Semiautomatic toy balloon vending and inflating machine

Claim 2

An article vending and processing machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the articles to be vended one at a time, a rotor on which the articles are piled having evenly circumferentially spaced opening provided therein to receive an article in each, a bottom plate under said rotor having an opening provided therein through which an article is dropped when said opening registers with an opening in said rotor, a top plate over a portion of said rotor and over the opening in said bottom plate restricting each vending to a single article, said rotor with said top and bottom plates forming parts of a coin controlled manually operated dispensing mechanism and said rotor being adapted to be indexed a fraction of a turn upon each coin released manual operation of said rotor, the fractional turn corresponding to the distance between openings in said rotor, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the operation of the machine for performing an operation on each of the articles after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on one of said plates in close enough proximity to said rotor to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said rotor in operative relationship to said switch means.

Claim 3

A machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the magnet means comprises a magnet between each pair of openings provided in said rotor, and said switch means comprises a pair of magnetically operable switches in circumferentially spaced relation relative to said rotor and so disposed that two of said magnets operate said switches in succession in each indexing movement of said rotor.

Claim 4

A machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein the magnets are elongated permanent magnets disposed substantially radially relative to said rotor, and said magnetically operable switches are elongated reed switches disposed substantially radially relative to said rotor.

Claim 5

A machine as set forth in claim 1 including electronic memory means in said electrical circuit pulsed by the firing of said magnetically operable switches each time a coin is deposited in the dispensing mechanism whereby to enable vending of a plurality of articles in close succession, the machine then operating on one after another of the articles until all of the coins have been accounted for.

Claim 6

A balloon vending and inflating machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the packaged balloons to be vended, one at a time, a rotor on which the packaged balloons are piled having evenly circumferentially spaced openings provided therein to receive a packaged balloon in each, a bottom plate under said rotor having an opening provided therein through which a packaged balloon is dropped when said opening registers with an opening in said rotor, a top plAte closely covering a portion of said rotor and extending over the opening in said bottom plate restricting each vending to a single packaged balloon, said rotor with said top and bottom plates forming parts of a coin-controlled manually operated dispensing mechanism and said rotor being adapted to be indexed a fraction of a turn on each coin released manual operation of said rotor, the fractional turn corresponding to the distance between openings in said rotor, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the inflation operation of the machine in inflating each of the balloons after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on one of said plates in close enough proximity to said rotor to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said rotor in operative relationship to said switch means.

Claim 7

A balloon vending and inflating machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the packaged balloons to be vended, one at a time, a rotor on which the packaged balloons are piled having evenly circumferentially spaced openings provided therein to receive a packaged balloon in each, a bottom plate under said rotor having an opening provided therein through which a packaged balloon is dropped when said opening registers with an opening in said rotor, a top plAte closely covering a portion of said rotor and extending over the opening in said bottom plate restricting each vending to a single packaged balloon, said rotor with said top and bottom plates forming parts of a coin-controlled manually operated dispensing mechanism and said rotor being adapted to be indexed a fraction of a turn on each coin released manual operation of said rotor, the fractional turn corresponding to the distance between openings in said rotor, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the inflation operation of the machine in inflating each of the balloons after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on one of said plates in close enough proximity to said rotor to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said rotor in operative relationship to said switch means.

Claim 8

A machine as set forth in claim 5 wherein the magnet means comprises a magnet between each pair of openings provided in said rotor, and said switch means comprises a pair of magnetically operable switches in circumferentially spaced relation relative to said rotor and so disposed that two of said magnets operate said switches in succession in each indexing movement of said rotor.

Claim 9

A machine as set forth in claim 6 wherein the magnets are elongated permanent magnets disposed substantially radially relative to said rotor and so disposed that two of said magnets operate said switches in succession in each indexing movement of said rotor.

Claim 10

In a balloon vending and inflating machine comprising housing means having balloon dispensing means therein operable manually from outside the housing means upon depositing a coin in a coin release on the dispensing means and manual operation of a knob or the like on the outside of said housing means, and inflating means in said housing means for supplying a lighter than air gas under pressure and compressed air to a nozzle projecting from said housing means, the gas and air discharge being under electronic control of means in said housing means electrically connected in circuit with a source of electric current supply and said dispensing means, the improvement which consists in an electrically operable signal means connected in the aforesaid circuit to initiate a cycle by indicating when the inflating means is ready to operate and the balloon should be applied to the nozzle for inflation.

Claim 11

In a balloon vending and inflating machine comprising housing means having balloon dispensing means therein operable manually from outside the housing means upon depositing a coin in a coin release on the dispensing means and manual operation of a knob or the like on the outside of said housing means, and inflating means in said housing means for supplying a lighter than air gas under pressure and compressed air to a nozzle projecting from said housing means, the gas and air discharge being under electronic control of means in said housing means electrically connected in circuit with a source of electric current supply and said dispensing means, the improvement which consists in an electrically operable signal means connected in the aforesaid circuit to initiate a cycle by indicating when the inflating means is ready to operate and the balloon should be applied to the nozzle for inflation.

Claim 12

A machine as set forth in claim 5 including electronic memory means in said electrical circuit pulsed by the firing of said magnetically operable switches each time a coin is deposited in the dispensing mechanism whereby to enable vending of a plurality of articles in close succession, the machine then inflating the balloons vended one after another until all of the coins have been accounted for.

