EP0482473A1 - Automatic food dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic food dispenser for dispensing hot ready-to-serve meals, in particular pizza, has a cooling space (8) and at least one oven (31). The deep-frozen ready-to-serve meals are stored in tubular magazines (11) which are arranged inside a rotatable drum store (10) on a circular path. The oven (31) has a horizontally extendable slide frame (32) with a slide front (33) which forms the oven door. On the slide frame (32), a cooking tray (39) is arranged raisably and lowerably in such a manner that, when the oven (31) is opened, it is automatically moved from a lowered cooking position inside the cooking space (41) upwards into a feeding position and, when the slide frame (32) is pulled out fully, further upwards into a dispensing position inside a dispensing space (42) which is accessible to the operator. A ready-to-serve meal selected by the operator is removed in a deep-frozen state from the corresponding tubular magazine (11) by means of a removal device provided on the underside of the cooling space (12) and placed on the cooking tray (39) situated in the feeding position. The slide front (33) subsequently closes, the cooking tray (39) moving automatically back into the cooking space (41) of the oven (31). After expiry of the necessary defrost and cooking time, the hot ready-to-serve meal is conveyed directly from the oven (31) into the dispensing space (42) by means of the movable cooking tray (39). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to an automatic food dispenser for dispensing hot ready meals, comprising a housing with a front side in which operating elements are provided and a cooling room for storing a supply of cooled packaged ready meals. At least one oven, preferably a microwave oven, is arranged under the cooling space, which has a cooking space for receiving a cooled ready meal, an oven door provided with an opening mechanism and a movable cooking surface mechanically coupled to the oven door. An electromechanical removal device is provided on the underside of the cooling compartment, which removes a single ready meal from the cooling compartment and allows it to reach the cooking surface when the oven door is open. The hot ready meal is delivered to the operator via an output space accessible to the operator.

Such a machine, in particular for dispensing hot pizza and other Italian dishes, is already known from DE-A1-37 38 708, which comes from the same applicant.

In the known device, one or more chilled food portions are removed from the storage container by means of an electro-mechanical folding mechanism. This then slides due to its own gravity over an inclined surface on a deflection flap, which is lowered when the oven door is opened by means of electromechanics so that the food on it slides over another inclined surface into the interior of the oven. After the heating process has ended, the oven door is opened again and, at the same time, the food heating surface coupled via a mechanism is raised in such a way that the heated food portion is fed to the delivery space via a further inclined sliding surface.

The removal and feeding of the food portions using the electromechanical flap sliding system has not proven itself. It has been shown that gravity alone is not sufficient to ensure trouble-free transport of the food portions within the machine. In particular, the delivery of the heated food by means of inclined sliding surfaces has proven to be problematic, since on the one hand the hot portions of food tend to stick to the food heating surface and on the other hand there is a risk of damage to the sensitive slipping material due to excessive and difficult to control sliding speed.

The known device also has the disadvantage that only a very specific product, for example pizza of a single flavor, can be dispensed. The user of a modern machine, however, expects a choice between different products.

The object of the present invention is therefore to create a food vending machine for dispensing hot ready meals with an improved mechanism for removing and transporting the chilled or hot ready meals and the possibility of choosing between different dishes.

In solving this task, it is assumed that a food dispenser of the type described at the outset. The solution according to the invention is that a drum store rotatable about its vertical axis of rotation is provided in the cooling space, which has a number of tubular magazines arranged on a circular path for receiving one each Stack of chilled ready meals comprises that the oven has a horizontally extendable push frame with a push front, which forms the oven door, that a cooking tray with a horizontal cooking surface can be raised and lowered on the push frame so that it is lowered when the push frame is extended from a Cooking position inside the cooking space is moved upwards into a loading position outside the cooking space and, when the push frame is fully extended, is moved upwards into a dispensing position within the dispensing space, furthermore that a movable closure member for the cooling space below the tube magazines and above the cooking tray located in the loading position is provided, and that finally the dispensing space lies behind an dispensing opening in the front of the housing.

