Vending machine for beverage cups having a soluble component

A device for dispensing cups maintained in inverted condition in a vertically oriented stack comprising:

• a horizontally oriented track member, a claw element upon said track member, said claw element including a carrier member, at least one pivotally mounted resiliently urged jaw carried by said carrier member, means for imparting a nutating path of movement to said carrier member to bring said jaw into cup engaging position substantially at one end of said path of movement, and means for opening said jaw to release an engaged cup substantially at the opposite end of said path of movement;
• said device further including a plurality of stack units, each supporting a stack of cups in inverted nested condition, said stacks of cups being arranged in a row the axis of which is parallel to that of said track member;
• said stack units each including means for incrementally elevating said stack to position the uppermost cup thereof within the path of travel of said claw element;
• and said means for incrementally elevating the stack to position the uppermost cup within the path of travel of the claw element includes a pair of threaded parallel rods, and motor means for rotating the threaded rods to elevate the stack.