The present invention relates to a slot machine used for selling individual, non-round articles in portions and comprising a magazine and, positioned under this, portion-dispensing members which are driven by means of a rotary motor activated by an accepted payment.

Background of the invention;

Vending machines for portion-packed goods are known. Moreover, vending machines for individual, symmetrically formed articles, for example round balls of chewing gum, are known. However, these known slot machines are not suitable for individual, non-round articles.

Object of the invention; The object of the invention is to provide a vending machine in accordance with the above, in which machine the dispensing procedure is visible in its entirety, and which machine can be produced at low costs in a func¬ tional and attractive design.

Characteristics of the invention;

To this end, the invention is characterized by the fact that the portion-dispensing members comprise an upper, circular magazine base which is turned by the rotary motor and which has at least one essentially vertically, downward-directed dispensing chamber which, during a turning procedure, is designed to be displaced together with an opening in the magazine base in underneath a screed plate mounted flexibly at a certain distance above the said base, which screed plate screens off a section of the said base, and a screening plate which seals off the dispensing chamber during the main part of a dispensing procedure, and which has a dispensing opening through which a portion article present in the dispensing chamber can pass at the end of a dispensing procedure.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the screed plate is essentially semi-circular, of flexible elastic material, and pivotably mounted in the magazine on diametrically opposed pins. This design provides a functionally reliable screening of the non- round articles from the top of the dispensing chamber during the dispensing procedure. In this way the con¬ struction of the slot machine is simplified.

The rotary motor is expediently positioned, together with payment-detecting members, in a housing which is arranged below the magazine and the portion-dispensing members and from which a shaft driven by the motor projects essen¬ tially vertically upwards to the base of the upper magazine. This design permits an advantageous positioning of the components included in the slot machine.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the shaft is hollow and is mounted on a bar which extends through the portion-dispensing members, the magazine, and a cover which seals the magazine off and can be locked on the bar. The design permits a simple and effective locking of the slot machine without compromis¬ ing its clearness.

Brief description of the drawing;

The abovementioned features and additional features of the invention will be described in greater detail below with reference to the attached drawing, which shows a slot machine according to the invention diagrammatic lly and in perspective.

Description of embodiments; The slot machine shown in the drawing comprises a maga¬ zine 10, a portion-dispensing unit 11 positioned under this, and a control unit 12. The slot machine is essen¬ tially designed as a cylinder, which is delimited at each end by means of a cover 13 and 14 respectively. The two covers 13 and 14 are connected by means of a bar 15

running centrally through the cylinder. This bar is rigidly connected to the lower cover 14 in the drawing. In contrast, the upper cover 13 is detachably arranged on the bar 15 via a lock 16. When filling the magazine 10, the lock 16 is unlocked and the cover 13 can be removed and new articles for sale can be filled in at the top of the magazine.

The magazine 10 and the dispensing unit 11 are made of transparent plastic, whereas the shell of the control unit 12 is non-transparent. The control unit comprises a mechanism 17 for accepting coins which are inserted into the slot machine via a coin slot in a cake-slice-shaped recess 18 in the cylinder casing. The said recess 18 is delimited inwards in the cylinder by means of top, bottom and side walls. The mechanism 17 comprises a coin return 17a for unaccepted coins and a passage 17b for accepted coins, which are detected by means of a micro switch 19. This micro switch communicates via electrical lines (not shown) with an electric motor 20, which receives current from a transformer 20a connected to the grid. The elec¬ tric motor 20 is provided with a gear 21 on its output shaft. The gear 21 cooperates with a gearwheel 22, which is mounted on a sleeve 23 borne coaxial on the bar 15. A cam disc 24 mounted on the sleeve 23 cooperates with a second micro switch 25, which is designed to interrupt the current to the electric motor 20 after a turn about an angle of 180°.

The sleeve 23 extends upwards from the unit 12 along the bar 15, through a screening plate 26, and supports a magazine base 27 mounted rotatably in the unit 11. The base 27 is controlled laterally by a cylindrical part 10a which is directed downwards from the magazine and is provided with downward-directed dispensing chambers 28.

In the cylindrical part 10a, a screed plate 29 of flexible elastic material is pivotably mounted about diametrically opposed, horizontally projecting pins 30,

at a certain distance from the magazine base 27, which corresponds essentially to the diameter of the articles which are to be stored in the magazine 10.

Normally, the magazine 10 is completely or partially filled with individual, non-round articles, for example unshelled pistachio nuts (not shown in the drawing so that the details of the invention may appear more clearly) which, by virtue of their weight, are pressed downwards towards the magazine base and the screed plate 29 mounted over the latter, and they fill the dispensing chamber or dispensing chambers 28 not covered by the plate 29.

Since the screed plate is of a flexible elastic material, for example macrolon, and is mounted in the manner described, the plate can curve upwards during the dis¬ pensing procedure, when the magazine base 27 with the dispensing chambers 28 is turned 180°, a dispensing stage in which a dispensing chamber passes beyond the edge of the plate 29, so that a layer of only one nut's thickness can pass under the plate 29, while other nuts are piled upwards on the top side of the plate. When the base 27 has been turned in this way to the position shown in the drawing, the right chamber 28 is situated directly over a dispensing opening 31 arranged in the plate 26, which dispensing opening leads to the outside of the slot machine via an obliquely downward and outward directed groove 32.

The magazine 10 and the portion-dispensing members 26-28 are expediently made of tubular sections of clear plexi- glass.

The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiment described above, and several variants are conceivable within the scope of the following claims. For example, the control unit 12 can be positioned on the top side of the magazine 10. In the drawing an embodiment has been

shown with two dispensing chambers 28. However, the number of dispensing chambers can be chosen freely, provided that the cam disc 24 controlling the angle of rotation is adapted to the division number.