GB2062594A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An article storage device for a vending machine comprises a vertically-extending helical element (10) rotatably mounted in a cabinet for discharging articles one at a time by the controlled rotation of the helical element, the cabinet being provided with a front opening for loading articles and two bars (13) vertically disposed in the front opening to prevent articles from slipping out of the cabinet. Each bar is laterally slidable from a first position in which the article-slipping is prevented to a second position in which articles can be loaded on to the helical element through the front opening without interference of the bar. In order to enable the storage device to be used for storing articles of various shapes and sizes, the position of each bar is readily changeable in the direction of the depth of the cabinet from the front opening. An attachment may be used for changing the support position of the lower end of the bar. A plurality of slits are formed in the ceiling plate of the cabinet to receive the upper end of the bar at different positions. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to article storage and releasing devices for vending machines This invention relates to article storage and releasing devices for vending machines.

A helix-type article storage and releasing device includes a cabinet having a lower opening and a helical column fixedly mounted on a drive shaft to extend vertically in the cabinet, as disclosed in U.S. Patent No 3,273,748. Articles are disposed on a continuous spiral surface of the helical column and are discharged through the lower opening one at a time by a controlled rotation of the helical column.

A helically-wound coil rod which is fixedly mounted on a drive shaft may be used in place of the helical column, as shown in U.S. Patent No 2,918,195.

In such a helix-type article storage and releasing device, the cabinet may be provided with a front opening for loading articles thereinto. The front opening is usually closed by a front door to prevent the loaded articles from sliding or slipping out of the cabinet through the front opening. The use of the door makes the storage device weighty and makes the article-loading operation complicated. If no door is used in the storage device, the device must be mounted in the vending machine so as to be inclined rearwards at a slight angle, as disclosed in the U.S. Patent No 3,273,748. The inclination of the storage device leads to an unused space in the vending machine cabinet. Moreover, the risk otloaded articles falling out of the device cannot be completely removed.

Generally speaking, it is desirable that a helixtype article storage and releasing device can be used for vending various articles having different shapes and different sizes. It is possible to store articles of relatively smaller size in a storage device designed for storing articles of a relatively large size. However, the smaller articles may be carried by the helical member and rotated at a time when an article is intended to be discharged, so that the vertical row of loaded articles is broken. As a result, an article would be held between the inner wall of the cabinet and drive shaft, so that the discharge of articles may be interrupted.

According to the present invention there is provided an article storage and releasing device for a vending machine, the device including a cabinet having a lower end opening for discharging articles, a drive shaft vertically extending and rotatably supported in said cabinet, and a helical element fixedly mounted on said drive shaft and defining a continuous spiral surface about said drive shaft on which vendible articles may be disposed, whereby articles are discharged through said lower end opening one at a time by a controlled rotation of said drive shaft, wherein said cabinet is provided with a front opening through which articles can be loaded on to said helical element to form two vertical rows, one at each side of said drive shaft as viewed from said front opening, two bars are vertically extending in said front opening, the bars being disposed at respective opposite sides of said drive shaft as viewed from said front opening and being supported at their upper and lower ends by respective upper and lower frame members defining respective upper and lower edges of said front opening to prevent articles in respective vertical rows from falling off through said front opening, each bar being laterally movable from a first position, in which articles in a vertical row are prevented from falling through said front opening, to a second position, in which articles can be loaded into said cabinet through said front opening.

The device may comprise guide means which are vertically extending and which project from an inner surface of the rear wall of said cabinet, the guide means serving to prevent articles from being carried into a gap between the rear wall and the drive shaft upon rotation of the helical element.

The position at which each bar is supported may be changeable in the direction of the depth of the cabinet from the front opening, whereby the distance between the rear wall of the cabinet and each bar is readily changed.

One embodiment of this invention is a helixtype article storage and releasing device wherein the article-loading operation is simple but loaded articles can be effectively prevented from slipping out thereof without use of any door.

The device can be used for reliably storing and releasing not only articles of a shape and a size but also articles of a different size and a different shape. The device has a simple construction and a low cost.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along a line Ill-Ill in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along a line lV-lVinFig. 1; Fig. 5a and Fig. 5b are cross-sectional views of different embodiments of guide plates; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of another embodiment of the invention; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an attachment used in the embodiment of Fig. 6; Fig. 9 is a rear view of the attachment of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a bottom view of the attachment of Fig. 8;; Fig. 11 is a sectional view for illustrating the change of the supporting position of lower end of a bar in the embodiment of Fig. 6; and Fig. 12 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a construction for changing the supporting positions of the upper end of the bar.

