GB2253619A

GB2253619A - Article dispensing apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2253619A
Application number: GB9102114A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keith Birkett Glanvill
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-01-31
Filing date: 1991-01-31
Publication date: 1992-09-16
Also published as: GB9102114D0

Abstract

A dispensing apparatus has an inclined chute 10 for storing a stack of articles 12 to be dispensed, a gate 14 at the lower end of the chute 10 which when opened permits the lowermost article to slide off the chute under the action of gravity, and braking means 20 movable in association with the gate for preventing articles in the chute above the lowermost article 12a from falling out while the gate 14 is open. <IMAGE>

Description

Ti.tle ARTICLE DISPENSING APPARATUS Field of the invention The present invention relates to an article dispensing apparatus. Such apparatus is used for example in a vending machine to allow an article from a stack to be released after it has been selected and payment for it has been received.

Background of the invention Amongst the desirable features aimed for in designing a dispensing apparatus are simplicity of construction, reliability of operation, ease of loading, security against tampering and high packing density. Numerous proposals have been put forward for dispensing articles in vending machines which meet these objectives to a greater or lesser extent.

Cigarette machines, for example, often use vertical stacks to load drawers which can be pulled out by the user to allow one packet at a time to be dispensed. These machines offer ease of loading but the packets can only be stacked one packet deep leading to a low stacking density. A further important limitation of such machines is that they are only suitable for articles with fixed dimensions.

Machines used for sweets and confectionery often have a horizontal tray with a screw which is rotated to advance the stack one article at a time until an article falls off the tray. These machines require a separate electric motor for each tray and are expensive to construct. Furthermore they are not entirely reliable and the packing density is limited by the large pitch of the advancing screw.

In WO 90/01757, there is descried a dispensing apparatus which uses hooks to suspend the articles which are to be dispensed and heat applied to the hooks allows the articles to be released. This arrangement has the advantage of enabling high packing density to be achieved while maintaining ease of loading especially if the hooks are arranged in a matrix on a vertically tray which can be inserted into and withdrawn from horizontal rack.

There are, however, articles which do not lend themselves to being suspended from hooks because of the shape of their packaging or because it is not convenient to modify the packaging to render it suitable for dispensing by means of a heated hook.

Summarv of the invention According to the invention in its broadest aspect, there is provided a dispensing apparatus having an inclined chute for storing a stack of articles to be dispensed, a gate at the lower end of the chute which when opened permits permits the lowermost article to slide off the chute under the action of gravity, and breaking means movable in association with the gate for preventing articles in the chute above the lowermost article from falling out while the gate is open.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a dispensing apparatus comprising a tray capable of being inserted and withdrawn from a rack, a plurality of chutes on the tray which in use are inclined to the horizontal such that articles slide down the chute under the action of gravity, a solenoid actuated gate at the lower end of the chute capable of being opened to allow the lowermost article in the chute to fall out under its own weight and braking means movable in association with the gate for preventing articles in the chute above the lowermost article from falling out while the gate is open. The gate and braking means act togethet as a form cF escapement mechanism to ensure that each opening of the gate allows one and only one article to fall out of the chute under its own weight.

The braking means may be constructed as a barrier which descends between the penultimate and last article in the chute before the gate opens but this can be difficult to achieve reliably if the articles are cubes or regular cylinders in close contact with one another. It is therefore preferred for the braking means to engage the penultimate article frictionally and to apply enough pressure to stop it from sliding under the action of gravity.

If the chute is inclined at an angle only slightly greater than the critical angle at which the component of the force of gravity down the chute matches the static frictional forces on the articles, then even for heavy articles a moderate frictional braking force will suffice to keep the stack of articles stationary in the chute while the lowermost article falls through the open gate.

In one embodiment of the invention the gate is mounted on the end of a two armed lever pivotable about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the chute, the other arm of the lever having a friction pad for engaging the penultimate article before the gate is withdrawn fully from the path of the lowermost article in the chute.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the gate and the braking means are mounted on a rotatable rod extending above and parallel to the chute, the gate and the braking means being angularly and axially offset from one another along the rod. In this case, it is possible to make the braking means slidable along the rod in order to adapt the dispensing apparatus to article having different dimensions.

X r to simplify the control circuit; is desirable to provide a switch for sensing excessive movement of the braking means (as would occur while dispensing the last article in a chute) and to energise the solenoid actuator of the next chute in sequence when a chute is sensed to be empty.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a vertical section through a dispensing apparatus of a first embodiment of the invention, and Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention.

In Figure 1, an inclined chute 10 contains a stack of articles 12. The inclination of the chute is such that the articles 12 will tends to slide down the chute 10 under the action of gravity.

