Abstract: A portable beverage dispenser houses a pair of plastic tanks divided by a partition, with each tank being able to heat or cool its contents. The housing also contains hand pumps for pressurizing the tanks, dispensing taps, and a padded lid which can be used as a seat. Heating tubes for each tank are attached to electrical heating elements, while independent tank cooling tubes are attached to thermoelectric cooling elements. The heating and cooling elements are independently connected to a rechargeable battery which is designed to operate under its own power, or connect to a conventional automatic cigarette lighter plug using a connecting wire with cigarette lighter plug members at each end. The beverage dispenser housing also houses radio speakers which are designed to plug into a small, portable radio which can be detached from the dispenser housing. Legs are attached within wells to guide tracks by guide runners.

Abstract: A tractor mounted accessory for handling round bales comprises an attachment frame adapted to receive a bar extending across the front of the tractor to support the accessory on the tractor. A pivoting frame is pivotally supported on the attachment frame and has a pair of round bale engaging forks extending forwardly therefrom. A hydraulic cylinder controls the pivotal relationship between the attachment frame and the pivoting frame and thereby controls the positioning of the forks relative to the tractor. The hydraulic cylinder is actuated by the hydraulic system of the tractor.

Abstract: Each interfaced loader and metering hopper combination of a newspaper assembling system includes improvements for producing ridges in the newspapers at various stages where separation of the newspapers from one another is required. The ridges stiffen the newspaper and reduce the area of contact and thereby the friction between them. At the receiving region of the loader, an arrangement of parallel side and central conveyors, wherein the central one is at a higher level than the side conveyors, produces ridges when the newspapers in a stack are fanned back into a stream. A pair of superimposed center conveyors and inclined laterally located arms produce ridges in the newspapers as they are discharged one at a time from a discharge region of the loader into a receiving zone in the hopper.

Abstract: A coin separator/rejector system includes a plurality of coin races which are disposed in a compact coin receiver body. The races have at least one protrusion along their length so as to deflect downwardly traveling coins and force these coins to alter both their attitude and direction of travel to encounter apertures formed in the receiver body between successive coin races. Coins of a selected diameter travel downwardly along any given coin race for ultimate deposit or credit. Coins of less than the selected diameter are directed into an alternate direction and path of travel along an alternate or secondary race where they are either credited or rejected.

Abstract: An escrow credit controller for use with vending machines having a vend path which is several articles in length, such as a copier machine. The controller accepts value in the form of coins or bills, and escrows the value in an escrow total. When the escrow total deposited reaches a trigger amount which is at least equal to one more than the number of articles in the vend path times the vend price, the vending machine is enabled. The controller continues to add value to the escrow total as coins or bills are deposited, and subtracts the vend price from the escrow total upon receipt of a vend signal from the machine. When the escrowed value is less than or equal to the number of articles in the vend path times the vend price, or when the "value return" is activated by the user, the machine is disabled (possibly after a delay to avoid "trapping" the article(s)).

Abstract: Grippers or gripper elements are attached at conveyor chain links of a revolvingly driven conveyor chain. The leading edges of each product of an imbricated product formation, in which each product bears upon the next following or trailing product, comes to lie on a clamping jaw of an associated gripper or gripper element and is engaged from above by a clamping element, such as a clamping finger of such gripper or gripper element. The product conveying direction of the transport apparatus and the product conveying direction of an infeed device delivering the products are in the same direction at a product take-over region of the transport apparatus. During the closing motion of the clamping finger of the gripper or gripper element this clamping finger raises a region or portion of the preceding or leading product which covers the leading edge of the trailing product which is to be engaged by such gripper or gripper element.

Abstract: A flexible container of bread slices has bellows-like foldable longitudinal sides, having a closed end and an open end. It is located within a somewhat larger casing provided with a closable lid, an open end of the flexible container being effectively sealable by a flexible soft cushion mounted to an inside surface of the lid of the outer casing. A small breathing aperture is provided in the lid, and the cushion allows passage of air or vapors through the breathing aperture to let the stored bread slices breathe with little evaporation from the bread slices. A manually movable platen plate supported within the outer casing biases a closed end of the flexible bread container toward the lid. Individual bread slices are dispensed when the casing lid is opened, with additional bias provided by moving the platen plate forward.

Abstract: A device for holding and dispensing pills which enables the dispensing of pills in successive order. Pills are mounted in a compact in a single row in the desired successive order and a pill ejector is arranged for incremental movement in one direction along the compact. When the pill ejector is adjacent to a pill, a bendable member is displaced to push the pill out of a blister type package and through an opening in the rear of the compact.

Abstract: An article gripper is moved by a robotic transporter in two perpendicular directions within a transport plane between a reference location and ID code reading locations aligned with an access port and storage cells of storage assemblies mounted in doors closing a transport compartment of an automatic vending machine. The gripper is also moved by the robotic transporter in a direction intersecting the transport plane to insert or withdraw articles carried by the gripper after displacement by incremental amounts from the aligned reading locations to gripping or releasing positions. The foregoing movements of the gripper as well as other related operations are under programmed control of a computer and inputted data from a keypad and card reader to perform merchandising transactions with respect to manufactured articles stored in the doors of the machine as well as to accommodate servicing operations.

Abstract: Apparatus for affixing a coin drop mechanism to the front panel of a vending machine in situations where internal tactile and visual access to the rear surface of the machine panel is limited. An external plate assembly includes guide rods extending from threaded studs which are used to align an internal plate assembly supporting the end drive mechanism. Internally threaded tubular locking fixtures applied over the guide rods to engage the studs for clamping the first and second plate assemblies around the panel. When proper assembly has been achieved the tip to the guide rods extends to the locking members to provide a tactical indication that proper installation has been achieved.

