JP2003248862A - Article carrying-out device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To securely carry an article of commerce out by an article carrying- out device which carries the article out of an article storage column wherein articles are stacked and stored. <P>SOLUTION: The device is equipped with a pusher which moves forward while projecting from an article mount surface of a housing according as a carrying-out belt rotates to carry out a vended article stored in the article storage column, an attitude control member which moves an article to be vended next backward, and a tilt control part which extends backward from nearby the tip of the pusher along the length of the carrying-out belt so as to control downward tilting of the article to be vended next; and the attitude control member is arranged behind the article mount surface on the left side or right side about the length of the carrying-out belt and the pusher and the tilt control part are characterized in that as an article which is mounted on them and to be vended finally slants in the right-left direction, the reverse surface of the article abuts against the attitude control member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is mounted on an automatic vending machine that sells products such as cigarettes, and carries out the sales products stored in a stacked state in a product storage column from a product outlet. Related to the product unloading device.

[0002]

[Prior Art] Tobacco vending machines sell products (tobacco)
There are multiple product storage columns that store the products in a stacked state. In front of such a product storage column,
An opening for replenishing the product is formed. In addition, below the product storage column, a product carry-out port formed to facilitate the transfer of the sold product, and the sold product stored at the bottom of the product storage column are pushed forward from the rear. And a product unloading device for unloading the product from the product unloading port.

A conventional product unloading device for a vending machine will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a product unloading operation in a conventional product unloading device of an automatic vending machine, in which (a) is a state in which a product to be sold S1 is carried out from a product carry-out port, and (b) is a product to be sold S1. FIG. 5 is a front view of a conventional product delivery device of an automatic vending machine, showing a state where the product S2 is dropped from the outlet and a state in which the sale item S2 is dropped from the item delivery port.

As shown in FIG. 4, the product unloading device 21
The housing 22, the first pulley 23, the second pulley 24, the carry-out belt 25, the pushers 26 and 29, the tilt control units 27, 28, 30 and 31, and the attitude control member 32.
And a housing 2, a first pulley 3, a second pulley 4, a unloading belt 5, pushers 6 and 9, tilt control units 7, 8 and 10, of the product unloading device 1 shown in FIG. 2, respectively.
11, the same as the attitude control member 12, and the description of the configuration is omitted. The product storage column 33 and the product outlet 34 in FIG. 4 correspond to the product storage column 13 and the product outlet 14 shown in FIG. 2, respectively.

Next, the product unloading operation of the product unloading device 21 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

First, when a coin is inserted into the coin slot of the vending machine from the sales standby state and the desired product selection switch is pressed, the carry-out motor (neither is shown) starts to operate. When the first pulley 23 rotates counterclockwise by the operation of the carry-out motor, the carry-out belt 25 and the second pulley 24 also rotate counterclockwise. With the rotation of the carry-out belt 25, the pushers 26 and 29 also move counterclockwise, so that the pusher 29 located on the rear side of the sale item S1 is
The product S1 to be sold is pushed from the rear toward the product outlet 34 while moving forward while protruding from the product mounting surface 22a of the housing 22. As a result, the sale item S1 is pushed forward and is forwarded from the item outlet 34 (see FIG. 4A).

At this time, when a large number of products to be sold remain in the product storage column 33, the products stored above the products to be sold S1 are sequentially dropped almost at the same time when the carry-out operation of the products to be sold S1 is completed. And is located between the tilt control unit 31 and the pusher 26. In this way, the carry-out belt 25
Pushers 26, 29 and tilt control units 27, 28, 3
0 and 31 are formed because the sale product S1 is produced by shaking the vending machine in the sales standby state.
Is prevented from moving forward and falling from the product unloading port 34, and so-called two-piece delivery, in which not only the sold product S1 but also the sold product S2 is carried out during the regular product unloading operation, is prevented. This is because.

