Sanitized vending machine having access door locking mechanism coupled to actuation mechanism and access door

A sanitized vending machine, comprising:

• a housing;
• a cup dispensing mechanism mounted in said housing, said cup dispensing mechanism being adapted to hold at least one stack of cups and rotate about a vertical axis through a cup dispensing cycle during which said cup dispensing mechanism dispenses a cup from the stack;
• a product dispensing mechanism mounted in said housing, said product dispensing mechanism being adapted to hold a plurality of product items and rotate about a vertical axis through a product dispensing cycle during which said product dispensing mechanism dispenses one or more of product items into a dispensed cup;
• a drop chute mounted in said housing below and in communication with said product and cup dispensing mechanisms, said drop chute being adapted to receive and guide a dispensed cup to an intermediate location in said drop chute, to receive and guide dispensed product items into a dispensed cup at said intermediate location in said drop chute, and to guide the dispensed cup with the dispensed product items therein to a discharge location below said drop chute;
• an actuation mechanism mounted to said housing and including
• a rotatable actuator being adapted upon actuation to cause rotation of said product and cup dispensing mechanisms, and
• a handle coupled to said rotatable actuator and adapted to be turned by a user to actuate said rotatable actuator by rotating said rotatable actuator through an actuation cycle that causes rotation of said product and cup dispensing mechanisms through said respective product and cup dispensing cycles in a predetermined sequence so that the dispensed product items are received in the dispensed cup at said intermediate location and then dropped to said discharge location during each actuation cycle;
• an access door mounted to said housing and being movable between a closed position and an opened position to allow a user to remove a dispensed cup containing product items from the discharge location when the access door in said opened position;
• and
• an access door locking mechanism coupled to said housing, said actuation mechanism and said access door and adapted to maintain said access door in a locked condition at the closed position from the start of the actuation cycle until said handle of said actuation mechanism has been turned by a user through completion of the actuation cycle whereupon said access door is converted to an unlocked condition permitting the user to open said access door and remove the cup containing product items.