Pilfer-proof dispensing cabinet

In a cabinet for storing and displaying prepackaged articles and for dispensing prepackaged articles therefrom, the cabinet having spaced back and front sides adapted, respectively, to be positioned on a counter between two persons, one of said persons being in position to receive a dispensed prepackaged article from the front side of the cabinet and the other person being in position to manually dispense a selected prepackaged article from the cabinet only in a direction toward said one person adjacent the front side of the cabinet;

• the improvement comprising, in combination:
• the cabinet being of a width to define therein a plurality of adjacent, vertically elongated, package storage compartments, each of a size to receive therein a stack of a plurality of substantially identically sized prepackaged articles;
• each compartment being bounded at its lower end by a laterally elongated support shelf that serves as a common lower boundary for the plurality of compartments;
• the cabinet being constructed to provide a pilfer-proof front wall means having therein a laterally elongated front opening of limited height through which a portion of a dispensed article extends so that it may be removed from said cabinet by said one person;
• inclined discharge chute means of substantially the same lateral extent as the laterally elongated support shelf, said chute positioned in said cabinet below and forwardly of said support shelf for receiving discharged articles from any one of said plurality of compartments and for delivering such discharged articles forwardly, under gravity, to adjacent said opening in said front wall means;
• the support shelf being spaced above the upper extent of said laterally elongated opening in the front wall means, so as to frustrate said one person from manually reaching articles on said support shelf through said opening in the front wall means of the cabinet;
• said cabinet having rear wall means with a series of apertures therein located adjacent to and immediately above the support shelf, the edge of said shelf adjacent said rear wall apertures including a series of shelf apertures therein with each shelf aperture positioned adjacent to and cooperating with one of said rear wall apertures;
• and
• one aperture of said series of rear wall apertures and one aperture of said series of shelf apertures being associated with each vertically elongated compartment, each of said rear wall apertures being sized, shaped and located such that said other person, by insertion of his finger forwardly through said aperture, will dispense only the lowest item of each stack of prepackaged articles forwardly past the forward edge of the support shelf to fall onto said discharge chute means.