That is, the bottom surface of the sales product S2 that has fallen after the sales product S1 is carried out is pushed by the pusher 29,
It comes into contact with the tilt control units 30 and 31, and further, the rear portion comes into contact with the product placing surface 22b due to the weight of the sold product stored above the sold product S2. Therefore, the sale product S2 is inclined upward toward the product outlet 34. In this state, the posture control unit 32 rotates clockwise on the lower surface of the sale product S2 to pusher 2
9. The inclination gradually becomes gentle while sliding with the inclination control units 30 and 31, and the whole is placed on the product placing surface 22a and put into a standby state for sale. The carry-out motor is stopped by a detection sensor (not shown) provided at the product carry-out port 34, and the carry-out belt 25 is stopped when the inclination control unit 31 comes over the first pulley 23. In this state, the product S2 to be sold is locked by the tilt control unit 31 and the pusher 26 in the front and rear thereof, and does not fall from the product carry-out port 34 even if the vending machine is shaken.

As described above, not only when there are many products for sale stored in the product storage column 33, but also when there are few products left in the product storage column 33, the sale product S2 can be held in an appropriate posture. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent mistakes in carrying out the product at the time of sale.

[0010]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the sale product S1
Is the second stored product from the top of the product storage column 33, as shown in FIG. 4A and FIG.
Sales product S2 that falls after carrying out 1 is pusher 2
9. The tilt control units 30 and 31 may be mounted on the tilt control units 30 and 31. In this case, the sale product S2 moves toward the product outlet 34 while being placed on the pusher 29 and the tilt control units 30 and 31 by the carry-out operation of the sale product S1 (FIG. 4B). ). Further, after the sale product S1 is carried out from the product delivery port 34, the sale product S2 is also delivered to the product delivery port 3
Sometimes it was carried out from 4.

In the product unloading device 21 as described above, when a large number of products are stored in the product storage column 33, products with small surface friction are stored, or the height of the product unloading port 34 is high. If properly set, the next-sale product S2 in the product storage column 33 is the pusher 2
9. Even if it is placed on the tilt control units 30 and 31, the attitude control member 32 is rotated to cause the sale product S to be sold.
The rear part of 2 comes into contact with the product placement surface 22a of the housing 22, and it is possible to prevent a delivery error at the time of sale.

However, there are various kinds of products sold by the vending machine, and the tilt control unit 2 is provided for each product to be sold.
If the shapes of 7, 28, 30, 31 are set or the height of the product outlet 34 is changed, not only the structure becomes complicated but also the setting work becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an automatic vending machine capable of reliably preventing a mistake in carrying out a product such as so-called taking out two products at the time of sale with a simple structure. An object is to provide a product discharge device.

[0014]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention as set forth in claim 1, is a product formed in a lower part of a side surface of the product storage column, the products being stacked and stored in the product storage column. In a product unloading device for an automatic vending machine that carries out products from a carry-out port, a housing provided below the product storage column and having a product mounting surface on which the products stored in the product storage column are mounted, and a pulley The carrying-out belt, the drive unit for transmitting the rotational driving force to the pulley, and the projecting surface provided on the carrying-out belt, and the carrying-out belt rotating to project backward from the housing on the product mounting surface. Push forward to move out the sale product stored in the product storage column, and the next sale product to be delivered when the next sale product to be delivered inclines with the delivery operation of the sale item. The posture control member that moves the next-sale product backward while contacting the bottom surface of the next-sale product to control the flat posture In order to control the inclination, an inclination control unit is provided that extends rearward from the vicinity of the tip of the pusher along the length direction of the discharge belt, and the attitude control member is behind the product placement surface and in the length direction of the discharge belt. Is located on the left or right side with respect to the pusher and tilt control
It is characterized in that the last product to be sold placed on these is tilted in the left-right direction so that the lower surface of the product comes into contact with the attitude control member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the commodity discharging device for the vending machine according to the first aspect, the pusher and the tilt control section have an upper step surface extending rearward, and the upper step surface. Also has a lower surface formed at a lower position,
It is characterized in that the lower surface of the last product to be sold comes into contact with the lower side edge of the upper cross section.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is
In the product discharging device for the vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, the pusher and the inclination control section have an upper surface extending rearward, and an inclined surface formed in a downwardly inclined shape in the left-right direction from the upper surface. The bottom surface of the last product to be sold and the inclined surface are in contact with each other.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a product unloading device for an automatic vending machine according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a side view of a product unloading device of an automatic vending machine according to the present invention, in which (a) is a sales standby state and (b) is a state in which a sale product S1 is pushed forward. ,
(C) shows a state in which the sale product S1 is carried out from the product carry-out port,
(D) shows a state of waiting for sale, (e) shows a state of pushing out the sale item S2 to the front, and (f) shows a state of taking out the sale item S2 from the item outlet. FIG. 2 shows the present invention. It is a front view of the goods discharge device of an automatic vending machine.

