JP2000163648A - Commodity carrying-out structure for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity carrying-out structure for an automatic vending machine which can prevent commodities from being carried out in a jumping state and, in addition, can make various kinds of commodities to be carried out surely without increasing the inclined angle of a commodity shelf. SOLUTION: When a rack 44 is moved forward and backward by operating a solenoid 46, pinions 424 and 433 rotate and first and second stopper members 42 and 43 make frequent appearances on the upper surface of a commodity shelf 41. Consequently, the commodities on the shelf 41 are successively carried out from the foremost commodity A1. While the commodity A is carried out, the frequent appearance making speeds of the stopper members 42 and 43 are temporarily made slower by decelerating the moving speed of the rack 44 in the forwardbackward direction on the way of moving. Since the protruding speed of the second stopper member 43 to the upper surface of the shelf 41 is temporarily made slower, the front end of the member 43 does not strongly send the commodity A flying even when the front end comes into collision with the commodity A1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product discharging structure of a vending machine for sequentially discharging products placed on a product shelf from the frontmost product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vending machine of this type, there is known a vending machine product unloading device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-106476.

[0003] This vending machine has a plurality of shelves arranged vertically, and these shelves are inclined forward and downward, and goods are slid along this inclined surface.
Products are being carried out. In order to carry out the merchandise one by one from the frontmost merchandise when carrying out the merchandise, a merchandise carrying-out device is installed at the tip of each merchandise shelf.

[0004] This product carrying device has a first stopper plate for holding the frontmost product and a second stopper plate for holding the second product from the foremost portion, and the stopper plates are alternately moved by a seesaw swing mechanism. It has a structure that appears on the upper surface of the product shelf. Here, when the frontmost product is carried out, the solenoid is operated to drive the swing mechanism, and each stopper is moved up and down alternately. As a result, the frontmost product is carried out, and the second product is regulated by the second stopper plate. Thereafter, the first stopper plate projects again to the upper surface of the product shelf, while the second stopper plate returns to the lower side of the product shelf and returns to the standby state.

[0005]

In a merchandise unloading device of this type, the sliding speed of the merchandise varies depending on the weight of the merchandise, the coefficient of friction between the merchandise and the merchandise shelf, and the like. For this reason, for example, when the timing at which each stopper plate appears and disappears somewhat earlier, the second stopper plate that has come out on the product shelf hits the rear side of the foremost product violently. As a result, there is a problem in that the product at the forefront is carried out in a manner of being flipped up, and the product is damaged.

Further, in order to reliably carry out a product having a large friction coefficient, the inclination angle of the product shelf must be increased. However, the greater the angle of inclination of the shelf, the more the product on the shelf becomes slightly
There is a problem that the product shelf falls off the shelf and the installation height of each shelf increases accordingly, and the number of stages of the shelf decreases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to prevent a product from being jumped up and carried out, and to carry out a variety of products without a large inclination angle of a product shelf. Is to provide.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a product shelf on which a plurality of products are placed in the front-rear direction and the products are moved forward. A first stopper member rotatable to hold the second product from the front, and a second stopper member to hold the second product from the foremost portion. In a product unloading structure of a vending machine that sequentially unloads a pinion, a pinion provided in each stopper member, a rack that is screwed to each pinion and extends in the front-rear direction to rotate the pinion, and the rack is moved in the front-rear direction. It has a structure having a drive source for reciprocating and a speed reduction mechanism for reducing the moving speed during the movement of the rack in the front-rear direction.

According to the present invention, the rack is moved in the front-rear direction by the operation of the drive source, whereby each pinion is rotated, and the first and second stopper members protrude and retract from the upper surface of the product shelf. As a result, the products are sequentially carried out from the frontmost product.

[0010] In the product unloading operation, the moving speed is reduced during the movement of the rack in the front-rear direction, and the moving speed of the first and second stopper members is temporarily reduced. Therefore, the projecting speed of the second stopper member to the upper surface of the product shelf is temporarily reduced, so that even when the front end of the second stopper member collides with the foremost product, the product does not bounce strongly.

