CN110992582B

CN110992582B - Vending machine for showcase

Info

Publication number: CN110992582B
Application number: CN201910046805.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阿部顺一
Original assignee: Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-10-03
Filing date: 2019-01-18
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2039-01-18
Also published as: JP2020057343A; CN209496422U; CN110992582A; JP7255244B2

Abstract

The invention provides a vending machine used as a showcase, which can share commodities accommodated in a shell body as the showcase and the vending machine while maintaining energy conservation. In a showcase-used vending machine (10) having a showcase door (2) and a vending machine door (4) provided on the front surface and the back plate of a case body (1), a commodity-carrying shelf (6) provided in the case body is provided with a commodity-carrying rack (7) on which a commodity-carrying mechanism for carrying commodities to be carried out in the direction of the showcase door is carried out, an in-house commodity-carrying chute (8) is detachably provided in front of the commodity-carrying shelf, the in-house commodity-carrying chute is mounted in the interior in the vending machine mode to carry out the commodities carried out from the commodity-carrying rack, and the commodities carried out of the warehouse are carried out to a commodity-carrying port of the vending machine door via an out-warehouse commodity-carrying chute (9).

Description

Vending machine for showcase

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a showcase-vending machine which is installed in shops such as supermarkets and convenience stores, and which can reduce installation space and energy by using 1 device as both a showcase and a vending machine.

Background

As such a showcase-also-used vending machine, an invention disclosed in patent document 1 is known. The showcase-compatible vending machine is configured to include: a case body formed as a heat insulating frame body and having an open front surface; a door openably and closably provided in the front opening of the casing main body and having a commodity outlet at a lower portion thereof; commodity carrying shelves which are vertically stacked in a plurality of stages in the housing main body and are provided with commodity storage racks for storing commodities arranged in a row in the front-rear direction in a plurality of rows in the left-right direction; and a commodity conveying device which moves on the front surface of the commodity storage partition plates of each layer, receives the commodities output from the commodity storage rack, and conveys the commodities to the commodity output port. The door is configured as a rectangular frame body, a window into which a transparent member such as glass or the like that allows the inside of the case body to be seen through is fitted is formed in the upper region, a commodity outlet is formed in the lower region, and the commodity inside can be visually observed through the transparent member. The commodity storage rack disposed on the commodity storage partition plate has a commodity conveying mechanism formed of an endless conveyor belt suspended on drive rollers and driven rollers disposed in front and rear, and commodities are stored on the conveyor belt of the commodity conveying mechanism. The upper surface of the annular conveyer belt is formed into a loaded surface for arranging the commodities in a row for storage. The commodity pressing member is provided on the placement surface so as to be positioned behind the rearmost commodity among commodities stored in a row. The conveyor belt is configured to output the commodity by transmitting a driving force from a commodity conveying device side moving on a front surface of the commodity storage partition plate at each floor. In this case, the commodities stored in a row on the conveyor belt are conveyed forward by the commodity pressing member without falling down. An operation unit is provided on a side surface of the housing main body, and a charging unit (a bill insertion port, a coin insertion port, a return lever, a coin return port, and the like) and an operation unit (operation buttons such as 0 to 9 numeric keys and a set key for selecting a commodity, a display panel for displaying the number of the selected commodity, the received amount of money, the change amount, and the like) are mounted thereon, the charging unit being required for selling the commodity of the automatic vending machine.

The invention described in patent document 1 is configured such that: the vending machine mode is set such that the operation unit can be used while the door is locked in the vending machine mode used as the vending machine, and the showcase mode is set such that the operation unit cannot be used while the door is unlocked in the showcase mode used as the showcase. The invention described in patent document 1 is excellent in that 1 device is used as both a showcase and a vending machine, and the installation space and energy can be reduced.

In the vending machine described in patent document 1, the following configuration is adopted: the commodity outlet is provided in a door that opens and closes an opening in the front surface of the case body, and in the vending machine mode, commodities output from the commodity storage rack are conveyed to the commodity outlet for sale, and in the showcase mode, a purchaser opens the door to take out the commodities from the commodity storage rack. Therefore, when the vending machine described in patent literature 1 is installed in a store such as a supermarket, the door is installed in the store, and the operation of the vending machine (selling of products) is limited to the business hours of the store. In order to solve the above problem, there is also known a showcase-integrated automatic vending machine including: the front and rear surfaces of the housing main body are opened, a partition wall is provided at an intermediate position in the front-rear direction of the housing main body, a door for a showcase is provided at one opening, and a door for an automatic vending machine is provided at the other opening (for example, patent document 2).

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 4379324

Patent document 2: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 8-124007

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In the showcase-integrated automatic vending machine described in patent document 2, the housing main body is provided to penetrate the wall of the store so that the door for the showcase faces the inside of the store and the door of the automatic vending machine faces the outside of the store. With this known showcase-integrated type vending machine, it is possible to sell products as showcases in the business hours of the store and to sell products by the vending machine also in the business hours of the store. However, the known showcase-integrated automatic vending machine has the following problems: the goods sold as a showcase and the goods sold as a vending machine must be prepared for the showcase and the vending machine, respectively, and the goods must be loaded into the showcase and the vending machine, respectively. In addition, it is necessary to manage the consumption period of the product for each of the showcase and the vending machine.

However, when the technique of the known showcase-integrated type vending machine is applied to the vending machine described in patent document 1, the products can be sold as showcases in the business hours of the stores and the products can be sold by the vending machine outside the business hours of the stores. Therefore, it is conceivable that the back surface of the housing main body of the vending machine described in patent document 1 is opened, and a showcase door having a transparent member such as glass allowing the inside to be seen through is provided in the opening, and the housing main body is provided so as to penetrate the wall of the store so that the showcase door faces the inside of the store and the door of the vending machine faces the outside of the store. Thus, the commodities stored in the commodity storage rack of the commodity storage partition can be shared by the showcase and the vending machine. However, opening the rear surface of the casing body configured as the heat insulating housing means removing the heat insulating material on the rear surface of the casing body, and it is undeniable that the heat insulating performance of the casing body is significantly lowered. When the heat insulation performance is lowered in this manner, the size of the refrigerating machine condenser unit is inevitably increased to maintain the commodities accommodated in the commodity-accommodating partition in the casing main body at a desired cooling temperature, and the power consumption is increased, which is contrary to the energy saving. Thus, there are the following problems: only by applying the technique of the known showcase-integrated vending machine to the vending machine described in patent document 1, it is not possible to obtain a showcase-used vending machine in which commodities accommodated in a housing main body can be commonly used for a showcase and a vending machine while energy saving is maintained.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described points, and an object thereof is to: to solve the above problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a showcase-compatible vending machine capable of commonly using commodities stored in a housing main body as a showcase and a vending machine while maintaining energy saving.

Means for solving the problems

In order to achieve the above object, a showcase-used vending machine according to claim 1 includes: a housing body formed as a box-shaped heat insulating frame body, having an opening on one surface in the front-rear direction and a commodity outlet formed on the other surface opposite to the one surface; a showcase door openably and closably provided in an opening of one side surface of the case main body; and a door for the vending machine, which is openably and closably provided on the other surface of the casing main body, and which is provided with a commodity outlet at a position facing the commodity outlet provided on the other surface of the casing main body.

