Co-dispensing snack food products and beverages from a vending machine
AssigneeRecot, Inc.
InventorsJohn L. Center, James W. Stalder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for co-dispensing beverages and snack food products from a single vending machine. Filled beverage containers and filled snack food containers are stored in the vending machine and a buyer, upon payment, product selection, etc., can obtain both a beverage, e.g., a soft drink, and a snack food, e.g., corn chips, from a single machine. The beverage and snack food containers preferably are of substantially the same size so that a vending machine of the type which dispenses containers having a uniform size may be used to carry out the present invention. A process for packaging snack food product in cylindrical containers also is disclosed.
Claims7
A process for dispensing beverages and snack food products from a single vending machine, the process comprising steps of:
- providing a vending machine having a storage portion for storing containers which have a predetermined size and shape so as to be receivable in the storage portion of said vending machine;
- placing a plurality of containers filled with a beverage in the storage portion of said vending machine, each of the filled beverage containers having substantially the same size and shape;
- and
- placing a plurality of containers filled with a snack food product in the storage portion of said vending machine, each of the filled snack food containers having a size and shape that are substantially the same as the size and shape of the filled beverage containers;
- whereby said vending machine is capable of dispensing both a filled beverage container and a filled snack food container when operated by a user.
A process for dispensing both filled beverage containers and filled snack food containers from a vending machine configured to dispense soft drink containers, the process comprising steps of:
- providing a vending machine having at least first and second refrigerated storage portions, both of said refrigerated storage portions configured to receive stacks of containers, the containers having a uniform size such that when filled the machine contains a plurality of containers all having a uniform size, the vending machine further including means for selecting either a beverage or snack food container and means, responsive to the selecting means, for dispensing the selected container through an outlet of the machine;
- placing a plurality of containers filled with a beverage in the first refrigerated storage portion of said vending machine;
- and
- placing a plurality of containers filled with a snack food product in the second refrigerated storage portion of said vending machine, the plurality of snack food containers and the plurality of beverage containers having a uniform size;
- whereby a customer may obtain both a snack food product and a beverage from said vending machine.
A single vending machine for dispensing both filled beverage containers and filled snack food containers, the vending machine configured to dispense uniform size containers, the machine comprising:
- at least first and second refrigerated storage portions, both of said refrigerated storage portions being configured to receive stacks of containers, the vending machine further including means for selecting either a beverage or snack food container and means, responsive to the selecting means, for dispensing the selected container through an outlet of the machine;
- a plurality of containers filled with a beverage being disposed in the first refrigerated storage portion of said vending machine;
- and
- a plurality of containers filled with a snack food product being disposed in the second refrigerated storage portion of said vending machine;
- wherein the plurality of snack food containers and the plurality of beverage containers have a substantially uniform size so that the first and second storage portions of said machine can receive either the snack food containers or the beverage containers;
- whereby a customer may obtain both a snack food product and a beverage from said single vending machine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.