초록 ▼

An apparatus for rental of articles such as videocassettes comprises an outer housing, and a storage assembly within the housing having storage locations for storing a plurality of videocassettes. The housing has a front panel including an array of separate display areas each containing pictorial in

An apparatus for rental of articles such as videocassettes comprises an outer housing, and a storage assembly within the housing having storage locations for storing a plurality of videocassettes. The housing has a front panel including an array of separate display areas each containing pictorial indicia representing a particular videocassette and a predetermined selection code corresponding to that videocassette, a selection device adjacent the array for allowing a user to enter the selection code of a selected videocassette, and a delivery chute for delivering selected videocassettes to users. A transport mechanism is provided for retrieving selected videocassettes from the storage assembly for delivery to users, and for returning videocassettes to the storage assembly. A control device associates each stored videocassette with its storage location and controls the transport mechanism to deliver selected videocassettes to customers.

대표청구항 ▼

A videotape rental machine, comprising: an outer housing; storage means within the housing having locations for storing a plurality of videocassettes comprising: a plurality of rotatable drums arranged in a single plane parallel to the front wall of the housing and rotatably mounted on the rear wall

A videotape rental machine, comprising: an outer housing; storage means within the housing having locations for storing a plurality of videocassettes comprising: a plurality of rotatable drums arranged in a single plane parallel to the front wall of the housing and rotatably mounted on the rear wall of the housing, each drum having a plurality of videocassette storage compartments around its outer periphery; transport means for retrieving selected videotapes from their storage locations and delivering them to customers, and for retrieving returned videotapes from the customers and returning them to the associated storage locations comprising: a rotatable picker assembly rotatable in a plane parallel to the front faces of the drums and between the drums and the front wall of the housing between said delivery position and a plurality of pickup positions including a pickup position aligned with a home position corresponding to a storage compartment position on each of the drums; and drive means for rotating said picker assembly back and forth between said pickup positions and said delivery position and rotating said drums to position predetermined storage compartments at said pickup position; and control means for controlling operation of said transport means, comprising: means responsive to entry of a selection code on a selection device to control said transport means to retrieve the selected videotape from its storage location and deliver it to a customer; and a memory for storing data associating each storage location with a selection code representing a videotape to be stored at that location; the housing having a front panel comprising: an array of separate display areas each containing pictorial indicia representing a particular videotape stored in the machine and the selection code associated with said particular videotape; a selection device adjacent to said display area array and associated with said control means for allowing a customer to select a videotape on the selection code associated with that videotape on the selection device; and delivery means for delivering videocassettes to customers and receiving returned videocassettes.