Claim 13

In an article vending and processing machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the articles to be vended, one at a time, a manually movable vending element on which the articles are piled having an opening provided therein to receive one of said articles, top and bottom plates above and below said element, the lower plate having an opening provided therein through which an article vended is dropped when said opening registers with the opening in said element, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the operation of the machine for performing an operation on each of the articles after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on the lower one of said plates in close enough proximity to said element to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said element in operative relationship to said switch means in the dispensing operation.

Claim 14

In an article vending and processing machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the articles to be vended, one at a time, a manually movable vending element on which the articles are piled having an opening provided therein to receive one of said articles, top and bottom plates above and below said element, the lower plate having an opening provided therein through which an article vended is dropped when said opening registers with the opening in said element, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the operation of the machine for performing an operation on each of the articles after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on the lower one of said plates in close enough proximity to said element to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said element in operative relationship to said switch means in the dispensing operation.

Claim 15

A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein the switch means comprises a pair of magnetically operable switches and the magnet means comprises two magnets, which in a dispensing operation serve to operate said switches in succession.

Claim 16

A machine as set forth in claim 10 wherein the magnets are elongated permanent magnets and said magnetically operable switches are elongated reed switches arranged to come into alignment with the reed switches in succession in each dispensing operation.

Claim 17

A machine as set forth in claim 8 including electronic memory means in said electrical circuit pulsed by the firing of said magnetically operable switches each time a coin is deposited in the dispensing mechanism whereby to enable vending of a plurality of articles in close succession, the machine then operating on one after another of the articles until all of the coins have been accounted for.

Claim 18

A balloon vending and inflating machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the packaged balloons to be vended, one at a time, a manually movable vending element on which the articles are piled having an openiNg provided therein to receive a packaged balloon, top and bottom plates above and below said elements, the lower plate having an opening therein through which a packaged balloon vended is dropped when said opening registers with the opening in said element, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the operation of the machine for performing an inflation operation on each of the balloons after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on the lower one of said plates in close enough proximity to said element to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said element in operative relationship to said switch means in the dispensing operation.

Claim 19

A balloon vending and inflating machine comprising, in combination, a housing for storage of a pile of the packaged balloons to be vended, one at a time, a manually movable vending element on which the articles are piled having an openiNg provided therein to receive a packaged balloon, top and bottom plates above and below said elements, the lower plate having an opening therein through which a packaged balloon vended is dropped when said opening registers with the opening in said element, magnetically operable switch means connected in an electrical circuit controlling the operation of the machine for performing an inflation operation on each of the balloons after the vending thereof, said switch means being mounted on the lower one of said plates in close enough proximity to said element to be operable by magnet means carried thereon, and magnet means carried on said element in operative relationship to said switch means in the dispensing operation.

Claim 20

A machine as set forth in claim 13 wherein the switch means comprises a pair of magnetically operable switches and the magnet means comprises two magnets, which in a dispensing operation serve to operate said switches in succession.

Claim 21

A machine as set forth in claim 14 wherein the magnets are elongated permanent magnets and said magnetically operable switches are elongated reed switches arranged to come into alignment with the reed switches in succession in each dispensing operation.

Claim 22

A machine as set forth in claim 13 including electronic memory means in said electrical circuit pulsed by the firing of said magnetically operable switches each time a coin is deposited and the dispensing mechanism is operated, whereby to enable vending of a plurality of articles in close succession, the machine then inflating the balloons vended one after another until all of the coins have been accounted for.

Claim 23

A machine as set forth in claim 17 including a manually operable pushbutton, the depression of which controls delivery of the gas and air to said nozzle for inflation of the balloon, said button being operable for the purpose mentioned only after operation of the signal means.

Claim 24

A machine as set forth in claim 18 wherein the electrically operable signal means comprises a light bulb for illuminating said pushbutton.

Claim 25

A machine as set forth in claim 17 including electrical memory means in said electrical circuit arranged to be pulsed as a counter each time a coin is inserted and a balloon is vended, whereby upon completion of a vending and inflating cycle for the first of a plurality of coins deposited at a given time the signal means and inflating means are adapted to be cycled repeatedly until all of the coins deposited at one time have been accounted for.

Claim 26

A machine as set forth in claim 17 wherein the balloon dispensing means includes a pair of magnetically operable switches both of which must be closed in succession to complete the electrical circuit for activation of the inflating means and closing of the signal circuit, said switches being operable by any neighboring pair of magnets of a plurality of evenly spaced magnets mounted on a rotor that is indexed a predetermined amount for each coin deposited.

Claim 27

A machine as set forth in claim 17 wherein the balloon dispensing means includes a pair of magnetically operable switchEs both of which must be closed in succession to complete the electrical circuit for activation of the inflating means and closing of the signal circuit, said switches being operable by any neighboring pair of magnets of a plurality of evenly spaced magnets mounted on a rotor that is indexed a predetermined amount for each coin deposited, one of said magnetically operable switches being so disposed relative to the second magnet at the end of an indexing movement to remain closed until the next indexing movement of the rotor.

Claim 28

A machine as set forth in claim 17 including a key operable switch in said housing means operable by a key inserted in a lock exposed on the outside of said housing means, said key operable switch being so connected in the electrical circuit to activate the inflation means and signal means independently of the coin operated balloon dispensing means.

Claim 29

A machine as set forth in claim 22 including a key operable switch in said housing means operable by a key inserted in a lock exposed on the outside of said housing means, said key operable switch being so connected in the electrical circuit to activate the inflation means and signal means independently of the coin operated balloon dispensing means, said key operable switch means serving to close the circuit otherwise closed by the other of said pair of magnetically operable switches.