A compact pushcart vending system, comprising:
- a. a plurality of pushcarts, each pushcart includes a lower frame assembly with a rear section and a front section, at least one front wheel attached to said front section, and a pair of rear wheels attached to said rear section, a body pivotally attached to said rear section of said frame assembly enabling said body to rotate between a longitudinal position over said frame assembly and a perpendicular aligned position over said rear section of said frame assembly;
- b. a catch bar assembly attached to said frame assembly on each said pushcart, said catch bar assembly includes a vertical wear plate and at least one lower roller and an upper roller, said upper and lower rollers being vertically spaced apart and transversely aligned to said wear plate;
- c. a plurality of hollow track sections connected in an end-to-end manner to form a large hollow, continuous track, each said track section is square or rectangular in cross section and includes a top surface with a continuous, longitudinally aligned offset slot configured to receive said wear plate on said catch bar assembly when aligned over said track structure, said track section includes a closed end track section and an open end track section;
- d. a dual directional gate assembly mounted inside said track near said open end track section, said gate assembly includes a blocking arm configured to selectively block or allow movement of said wear plate through a section of said slot adjacent to said blocking arm, said blocking arm coupled to a solenoid that when activated moves said blocking arm to an unblocking position that allows said wearplate to move through said section of said slot adjacent to said blocking arm and towards said open end track section when said solenoid is inactivated, said blocking arm moves to, a partial blocking position that prevents movement of said wear plate in said section of said slot adjacent to said blocking arm in a direction towards said open end track section and still allows said wear plate to move through said slow towards said closed end track section;
- e. a vending unit configured to receive a specific amount of money, tokens, or credit or debit amount from a credit/debit transaction card and transmit a release signal to said solenoid;
- and
- f. whereby when said release signal is sent from said vending unit to said solenoid, said solenoid is activated thereby unblocking said blocking arm which allows said wear plate to move through said section of said slot adjacent to said blocking arm and towards said open end track section and removed from said track.