Bin ice delivery mechanism

Claim 2

Apparatus for storing a supply of ice in pieces and for delivering pieces of ice from said supply including in combination, a generally rectangular container for holding a supply of ice in pieces, said container having a front wall and a back wall, each of said front and back walls being slightly inwardly directed from the bottom thereof to the top thereof, said container having a bottom, said container formed with a delivery opening adjacent to said bottom, a plurality of ice delivery members, means mounting said members on said bottom for movement toward and away from said delivery opening, and means for driving said members to move pieces of ice from said supply toward said delivery opening.

Claim 3

Apparatus as in claim 1 in which said members are mounted for reciprocating movement.

Claim 4

Apparatus as in claim 2 in which said drive means reciprocates said members in out-of-phase relationship.

Claim 5

Apparatus as in claim 3 in which said members are arranged in pairs across said machine and in which the members of a pair are reciprocated in 180* out-of-phase relationship.

Claim 6

Apparatus as in claim 1 in which each of saId members has an upper surface inclined downwardly from a location remote from said delivery opening to a location adjacent to said delivery opening.

Claim 7

Apparatus as in claim 5 in which each of said members is formed with teeth in the upper surface thereof.

Claim 8

Apparatus as in claim 1 including spring fingers between said delivery area and the remainder of said container.

Claim 9

Apparatus for storing a supply of ice in pieces and for delivering pieces of ice from said supply including in combination, a container for holding said supply of ice in pieces, said container having a front and a back and a bottom provided with a flat generally horizontally disposed surface portion, said container front being formed with a delivery opening adjacent to said bottom, a plurality of ice delivery members, each of said members being formed with an undersurface received for sliding movement on said flat bottom surface portion, said members being arranged in side by side relationship across said bottom for reciprocating movement in a direction from front to back of said container, means for reciprocating said members to move pieces of ice from said supply toward said delivery opening and means for removing melt down from said supply from said bottom.

Claim 10

Apparatus for storing a supply of ice in pieces and for delivering pieces of ice from said supply including in combination, a container for holding said supply of ice in pieces, said container having a front and a back and a bottom provided with a flat generally horizontally disposed surface portion, said container front being formed with a delivery opening adjacent to said bottom, a plurality of ice delivery members, each of said members being formed with an undersurface received for sliding movement on said flat bottom surface portion, said members being arranged in side by side relationship across said bottom for reciprocating movement in a direction from front to back of said container, means for reciprocating said members to move pieces of ice from said supply toward said delivery opening and means for removing melt down from said supply from said bottom.

Claim 11

Apparatus as in claim 8 in which said melt down removing means comprises means forming a well portion in said bottom.

Claim 12

Apparatus as in claim 8 in which said front and rear walls are inclined slightly inwardly from top to bottom thereof.

Claim 13

Apparatus as in claim 8 in which each of said members has an upper surface inclined downwardly from the back toward the front of said container.

Claim 14

Apparatus as in claim 11 in which each of said members is formed with teeth in the upper surface thereof.

Claim 15

Apparatus for storing supply of ice in pieces and for delivering pieces of ice from said supply including in combination, a generally rectangular container having a bottom and a front wall and a rear wall and side walls for holding a supply of ice in pieces, a delivery area adjacent to said front wall, a delivery outlet in said area, a plurality of elongated ice delivery members, means mounting said members in side-by-side relationship over substantially the entire distance between said side walls with the members extending from adjacent to said rear wall toward said delivery area and for limited reciprocating movement in the direction of the length of the members whereby said members form the support for said supply, each of said members having a toothed upper surface inclined downwardly toward said bottom in a direction from said rear wall toward said front wall, and means for reciprocating adjacent ones of said members in out-of-phase relationship, said members being arranged in pairs across said machine, said reciprocating means reciprocating the members of said pairs in 180* out-of-phase relationship and reciprocating adjacent pairs in 60* out-of-phase relationship.

Claim 16

Apparatus for storing supply of ice in pieces and for delivering pieces of ice from said supply including in combination, a generally rectangular container having a bottom and a front wall and a rear wall and side walls for holding a supply of ice in pieces, a delivery area adjacent to said front wall, a delivery outlet in said area, a plurality of elongated ice delivery members, means mounting said members in side-by-side relationship over substantially the entire distance between said side walls with the members extending from adjacent to said rear wall toward said delivery area and for limited reciprocating movement in the direction of the length of the members whereby said members form the support for said supply, each of said members having a toothed upper surface inclined downwardly toward said bottom in a direction from said rear wall toward said front wall, and means for reciprocating adjacent ones of said members in out-of-phase relationship, said members being arranged in pairs across said machine, said reciprocating means reciprocating the members of said pairs in 180* out-of-phase relationship and reciprocating adjacent pairs in 60* out-of-phase relationship.

Claim 17

Apparatus as in claim 13 in which said reciprocating means comprises a shaft having a hexagonal cross section and eccentrics having openings with flat sides for engaging said shaft.