Different ready meals can be stored in the chilled or, if necessary, deep-frozen state in the several tube magazines of the drum store. By means of the operating elements provided in the front of the housing, the operator can select a specific tube magazine, which is then rotated into a predetermined position above the fixed closure element of the cooling space. At the same time, the oven located below the cooling room opens by extending its push frame together with the push front that forms the oven door. The cooking tray arranged on the push frame moves upwards in synchronism with the push frame into a loading position. At the latest when the cooking tray has reached its loading position outside the cooking space, the closure element of the cooling space opens and the product removed from the selected tubular magazine reaches the horizontal cooking surface of the cooking tray. When the oven door is closed, the cooking tray automatically moves back into its lowered cooking position within the cooking space. After the heating process has been completed, the oven door extends again, and the cooking tray is automatically moved up again. This time, however, the push frame extends a little further, so that the cooking tray is moved correspondingly upwards into a serving position within the serving area. Through the serving opening in the front of the housing, behind which the serving area is located, the operator can remove the desired hot ready meal directly from the tray.

The design of the oven door according to the invention as a horizontally extendable push frame with a push front and the arrangement of a cooking tray automatically lifting when the oven door is opened on the push frame represent a transport mechanism for the cooled ready meal into the cooking space or the delivery of the hot ready meal that is as simple as it is reliable. Together with the rotatable drum storage, which allows the operator to choose between different dishes, the invention has created a structurally simple, reliably functioning and satisfying operator's wish machine for dispensing hot ready meals.

In a first embodiment, the removal device comprises a pivoting closure flap as a closure member for the cooling space, which is arranged below the circular path of the tubular magazines and above the cooking tray located in the loading position. When the flap is open, the desired product slides out of the selected tube magazine onto the cooking tray.

The automatic food machine can contain two identical ovens arranged next to one another, the closure flap then being arranged in the middle between the two ovens and pivotable about its central axis to both sides, and each oven having its own dispensing space with a dispensing opening. This means that two operators can be supplied with different ready meals at the same time. Microwave ovens, with which even frozen food can be thawed very quickly and heated to consumption temperature, are particularly suitable.

In this embodiment of the automatic food machine, the tube magazines have a support base for the associated stack of ready meals, an ejection slot penetrating the support base in the circumferential direction and a side ejection opening for the ejection of the lowest ready meal in each case, and a movable ejector is arranged in the area of the closure flap, which engages in the ejection position in the ejection slot of one of the tube magazines. The lowest ready meal is removed from a tube magazine by rotating the drum storage while the ejector is in the eject position. Due to the relative movement between the passing tubular magazine and the fixed ejector, the ready meal to be separated is pushed out laterally by the ejector through the ejection opening in the tubular magazine in the direction of the - still closed - flap.

The ejector can, for example, be fastened to a swivel bracket that is pivotally mounted above the closure flap and can slide on the top of the closure flap, so that it is automatically pivoted upwards from its rest position into the eject position when the closure flap is opened. Instead of this passive ejection mechanism, the movement of which is coupled to the pivoting movement of the closure flap, an ejector which can be activated independently can also be provided.

In a second embodiment of the food vending machine according to the invention, the removal device comprises, as a closure member, a sliding door provided in the bottom of the cooling space, which is arranged below the tubular magazines and above the cooking tray located in the loading position. This horizontally movable sliding door opens when a ready meal is to be removed from the previously selected tube magazine and placed on the cooking tray.

If the cooling room is provided with such a sliding door on the floor, the tubular magazines expediently each have a support base for the stack of ready meals, a radially outwardly directed ejection opening for the ejection of the lowest ready meal in each case, and a recess arranged directly above the support base and opposite the ejection opening and, a movable pusher is provided which engages in the recess of one of the tubular magazines when the sliding door is open and pushes out the lowermost ready meal through its ejection opening in the radial direction. The pusher can be coupled to the sliding door via a pull frame so that when the sliding door is opened, the pusher automatically engages in the selected tubular magazine and pushes out the bottom ready meal, which then falls down onto the cooking tray in the loading position due to gravity.

In order to prevent the ready-to-serve meal, which is pushed out laterally, from tipping over the front edge of the support base of the tubular magazine, in a further development of the invention, the pusher carries a pivotably articulated pivot plate on its front edge, which rests on the floor of the refrigerator in the rest position and only vertically when the sliding door is fully open folds down. This ensures that the Pipe magazine, flat-stacked ready meals, while keeping their position parallel to the bottom of the refrigerator, fall flat on the cooking tray.