As this speed reduction mechanism, a rack fixing plate having a long hole extending in the lateral direction and being connected to a driving source via a spring means, and a protruding portion loosely fitted in the long hole of the rack fixing plate are provided. It has a driven plate, and a guide path that guides the rack fixing plate and the driven plate slidably in the front-rear direction, and the guide path has a lateral bending portion that guides the driven plate obliquely in the front and rear directions. It has a structure.

[0012]

1 to 11 show a first embodiment of a product unloading structure of a vending machine according to the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending machine, FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a standby state of the product unloading device, FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a product unloading state of the product unloading device, and FIG. Sectional view, FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view showing a standby state of the speed reduction mechanism,
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state in which the product is carried out of the reduction mechanism.
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a laterally moving state of the driven plate.
9 is a side sectional view showing the pushing member, FIG. 9 is a plan sectional view showing the pushing member, FIG. 10 is a bottom view showing the holding state of the pushing member viewed from the back of the product shelf, and FIG. 11 explains a method of locking the pushing member. FIG.

First, the structure of the vending machine will be described with reference to FIG. The vending machine 1 has a hanging-type merchandise unloading device 3 arranged at an upper part in a vending machine main body 2.
From the center to the lower part, an inclined sliding type product discharge device 4 is arranged, and the products at the forefront of each of the product discharge devices 3 and 4 are sequentially discharged to the product outlet 5.

The structure of the inclined sliding type product unloading device 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. The product unloading device 4 includes a product shelf 41 extending in the front-rear direction of the vending machine main body 2.
Are arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages. Further, the product shelf 41 is arranged at an inclined lower front, so that the placed product can be slid out from the front.

At the front of the product shelf 41, the forefront product A
A first stopper member 42 for holding the first product 1 and a second stopper member 43 for holding the second product A2 from the forefront are provided in front and rear, respectively.

The first stopper member 42 has its rotating shaft 4
21 has two stopper plates 422 and 423. Each of the stopper plates 422, 423 is rotatable in the vertical direction.
As shown in FIG. 2, when projecting from the upper plate 411 of the product shelf 41, the product A1 presses the frontmost product A1 and enters a standby state. On the other hand, when rotating toward the inside of the upper plate 411, as shown in FIG. 3, the pressing of the frontmost product A1 is released, and the product A1 is brought out. Also, the first stopper member 42
As shown in FIG. 4, the rotation shaft 421 of the
Are fixed, and the rotation of the pinion 424 causes the respective stopper plates 422 and 423 to rotate.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the second stopper member 43 is a stopper plate 4 fixed to its rotating shaft 431.
32. The stopper plate 432 is rotatable in the vertical direction, and the rotation of the pinion 433 fixed to the rotating shaft 431 causes the stopper plate 432 to rotate. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the second stopper member 43 has a holding flapper 434 for holding the second product A2 from the front. This holding flapper 4
The base 34 is supported by a support shaft 435. On the other hand, the front end side extends toward the rear of the product shelf 41, and the front end is bent in a U-shape (bent portion 434 a), and the stopper plate 432 is formed.
Is hooked on the tip of Here, when the tip of the stopper plate 432 is located below the upper plate 411 as shown in FIG. 2, the holding flapper 434 also enters below the upper plate 411. On the other hand, the tip of the stopper plate 432 is
When rotating above the upper plate 411 as shown in FIG. 4, the holding flapper 434 also rotates upward, thereby pushing up the foremost product A1 upward and bending the product A1 at the second position from the foremost position by the bent portion 434a. Product A2
Hold the front of.

The first and second stopper members 42 and 43 thus configured have their respective pinions 424 and 433 screwed to the rack 44. This rack 44 is the product shelf 4
21, the pinions 424 and 433 are rotated by the movement of the rack 44 in the front-rear direction.

