Article dispensing apparatus

An article dispensing apparatus comprising:

• an article discharging apparatus including:
• a lower pedal swingably arranged on a base in such a manner as to cause a tip of the lower pedal to advance and retract to and from an article storage passage configured to store therein charged articles in an up-and-down direction;
• and
• an upper pedal swingably arranged on the base in such a manner as to cause a tip of the upper pedal to advance and retract to and from the article storage passage in an area above the lower pedal, the article dispensing apparatus being configured to:
• advance the lower pedal to the article storage passage while retracting the upper pedal from the article storage passage to cause the lower pedal to place the lowermost article on an upper face of the lower pedal to be turned to a first standby attitude to prevent the article from moving downward in a standby state;
• and retract the lower pedal from the article storage passage to discharge the lowermost article downward while advancing the upper pedal to the article storage passage to come into contact with the second lowermost article when being driven, the lower pedal being configured to be turned to a second standby attitude in which the tip of the lower pedal is positioned at an upper position than the first standby attitude when no article is placed on the upper face when advanced to the article storage passage;
• an out-of-stock detection switch configured to:
• be turned to a first state when the lower pedal is turned to the second standby attitude;
• and
• be turned to a second state when the lower pedal is turned to any attitude other than the second standby attitude;
• and
• a controller configured to determine that an article has been dispensed from the article storage passage by the fact that the out-of-stock detection switch is turned to the first state when the article discharging apparatus is driven.