Article dispensing – With discharge assistant – Motor-operated
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-27
2001-11-20
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
With discharge assistant
Motor-operated
C221S226000, C221S279000, C221S280000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06318591
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to dispensing machines for printed publications, and more particularly to a machine suitable for vending of newspapers, magazines and the like.
Newspaper and magazine vending machines are conventionally placed in high traffic areas to maximize exposure of the publication to the public. The preferred locations are bus stops, lobbies of public buildings, busy street corners and the like. As a general rule, the newspapers and magazines are stacked in a hollow housing, which is provided with a coin box for receipt of payment from the public.
Once the necessary amount has been deposited, the buyer pulls the front door of the vending machine open and withdraws one copy from the stack of newspapers or magazines positioned in the housing. However, such machines allow access to the entire inventory positioned in the vending machine, without any restrictions as to the number of copies a purchaser retrieves. In some cases, theft of newspapers caused substantial losses to the vending machine owner/operator.
To prevent such losses, the industry realized a need for a dispensing machine that would allow to separate one copy of such publication from the supply of publications in the vending machine and dispense only one copy at a time. Some of known solutions is to use a ratchet mechanism that pulls out one copy of vertically positioned papers and carries them to the dispensing channel. Other approaches use a conveyor-type endless belt or belts for carrying one copy to the dispensing channel.
While such designs can work satisfactory in some environments, there is still a need for a simple to operate, inexpensive dispensing mechanism capable of carefully metering the number of copies removed from the inventory, so as to dispense only one copy at a time.
An additional consideration is the difference in thickness of daily newspapers as compared to Sunday papers. Conventionally, Sunday papers have considerably more pages, advertising inserts, which increase the fold thickness of the newspaper to one inch or more. It is preferred that the vending machine be capable of dispensing different thickness papers without major adjustments by an operator.
The patents and application listed above disclose dispensing machines with upwardly inclined ramps, along which newspapers are pushed to a dispensing opening. In these machines, the newspapers are aligned vertically, with a fold of a newspaper resting on the bearing surface of the ramp and unfolded edges of the papers facing upwardly.
When advertising inserts are included between sections of the newspaper, the single fold becomes thicker than the unfolded edge. Newspaper, being printed on relatively thin paper, has little vertical stiffness, which causes the paper to “sag” on the ramp. An upwardly oriented push plate helps keep the newspapers in a generally vertical orientation as they are dispensed, one by one, due to the provision of a metering brake adjacent the dispensing opening.
In such machines, the ramp surface is intentionally made smooth to prevent damage to newspapers and use as little of battery power as possible. Still, when the newspaper is particularly voluminous a careful balance must be worked out between a high coefficient of static friction while maintaining a low coefficient of sliding friction. This balance will help in preventing newspapers from sagging and slipping over the metering brake.
Another problem that was encountered during testing is tendency of Sunday edition papers to “fall apart” or open during vending due to a large number of inserts and advertising sections. It was discovered that the amount of pressure applied to the front face of the newspapers affects the performance of the dispensing machine. Daily papers, for example, need little pressure to be neatly dispensed, while Sunday papers require greater amount of pressure. The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with the prior art and provision of a dispensing machine for printed publications that is automatically adjustable for the speed of dispensing, the amount of pressure on the front face of the newspaper and that almost eliminates “pushing” action of the push plate, thus reducing friction of the newspaper moving up the ramp.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing machine for printed publications that can dispense one copy of the publication at a time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dispensing machine for printed publications that is easy to operate and inexpensive to manufacture.
A further object of the invention is to provide a dispensing machine that can be easily adjusted to various thickness papers without the need for daily adjustments by an operator.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a newspaper vending machine that reduces friction of movement of a newspaper along an upwardly inclined ramp thus preventing damage to the newspaper.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a vending machine for newspapers and similar printed publications that has a means for applying pressure on the front face of the publication during vending and prevents premature opening of the publication.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved through a provision of a dispensing machine that comprises a hollow housing and a detachable module slidably mounted in the housing. The module can be easily disengaged from the housing and sent for maintenance and repairs, while another similar module is positioned in the same housing.
The support pedestal is adjustable in height since the two parts of the pedestal telescopically move up and down. The operating mechanism is located in the module. The operating mechanism comprises a two-part bearing plate, on which the printed publications, such as newspapers, are supported. Each bearing plate assembly is provided with an endless belt that carries the folded edge of the newspaper towards a dispensing channel. The belts are connected to a motor through spur and pulley arrangements.
A push plate helps to keep the newspapers in an upright position and advance the papers towards a dispensing channel. To prevent the unfolded edge of the newspaper from “opening up” and jamming the dispensing channel during the vending cycle, a “tension” window is provided.
The tension window comprises a pair of torsion springs mounted in the housing above the bearing plate assemblies. One of the springs is always in operation, it supports the front face of the forwardmost paper, extending across the entire width of the page. The second, auxiliary spring is pivoted to extend in the paper path when the publication is particularly voluminous, such as Sunday newspaper. Normally, it is outside of the paper path, above the uppermost edge of the paper.
A microchip with a clock is connected to the motor. The microchip allows to automatically test and control the motor speed, constantly adjusting the speed of vending depending on the type of publication being dispensed. Once the optimum algorithm is developed, the microchip help to minimize and eliminate failure rate of the vending machine. A paper drop sensor is connected to the motor and to the microchip, detecting the vend time for particular type of the publication and sending the data to the microchip for processing. The drop paper sensor is mounted immediately adjacent to the proximal vending edges of the bearing plate assemblies. A drive screw is operationally connected to a motor and to the push plate. A gear assembly is provided to connect the drive screw to the motor. The drive screw is long enough to extend under substantially entire length of the bearing plate, in a channel defined between the bearing plate assemblies.
To prevent unauthorized access to the supply of the newspapers inside the vending machine, the present invention provides for the use of a protecting flap mounted forward of the proximal dispensing edge of the bearing plate assemblies. The flap extends at a
Butler Michael E
DPC International, Inc.
Ellis Christopher P.
Keaty Professional Law Corporation
LandOfFree
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