Sanitized vending machine having cup separation mechanism coordinated with cup stack holder device

摘要

A sanitized vending machine includes product and cup dispensing mechanisms, a cup separation mechanism, and an actuation mechanism. The product dispensing mechanism, holding product items, rotates through a product dispensing cycle to dispense them. The cup dispensing mechanism, holding a stack of cups, rotates through a cup dispensing cycle to dispense an empty cup to an intermediate location in a drop chute spaced above a final discharge location. Dispensing cycles occur in a predetermined sequence enabling the dispensed product items to be received in a dispensed empty cup and the cup dropped to the discharge location. The cup separation mechanism coordinated with operation of a cup stack holder device of the cup dispensing mechanism such that outer and inner cup separator devices of the cup separation mechanism function to separate a lowermost cup from a stack thereof rotated by the cup stack holder over a cup dispensing opening.

主权项

1. A sanitized vending machine, comprising:
a well structure having a product dispensing opening and a cup dispensing opening in a bottom wall of said well structure; a cup dispensing mechanism including a cup holder device adapted to hold at least one stack of cups supported on said bottom wall of said well structure and rotate through a cup dispensing cycle during which a lowermost cup of said stack moves over said cup dispensing opening; a cup separator mechanism including outer and inner cup separator devices spaced above said bottom wall of said well structure and disposed in a spaced relationship to one another and in a stationary relationship relative to said cup holder device, said outer and inner cup separator devices extending at a horizontal level above a rim of the lowermost cup and below a rim of the next cup above the lowermost cup so as to engage and separate the lowermost cup from the stack thereof in said cup holder device as the lowermost cup approaches and moves over said cup dispensing opening thereby enabling dropping the separated cup due to the force of gravity downward through said cup dispensing opening during the cup dispensing cycle; a product dispensing mechanism adapted to hold a plurality of product items and rotate through a product dispensing cycle enabling moving one or more product items over, and dropping due to the force of gravity downward through, the product dispensing opening during the product dispensing cycle; a drop chute disposed below and in communication with said product and cup dispensing mechanisms and 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 including
a rotatable actuator being adapted upon actuation to cause rotation of said product and cup dispensing mechanisms, anda 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 a dispensed cup at said intermediate location and then dropped to said discharge location during each actuation cycle.