Controlled containment system for bottled beverage vending machines

In a bottled beverage vending machine including at least one vertically oriented storage column having a rotatable dispensing tray at the lower end thereof for dispensing the lowermost bottle of a vertical stack of horizontally disposed bottles and a collection door for discharge of the bottle for access by a beverage consumer, said storage column including spaced, vertically disposed side walls, the improvement comprising an inner guide track supported between the walls and an outer guide track supported between the walls with the outer guide track being generally in alignment with the outer vertical edges of the walls of the storage column, each of said guide tracks including vertically disposed, parallel, laterally spaced, aligned flanges having parallel inwardly facing edges for receiving the necks of alternately arranged, neck-to-bottom, bottles to retain the bottle necks in substantial vertical alignment with the side walls of the storage column maintaining the bottle bottoms substantially in vertical alignment, said outer guide track including a lower stationary segment and upper removable segments to provide access to the storage column for placing bottles in the storage column, said inner guide track including a stationary lower segment in opposed facing relation to the stationary lower segment of the outer guide track with the lower stationary segments extending to a height to enable bottles to be initially placed on the dispensing tray and then stacked in a lower portion of the column from the area of the storage column above the outer stationary track segment, said inner guide track including an upper adjustable track to hold bottle necks of alternate bottles in the vertical stack in temporary suspension when placing bottles in the storage column above the stationary bottom segments when the upper segments of the outer guide track are removed to retain the bottle necks in alternate bottles in vertical alignment and means adjusting the upper track of the inner guide track between closed and open positions to release the bottle necks of alternate bottles engaged with the upper adjustable track after the upper removable segments of the outer guide track have been positioned to engage and retain the outer ends of the stacked bottles in the storage column thereby enabling free downward movement of the stacked bottles as the lowermost bottle is dispensed by the dispensing tray.