JP2001029208A - Circulation beverage and meal carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a Sushi plate, etc., to be smoothly carried and circulated without increasing the attraction of a magnet by setting a pair of slide members with low friction coefficient across the whole circumference of the carrier passage, which slide members can be supported on both side parts on the inside bottom face of the carrier passage so that a required gap is formed between the magnetic material and a magnet. SOLUTION: When a Sushi plate 3 with Sushi 4 thereon is inserted into a guide groove 10 and the bottom rim part 3a is set on both slide members 11 in a state the drive chain 15 of a magnet type conveying mechanism 12 is circulated, a metal piece 20 on the lower face is attracted to a permanent magnet 17 running with the chain 15 to convey the Sushi plate 3 in a state the bottom of the bottom rim part 3a is sliding on both slide members 11. Because both side parts of the bottom rim part of the Sushi plate 3 slide on the slide member 11 with a low friction coefficient, the slide resistance is small and the Sushi plate 3 can be smoothly conveyed. Thus it is not necessary to enhance the attraction of the Sushi plate 3 by increasing the attraction of the permanent magnet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a circulating food / beverage conveying apparatus for circulating sushi or the like along an endless conveying path along a food / drink counter and providing the sushi or the like to customers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a circulating food / drink conveying device of a sushi restaurant commonly called a conveyor belt sushi, as shown in FIG.
In general, a crescent chain conveyor c is used in which a large number of stats a having a substantially half-moon shape in a plan view are rotatably attached to a chain b running endlessly.

[0003]

The conventional crescent chain conveyor c described above is inevitably provided with a bent portion in order to form and circulate an endless conveyance path. A required gap is provided between the adjacent stats a so that the stats a can run smoothly, and the stats a are connected to the chain b so as to be relatively rotatable relative to each other.

[0004] For this reason, rice grains and other foreign matter easily enter the gaps and tend to stick, which makes the work of removing them troublesome and not hygienic.

In order to solve this problem, the present applicant has
A circulation-type transfer device capable of cleaning the transfer path very easily has been devised, and a patent application has been filed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-46959).

In this method, a food container placed on an immovable slide plate is circulated just below the slide plate by the attraction force of a circulating magnet, but the following problems remain. .

That is, since the entire bottom surface of the food and drink container moves while contacting the upper surface of the slide plate, the sliding resistance is large, and therefore, it is necessary to increase the attraction force of the magnet. As a result, an extra force is required when the customer takes out the container, and the sushi or the like may be dropped by the reaction taken out.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has been improved by improving a transfer device using a magnet of the prior application.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a circulating food and beverage transport device that reduces the sliding resistance of a food and beverage container, thereby minimizing the attraction force of a magnet and making it easy to take out the container.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a circulating food and beverage transport apparatus comprising: a food container placed on an endless transport path; In a circulating food and beverage transport apparatus adapted to carry out circulating transport by suction by a magnet which circulates and runs below the transport path, in the circulating food and beverage transport apparatus, the transport path is formed with a bottomed trough in which the lower half of the food container can be loosely fitted. And a pair of small friction coefficients capable of receiving the bottom surface of the food and drink container on both sides on the inner bottom surface such that a required gap is formed between the magnetic material and the magnet. Is provided over the entire circumference of the transport path. According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the food and beverage container is transported by sliding the bottom surface of the pair of sliding members having a small coefficient of friction provided on the inner bottom surface of the transport path. Therefore, when the present invention is applied to, for example, conveying a sushi dish, the sushi dish can be smoothly circulated and conveyed without increasing the attraction force of the magnet.

[0010] In the transfer device, the upper surface of the sliding member preferably has an arc-shaped cross-sectional shape. By doing so, the contact area with the food and drink container is reduced, so that the frictional resistance is reduced and the food and drink container is transported more smoothly.

[0011] In the transfer device, the sliding member is preferably made of any one of a fluorine resin, an acetal resin, a polyamide resin, and a polyethylene resin. In this case, all of the above-mentioned materials have a small coefficient of friction, are hard and have excellent wear resistance, so that the wear of the sliding member can be suppressed and the life thereof can be greatly extended.

[0012] In the transport device, it is preferable that at least a portion of the bottom surface of the food and beverage container that is in sliding contact with the sliding member is formed of a material having a small friction coefficient. With this configuration, the sliding resistance of the food and beverage container is further reduced, so that the food and beverage container can be transported more smoothly even if the attraction force of the magnet is small.