Referring to Figs. 1 4, an article storage and releasing device 1 according to an embodiment of this invention shown therein comprises a cabinet 2 which is composed of left and right side plates 2a and 2b, rear plate 2c and ceiling plate 2d remaining a front opening 2e and a lower end opening 2f. A drive source 5 including a motor 3 and a reduction gear 4 is mounted on ceiling plate 2d. A drive shaft 6 is disposed to extend vertically within cabinet 2. The upper end of drive shaft 6 is coupled with the output of reduction gear 4 and is rotatably supported by a bearing 7 mounted in ceiling plate 2d. The lower end of drive shaft 6 is rotatably supported by a bearing 8 mounted in a shaft supporting arm 9.

A helical element or a coil rod 10 is fixedly secured onto drive shaft 6 by supporting rods 11.

Helical element 10 forms a continuous spiral surface on which articles 12 are disposed. Articles 12 are arranged in two vertical rows at both sides of drive shaft 6 as viewed from front opening 2e.

In order to prevent articles 12 on helical element 10 from slipping and falling out of cabinet 2 through front opening 2e, two bars 13 are disposed in front opening 2e to vertically extend at both sides of drive shaft 6 as viewed from front opening 2e. Each bar 13 supported at its upper and lower ends by ceiling plate 2d and a frame or a lower front plate 14. Frame 14 extends between front ends of lower portions of left and right side plates 2a and 2b is supported by securing its opposite ends to the side plates. Thus, frame 14 defines the lower-edge of front opening 2e of cabinet 2. Shaft supporting arm 9 is fixedly secured on the inner surface of frame 14 by bolt means 15.

Each bar 13 is movable laterally to permit articles to be loaded on helical element 10 in cabinet 2 through front opening 2e. In the embodiment shown, ceiling plate 2d is formed with two slits 1 6 for receiving upper ends of respective bars 13. Slits 16 extend on a line along the front edge of ceiling plate 2d and are spaced from one another so that the left end of the right slit and the right end of the left slit are disposed at right and left sides of drive shaft 6, respectively.

The left slit extends to the left side end and the right slit extends to the right side end.

Lower frame 14 is also provided with two slits 17 which extend on a line along the length of frame 14. These slits 1 7 are spaced from one another so that the right end of the left slit and the left end of the right slit are disposed at left and right sides of drive shaft 6 as viewed from front side. The left and right slits extend towards the left and right sides of frame 14, respectively.

The upper ends of vertical bars 13 are inserted and disposed in slits 1 6 in ceiling plate 2d. The lower ends of bars 13 are connected to frame 14 by short sleeves 18 which are secured to the lower ends of bars 13 by screws 19, and which are disposed and received in slits 1 7 in frame 14.

Accordingly, bars 13 are movable along slits 16 and 1 7 so that the positions of bars 13 are changeable in front opening 2e from first positions near the center of the front opening to second positions near the side edges of the front opening.

When bars 13 are disposed at the first positions, the articles loaded in cabinet 2 are prevented from slipping and falling out of the cabinet by bars 13.

When bars 13 are moved to the second positions, articles can be readily loaded in the cabinet through the front opening without interference of bars 13. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the left side bar is shown to be disposed at the first position and the right side bar is shown to disposed at the second position.

In order to prevent each bar 13 from automatically moving from the first position, frame 14 is provided with small vertical grooves 1 71 at the left end of right slit 1 7 and at the right end of left slit 17, in the shown embodiment. At the first position, small sleeves 1 8 are received in grooves 171, so that bars 13 are prevented from automatically moving in slits 17. Furthermore, left and right slits 16 in ceiling plate 2d terminate in holes 1 61 at respective right and left ends which have a diameter larger than the width of the slit 16.Bars 13 have upper end portions 131 of an increased diameter which is smaller than the diameter of holes 161 but larger than the width of slits 1 6. Upper end portions 131 are received in holes 161 when bars 13 are at the first positions and when sleeves 18 are received in grooves 171.

Therefore, it is also prevented that upper ends of bars 13 moves in slits 1 6 at a time when bars 13 are disposed at the first positions. Thus, the fall of articles is reliably prevented.

In article-loading operation, bars 13 are brought up to take sleeves 18 out of grooves 171, and are laterally moved to shift sleeves 1 8 in slits 17. At that time, upper end portions 131 go out of holes 161 upwardly, and the adjacent lower thin portions of bars 13 move laterally in slit 16 from holes 161. Thus, bars 13 are moved to the second positions and articles can be loaded in the cabinet through front opening 2e.

Articles 12 which are arranged in two vertical rows at left and right sides of drive shaft 6 in article-loading operation, move downwardly by the rotation of helical element 10 together with drive shaft 6 in the direction indicated by arrow A.

That is, articles 12 are prevented from being carried with helical element 10 by side plates 2a and 2b, rear plate 2c and bars 13 and are guided by them to move down along the spiral surface moving. As a result, lowermost articles of the right and left article rows are alternatively discharged through lower end opening 2f of cabinet 2 at every rotation of 1800 angle of helical element 10.

In the shown embodiment, a guide plate 20 is fixedly secured onto the inner wall of rear plate 2c by screw means 21 to project from the inner wall and to extend vertically. Guide plate 20 serves to vertically guide articles 12 in the right row and to reliably prevent them from being carried by helical element 10 into a gap between rear wall 2c and drive shaft 6.

A surface 20a of guide plate 20 which is perpendicular to rear plate 2c, serves to guide articles 12-1 which are relatively smaller in width, and another surface 20b which is in parallel with rear plate 2c, serves to guide articles 12-2 which are relatively larger in width.

Guide plate 20 in Fig. 4 is formed in a U-shape cross section, and fixedly mounted onto rear plate 2c by securing one leg of "U" by screw means 21.

Figs. 5a and 5b illustrate different embodiments of the guide plate. A guide plate 20' shown in Fig. 5a is one which has a cross section of "U"-shape with a fin 20'c extending from one leg of "U". The guide plate is fixedly mounted by securing the fin 20'c to the rear plate by screw means 21. Another guide plate 20" shown in Fig. 5b is one which has a cross section of "C"-shape. The guide plate is attached to the rear plate by securing the central portion 20"d to the rear plate by screws 21.

Referring to Figs. 6-11, another embodiment shown therein is characterised in that the position of each bar is changeable in the depth of the cabinet from the front opening so that the storage device may be used for various articles of different shapes and sizes.

Similar parts are represented by the same reference numerals as the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-4, and the description to the similar parts will be omitted for purposes of simplification.

In this embodiment, a plurality of slits 1 6-1, 16-2 and 16-3 similar to slits 16 in Fig. 2 are formed in ceiling plate 2d in parallel with one another and at different distances from the front edge of the ceiling plate as shown in Fig. 7. An attachment 22 is selectively fixed by screw 23 to lower frame 14, which has similar slits 1 7-2 and 1 7-3 in its different surfaces, so that the lower supporting position of each bar 1 3 may be changed according to orientation of attachment 22. Accordingly, the supporting position of bar 13 would be changed to three different positions as bar 1 3 illustrated by chain lines and solid line in Fig. 6.

Referring to Figs. 8-11, attachment 22 is formed into a hollow member having a rectangular cross section. The length of attachment 22 is generally equal to that of lower frame 14.

Attachment 22 is provided with screw-tapped holes 23 at spaced positions in a first plate portion 22a, and slits 17-2 similar to slits 17 of frame 14 formed in a second plate portion 22b opposite to first plate portion 22a. Another similar slits 17-3 are formed in third plate portion 22c and another similar screw-tapped holes 24 are formed in the other or fourth plate portion 22d.

When attachment 22 is supported to frame 14 by means of screws 25 in cooperation with screwtapped holes 24 in a condition that fourth plate portion 22d is in contact with the inner surface of frame 14, as shown by solid lines in Fig. 11, each bar 1 3 is disposed at the deepest position a from the front opening by fitting each sleeve 18 in each slit 1 7-3. In the condition, the upper end of each bar 13 is inserted and received in each slit 1 6-3.

On the other hand, when attachment 22 is attached to frame 14 by means of screws 25 in a orientation that the first plate portion 22a is in contact with the inner surface of frame 14, as shown by a chain line in Fig. 11, each bar 13 is disposed at a middle position b, by engaging each sleeve 18 in each slit 17-2. In the case the upper end of each bar is inserted in slit 1 6-2 of ceiling plate 2d.

In case that attachment 22 is not used, the lower end of each bar 13 is supported by frame 14 by inserting each sleeve 1 8 in each slit 1 7 of frame 14 as the embodiment shown in Figs. ., and the upper end of each bar 13 is received in slit 1 6-1. Thus, each bar 13 is disposed at the outermost position (at c in Fig. 11) in the front opening.

Accordingly, three kinds of articles 12-1, 12-2 and 12-3 which are different in size can be stored by changing the supporting position of each bar, and discharged without failure in the device of this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 6.

In this embodiment, shaft supporting arm 9 is fixed on, and supported by, the inner wall of rear plate 2c, so as to enable the use of attachment 22 onto the inner surface of frame 14.

Since slits 1 6-1 - 1 6-3 are formed similar to slit 16 in Fig. 2, and slits 1 7-2 and 17-3 are also formed similar to slit 1 7 of frame 14, each bar 1 3 is laterally slidable in those slits at any supporting positions of each bar so that articles are reliably prevented from falling out of cabinet while being possible to readily load articles.

Referring to Fig. 12, a plate member 26 having a slit 1 6' similar to slit 1 6 in Fig. 2 is used, in place of a plurality of slits 16-1 - 1 6-3 formed in ceiling plate 2d. The front edge portion of ceiling plate 2d is partially cut away at 2g, plate member 26 is attached to ceiling plate 2d by screws 27 to cross cut-away portion 29. Plate member 26 is formed with two long apertures 28 at left and right end portions for receiving screws 27. When screws 27 are loosened and the position of plate member 26 is adjusted by moving it forwardly or rearwardly, and plate member 26 is fixed by fastening screws so that slit 16' is arranged at its desired position. Thus, the receiving position of the upper end of each bar 1 3 is changeable in a direction of the depth of cabinet 2 from the front opening, by the use of single slit plate member 26.

A plurality of holes 29 for receiving screws 27 are provided in ceiling plate 2d, and they may be selectively used to change the position of slit plate member 26.

Claims (10)

1. An article storage and releasing device for a vending machine, the device including a cabinet having a lower end opening for discharging articles, a drive shaft vertically extending and rotatably supported in said cabinet, and a helical element fixedly mounted on said drive shaft and defining a continuous spiral surface about said drive shaft on which vendible articles may be disposed, whereby articles are discharged through said lower end opening one at a time by a controlled rotation of said drive shaft, wherein said cabinet is provided with a front opening through which articles can be loaded on to said helical element to form two vertical rows, one at each side of said drive shaft as viewed from said front opening, two bars are vertically extending in said front opening, the bars being disposed at respective opposite sides of said drive shaft as viewed from said front opening and being supported at their upper and lower ends by respective upper and lower frame members defining respective upper and lower edges of said front opening to prevent articles in respective vertical rows from falling off through said front opening, each bar being laterally movable from a first position, in which articles in a vertical row are prevented from falling through said front opening, to a second position, in which articles can be loaded into said cabinet through said front opening.

2. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in claim 1, which further comprises guide means which are vertically extending and which project from an inner surface of a rear wall of said cabinet, the guide means serving to prevent articles from being carried into a gap between said rear wall and said drive shaft upon rotation of said helical element.

3. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the position at which each bar is supported is changeable in the direction of the depth of said cabinet from said front opening, whereby the distance between said rear wall of said cabinet and each bar is readily changed.

4. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said upper and lower frame members are provided with slits for receiving respective upper and lower ends of said bars, the slits extending horizontally between said first and second positions.

5. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in claim 4, wherein an end of said upper slit corresponding to said first position is formed into a hole having a diameter larger than the width of the slit, an end of said lower slit corresponding to said first position is provided with a short vertically-extending groove, and the upper end of said bar is formed with an increased diameter, whereby said bar is prevented from automatically moving laterally by the lower end of said bar being received in said groove and the upper end of said bar being fitted into said hole at a time when said bar is in said first position.

6. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said upper frame member is provided with a plurality of parallel slits mutually spaced in the direction of the depth of said cabinet from said front opening and selectively usable for receiving the upper end of each bar, said lower frame member is provided with a slit for supporting the lower end of each bar, and an attachment is selectively attached to said lower frame and provided with at least one slit for supporting the lower end of each bar, whereby the position of each bar in the direction of the depth of said cabinet from said front opening is readily changed by selecting one of said upper slits and selecting the use of said attachment.

7. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in claim 6, wherein an end of each upper slit corresponding to said first position is formed into a hole having a diameter larger than the width of the slit, an end of said slit in said lower frame member and said slit in said attachment corresponding to said first position are each provided with a vertically extending short groove, and the upper end of said bar is formed with an increased diameter, whereby said bar is prevented from automatically moving laterally at a time when said bar is in said first position.

8. An article storage and releasing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein a plate member having a horizontal slit for receiving the upper end of said bar is mounted on said upper frame member and is adjustable in the direction of the depth of said cabinet from said front opening, whereby said position of said bar is readily changeable.

9. An article storage and releasing device for a vending machine constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

10. A vending machine including an article storage and releasing device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.