Abstract: A nozzle block (66) and a sieve screen unit (12), in which the outlet aperture (78) of the nozzle body (68) has a substantially oval shape to produce a fan-shaped flow pattern against the screen (24). Two nozzle blocks (66a), (66b) are mounted within the sieve screen housing (24), each block having a substantially solid, cuboid body including an outlet aperture that distributes slurry over the full width of the screen.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing signatures from a hopper includes a rotatable drum. A first feeder mounted within the drum removes a first signature from the hopper during rotation of the drum through a predetermined acruate distance. A second feeder mounted within the drum partially removes a second signature from the hopper during rotation of the drum through the predetermined arcuate distance before the feeding of the first signature from the hopper is completed. The second feeder engages the second signature and starts removal of the second signature from the hopper while the first feeder is finishing removal of the first signature from the hopper.

Abstract: The coin handling system prevents coin to coin contact taking place in coin operated equipment. This is achieved by an arrangement whereby the presence of a coin activates a first lever which moves a second lever in the coin path behind the coin so that a subsequent coin abuts the second lever. A series of such levers are employed in the coin store of coin operated equipment, the actual number depending upon the number of coins to be stored. When the first coin is cleared from the store by a suitable gate arrangement, all coins move along the store by one position, the separation being maintained by the interaction of the levers and coins. The advantages of the system are that a wider range of coins from one coin set can be accommodated in a single store than is presently possible. The coin insertion sequence is maintained for the purposes of microprocessor control since a single store is used. Since coins cannot overtake each other the risk of coins jams is lessened.

Abstract: A rotating disk is rotated about an upright axis to feed coins placed thereon toward a rotating body. The rotating body is formed with a spiral groove in which the periphery of each coin is inserted and a guide barrel is disposed in such a manner as to maintain the rising coins in the groove in the rotating body. The coin, the periphery of which are engaged in the spiral groove, are received by the guide barrel and lifted in a generally horizontal posture by the rotation of the rotating body and then discharged outside from a discharge port formed at an upper portion of the guide barrel. A rubber-surfaced roller is disposed opposite the rotating body. The roller is adapted to press against the periphery of coins thereby to ensure the insertion of the coins into the spiral grooves.

Abstract: A container with a strip of continuous premoisturized swabs therein, each swab being rectangular and interconnected with adjacent swabs at their respective corners. The swabs are folded only at their interconnection location and stacked one on top of the other. The container has an end face with an opening, through which a portion of the uppermost swab extends. The container also has a lid to protect the portion of the uppermost swab extending through the opening. Each swab is removable individually by pulling vertically on the portion of the uppermost swab until it tears at the interconnection location with the successive swab, because of frictional resistance generated by accumulation of the successive swab in the opening being greater than the tear strength of the interconnection location.

Abstract: A sheet clamping system for rotatable drums especially suited for use in retaining and positioning successive receiver sheets for high speed printers. The clamping system enables unidirectional movement of a sheet during delivery of the sheet to the drum from a supply stack, during clamping of the leading edge of the sheet to the drum followed by clamping of the trailing edge of the same sheet to the drum and during subsequent release and delivery of the sheet to a receiving stack or tray. The system features a cam system for actuating respective leading and trailing edge clamps which is supported on the same shaft to which drum driving rotation is supplied by a drive motor. In one embodiment where the drive motor is reversible, a one-way clutch connection of the drum to the shaft enables drum rotation during one rotational direction of the shaft whereas clamping bar actuation is effected by rotation of the shaft in the opposite direction while holding the drum.

Abstract: A sheet-fed press includes a front guide device which performs a positional adjustment of a printing sheet before transferring it to a transfer drum. In order to adjust an image forming portion on the printing sheet, both ends of a front guide rod are moved independently of each other. Moving distances of the both ends of the rod are computed by a central processing unit on the basis of a paper size, etc.

Abstract: An electronically controlled dispensing machine for articles such as video cassettes has a plurality of individual lockable compartments. The compartments have transparent doors through which the articles can be identified. A customer presents a coded data storage token with a credit amount stored on it to the machine, and selects and removes one of more articles. The machine reduces the credit amount on the token accordingly. The articles can be returned to a vacant compartment in due course, and if the article is returned late, a further amount is deducted from the credit amount on the token. Sensors in each compartment ensure that the cassettes are inserted correctly by sensing an electrically conductive portion of the cassettes.

Abstract: A mechanism for the reception and collection of coins in coin-operated machines includes a frame that can be moved along guides, located immediately beneath the coin selector or entry, which frame is divided into a series of identical vertical chambers, open at the top and bottom and on one of their transverse walls, with apertured plates for opening and closing the bottom and the side wall. The mechanism can be moved along the guides so that the open tops of the chambers are successively positioned under the exit of the selector. The mechanism for driving the frame, as well as the mechanism that drives gates that open and close the chambers, are controllable by a microprocessor, based on the information provided concerning the chamber in which each coin is located and the position of the frame at any given moment, which is provided by a decoder that is part of the frame and a reader that is stationary with respect to the frame.

Abstract: A pickup device for a piece of sheet-form flexible fabric or the like includes first and second fabric gripping elements that come together at the face of the fabric piece to grip a localized portion of the fabric, a support for resiliently biasing the fabric gripping elements together in a gripping position, and an actuatable separator for applying force to overcome the biasing to move the fabric gripping elements apart. Upon deactuation of the separator, the support is adapted to resiliently return the gripping elements to the gripping position. A pickup system and method for loosening and removing a single face piece of fabric from a stack of pieces aligned at an edge are also described in which a vacuum stabilizing system is combined with a jet directing air under the raised edge of a fabric piece.