JP2001006041A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly discharge a commodity by adopting a spring for the pusher driving source of a commodity storage rack case and controlling a system so that driving force is given to a pusher only at the time of a sales operation without pressurizing a commodity (commodity in paper pack) at the time of waiting for sales and to smoothly discharge the commodity. SOLUTION: The commodity discharge means of a rack case 6 is provided with a spiral spring (driving spring) 9 which is connected to the pusher 6a and energizes the pusher in an advance direction at every rack case, a damper 11 which is connected to the winding drum 10 of the spring and restricts the moving speed of the pusher to be low and a ratchet-type stopper mechanism 12 installed in the winding drum 10. The elevating stand 5a of an elevator mechanism 5 is provided with an actuator 14 which releases the trigger pawl piece 13 of the stopper mechanism 12. The locking of the winding drum is released in an access position to the selected rack case, the pusher is advanced at low speed with spring force and a commodity 7 arranged in the forefront is discharged to the elevator mechanism 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a combination of an elevator mechanism and a product storage unit storing products such as paper-packed products, and delivering the products paid out from a rack case of the selected product storage unit to the elevator mechanism. The present invention relates to a vending machine which is carried out to an outlet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a vending machine described above, a plurality of sets of rack cases for storing products arranged in a row in front and rear are provided in a cabinet of a main body case having a door with a product outlet on the front side in a vertical row and a horizontal row. Equipped with an arrayed product storage section and an elevator mechanism arranged in front of the product storage section, accessing a lift case of the elevator mechanism to a rack case selected based on a sales order, and dispensing products from the rack case by a pusher operation. A vending machine is known which transfers the product to an elevator platform of an elevator mechanism and sends the product to a product outlet.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show a schematic structure of a vending machine of this type. In the drawing, 1 is a main body case of a vending machine, 2 is a front door arranged on a front surface thereof and fitted with a see-through panel (transparent glass plate), 3 is a product outlet provided at a lower portion of the front door 2, The interior of the main body case 1 is equipped with a product storage unit 4 constructed by arranging rack cases in upper and lower rows and left and right rows, and an elevator mechanism 5 disposed in front of the product storage unit 4.

[0004] Here, the product storage section 4 is a trough type (gutter type).
In this configuration, a plurality of pusher-type rack cases 6 are arranged vertically and horizontally, and each rack case 6 includes a pusher 6a and a gate mechanism 6b at an outlet end thereof. 7) are arranged in a line in front and rear, and stored between the pusher 6a and the gate mechanism 6b. When selling the product, the pusher 6a is moved forward to push out the aligned product 7 forward, and the gate mechanism 6b.
And pays out the products 7 one by one in order from the front row. The elevator mechanism 5 is provided with a pallet-shaped lifting / lowering table (product transportation shelf) 5a corresponding to the width of the front end of the product storage section 4, and a motor-driven chain mechanism along a lifting / lowering guide 5b disposed at the left and right ends thereof. Thus, the lifting and lowering control is performed toward the rack case position of each stage.
In FIG. 5B, reference numeral 8 denotes a condensing unit of a refrigerator for keeping the inside of the refrigerator cool.

[0005] With this configuration, at the time of standby for sales, the elevator 5a of the elevator mechanism 5 is lowered to the home position communicating with the product outlet 3, and is at the standby position. Then, the user accesses the front position of the selected rack case 6, where the commodity 7 paid out from the rack case 6 of the commodity storage section 4 is transferred to the elevator 5a, and then the elevator mechanism 5 is lowered to the home position. The lift 7 a is tilted to the forward tilt position, and the product 7 is discharged to the product outlet 3.

In addition, as a means for delivering goods from each rack case 6 of the goods storage section 4, an inexpensive spiral spring is used instead of a drive motor or the like as a drive source for a pusher 6a on the bottom side of each rack case 6. The forward force is applied to the pusher by using the spring force of the spiral spring, and the products stored in the rack case are arranged one by one from the front row in the rack case.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-
87672 and JP-A-9-62923.

