JP2000090344A - Merchandise pay-out device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a merchandise pay-out device capable of stably, surely and smoothly paying out even merchandise in a shape for which the diameter of a container is not vertically fixed such as an inverse conical trapezoidal shape and the merchandise whose container is a soft material at the time of the vending operation of the merchandise. SOLUTION: This merchandise pay-out device 1 of an automatic vending machine pays out the merchandise S to a front part from a pay-out port 7e at the front end of a merchandise passage for arranging and housing the plural pieces of the merchandise S in a front-to-back direction at the time of vending and is provided with a gate 8 provided freely turnably between a closing position for closing the pay-out port 7e and an opening position for opening the pay-out port 7e and constituted freely movably to the front part from the position of the pay-out port 7e and a driving mechanism 10 for driving the gate 8 so as to position the gate 8 at the closing position at the time of vending standby and to move the gate 8 from the position of the pay-out port to the front part and then turn it from the closing position to the opening position at the time of vending.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a so-called see-through type vending machine in which a product to be actually sold can be visually recognized. The present invention relates to a product dispensing device for a vending machine of a type dispensing backward.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of commodity dispensing apparatus, there is known an apparatus shown in FIG. In the commodity dispensing apparatus 70, a plurality of commodity racks 71 are stored in a vending machine main body of a vending machine (not shown) side by side in the vertical direction. Each product rack 71 has left and right product paths 74, 74 defined by two side walls 72, 72 and a partition wall 73. Are stored side by side in the front-rear direction. Each product passage 74 is provided with a pusher 75 and a pusher 7.
5 is a payout port 76 at the front end of the product passage 74 and the product passage 7
4 so as to be movable with respect to the rear part. The pusher 75 is connected to a drive mechanism (not shown), and is driven forward by the drive mechanism by a predetermined stroke equal to the depth dimension of the stored product at the time of sale. A push rod 78 as a trigger is connected to this drive mechanism. At the time of sale, when the push rod 78 is pushed backward, the drive mechanism is activated.

[0003] A gate 77 is provided at the front end of each product passage 74 of the product rack 71. The gate 77 is made of a transparent synthetic resin plate, and is attached to the side wall 72 so as to rotate in a vertical plane including the payout port 76. The pivot shaft 77a of the gate 77 is connected to a push rod 78 via a link mechanism (not shown).
When the push rod 78 is pushed backward at the time of sale, the gate 77 turns to a position to open the payout port 76 in a vertical position shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The payout opening 76 is closed in a posture obliquely lowered with respect to the left-right direction shown. With the configuration described above, in the commodity dispensing device 70, the push mechanism 78 pushes the push rod 78 backward at the time of sale, so that the gate 77 opens the payout port 76, and then the drive mechanism moves the pusher 75 for a predetermined stroke.
It is moved forward, and the product at the forefront position is paid out from the payout port 76.

[0004]

In recent years, in vending machines, products in which the diameter of a container is not constant up and down,
For example, there is an increasing demand to sell products having an inverted truncated cone shape whose diameter gradually increases toward the upper side of the container, products with a flange, products with caps, products in bags, and the like.
In the case of selling a product having such a shape, in the above-described conventional product payout device 70, when the gate 77 closes the payout opening 76, a part of the product at the forefront position is rotated by the gate 77 described above. Occasionally, it may protrude beyond the vertical plane through which it passes. In this case, when the gate 77 opens the payout opening 76, the product may come into contact with or stick to the protruding portion of the product. For this reason, the opening and closing operation of the gate 77 is hindered, and unsale of the product may occur. For the same reason, in the case of merchandise in a container made of a soft material, for example, a merchandise in a bag, in addition to the above-mentioned non-sale, the container may be deformed or damaged, and its commercial value may be reduced.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and is intended for a product having a shape such as an inverted truncated cone whose container diameter is not constant up and down or a product having a soft material.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a product dispensing device capable of dispensing stably, reliably, and smoothly at the time of a product selling operation.

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 is
At the time of sale, from a payout at one end in the front-rear direction of a product passage that stores a plurality of products arranged in the front-back direction, a product dispensing device of a vending machine that pays out sales products facing the payout to the outside in a payout direction. Between a closed position for closing the dispensing port for holding the product and an open position for opening the dispensing port for dispensing the product, while being rotatably provided around an axis extending in the front-rear direction. An opening / closing member configured to be movable in the dispensing direction from the position of the payout opening, and at the time of sales standby, the opening / closing member is located at the closed position, and at the time of sale, after the opening / closing member moves in the dispensing direction from the position of the payout opening, Driving means for driving the opening and closing member so as to rotate from the closed position to the open position.

