Newspaper vending machine

A vending machine for dispensing newspapers stored in a stack supported by a spring-loaded tray housed in the interior of the machine, wherein a user by activating a dispensing lever causes the top newspaper in the stack to slide through a dispensing slot to a point where the paper can be reached and manually extracted from the machine, comprising the following components:

• (a) a housing, comprising a front wall, a rear wall, a bottom panel, a top panel, a left wall, and a right wall;
• and including a lever slot in said top panel, two vertical guides affixed to the interior of the housing, and a horizontal dispensing slot having a t-p and a bottom edge in the front wall of the housing;
• (b) a horizontal tray slideably mounted within said rear wall and said vertical guides for receiving a vertical stack of folded newspapers stored with their fold facing the front wall, said guides allowing the vertical travel of the tray between the bottom panel and the horizontal dispensing slot in the front wall;
• (c) means for applying constant upward pressure on said tray sufficient to lift the stack of stored newspapers along said vertical guides;
• (d) at least one transverse horizontal slat anchored to said housing at a position flush with the top edge of said dispensing slot and directly above said tray, so that said slat provides a retaining structure for the upward motion of the top newspaper in the stack stored on said tray;
• (e) a dispensing lever hingedly mounted in a generally vertical position on the bottom panel of said housing, said lever having a handle at its top end and being sufficiently long to expose the handle through said lever slot in the housing's top panel;
• and
• (f) a dispensing finger, having a tip and an end opposite to said tip, hingedly mounted on a support block so that the finger can rotate on a horizontal plane;
• said finger being connected to the dispensing lever by means of a linkage rod hinged to said opposite end, and being disposed in such a way as to cause the finger to swing through said dispensing slot when the lever is pushed toward the back of the housing;
• wherein said dispensing finger is mounted on said support block at the precise elevation required to cause the tip of said finger to correspond to the level of the fold of the top newspaper in the stack stored in said tray;
• wherein the exact motion of the rotation of said finger is chosen so that the tip of the finger engages the fold of the top newspaper and is able to push it forward and penetrate the slot as the lever is pushed backwards, so that a portion of the finger and of the newspaper protrude out of the housing through a portion of the slot;
• and wherein the motion of the finger is such that the finger automatically clears the stack of newspapers when the lever is in a retracted position.

A method of dispensing newspapers stored in a stack supported by a spring-loaded tray housed in the interior of a vending machine, wherein a user by activating a dispensing lever causes the top newspaper in the stack to slide through a dispensing slot to a point where the paper can be reached and manually extracted from the machine, comprising the following steps:

• (a) providing a housing, comprising a front wall, a rear wall, a bottom panel, a top panel, a left wall, and a right wall;
• said housing also including a lever slot in said to panel, two vertical guides affixed to the interior of the housing, and a horizontal dispensing slot having a top and a bottom edge in the front wall of the housing;
• (b) mounting a slidable horizontal tray within said rear wall and said vertical guides for receiving a vertical stack of folded newspapers stored with their fold facing the front wall, said guides allowing the vertical travel of the tray between the bottom panel and the horizontal dispensing slot in the front wall;
• (c) providing means for applying constant upward pressure on said tray sufficient to lift the stack of stored newspapers along said vertical guides;
• (d) providing at least one transverse horizontal slat anchored to said housing at a position flush with the top edge of said dispensing slot and directly above said tray, so that said slat provides a retaining structure for the upward motion of the top newspaper in the stack stored on said tray;
• (e) mounting a hinged dispensing lever in a generally vertical position on the bottom panel of said housing, said lever having a handle at its top end and being sufficiently long to expose the handle through said lever slot in the housing's top panel;
• said lever being positioned at an angle with respect to the side walls of the housing, so that the arc formed by the motion of the lever, as it travels within the path allowed by said lever slot, lies in a vertical plane forming an acute angle with said side walls;
• (f) providing a dispensing arm rigidly attached to and protruding forward from the dispensing lever at an approximate 90 degree angle on the vertical plane at an acute angle with said side walls, said arm having a dispensing finger fixedly protruding inward from the tip of said arm in a direction orthogonal to the same vertical plane, so that the resulting structure is an approximately horizontal and an L-shaped member rigidly attached to the dispensing lever and facing the front of the housing;
• wherein said dispensing arm is affixed to the dispensing lever at the precise elevation required to cause the tip of said finger to correspond to the level of the fold of the top newspaper in the stack stored in said tray when the dispensing lever is fully retracted to its most backward position;
• wherein the exact angle of motion of the lever is chosen so that said finger engages the fold of the top newspaper and the arm is able to push it forward and penetrate the slot as the lever is pulled forward to its extended position, so that a portion of the arm, finger and newspaper protrude out of the housing through a portion of the slot;
• and wherein the motion of the finger is such that the finger automatically clears the stack of newspapers when the lever is in a retracted position;
• (g) pulling said dispensing lever forward to cause said finger to engage the fold of the top newspaper in the stack and to push it forward and penetrate the slot as the lever is pulled forward to its extended position, so that a portion of the newspaper protrudes out of the housing through said horizontal slot;
• and
• (h) extracting the newspaper from the machine and returning the lever to its retracted position.