The proposed automatic food machine is particularly suitable for serving pizza, which is usually round. For this reason, the tubular magazines for storing the chilled or frozen ready-meals are expediently round in cross-section. The tube magazines can, however, also have a rectangular, in particular square, cross section, for example to hold frozen packs with Italian pasta dishes.

As a mechanism for automatically lifting and lowering the tray when extending the oven door, a design has proven itself in which the push frame of the oven carries two laterally arranged bearing blocks, in each of which a pivot lever with a short and a long lever arm is pivotally mounted on the Ends of the long lever arms, the cooking tray is suspended, and at least one short lever arm interacts with a stop so that the pivoting lever pivots upwards when the push frame is extended from a certain distance traveled. This purely mechanical construction has the advantage that it does not require its own drive, but rather the movement of the cooking tray is coupled to the extension of the push frame. The entire automatic food dispenser therefore only needs three drives, namely for rotating the drum storage, opening the flap on the cooling container and extending the oven door.

In an advantageous development of the invention, the food vending machine additionally comprises at least one cutlery magazine arranged within the housing for receiving a stack of packaged disposable cutlery and an associated removal slot in the front of the housing. The user of the machine will also receive the matching cutlery along with the desired hot dish. An electrically operated pusher is expediently provided on the cutlery magazine, which moves the lowest disposable cutlery from the cutlery magazine in the direction of the removal slot.

• Figur 1 die Frontseite eines Speisen-Automats für die gleichzeitige Ausgabe von zwei heißen Fertiggerichten;
• Figur 2 den Speisen-Automaten von Figur 2, in einem perspektivischen Prinzipbild;
• Figur 3 den Speisen-Automaten von Figur 1 ohne Gehäuse, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Ansicht von vorne;
• Figur 4 den Speisen-Automaten gemäß Figur 3, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Ansicht von der Seite;
• Figur 5a - 5f die Entnahme eines Fertiggerichts aus dem Kühlraum des Speisen-Automaten;
• Figur 6 die perspektivische Außenansicht des Gehäuses eines Speisen-Automats für die Ausgabe von jeweils nur einem einzigen heißen Fertiggericht;
• Figur 7 den Speisen-Automaten von Figur 6, in einem perspektivischen Prinzipbild;
• Figur 8 den Speisen-Außenaten von Figur 7 ohne Gehäuse, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Ansicht von vorne;
• Figur 9 den Speisen-Automaten gemäß Figur 8, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Ansicht von der Seite;
• Figur 10a, 10 b einen Teil des Kühlraumes und die Entnahmeeinrichtung des Speisen-Automats gemäß Figur 9 mit geschlossener bzw. geöffneter Schiebetür, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Seitenansicht und in vergrößertem Maßstab;
• Figur 11 ein Rohrmagazin des Speisen-Automaten von Figur 7, in perspektivischer Ansicht;
• Figur 12 die Entnahmeeinrichtung des Speisen-Automaten gemäß den Figuren 9, 10a und 10b, in perspektivischer Darstellung.

Two embodiments of the invention are explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

• Figure 1 shows the front of a food vending machine for the simultaneous delivery of two hot ready meals;
• Figure 2 shows the food vending machine of Figure 2, in a perspective schematic diagram;
• Figure 3 shows the food vending machine of Figure 1 without a housing, in a partially sectioned view from the front;
• Figure 4 shows the food vending machine according to Figure 3, in a partially sectioned view from the side;
• Figure 5a - 5f the removal of a ready meal from the refrigerator of the automatic food machine;
• Figure 6 is an external perspective view of the housing of a food vending machine for serving only one hot ready meal at a time;
• FIG. 7 the food vending machine from FIG. 6, in a perspective basic diagram;
• FIG. 8 shows the food exterior of FIG. 7 without the housing, in a partially sectioned view from the front;
• Figure 9 shows the food vending machine according to Figure 8, in a partially sectioned view from the side;
• 10a, 10b show a part of the cooling space and the removal device of the automatic food dispenser according to FIG. 9 with the sliding door closed or open, in a partially sectioned side view and on an enlarged scale;
• FIG. 11 shows a tubular magazine of the food vending machine from FIG. 7, in a perspective view;
• Figure 12 shows the removal device of the food vending machine according to Figures 9, 10a and 10b, in a perspective view.

The food dispenser shown in FIG. 1 from the point of view of the operator has an all-round closed housing 1. On its front side 2 there are operating elements, namely two coin inserts 3 and fields with selection keys 4. The control elements are each assigned an output opening 5 or 5 'for the desired ready meal and a double removal slot 6 for the output of packaged cutlery.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the housing 1 contains a frame 7, in the upper part of which a cooling space 8 is arranged. The inside of the cooling space 8 is accessible to authorized service personnel through a door 9 opening towards the front.

The cooling chamber 8 contains a drum store 10, which comprises six tubular magazines 11 arranged on a circular path, each for receiving a stack of frozen ready meals 12. The drum store 10 is rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation 13 in an upper pivot bearing 14 and a lower pivot bearing 15 is mounted. The drum store 10 can be set in rotation by means of a geared motor 16 acting on the axis of rotation 13, the tubular magazines 11 moving in a circular path. The individual tube magazines 11 are suspended in brackets 17 fastened radially on the axis of rotation 13, so that they can be easily removed for maintenance purposes. In the walls of the tubular magazines 11, which have a circular cross section, cutouts 18 are provided which extend radially outward and through which the ready meals 12 can be stored after opening the front side 2 and the door 9 of the cooling space 8.

At its lower end, the tubular magazines 11 have a support base 19 on which the stack of ready meals 12 stands. Corresponding to the circular path on which the tubular magazines 11 travel, curved ejection slots 20 pass through the shelves 19. Lateral ejection openings 21 serve to eject the lowest ready meal 12 in each case.

A cooling unit 22 arranged in the lower part of the frame 7 maintains the required low storage temperature within the cooling space 8.

A rectangular opening 23 is provided in the underside of the cooling space 8, to which a removal shaft 24 adjoins at the bottom. A closure flap 25 closes the removal shaft 24 and thus the cooling space 8 in a cold-tight manner from the bottom. The closure flap 25 is pivotable about its central axis 26 to both sides. By means of an electric servomotor 27, the closure flap 25 can pivot either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Above the closure flap 25, a pivot bracket 28 is pivotally mounted in the side walls of the removal shaft 24. Approximately in the middle, the swivel bracket 28 carries an ejector 29, which is designed here as a rectangular plate. With its lower edge, the ejector 29 slides on the top of the closure flap 25. To reduce friction, the ejector 29 carries a small roller 30 at its lower end.

In the lower part of the frame 7, two identical furnaces 31 and 31 'are arranged in parallel next to one another. The heat is generated by electromagnetic microwaves. Each oven 31 or 31 'has a horizontally extendable push frame 32 with a push front 33 which forms the oven door. A lifting cylinder 34 serves as the drive for the push frame 32. The push frame 32 carries a laterally arranged bearing block 35 on the right and left. A respective pivot lever 36 with a short lever arm 37 and a long lever arm 38 is pivotally mounted in the associated bearing block 35. At the ends of the long lever arms 38, a cooking tray 39, 39 'is freely suspended so that its flat cooking surface is always horizontal. In the interior of the furnace 31, a stop 40 is provided on the right and left on the side, which interacts with the corresponding short lever arm 37 (see FIG. 4).

If the oven 31 is closed, ie the push frame 32 with the push front 33 is completely retracted, the cooking tray 39 is in its lowered cooking position within the cooking space 41, as shown in dashed lines in FIG. If the push frame 32 is now extended to the front, the fixed stop 40 strikes the short lever arm 37 which is also transported from a certain distance traveled, which, when the push frame 32 is extended further, causes the pivoting lever 36 to pivot and the cooking tray 39 suspended thereon to be lifted out leads upwards. In FIG. 4, the cooking tray 39 is drawn with solid lines in the loading position. After placing a ready meal 12 removed from the cooling space 8 on the cooking surface, the drawer front 33 of the oven 31 closes again, the cooking tray 39 due to the interaction between the short lever arm 37 and the stop 40 corresponding to the distance traveled back into its lowered cooking position within the cooking space 41 is moved back.