The rack 44 is connected via a speed reduction mechanism 45 to a solenoid 46 which is a driving source. The structure of the speed reduction mechanism 45 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The speed reduction mechanism 45 includes a rack fixing plate 451,
It has a connecting coil spring 452, a driven plate 453, and a guide path 454. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the rack fixing plate 451 has a rectangular shape, and the rack 44 extending in the front-rear direction is fixed to one side in the width direction. A spring stopper 451a is provided on the front end of the rack fixing plate 451.
Is installed, and the spring stopper 451a and the solenoid connection fitting 461 are connected by a connection coil spring 452. Therefore, the solenoid 46 is driven (pulled).
At this time, this pulling force is transmitted to the rack fixing plate 451 via the connection coil spring 452. Further, a long hole 451b extending obliquely in the horizontal direction is provided at the center of the rack fixing plate 451.
Having.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the driven plate 453 is disposed below the rack fixing plate 451, has a disk shape, and has a disk-shaped protruding portion 453a at the center of its upper surface. And a long hole 451b of the rack fixing plate 451
It is fitted with some play.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide path 454 has an upper guide portion 454a for guiding the rack fixing plate 451 in the front-rear direction at the upper portion, and a lower guide portion 454b for guiding the driven plate 453 in the front-rear direction at the lower portion. Each formed, each guide portion 45
4a, 454b with a slight gap between the rack fixing plates 4
51 and the driven plate 453 are fitted. Here, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the lower guide portion 454b has a horizontal bent portion 454c for guiding the driven plate 453 in a diagonal horizontal direction in the middle thereof, and the lower bent portion 454c is connected to the driven plate 45.
When 3 passes, as shown in FIG. 7, it moves obliquely in the horizontal direction along this bend.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the solenoid 46 has a plunger 462 as shown in FIGS.
To turn on the solenoid 46, the solenoid connecting fitting 461 is pulled rearward. Further, the solenoid connecting fitting 461 is provided on the product shelf 41 with the return coil spring 46.
Therefore, when the solenoid 46 is turned off, the solenoid connecting fitting 461 is pulled back by the return coil spring 463.

Next, the pushing member 47 and the lock mechanism 48 arranged on the rear end side of the product shelf 41 will be described with reference to FIGS. This pushing member 47 is used for the upper plate 4 of the product shelf 41.
11 and has a horizontally long housing 471 with a lower surface opening. Further, a box-shaped substrate 472 having a lower surface opening is fixed inside the housing 471 with screws 473a, and a plurality of weight plates 474 are mounted on the upper surface of the substrate 472 with screws 473b.
And the weight of the pushing member 47 is increased. Further, wheels 475 are provided on the side surfaces of the substrate 472 so that the wheels 475 roll on the upper plate 411 of the product shelf 41.

As a structure for guiding the pushing member 47 from the rear end to the front end of the product shelf 41, a track slit 49 is formed from the rear end of the upper plate 411 to the front end. A push member 47 is provided in the track slit 49.
The holding plate 476 formed on the lower surface of the is fitted. If this fitting structure is described in detail, the vertical plate 4 of the holding plate 476 will be described.
76a penetrates from the upper surface to the lower surface of the upper plate 411,
Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the pushing member 47 is held on the upper plate 411 by a horizontal plate 476b fixed to the vertical plate 476a. The rear end of the vertical plate 476a has an inclined side 476c inclined forward.

On the other hand, the lock mechanism 48 includes an operation lever 481 extending outward from the rear plate 412 of the product shelf 41, and a locking lever 482 extending to the lower surface of the upper plate 411 of the product shelf 41.
And a fulcrum plate 483 connecting the levers 481 and 482. This fulcrum plate 483 is pivotally supported by a pin 485 on a mounting bracket 484 of the back plate 412 as shown in FIG.
It rotates around this pin 485. Here, the operating lever 481 is formed to be longer than the locking lever 482 to increase the weight of the operating lever 481. Usually, as shown in FIG.
2a is configured to contact the lower surface of the upper plate 411.

According to the present embodiment, when unloading a product, the operating lever 481 of the lock mechanism 48 is previously set to the position shown in FIG.
Pull up as shown by the dotted line. As a result, the locking lever 482 is disengaged from the holding plate 476 of the pressing member 47. By releasing the lock of the pushing member 47, the pushing member 47 is released.
Moves forward along the inclination of the product shelf 41, and the pushing member 4
7 presses the last product A3 shown in FIG. This allows
Along with the inclination of the product shelf 41, a forward moving force acts on all the products.

