ARTICLE DISPENSING APPARATUS WITH SEQUENTIALLY OPERABLE SHELVES

An article-dispensing apparatus having a plurality of vertically aligned shelves, each of which is held in a horizontal position by a latch mechanism and then released to a vertical position to dispense the article supported on the shelf. A compact shelf release unit is provided for each shelf and includes a solenoid for operating the latch mechanism to release the shelf in response to insertion of a coin. Under the control of a simple electric circuit, the shelf release units operate sequentially to release the shelves, starting from the lowermost one, to thereby dispense the articles one at a time. The control circuit includes a plurality of conventional double-throw switches instead of a rotary switch requiring a complicated wiring operation.