Automatic vending machine with lottery bonus
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An automatic vending machine comprising:
- a housing including a front panel;
means provided in the front panel for displaying at least one article available for users;
means provided in the front panel for receiving coins and/or bills;
stocker means provided in the housing for storing the articles available for users;
means for discharging at least one article stored in the stocker means in response to an article discharge signal through a discharge opening provided in the front panel;
a plurality of lamps arranged geometrically on the front panel and provided with covers having numbers applied thereto; and
a lamp control circuit for lighting on and off said lamps successively and repeatedly in response to a signal which is generated each time the vending operation is effected, a repetition period of the lighting on and off being such that a light spot appears to move along said geometrical lamp arrangement, wherein said lamp control circuit further comprises a lottery circuit for producing a winning signal in response to a signal generated by the vending operation of the machine to stop the light spot at a predetermined lamp having a lucky number applied thereto and the machine further comprises means to drive said article discharging means additionally to discharge at least one extra article as a free addition in response to the winning signal.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic vending machine comprises a plurality of electric lamps arranged geometrically on a front panel of a housing and a lamp control circuit for lighting the lamps successively and repeatedly in response to a signal which is generated in accordance with a vending operation of the machine. The lamps are arranged equidistantly along a circle and thus a light spot appears to rotate along the circle. In a preferred embodiment the lamp control circuit comprises a lottery circuit which produces a winning signal for discharging an extra article as a free addition and at the same time the light spot is stopped at a predetermined lamp having a lucky number applied thereto.
-
Citations
15 Claims
-
1. An automatic vending machine comprising:
-
a housing including a front panel; means provided in the front panel for displaying at least one article available for users; means provided in the front panel for receiving coins and/or bills; stocker means provided in the housing for storing the articles available for users; means for discharging at least one article stored in the stocker means in response to an article discharge signal through a discharge opening provided in the front panel; a plurality of lamps arranged geometrically on the front panel and provided with covers having numbers applied thereto; and a lamp control circuit for lighting on and off said lamps successively and repeatedly in response to a signal which is generated each time the vending operation is effected, a repetition period of the lighting on and off being such that a light spot appears to move along said geometrical lamp arrangement, wherein said lamp control circuit further comprises a lottery circuit for producing a winning signal in response to a signal generated by the vending operation of the machine to stop the light spot at a predetermined lamp having a lucky number applied thereto and the machine further comprises means to drive said article discharging means additionally to discharge at least one extra article as a free addition in response to the winning signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification