ITEM CONVEYANCE MECHANISM OF ITEM VENDING MACHINE

Provided is a dispensing mechanism for an article vending machine, which can facilitate coupling of a drive section to a dispensing unit. A dispensing mechanism 55 for an article vending machine includes a drive section 60 that is disposed in a rear part of an article storing shelf and configured to cause a motion based on a vending command, and a belt conveyor unit 57 that is disposed in front of the drive section 60 and carries articles arranged in a front-rear direction, the belt conveyor unit being driven by the drive section 60 to sequentially dispense the articles forward, a gear shaft 63 that is an output shaft of the drive section 60 is removably coupled to a first gear shaft that is an input shaft of the belt conveyor unit 57, and the belt conveyor unit 57 is configured to be replaceable relative to the drive section 60, the belt conveyor unit 57 includes a belt conveyor 71 that moves the articles forward, a spur gear 76b that transmits, to the belt conveyor 71, driving force transmitted to the input shaft, and a cover 77 that covers a gear such as the spur gear 76b, and a part of the spur gear 76b is exposed to outside the cover 77.