After a ready meal 12 has been heated inside the oven 31, its push frame 32 opens again, the cooking tray 39 again being raised automatically. If the push frame 32 is extended a little further to the front via the position shown in FIG. 4, the cooking tray also moves a little further upward in the direction of the arrow until it reaches its dispensing position within a dispensing space 42 and just below the closure flap 25. In this (not shown) serving position, it is possible for an operator to reach through the corresponding dispensing opening 5 (see FIG. 2) into the dispensing space 42 immediately behind and to remove the hot ready meal directly from the cooking surface 40 of the raised cooking tray 39.

It can also be seen from FIG. 2 that cutlery magazines 43 for accommodating a stack of packaged disposable cutlery are arranged inside the housing 1 on the right and left. Electrically operated pushers 44 are provided on these cutlery magazines 42, by means of which the bottom disposable cutlery is pushed out of the respective cutlery magazine 43 to the front is so that it can be gripped by the operator through the associated removal slot 6 in the front 2.

The separation and removal of a frozen ready meal 12 from the cooling space 8 and its task on the cooking tray 39 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 5a to 5f.

In Figure 5a, the closure flap 25 is in its horizontal rest position, in which it closes the removal shaft 24 in a cold-tight manner at the bottom. The ejector 29 with its roller 30 lies loosely on the top of the closure flap 25. The swivel bracket 28, which carries the ejector 29, is also in the horizontal rest position. A tube magazine 11 is located vertically above the opening 23 in the underside of the cooling space 8 and thus also directly above the closure flap 25. The lowest frozen ready meal 12 lies on the slightly inclined support base 19 of the tube magazine 11, it already has something to the side of the ejection opening 21 protrudes.

The removal process is now initiated by rotating the closure flap 25 by approximately 20 degrees in the clockwise direction, as shown in FIG. 5b. Here, the swivel bracket 28 with the ejector 29 is also pushed upwards in the direction of the tubular magazine 11.

In the next process step, shown in FIG. 5c, the tubular magazine 11 is slowly moved in the direction of the arrow by rotating the drum store 10 on its predetermined circular path. As a result, the upper part of the ejector 29 comes into engagement with the ejection slot 20 in the support base 19 in a finger-like manner. Due to the relative movement between the tubular magazine 11 and the fixed ejector 29, the ready meal 12 begins to slide out of the ejection opening 21 laterally. If the tubular magazine 11 has been moved far enough in the direction of the arrow, the ready meal finally falls from the support base 19 onto the surface of the closure flap 25.

Subsequently (see FIG. 5d), the closure flap 25 returns to its horizontal rest position. Due to the special design of the removal shaft 24 and the only limited pivoting of the closure flap 25 by approximately 20 degrees, the removal of the separated ready meal 12 from the tubular magazine 11 could be accomplished without cold air having escaped from the cooling space 8 downwards.

The actual delivery of the selected ready-to-serve meal 12 from the cooling space 8 now takes place by a further pivoting of the closure flap 25, whereby the angle of rotation about the central axis 26 is larger and is approximately 30 degrees. As can be seen in FIG. 5e, a slot opens between the lower edge of the removal shaft 24 and the upper side of the pivoted closure flap 25, through which the ready meal 12 can slide obliquely downwards. Depending on the direction in which the closure flap 25 arranged in the middle between the two ovens 31 and 31 'is pivoted, the ready meal slides to the right (FIG. 5e) or to the left (FIG. 5f). The closure flap 25, which can be pivoted equally about its central axis 26 in both directions, thus represents a switch with which an isolated ready meal 12 is optionally supplied to the cooking tray 39 of the left-hand oven 31 or the cooking tray 39 'of the right-hand oven 31' (see FIG. 3) .

After completing the removal and delivery cycle described above, the closure flap returns to its horizontal closed position, as shown in Figure 5a.

The control and timing of the geared motor 16, which sets the drum store 10 in rotation, the servo motor 27, which pivots the closure flap 25, the lifting cylinder 34 for opening the oven 31 or 31 'and the pusher 44 on the cutlery magazines 43 a control electronics (not shown in the drawings), which also contains a regulation for maintaining the correct heating times.

FIG. 6 shows the closed housing 101 of an alternative embodiment of the automatic food dispenser, which differs from the previously described automatic dispenser mainly in that it contains only a single oven and can therefore only dispense a single hot ready meal at a given time. Accordingly, only a single coin slot 103 and a field with selection buttons 104 are provided on the front side 102. There is also only a single delivery opening 105 for the desired ready meal and next to it a single removal slot 106 for cutlery.