When a product sales signal is input in such a state (when a customer presses a product selection button, not shown), the solenoid 46 sucks the plunger 462, and
The process shifts from the standby state in FIG. 2 to the selling operation in FIG. That is, when the solenoid 46 is turned on, the connection coil spring 45 is turned on.
The rack fixing plate 451 connected by 2 is pulled backward.
By moving the rack fixing plate 451 backward, the rack 44 also moves backward, and the pinions 424 and 433 are moved in FIG.
And counterclockwise toward FIG. By the rotation of the pinion 424, the stopper plates 422 and 423 of the first stopper member 42 rotate so as to be hidden inside the upper plate 411 of the product shelf 41. As a result, the foremost product A1
Is pushed forward, and the product is carried out to the product outlet 5.

On the other hand, by the rotation of the pinion 433,
The stopper plate 432 of the second stopper member 43 rotates upward as shown in FIG.
Also rotate upward. As a result, the bent portion 434a of the holding flapper 434 holds the second product A2 from the forefront on the upper plate 411.

Since the holding flapper 434 has a greater inclination angle than the inclination angle of the upper plate 411 as shown in FIG.
Even if it remains on 11, slide it forward.

Such a state continues for a predetermined time, and thereafter, the solenoid 46 is turned off. As a result, the rack fixing plate 451 returns to the original position by the elastic force of the return coil spring 463, and the stopper plates 422 and 423 of the first stopper member 42 and the stopper plates 432 of the second stopper member 43 move to the original positions. Rotate and return. As a result, the apparatus enters the standby state again.

In the merchandise unloading operation as described above, the output of the merchandise to the front is added not only by the inclination of the upper plate 411 of the merchandise shelf 41 but also by the pushing member 47, so that the merchandise can be reliably discharged.

The holding flapper 434 for holding the second product A2 from the forefront has a long distance between the support shaft 435, which is the center of rotation, and the bent portion 434a for holding the product A2. The difference between the longitudinal position of the bent portion 434a in the standby state shown in FIG. 2 and the longitudinal direction position of the bent portion 434a in the sales state shown in FIG. 3 is small. As a result, when the bent portion 434a moves downward from above (when returning to the standby state), the force pressing the product in the reverse direction (from the front to the rear of the product shelf 41) becomes small, and the holding flapper 434 smoothly waits. The product returns to the position, and the holding flapper 434 is slightly engaged with the product, so that the product is not deformed. Further, since the length of the holding flapper 434 in the front-rear direction is large as described above, even if the stopper plate 432 is slightly rotated upward (when the product is carried out), the bent portion 434a can be largely protruded upward. It is possible to reliably hold the second product A2 from the front.

Further, in the commodity discharging operation, as shown in FIG. 5, the driven plate 453 is located at the front end of the commodity shelf 41 in the standby state. Here, when the solenoid 46 is turned on, the rack fixing plate 451 moves rearward as shown in FIG. 6, and the driven plate 453 moves rearward along with the rack fixing plate 451 through the lower guide portion 454b. This driven plate 4
During the movement of 51, the laterally bent portion 454c as shown in FIG.
, And the driven plate 453 moves in the lateral direction at the lateral bending portion 454c.

When the driven plate 453 moves in the horizontal direction, the forward moving force of the rack fixing plate 451 is suppressed (moving speed is reduced), and the connected coil spring 452 is extended by the suppressed amount. Due to this action, the moving speed of the rack 44 is also slowed, and thus the upward movement of the stopper plate 432 of the second stopper member 43 and thus the holding flapper 434 is temporarily slowed.

As described above, the upward rotation of the holding flapper 434 is temporarily slowed, so that the foremost product A1 placed on the holding flapper 434 is not strongly jumped up.

When all the commodities in the merchandise shelf 41 have been sold by carrying out such merchandise, the push member 47 moving to the front side of the merchandise shelf 41 is returned to the rear side. At the time of this returning operation, as shown in FIG. 11, the tip bending piece 482a of the lock mechanism 48 hits the inclined side 476c of the pushing member 47.
The tip bent piece 482a moves along the inclined side 476c,
Further, the tip bent side 482a moves to the front side of each of the plates 476a and 476b, and the pressing member 47 is automatically locked.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show a second embodiment of the product carrying-out structure according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a wire 413 is arranged on the upper surface of the upper plate 411 of the product shelf 41. That is, this wire 413 is extended on the upper plate 411 of the product shelf 41 in the front-rear direction.
Its front end is locked to an upper plate 411 near the front side of the product shelf 41. On the other hand, the rear end of the wire 413 penetrates the back plate 412 and is locked to the shelf fixing bracket 415 via a coil spring 414 for applying tension.