[0013] In the above-mentioned transport apparatus, it is preferable that the width of the transport path is set to a size that does not cause the food and beverage containers to be largely displaced laterally. This prevents the food and beverage container from falling off the sliding member.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view showing an example in which the present invention is applied to the transfer of sushi, and the circulation type food and drink conveying apparatus of the present invention is provided on the upper surface of a food counter 1 along the same. (Hereinafter, abbreviated as a transport device) 2 is provided endlessly.

Numeral 3 denotes a food or drink container made of synthetic resin or Seto which is placed and transported on the transport device 2, that is, a sushi plate, on which a sushi 4 or the like as a food or drink is placed.

The transporting device 2 is constructed as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and has a transporting device on the upper surface of a base 5 erected adjacent to the inner end (the right end in FIG. 2) of the food and drink counter 1. Two support brackets 6 are fixed. On the support bracket 6, a right end portion of a rectangular tubular guide duct 7 whose vertical cross section is a horizontally long rectangle is attached endlessly along the food and drink counter 1.

A guide member 9 also serving as a cover such as a decorative panel made of stainless steel is fixedly attached to both sides and an upper surface of the guide duct 7, and a lower half of the sushi plate 3 can be loosely fitted at the center of the upper surface. A simple guide groove 10 is formed over the entire circumference. The guide groove 10 and the upper surface of the guide duct 7 form a bottom gutter-shaped conveyance path for the sushi plate 3.

On the upper surface of the guide duct 7, an upper surface made of a hard synthetic resin material having a small coefficient of friction, for example, a fluororesin (trade name: Teflon), an acetal resin, a polyamide resin (nylon), a polyethylene resin or the like is provided. A pair of left and right sliding members 11 having an arc-shaped cross section are fixed over the entire circumference.

The sushi plate 3 is provided on the upper end surface of the sliding member 11.
The flat bottom surface of the thread bottom portion 3a forming an annular shape on the outer peripheral portion of the bottom surface is in sliding contact. During this sliding contact,
The reverse-tapered back surface 3b of the sushi plate 3 is located close to the upper inner edge of the upward guide portions 9a, 9a protruding from the guide groove 10 of the guide member 9, and the sushi plate 3 is guided. Groove 10
The thread bottom 3a is largely moved in the left-right direction so that the thread bottom 3a is prevented from dropping off the support member 11.

In the guide duct 7, a magnet type transport mechanism 12 for the sushi plate 3 is provided. This transport mechanism 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes an endless chain rail 14 bolted on a support substrate 13 fixed to the upper surface in the guide duct 7, and an endless drive guided by the chain rail 14 to circulate inside the food counter 1. It comprises a chain 15 and a permanent magnet 17 mounted on the upper surface of a bracket 16 fixed to the upper end of the drive chain 15 at regular intervals such that the upper end surface is close to the back surface of the guide duct 7.

Another permanent magnet 19 is attached to the lower surface of another downward bracket 18 fixed to the bracket 16 downward.

The upper permanent magnet 17 is close to a magnetic material fixed to the center of the bottom surface of the sushi plate 3 loosely fitted in the guide groove 10 of the guide member 9, that is, a metal piece 20, and the permanent magnet 17 is driven. By moving together with the chain 15, the sushi plate 3 is attracted by the magnetic force of the permanent magnet 17, and is circulated and conveyed.

The cupper 2 is operated by the lower permanent magnet 19.
1 and the like are circulated and transported in an inverted state by adsorbing a metal piece (not shown) fixed to the bottom surface thereof. The cup container 21 being conveyed can be removed from the permanent magnet 19 by the customer and taken out onto the food counter 1.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a water heater provided on the upper surface of the food counter 1.

In the conveying apparatus 2 of the above-described embodiment, the sushi plate 3 on which the sushi 4 is placed is placed in the guide groove 1 while the drive chain 15 of the magnet type conveying mechanism 12 is circulated.
When the thread bottom 3a is placed on the sliding members 11, the metal piece 20 on the lower surface of the thread bottom 3a is attracted by the permanent magnet 17 traveling with the chain 15 so that the sushi plate 3
Is conveyed in a state where the bottom surface of the thread bottom 3a is in sliding contact with both sliding members 11.

The customer can grab the favorite sushi plate 3 being transported and take it out.

