Self service pick up and drop off machine
OwnerJ. Edward Curtisinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated self service package pick up and drop off system which is particularly suitable for retail dry cleaning operations is described. A fully enclosed cabinet contains a customer drop off chute, and a customer pick up door which are computer controlled in response to customer signals. Inside the cabinet, which can be entered only by an authorized attendant, to remove dropped off orders and load complete orders, there is provided a motorized gantry system which can select and remove an individual customers order from bar coded storage rails and transport the order down the central aisle to the customer pickup point for removal from the cabinet.
Claims11
A self service apparatus for receiving, storing and dispensing articles in response to signals generated by an authorized user, comprising enclosure means for securely storing said articles and provided with a signal activated drop off access means, caretaker access means signal activated article pick up means, and user activated signally means;
- drive means to move said pick up access means between a fully closed to a fully open position in response to signals ;generated by said user and including means to sense an obstruction in said pick up access means;
- first parallel rail means mounted in said enclosure means each provided with a plurality of storage locations at which articles ready for delivery to a user may be suspended in planes normal to the direction of the rails;
- gantry means mounted for movement along said first parallel rail means;
- carriage means mounted on said gantry means for movement between opposed said first parallel rails;
- said gantry means and said carriage means being arranged so that said carriage means may select, pick up and convey a selected article from any selected storage location to said article pick up access means in said plane normal to the direction of the rails in response to a signal generated by said authorized user.
An apparatus as claimed in 6 wherein said carriage means includes gripper means adapted to engage with a support for any selected article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.