The chute 10 may be one of several parallel chutes formed on a vertical tray which can slide into and out of a rack in the same manner as the circuit board of a computer. The tray may further have end connectors to complete the electrical circuit of solenoids (see below) mounted on the tray for controlling the dispensing of articles.

Each chute has at its lower end a two armed lever 14 pivotable about a horizontal pin 16 extending at right angle to the axis of the chute 10. One arm 14a of the lever 14 carries a gate 18 which is show in the raised position to allow the article designated 12a to fall off the chute. The other arm 14b of the lever 14 has a friction pad 20 which engages the penultimate article, designated 12b, to stop the remaining articles in the stack from falling out while one is being dispensed.

tt time lower end of the chute 10 there is mounted a solenoid 22 connected to the lever 14 by a flexible link 24. When the solenoid is actuated, it pulls the lever into the position illustrated and when it is not energised the lever 14 rotates clockwise from the position illustrated about its pivot pin 16 (under the action of a return spring which is not shown) so that the gate 18 lies in the position partially shown in dotted lines.

The rest position of the lever 14 is the latter dotted line position. Here, the gate 18 is closed and prevents any articles from sliding down the chute 10. When an article is to be dispensed, the lever 14 is pulled anti-clockwise against its return spring. Before the gate 18 is raised sufficiently to clear the lowermost article 12a, the friction pad 20 comes into contact with the penultimate article 12b and applies a frictional force to prevent the stack 12 from moving. Thereafter, when the gate opens fully, as illustrated, the article 12a at the bottom of the stack drops off the chute but the rest of the articles are held stationary by the braking action of the friction pad 20.

During closing of the gate, the reverse sequence takes place and the gate 18 first moves into a position to stop of the lowermost article of the stack from dropping off the chute 10. Then the braking action of the friction pad 20 is released and the stack moves down by one article in readiness for the next actuation of the lever 14.

When there is only one article left in the stack, during the dispensing of that article there will be no article 12b to limit the anti-clockwise movement of the lever 14.

A micro-switch 26 connected to the lever 14 will now close as the last article 12a is dispensed and the signal from the closing of the micro switch is used to signal the control circuitry to divert the next dispensing request to the next chute in sequence on the tray. In a particularly simple construction, the micro-switch 26 can be used to activate a hold on relay on the tray which then disconnects the solenoid 22 and connects in its place the solenoid of the next chute in the sequence. In this case, the control circuit need only send a signal whenever an article is to be dispensed and the selection of the chute is carried out entirely by the solenoids and relays mounted on the tray.

The embodiment of Figure 2 differs from that of Figure 1 only in the construction of the gate. In this case, the gate D and the friction pad E are mounted on a rotatable rod F which is turned by a motor or a solenoid.

When the rod is turned, the friction pad E first comes into contact with the penultimate article X' then the gate D opens to allow the lowermost article X to drop off the chute Z. The advantage of this construction is that the arm connecting the friction pad E to the rod F may be axially movable to allow the dispensing of articles of different length and it may furthermore be resilient or resiliently mounted on the rod to allow article of different height to be dispensed.

Claims

1. A dispensing apparatus having an inclined chute for storing a stack of articles to be dispensed, a gate at the lower end of the chute which when opened permits the lowermost article to slide off the chute under the action of gravity, and breaking means movable in association with the gate for preventing articles in the chute above the lowermost article from falling out while the gate is open.

2. A dispensing apparatus comprising a tray capable of being inserted and withdrawn from a rack, a plurality of chutes on the tray which in use are inclined to the horizontal such that articles slide down the chute under the action of gravity a solenoid actuated gate at the lower end of the chute capable of being opened to allow the lowermost article in the chute to fall out under its own weight and braking means movable in association with the gate for preventing articles in the chute above the

3. A dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the braking means is constructed as a barrier which descends between the penultimate and last article in the chute before the gate opens.

4. A dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the braking means is operative to engage the penultimate article frictionally and to apply enough pressure to stop it from sliding under the action of gravity.

5. A dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein the gate is mounted on the end of a two armed lever pivotable about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the chute the other arm of the lever having a friction pad for engaging the penultimate article before the gate is withdrawn fully from the path of the lowermost article in the chute.

6. A dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein the gate and the braking means are mounted on a rotatable rod extending above and parallel to the chute, the gate and the braking means being angularly and axially offset from one another along the rod.

7. A dispensing apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein a switch is provided for sensing excessive movement of the braking means and for energising the solenoid actuator of the next chute in sequence when a chute is sensed to be empty.

8. A dispensing apparatus constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.