U.S. patent application number 10/346130 was filed with the patent office on 2004-07-22 for vending machine with security device.
This patent application is currently assigned to INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Yu, Cheng Kang.
Application Number | 20040140318 10/346130 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33312735 |
Filed Date | 2004-07-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040140318 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Yu, Cheng Kang |
July 22, 2004 |
VENDING MACHINE WITH SECURITY DEVICE
Abstract
A vending machine with security device is disclosed. The
security device is fitted onto a dispensing device, wherein the
security device is positioned in between the dispensing device and
a driving device of the vending machine. The security device
together with the dispensing device support the dispensing lid and
rotate upwards when the card is being dispensed by the driving
device of the vending machine, and when the card passes through the
dispensing lid of the security device and being dispensed out by
the dispensing device of the vending machine, the dispensing lid of
the security device will automatically rotate downwards for closing
the slot.
Inventors: |
Yu, Cheng Kang; (Taipei
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BACON & THOMAS, PLLC
625 SLATERS LANE
FOURTH FLOOR
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
|
Assignee: |
INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY TECHNOLOGIES
CORPORATION
Taipei
TW
|
Family ID: |
33312735 |
Appl. No.: |
10/346130 |
Filed: |
January 17, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
221/197 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 9/10 20130101; G07F
11/22 20130101; G07F 17/42 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
221/197 |
International
Class: |
B65H 001/00 |
Claims
What the invention claimed is:
1. A vending machine with security device for storing and
dispensing cards, comprising: a dispensing device comprising a
security device, wherein said security device comprises a chassis
positioned at a rear portion of said dispensing device, and a
dispensing lid; and a driving device, wherein the dispensing lid is
positioned between said dispensing device and the driving device,
and wherein when the driving device is activated, said dispensing
lid is rotated upwards by the driving device allowing a card stored
in the vending to pass by the dispensing lid of the security device
and gets dispensed out of a slot, and said dispensing lid of said
security device rotates automatically downwards for closing the
slot.
2. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said chassis comprises a shape of a bent wing pads, wherein
at each of two sides thereof comprise an aperture, and wherein said
dispensing lid also comprises a shape of a bent wing pads, wherein
at each of two sides thereof comprise an aperture, and wherein said
apertures of said chassis and dispensing lid are provided for
penetrating through a roller to provide a means to said dispensing
lid to rotate axially.
3. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said chassis comprises a through groove at a bottom
portion, said dispensing lid comprises a supporting plate extending
on a bottom flange, and said supporting plate of said dispensing
lid is positioned within said through groove of said chassis.
4. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said dispensing lid comprises a plurality of biasing plates
that are bent backwards and positioned extending from a surface of
the dispensing lid.
5. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said dispensing device of said vending machine further
comprises: a positioning plate having a through groove on a surface
thereof and a positioning plate bent on a top surface; a sensor
positioned on said positioning plate; and a bent sensor plate
extending from a top flange of said dispensing lid of said security
device, said sensor plate is positioned within said sensor to
detect the status of said dispensing lid of said security
device.
6. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said dispensing device of said vending machine comprises a
panel with a slot positioned on a surface thereof.
7. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said vending machine comprises a space for storing a
plurality of cards.
8. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said vending machine comprises a space for storing money
bills.
9. The vending machine with security device according to claim 1,
wherein said vending machine comprises a space for storing lottery
tickets.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. The Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention generally relates to a vending
machine, and more particularly relates to a vending machine with
security device comprising a security device disposed in between a
dispensing device and a driving device of the vending machine for
effectively preventing the cards therein from being stolen.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] With the rapid advancement and development in the automation
technology, the automatic vending machines, such as, ticketing
machine or lottery ticketing machine, are installed in many public
places for satisfying the needs of the consumers to provide
convenience and prompt service. The service provided by these
machines is for not only reducing the labor cost substantially, but
also more acceptable to the consumers because the convenience.
