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 disposed over said frame assembly and pivotally attached to the rear section of the frame enabling the 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 lower frame assembly on each said pushcart, said catch bar assembly includes an vertical wear plate and at least one lower roller and an upper roller, said upper and lower rollers being perpendicularly aligned to said wear plate;
- c. a plurality of track sections connected in an end-to-end manner to form a hollow, continuous track structure, each said track section is square or rectangular in cross section and with a continuous, longitudinally aligned offset slot formed on the top surface of the track, said track sections connected together so the open end on the end of said track section forms an opening end on said track;
- d. a dual directional gate assembly mounted inside said track, said gate assembly includes an outer enclosure with a blocking arm extending laterally from said outer enclosure and inside said center void, said blocking arm fixed to a first drive shaft with a fixed cam, and a fixed follower arm mounted thereon and inside said outer enclosure, said gate assembly also includes a solenoid coupled to a latch, said latch configured to automatically block the rotation of said cam that allows the blocking arm to rotate and allow the catch bar assembly to slide over said slot towards said open end, said blocking arm configured to freely rotate in the opposite direction to allow pushcart to be returned;
- e. a vending unit configured to receive money, tokens credit/debit transaction cards 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 that moves said latch and disengages said cam thereby allowing said blocking arm to rotate to an unblocking position so that a catch bar assembly may travel over the blocking arm and towards the open end of said track, when said catch bar assembly moves away from the blocking arm, said blocking arm automatically resets into a blocking position so that only one pushcart may be removed at a time.