In this product dispensing apparatus, a spiral spring drawn from a winding drum is connected to a pusher disposed behind a product stored in a trough-shaped rack case to apply a forward driving force to the pusher, and to provide a pusher with a rack case. A gate mechanism is provided at the front end (commodity payout end), and the stopper of the gate mechanism of the rack case selected at the time of sale is opened by an actuator operation, and the front-line commodities are paid out via a pusher. The resetting of the spiral spring (movement to the rear end position of the rack case) is performed manually.

[0008]

However, the conventional product dispensing apparatus employing the spiral spring as a drive source of the pusher as described above has the following problems.

That is, in the product sales standby state, the products stored in the front and rear rows in the rack case are sandwiched between the gate mechanism at the front end thereof and the pusher at the back, and are forwardly moved by the spring force of the spiral spring applied to the pusher. Pressed.
For this reason, the easily deformable product such as the product containing a paper pack may be crushed by the above-mentioned spring force and the container may be deformed. In particular, the products arranged in the front row are pressed against the stopper pieces of the gate mechanism, and the load is locally concentrated, so that the products are easily deformed. Further, since the driving speed of the pusher is not controlled, there is a high risk that the hand will be pinched during an operation operation of operating at a high speed and taking in and out of a product.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a first object of the present invention is to use a spring as a pusher drive source of a pusher-type rack case, and to apply unnecessary pressing force to a product at the time of standby for sale. Instead, the vending machine provides a vending machine that can carefully pay out the product from the rack case to the elevator mechanism waiting in front of it by skillfully controlling the pusher to apply forward driving force only when the product is sold. Another object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine in which a lift drive system of an elevator mechanism is constructed by skillfully utilizing a spring force of a drive spring.

[0011]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the first object, according to the present invention, goods are arranged in a line in front and rear in a cabinet of a main body case having a door with a goods outlet on the front surface. Equipped with a product storage section in which a plurality of sets of rack cases are arranged vertically and horizontally, and an elevator mechanism disposed in front of the product storage section, and a lift case of the elevator mechanism is mounted on the rack case selected based on the sales order. In a vending machine which accesses and transfers goods delivered by a pusher operation from the rack case to an elevator platform of an elevator mechanism and sends it out to a product outlet, a product delivery mechanism of the rack case includes a product inside the rack case. A pusher for pushing and feeding the product line stored in the back from behind, a drive spring for urging the pusher in the forward direction, and a damper for restricting the moving speed of the pusher to a low speed, Stopper means for restraining and holding the pusher at that position during standby for sale, and trigger means for mounting on the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism and releasing the stopper means at the access position to the selected rack case, based on the sales command At the position where the elevator case of the elevator mechanism is accessed to the selected rack case, the restraint of the pusher is released by the trigger means, and the pusher is moved forward by the spring force of the drive spring to move the products arranged in the front row of the rack case to the elevator mechanism. It is configured to pay out to the elevator (claim 1), and the product payout mechanism can be specifically configured in the following manner.

(1) A spiral spring in which a drive spring of a commodity delivery mechanism is wound around a take-up drum and a pull-out end thereof is connected to a pusher, a rotary damper in which a damper is connected to the take-up drum, and a stopper means are taken up. There is no ratchet type stopper mechanism connected to the drum, and the stopper mechanism is released by operating a trigger actuator mounted on the elevator of the elevator mechanism.

(2) In the above item (1), a one-way clutch for disconnecting the rotary damper when the pusher is reset is interposed between the spring take-up drum and the rotary damper, and the pusher is set to the reset position when refilling the product. A manual operation for retreating can be easily performed (claim 3).

(3) A rotary mechanism in which the drive spring of the product delivery mechanism is a tension coil spring, the damper is mounted on a pusher, and the rotor shaft is connected to a pinion that meshes with a rack laid on the side along the movement path of the pusher. There is no ratchet type stopper mechanism in which the damper and the stopper means are linked to a timing belt stretched between the coil spring and the pusher, and the stopper mechanism is released by operating a trigger actuator mounted on an elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. (Claim 4).

[0015] In the above configuration, at the time of standby for sales, the position of the pusher is stopped and held by the stopper mechanism, so that the spring force of the drive spring (spiral spring, tension coil spring) is not directly applied to the product, so that Thus, even when a product containing a paper pack that is easily deformed is stored, a problem that the paper pack container is crushed by a spring force can be prevented.

