US 2003/0150870 A1Published application

Universal vending machine

OwnerAllan Gilbertinventor

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Abstract

A machine for dispensing substantially cylindrical items such as bottles, cans and containers of various shapes and sizes without making special adaptations to the machine. The machine includes a storage cabinet having a plurality of storage racks supported therein each of which includes a plurality of storage tracks formed by first and second elongate planar surfaces which are disposed substantially perpendicular to each other and which are inclined in a downwardly direction from the back of the storage rack toward the front of the storage rack. Each of the elongate planar surfaces is disposed at an acute angle to a horizontal plane disposed substantially parallel to the ground and each of the storage tracks is operable to support a plurality of items to be dispensed with the bottom surface of the items supported on one of the first and second elongate planar surfaces and a side cylindrical surface of the item being rollingly supported on the other of the first and second elongate planar surfaces.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A storage rack for supporting a plurality of items to be dispensed each of which includes a substantially cylindrical side surface and a substantially flat bottom surface disposed substantially perpendicular to said cylindrical side surface, said storage rack comprising a front, a back, and a plurality of substantially parallel tracks extending from the back of the storage rack to the front of the storage rack each of which is inclined in a downwardly direction from said back of said storage rack to said front of said storage rack, each of said plurality of tracks including a first elongated planar surface and a second elongate planar surface disposed substantially perpendicular to said first elongate planar surface, said first and second planar surfaces being inclined in a downwardly direction from said back of said storage rack to said front of said storage rack, and wherein said first and second planar surfaces each form an acute angle with a horizontal plane parallel to the ground, and a stop member located at the end of each of said tracks adjacent to said front of the storage rack, each of said parallel tracks being operable to support a plurality of items to be dispensed with the substantially cylindrical side surface of each item being rollingly supported on said first planar surface of said track and the bottom surface of each item being supported on said second planar surface, each of the items to be dispensed being supported in said track and rolling on said cylindrical side surface on said first planar surface in a downwardly direction from the back of the storage rack to the front of the storage rack wherein said item engages with said stop member.

A vending machine for vending a plurality of items each of which has a substantially cylindrical side surface and a flat bottom surface disposed substantially perpendicular to said side wall, said vending machine comprising a storage cabinet, a plurality of storage racks supported in said storage cabinet for supporting items to be dispensed, each of said storage racks having a front, a back, and a plurality of substantially parallel storage tracks located therein, each storage track being formed by first and second elongate planar surfaces which are disposed substantially perpendicular to each other and which are inclined in a downwardly direction from the back of the storage rack toward said front of said storage rack with each of said first and second elongate planar surfaces being disposed at an acute angle to a horizontal plane disposed parallel to the ground, each of said storage tracks being operable to support a plurality of said items with the flat bottom surface of the item supported on one of said first and second elongate planar surfaces and the cylindrical side surface of the item being rollingly supported on the other of said first and second elongate planar surfaces.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.