According to the vending machine product storage and dispensing apparatus, the opening and closing member driven by the driving means is located at the closed position during standby for sales, and the dispensed exit of the product passage is closed, so that the sold product can be sold. It is held in the product passage.
At the time of sale, the opening and closing member driven by the driving means,
The merchandise is paid out of the merchandise passage by moving from the position of the payout port in the payout direction, moving away from the merchandise, and rotating to the open position. In this way, at the time of sale, the opening / closing member moves in the dispensing direction from the position of the payout port and turns to the open position after separating from the product for sale, so that the product for sale facing the payout port is, for example, an inverted truncated cone. The diameter of containers such as shaped products and products with collars is not constant up and down,
Even when the opening / closing member protrudes from the payout port, the opening / closing member smoothly rotates to the open position without being caught by the sales product. As a result, even if the diameter of the product is not constant in the vertical direction, the product can be stably, reliably and smoothly paid out without causing unsold products. For the same reason, even if the product is a container made of a soft material, the product can be stably and reliably and smoothly dispensed without causing deformation of the container or unsale of the product.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the commodity dispensing apparatus for a vending machine according to the first aspect, the driving means moves the opening / closing member in the dispensing direction when the opening / closing member rotates from the closed position to the open position. And a moving means for further moving the object.

According to the vending machine product dispensing apparatus,
At the time of sale, when the driving means rotates the opening / closing member from the closed position to the open position, the moving means further moves the opening / closing member in the dispensing direction. This makes it possible to more reliably prevent interference between the opening / closing member and the product when rotating.

[0010] The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
Wherein the driving means further comprises a lock means for locking the opening / closing member at the position of the payout port during standby for sale.

According to the vending machine, the lock means locks the opening / closing member at the position of the payout port during standby for sale, so that the wrong payout of the sold goods at times other than the time of payout can be ensured. Can be prevented.

[0012]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
A vending machine product payout apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a commodity dispensing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a so-called see-through type vending machine 2 in which commodities S actually sold, such as canned juice and plastic bottled beverages, can be visually recognized from the outside. It is applied to The vending machine 2 includes a vending machine body 3 and a main door 4 attached to a front surface of the vending machine body 3. The main door 4 has a transparent heat insulating plate 4 a and a sales port 4 b, and the product S stored in the vending machine main body 3.
Can be visually recognized through the transparent heat insulating plate 4a. A control panel 5 is attached to a lower right portion of the front surface of the main door 4, and the control panel 5 includes a cash input unit 5a and a ten-key type product selection button 5b. At the time of product purchase, the product purchaser puts cash into the cash input section 5a of the control panel 5, and presses a product selection button 5
Press b. As a result, the product S is sold to the sales outlet 4b, and the product purchaser can get the sold product S.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inside of the vending machine main body 3 is partitioned into two upper and lower storage chambers 6, 6 by a partition plate 3a. In the upper storage room 6, a total of twelve product racks 7 are stored in the vertical direction, with four left and right four as one stage, and in the lower storage room 6, a total of 16 product racks 7 in the vertical direction. A product rack 7 is stored. Each product rack 7 is stored in the vending machine main body 3 so as to be able to be pulled out, and is pulled out forward during loading.

As shown in FIG. 2, the merchandise rack 7 has two opposing side walls 7a, 7a and a central partition wall 7b.
And two base plates 7c, 7c, which define two product passages 7d, 7d extending horizontally in the front-rear direction in the product rack 7. As shown in FIG. 1, in the product passages 7d, 7d, products S of the same brand are stored side by side in the front-rear direction, and the front end of the product rack 7 has two payout ports 7e for paying out the products S. , 7
e. The partition wall 7b is detachable from the product rack 7, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,
When an inverted truncated cone-shaped product S having a flange at the upper end (for example, a yogurt product) is stored in the product passage 7d, a partition wall 7b having a stepped type with a thin upper half portion having a thickness is used. It is attached to the product rack 7.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Since the right half and the left half are symmetrical with respect to the partition wall 7b, the right half will be described with reference to FIG. On the base plate 7c in the product passage 7d,
The pusher 7f is movably arranged between the front end and the rear end of the product passage 7d. The pusher 7f is connected to a pusher drive mechanism (not shown), and is driven by the pusher drive mechanism to move forward by a predetermined distance substantially the same as the depth dimension of the product S in the product path 7d every sales operation. It is designed to move.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 8, a gate (opening / closing member) 8 and a gate driving mechanism (driving means) 10 for driving the gate 8 are provided on the side wall 7a of the product rack 7. I have. The gate 8 is made of an elongated transparent synthetic resin plate. As will be described later, a gate drive mechanism 10 closes the payout opening 7e shown by a solid line in FIG. 4 and a two-dot chain line in FIG. It is driven to rotate between an open position where the payout port 7e is opened.

