Newspaper vending machine
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A newspaper vending machine comprising:
- an outer housing (10) having mounted therein a vertical wall (13) and a slanted wall (14), said walls cooperating to provide a slanted stacking of newspapers (12) to be dispensed,a telescoping rod assembly (20) means mounted to hold a newspaper stack (12) in a predispensed position within said housing (10),lip means (25) at an upper portion of said telescoping rod assembly (20),motor means (30) mounted within said housing (10) for activating said telescoping rod assembly (20) and the attached lip means (25) whereby a top newspaper in stack (12) is caused to slide by gravity force over said lip means upon lowering of said telescoping rod assembly,comparative and memory circuit means (50) for activating said motor means (30),magnetic card reader means (40) for supplying newspaper dispensing data to said comparative and memory circuit means (50),said magnetic card reader means (40) being capable of reading data input means from a pre-encoded magnetic card (41),said data input means comprising a machine code number (51) whereby the magnetic card (41) will be effective to operate only a given newspaper vending machine,said data input means further comprising a subscriber code number (52) and wherein said comparative and memory circuit means (50) includes means whereby only a single newspaper may be dispensed by a particular magnetic card (41) during a given twenty-four hour period,said data input means further comprising subscription date coding and wherein said comparative and memory circuit means (50) includes a calendar date cycle means (55) for comparison with said subscription date input data whereby a newspaper (12) will only be dispensed if the appropriate date is encoded on the magnetic card (41).
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Accused Products
Abstract
A single copy newspaper vending machine in which a telescoping rod assembly is activated via a comparative and memory electronic circuit. Data is read into the circuit by means of a magnetic card and reader. The apparatus and method provide a guaranteed newspaper sale since the magnetic card must be utilized by the subscriber in a specified machine and on a specified date. The system results in increased advertising revenues for newspaper publishers and in added convenience for newspaper subscribers.
46 Citations
6 Claims
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1. A newspaper vending machine comprising:
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an outer housing (10) having mounted therein a vertical wall (13) and a slanted wall (14), said walls cooperating to provide a slanted stacking of newspapers (12) to be dispensed, a telescoping rod assembly (20) means mounted to hold a newspaper stack (12) in a predispensed position within said housing (10), lip means (25) at an upper portion of said telescoping rod assembly (20), motor means (30) mounted within said housing (10) for activating said telescoping rod assembly (20) and the attached lip means (25) whereby a top newspaper in stack (12) is caused to slide by gravity force over said lip means upon lowering of said telescoping rod assembly, comparative and memory circuit means (50) for activating said motor means (30), magnetic card reader means (40) for supplying newspaper dispensing data to said comparative and memory circuit means (50), said magnetic card reader means (40) being capable of reading data input means from a pre-encoded magnetic card (41), said data input means comprising a machine code number (51) whereby the magnetic card (41) will be effective to operate only a given newspaper vending machine, said data input means further comprising a subscriber code number (52) and wherein said comparative and memory circuit means (50) includes means whereby only a single newspaper may be dispensed by a particular magnetic card (41) during a given twenty-four hour period, said data input means further comprising subscription date coding and wherein said comparative and memory circuit means (50) includes a calendar date cycle means (55) for comparison with said subscription date input data whereby a newspaper (12) will only be dispensed if the appropriate date is encoded on the magnetic card (41). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of dispensing newspapers from a vending machine comprising:
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stacking a plurality of newspapers (12) in a vending machine (10), operating said vending machine by comparative and memory circuit means (50), reading data into said comparative and memory circuit means by way of a magnetic card reader (40) and a magnetic card means (41), said data read into said circuit means (50) comprising a subscriber code number (52) and a subscription date code (55), said circuit means (50) including means (53) for storing the subscriber code number for a fixed period so that a second newspaper cannot be obtained by using the same magnetic card means (41) during said fixed period, said circuit means (50) further including a date calendar means (55) for comparison to the subscription date code read in via magnetic card means (41).
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6. A vending machine apparatus for dispensing substantially flat materials comprising:
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means for stacking said flat materials (12), means for releasing said flat materials comprising a telescoping rod assembly (20), means for operating said telescoping rod assembly in response to comparative and memory circuit means (50), means for reading data into said circuit means (50) comprising a magnetic card reader (40) and a pre-encoded magnetic card (41), said data read into said circuit means (50) comprising a subscriber code number (52) and a subscription date code (55), said circuit means (50) including means (53) for storing the subscriber code number for a fixed period so that a second newspaper cannot be obtained by using the same magnetic card means (41) during said fixed period, said circuit means (50) further including a date calendar means (55) for comparison to the subscription date code read in via magnetic card means (41).
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Specification