Self-serve kiosk with rotatable container carousel
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A self-serve kiosk for storing and dispensing tanks comprisinga main frame with a bottom wall, top wall and side walls defining an enclosure for storage and dispensing of tanks;
- a carousel rotatably mounted atop said bottom wall about a vertical axis of rotation, said carousel having a plurality of separate shelves located around said axis on a plurality of levels located along said axis for receiving a single tank on each shelf;
a plurality of doors hingedly mounted to said main frame and movable to and from open positions allowing access to said shelves and closed positions limiting access to said shelves, one of said doors is provided for each level leading to a shelf located behind each door;
a driver mounted on said main frame and engaged with said carousel for drivingly rotating said carousel about said axis in a single direction and position a shelf behind each door, said driver is a gas driver and includes a gas cylinder mounted to said main frame and having an extendable piston rod with a distal end, a spring loaded finger projecting upwardly from said bottom wall of said main frame and engageable with said carousel to rotate said carousel about said axis of rotation locating a separate shelf behind each door, and, a linkage connecting said distal end of said piston rod with said finger; and
,a lock mounted on said main frame and releasably engageable with said carousel limiting movement of said carousel;
and wherein,said bottom wall has a curved slot through which said spring loaded finger projects, said cylinder moves said rod in a first direction with said finger moving a distance along said slot while engaged with said carousel to locate said shelves behind said doors in sequential fashion, said finger disengages said carousel when said rod moves in a direction opposite to said first direction to reposition said finger to engage said carousel for the next movement of said carousel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A dispenser of containers. A carousel is rotatably mounted to a main frame about a vertical axis of rotation and has a plurality of container compartments arranged around the axis and along the length of the axis. A driver mounted to the main frame rotates the carousel around the axis in a single direction and a lock limits rotation of the carousel in any direction when engaged.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A self-serve kiosk for storing and dispensing tanks comprising
a main frame with a bottom wall, top wall and side walls defining an enclosure for storage and dispensing of tanks; -
a carousel rotatably mounted atop said bottom wall about a vertical axis of rotation, said carousel having a plurality of separate shelves located around said axis on a plurality of levels located along said axis for receiving a single tank on each shelf; a plurality of doors hingedly mounted to said main frame and movable to and from open positions allowing access to said shelves and closed positions limiting access to said shelves, one of said doors is provided for each level leading to a shelf located behind each door; a driver mounted on said main frame and engaged with said carousel for drivingly rotating said carousel about said axis in a single direction and position a shelf behind each door, said driver is a gas driver and includes a gas cylinder mounted to said main frame and having an extendable piston rod with a distal end, a spring loaded finger projecting upwardly from said bottom wall of said main frame and engageable with said carousel to rotate said carousel about said axis of rotation locating a separate shelf behind each door, and, a linkage connecting said distal end of said piston rod with said finger; and
,a lock mounted on said main frame and releasably engageable with said carousel limiting movement of said carousel; and wherein, said bottom wall has a curved slot through which said spring loaded finger projects, said cylinder moves said rod in a first direction with said finger moving a distance along said slot while engaged with said carousel to locate said shelves behind said doors in sequential fashion, said finger disengages said carousel when said rod moves in a direction opposite to said first direction to reposition said finger to engage said carousel for the next movement of said carousel. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A self-serve kiosk for storing and dispensing tanks comprising
a main frame with a bottom wall, top wall and side walls defining an enclosure for storage and dispensing of tanks; -
a carousel rotatably mounted atop said bottom wall about a vertical axis of rotation, said carousel having a plurality of separate shelves located around said axis on a plurality of levels located along said axis for receiving a single tank on each shelf; a plurality of doors hingedly mounted to said main frame and movable to and from open positions allowing access to said shelves and closed positions limiting access to said shelves, one of said doors is provided for each level leading to a shelf located behind each door; a driver mounted on said main frame and engaged with said carousel for drivingly rotating said carousel about said axis in a single direction and position a shelf behind each door, said driver includes a cylinder mounted to said main frame and having an extendable piston rod with a distal end and further includes a spring loaded finger projecting upwardly from said bottom wall of said main frame and engageable with said carousel to rotate said carousel about said axis of rotation locating a separate shelf behind each door; and
, further including a linkage connecting said distal end of said piston rod with said finger, said bottom wall has a curved slot through which said spring loaded finger projects, said cylinder moves said rod in a first direction with said finger moving a distance along said slot while engaged with said carousel to locate said shelves behind said doors in sequential fashion, said finger disengages said carousel when said rod moves in a direction opposite to said first direction to reposition said finger to engage said carousel for the next movement of said carousel; and
,a lock mounted on said main frame and releasably engageable with said carousel limiting movement of said carousel. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. A self-serve kiosk for storing and dispensing tanks comprising
a main frame with a bottom wall, top wall and side walls defining an enclosure for storage and dispensing of tanks; -
a carousel rotatably mounted atop said bottom wall about a vertical axis of rotation, said carousel having a plurality of separate shelves located around said axis on a plurality of levels located along said axis for receiving a single tank on each shelf; a plurality of doors hingedly mounted to said main frame and movable to and from open positions allowing access to said shelves and closed positions limiting access to said shelves, one of said doors is provided for each level leading to a shelf located behind each door; a driver mounted on said main frame and engaged with said carousel for drivingly rotating said carousel about said axis in a single direction and position a shelf behind each door; and
,a lock mounted on said main frame and releasably engageable with said carousel limiting movement of said carousel; said lock is a gas lock and includes; a gas cylinder mounted to said main frame and having an extendable piston rod; and
,an extendable arm connected to said piston rod and movable to said carousel to releasably lock said carousel in position when one of said doors is open limiting movement of said carousel as a tank is removed or inserted onto a shelf; said carousel has a plurality of intermediate walls extending radially outward from said axis separating said shelves apart; and
,said gas lock includes a member movably mounted to said main frame and connected to said piston rod, said member has a hand thereon forming a recess to lockingly receive one of said intermediate walls to hold said carousel stationary, said carousel has a top portion adjacent which said hand is located to limit contact by said hand with any foreign material located at the bottom of said carousel. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. An LP gas tank dispenser comprising:
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a cabinet including a cabinet frame with a top portion and a bottom portion, said bottom portion has a wall with a curved slot extending therethrough; a carousel having compartments and rotatably mounted atop said wall of said cabinet frame about a vertical axis of rotation, said curved slot having a length to correspond to rotation of the carousel about the vertical axis of rotation through an angle equal to 360 degrees divided by the number of compartments on a level; a ring shaped wall mounted to said carousel and located at said top portion of said cabinet surrounding said vertical axis; a plurality of wheels mounted to said cabinet frame at said top portion rotatably extending against said ring shaped wall to center said carousel on said vertical axis as the carousel rotates; a mechanism for rotating said carousel on said cabinet frame, said mechanism includes a first cylinder with a piston rod having a spring biased finger extending upwardly from said bottom portion of said cabinet frame through said curved slot against said carousel frame and, an extendable rod connected to said spring loaded finger to move said finger rotating the carousel frame. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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Specification