As shown in FIG. 1, the product unloading device 1 includes a housing 2 and a first pulley 3 rotatably supported by the housing 2 and connected to an unloading motor described later.
A second pulley 4 rotatably supported on the housing 2, a delivery belt 5 stretched around the first and second pulleys 3 and 4 and a belt guide 2b described later, and a delivery belt 5 on the delivery belt 5. Of the pushers 6 and 9 projecting at mutually symmetrical positions in the longitudinal direction, the tilt control parts 7, 8 and 10, 11 projecting from the rear side of the pushers 6 and 9, respectively, and the rear of the housing 2. More rotatably provided, the sale product S2 falling after the lowest sale product S1 is carried out.
Attitude control member 12 for controlling the attitude of A product outlet 14 is formed above the product unloading device 1 by a gap formed between the product storage column 13 that stores products to be sold in a stacked state and the housing 2 and the lower front portion of the product storage column 13. It is configured. Further, inside the housing 2, a carry-out motor (not shown) for rotationally driving the first pulley 3 and the attitude control member 12 is provided.

Here, the housing 2 is in the front-back direction (see FIG. 1).
Is formed long in the left-right direction, and the first pulley 3 is arranged at the front (left side in FIG. 1) and the second pulley 4 is arranged at the rear. Further, in a state where a large number of products are stacked in the product storage column 13, the sales products S1 are placed on the product mounting surface 2a that constitutes the upper surface of the housing 2, and all the sales products are supported from below. It is like this.

The first pulley 3 and the second pulley 4 are
It is a toothed pulley having a large number of teeth (not shown) on the outside, and the first pulley 3 is connected to a carry-out motor via a plurality of gears (not shown).

The attitude control member 12 has a plurality of convex portions provided on the outer peripheral surface at equal angles to each other, and is connected to the carry-out motor via a plurality of gears (not shown). By rotating the attitude control member 12 in the clockwise direction, a plurality of convex portions sequentially appear and disappear through the opening (see FIG. 2) formed in the product placing surface 2a of the housing 2.

The carry-out motor is operated by inserting a coin into the coin slot of the vending machine and pressing a desired product selection switch (neither is shown). The operation of the carry-out motor causes the first pulley 3 to rotate counterclockwise and the attitude control member 12 to rotate clockwise.

The carry-out belt 5 has a large number of teeth (not shown) formed on its inner peripheral surface so as to mesh with the teeth formed on the first pulley 3 and the second pulley 4. ,
A belt guide 2 formed under the housing 2 while being stretched around the first pulley 3 and the second pulley 4.
You will be guided to b. Further, the carry-out belt 5 is arranged so as to move at a position lower than the product placing surface 2a of the housing 2, and by moving from the rear to the front, the sale placed on the product placing surface 2a is performed. The carry-out belt 5 does not come into contact with the product S1.

