Until recent years, most of the mechanisms used in various package and product dispensing machines relied on a multitude of motors, switches and solenoids for moving various machine parts and otherwise handling the package to be dispensed. Most such machines required one motor, switch and/or solenoid for each row, column or type of product or package dedicated to kicking out or otherwise ejecting the desired package or product therefrom. Therefore, a machine having an arrangement of nine racks of product would typically require nine motors, switches and/or solenoids for ejecting one product from each rack.
Such machines generally suffer from numerous disadvantages. One disadvantage lies in the fact that any machine having such an arrangement will commonly experience numerous mechanical failures due to such factors as age, exposure, poor maintenance, poor assembly, misalignment, etc. Furthermore, the tendency to malfunction can be greatly increased when the mechanical parts must operate in a frozen environment such as that created in a frozen food or ice cream vending machine.
Additionally, each motor, switch and/or solenoid can be expensive and therefore can contribute to increasing the overall cost of a machine, i.e., either in capital or assembly costs. Elimination of any such mechanical parts will usually result in a lowered cost of production and future maintenance and repair.
Moreover, extraneous machinery uses up valuable space which could be occupied by product. The loss of product storage space means that the machine location must be visited by the operator more frequently for restocking, thereby increasing operating costs and reducing profitability.
For the above reasons and others not expressly discussed herein, numerous attempts have been made to develop package and product dispensing machines which have as few motors, switches, solenoids and other mechanical devices as possible.
As one example of such a package and product dispensing machine, consider the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,533 to Haroutel et al. The dispenser disclosed by Haroutel et al. dispenses postal packets of differing sizes and types. The device utilizes individually controlled and motorized horizontal and vertical carriages for positioning a product holding device in font of the desired article. However, this device still has a relatively large number of electro-mechanical parts which are relatively intricate to assemble and expensive to operate and maintain. Furthermore, the disclosed mechanism is not designed for cold temperature operation and therefore is not suitable for cold food dispensing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,950 to Trouteaud et al. discloses an apparatus for storing and dispensing ice cream packaged in uniform containers which are stored in rotatable transporters or revolving racks. However, this apparatus does not solve the above-mentioned problems. Firstly, each rotatable transporter requires its own motor drive. Secondly, this arrangement has a very limited capacity. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, all of the mechanics of the disclosed apparatus are exposed to the cold environment.
As was mentioned briefly above, mechanical failures are common with vending machines that refrigerate their products, especially with vending machines that employ motors or solenoids to dispense their products from the refrigerator. Because the motors and solenoids are located within the refrigerator, they are subjected to cold temperatures and condensates. Such harsh operating conditions increase the likelihood that the motors and solenoids will malfunction. The apparatus of Trouteaud et al. is as susceptible as the other prior art machines and furthermore suffers from the other disadvantages discussed hereinabove.
German Application No. 2,455,673 discloses a machine for vending frozen food packages which utilizes a motorized sliding carriage to position a suction device over the package to be dispensed. The entire suction device is then lowered by a motorized drum and cable system until contact is made between the suction device and the package. The suction device is then activated and withdrawn to a dispensing position along with the package. However, this device still suffers from the disadvantage that the entire mechanism is still subject to the cold environment of the freezer, thereby inviting increased mechanical failures as well as having the inefficiency of expending a good deal of energy cooling large volumes of non-storage space.