Further, in the showcase-used vending machine according to claim 1, the showcase-used vending machine according to claim 2 includes: a heat-insulating partition member that divides the inside of the housing main body in the left-right direction into a commodity storage chamber and a commodity discharge chamber, and that is formed with a commodity discharge port that is open in a manner that communicates the commodity storage chamber and the commodity discharge chamber and that is normally closed by a discharge port door; a plurality of commodity-carrying shelves vertically stacked in a manner that a space for commodity discharge is formed between the commodity-carrying chamber of the housing main body and the showcase door, and a plurality of commodity-carrying shelves on which commodity discharge means for conveying and discharging commodities, which are stored in a row in the front-rear direction, in the direction of the showcase door, and which have a sold-out detection device for detecting sold-out of the commodities are arranged in a row in the left-right direction; an in-house commodity conveying device which is arranged in the commodity output space of the shell body and conveys commodities output from the commodity storage rack to a commodity output port of the heat insulation partition member; and an outside-warehouse commodity conveying device that receives the commodity conveyed by the inside-warehouse commodity conveying device and output via the commodity output port of the heat insulating partition member, and conveys the commodity to the commodity output port provided on the other side of the housing main body.

Further, in the showcase-also-used automatic vending machine according to claim 2, the showcase-also-used automatic vending machine according to claim 3 is characterized in that the in-box commodity transport device is an in-box commodity discharge chute which is detachably erected in the commodity discharge space of the casing main body, and which is inclined so as to descend toward the commodity discharge port of the heat insulating partition member in a manner of transporting the commodity discharged from the commodity storage rack toward the commodity discharge port of the heat insulating partition member.

Further, in the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 3, the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 4 is characterized in that an in-box commodity discharge chute detached from the commodity discharge space of the casing main body is housed in a commodity discharge chamber side partitioned by a heat insulating partition member

Further, in the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 4, the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 5 is characterized in that a locking member for locking a commodity discharge chute detached from a space for commodity discharge of the housing body is provided in the vicinity of a commodity discharge port formed in the heat insulating partition member on the commodity discharge chamber side of the heat insulating partition member, and the commodity discharge chute is locked to the locking member in a state where an outlet door formed in the commodity discharge port of the heat insulating partition member is prevented from being opened.

Further, in the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 2, the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 6 is characterized in that the commodity discharge mechanism of the commodity storage shelf includes: an endless conveyor belt suspended on a driving roller and a driven roller arranged in front and rear; a motor for driving the conveyor belt; and a sold-out detection device for detecting a sold-out of the commodity stored on the conveyor belt.

Further, in the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 1, the showcase-also-used vending machine according to claim 7 is characterized in that the vending machine door includes a display device including a liquid crystal display.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

The showcase-compatible vending machine according to the present invention includes: a housing body formed as a box-shaped heat insulating frame body, having an opening on one surface in the front-rear direction and a commodity outlet formed on the other surface opposite to the one surface; a showcase door openably and closably provided in an opening of one side surface of the case main body; a door for the vending machine, which is openably and closably provided on the other side surface of the casing main body, and which is provided with a commodity outlet at a position facing a commodity outlet provided on the other side surface of the casing main body; a heat-insulating partition member that divides the inside of the housing main body in the left-right direction into a commodity storage chamber and a commodity discharge chamber, and that is formed with a commodity discharge port that is open in a manner that communicates the commodity storage chamber and the commodity discharge chamber and that is normally closed by a discharge port door; a plurality of commodity-carrying shelves which are vertically stacked in a manner that a space for commodity discharge is formed between the commodity-carrying chamber in the casing main body and the showcase door, and on which commodity-carrying means for carrying out commodity discharge in a manner that commodities stored in a row in the front-rear direction are carried in the showcase door direction and discharged, and which have a sold-out detection device for detecting sold-out of the commodities are arranged in a plurality of rows in the left-right direction; an in-house commodity conveying device which is detachably arranged in the commodity output space of the shell body and conveys commodities output from the commodity storage rack to a commodity output port of the heat insulation partition member; and an outside-warehouse commodity conveying device that receives the commodity conveyed by the inside-warehouse commodity conveying device and output via the commodity output port of the heat insulating partition member, and conveys the commodity to the commodity output port provided on the other surface of the casing main body, whereby the following disadvantages can be solved and energy saving can be achieved by forming the commodity output port only on the other surface of the casing main body: as in the conventional device, the back surface of the casing body configured as a heat insulating frame is opened (heat insulating material on the back surface of the casing body is removed) to significantly reduce the heat insulating performance of the casing body, and a refrigerator condenser unit for maintaining the commodities on the shelves housed in the casing body at a desired cooling temperature is increased in size and causes an increase in power consumption. Further, the effect of enabling the commodities stored in the case main body to be shared between the showcase and the vending machine is obtained.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a showcase-also-used vending machine according to embodiment 1 of the present invention, as viewed from a customer side of a showcase.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the showcase-also-used vending machine of fig. 1 as viewed from the customer side of the vending machine.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view showing a showcase door and a maintenance door exploded from the showcase-compatible vending machine of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an exploded view showing the vending machine door exploded from the showcase-compatible vending machine of fig. 2.

Fig. 5(a) and 5(b) show an outlet frame unit attached to a commodity outlet provided in a back plate of a housing main body, fig. 5(a) is a perspective view of the outlet frame unit, and fig. 5(b) is an exploded view of the outlet frame unit.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the heat insulating partition member.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the commodity storage rack.

Fig. 8 is a partially omitted perspective view of the commodity output mechanism shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a partially omitted exploded perspective view showing a state in which the drive unit is mounted in the mounting groove of the base member.

Fig. 10 is a front view of the drive unit in a state where the outer cover is removed.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing a swing member and a link member constituting a sold-out detection device.

Fig. 12(a) and 12(b) show the in-house commodity discharge chute, fig. 12(a) is a perspective view showing the in-house commodity discharge chute together with the mounting fittings, and fig. 12(b) is a perspective view of the in-house commodity discharge chute as viewed from below.

Fig. 13 is an exploded view of the in-bin merchandise output chute of fig. 12(a) and 12 (b).

Fig. 14 is a partially omitted perspective view of the state in which the in-house commodity discharge chute is mounted on the housing main body.

Fig. 15 is an exploded perspective view showing the delivery chute outside the warehouse.

Fig. 16 is a partially omitted right side view of the housing main body with the right side plate removed.

Fig. 17 is a partially omitted perspective view showing a case where the showcase-compatible vending machine is used in the showcase mode, with a right side plate of the case main body removed.

Fig. 18 is a partially omitted perspective view showing a case where the showcase-serving vending machine is used in the vending machine mode, with a right side plate of the case main body removed.

Description of the reference numerals

1. A housing main body; 2. a door for a showcase; 3. maintaining the door; 4. a door for the vending machine; 5. a heat insulating partition member; 6. a commodity-carrying shelf; 7. a commodity storage rack; 8. an in-warehouse commodity output chute (in-warehouse commodity conveying device); 9. an ex-warehouse commodity output chute (ex-warehouse commodity conveying device); 10. a showcase-compatible vending machine; 12. a back plate; 16. 51, commodity output port; 17. 52, an output port frame; 18. 53, an output port door; 19. 54, an output port frame unit; 70. a drive unit; 71. a commodity output mechanism; 72. a conveyor belt; 78. a sold-out detection device.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the showcase-used automatic vending machine according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 to 4 show a showcase-used vending machine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The showcase-also-used vending machine 10 exemplified here is installed in a store such as a convenience store, for example, and the case main body is installed through a wall of the store so that the showcase in the showcase-also-used vending machine has its visiting surface facing the inside of the store and the visiting surface of the vending machine facing the outside of the store. In the following description, "front surface" and "left and right" refer to a case where the showcase serving as the vending machine is viewed from the shop (in other words, a case where the showcase is viewed from the customer side).

