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US 4,377,228 AGranted
Coin controlled single manual vend newspaper vendor
AssigneeHickey-Mitchell Company
InventorPeter Ostermann
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHickey-Mitchell Company
InventorPeter Ostermann
Estimating the term…
A newspaper vendor has a spring-suspended elevator lifting a vertical stack of newspapers for presentation of successive papers at a vend position for withdrawal by a customer through a vend throat. A roller arrangement automatically aligns the uppermost newspaper with the throat regardless of non-uniform paper thickness. A door, when released, provides customer access to the throat. A door release mechanism is interconnected with a coin mechanism within the vendor to permit door opening upon insertion of coins totalling or exceeding the vend price. A vend control mechanism blocks customer withdrawal of a subsequent paper through the throat during each vend cycle in response to withdrawal of a first paper through the throat, including a latch, a latching mechanism biased for movement from a latched position to unlatched position when released by the latch, and a blocking member driven by release of the latching mechanism for movement within the throat for releasing the latch upon movement of the first paper through the throat, and linkage for relatching the latching mechanism upon closing the door. A throat adjustment mechanism allows quick change of the vertical dimension of the throat according to average newspaper thickness. The vend throat spacing is automatically made slightly greater than newspaper thickness. The coin mechanism allows operation to be changed for vending at either a daily or Sunday vend price.
A vendor for newspapers or the like comprising a housing for containing a vertical stack of newspapers, means for lifting said stack for presentation of successive newspapers of said stack at a vend position for being vended through a vend throat during a vend cycle, characterized by means for causing automatic alignment of newspapers with said throat regardless of non-uniform thickness of individual newspapers of said stack, a door for providing customer access to said throat for permitting an uppermost newspaper from atop said stack to be withdrawn through said throat, a coin mechanism within the housing, and door release means interconnecting said door with said coin mechanism for permitting opening of said door upon customer insertion of a proper coin combination corresponding to the vend price for each newspaper, and single vend control means for blocking customer withdrawal of a subsequent newspaper through said throat during said vend cycle in response to customer withdrawal of a first single newspaper through said throat and comprising a latch, a latching mechanism biased for movement from a latched position to unlatched position when released by said latch, a blocking member driven by release of said latching mechanism for movement from a first position free of said throat to a second position within said throat blocking withdrawal of a second newspaper during said vend cycle, a trigger within said throat for releasing said latch upon customer withdrawal of a newspaper through said throat while said door is open, and means for relatching said latching mechanism upon closure of said door.
A vendor for newspapers or the like comprising a housing for containing a vertical stack of newspapers, means for lifting said stack for presentation of successive newspapers of said stack at a vend position for being vended through a vend throat during a vend cycle, characterized by means for causing automatic alignment of newspapers with said throat regardless of non-uniform thickness of individual newspapers of said stack, a door for providing customer access to said throat for permitting an uppermost newspaper from atop said stack to be withdrawn through said throat, a coin mechanism within said housing and door release means interconnecting said door with said coin mechanism for permitting opening of said door upon customer insertion of a proper coin combination corresponding to the vend price for each newspaper, and single vend control means for blocking customer withdrawal of a subsequent newspaper through said throat during said vend cycle in response to customer withdrawal of a first single newspaper through said throat and comprising a blocking member movable into said throat upon customer removal of a first newspaper for blocking withdrawal of a second newspaper during said vend cycle and resettable upon closure of said door, said throat being defined by opposed horizontal upper and lower surfaces each extending substantially the width of said newspapers, throat adjusting means for selectively adjusting the vertical dimensions of said throat according to the average thickness of each of said newspapers to limit said throat dimensions for permitting a single newspaper to pass therethrough by selectively altering the spacing between said upper and lower surfaces, the lower surfaces of said throat being constituted by a carriage vertically shiftable within said housing between locked positions upon vertical supports at opposite sides of said carriage, and including means located at opposite ends of said carriage for manually unlocking the carriage and selecting the position of said carriage relative to said supports, said coin mechanism comprising slots for respectively receiving nickels, dimes and quarters inserted in said vendor by a customer, each of said slots being open at the bottom for permitting coins in said slots to fall into a coin box, a door release control pawl extending across the bottom of said slots including a shoulder for bearing against coins in said slots, a first set of levers extending into said slots for interacting with coins therein to determine solely a daily vend price, and a second set of levers extending into said slots for interacting with coins therein to determine solely a Sunday vend price, and means for selectively rendering one of said lever sets operative and the other of said lever sets inoperative thereby to select either daily or Sunday vend price operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.