However, the general automatic vending machines will be under the
supervision only during the routine manual storage check-up or
maintenance, and when they are not under the supervision by the
authorized personnel, the cards or bills therein can be stolen by
using several methods, for example, by using a card stuck with a
double-sided adhesive tape, which is mostly to insert into the
vending machine for sticking out the cards from inside the vending
machine. For preventing such stealing activity, some of the
manufacturers of the vending machines enlarged the vertical depth
of the slot channel in order to prevent the cards therein being
stuck by the inserted card with the double-sided adhesive tape.
However, such a scheme still has defects, in that, the cards inside
the vending machine can still be stolen by inserting the card with
double-sided adhesive tape deeper inside the vending machine with
an aid of a string, a steel wire or some other longer flat objects,
adhered at a distal end of the card with double-sided adhesive
tape. Some others have proposed few other methods for preventing
cards from being stolen, such as, to set a lid on the slot channel
where the cards are dispended, the lid will be opened only when the
card is demanded by a formal purchase and closed right after
serving. Nevertheless, this design can not be effective, because a
metallic plate or other similar object can be inserted into the
slot at the very moment while the lid opens to prevent the lid from
closing, and then, the cards can be stuck out by using the same
method as mentioned above.
[0005] Accordingly it highly desirable to further improve the
conventional design to overcome the above defects.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Accordingly, in the view of the foregoing, the present
inventor makes a detailed study of related art to evaluate and
consider, and uses years of accumulated experience in this field,
and through several experiments, to create a new security device
for vending machine of the present invention. The present invention
provides an innovated cost effective vending machine with a
security system to effectively prevent the card inside the vending
machine from being stolen.
[0007] In accordance with the above objects and other advantages of
the present invention as broadly embodied and described herein, a
vending machine with security device is provided. The vending
machine with security device comprises a security device fitted
onto a dispensing device, wherein the security device is positioned
in between the dispensing device and a driving device of the
vending machine. The security device together with the dispensing
device support the dispensing lid and rotates the dispensing lid
upwards while the card is being dispensed by the driving device of
the vending machine. When the card passes through the dispensing
lid of the security device and being dispensed out by the
dispensing device of the vending machine, the dispensing lid of the
security device will automatically rotate downwards for closing the
slot.
[0008] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
positioning plate is provided at the dispensing device of the
vending machine, a sensor is installed on the positioning plate,
and a bent sensor plate is installed extending on the flange of the
lid of the security device to detect the status of the dispensing
lid of the security device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0009] For a more complete understanding of the present invention,
reference will now be made to the following detailed description of
preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a security device of the
present invention;
[0011] FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a structure of the security
device of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the vending machine with
security device of the present invention;
[0013] FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the vending machine with
security device of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a sectional view before the motion of the
dispensing lid of the security device of the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a sectional view during the motion of the
dispensing lid of the security device of the present invention;
and
[0016] FIG. 7 is a sectional view after the motion of the
dispensing lid of the security device of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Reference will be made in detail to the preferred
embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in
the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference
numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to
the same or like parts.
[0018] Referring to the FIGS. 1-4, shows a security device 1 and a
vending machine 2 of the present invention. The security device 1
comprises a chassis 11 and a dispensing lid 12. The two sides of
the chassis 11 are bent into a shape of wing pads 111, wherein each
side of the chassis 11 has an aperture 1111. The bottom portion of
the chassis 11 comprises through grooves 112. The two sides of the
dispensing lid 12 are also bent into a shape of wing pads 121,
wherein each side of the dispensing lid 12 has an aperture 1211,
and two biasing plates 122 which are bent backwards extend from a
frontal portion of the dispensing lid 12. A plurality of supporting
plates 123 extend from a bottom flange of the dispensing lid 12,
and a bent extended sensor plate 124 is formed at a top flange of
the dispensing lid 12. The dispensing lid 12 is installed in
between the two wing pads 111 of the chassis 11 and the supporting
plates 123 of the lid 12, wherein the supporting plates 123 can be
received into the through grooves 112 of the chassis 11. A roller
13 penetrates through the apertures 1111 of the chassis 11 and the
apertures 1211 of the dispensing lid 12. A plurality of buckling
ring plates 132 are inserted into the respective buckling grooves
131 which are formed on two sides of the roller 13, so that this
arrangement would allow the lid 12 to rotate axially together with
the roller 13.