As shown in fig. 1 to 4, the showcase-used automatic vending machine 10 includes: a case body 1 formed as a box-shaped heat insulating frame body, one surface (hereinafter, also referred to as a front surface) in the front-rear direction of which is open; a showcase door 2 and a maintenance door 3 openably and closably provided so as to close an opening in a front surface of the case main body 1; a door 4 for a vending machine, which is openably and closably provided on the other surface (hereinafter, also referred to as a back plate) of the casing body 1 and has a commodity outlet 40 formed therein; a heat insulating partition member 5 that divides the inside of the casing body 1 into a commodity storage chamber 1A and a commodity discharge chamber 1B in the left-right direction, and that has a commodity discharge port 51 with a discharge port door 18 (see fig. 5a and 5B described later) that is opened so as to communicate the commodity storage chamber 1A with the commodity discharge chamber 1B; a commodity-carrying shelf 6 which is formed by a plurality of stages (5 stages in this example) in the vertical direction in an upper region of the commodity-receiving chamber 1A in the housing main body 1 so as to form a space for commodity discharge between the commodity-receiving chamber 1A and the showcase door 2, and which has commodity-receiving shelves 7 (in this example, commodity-receiving shelves 7 are disposed in an upper stage 2 stage and commodity-receiving shelves 7 are not disposed in a lower stage 3 stage) on which commodity discharge mechanisms 71 (see fig. 7 described later) are disposed in a plurality of stages in the horizontal direction, wherein the commodity discharge mechanisms 71 convey commodities stored in a row in the front-rear direction in the showcase door direction and discharge 1 commodity, and which has a sold-out detection device 78 (see fig. 7 described later) for detecting the sold-out of the commodities; an in-house commodity discharge chute 8 (in-house commodity conveying device) which is disposed in a commodity discharge space of the housing main body 1 and conveys commodities discharged from the commodity storage rack 7 to the commodity discharge port 51 of the heat insulating partition member 5; and an outside-warehouse commodity discharge chute 9 (outside-warehouse commodity carrying device) for receiving the commodity which is carried by the inside-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 and discharged through the commodity discharge port 51 of the heat insulating partition member 5, and carrying the commodity to the commodity discharge port 40 of the vending machine door 4.

The casing body 1 is formed in a box shape with an open front surface by appropriately combining an upper plate 11, a back plate 12 (see fig. 3), left and right side plates 13, and a bottom base 14, which are formed of a plurality of steel plates, and is configured as a heat insulating frame by disposing heat insulators formed of urethane foam on an upper wall, a back wall, left and right side walls, and a bottom wall 15 (see fig. 3) inside the box shape made of steel plates. The interior of the main body cabinet 1 surrounded by heat insulating material is constituted by a commodity storage chamber 1A and a commodity discharge chamber 1B which are partitioned into left and right sides by a heat insulating partition member 5, and the lower portion of the casing main body 1 is constituted as an equipment chamber 20. An equipment chamber cover 201 is disposed on the front surface of the equipment chamber 20 located below the commodity storage chamber 1A. A cooling/heating unit (not shown) that cools or heats the commodities stored in the commodity storage chamber 1A and stores the commodities in a cold or hot state is disposed at a lower portion (an upper surface of the bottom wall 15) of the commodity storage chamber 1A. The cooling/heating unit includes an evaporator, a heater, and an in-house fan. A refrigerating machine condensing unit (not shown) forming a refrigerating cycle with the evaporator of the cooling/heating unit is disposed on the base 14 of the equipment chamber 20 behind the equipment chamber lid 201 at the lower part of the casing body 1. The refrigerator condensing unit includes a compressor, a condenser, an outdoor fan, an expansion valve, and the like, and the condenser disposed in the equipment room 20 and the evaporator disposed in the commodity-accommodating room 1A are connected by a refrigerant pipe via the expansion valve. In the commodity discharge room 1B, in addition to the above-described out-of-store commodity discharge chute 9, components of the vending machine such as a main control device, a power supply box, and a leakage breaker are disposed.

As shown in fig. 4, a commodity discharge port 16 to which a discharge port frame unit 19 is attached is formed by opening a back plate 12 of the casing body 1. The commodity discharge port 16 is formed in a size that allows passage of commodities discharged from the commodity storage shelves 7 of the commodity mounting shelf plate 6 and conveyed via the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 and the out-house commodity discharge chute 9. As shown in fig. 5(a) and 5(b), the outlet frame unit 19 includes an outlet frame 17 having a frame shape (japanese: includes a shape) that fits into the opening of the commodity outlet 16, and an outlet door 18 pivotally supported by the outlet frame 17. The outlet port door 18 has a bulging portion 182 bulging one side of the center portion of a rectangular flat plate, a flat plate surface portion 181 is formed around the bulging portion 182, and

shafts

18a, 18a protruding outward are formed on both left and right sides of the upper end of the flat plate surface portion 181. By providing the bulging portion 182, when the outlet door 18 is hung down with the left and

right shafts

18a, 18a supported, the center of gravity of the outlet door 18 is shifted to the opposite side of the bulging portion 182 from the vertical line passing through the

shafts

18a, 18 a. The outlet door 18 is rotatably supported by shaft-supporting portions (not shown) provided at upper portions of left and right inner walls of the outlet frame 17, with which the left and

right shafts

18a, 18a are engaged. Inclined surfaces 171 are formed on the left and right inner walls of the outlet frame 17, with which the flat surface portion 181 abuts when the

shafts

18a, 18a of the outlet door 18 are engaged with the bearing contact portion provided in the outlet frame 17. Therefore, when the outlet door 18 is attached to the outlet frame 17 and hung, the commodity outlet 16 is closed by the self weight of the outlet door 18 in conjunction with the shift of the center of gravity position by the bulging portion 182, thereby preventing the inflow of outside air.

The front opening of the casing body 1 is closed by a showcase door 2 and a maintenance door 3 supported openably and closably at the left edge of the casing body 1 and configured to be split. A transparent glass plate 22 is fitted into the outer frame 21 of the showcase door 2, and the inside of the commodity storage chamber 1A can be visually confirmed from the outside through the transparent glass plate 22. A piston cylinder type spring 23 and a stopper member 24 are provided at upper and lower end portions of an outer frame 21 on a hinge side of the showcase door 2. The piston cylinder spring 23 is a known member (e.g., japanese patent application laid-open No. 5-118179) for automatically closing the opened showcase door 2, and the stopper member 24 is a known member (e.g., japanese patent application laid-open No. 5-118179) for limiting the opening angle (e.g., 90 degrees) of the showcase door 2 and preventing the showcase door 2 from being opened to a predetermined angle or more. The maintenance door 3 is in the form of a thin box made of metal, and has a key lock device (not shown) facing the key hole 31 on the front surface.

