwave oven below the hopper to open and rotate into a food-receiving position below a dispenser, located below the hopper, which then dispenses an individual portion of food into the oven by gravity. The oven then rotates to a horizontal cooking position and closes its door, where the portion is heated by microwave energy for a pre-determined length of time. Upon completion of heating, the oven door is opened and the oven tilted downward and the heated portion of food is dispensed by gravity through an opening or port in the machine. Circuitry is provided for monitoring progress of the preparation and delivery cycle and for refunding purchase price in the event the machine is empty or a malfunction occurs. Additionally, the machine may be adapted for monitoring and recording machine status and for notifying a remote location telephonically of problems or maintenance needs.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3186531 (1965-06-01), Adams
patent: 3224643 (1965-12-01), White
patent: 3534676 (1970-10-01), Rubino
patent: 3841456 (1974-10-01), Levasseur
patent: 4225056 (1980-09-01), Flubacker
patent: 5201395 (1993-04-01), Takizawa et al.
Terrell William E.
Tran Khoi H.
LandOfFree
Automatic hot food vending machine does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Automatic hot food vending machine, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Automatic hot food vending machine will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-672260