The gate drive mechanism 10 includes a push rod 1
1, a slider 12, a gear 13, and a drive shaft 14. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, two front and rear stays 15 protrude downward from the lower surface of the product rack 7. The push rod 11 (moving means) extends in the front-rear direction, and is slidably attached to the front and rear stays 15, 15 in the front-rear direction. The rear end of the push rod 11 is connected to the pusher drive mechanism. When the push rod 11 is pushed backward by a solenoid mechanism of an elevator 9 described later, the pusher drive mechanism is activated after a predetermined time has elapsed. At the front end of the push rod 11, a head 11a having a larger diameter than other parts is formed.

Further, the slider 12 is fixed to a front portion of the push rod 11. The slider 12 includes a base portion 12a extending in the front-rear direction, and a lock portion 12 extending upward from the rear end of the base portion 12a and further extending forward.
b. The base part 12a is provided with front and rear stays 1
A coil spring 16 is mounted between the rear end face of the base portion 12a and the rear stay 15. The slider 12 and the push rod 11 are constantly urged forward by the coil spring 16. A rack (moving means) 12c is formed on the upper surface of the base 12a, and a front end of the lock 12b is
The lock groove (lock means) 12d is notched. The upper edge of the lock groove 12d is formed obliquely upward and forward,
It has a shape whose width increases toward the front.

A gear (moving means) 13 is rotatably mounted on the side wall 7a about a horizontal axis extending in the left-right direction. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the slider 12 is moved rearward. When sliding, the base 12
It is arranged so as to mesh with the rack 12c of FIG. A protrusion (lock means) 1 is provided at a predetermined position on the right side surface of the gear 13.
The protrusion 13a has a shape and a size that can be fitted into the lock groove 12d of the lock portion 12b. Further, a guide portion 12e protrudes upward from a rear upper end portion of the lock portion 12b. As shown in FIG. 5, a guide groove 12f is cut out on an upper surface of the guide portion 12e.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two bearings 17, 17 are arranged horizontally at the front end of the inner surface of the side wall 7a. , 17 are rotatably and slidably mounted. One end of the back surface of the gate 8 is fixed to the front end of the drive shaft 14, and the drive shaft 14 forms a rotation axis of the gate 8. Further, the drive shaft 14 has a circular rack 14a at the center and a cam rib 14b at the rear.
Are formed respectively. The round bar rack (moving means) 14a is arranged so as to mesh with the gear 13, and the drive shaft 14 causes the gear 13
Slides back and forth with the rotation of.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cam rib 14b protrudes from the surface of the rod 14, and its front half extends linearly and continuously in the front-rear direction. It has a shape that extends backward while being twisted 90 degrees. As shown in FIG. 5, the guide portion 12e is connected to the cam rib 1 via its guide groove 12f.
4b, the drive shaft 14 is rotated by guiding the cam rib 14b as the slider 12 slides in the front-rear direction. The right half of the product rack 7 is configured as described above, and the left half is similarly configured.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), an elevator 9 is arranged in front of each product rack 7;
The elevator 9 is provided between the vicinity of the payout port 7e of each product rack 7 and the sales port 4b so as to be able to move up and down and to move in the left-right direction. The elevator 9 is sold at the time
Payout port 7e of the product rack 7 that stores the selected product S
It moves to the vicinity, stops, receives the commodity S paid out from the payout port 7e, and carries it out to the sales port 4b. The elevator 9 includes a solenoid mechanism (not shown). The solenoid mechanism is configured to press the head 11a of the push rod 11 backward when the elevator 9 stops near the payout port 7e at the time of sale. ing.

