Apparatus for dispensing and accepting return of reusable articles

• US 4,967,906 A
• Filed: 10/16/1989
• Issued: 11/06/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Diebold Incorporated (Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Diebold Incorporated (Diebold Nixdorf, Incorporated)
• Inventors: Theriault, F. Michael, Morello, Herbert, Wellman, Michael H.
• Primary Examiner(s): PRICE, WILLIAM
• Application Number:
  US07/422,058
• Time in Patent Office: 386 Days
• Field of Search: 206/387
• US Class Current: 206/387.1
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/62 in which the articles are stored in compartments in fixed receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/069 by box-like containers, e.g. videocassettes, books

Abstract

An apparatus for dispensing and returning reusable articles each identifiable with its own identification code, comprising: a pair of opposing, stationary arrays of locations, each location being capable of holding a reusable article therein and having its own particular location code; a memory adapted to store details of said location codes and said article codes in memory; a data receiver for receiving informational data from a patron; a receptacle for receiving and discharging said articles; a transfer mechanism for placing an article in a location in said arrays or removing an article therefrom, the transfer mechanism being movable relative to said arrays between operative engagement with any of said locations and said receptacle; an article code sensing device adapted to sense the article code of an article carried by said transfer mechanism; and a control device having means for receiving information and for generating output instructional information and control signals, said control device being responsive to informational data from said receiver to actuate said transfer mechanism to remove a selected article from a location in said arrays to said receptacle by said transfer mechanism, or to return an article received by said receptacle to an empty location in said arrays.

Claims

1. A case for a video-cassette having an identification marking thereon comprising:

an integrally formed generally rectangular, plastic case having a top wall, a bottom wall, two side walls, and two end walls, each of said walls having an outer surface and an inner surface, said inner wall surfaces defining an interior cavity substantially conforming to the shape of a video cassette and dimensioned to receive said video cassette;

positioning means integrally formed on the inner surface of one of said side walls, said positioning means dimensioned to be received in an opening in said cassette, so as to permit insertion of said cassette in a single orientation;

opening means permitting insertion into and removal of a cassette from said cavity, said opening means comprising living hinges integrally formed between said side walls and said bottom wall of said case;

window means communicating said interior cavity with the exterior of said case, said window means disposed in a predetermined location in relation to the orientation of said cassette wherein said marking on said cassette is in registry with said window means; and

,

locating means disposed on said outer surface for engagement with guide means on a foreign surface, said locating means disposed in a predetermined location in relation to said window means.

2. A case for a video cassette having an identification marking thereon comprising:

a plastic generally rectangular case having an outer surface and an interior cavity substantially conforming to the shape of said video cassette and dimensioned to receive said video cassette in a single orientation;

opening means permitting insertion into and removal of a cassette from said cavity;

window means communicating said interior cavity with exterior of said case, said window means disposed in a predetermined location in relation to the orientation of said cassette wherein said marking on said cassette is in registry with said window means; and

,

locating means disposed on said outer surface for engagement with guide means on a foreign surface, said locating means disposed in a predetermined location in relation to said window means, wherein said locating means is a groove extending along the external surface of said case, and said groove extends along one corner of said rectangular case.