The door 4 for the vending machine is a thin box-shaped member covering the back surface of the casing body 1, and has hinge shafts (not shown) at both upper and lower ends of the right end side, and the hinge shafts are openably and closably attached to the back surface of the casing body 1 via hinge attachment fittings 4a and 4 b. A display window 41 is formed in an upper region of the vending machine door 4, which occupies substantially half of the door, and a display device 42 formed of a liquid crystal display is provided in the display window 41. A charging unit 43 and a key hole 44 of a key lock device (not shown) are provided near the display window 41 of the door 4 for the vending machine, and the charging unit 43 includes a bill insertion port 43a, a coin insertion port 43b, a return lever 43c, and a coin return port 43 d. Further, a commodity outlet 40 formed by a circular opening is formed at a position near the right end below the display window 41 in the door 4 for the vending machine.

The display device 42 is a touch panel screen, and has a function as a display means for displaying a commodity to be sold and a commodity price, and a function as an input means (touch panel) for supplying a signal indicating that the commodity is selected to a main control device of the automatic vending machine when a purchaser presses a portion on which the commodity is displayed. Note that the charging unit 43 may be a member that pays electronic money using a recording medium (an IC card, a mobile phone, or the like) on which electronic money is mounted, and is not limited to the charging unit 43.

A commodity receiving box 401 (see fig. 17) is provided on the front surface side (the back surface side when viewed from the vending machine door 4) of the commodity outlet 40. The commodity receiving box 401 has a top plate, a bottom plate, and left and right side plates, and is formed in a box-shaped structure with its front and rear surfaces opened. The commodity receiving box 401 has a rear surface facing the commodity outlet 40 opened in the vending machine door 4 and a front surface facing the commodity outlet 16 formed in the back plate 12 of the casing body 1, and receives a commodity sent out through the commodity outlet 16. The commodity outlet 40 is closed by an internally-openable outlet door 400 (see also fig. 16) pivotally supported at an upper end thereof.

Fig. 6 shows a heat insulating partition member 5 that divides the inside of the casing body 1 into a commodity storage chamber 1A and a commodity discharge chamber 1B in the left-right direction. The heat insulating partition member 5 is mainly composed of a rectangular heat insulating material made of urethane foam. A commodity discharge port 51 that opens to communicate the commodity storage chamber 1A and the commodity discharge chamber 1B is formed at an intermediate position in the vertical direction in front of the heat insulating partition member 5. The commodity discharge port 51 is formed in a size that allows passage of commodities discharged from the commodity-receiving shelves 7 of the commodity-mounting shelf plate 6 and conveyed via the in-house commodity discharge chute 8. Further, an outlet frame unit 54 is attached to the commodity outlet 51. The outlet frame unit 54 includes a frame-shaped outlet frame 52 and an outlet gate 53 pivotally supported by the outlet frame 52, and is configured similarly to the outlet frame unit 19 described above, and therefore, redundant description thereof is omitted. The outlet door 53 of the outlet frame unit 54 closes the commodity outlet 51 by the own weight of the outlet door 53 itself, and prevents the cold air or the warm air in the commodity storage compartment 1A from flowing out to the commodity outlet compartment 1B side.

In addition, a pair of upper and

lower locking parts

55 and 56 are provided in the heat insulating partition member 5. The locking

members

55 and 56 are for holding and storing the in-box commodity discharge chute 8 when not in use in the commodity discharge chamber 1B, and have engaging

pieces

55a and 56a bent in directions opposite to each other. Further, a metal plate 500 is attached to the heat insulating partition member 5, and the locking

members

55 and 56 are screwed to the metal plate 500.

The commodity-placing shelves 6 vertically arranged in multiple stages in the commodity-accommodating chamber 1A are formed as rectangular flat shelves having left and right side walls. A plurality of rollers, not shown, are provided along the front-rear direction outside the left and right side walls of the commodity-placing shelf 6. The rollers are held by guide rails R (see fig. 17) fixed to support columns (not shown) disposed in the commodity storage chamber 1A of the housing body 1 in the front, rear, left, and right directions. Therefore, the commodity-placing shelf 6 is slidable in the front-rear direction between a position of being stored in the commodity storage chamber 1A and a position of being pulled out forward from the commodity storage chamber 1A.

Fig. 7 to 11 show commodity storage racks 7 in which a plurality of rows of commodity storage shelves 6 are arranged in the left-right direction on the upper 2-tier commodity storage shelves 6 among the 5-tier commodity storage shelves 6 in the vertical direction. The upper 3-layer commodity-placing shelf 6 forms a commodity discharge space with the showcase door 2, and the upper 3-layer commodity-placing shelf 6 is pushed in to a rear position so that an in-house commodity discharge chute 8 (in-house commodity conveying device) can be disposed in the commodity discharge space.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the commodity storage rack 7 is provided with a commodity discharge mechanism 71, and the commodity discharge mechanism 71 receives a rotational driving force from the driving unit 70, conveys commodities stored in a row in the front-rear direction in the direction of the showcase door, and discharges the commodities, and further includes a sold-out detection device 78 for detecting a sold-out of the commodities.

The commodity discharging mechanism 71 includes a belt conveyor mechanism having an endless conveyor belt 72 that is movable by receiving a rotational driving force from the driving unit 70 to convey the commodity G placed on the conveying surface 72a of the commodity discharging mechanism 71 in the conveying direction a. The conveying belt 72 is looped between a driving roller 73 provided on the upstream side in the conveying direction a and a driven roller 74 provided on the downstream side in the conveying direction a, and is moved by the rotational driving force of the driving roller 73. In other words, the uppermost stream position of the transport belt 72 in the transport direction a is supported by the drive roller 73, and the lowermost stream position thereof in the transport direction a is supported by the driven roller 74.

The drive roller 73 is pivotally supported between left and

right side walls

710a, 710a provided upright on the base end side of the conveyor base 710 attached to the base member 700, and the driven roller 74 is pivotally supported between the left and right side walls on the top end side of the conveyor base 710. Further, a detecting member 780 constituting a sold-out detecting device 78 is provided on the conveying surface 72a of the commodity carrying mechanism 71. The detection member 780 is detachably attached to the conveyor belt 72 by engaging an engagement claw (not shown) provided on an abutment surface abutting against the conveyor belt 72 with an engagement hole (not shown) formed by a hole appropriately bored in the conveyor belt 72. The detecting member 780 is provided behind the product G positioned at the rearmost (rearmost) among the arranged products G (see, for example, the detecting member 780 indicated by the two-dot chain line in fig. 7), moves together with the conveyance of the product G by the movement of the conveyor belt 72, and finally moves to the foremost side of the product storage rack 7 as indicated by the solid line in fig. 7. The detection member 780 has a pressing portion 780a protruding in the left-right direction.

As shown in fig. 8, the product carry-out mechanism 71 includes, at its rear end portion: a coupling gear 75 having a coupling portion 751 coupled to a rotary body 704 (see fig. 9 described later) of the drive unit 70; a driven gear 76 that is driven to rotate by meshing with the coupling gear 75; a driving roller 73 located on a side of the driven gear 76; and a tension roller 77 disposed forward and downward of the drive roller 73 and applying tension to the conveyor belt 72. The coupling gear 75 is a large-diameter "bevel gear" that meshes with the driven gear 76, and has a cylindrical coupling portion 751 that protrudes inward from the "bevel gear". A protrusion 751a extending in the front-rear direction is formed on the periphery of the cylindrical coupling portion 751. The driven gear 76 has a "bevel gear" that meshes with the "bevel gear" of the coupling gear 75, and is fitted to one end side of the driving roller 73 that is pivotally supported between the left and

right side walls

710a, 710a of the conveyor base 710, thereby being integrally coupled to the driving roller 73 on the same axis.

