Abstract: An anti-theft latch mechanism is especially suitable for securing vending machines. According to the present invention, a control mechanism (such as a rotatable stud attached to a knob) includes a clutch arrangement by which the control mechanism remotely controls a latch portion. Thus, the control mechanism is not rigidly tied to the remote latch, thereby avoiding possible damage to the latch and relaxing design criteria for the mechanism as a whole. A latch portion prevents vandals or thieves from pushing the door either inward or outward as they attempt to gain entry to the inside of the vending machine. For this purpose, the latch provides a cove in which a catch in the side of the vending machine is enclosed at least partially on all four sides when the door is closed. This cove arrangement substantially prevents the latch from being shaken loose even when the vandal or thief jars the machine.

Abstract: A vending apparatus ensures that the delay between a customer's selection of an article, and the dispensation of the selected article, is minimized, preferably to less than a predetermined delay, regardless of the point in a multi-article vending cycle. The reduced selection-dispensation delay is achieved through use of a "memory and learning" feature. The "memory and learning" feature is predicated on a recall and/or analysis of the relative times of occurrence of one or more previous dispensations, so that the apparatus' present position in the multi-article vending cycle is determined. The "memory and learning" feature allows the vending apparatus to anticipate how long the article dispensation mechanism should run after the present dispensation, to strategically poise the mechanism for a subsequent dispensation having an optimum selection-dispensation delay.