On the other hand, during the selling operation, the ratchet type stopper mechanism is operated by operating a trigger actuator (for example, a pusher driven by an electromagnetic solenoid) at a position where the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism is accessed to the designated rack case selected by the selling command. When the release operation is performed, the drive spring is activated, whereby the pusher moves forward by the bias of the drive spring and pushes the product forward from behind. In addition, the movement speed of the damper at this time can be suppressed to a low speed (for example, about several tens of mm per second) by the damping action of the damper. As a result, the products lined up in the rack case move forward at a slow speed without any trouble such as falling down, and the products in the front row are carried out of the rack case and the elevator When the product is transferred to the lifting platform and the product detection sensor provided on the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism detects this product loading, the trigger actuator is returned based on this signal, and the stopper mechanism stops the pusher at that position. I do. Then, when the product is transferred to the elevator, the elevator mechanism is lowered, and the elevator mounted on the elevator is controlled to the forward inclined posture at the home position at the end of the elevator mechanism, and the product mounted on the elevator is moved to the product outlet. discharge.

In order to achieve the second object,
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the goods storage part which arrange | positioned the several sets of rack cases which arrange | position and arrange goods in a line in front and back in the cabinet of the main body case which arrange | positioned the door with a goods outlet in the front surface in the upper-lower row, the right and left row, and Equipped with an elevator mechanism arranged in front of the product storage unit, access the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism to the rack case selected based on the sales order, and transfer the products paid out from the rack case to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. In a vending machine configured to send the product to a product outlet, as a drive control means of the elevator mechanism, a drive spring that connects one end to the lift table and urges the lift table, and regulates the lift speed of the lift table to a low speed. And a stopper means for stopping the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism at the access position of the rack case selected during the upward movement thereof, and The spring force is set to F, the mass of the lifting platform is set to M1, and the mass of one product is set to M2 so that M1 <F <M1 + M2. The product is lifted from the home position and stopped by the stopper means at the access position of the selected rack case. At this position, the product discharged from the rack case is placed, and then lowered by its own weight to the product outlet to carry out the product. Item 5).

According to this configuration, the lift table of the elevator mechanism is lifted from the lowest home position to the selected rack case in accordance with the selling operation, and is discharged from the rack case by using the spiral spring or the like as a drive spring. The product can be put down and sent out to the product exit with the product placed. That is, during standby for sales, the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism is restrained and held at the lowest home position by the stopper, and in this state, the spring force of the drive spring (the force for lifting the elevator platform) is accumulated. Here, when the stopper that restrains and holds the elevator is released based on the sales command, the elevator (empty state) is pulled up from the home position by the spring force of the drive spring, and the speed is regulated by the damper. Start ascending movement while receiving. When the elevator reaches the height position of the selected rack case, the elevator hits a stopper on the rack side at the access position and stops at this position. Here, as described above, when the product dispensed from the rack case is transferred to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism, the weight of the product is added to the elevator platform and exceeds the spring force of the drive spring. As a result, the elevator moves down to the lowest home position by its own weight. At this home position, the elevator is tilted forward and the product is released to the product outlet, and the stopper installed at the home position is pushed out to the operating position to lock and hold the elevator at this position. To return to the original standby state.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In the drawings of the respective embodiments, the same members corresponding to those in FIG. 5 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
1 shows an embodiment corresponding to FIG. In this embodiment, a pusher 6a disposed inside the trough-shaped rack case 6 is guided and supported so as to be movable back and forth along a guide rod 6c laid on the side of the case. A drive section 8 of the pusher 6a is provided on the side.

Here, the pusher driving section 8 includes a spiral spring 9 as a driving spring and a winding drum 10 of the spiral spring 9.
And a rotary damper 11 connected to the shaft of the winding drum 10, and a ratchet type stopper mechanism 12 for locking / releasing the rotation of the winding drum 10. The tip is connected to the pusher 6a. Further, the ratchet type stopper mechanism 12 includes a ratchet tooth 10a formed on the periphery of the bobbin frame of the winding drum 10, and an oscillating trigger claw piece 13 serving as a detent stopper which meshes with the ratchet tooth 10a.
And an urging spring 13a that presses the claw of the claw piece 13 toward the ratchet teeth 10a. An urging spring 5a of the elevator mechanism is opposed to the trigger claw piece 13 to actuate a trigger actuator (driven by an electromagnetic solenoid). Pusher 14 is installed. Reference numeral 15 denotes an opening / closing gate provided at the outlet of the rack case 6 in addition to the pusher driving unit 8.
Although the drive mechanism is not shown, the actuator 14
The gate 15 is opened upward in connection with the projecting operation.