The pushers 6 and 9 are pressed portions 6a and 9a which come into contact with the rear surface of the sale product and push it out when the sale product is carried out.
Respectively, and has an upper step surface that extends slightly downward and backward from the tips of the pressing portions 6a and 9a, and a lower step surface formed at a position lower than the upper step surface. The lower surface is formed substantially parallel to each other. Further, the tilt control parts 7, 8, 10, 11 respectively formed on the rear sides of the pushers 6, 9 have substantially the same shape as the pushers 6, 7.

The product storage column 13 is formed so as to extend in the vertical direction, is formed at the front (on the left side in FIG. 1), and has a product replenishment port (not shown) that is slightly wider than the lateral width of the product for sale. ), A large number of products for sale are stored in a state of being laid sideways and vertically stacked.

In the vicinity of the commodity outlet 14, the sale commodity S1
Is provided with a carry-out sensor (not shown) for detecting whether or not the product has finished passing through the product carry-out port 14.
When this carry-out sensor detects the end of the carry-out operation of the sale item S1 at the time of sale, the power supply to the carry-out motor is cut off, and the carry-out motor is stopped.

Next, the product unloading operation of the product unloading device 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, in the sales standby state shown in FIG. 1A, the lower front portion of the product S1 to be sold is the inclination control member 8, the lower rear portion thereof is the product mounting surface 2a, and the upper rear portion thereof is the product storage column 13. It is in contact with the inside and is held in an upwardly inclined shape toward the front. Also, the sale item S
1 on top of the sale product (next sale product) S2 and the sale product S
3 and 3 are stored. From this sales standby state, the carry-out motor operates and the first pulley 3 rotates counterclockwise, so that the carry-out belt 5 also rotates counterclockwise, and the second pulley 4 also rotates counterclockwise. . As the carry-out belt 5 rotates, the tilt control unit 8 moves counterclockwise, and the lower surface of the sale product S1 is completely placed on the product placing surface 2a. Further, the pushers 6 and 9 also move counterclockwise, and the pusher 9 moves forward in a state of protruding from the product placing surface 2a, so that the sale item S1 moves backward in a state of being in contact with the pressing portion 9a. Is pushed out toward the product outlet 14. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2B, the sale item S1 is unloaded forward through the item unloading port 14. In this case, the sale product S2 tries to move forward together with the sale product S1, but is held in the product storage column 13 by coming into contact with the front inside of the product storage column 13. Further, when the carry-out belt 5 rotates, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 6C, the sale products S2 and S3 stored above the sale product S1 are almost the same as when the carry-out operation of the sale product S1 is completed. , The rear lower part of the product falls onto the product placing surface 2a while maintaining the upwardly inclined posture. At this time, the posture control member 12
Is rotated counterclockwise, the sale item S2 moves rearward, and the sale item S2 moves as shown in FIG.
The state in which the rear part of 2 is held in contact with the rear inside of the product storage column 13, that is, the state returns to the sale standby state.

Next, when carrying out the sale item S2,
As shown in FIGS. 1 (e) and 1 (f), the above-mentioned sales product S1
Is carried out by the same operation as the case of carrying out (see (b) and (c) of the same figure). When the sale item S2 is unloaded,
The product for sale S3 stored at the highest level falls on the pusher 6 and the tilt control units 7 and 8. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, since the pusher 6 and the tilt control portions 7 and 8 have a two-step shape including an upper step surface and a lower step surface, the pusher 6 and the tilt control sections 7 and 8 are in a state of falling to the right when viewed from the front (see FIG. 2). The lower rear portion of the sale item S3 contacts the attitude control member 12. Here, since the attitude control member 12 is rotating clockwise, the sale item S
No. 3 is kept in a normal sales standby position.