The operation of the merchandise payout apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. At the time of selling standby, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the gate 8 is in the closed position and closes the payout port 7e, and holds the sales product S facing the payout port 7e in the product path 7d. . At this time, the slider 12
The lock groove 12 d is fitted with the projection 13 a of the gear 13 by the urging force of the coil spring 16. Thus, the gear 13 is locked so as not to rotate. Further, since the round bar rack 14a of the drive shaft 14 meshes with the locked gear 13, the drive shaft 14
It cannot move in the front-rear direction and is locked at the position of the payout port 7e. Also, since the cam rib 14b of the drive shaft 14 is engaged with the guide groove 12f of the slider 12, the drive shaft 1
4 itself cannot rotate. Therefore, the gate 8
It is locked in a state that it cannot rotate from the closed position and cannot move forward from the position of the payout port 7e, and this locked state is always maintained by the urging force of the coil spring 16.

At the time of sale, that is, when the commodity selection button 5b is pressed by the commodity purchaser and the commodity S to be sold is selected, the elevator 9 moves to the vicinity of the payout opening 7e of the commodity passage 7d for storing the selected commodity S. Move up and stop.
Thereafter, the solenoid mechanism of the elevator 9 is excited, and the solenoid mechanism pushes the head 11a of the push rod 11 backward while resisting the urging force of the coil spring 16.

When the solenoid mechanism moves the push rod 11 backward to the position shown in FIG. 7, first, the slider 12 slides backward with the movement of the push rod 11, whereby the lock groove 12d of the slider 12 and the gear 13 When the protrusion 13a is disengaged and the rack 12c of the slider 12 meshes with the gear 13, the gear 13 is rotated by a counterclockwise angle in the figure. At this time, since the upper edge of the lock groove 12d is configured to rise obliquely forward, the gear 13
Rotate smoothly without interfering with the upper edge of the lock groove 12d. With the rotation of the gear 13, the drive shaft 14 slides forward to the position shown in FIG. 7 via the round bar rack 14a meshing with the gear 13. Further, as the slider 12 slides, the guide portion 12e slides on the front half of the cam rib 14b via the guide groove 12f. At this time, since the front half of the cam rib 14b extends linearly in the front-rear direction, the guide portion 12e slides smoothly without rotating the drive shaft 14.

Further, when the solenoid mechanism slides the push rod 11 backward from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the position shown in FIG. 8, the head 11a comes into contact with the front stay 15, and the push rod 11 stops. At this time, the guide portion 12e guides the rear half of the cam rib 14b to rotate the drive shaft 14 clockwise in FIG.
Further rotates counterclockwise in the figure to move the drive shaft 14 forward. As a result, the gate 8 moves forward from the closed position to the open position while rotating clockwise in FIG. 4 to the position shown in FIG. 8, and opens the payout port 7e. When rotating at the position shown in FIG. 8, the gate 8 is properly and sufficiently arranged so that the space between the sales commodity S facing the payout port 7 e does not interfere with the portion of the sales commodity S protruding from the payout port 7 e. Is set.

By maintaining the excited state of the solenoid mechanism in the state shown in FIG. 8, the head 11a of the push rod 11 is held in contact with the front stay 15, and the gate 8 is held in the open position. Thereafter, the pusher drive mechanism is activated, and the pusher 7f is moved forward by a predetermined distance, whereby only the foremost product S is paid out from the payout port 7e to the elevator 9 side. Thereafter, the solenoid mechanism is demagnetized, and the push rod 11 moves forward by the urging force of the coil spring 16. As a result, the gate 8 rotates from the open position to the closed position while sliding backward to the position shown in FIG. 7, and then returns to the position of the payout port 7e shown in FIG. I do. Further, the elevator 9 conveys the dispensed goods S to the sales outlet 4b, and the sales operation is completed.

According to the commodity dispensing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the gate drive mechanism 1
0 indicates that the gate 8 cannot be turned from the closed position and the payout port 7
The state where the sales product S is held in the product path 7d is secured by locking the product in the immovable state forward from the position e. In addition, the locked state is set by the coil spring 16.
Is always maintained by the urging force of the payout outlet 7 even when the product rack 7 is tilted or a shock is applied when the product rack 7 is pulled out during loading.
The product S is not paid out from e. Therefore,
Erroneous payout of the product S other than at the time of sale can be reliably prevented.

