Abstract: Bagged ice is presented to consumers in an insulated cabinet having a storage chamber accessible through a front door. Photo-electric eyes are mounted within the cabinet to direct several beams of light across the chamber. When the level of bagged ice within the chamber has been depleted to a first level, one of the beams is no longer broken by the product. When it has been further depleted, a second, lower, beam is no longer broken. Information about the bagged ice level is collected by an electronic controller, and dispatched to an inventory control station by a communicator, which may be a telephone connection, a radio transmitter or a cellular telephony connection. An alternative embodiment has an acoustic transducer mounted within the cabinet to direct sound waves down into the chamber. The transducer detects waves reflected by the bagged ice, allowing the controller to compose a representation of the disposition of products within the chamber.

Abstract: A rotatable auger is disposed within an ice chest to direct ice through an opening into a tubular conduit through which runs a flexible looped cable. Plastic paddles are fixed to the cable at spaced intervals and engage with ice received within the conduit and advance the ice through the conduit to an above-the-counter transparent display segment of the conduit having an outer transparent plastic tube surrounding an inner transparent plastic tube through which the conveyed ice is visible. The ice is conveyed to a discharge opening where a user activated gate valve controls ice discharge. An ice return tube directs undispensed ice back to the ice chest.

Abstract: A wash station enclosure for installation proximate self-service gas pumps and for use by users of said pumps has a cabinet with a top surface with a flush-mounted washbasin therein. A spigot protrudes above the washbasin and communicates with a freshwater tank within the cabinet. An overhang is supported by two vertical supports which are affixed to the sides of the cabinet and support the overhang over and above the washbasin to form a sheltered space. The water within the freshwater tank is kept at a comfortable hand washing temperature by an electric heater. An electric pump communicates with the freshwater tank to cause water to flow from the tank to the spigot in response to activation of a switch. Heat lamps are mounted in the overhang soffit. The heat lamps are activated at the same time as the water flow to illuminate the washbasin and the area around it and to warm the hands of a user of the wash station by infrared radiation.