At the time of transport, the thread bottom 3 of the sushi plate 3
Since the left and right side portions of a are slid in contact with the sliding member 11 having a small coefficient of friction, the sliding resistance is small, and the sushi plate 3 is transported smoothly. Therefore, by increasing the attraction force of the permanent magnet 17 or reducing the gap between the metal piece 20 and the like,
There is no need to increase the suction force of the sushi plate 3, and the force required when the customer takes out the sushi plate 3 is small. .

In the above embodiment, since the cup container 21 is also attracted to the permanent magnet 19 below and transported in an inverted state, there is no possibility that foreign matter such as dust enters the container 21. Extremely hygienic. Container 2
1 can be saved from being brought to the front of the eating and drinking counter 1 of the customer.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

Although not shown, the thread bottom 3a of the sushi plate 3
May be formed of a material having a small friction coefficient as described above. In such a case, the frictional resistance with the sliding member 11 becomes smaller and the sushi plate 3 is transported more smoothly. The attraction force of the magnet 17 can be further reduced.

In the above embodiment, the permanent magnets 17 and 19 are used in order to simplify the configuration by omitting a complicated power supply device and the like, but it is needless to say that these may be electromagnets.

In the above embodiment, the guide member 9 has the guide groove 10
Are formed, and the guide groove 10 and the upper surface of the guide duct 7 form a bottomed trough-shaped transport path.
The guide member 9 may be provided only, or the guide member 9 may be omitted and provided in the guide duct 7.

[0034]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(A) According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the food and beverage container is conveyed while sliding on a sliding member having a small coefficient of friction, the sliding resistance is small. When transporting, the sushi plate can be smoothly circulated and transported without increasing the attraction force of the magnet. Further, since the sushi plate is not taken out with excessive force, the sushi or the like does not drop from the sushi plate or the like due to the taken-back.

(B) According to the second aspect of the present invention, the contact area with the food and drink container is reduced, and the frictional resistance is reduced, so that the food and drink container can be transported more smoothly.

(C) According to the third aspect of the present invention, any of the materials has a low coefficient of friction, is hard and has excellent wear resistance, so that the wear of the sliding member is suppressed and the life of the sliding member is reduced. Can be greatly extended.

(D) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the sliding resistance of the food and beverage container is further reduced, so that the food and beverage container can be transported more smoothly even if the attraction force of the magnet is small.

(E) According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the food and beverage container is prevented from falling off the sliding member.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view showing an example in which the present invention is applied to transporting sushi.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional front view of a main part taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a conventional crescent conveyor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Food-and-drink counter 2 Conveying device 3 Sushi dish (food and beverage container) 3a Thread bottom 3b Back surface 4 Sushi 5 Base 6 Support bracket 7 Guide duct 9 Guide member 9a Upward guide part 10 Guide groove (conveyance path) 11 Sliding member 12 Conveyance Mechanism 13 Support base 14 Chain rail 15 Drive chain 16, 18 Bracket 17, 19 Permanent magnet 20 Metal piece (magnetic material) 21 Teacup container 22 Water heater

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kunio Morishita 5-10-48 Masuizumi, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture Inside of Ishino Works Co., Ltd. (72) Takashi Nakano 5-10-48 Masuizumi Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture Shares Company Ishino Works F term (reference) 3B115 AA22 CB07 DA09 DA22

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A circulation type wherein a food and drink container placed on an endless conveyance path is circulated and conveyed by attracting a magnetic material on a lower surface thereof by a magnet circulating below the conveyance path. In the food and beverage transport device, the transport path is formed in a bottomed trough shape into which the lower half of the food container can be loosely fitted, and on both sides on the inner bottom surface, the bottom of the food and beverage container, A pair of sliding members having a small friction coefficient that can be supported so as to form a required gap between the magnetic material and the magnet are provided along the entire circumference of the transport path; Object transport device. 2. The circulating food / drink conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an upper surface of the sliding member has an arc-shaped cross section. 3. The circulating food / drink conveying device according to claim 2, wherein the sliding member is any one of a fluororesin, an acetal resin, a polyamide resin, and a polyethylene resin. 4. The circulating food / drink conveying device according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the bottom surface of the food / drink container that is in sliding contact with the sliding member is formed of a material having a small friction coefficient. 5. The circulating food / drink conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the width of the conveying path is set to a size such that the food / drink container is not largely displaced laterally.