As shown in fig. 9, the drive unit 70 includes a frame 701 configured in a rectangular box shape by an outer cover 701a and an inner cover 701 b. As shown in fig. 10 (a front view of the drive unit 70 with the cover 701a removed), the housing 701 houses therein a motor 702, a gear mechanism 703, a rotating body 704, and a detection switch 705. A swing member 782 constituting a sold-out detection device 78 is provided on the front surface of the outer cover 701a of the housing 701. The swinging member 782 is a plate-like member having a substantially triangular shape in front view, and a shaft pin 706 protruding from the outer cover 701a of the housing 701 shown in fig. 9 is inserted through a shaft hole 782a formed in the vicinity of an upper vertex of the triangle, and can swing around the shaft pin 706 as a rotation center. The drive unit 70 is attached to an attachment groove 700a of a base member 700 to which a commodity carrying mechanism 71 mounted on a conveyor base 701 shown in fig. 8 is attached.

A worm (helical gear) 702a is fixed to a rotation shaft of the motor 702 housed inside the housing 701 of the drive unit 70. The gear mechanism 703 is a transmission mechanism (speed reduction mechanism) for transmitting the rotation of the motor 702 to the rotating body 704, and includes: a worm wheel (helical gear) which meshes 703a with the worm gear 702 a; and a transmission gear 703b that is driven to rotate by the worm gear 703a and drives the rotating body 704 to rotate. The detection switch 705 is a microswitch that presses a button 705b by pressing and swinging a detection lever 705 a. The rotating body 704 includes: a large-diameter gear portion 7041 that meshes with a small-diameter gear (hidden from view by the transmission gear 703b in fig. 10) integrated with the transmission gear 703 b; and a mounting portion 7042 formed in a cylindrical shape having a smaller diameter than the gear portion 7041 and extending in the front-rear direction. The connection portion 751 of the connection gear 75 provided at the rear end portion of the commodity discharging mechanism 71 is detachable from the attachment portion 7042. In this case, a plurality of groove portions 7042a are formed along the circumferential direction on the inner peripheral surface of the mounting portion 7042, and the groove portions 7042a can engage with the convex portions 751a formed on the connecting portion 751 of the connecting gear 75. Therefore, when the coupling portion 751 of the coupling gear 75 is attached to the attachment portion 7042 of the rotary body 704 in a state where the convex portion 751a of the coupling portion 751 formed in the coupling gear 75 is engaged with the groove portion 7042a, the rotation of the motor 702 is transmitted to the coupling gear 75, and the conveyor belt 72 moves.

A sold-out detection device 78, then, comprises: a detecting member 780 provided on the conveyor belt 72; a long rod-shaped link member 781 extending in the conveyance direction a on the side surface of the base member 700 and slid in the conveyance direction a by the detection member 780; and a swinging member 782 and a detection switch 705 provided to the driving unit 70.

The detecting member 780 is provided behind the rearmost commodity G among the commodities G arranged in the commodity storage rack 7, and moves in the conveying direction a together with the commodity G. When the rearmost commodity G is delivered from the commodity-accommodating shelf 7, the pressing portion 780a formed to extend in the left-right direction at the lower portion thereof presses the rear surface side of the front end surface 781a of the link member 781 forward at the foremost position of the commodity-accommodating shelf 7, and slides the link member 781.

As shown in fig. 11, the link member 781 has: a top end surface 781a, a 1 st protruding piece 781b provided rearward of the top end surface 781a and protruding in a horizontal direction toward the inside of the base member 700; a 2 nd protruding piece 781c provided substantially at the center in the longitudinal direction and protruding in the horizontal direction toward the inside of the base member 700; a 3 rd protruding piece 781d provided on the rear end side and protruding in the horizontal direction toward the inside of the base member 700; and a pressing piece 781e formed in a substantially L shape in side view by being bent upward from a rear end and then protruding rearward. The 1 st protruding piece 781b, the 2 nd protruding piece 781c, and the 3 rd protruding piece 781d are movably engaged with an unillustrated elongated hole formed in a side surface opening of the base member 700 and extending in the conveying direction a, and guide the sliding operation of the link member 781. At this time, a coil spring (not shown) is interposed between the 2 nd projecting piece 781c and the base member 700, and the link member 781 is biased rearward (in the direction opposite to the conveying direction a) relative to the base member 700. A free end (rear end) of the pressing piece 781e is formed with an inclined surface 781f that can be brought into sliding contact with a side surface of the swinging member 782. The inclined surface 781f is formed by cutting the wall thickness of the pressing piece 781e in such a manner as to gradually decrease toward the rear.

As shown in fig. 11, the swinging member 782 is swingable in the left-right direction (solid arrow L, broken arrow R), and is biased by a coil spring 783 (see fig. 9) toward broken arrow R. The push lever 782b protrudes inward from a side surface of the swinging member 782. The pressing lever 782b passes through an opening of the cover 701a provided in the housing 701 of the drive unit 70 and faces the detection lever 705a of the detection switch 705.

Next, a sold-out detection operation performed by the sold-out detection device 78 will be described.

First, in a normal case where the commodity storage rack 7 has a remaining commodity G and the detecting member 780 provided on the conveyor belt 72 is separated from the distal end surface 781a of the link member 781, the link member 781 slides rearward. In this state, the thick portion of the inclined surface 781f formed by the pressing piece 781e located at the rear end of the link member 781 abuts against the side surface of the swinging member 782, and the swinging member 782 is held in a state of being swung in the direction of the broken-line arrow R. In a state where the swinging member 782 is swung in the direction of the broken-line arrow R, the pressing lever 782b of the swinging member 782 is at a position separated from the detection lever 705a of the detection switch 705, and the detection switch 705 is off.

In the middle of delivering the rearmost commodity G of the commodity-accommodating rack 7 from this state, the pressing portion 780a of the detection member 780 abuts against the distal end surface 781a of the link member 781, and the link member 781 is slid forward. By the forward sliding of the link member 781, the sliding contact portion of the inclined surface 781f, which is in sliding contact with the side surface of the swinging member 782, moves from the thick portion to the thin portion, and the pressing force that presses the swinging member 782 in the direction of the broken-line arrow R disappears. Accordingly, the swinging member 782 swings in the direction of the solid arrow L by the biasing force of the coil spring 783. Thereby, the pressing lever 782b of the swinging member 782 presses the detection lever 705a of the detection switch 705, and the button 705b is pressed by the detection lever 705a, so that the detection switch 705 is turned on. The main control circuit of the vending machine monitors the signal of the detection switch 705, and when the detection switch 705 determines that the product is open, the main control circuit determines that the product of the shelf number is sold out for the product storage shelf 7 in which the sold-out of the product G is detected, and displays the product on the display device 42 to notify the purchaser.

When the operator opens the showcase door 2 to replenish the products G in the product storage rack 7 whose sale is detected out, the detection member 780 is moved back again and disposed behind the last product G, and the link members 781 and the swing members 782 are returned to the normal state.

Fig. 12(a), 12(b), and 13 show the in-warehouse article discharge chute 8 (in-warehouse article conveyance device). As shown in fig. 12(a), 12(b) and 13, the in-warehouse commodity output chute 8 includes: a chute body 80; a front guide member 84 and a rear guide member 85 arranged along both front and rear edges of the chute main body 80; and locking

fittings

86, 87 disposed at lower portions of both ends of the chute body 80.