According to this embodiment, since the product is placed on the wire 413, the contact area of the product is reduced, and the forward sliding force of the product is further improved.

Therefore, even if the inclination of the product shelf 41 is slight, the product can be smoothly slid forward. Further, by reducing the inclination of the product shelves 41, the installation height dimension of the product shelves 41 can be reduced, so that the number of the product shelves 41 to be installed can be further increased. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and thus will not be described.

In each of the above embodiments, the rack fixing plate 4
Although the long hole 451b formed in 51 is formed obliquely to the front-back direction, it may be formed perpendicular to the front-back direction (not shown).

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Decrease the moving speed while moving the rack back and forth,
Since the protruding and retracting speeds of the first and second stopper members are temporarily reduced, the protruding speed of the second stopper member to the upper surface of the product shelf is temporarily reduced, and the tip of the second stopper member collides with the foremost product. Do not bounce this product when you do. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the product from being damaged.

Further, by installing the pushing members and the wires, it is possible to carry out various products without increasing the inclination angle of the product shelf.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending machine.

FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a standby state of the product unloading device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing a product unloading state of the product unloading device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of the product unloading device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan cross-sectional view illustrating a standby state of the speed reduction mechanism according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a product unloading state of the speed reduction mechanism according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state in which the driven plate according to the first embodiment is moved in the lateral direction.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view showing the pressing member according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional plan view showing the pressing member according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view showing the holding state of the pressing member as viewed from the back of the product shelf according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a locking method of the pressing member according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a side sectional view showing a main part according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a main part according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vending machine, 4 ... Commodity unloading device, 41 ... Commodity shelf, 4
2 ... first stopper member, 424, 433 ... pinion, 4
3 ... second stopper member, 44 ... rack, 45 ... reduction mechanism, 451 ... rack fixing plate, 452 ... connecting coil spring,
453: driven plate, 46: solenoid, 47: pushing member,
48: Lock mechanism. A1: The frontmost product, A2: The second product from the front.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A product rack for mounting a plurality of products in the front-rear direction and moving the products toward the front, and a first rotatable first product for holding a foremost product on a tip end side of the product shelf.
A vending machine comprising a stopper member and a second stopper member for holding a second product from the foremost part, wherein each stopper member is alternately protruded and retracted on the upper surface of the product shelf, and sequentially takes out products from the foremost part. In the product carrying-out structure, a pinion provided on each of the stopper members, a rack extending in the front-rear direction for screwing the pinion and rotating the pinion, and a drive source for reciprocating the rack in the front-rear direction. A merchandise unloading structure for a vending machine, comprising: a speed reduction mechanism for reducing a moving speed of the rack in the middle of moving in the front-rear direction. 2. The rack mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the speed reduction mechanism is connected to the drive source via a spring means, and has a rack fixing plate having an elongated hole extending in a lateral direction, and loosely fits into the elongated hole of the rack fixing plate. And a guide path for slidably guiding the rack fixing plate and the driven plate in the front-rear direction, wherein the guide path obliquely moves the driven plate between the front and rear thereof. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a lateral bending portion for guiding.
Product delivery structure of the vending machine described. 3. The product shelf according to claim 1, wherein said product shelf is disposed with a front lower inclination, and a slidable pushing member for pushing a rearmost product forward is provided on said product shelf. Item 2. Structure for carrying goods out of a vending machine according to item 2. 4. The structure according to claim 3, further comprising a lock mechanism for engaging and disengaging the pushing member. 5. A product carrying structure for a vending machine according to claim 3, wherein a space for attaching a label such as a sold-out display is formed on an upper surface of said pushing member. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a product mounting wire extending in a front-rear direction on an upper surface of the product shelf.
A product carrying-out structure for a vending machine according to claim 5.