Sanitized vending machine and method

A sanitized vending machine, comprising:

• a housing;
• a well structure mounted in said housing, said well structure including front and rear chambers disposed in a tandem relationship and an opening defined in said well structure where said chambers meet one another, said front chamber communicating with a product dispensing opening in a front bottom wall of said well structure, said rear chamber communicating with a cup dispensing opening in a rear bottom wall of said well structure;
• a product dispensing mechanism mounted to undergo rotation in said front chamber of said well structure, said product dispensing mechanism including
• at least one compartment adapted to hold one or more product items and dispense the same through the product dispensing opening due to the force of gravity upon rotation of said compartment with said product dispensing mechanism during a product dispensing cycle, and
• a first driven gear defined about a lower peripheral portion of said product dispensing mechanism for undergoing rotation therewith during the product dispensing cycle;
• a product storage magazine supported by said housing above said compartment of said product dispensing mechanism such that product items due to the force of gravity drop into said compartment of said product dispensing mechanism to provide one or more product items in said compartment before said first driven gear and said compartment of said product dispensing mechanism undergo rotation during the product dispensing cycle;
• a cup dispensing mechanism mounted to undergo rotation in said rear chamber of said well structure, said cup dispensing mechanism including
• a cup holder device adapted to hold at least one stack of cups and dispense the same through the cup dispensing opening due to the force of gravity upon rotation of said cup holder device with said product dispensing mechanism during a cup dispensing cycle, and
• a second driven gear defined about a lower peripheral portion of said cup holder device and drivingly interfaced with said first driven gear on said product dispensing mechanism for undergoing rotation during the cup dispensing cycle;
• an outer cup separator device and an inner cup separator device mounted to said well structure in a spaced relation to one another and adapted to separate a lowermost cup from the stack in said cup holder device so as to enable dispensing the separated cup due to the force of gravity through the cup dispensing opening upon rotation of said cup holder device during the cup dispensing cycle;
• an access door mounted on said housing and movable between open and closed positions to provide access by a user to a cup containing product items resting at a discharge location in said housing adjacent to said access door;
• a cup drop chute mounted in said housing below and in communication with the product dispensing opening in said front bottom wall of said well structure and the cup dispensing opening in said rear bottom wall of said well structure, said cup drop chute adapted to guide the dispensed cup to an intermediate location in said drop chute, between said cup dispensing opening and the discharge location, where the cup is temporarily retained awaiting dispensing of product items therein, said respective product and cup dispensing cycles occurring in a predetermined sequence so that the dispensed product items are received in a cup temporarily retained at said intermediate location, said cup drop chute also adapted to guide into the temporarily retained cup the predetermined number of product items dispensed from the product dispensing opening, and said cup drop chute further adapted to release the temporarily retained cup with the predetermined number of product items therein and guide the same to the discharge location;
• and
• an actuation mechanism including
• a shaft rotatably mounted to said housing so as to extend between the exterior and interior of said housing,
• a drive gear mounted to said shaft in the interior of said housing so as to undergo rotation with said shaft, said drive gear being drivingly interfaced with said first driven gear on said product dispensing mechanism, and
• a handle mounted to said shaft at the exterior of said housing and adapted to be turned to rotate said shaft and said drive gear therewith through an actuation cycle such that when said handle is turned by a user through the actuation cycle said first and second driven gears respectively rotate said mechanisms through respective product and cup dispensing cycles.