Beverage dispensing station

• US 4,577,782 A
• Filed: 05/02/1983
• Issued: 03/25/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IMI Cornelius Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cornelius Co. (Minnesota) (IMI PLC)
• Inventors: Fessler, Herman S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rolla, Joseph J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Noland, Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US06/492,870
• Time in Patent Office: 1,058 Days
• Field of Search: 222/182, 222/183, 222/129, 222/129.1, 222/132, 222/144.5, 222/135, 222/511, 222/513, 222/514, 222/399, 222/394, 222/505, 222/504, 312/223, 312/35, 312/42, 251/89, 251/107, 251/108, 251/101
• US Class Current: 222/129.1
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0042 Details of specific parts of the dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/08 Details

Abstract

A beverage dispensing station has a chassis mounted on a panel of a dispensing machine, a dispensing head on the chassis, dispensing actuators mounted on the panel, selector buttons mounted to the panel and pivotally suspended on a horizontal axis hinge with there being one button for each actuator, a bracket on the chassis which has a ledge for restraining the buttons and a flange for flow controls and a clamp for beverage lines, and a cover removably mounted to the chassis; the cover is removable for access to the flow controls and the bracket is forwardly deflectable for releasing the buttons and enabling removal of valve elements from the preferred actuator which is a pneumatic valve.

Claims

1. A beverage dispensing machine having an improved beverage dispensing station mounted upon a panel of the machine, comprising

(a) a chassis mounted upon the panel;

(b) a beverage dispensing head supported from the chassis;

(c) beverage lines leading from the panel to the head, said lines being above an underpanel of the chassis;

(d) a cover removably mounted upon the chassis, said cover having apertures for selector buttons and means for enclosing the beverage lines;

(e) beverage selector buttons mounted to the panel by a horizontal axis hinge underneath and inside of the cover, said buttons being registered with and being accessible through respective apertures and being operable when the cover is either mounted upon or removed from the chassis, said buttons being movable to an alternative position for withdrawal of valve elements normally operable by the buttons, and

(f) means under the cover and mounted to the machine independently of the cover for normally restraining the selector buttons against the valve elements when the cover is removed.

2. The improvement of claim 1, in which the selector button hinge is mounted to the panel and in which the restraining means comprises a bracket mounted to the chassis.

3. The improvement of claim 2, in which the bracket has a ledge extending over the top of a toe on each selector button.

4. The improvement of claim 1, in which the cover has a selector button stop which normally engages each button.

5. The improvement of claim 1, in which the restraining means also has means for restraining the dispensing head in the chassis.

6. The improvement of claim 1, in which the restraining means includes a confinement clamp for confining the beverage lines, and for keeping the lines out of the selector buttons.

7. The improvement of claim 1, including a beverage flow adjustor mounted in the selector button restraining means and underneath the cover, said restraining means being mounted to said chassis.

8. A beverage dispensing machine having an improved beverage dispensing station mounted upon a panel of the machine, comprising

(a) a chassis mounted upon the panel;

(b) a beverage dispensing head supported from the chassis;

(c) beverage lines leading from the panel to the head, said lines being above an underpanel of the chassis;

(d) a cover removably mounted upon the chassis, said cover having apertures for selector buttons and means for enclosing the beverage lines;

(e) beverage selector buttons mounted inside of the cover, said buttons being registered with and being accessible through respective apertures and being operable when the cover is either mounted upon or removed from the chassis; and

(f) in which the selector buttons are mounted by a horizontal axis hinge underneath the cover, said hinge being a plastic flex hinge inbetween each button and a common mounting pad for all of the buttons, all of said buttons, the hinge and the mounting pad being of integral one-piece construction.

9. The improvement of claim 8, in which the mounting pad is secured to the panel.

10. The improvement of claim 8, in which the hinge is adjacent to the panel and the buttons face generally upward and are downwardly depressable.

11. A beverage dispensing machine having an improved beverage dispensing station mounted upon a panel of the machine, comprising

(a) a chassis mounted upon the panel;

(b) a beverage dispensing head supported from the chassis;

(c) beverage lines leading from the panel to the head, said lines being above an underpanel of the chassis;

(d) a cover removably mounted upon the chassis, said cover having apertures for selector buttons and means for enclosing the beverage lines;

(e) beverage selector buttons mounted inside of the cover, said buttons being registered with and being accessible through respective apertures and being operable when the cover is either mounted upon or removed from the chassis;

(f) a horizontal axis hinge mounted to the panel, said buttons being suspended from the hinge;

(g) dispensing actuators mounted in the panel and underneath the hinge; and

(h) means on the selector buttons and in physical contact with respective actuators for movement of the actuators.

12. The improvement of claim 11, in which each actuator is a pneumatic valve.

13. A pneumatically actuable beverage dispensing machine having an improved beverage dispensing and control station mounted upon a panel of the machine, comprising

(a) a chassis mounted upon the panel;

(b) a beverage dispensing head supported from the chassis;

(c) pneumatic dispensing actuators mounted in the panel, each actuator having a gas vent behind the panel and a valve element removable from the actuator;

(d) a beverage selector and control button for each actuator, each button having a foot in engagement with a respective valve element;

(e) a cover removably mounted on the chassis, said cover having apertures for the buttons;

(f) means under the cover and mounted to the machine independently of the cover for restraining the selector buttons in a normal position with each foot against a respective actuator valve element when the cover is removed from the chassis; and

(g) in which each actuator includes a spring which biases the valve element against the foot of the respective selector button, with the selector button feet retaining the valve elements in the actuators.

14. The improvement of claim 13, in which the restraining means are selectively disengageable from the buttons for release of the buttons, said buttons being moveable to an alternative position enabling withdrawal of the valve elements for repair of the actuators.

15. The improvement of claim 13, including a pneumatic servo operated water dispensing valve pneumatically connected to the actuators and mounted on the back side of the panel behind the dispensing station.

16. The improvement of claim 13, in which the panel is the face of an insulated refrigeratable cabinet, said actuators being mounted in a void in cabinet insulation, said chassis and cover jointly defining an enclosed air space directly in front of the actuators and insulation void.