With this configuration, the pusher 6 is manually operated.
When "a" is moved to the rear end side of the rack case 6 along the guide rod 6c, the spiral spring 9 is paid out from the winding drum 10 accordingly. In this case, the winding drum 10 can rotate without being restricted by the stopper mechanism 12. Then, when the hand is released at the reset position of the pusher 6a, the ratchet teeth 10a of the winding drum 10 mesh with the trigger claws 13 of the stopper mechanism 12, and the winding drum 10 stops at this position and is stopped. In this state, in the rack case 6, products (for example, products containing paper packs) 7 are stored in the front and rear rows between the gate 15 at the exit end and the pusher 6a at the rear end.

Incidentally, the above-mentioned pusher driving section 8 is provided in FIG.
Is provided for each rack case 6 of the product storage section 4 shown in FIG.

Next, the selling operation of a product will be described. First, in the standby state for sale, the take-up drum 10 of the spiral spring 9 is locked by engaging the trigger claw 13 with the ratchet teeth 10a of the stopper mechanism 12 as described above, so that the pusher 6a stops behind the product 7. Thus, no pressing force is applied to the product 7. From this state, when the elevator 5a of the elevator mechanism 5 moves upward from the home position and accesses the front of the selected rack case 6 based on the sales command, the trigger actuator 14 mounted on the elevator 5a is driven. The operation end of the trigger claw piece 13 of the stopper mechanism 12 is pushed from the front, and its tip claw is retracted from the ratchet teeth 10 a of the winding drum 10. As a result, the winding drum 10 is released and can be rotated. As described above, the gate 15 closing the outlet of the rack case 6 is opened in connection with the protrusion operation of the actuator 14.

In this state, the spiral spring 9 starts winding, and the pusher 6a is moved forward by the spring force to push out the product 7 from behind, and the pusher 6a moves at that time. The speed is several tens of mm per second due to the braking action of the rotary damper 11 connected to the winding drum 10.
It can be suppressed to a low speed. Then, when the products 7 arranged in the front row of the rack case 6 are pushed out of the rack case 6 and transferred onto the elevator 5a of the elevator mechanism waiting in front of the rack 7, the product detection provided on the elevator is detected. A sensor (for example, a photoelectric sensor) 16 detects the transfer of the product 7, and based on this, the actuator 14 is moved backward. As a result, the trigger claw piece 13 of the ratchet type stopper mechanism 12 is returned by the spring force of the urging spring 13a, and the ratchet teeth 1
The rotation of the winding drum 10 is stopped by meshing with 0a. As a result, the forward movement of the pusher 6a also stops and stops at this position. Note that the gate 14 also returns to the closed position by the retreating operation of the actuator 14, and closes the outlet of the rack case 6.

On the other hand, when the product 7 is transferred to the elevator 5a of the elevator mechanism 5, the elevator mechanism 5 starts and moves down the elevator 5a as described with reference to FIG. Product 7 by tilting the elevator 5a to the forward tilt position
Is released to the product outlet 3 (see FIG. 6), thereby completing one sales operation and returning to the sales standby state.

In the illustrated embodiment, the tip of the spiral spring 9 fed from the winding drum 10 is directly connected to the pusher 6a. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Between the wire and the pusher 6a,
The connection can also be made by interposing a belt or the like. The gate 15 provided at the exit end of the rack case 6 can be omitted in principle from the viewpoint of the operation of dispensing the product, but the product 7 arranged in the front row due to vibration applied to the vending machine or the like.
Should be provided in order to prevent the rack from dropping forward from the rack case 6.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 2 shows an application example of the embodiment 1 according to the third aspect of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the pusher driving unit 8 shown in FIG. 1 in the following point. That is, the pusher 6 is provided between the winding drum 10 of the spiral spring 9 and the rotary damper 11.
A one-way clutch 17 that operates so as to disconnect power transmission to the rotary damper at the time of the resetting operation a is interposed. Further, ratchet teeth 10a are formed on the left and right bobbin frames of the winding drum 10, and a trigger claw piece 13 of a stopper mechanism is formed wide so as to straddle and mesh with both ratchet teeth 10a. I have.