According to FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, the housing 101 contains a frame 107, in the upper part of which a cooling space 108 is arranged with a door 109 opening towards the front.

A rotatable drum store 110 is arranged in the cooling space 108 and comprises six tubular magazines 111, 111 ′ arranged on a circular path for receiving the frozen ready meals 112. In the walls of the tubular magazines 111, 111 ', which are rectangular in cross section, cutouts 118 are provided which extend radially outward and through which the ready meals 112 can be inserted. In the back of the tube magazines 111 have a radially inward direction te recess 120; On its opposite front sides, radially outward ejection openings 121 are provided for the ejection of the lowest ready meal 112 in each case (see FIG. 11).

A rectangular opening 123 (cf. FIG. 10b) is provided in the underside of the cooling space 108 and is closed by a sliding door 124. By means of lifting cylinders mounted on the side, the sliding door 124 can extend forward in the horizontal direction and open the opening 123. A movable pusher 125 is coupled to the sliding door 124 via a U-shaped pull frame 126. For this purpose, elongated holes 127 and 127 'are provided in the free legs of the pull frame 126, into which sliding bolts 128, 128' arranged on the inside of the sliding door 124 engage. The pusher 125 has on its front edge a pivotably articulated pivot plate, which here has a rectangular outline.

In this modified embodiment of the automatic food machine, only one oven 131 is arranged in the lower part of the frame 107. In the same way as in the previously described food vending machine with two parallel ovens 31, 31 '(see FIG. 3), the oven 131 has a horizontally extendable push frame 132 with a push front 133 which forms the oven door. Parallel lifting cylinders 134, 134 ', which are arranged on both sides of the microwave oven 131, serve as the drive for the push frame. The push frame 132 carries on the right and left a laterally arranged bearing block 135. In each case a pivot lever 136 with a short lever arm 137 and a long lever arm 138 is pivotally mounted in the associated bearing block 135. At the ends of the long lever arms 138, a cooking tray 139 is suspended so that its flat cooking surface is always horizontal. In the interior of the furnace 131, a stop 140 is provided on the right and left on the side, which interacts with the corresponding short lever arm 137 (see FIG. 9). The oven 131 is opened and closed and the associated automatic raising and lowering of the cooking tray 139 takes place in the same way as in the first embodiment of the food vending machine. After heating in the cooking chamber 141 of the oven 131, the cooking tray 139 transports the hot ready meal into the dispensing space 142 behind the dispensing opening 105 (see FIG. 6).

It can also be seen from FIG. 7 that a cutlery magazine 143 for accommodating disposable cutlery is arranged on the right-hand side of the housing 101. In each case together with a hot ready meal, a suitable disposable cutlery is dispensed via the removal slot 106 in the front 102.

Uniform heating in the oven 131 is served by a turntable 145 arranged on the cooking tray 139, which is connected to a flat drive disk 146 arranged coaxially on the underside of the cooking tray 139. An electric rotary drive 147 is provided on the bottom of the furnace 131. When the cooking tray 139 is lowered into the cooking position, the drive disk 146 engages with the rotary drive 147, so that the rotary plate 145 is set in slow rotation during the operation of the microwave oven 131. The ready meal is heated more evenly.

10a and 10b, the separation and removal of a frozen ready meal 112 from the cooling space 108 and its task on the cooking tray 139 will now be described.

10a, the sliding door 124 of the cooling space 108 is closed. The pusher 125 is in the rest position outside the tube magazine 111. The lowest frozen ready meal 112 lies on the shelf 119 of the tube magazine 111. The swivel plate 129 on the front edge of the pusher 125 rests on the bottom of the cooling space 108.

The removal process is now initiated by the horizontal opening of the sliding door 124. The pusher 125 remains in the rest position since - see FIG. 12 - the sliding bolts 128, 128 'on the sliding door 124 initially in the elongated holes 127, 127' of the pull frame 126, connected to the pusher 125 slide.

If the sliding door 124 continues to open, the sliding bolts 128, 128 'reach the front ends of the elongated holes 127, 127' (see FIG. 12), so that from this point in time the sliding door 124, via the coupled pull frame 126, extends the pusher 125 together with the pivot plate articulated thereon 129 takes away. In this case, the pusher 125 moves in the radial direction through the recess 120 into the interior of the tubular magazine 111 and pushes out the lowermost ready meal 112 to the front.

