Dispensing system for wheeled vehicles

An improved receiver apparatus for use in combination with a vehicle vending system fo the type characterized by retaining means for retaining a plurality of vehicles each having a chassis carried by a plurality of normally floor-engaging support wheels, a receiving terminal opening into the retaining means through which the vehicles are retainably accepted by the retaining means, and monetary refund means for discharging a predetermined monetary amount in response to a received refund signal, said receiver apparatus comprising:

• a. a housing configured for mounting at the receiving terminal in cooperative alignment with said retaining means, said housing defining a substantially enclosed inner cavity and oppositely longitudinally disposed inlet and outlet ports providing access to and egress from the internal cavity, said housing being configured to substantially enclosedly accept within its said cavity at least one floor-engaging wheel of a wheeled vehicle being received by the vending system;
• b. a door pivotally mounted to said housing adjacent said inlet port thereof, said door member being normally disposed in a closed position to substantially close access to said internal cavity through said inlet port and being pivotally movable to an open position to provide passage of a floor-engaging support wheel into said cavity through said inlet port;
• c. a first actuator lever in said housing operatively connected with the monetary refund means and pivotally movable between first and second positions, said first actuator lever being operable to provide a refund signal to the refund means in response to movement between its said second and said first positions respectively;
• d. first bias means for normally biasing said first actuator lever toward its said first position;
• e. first latching means in said housing cooperatively engaging said first actuator lever and responsive to movement of said door member for selectively controlling movement of said first actuator lever, said first latching means being normally operative in an unlatched mode to allow unimpeded movement of said first actuator lever to its said second position, and being operable in a latched mode in response to movement of said door member from its said closed to said open positions to latchingly engage said first actuator lever for preventing movement thereof to its said second position;
• f. second latching means in said housing cooperatively engagable with said first actuator lever for selectively controlling movement of said first actuator lever, said second latching means being normally operative to engagably latch said first actuator lever in its said second position once the first actuator lever has moved to its said second position, and being operative in an unlatched mode responsive to receipt of a trigger signal to disengage from said first actuator lever, enabling movement of said first actuator lever toward its said first position;
• g. mechanical wheel position sensing means mounted in said cavity of said housing means and operatively connected with said first actuator lever, for sensing the relative position of a support wheel proceeding through said cavity in a receiving direction from said inlet port to said outlet port and for moving said first actuator lever in response thereto, said wheel position sensing means comprising:
• i. a first wheel engaging member pivotally mounted in said housing to engage the peripheral tread portion of a floor-engaging support wheel therein and operatively engagable with said first actuator lever for moving said first actuator lever between its said first and said second positions in response to movement of the engaged support wheel in the receiving direction, said wheel engaging member being normally disposed in a first position across the path of the advancing wheel and being movable to a second position upon engagement forces applied by the advancing wheel when the wheel has advanced in the receiving direction to a predetermined position, said wheel engaging member when in its said second position cooperatively engaging said first actuator lever so as to move said first actuator lever to its said second position and into latching engagement with said second latching means;
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• ii. second bias means operatively connected with said first wheel engaging member for normally urging said wheel engaging member toward its said first positions;
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• h. a second actuator lever member operatively mounted in said cavity adjacent the outlet port of said housing and disposed to engage the peripheral tread portion of a support wheel passing from the internal cavity through said outlet port, said second actuator lever being pivotally operable in response to passage of the engaged support wheel through said outlet port, to apply said trigger signal to said second latching means.