With the above configuration, the pusher 6 is manually operated.
When retracting a to the reset position, the take-up drum 10 does not receive the braking action of the rotary damper 11, so that the pusher 6a can be easily retracted to the reset position without requiring a large force.

When the pusher 6a is manually moved forward when the pusher 6a is moved backward more than a predetermined position when resetting the pusher 6a, the spiral spring 9 is slackened, and the slack portion is generated by the trigger claw. The lock of the winding drum 10 is temporarily released by pushing the piece 13 in the backward direction. As a result, the winding drum 10 rotates so as to wind up the slack of the spiral spring 9, and when the slack has disappeared, the trigger claw 13 again engages with the rack teeth 10a to stop the winding drum 10 from returning. . Therefore, the pusher 6 has the product 7
Can be manually adjusted to an appropriate position in accordance with the storage state of.

[Embodiment 3] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a spring-driven elevator mechanism according to claim 5 of the present invention. In this embodiment, as the lifting drive source of the elevator mechanism 5, the spiral springs 9, 9 described in the previous embodiment are used.
A combination of a winding drum 10 and a rotary damper 11 is employed.

That is, in FIG.
The lifting platform 5a is suspended and supported by being coupled to the tip of a spiral spring 9 that is drawn out from a winding drum 10 disposed above the lifting movement path. On the other hand, on the product storage unit 4 side,
Actuators (electromagnetic solenoids) 18 for locking and holding the elevator 5a at each position correspond to the height position of the rack cases 6 arranged in each step and the lowest home position position (not shown). The stopper piece 18a protrudes into the movement path of the lift 5a by the operation of the actuator 18. Further, a position detection sensor (photo interrupter) 19 of the lift platform 5a is disposed on the side of the lift platform 5a along the moving path thereof and at a position corresponding to the home position along the movement path. The ascending / descending position of the elevating table 5a is detected from a passing signal of the detecting piece 19a attached to the end of 5a.

Here, the spring force (winding force) of the spiral spring 9 is set as follows. That is, the spiral spring 9
The spring force of F is F, the mass of the lift 5a is M1, the rack case 6
M2 is the mass of one sales product 7 stored in
Set so that 1 <F <M1 + M2. FIG. 4 is a spring characteristic diagram of the spiral spring showing this relationship.

In this configuration, during standby for sales, the elevator 5a of the elevator mechanism 5 is locked and held by a stopper (not shown) of an actuator arranged at the lowest home position. The spring force (pulling force) of the spiral spring 9 that has been extended is stored. When the stopper at the home position is released from this state based on the sales command, the lift 5a (the spring load corresponds to M1 in FIG. 4 in an empty state) causes the take-up spring force F ( F> M1), and starts ascending at a low speed while receiving the braking action of the rotary damper 11. When the platform 5a approaches the selected height position of the rack case 6 during the upward movement, the position detection sensor 19 performs a detection operation, and the actuator 18 operates by the signal to move the stopper piece 18a to move the platform 5a. Stick out towards the path. As a result, the lift 5a comes into contact with the stopper piece 18a and stops at the specified access position.

Subsequently, as described in the first embodiment, the commodity 7 is paid out from the rack case 6 and the commodity 7 is
When the product is transferred onto the elevator, the weight of the product 7 is added to the lifting platform 5a, and the load of the spiral spring 9 increases to M1 + M2, and exceeds the winding force F of the spiral spring 9. As a result, the lift 5a moves down to the home position by its own weight against the spring force of the spiral spring 9. In this home position, the elevator is controlled to the forward tilted position to release the product 7 to the product outlet 3 (see FIG. 5), and the actuator stopper disposed at the home position is pushed out to the operating position. The elevating platform 5 is locked and held at this position, and returns to the initial sales standby state.