[0019] The vending machine 2 comprises a space 21 and a driving
device 22. A dispensing device 23 positioned at a frontal portion
of the driving device 22. The dispensing device 23 comprises a
positioning plate 231 having a through groove 2311 formed on its
surface and a bent positioning plate 2312 formed on a top surface.
A sensor 24 is positioned on the positioning plate 2312.
Furthermore, the surface of the dispensing device 23 can provide a
means to position a panel 25, wherein the panel 25 comprises a slot
251.
[0020] According to an aspect of the present invention, the chassis
11 of the security device 1 is fixed by a plurality of fixing
elements 3 to the rear side of the positioning plate 231 of the
dispensing device 23, then the bent sensor plate 124 that extend at
the top flange of the dispensing lid 12 can fit into the sensor 24
of the dispensing device 23. The dispensing device 23 is positioned
in front of the driving device 22 of the vending machine 2 by using
a plurality of the fixing elements 3 in order to make the
dispensing lid 12 of the security device 1 position between the
dispensing device 23 and the driving device 22 of the vending
machine 2. Thus the above arrangement allows closing the through
groove 2311 of the dispensing device 23.
[0021] Further referring to FIGS. 5-7, the actual functioning of
the vending machine with the security device of the present
invention is described as follows. As shown in the above figures,
when the driving device 22 of the vending machine 2 is activated,
the card 4 stored within the space 21 is moved towards the
dispensing device 23, the frontal flange of the card 4 is initially
against the dispensing lid 12 of the security device 1, the
dispensing lid 12 rotates axially upwards along with the roller 13
for making a slit space to allow the card 4 to pass through. When
the card 4 enters into the through groove 2311 of the positioning
plate 231 of the dispensing device 23 and exits out from the slot
251 of the panel 25, the dispensing lid 12 rotates downwards
axially together with the roller 13 under the gravitational force
of the plurality of biasing plates 122, and the supporting plate
123 which are positioned at the bottom flange of the dispensing lid
12 further supports within the through groove 112 at the bottom
portion of the chassis 11 for positioning.
[0022] Furthermore, when the above dispensing lid 12 rotates
upwards along with the roller 13 to provide a slit space for the
card 4 to pass through, the bent sensor plate 124 extending at the
top flange of the dispensing lid 12 blocks the sensor 24 of the
dispensing device 23, as a result, the sensor 24 generates an
output signal for a card 4 to notify the vending machine 2.
However, because to the size of the cards 4 stored inside the
vending machine 2 is same, therefore the time taken for each card 4
dispensed by the dispensing lid 12 of the security device 1 is
maintained same, as well as the time for the bent sensor plate 124
of the dispensing slid 12 to support on the sensor 24. Therefore,
if any person intents to use a metallic plate, wire or other
material to interrupt the dispensing lid 12 while closing to steal
the cards therein, such action will cause an increase in time for
the bent sensor plate 124 of the dispensing lid 12 to block the
sensor 24, in response, the sensor 24 will generate a signal to
make the vending machine 2 activate an alarm system preset
therein.
[0023] According to another aspect of the present invention, when
the card 4 exits out from the slot 251 of the panel 25, the above
dispensing lid 12 rotates downwards by the gravitational force of
the biasing plates 122 and the supporting plates 123 positioned at
the bottom flange of the dispensing lid 12 supports on the wall of
the through groove 112 of the chassis 11 for closing position, thus
prevents the cards 4 from being inappropriately snatched out by
sticking the metallic plate, wire or other material, with the
adhesive tape into the slot 251 of the panel 25.
[0024] It is to be understood that the space 21 of the vending
machine 2 is not only for storing cards 4 as described above, but
can also be designed to store other objects, such as lottery
tickets or money bills may be stored to practice the present
invention.
[0025] While the invention has been described in conjunction with a
specific best mode, it is to be understood that many alternatives,
modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in
the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is
intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and
variations in which fall within the spirit and scope of the
included claims. All matters set forth herein or shown in the
accompanying drawings are to be interpreted in an illustrative and
non-limiting sense.
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