Newspaper vendor

Claim 2

In a feeder for articles such as newspapers or the like: a hopper for receiving a stack of the articles; spaced-apart, front and rear support structures for the stack disposed to underlie opposed leading and trailing edge portions, respectively, of the lowermost article of the stack as disposed in the hopper, said support structures presenting an opening therebetween; a central support unit located beneath the opening between said structures in spaced relationship from the latter and disposed to engage and support the central portion of said lowermost article that overlies the opening; and an article gripper associated with said support unit and shiftable between said front and rear structures in a manner to at least partially withdraw the lowermost article from the stack, said gripper being swingable about an axis disposed to preclude engagement of the gripper with the lowermost article ahead of said support unit, said gripper being operable in response to swinging thereof toward the rear structure to engage the lowermost article at its central portion or rearwardly thereof and to buckle the article downwardly behind the support unit, hence pulling the leading edge thereof from between the article therebove and the front structure, and being operable in response to subsequent swinging thereof toward the front structure to substantially unbuckle the lowermost article and displace the free leading edge thereof in a forward direction.

Claim 3

The feeder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said support unit includes a plurality of support elements in said opening spaced along said axis and disposed to underlie and engage the central portion of the lowermost article, there being a plurality of said grippers spaced along said axis between adjacent elements, respectively.

Claim 4

The feeder as Claimed in claim 1, wherein said support unit is provided with an article engageable apex, said axis of swinging movement of the gripper being disposed rearwardly of said apex.

Claim 5

The feeder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said support unit has an inclined, upwardly facing, article-engaging margin inclined in a direction toward the rear structure to cause the section of the lowermost article between the support unit and said rear structure to assume a slightly draped configuration to faciliate buckling thereof by the gripper.

Claim 6

The feeder as claimed in calim 4, wherein said support unit has a second inclined, upwardly facing margin inclined in a direction toward the front structure to guide the free leading edge of the lowermost article when said leading edge is removed from said front structure.

Claim 7

A vendor for articles such as newspapers or the like comprising: a cabinet having a hopper for receiving a stack of the articles, lockable access means permitting loading of the hopper, and an article delivery outlet communicating with the hopper; spaced-apart, front and rear support structures for the stack presenting an opening therebetween and disposed to underlie opposed leading and trailing edge portions, respectively, of the lowermost article of the stack in the hopper; a central support unit between said structures projecting upwardly into said opening to engage and support the central portion of the lowermost article; an article gripper associated with said unit and shiftably mounted for reciprocation generally toward and away from the front and rear structures; manually actuatable operating means disposed exteriorly of the cabinet and operably coupled with the gripper to effect said shifting thereof; a latch within the cabinet for releasably retaining said operating means against actuation; and coin-operated control means associated with said latch for releasing the latter for one operating cycle of the gripper in response to the introduction of a preselected coin combination to the control means, said gripper swingable about an axis disposed to preclude engagement of the gripper with the lowermost article ahead of said support unit, said gripper being so disposed with respect to said unit that, upon actuation of the operation means, the gripper first engages the lowermost article at its central portion or rearwardly thereof and displaces the engaged portion rearwardly of said unit to buckle the article downwardly behind the unit and thereby pull the leading edge of the lowermost article from between the article thereabove and the front structure, and thence displaces the engaged portion forwardly toward said front structure to unbuckle the lowermost article and displace the free leading edge thereof forwardly into a disposition adjacent said outlet for subsequent manual removal of the article from the cabinet by withdrawing the trailing edge of the article from the stack.

Claim 8

A vendor for articles such as newspapers or the like comprising: a cabinet having a hopper for receiving a stack of the articles, lockable access means permitting loading of the hopper, and an article delivery outlet communicating with the hopper; spaced-apart, front and rear support structures for the stack presenting an opening therebetween and disposed to underlie opposed leading and trailing edge portions, respectively, of the lowermost article of the stack in the hopper; a central support unit between said structures projecting upwardly into said opening to engage and support the central portion of the lowermost article; an article gripper associated with said unit and shiftably mounted for reciprocation generally toward and away from the front and rear structures; manually actuatable operating means disposed exteriorly of the cabinet and operably coupled with the gripper to effect said shifting thereof; a latch within the cabinet for releasably retaining said operating means against actuation; and coin-operated control means associated with said latch for releasing the latter for one operating cycle of the gripper in response to the introduction of a preselected coin combination to the control means, said gripper swingable about an axis disposed to preclude engagement of the gripper with the lowermost article ahead of said support unit, said gripper being so disposed with respect to said unit that, upon actuation of the operation means, the gripper first engages the lowermost article at its central portion or rearwardly thereof and displaces the engaged portion rearwardly of said unit to buckle the article downwardly behind the unit and thereby pull the leading edge of the lowermost article from between the article thereabove and the front structure, and thence displaces the engaged portion forwardly toward said front structure to unbuckle the lowermost article and displace the free leading edge thereof forwardly into a disposition adjacent said outlet for subsequent manual removal of the article from the cabinet by withdrawing the trailing edge of the article from the stack.

Claim 9

The vendor as claimed in claim 6, wherein said support unit includes a pair of laterally spaced support elements in said opening disposed to engage the central portion of the lowermost article, said gripper being located between said elements.

Claim 10

The vendor as claimed in claim 6, wherein said control means includes a catch engageable with said latch and means for positioning a coin introduced to said control means in a disposition to present the outer periphery thereof as a cam surface, said latch being operably connected at one end thereof with said operating means and having a cam follower at the opposite end thereof engageable with said cam surface of the coin such that, upon introduction of a coin, movement of the latch by the operating means causes the latch to cam out of engagement with the catch to permit actuation of the operating means, said cam follower on the latch being disposed in alignment with said catch of the control means during actuation of the operating means, said follower having an opening therein to clear the catch.

Claim 11

The vendor as claimed in claim 6, wherein said support unit is provided with an article-engageable apex, said axis of oscillation of the gripper being disposed rearwardly of said apex.

Claim 12

The vendor as claimed in claim 6, wherein is provided a display window in said cabinet, a shfitable rest within the cabinet for supporting an article at the window, and apparatus for shifting said rest out of its article-supporting disposition when the stack of articles has been depleted to release the display article for delivery thereof to said outlet, said apparatus including a component associated with said operating means for movement therewith and disposed interiorly of the cabinet, actuating means connected to said rest and yieldably held in a normal disposition wherein the actuating means clears said component during actuation of the operating means, and a weight overlying the uppermost article in the stack and disposed to engage said actuating means to shift the same into the path of said component when the stack is depleted, whereby actuation of the operating means shifts the rest to release the display article.

Claim 13

The vendor as claimed in claim 10, wherein said weight has an aperture therein for cleaning the gripper when the stack has been depleted.

Claim 14

The vendor as claimed in claim 6, wherein said support unit has an inclined elongated upwardly facing, article-engaging rear margin inclined in a direction toward the rear structure to cause the section of the lowermost article between the support unit and said rear structure to assume a slightly draped configuration to facilitate buckling thereof by the gripper.

Claim 15

The vendor as claimed in claim 12, wherein said support unit has a second inclined, elongated, upwardly facing front margin inclined in a direction toward the front structure to guide the free leading edge of the lowermost article when said leading edge is removed from said front structure.

Claim 16

The vendor as claimed in claim 12, wherein said rear structure includes a shelf member inclined downwardly toward said rear margin of the unit to cooperate with said rear margin in draping the lowermost article.