At the time of sale, the gate drive mechanism 10
Moves the gate 8 forward from the position of the payout opening 7e to the position shown in FIG. 7, and after moving the gate 8 away from the product for sale S, rotates the gate 8 to the open position and further moves it forward to the position shown in FIG. Further away from the sale product S. Thereafter, the pusher 7f pays out the sales product S. As described above, at the time of sale, the gate 8 once separates from the sale product S, and then further turns while rotating, so that the sale product S facing the payout port 7e.
However, even if the diameter of the container such as the inverted truncated cone-shaped product S or the flanged product S is not constant up and down, and even if it protrudes from the payout port 7e, the gate 8 will not It smoothly rotates to the open position without being caught by S. As a result, even when the diameter of the product S is not constant in the vertical direction, the product S can be paid out stably, reliably, and smoothly without causing unsale of the product S. Further, for the same reason, even when the product S is a container made of a soft material such as a bagged product, the product S can be dispensed stably, reliably and smoothly without causing deformation of the container or unsale of the product S. Can be.

In the above embodiment, at the time of sale, the gate 8 moves forward to the position shown in FIG. 7, and then further moves forward to the position shown in FIG. 8 while rotating from the closed position to the open position. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the gate 8 may be configured to move forward from the payout port 7e, stay at that position, and rotate from the closed position to the open position. In this case, the gate 8
The forward movement distance of the gate 8 may be set in advance so that the merchandise S protruding from the payout port 7e can be rotated while keeping a sufficient distance without interfering with the sales commodity S.

Further, the gate 8 is turned upward to move from the closed position to the open position when the commodity S is paid out. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the gate 8 is turned downward. Is also good. Further, the gate drive mechanism 10 has a configuration in which the push rod 11, the slider 12, the gear 13, and the drive shaft 14 are combined. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Thereafter, any configuration may be used as long as it can be rotated from the closed position to the open position.

Further, the gate 8 and the gate drive mechanism 1
Although 0 is provided on the side wall 7a and the vicinity thereof, these may be provided on the partition wall 7b side. In addition, although the commodity S is paid out from the commodity rack 7 forward, it may be paid back. Further, the product rack 7 having a horizontal product passage 7d has been described. However, the product dispensing apparatus 1 of the present invention is not limited to this. It may be applied to a slant shelf type product rack or the like.

[0033]

As described above, according to the commodity dispensing device of the vending machine of the present invention, even if the diameter of the container is not constant up and down, such as an inverted truncated cone, or the container is made of a soft material. In the operation of selling a product, it is possible to pay out stably, reliably and smoothly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 1B is a side sectional view of a vending machine provided with a commodity dispensing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of the commodity delivery device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the product payout device.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the product payout device.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 4 cut away.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state of the commodity dispensing apparatus at the time of standby for sale.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state in which the gate of the commodity delivery device has moved forward without rotating at the time of sale.

8 is a side view showing a state in which the gate of the commodity dispensing device has moved forward while rotating from the position of FIG. 7 to the open position at the time of sale.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a conventional product dispensing device of a vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 commodity dispensing device 2 vending machine 7 commodity rack 7 d commodity passage 7 e payout port 8 gate (opening / closing member) 10 gate drive mechanism (drive means) 11 push rod (movement means) 12 c rack (movement means) 12 d lock groove (lock means) 13) Gear (moving means) 13a Projection (locking means) 14a Round bar rack (moving means) S Product

Claims (3)

[Claims] At the time of sale, a vending machine for paying out a sales product facing the payout port outwardly in a payout direction from a payout port at one end in the front-back direction of a product passage for storing a plurality of products arranged in the front-back direction. An axis extending in the front-rear direction between a closed position that closes the payout port to hold the product and an open position that opens the payout port to pay out the product. An opening / closing member that is provided rotatably around and is configured to be movable in the dispensing direction from the position of the payout opening, and that the opening / closing member is located in the closed position during standby for sales;
At the time of the sale, after the opening / closing member moves from the position of the payout opening in the payout direction, a driving unit that drives the opening / closing member so as to rotate from the closed position to the open position is provided. Product dispensing equipment for vending machines. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit includes a moving unit that further moves the opening and closing member in the dispensing direction when the opening and closing member rotates from the closed position to the open position. The vending machine product delivery device according to claim 1. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the drive unit further includes a lock unit that locks the opening / closing member at the position of the payout port during the standby for sale.
Item dispensing device for a vending machine according to item 1.