AU2001239240B2 - Mechanism for product delivered in automatic vending machines and tamper-resistant vending machine - Google Patents

Description

I

-1- MECHANISM FOR PRODUCT DELIVERED IN AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINES AND TAMPER-RESISTANT VENDING MACHINE SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to automatic vending machines, particularly for foodstuffs and specifically for articles of frozen confectionery. More specifically it relates to an automatic vending machine which does not need an employee or attendant and is operated by the user for the sale of ice-creams contained in containers.

The invention further relates to a tamper-resistant vending machine incorporating a mechanism for product delivery in automatic vending machines where products are stacked in parallel columns and are dispensed via an opening in the front door. More specifically it relates to a machine for the vending of ice-creams in a frozen state packaged in cylindrical containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.

At the present time there are various types of machine for the automatic vending of products on the market, and among these are machines for the vending of packaged foodstuffs and refrigerated canned drinks.

These machines operate for the most part on a column storage system, i.e. the products are stacked in parallel columns and at the bottom of each column is a device that delivers the products requested, one by one. This mechanism releases the product which falls by the force of gravity into a tray that is accessible to the user from the outside. Due to this design the tray is very low, forcing the user to bend down to pick up the product. Some manufacturers do make the tray slightly higher by reducing the height of the column and subsequently the machine's capacity, with unused space at the bottom may be used for refrigeration or other auxiliary equipment. Moreover, this receiving tray is constantly -2open to the outside making it liable to vandalism and aggressive behaviour by unscrupulous users attempting to force products out of the machine.

For example in WO 99/54852 there is described an automatic vending machine and a container for articles of frozen confectionery which delivers ice-creams packaged in cylindrical containers.

One problem with known vending machines of the type described hereinbefore is that the interior of the machine generally is accessible through a window in the outer door and there is a risk of acts of vandalism so frequent in this type of machine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, in a first aspect the invention provides a product delivery mechanism for product delivery in an automatic vending machines where products are stacked in parallel a columns and are dispensed via an opening in the front door of the machine, said mechanism comprising, between the stacks and the door: a mobile product receiver compartment for collecting the product delivered in the machines at a specified lowered height position and raising it to a suitable higher height position for removing the product delivered by a consumer's user's hand; actuation means for raising moving the said mobile receiver compartment between the lowered and higher positions and for lowering it in a reciprocal vertical movement, locking means for selectively locking the said receiver compartment to the machine at the said specified lowered height position and for releasing it from that position, a product collection door for restricting access to enabling the interior of the machine to remain permanently inaccessible; and a safety system that prevents the consumer's user's hand from being caught in the closure movement of the product collection door.

According to another aspect, the invention provides a tamper-resistant vending machine as claimed in the first aspect.

-3- Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".

Advantageously, the invention at least in a preferred form restricts access to the interior of the machine thereby eliminating the risk of acts of vandalism.

In the context of the invention, "ice-creams" mean various frozen confectionery products which can be moulded or extruded, including ice sticks, cups, cones, sandwiches or bars.

Frozen confectionery is intended for ice cream, milk ice, water ice, sherbet, sorbet, which can be simple or composite, without or with inclusions or coatings.

Preferably, the product receiver compartment is motor-operated and moves vertically along guides, to be placed in the front of the machine between the stacks of products and the door. Preferably, the compartment is made of a lower section that receives the selected product from the column's dispensing device through an opening in the back and has an opening in the front accessible to the user, and an upper section that is in a partition or prolongation of its vertical side. Preferably, this upper section is made of rigid and resistant material and extends above the front opening. Preferably, the compartment is completed by the external structure, which forms a sole piece and is sliding along guides.

Advantageously, the mechanism also enables the product descent to be reduced to a very small dimension so that the available space can be occupied by the product to be delivered, thus increasing the storage capacity of the machine.

Preferably, there is a photocell inside the compartment that detects the presence of the product and a space to fit in a microswitch activated security lock. Preferably, the microswitch is mounted on a chassis fixed to the dispensing machine and is activated electronically, thus able to block the recipient in its lower position or to release it so that it can move into the upper position.

-4- Preferably, there is a geared motor attached to the chassis of the machine to enable the vertical movement of the compartment. Preferably, the geared motor has a lever on the axis connected to two consecutive connecting rods. Preferably, the free end of the front joint is joined to an anchorage of the upper crosspiece of the structure of the recipient.

Preferably, the said geared motor is capable of elevating the compartment. Preferably, the compartment is in the lower rest position when the geared motor lever is in the downward position, the lever chain extended and the partition placed in front of the exterior access opening of the machine. Preferably, the compartment is in the upper activated position when the geared motor's lever is in the upward position, with the lever chain retracted and the access window of the compartment opposite the exterior access opening of the machine.