Reference numerals

801 and 802 in fig. 12(a) denote mounting fittings for disposing the in-box commodity discharge chute 8 in the commodity storage chamber 1A of the housing body 1 for commodity discharge. As shown in fig. 14, the attachment fitting 801 is fixed to the inside of the left side plate 13 of the casing body 1, and the attachment fitting 802 is fixed to the inside of the commodity storage chamber 1A of the heat insulating partition member 5 and at a position below the commodity discharge port 51.

The chute body 80 is provided with: a frame 81 formed by a front frame 81a and a rear frame 81b on the long side and left and

right frames

81c and 81c on the short side; a plurality of shafts 82 arranged to extend across the long sides of the frame 81; and a plurality of rollers 83 supported by the shaft 82. The chute body 80 has a shape of a so-called "abacus".

The front guide member 84 includes a right guide member 841 and a left guide member 842 divided into two parts on the left and right. The right and

left guide members

841 and 842 include: mounting

portions

841a and 842a along the front frame 81a of the frame 81;

flat portions

841b, 842b connected to the mounting

portions

841a, 842a and covering the upper surface of the front frame 81 a; and guide

portions

841c, 842c that are connected to the

flat portions

841b, 842b and are inclined obliquely upward. The width of the mounting

portions

841a and 842a is set to be wider than the width of the front frame 81a, and when the mounting

portions

841a and 842a are arranged along the front frame 81a, the through holes S11 to S14 of screws are formed at positions below the portions that do not overlap the front frame 81 a.

The rear guide member 85 includes a bottom portion 851 and a guide portion 852. The bottom portion 851 includes a bottom plate 851a, left and right side walls 851b, a rear wall 851c, and a front wall 851d, and is formed in a shallow box shape that can house the chute body 80 by the bottom plate 851a, the left and right side walls 851b, and the rear wall 851 c. The front wall 851d of the bottom portion 851 is bent downward to form a space for accommodating the chute main body 80 from the front. In the front wall 851d, screw grooves S21 through S24 are formed at positions facing through holes S11 through S14 of screws inserted into mounting

portions

841a and 842a of the right guide member 841 and the left guide member 842 constituting the front guide member 84. The rear guide member 85 has a flat portion 853 connected to the rear wall 851c, and a guide portion 852 is formed connected to the flat portion 853. The guide portion 852 includes an inclined portion 852a inclined obliquely upward and a vertical portion 852b connected to the inclined portion 852 a. The left end side of the hanging part 852b is cut into an appropriate shape so as not to interfere with the commodity discharged from the commodity storage rack 7 when the in-box commodity discharge chute 8 is disposed in the commodity discharge space of the commodity storage chamber 1A of the housing body 1.

In mounting the chute main body 80 to the bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85, the chute main body 80 is inserted into the bottom portion 851 from the front of a space (opening) opened by bending the front wall 851d of the bottom portion 851 downward, and the chute main body 80 is pushed in until the rear frame 81b abuts against the rear wall 851c of the bottom portion 851, whereby the chute main body 80 is accommodated in the bottom portion 851. In a state where the chute main body 80 is accommodated in the bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85, the rear frame 81b of the frame 81 enters a groove formed by the bottom portion 851, the rear wall 851c, and the flat portion 853 of the rear guide member 85, and the front frame 81a of the frame 81 and the front wall 851d of the bottom portion 851 are flush with each other in the vertical direction. Further, the mounting

portions

841a and 842a of the right guide member 841 and the left guide member 842 constituting the front guide member 84 are disposed along the front frame 81a, and then the screws S1 to S4 are screwed into the screw grooves S21 to S24 formed in the rear guide member 85 through the through-holes S11 to S14 of the screws formed in the mounting

portions

841a and 842a through-hole S14, so that the chute body 80, the front guide member 84, and the rear guide member 85 are integrated to constitute the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8. In this case, the

flat portions

841b, 842b of the right and

left guide members

841, 842 cover the upper portions of the front and

rear frames

81a, 81b of the frame 81, preventing the commodity from contacting the front and

rear frames

81a, 81 b.

The

flat portions

841b, 842b of the right guide member 841 and the left guide member 842, and the rear wall 851c of the rear guide member 85 are members with which the engaging

pieces

55a, 56a (see fig. 18) of the pair of engaging

parts

55, 56 provided on the upper and lower sides of the heat insulating partition member 5 are engaged. In other words, when the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is not used, the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is configured such that the bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85 is oriented parallel to the surface of the heat insulating partition member 5, and then the flat portions 841B and 842B of the right and

left guide members

841 and 842 and the rear wall 851c of the rear guide member 85 are inserted between the locking

members

55 and 56 from the front of the heat insulating partition member 5 so as to face the

engagement pieces

55a and 56a of the locking

members

55 and 56, the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is stored in the commodity discharge chamber 1B in a state of being held by the locking

members

55 and 56.

The locking

fittings

86, 87 are fixed to the bottoms of the left and right ends of the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 by screws or welding. Specifically, the locking

fittings

86 and 87 are fixed to a bottom plate 851a constituting a bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85 by screws or welding. The locking

metal fittings

86 and 87 are engaged with a mounting metal fitting 801 fixed to the inner side of the left side wall of the casing body 1 and a mounting metal fitting 802 fixed to the inner wall of the heat insulating partition member 5 on the commodity storage chamber 1A side, and the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is erected in the commodity discharge space of the casing body 1.

As shown in fig. 13, the locking metal fittings 87 are configured to include: a base 87a fixed to a bottom plate 851a constituting a bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85 by screws or welding; a pair of front and

rear tongue pieces

87b, 87b formed by bending downward from the base 87 a; an abutting piece 87c located between the

tongues

87b, 87 b; and

projections

87d, 87d projecting outward from the base 87 a. The

tongue pieces

87b, 87b and the

projections

87d, 87d are inserted into locking

holes

802a, 802a (see fig. 12 a, 12 b) provided in a substantially box-shaped mounting metal 802, and are engaged with the mounting metal 802. The

tongues

87b, 87b prevent the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 from moving in the left-right direction and falling off the mounting metal fitting 802, and the

protrusions

87d, 87d prevent the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 from moving in the up-down direction and falling off the mounting metal fitting 802. The abutting piece 87c abuts against the mounting metal fitting 802 to determine the position of the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8. On the other hand, the locking metal fittings 86 are configured to have: a base 86a fixed to a bottom plate 851a constituting a bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85 by screws or welding; and a pair of front and

rear tongue pieces

86b, 86b formed in the same manner as the pair of front and

rear tongue pieces

87b, 87b of the locking metal fittings 87. The pair of front and

rear tongue pieces

86b, 86b of the locking metal fittings 86 are inserted into locking

holes

801a, 801a (see fig. 12(a) and 12(b)) provided in the mounting metal fittings 801 formed in a substantially box shape, and engage with the mounting metal fittings 801, thereby preventing the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 from moving in the left-right direction and falling off from the mounting metal fittings 801.

