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US 5,392,953 AGranted
Cold drink vending machine with window front panel
AssigneeRowe International, Inc.
InventorsAlgert J. Maldanis, Robert I. Courts, George E. Alcorn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cold drink container vending machine having a front window panel through which cold drinks in serpentine tracks can be viewed for selection. Pre-cooled cold drink container holding racks are aligned with the serpentine tracks so that the pre-cooled containers can be viewed when vendable containers in the serpentine tracks are depleted. Continuous advertisement is provided in the form of the cold drink containers themselves which are viewed through the transparent front window panel.
Claims13
A vending machine for selectively vending cold drink containers comprising:
- (a) an insulated case having a front, a back, a first side, a second side, a top and a bottom enclosing a refrigerated storage area;
- (b) a dispensing opening located in a lower portion of said front of said insulated case;
- (c) a plurality of serpentine tracks held side-by-side in said refrigerated storage area vertically arranged for holding cold drink containers to be vended within said refrigerated storage area and for guiding said cold drink containers as they move along said serpentine tracks by the force of gravity;
- (d) said front comprising a transparent window panel extending substantially from said first side to said second side and from said top to said lower portion at which said dispensing opening is located so that substantially the entire refrigerated storage area is viewable through said transparent window panel;
- (e) a plurality of pre-cooled cold drink container storage racks, each one aligned with a corresponding one of said plurality of serpentine tracks adjacent to said transparent window panel, but not rollingly communicating said pre-cooled cold drink container with said serpentine tracks so that a cold drink container of a type to be vended from said aligned serpentine tracks is visible both when said serpentine tracks hold said cold drink containers and also when said serpentine tracks require refilling and so that said precooled cold drink container is available for partial refilling of a depleted track upon filling said track with additional cold drink containers;
- and
- (f) means operatively associated with said insulated case and serpentine tracks therein for selectively vending a cold drink container from one of said serpentine tracks to said dispensing opening so that said selected cold drink container can be retrieved therefrom for consumption.
4 more elements
A cold drink container vending machine comprising:
- (a) a refrigerated case having a front, a back, a first side, a second side, a top and a bottom, enclosing a refrigerated storage area;
- (b) a transparent window panel in said front of said case through which substantially all of said refrigerated storage area is viewable;
- (c) a plurality of upper serpentine tracks constructed of a plurality of oppositely facing shallow channels formed in a plurality of partitions for supporting cylindrical cold drink containers at opposite ends for clear viewing of said cold drink containers through said transparent window panel and for holding said cylindrical cold drink containers and rollingly communicating said cylindrical cold drink containers along said serpentine upper tracks;
- (d) a plurality of lower serpentine tracks, each stacked below one of said upper tracks, said lower serpentine tracks corresponding in number to said plurality of upper serpentine tracks and constructed of a plurality of oppositely facing shallow serpentine channels formed in a plurality of partitions for supporting said cylindrical cold drink containers at opposite ends for clear viewing of said cold drink containers through said transparent window panel and for holding said cylindrical cold drink containers and rollingly communicating said cylindrical cold drink containers along said lower serpentine tracks;
- (e) a plurality of selection indicia each vertically aligned with one of said plurality of serpentine tracks;
- (f) a control panel spatially separated from said selection indicia having a plurality of buttons with button indicia displayed therewith corresponding to said plurality of selection indicia;
- (g) a dispensing opening in said front of said refrigerated case for receiving cylindrical cold drink containers from said plurality of upper and lower serpentine tracks;
- and
- (h) a control mechanism operatively activatable by one or more of said plurality of control panel buttons for causing a selected cold drink container to move to said dispensing opening from a corresponding one of said plurality of serpentine tracks.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.