With this configuration, the commodity paid out from the rack case of the commodity storage unit is moved up and down in accordance with the selling operation by using the inexpensive spiral spring without using a high-cost drive motor and operating the lifting table. It can be transported to an outlet. The drive spring is not limited to a spiral spring. For example, a tension coil spring is used, and a rotary damper is a direct-acting damper (giving a braking force using sliding friction) as a damper. You can also.

[Embodiment 4] Next, as another embodiment of the spring-driven pusher driving mechanism, the structure and operation of an embodiment corresponding to claim 4 will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, a tension coil spring 20 is used as a drive spring of the pusher 6a, and the tip of the coil spring 20 is connected to the pusher 6a.
a toothed timing belt 21 is laid on the bottom side of the rack case 6 and stretched in a hairpin shape via a ratchet type stopper mechanism ratchet wheel 22 disposed at the tip of the rack case 6. I have. In addition, this claw wheel 22 is combined with the same trigger claw piece 13 as described in the first embodiment, and the operation end thereof is connected to the opening / closing gate 15 to protrude forward of the rack case 6 and is mounted on the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. The release operation is performed by a trigger actuator (see FIG. 1). Reference numeral 25 denotes a guide rail for a pusher laid on the bottom side of the rack case 6 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and also serves as a stage for arranging products to be stored in the rack case 6 in a line. A rotary damper 11 is mounted on the pusher 6a, and a pinion (gear) 23 connected to the rotor shaft is laid on the side wall of the rack case 6 along the moving path of the pusher 6a.
4 meshes with the tooth row.

In such a configuration, the tension coil spring 20 urges the pusher 6a in the forward direction via the timing belt 21 and the ratchet wheel 22, and the trigger pawl 13 meshing with the ratchet wheel 22 is moved to the aforementioned position. Actuator provided on elevator platform of elevator mechanism as in Example 1 (see FIG. 1)
, The pusher 6a moves forward along the rack case 6 and pushes out a product (not shown) stored in the rack case. In this case, the rotary damper 11 mounted on the pusher 6a has its rotor shaft meshed with the rack 24 via the pinion 23, and the forward movement speed of the pusher 6a is the same as in the first embodiment by the damping action of the damper. It can be reduced to a low speed of several tens of mm per second. On the other hand, in the sales standby state in which the trigger claw piece 13 locks the ratchet wheel 22, the tension spring force of the coil spring 20 is not applied to the pusher 6a, so that the pusher 6a stops and is restrained and held at this position. You. Thereby, the same product payout operation as in the first embodiment is performed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the rotary damper 11 is used as the damper. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a direct acting damper may be employed.

[0040]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, as a means for paying out goods from the rack case, a pusher for pushing a row of goods stored in the rack case from behind, and the pusher in the forward direction. A drive spring biasing the
A damper for restricting the moving speed of the pusher to a low speed, a stopper means for restraining and holding the pusher at that position during standby for sales, and a lift mechanism for an elevator mechanism, and releasing the stopper means at an access position to a selected rack case. And release the pusher restraint by the trigger means at the position where the elevator case of the elevator mechanism is selected based on the sales command and access the rack case, and move the pusher forward by the spring force of the drive spring. The following effects are achieved by arranging the products arranged in the front row in the rack case to be paid out to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism.

(1) At the time of sales standby, the pusher is stopped by the stopper means so that the drive spring does not work, and the pusher is stopped at that position. No spring force is applied to the product.

Further, even if the stopper comes off at the time of product replenishment, the problem of catching hands can be avoided because the speed is reduced by the damper.

(2) On the other hand, during the selling operation, the lifter of the elevator mechanism is operated to release the stopper mechanism at a position where the selected rack case is accessed, so that the pusher receiving the bias of the drive spring is driven forward to drive. The products are pushed forward from behind and the pusher moves at a low speed at this time, so the products stored in the rack case move slowly forward without any trouble such as overturning, and line up in the front row. Goods can be smoothly dispensed in order from the product and delivered to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism located at the front of the product.