Preferably, as a supplementary security measure, there is a special system to avoid accidents when the compartment moves down and to avoid any possible guillotine effect of any object placed in the pick-up opening and only partially put in the compartment.

Basically, when the compartment moves down to the rest position, the window can hit the user's hand if it is not removed in time or any object is imprudently put into the compartment, and could cause damage or lesions. For this reason the kinematic chain between the geared motor and the crosspiece of the recipient is made up of unaligned connecting rods at an angle. Advantageously, this allows for the arm to move to the end of its cycle or return to the upper position and the suspension of the compartment, which can be moved easily to release the obstruction. Once back to normal, the compartment can freely move down to the bottom of the machine, enabling it to be anchored.

Advantageously, aside from the security and convenience, this device allows for an additional window, which means lengthening the stacking columns downwards hence increasing the machine's capacity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective front view of the machine when closed; Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the machine with the door open, showing the interior of the machine and of its door; Figure 3. is a partial cross-sectional view in perspective along AA of Figure 2 of the interior of the machine with the product raising compartment empty in a first, lowered position; Figure 4 is the view of Figure 3 with the product raising compartment containing a product; Figure 5 is the view of Figure 4 with the product raising compartment in a second, raised position, showing a hand inserted to collect the product; Figure 6 is the view of Figure 5 with the product removed; and Figure 7 is a detailed partial cross-sectional view in perspective of the product raising compartment.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the following description the same ciffers designate the same elements.

The machine comprises an outer insulated body 1 providing a controlled-environment chamber 2, an inner door 3 and an outer door 4 which houses the controls 5 for selection which includes corresponding pushbutton panel.

With controlled-environment chamber 2 lie a product selector dispenser 6 and a coin box and product selector device 7. The product selector dispenser 6 operated by an electric motor (not shown) takes the bottommost product packed in a cylindrical container 8 from a stack of cylinders and by rotating drops the said cylinder 8 through door 9 into discharge hopper Discharge hopper 10 empties into receiving compartment 11 through slot 12 in inner door 3, receiving compartment 11 being located in outer door 4 with access from the outside through slot 13.

Receiving compartment 11 comprises a protective partition 14 against forcible entry into the internal part of the machine. Receiving compartment 11 has a front closure cover comprising a slot 16 of a size corresponding to slot 13 of outer door 4. The upper part 17 of the cover serves to close the access from the outside. Receiving compartment 11 has a bottom 18 and raising and lowering sliding guides 19. A product descent shockabsorbing pad 20 is provided over bottom 18. Receiving compartment 11 is provided with delivery photoelectric cell 21 and reception photoelectric cell 22. A position triangle 23 helps placing the cylinder in the right position.

Receiving compartment 11 is hung up to raising and lowering mechanism support bar 24 fixed to plate 25. Pivotably attached to plate 25 by its lower end are two connecting rods 26, 27, which are pivotably connected together. Connecting rod 27 is attached to plate and connecting rod 26 is in its turn pivotably attached to lever 28 by its upper end.

Connecting rods 26, 27 together have the same length as the distance between lowered and raised positions of the receiving compartment I 1 and serves as anti-trapping safety mechanism as will be explained hereinafter.

Rotary lever 28 driven by geared motor 29, attached on plate 30 serves to raise and lower receiving compartment 11 by making a half round rotation (clockwise or counter clockwise). On/off microswitches 31,32 of the geared motor are attached to plate 33.

Receiving compartment 11 can be locked to door 4 of the machine by means of anchoring and locking pin 34 which is attached on plate 35 and engages in hole 36 of the compartment. A microswitch 37 drives anchoring pin 34 out trough hole 34 in a protruded position, which makes the locking mechanism. Locking pin 36 can be driven by any suitable mechanism capable of horizontally displacing it, electromagnetical or mechanical. The retracted position of pin 34 is recovered by action of spring 38. Pin 34 is thus opened and closed by the combined action of spring 38 and microswitch 37.

BASIC OPERATING PRINCIPLE a) The product is selected on the pushbutton panel 5 and the coins are inserted corresponding to this selection, immediately after the selected pushbutton is pressed.

b) Prior to pressing the pushbutton, the product server receiving compartment 11, is fixed at the bottom by means of the pin 34 that has been actuated by the microswitch 37. Whilst the compartment is fixed at the bottom of the machine, the product descent trapdoor 9 remains closed (Fig. On pressing the desired selection, the product descent trapdoor 9 opens, the product falls to the bottom 18 of the -7compartment 11 (Arrow fl, Fig.4), the beam of the photocells 21, 22 is broken by Sthe cylinder, turning out the microswitch 37 which enables the release of the pin 34 that fixes the compartment 11 in the lowest position (Fig. 4).

c) When the compartment is free of the pin 34 the trapdoor 9 closes, the raising motor 29 is switched on, raising the product server receiving compartment to the collection slot 13 (Fig. The trapdoor 9 remains closed.