As shown in fig. 14, in the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 having the above-described configuration, the mounting metal fittings 801 fixed to the inner side of the left side wall of the casing body 1 and the mounting metal fittings 802 fixed to the inner wall of the commodity storage chamber 1A side of the heat insulating partition member 5 are bridged to the commodity discharge space of the casing body 1 via the locking

metal fittings

86 and 87. In this case, the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 is inclined downward to the right, and the right end of the in-warehouse commodity discharge chute 8 faces the commodity discharge port 51 of the heat insulating partition member 5. In this way, the in-house commodity discharge chute 8, which is erected in the commodity discharge space of the casing body 1, conveys the commodities discharged from the commodity storage shelves 7 of the commodity-mounting shelf plate 6 to the commodity discharge port 51 of the heat-insulating partition member 5.

The out-of-warehouse commodity discharge chute 9 (out-of-warehouse commodity carrying device) is shown in fig. 15 and 16. Fig. 15 is an exploded perspective view showing the external delivery chute, and fig. 16 is a partially omitted right side view of a configuration in which a right side plate of the housing main body is removed.

As shown in fig. 15, the ex-warehouse commodity discharge chute 9 has: a conveyance unit 91 serving as a sliding or rolling surface for the commodity; and left and

right wall portions

94 and 95 vertically erected from left and right of the conveying portion 91. The upper portion of the left side wall portion 94 has an inclined portion 94a inclined toward the heat insulating partition member 5. Engaging

pieces

92 and 93 bent downward are formed at both front and rear ends of the conveying portion 91, screw through

holes

92a and 92a are formed in the engaging piece 92, and

tongue pieces

93a and 93a are formed in the engaging piece 93.

The

attachment fittings

901 and 902 engage with the

engagement pieces

92 and 93 to mount the delivery chute 9 for the outside commodity on the commodity transport chamber 1B of the casing body 1. As shown in fig. 14, both left and right ends of the attachment fitting 901 are fixed to the heat insulating partition member 5 and the right side plate 13 of the case body 1 by screws, and screw

holes

901b and 901b are formed in the vertical portion 901 a. As shown in fig. 16, the attachment fitting 902 is attached to the back plate 12 of the housing body 1, and slit-shaped

grooves

902b and 902b are formed in the horizontal portion 902 a. The attachment fittings 902 are attached below the commodity outlet 16 provided in the back plate 12 and to which the outlet frame unit 19 is attached, as shown in fig. 3 and 4.

The out-of-store commodity discharge chute 9 is erected in the commodity carrying chamber 1B of the housing body 1 as described below. In other words, after the

tongue pieces

93a, 93a of the engaging piece 93 provided at the rear end of the conveying portion 91 are inserted into the slit-shaped

grooves

902b, 902b of the attachment fitting 902 attached to the back plate 12 of the case body 1 and engaged, the engaging piece 92 provided at the front end of the conveying portion 91 is overlapped with the vertical portion 901a in a front-rear direction in a manner covering the vertical portion 901a of the attachment fitting 901 fixed to the heat insulating partition member 5 and the right side plate 13 of the case body 1, and then both are screwed by the screws S5, S6. In this way, the commodity output chute 9 erected in the commodity transport chamber 1B of the casing body 1 feeds out the commodity output through the commodity output port 51 of the heat insulating partition member 5 to the commodity output port 16 provided in the back plate 12. The commodity sent out to the commodity outlet 16 pushes open the outlet door 18 of the outlet frame unit 19, and is sent out to a commodity receiving box 401 (see fig. 17) having a box-shaped structure provided on the front surface side (the rear surface side when viewed from the vending machine door 4) of the commodity outlet 40 of the vending machine door 4.

When the showcase-used automatic vending machine 10 having the above-described configuration is used in the showcase mode, as shown in fig. 17, the maintenance door 3 is opened, and the in-box commodity discharge chute 8 is stored in the commodity transport chamber 1B of the casing main body 1 in advance. In this case, the bottom portion 851 of the rear guide member 85 is set in a posture parallel to the surface of the heat insulating partition member 5, and then the flat portions 841B and 842B of the right and

left guide members

members

55 and 56 so as to face the

engagement pieces

55a and 56a of the locking

members

55 and 56 from the front of the heat insulating partition member 5, so that the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is stored in the commodity discharge chamber 1B in a state held by the locking

members

55 and 56. The in-house commodity discharge chute 8 covers the discharge port door 53 of the discharge port frame unit 54 attached to the commodity discharge port 51 in a state of being held by the

engagement members

55 and 56 so as to close the commodity discharge port 51 formed in the heat insulating partition member 5. Thus, when the showcase-used automatic vending machine 10 is used in the showcase mode, the outlet door 53 can be prevented from being insufficiently opened and leakage of cold air or warm air can be prevented. In this way, when the showcase-used automatic vending machine 10 is used in the showcase mode, the purchaser opens the showcase door 2 and takes out the commodities from the commodity-accommodating shelf 7 or the commodity-placing shelf 6.

When the showcase-also-used vending machine 10 is used in the vending machine mode, the in-box commodity discharge chute 8 stored in the commodity transport chamber 1B as shown in fig. 17 is opened and taken out of the maintenance door 3, the showcase door 2 is opened, and then, as shown in fig. 18, the showcase door is erected in the commodity discharge space of the housing main body 1. Since the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is provided in the commodity discharge space of the casing body 1 as described above with reference to fig. 14, the redundant description is omitted here, and the mounting metal fitting 801 fixed to the inner side of the left side wall of the casing body 1 and the mounting metal fitting 802 (see also fig. 14) fixed to the inner wall of the commodity storage chamber 1A side of the heat insulating partition member 5 are provided in the commodity discharge space of the casing body 1 via the locking metal fittings 86 and 87 (see also fig. 13). In addition, the operator supplies the commodity storage shelves 7 purchased with commodities in the showcase mode in advance when opening the showcase door 2 and setting the commodity discharge chute 8 in the showcase in the commodity discharge space of the housing main body 1.

In this way, in the vending machine mode in which the in-box commodity output chute 8 is erected in the commodity output space of the housing main body 1, the commodity to be sold and the commodity price are displayed on the display device 42 of the vending machine door 4. In the showcase mode, the display device 42 of the door 4 for the vending machine is used as a sales promotion panel for merchandise advertisement and displays various content information.

In the vending machine mode, when the purchaser inserts bills and coins into the bill insertion port 43a and the coin insertion port 43b, the authenticity and the denomination are recognized by a bill recognition device and a coin recognition device, not shown, and if the authenticity result is "true", a denomination signal is transmitted from the bill recognition device and the coin recognition device to the main control device of the vending machine to calculate the total amount, and if the authenticity result is "false", the inserted bills are returned to the bill insertion port 43a, and the inserted coins are returned to the coin return port 43 d. The main control device of the vending machine compares the total amount of inserted paper money and coins with the commodity price and displays the commodity whose total amount matches or exceeds the commodity price on the display device 42, and when the purchaser touches the commodity displayed on the display device 42 in order to indicate the idea of purchase, the main control device supplies a drive signal to the motor 702 of the drive unit 70 mounted on the commodity storage rack 7 in which the commodity is stored, and conveys the commodities stored in a row in the front-rear direction in the direction of the showcase door 2 by the commodity output mechanism 71 to output 1 commodity (the front-most commodity). The commodity which is discharged from the commodity discharge mechanism 71 mounted on the commodity storage rack 7 and falls down to the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is discharged to the commodity discharge port 16 provided in the back plate 12 of the casing body 1 by pushing open the discharge port door 53 of the discharge port frame unit 54 attached to the commodity discharge port 51 of the heat insulating partition member 5 to drop down to the out-house commodity discharge chute 9, and thereafter, is discharged to the commodity receiving box 401 having a box-shaped structure provided on the front surface side (the back surface side when viewed from the vending machine door 4) of the commodity discharge port 40 of the vending machine door 4 by pushing open the discharge port door 18 of the discharge port frame unit 19 attached to the commodity discharge port 16. The commodity sent out to the commodity receiving box 401 is taken out by the purchaser pushing open an internally open outlet door 400 that closes the commodity outlet 40. When the total amount of coins and bills inserted by a purchaser exceeds the commodity price of a selected commodity and change is required, a main controller of an automatic vending machine pays out the required change from a coin discriminating device and a bill discriminating device to complete a vending operation.