As described above, even when the number of products in the product storage column 13 is low, the products to be sold can be kept in an appropriate sales standby posture, so that a carry-out error of taking out two products at the time of sale is surely performed. Can be prevented.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is a front view of a product unloading device of an automatic vending machine according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

In the product unloading device 15 shown in FIG. 3, the pusher 16 and the upper surface of the tilt control section (not shown) are formed in a downwardly inclined shape toward the right side when viewed from the front. Other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the carrying-out operation of the product is completed and the sales product S3 stored at the uppermost position falls, the lower surface of the sales product S3 is the upper surface of the pusher 16 and the inclination control member. It comes into contact with the inclined portion formed on the front side, and is supported in a posture of falling to the right when viewed from the front.
Therefore, since the right rear portion of the lower surface of the sale product S3 contacts the posture control member 12, it moves backward and enters a normal sale standby state. Therefore, when the sale product stored immediately below the sale product S3 is delivered, the sale product S3 is not delivered at the same time.

[0035]

As described above, the product unloading device for an automatic vending machine according to the present invention can reliably prevent a product unloading error of taking out two products at the time of sale and prevent the product from being stolen. .

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are side views of a product unloading device for an automatic vending machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention, where FIG. 1A is a sales standby state, FIG. A state in which the sale item S1 is carried out from the item outlet, (d) is in a sale standby state, (e) is a state in which the sale item S2 is pushed forward,
(F) shows the state in which the sale item S2 is unloaded from the item unloading port.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the product unloading device of the vending machine according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the product unloading device of the vending machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a product unloading operation in a conventional product unloading device of an automatic vending machine, in which (a) shows a state in which a product to be sold S1 is carried out from a product carry-out port, and (b) shows a product to be sold S1. The state of falling from the outlet, (c) shows the state in which the sale product S2 falls from the product carry-out port.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a conventional product delivery device of a vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Product unloading device 2 housing 2a Product placement surface 2b Belt guide 3 front pulley 4 rear pulley 5 carry-out belt 6 pushers 6a pressing part 7 Tilt controller 8 Tilt controller 9 pushers 9a pressing part 10 Tilt controller 11 Tilt controller 12 Attitude control member 13 product storage column 14 Commodity exit 15 Product unloading device 16 pushers S1 to S3 sales products

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A product unloading device of an automatic vending machine, which carries out products stacked and stored in a product storage column from a product discharge port formed at a lower portion of a side surface of the product storage column, the product discharge device being below the product storage column. A housing having a product placement surface on which a product stored in the product storage column is placed, a carry-out belt stretched around a pulley, and a drive for transmitting a rotational driving force to the pulley. Part, and is projected on the surface of the carry-out belt, and by moving the carry-out belt, it is moved from the rear to the front while being projected from the product placement surface of the housing, and is stored in the product storage column. In order to control the next-sale product in a horizontal posture when the next-sale product to be carried out next is tilted with the pusher carrying out the sale-product and the carrying-out operation of the above-mentioned sale product, In contact with the bottom surface of the commodity,
An attitude control member that moves the next-sale product backward, and a unloading belt that protrudes from the surface of the unloading belt and controls the downward inclination of the next-sale product backward from the vicinity of the tip of the pusher. A tilt control portion extending along the length direction of the pusher, the posture control member is disposed behind the product placement surface and on the left side or the right side with respect to the lengthwise direction of the carry-out belt. The tilt control section is formed so that the bottom surface of the last product to be sold on these products is tilted in the left-right direction so that the lower surface of the product comes into contact with the posture control member. Vending machine product unloading device. 2. The pusher and tilt control section has an upper step surface extending rearward and a lower step surface formed at a position lower than the upper step surface, and the lower surface of the last product to be sold is:
The product discharge device for an automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the device is brought into contact with a lower edge portion of the upper section. 3. The pusher and the tilt control section has an upper surface extending rearward and an inclined surface formed in a downwardly inclined shape in the left-right direction from the upper surface, and a lower surface of a product to be finally sold is The product discharge device of the vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the product discharge device is in contact with the inclined surface.