Further, by adopting a spring in the drive system of the elevator mechanism and setting the spring force of the drive spring to the condition as described in claim 5, it is possible to replace the conventional electric motor with a low cost without power consumption. The elevator platform of the elevator mechanism can be moved up and down in accordance with the selling operation by using a simple spring, and the goods discharged from the rack case can be received and conveyed to the goods outlet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration perspective view of a spring-driven pusher driving unit corresponding to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main part configuration diagram of an application example of the pusher driving unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration perspective view of a spring-driven elevator mechanism corresponding to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing spring characteristics of the spiral spring in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a configuration perspective view of a spring-driven pusher driving unit corresponding to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration view of the entire vending machine to which the present invention is applied; (a) is a vertical side view, and (b) is a front external view with a front door opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body case 2 Front door 3 Merchandise outlet 4 Merchandise storage part 5 Elevator mechanism 5a Elevating platform 6 Rack case 6a Pusher 7 Merchandise 8 Pusher drive part 9 Spiral spring (drive spring) 10 Spring winding drum 10a Ratchet tooth 11 Rotary type Damper 12 Ratchet type stopper mechanism 13 Trigger claw piece 14 Trigger actuator 15 Opening / closing gate 17 One-way clutch 18 Actuator of stopper for lifting platform stop 18a Stopper 20 Coil spring (drive spring)

Claims (5)

[Claims] A product storage section in which a plurality of sets of rack cases for storing products arranged in a front and rear row are arranged in upper and lower rows and left and right rows in a cabinet of a main body case having a door with a product outlet on the front surface;
Equipped with an elevator mechanism arranged in front of the product storage unit, access the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism to the rack case selected based on the sales order, and transfer the goods dispensed from the rack case to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. In a vending machine configured to send the product to the product outlet, a pusher for pushing a row of products stored in the rack case from behind as a product delivery mechanism of the rack case, and biasing the pusher in a forward direction. Drive spring, a damper that regulates the movement speed of the pusher to a low speed, stopper means that restrains and holds the pusher at that position during standby for sales, and is mounted on the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism, at the access position to the selected rack case. A trigger means for releasing the stopper means, and a rack selected by an elevator platform of the elevator mechanism based on a sales order. The pusher is released by the trigger means at the position where the pusher is accessed, and the pusher is moved forward by the spring force of the drive spring to discharge the products arranged in the front row of the rack case to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. A vending machine characterized by the following. 2. A vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the drive spring of the commodity delivery mechanism is wound around the take-up drum, and a spiral spring having a draw-out end connected to the pusher, and a damper are connected to the take-up drum. A rotary damper, wherein the stopper means is a ratchet-type stopper mechanism connected to the winding drum, and the stopper mechanism is released by operating a trigger actuator mounted on an elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. Machine. 3. A vending machine according to claim 2, further comprising a one-way clutch interposed between the take-up drum of the spring and the rotary damper to disconnect the rotary damper when the pusher is reset. Vending machine. 4. A vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the driving spring of the commodity dispensing mechanism is a tension coil spring, the damper is mounted on a pusher, and the rotor shaft is laid on the side along the moving path of the pusher. A rotary damper connected to a pinion that meshes with the rack, and a ratchet type stopper mechanism in which stopper means is connected to a timing belt stretched between the coil spring and the pusher, and the stopper mechanism is mounted on an elevator platform of an elevator mechanism. A vending machine characterized in that it is released by operating a trigger actuator. 5. A merchandise storing section in which a plurality of sets of rack cases for storing merchandise arranged in a front and rear row are arranged in upper and lower rows and left and right rows in a cabinet of a main body case having a door with a merchandise outlet on a front surface.
Equipped with an elevator mechanism arranged in front of the product storage unit, access the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism to the rack case selected based on the sales order, and transfer the goods dispensed from the rack case to the elevator platform of the elevator mechanism. In a vending machine which sends the product to a product outlet, the drive control means of the elevator mechanism is connected to one end of the lift table to drive the lift, and the lift speed of the lift table is regulated to a low speed. And a stopper means for stopping the elevator of the elevator mechanism at the access position of the rack case selected during the upward movement, and the spring force of the drive spring is F, the mass of the elevator is M1, The mass of one product is set as M2 and M1 <F <M1 + M2. Based on the sales order, the lift of the empty load is moved to the lowest home position by the spring force of the drive spring. At the access position of the selected rack case, the stopper is stopped by the stopper means. At this position, the goods discharged from the rack case are placed, and then lowered by their own weight to the goods outlet to carry out the goods. And vending machine.