As described above, the showcase-used automatic vending machine 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: a housing body 1 formed as a box-shaped heat insulating frame body, having one surface (front surface) in the front-rear direction open and a commodity outlet 16 formed in the other surface (back plate 12) opposite to the one surface (front surface); a showcase door 2 openably and closably provided at an opening of one side surface (front surface) of the case main body 1; a door 4 for the vending machine openably and closably provided on the other surface (back plate 12) of the casing body 1, and provided with a commodity outlet 40 at a position facing the commodity outlet 16 provided on the other surface (back plate 12) of the casing body 1; a heat-insulating partition member 5 that divides the inside of the casing body 1 into a commodity storage chamber 1A and a commodity discharge chamber 1B in the left-right direction, and that has a commodity discharge port 51 that is open so as to communicate the commodity storage chamber 1A with the commodity discharge chamber 1B and is closed by a discharge port door 53 at ordinary times; a commodity-carrying shelf 6 which is formed by a plurality of commodity-carrying shelves 7 in a left-right direction, which are vertically stacked in a manner that a space for carrying out commodities is formed between the commodity-carrying chamber 1A of the casing main body 1 and the showcase door 2, and on which commodity-carrying mechanisms 71 are mounted, wherein the commodity-carrying mechanisms 71 carry and carry out delivery of commodities G, which are stored in a row in a front-rear direction, in a direction toward the showcase door 2, and further comprises a sold-out detection device 78 for detecting a sold-out of the commodities G; an in-house commodity conveying device (in-house commodity discharge chute 8) which is detachably disposed in the commodity discharge space of the housing body 1 and conveys the commodities G discharged from the commodity-accommodating shelves 7 to the commodity discharge port 51 of the heat-insulating partition member 5; and an outside-warehouse commodity carrying device (outside-warehouse commodity output chute 9) that receives the commodity G carried by the inside-warehouse commodity carrying device (inside-warehouse commodity output chute 8) and output via the commodity output port 51 of the heat insulating partition member 5 and carries the commodity G to the commodity output port 16 provided on the other surface (back plate 12) of the casing main body 1, and thus, by forming the commodity output port 16 only on the other surface (back plate 12) of the casing main body 1, it is possible to solve the following drawbacks and achieve energy saving: as in the conventional device, the back surface of the casing body 1 configured as a heat insulating frame is opened (heat insulating material on the back surface of the casing body is removed) to significantly reduce the heat insulating performance of the casing body 1, and a refrigerator condenser unit for maintaining the commodities on the shelves 6 housed in the casing body 1 at a desired cooling temperature is increased in size, which leads to an increase in power consumption. Further, the commodities G stored in the casing body 1 can be shared between the showcase and the vending machine.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the in-house commodity discharge chute 8 is provided has been described, but a commodity carrying device described below may be provided instead of the in-house commodity discharge chute 8. In other words, the following article conveyance device can be provided: a bucket member (japanese: バケット) that moves up and down by a Y-axis conveying mechanism is provided in a commodity discharge space of the casing body 1, an endless conveyor belt that conveys commodities in the X-axis direction (horizontal direction) is disposed on the bottom surface of the bucket member, and the conveyor belt is driven by a drive motor that drives the endless conveyor belt. The conveying device as described above can employ a known technique as a commodity conveying device for a vending machine having a see-through interior, and the in-house commodity conveying device according to the present invention is not limited to the in-house commodity output chute 8 described in the embodiment. The delivery chute 9 may be an endless conveyor belt. In addition, the commodity carrying mechanism 71 may be a known type such as a screw type instead of the conveyor type using the conveyor belt 72, and the present invention is not limited to the showcase-also-used vending machine shown in the embodiment.

Claims

1. A vending machine used as a showcase, characterized in that,

the showcase-compatible vending machine includes:

a housing body formed as a box-shaped heat insulating frame body, having an opening on one surface in the front-rear direction and a commodity outlet formed on the other surface opposite to the one surface;

a showcase door openably and closably provided in an opening of one side surface of the case main body; and

a door for the vending machine openably and closably provided on the other side of the casing main body, and provided with a commodity outlet at a position facing a commodity outlet provided on the other side of the casing main body,

the showcase-compatible vending machine further includes:

a heat-insulating partition member that divides the inside of the housing main body in the left-right direction into a commodity storage chamber and a commodity discharge chamber, and that is formed with a commodity discharge port that is open in a manner that communicates the commodity storage chamber and the commodity discharge chamber and that is normally closed by a discharge port door;

a plurality of commodity-carrying shelves vertically stacked in a manner that a space for commodity discharge is formed between the commodity-carrying chamber of the housing main body and the showcase door, and a plurality of commodity-carrying shelves on which commodity discharge means for conveying and discharging commodities, which are stored in a row in the front-rear direction, in the direction of the showcase door, and which have a sold-out detection device for detecting sold-out of the commodities are arranged in a row in the left-right direction;

an in-house commodity conveying device which is arranged in the commodity output space of the shell body and conveys commodities output from the commodity storage rack to a commodity output port of the heat insulation partition member; and

and an outside-warehouse commodity conveying device that receives the commodity conveyed by the inside-warehouse commodity conveying device and output via the commodity output port of the heat insulating partition member, and conveys the commodity to the commodity output port provided on the other side of the housing main body.

2. The showcase dual-purpose vending machine according to claim 1,

the in-house commodity conveying device is an in-house commodity output chute which is detachably erected in the commodity output space of the housing main body and is inclined so as to descend toward the commodity output port of the heat-insulating partition member in a manner of conveying the commodities output from the commodity storage rack toward the commodity output port of the heat-insulating partition member.

3. The showcase dual-purpose vending machine according to claim 2,

the in-house commodity discharge chute removed from the commodity discharge space of the housing main body is housed in a commodity discharge chamber side defined by the heat insulating partition member.

4. The showcase dual-purpose vending machine according to claim 3,

a locking part for locking a commodity discharging chute detached from a space for discharging commodities of the housing body is arranged near a commodity discharging port formed in the heat-insulating partition member on the commodity discharging chamber side of the heat-insulating partition member, and the commodity discharging chute is locked to the locking part in a mode of restraining a discharging port door of the commodity discharging port formed in the heat-insulating partition member from being opened.

5. The showcase dual-purpose vending machine according to claim 1,

the commodity output mechanism of the commodity storage rack comprises:

an endless conveyor belt suspended on a driving roller and a driven roller arranged in front and rear;

a motor for driving the conveyor belt; and

a sold-out detection device for detecting a sold-out of the commodity stored on the conveyor belt.

6. The showcase dual-purpose vending machine according to claim 1,

the door for the vending machine has a display device including a liquid crystal display.