Product vending machine alarm

Claim 1

In a product vending machine having an internal compartment with an external wall, an exterior door closing an entranceway to said compartment and being movable to an open position, and a signaling device for signaling an unauthorized opening of said door, the improvement where said device includes an alarm circuit comprising an open switch component which closes in response to opening movement of the door and has a pair of terminals, circuit components for establishing an electrically conductive circuit connection between said terminals including a DC battery, sound producing means connected in series with the battery and energizable by completion of the alarm circuit to sound an audible alarm, and a mechanism for arming and disarming said alarm circuit, said device including a housing for said mechanism which is located in said compartment and mounted on said wall, and a housing for said DC battery and said sound producing means which is restingly located within said compartment and randomly locatable therein, said mechanism comprising a switching component connected in series with said battery and said sound producing means and being manipulatable to make and break said conductive circuit connection, said switching component having an element that is rotatably manipulatable about an axis to selectable positions which include a plurality of positions at each of which said circuit connection is complete, and a position at which said circuit connection is broken, said element being manipulatable at the exterior of the housing for said mechanism and inwardly offset from the exterior surface of the wall, said element being arranged with its axis normal to the exterior wall surface and having an end with a recess shaped to receive the working end of a tool for use in the rotative manipulation thereof, and said wall having an opening which is arranged in working alignment with the end of said element and arranged to receive the working end of the tool.