Automated beverage system

A cup storage and dispensing assembly for an automated beverage dispensing system, comprising:

• a rotatable turret having a plurality of cup supply tubes of a predetermined size mounted thereon for providing a mix of different sized cups at a cup extration station,
• a drive motor for rotating the turret,
• and control means for controlling the drive motor so as to rotate the turret in either a clockwise or counter clockwise direction for minimizing the time for a cup supply tube containing a desired sized cup to be positioned at the cup extraction station, the improvement comprising:
• the rotatable turret including a central mounting plate including an arrangement of supply tube size attachment elements having a specific pattern for each size of supply tube to be mounted thereon and wherein each size of supply tube includes complementary attachment elements for attachment to said control mounting plate at a predefined location around the mounting plate.

In a cup storage and dispensing assembly for an automated beverage dispensing system, comprising,

• a rotatable turret having a plurality of cup supply tubes of a predetermined size mounted thereon for providing a mix of different sized cups at a cup extraction station,
• a drive motor for rotating the turret,
• and control means for controlling the drive motor so as to rotate the turret in either a clockwise or counter clockwise direction for minimizing the time for a cup supply tube containing a desired sized cup to be positioned at the cup extraction station, the improvement comprising:
• said cup supply tube including at least one bifurcated cup restraining member located in a bottom portion of the respective supply tube, said restraining member comprising a resilient member having a relatively short finger element and an adjacent relatively long finger element, both of said finger elements angulating inwardly and including an inwardly bent end portion for stopping a cup by contacting a rim portion thereof, and wherein cup stopping at one of the end portions is dependent on the weight of overlying cups in a stack of cups located in the supply tube.