In Figure 10b, the sliding door 124 is almost completely open. The pusher 125 has almost reached its front end position. At this point, the pivot plate 129 folds down 90 degrees and suddenly opens the opening 123. The ready meal 112 ejected from the tube magazine 111 can now fall flatly downward through the opening 123 onto the turntable 154 of the cooking tray 139.

After completion of the removal cycle described above, the sliding door 124 returns to its horizontal closed position, as shown in Figure 10a. In doing so, the pusher 125 and the swivel plate 129 attached to it move back into their starting positions.

List of reference numbers

• 1 housing
• 2 front (of 1)
• 3 coin slot
• 4 selection buttons
• 5, 5 'dispensing opening
• 6 removal slot
• 7 frame
• 8 cold room
• 9 door (of 8)
• 10 drum storage
• 11, 11 'tube magazines (in 10)
• 12 ready meal
• 13 axis of rotation (of 10)
• 14 upper pivot bearing (of 13)
• 15 lower pivot bearings (of 13)
• 16 gear motor
• 17 bracket (from 11, 11
• 18 cutout (in 11)
• 19 shelves (of 11)
• 20 ejection slot (in 11)
• 21 discharge opening (at 11)
• 22 cooling unit
• 23 opening (in 8)
• 24 removal shaft
• 25 flap
• 26 central axis (of 25)
• 27 servomotor
• 28 swivel bracket
• 29 ejectors (on 28)
• 30 rolls (of 29)
• 31.31 'oven
• 32 push frames
• 33 drawer front
• 34 lifting cylinders
• 35 bearing block (on 32)
• 36 swivel levers
• 37 short lever arm (of 36)
• 38 long lever arm (of 36)
• 39, 39 'cooking tray
• 40 stop
• 41 cooking space (out of 31)
• 42 dispensing area (behind 5)
• 43 cutlery magazine
• 44 pusher
• 101 housing
• 102 front (of 101)
• 103 coin slot
• 104 selection buttons
• 105 dispensing opening
• 106 withdrawal slot
• 107 frame
• 108 cold room
• 109 door (of 108)
• 110 drum storage
• 111 tube magazines (in 110)
• 112 ready meal
• 118 detail (in 111)
• 119 shelf
• 120 recess
• 121 discharge opening
• 123 opening (in 108)
• 124 sliding door (of 108)
• 125 pushers
• 126 pull frame
• 127, 127 'slots (in 126)
• 128, 128 'sliding pin (on 124)
• 129 swivel plate
• 131 oven
• 132 push frames
• 133 drawer front
• 134, 134 'lift cylinder
• 135 bearing block
• 136 swivel levers
• 137 short lever arm (of 136)
• 138 long lever arm (of 136)
• 139 cooking tray
• 140 stop
• 141 cooking space (of 131)
• 142 dispensing room
• 143 cutlery magazine
• 145 turntable
• 146 drive pulley
• 147 rotary drive

Claims (13)