d) The product is removed (Fig. 6) and the beam between the photocells 21 and 22 is re-established; when the photocell beam is re-established, a timer is switched (Ni on that begins to operate when the product is removed. When this time has elapsed, N 10 the raising and lowering motor 29 is switched on again, lowering the compartment 11.

e) As an additional safety measure, the mechanism 26, 27 prevents trapping a hand since it can counteract the downward motion of the compartment 11, the connecting rods can loosely flex instead of being stiff. In addition, any obstacle is detected and the beam is interrupted, and the compartment returns to the upper position until the obstacle disappears.

f) When the compartment 11 reaches the bottom 18, the geared motor 29 is switched off and the microswitch 37 is turned on, driving the pin 34 that locks the box until required for service again.

g) Another request restarts the whole process described above.

LIST OF COMPONENTS 1 Outer insulated body 2 Controlled-environment chamber 3 Inner door 4 Outer door Controls for selection 6 Product selector dispenser 7 Coin box and product selector 8 Product housing cylindrical container 9 Slidable opening door for selected product descent Hopper 11 Product dispenser receiving compartment 12 Inner door slot 13 Outer door slot 14 Protective partition against forcible entry into the internal part of the machine Side closure cover of the compartment and its fastening 16 Side closure cover slot 17 Cover upper part 18 Product dispensing compartment bottom 19 Product dispensing compartment raising and lowering sliding guides Product descent shock-absorbing pad 21 Delivery photoelectric cell, detecting removal of the product 22 Reception photoelectric cell, detecting removal of the product 23 Product positional displacement triangle 24 Raising and lowering mechanism support bar Raising and lowering mechanism attachment plate 26, 27 Anti-trapping safety mechanism 28 Product receiving compartment raising and lowering rotary lever 29 Product receiving compartment raising and lowering geared motor Raising and lowering geared motor attachment plate 31, 32 On/off microswitches of the geared motor 33 Attachment plate of compartment raising and lowering microswitches 34 Product receiving compartment anchoring and locking pin Product receiving compartment locking mechanism attachment plate 36 Locking pin hole 37 Compartment anchoring and locking pin opening and closing microswitch 38 Positional recovery spring of the receiving compartment anchoring pin

Claims (13)

1. A product delivery mechanism for an automatic vending machine where products are stacked in a column and are dispensed via an opening in the front door of the machine, said mechanism comprising, between the stack and the door: a product receiver compartment for collecting the product delivered in the machine at a specified lowered position and raising it to a suitable higher position for removing the product by a user's hand; actuation means for moving the compartment between the lowered and higher positions; locking means for selectively locking the compartment at the lowered position; a product collection door for restricting access to the interior of the machine; and a safety system that prevents the user's hand from being caught in the product collection door.

2. A mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the product receiver compartment comprises a front wall having a window in a lower section and a product collection door in an upper section.

3. A mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the product receiver compartment is provided with sensor means for detecting the presence of a product in the compartment, and wherein the actuation means is responsive to said sensor means.

4. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the actuation means comprises a kinematic chain including a rotary lever connected at one of its ends to a geared motor and at the other end to an assembly of at least two consecutive pivotably arranged connecting rods with the free end of these rods connected to a upper support bar of the product receiver compartment.

A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the locking means comprises a moveable locking pin and a corresponding locking hole for receiving said locking pin, wherein said locking pin is resiliently biased against an actuator such that the pin can be selectively engaged with the hole.

6. A mechanism according to claim 5 wherein said locking mechanism includes: a spring for biasing said pin toward an unlocked position where said pin is disengaged with said hole; and a microswitch configured to act against the bias of the spring and engage said pin with said hole.

7. A mechanism according to claim 4 wherein the at least two pivotably connecting rods form part of the safety system, said connecting rods providing a non-rigid linkage for supporting said compartment thereby preventing trapping of a user's hand by downward motion of the compartment.

8. A mechanism according to claim 7, wherein the distance of the lever between the axis of the geared motor and the join with the first connecting rod is equal or greater than the height between the lower and the upper position of the compartment, and wherein the at least two connecting rods are articulated freely and with a length of each one so as to allow the arm to go down completely without forcing the movement of the compartment from the upper position to the lower position, thus forming an anti-trap device.

9. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a large opening dispensing closable trap for delivering the products of the stacks from the back into the compartment, and wherein the compartment is limited at the top by a horizontal partition shelf.

10. A mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the compartment is provided at its bottom with a product descent absorbing pad.

I 1. A mechanism as claimed in claim 3, wherein the sensor means includes a photocell and wherein a timer associated with the photocell delays operation of the actuation means.

12. A tamper-resistant vending machine comprising a mechanism as claimed in anyone of claims I to 11. -11-

13. A tamper-resistant vending machine as claimed in claim 12 for delivering ice- creams packaged in cylindrical containers in the frozen state.