| 摘要 |
<p>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. Also, an automatic door-opening mechanism is disclosed which opens the dispensing door of a vending machine when a snack food container is dispensed which is too light to open the door under the force of a gravity. A process and apparatus for packaging snack food product in containers are also disclosed wherein accurately sized portions of the product are formed and fed into a funnel member, the funnel member having troughs which align the product in a desired direction. <IMAGE> <IMAGE></p> |