1. Food vending machine for dispensing hot ready meals, comprehensive - a housing (1, 101) with a front side (2, 102) in which operating elements are provided; - a cold room (8, 108) for storing a supply of chilled packaged ready meals (12, 112); - At least one, below the cooling space (8, 108) arranged oven (31, 131) with a cooking space (41, 141) for receiving a cooled ready meal (12, 112), an oven door provided with an opening mechanism and a movable, with the Oven door mechanically coupled cooking surface; - An electromechanical removal device provided on the underside of the cooling space (8, 108), which removes a single ready meal (12, 112) from the Removes the cooling compartment (8, 108) and lets it reach the cooking surface when the oven door is open; - at least one dispensing space (42, 142) accessible to the operator for dispensing the hot ready meal;
characterized in that - Provided inside the cooling chamber (8, 108) is a drum store (10, 110) which can be rotated about a vertical axis of rotation (13) and which has a number of tubular magazines (11, 11 '; 111) arranged on a circular path, each for receiving a stack of refrigerated ready meals (12, 112); - The furnace (31, 131) has a horizontally extendable push frame (32, 132) with a push front (33, 133) which forms the furnace door; - On the push frame (32, 132) a cooking tray (39, 139) with a horizontal cooking surface can be raised and lowered so that when the push frame (32, 132) is extended from a lowered cooking position inside the cooking space (41, 141) is moved upwards into a loading position outside the cooking space (41, 141) and, with the push frame (32, 132) fully extended, further upwards into a dispensing position within the dispensing space (42, 142); - A movable closure member for the cooling space (8, 108) is provided below the tubular magazines (11, 11 '; 111) and above the cooking tray (39, 139) located in the loading position; - The output space (42, 142) behind an output opening (5, 105) in the front (2, 102) of the housing (1, 101). 2. Automatic food dispenser according to claim 1, characterized in that the removal device comprises a pivotable closure flap (25) as a closure member for the cooling space (8), which is below the circular path of the tubular magazines (11, 11 ') and above the cooking tray located in the loading position (39) is arranged. 3. Food machine according to claim 2, characterized in that - two identical furnaces (31, 31 ') are provided side by side; - The closure flap (25) is arranged in the middle between the two ovens (31, 31 ') and is pivotable about its central axis (26) on both sides; - Each oven (31, 31 ') is assigned a discharge space (42) with a discharge opening (5, 5'). 4. Food machine according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that - The tubular magazines (11, 11 ') each have a support base (19) for the stack of ready meals (12), a support base (19) penetrating in the circumferential direction ejection slot (20) and a side ejection opening (21) for the ejection of the bottom Having ready meals (12); - In the area of the closure flap (25) a movable ejector (29) is arranged, which engages in the ejection position in the ejection slot (20) of one of the tubular magazines (11, 11). 5. Food machine according to claim 4, characterized in that - A pivot bracket (28) is pivotally mounted above the closure flap (25) and carries the ejector (29); - The ejector (29) rests on the top of the closure flap (25) and is pushed upwards out of its rest position into the eject position. 6. Automatic food dispenser according to claim 1, characterized in that the removal device as a closure member comprises a sliding door (124) provided in the bottom of the cooling space (108), which is arranged below the tubular magazines (111) and above the cooking tray (139) located in the loading position is. 7. Food vending machine according to claim 6, characterized in that - The tube magazines (111) each have a support base (119) for the stack of ready meals (112), a radially outward ejection opening (121) for the ejection of the lowest ready meal in each case (112) and one directly above the support base (119) and have a recess (120) arranged opposite the ejection opening (121); - A movable pusher (125) is provided which engages in the recess (120) of one of the tubular magazines (111) when the sliding door (124) is open and pushes out the bottom ready meal (112) through its ejection opening (121) in a horizontal direction to the outside. 8. Food vending machine according to claim 7, characterized in that the pusher (125) via a pull frame (126) is coupled to the sliding door (124). 9. Food dispenser according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterized in that the pusher (125) carries on its front edge a pivotally hinged pivot plate (129) which rests on the bottom of the cooling space (108) and only when the sliding door is fully open ( 124) folds down vertically. 10. Food machine according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that - The push frame (32, 132) of the furnace (31, 31 '; 131) carries two laterally arranged bearing blocks (35, 135); - In the bearing blocks (35, 135) a two-armed pivot lever (36, 136) with a short (37, 137) and a long (38, 138) lever arm is pivotally mounted; - The cooking tray (39, 139) is suspended from the ends of the long lever arms (38, 138); - At least one short lever arm (37, 137) cooperates with a fixed stop (40, 140) so that the pivot lever (36, 136) pivots upwards when the push frame (32, 132) extends from a certain distance traveled. 11. Food machine according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that - A turntable (145) is arranged on the cooking tray (139); - A flat drive disc (146) is arranged coaxially on the underside of the cooking tray (139), which is connected to the turntable (145); - An electric rotary drive (147) is provided in the oven (131), which cooperates with the drive disc (146) when the cooking tray (139) is lowered in the cooking position in order to set the rotary plate (145) in rotation. 12. Food machine according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that - At least one cutlery magazine (43, 143) for accommodating a stack of packaged disposable cutlery is arranged within the housing (1, 101); - In the front (2, 102) of the housing (1, 101) at least one removal slot (6, 106) is provided for disposable cutlery. 13. Automatic food dispenser according to claim 12, characterized in that an electrically operated ejector (44) is provided for the lowest disposable cutlery in each case on the cutlery magazine (43).

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