JP2002008121A - Article delivery device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article delivery device for an automatic vending machine smoothly and surely sliding articles on a sliding face by a simple constitution, facilitating the maintenance at a low cost. SOLUTION: This article delivery device is provided with a body 1 having the sliding face 2 mounting a plurality of articles in the inclined states, article support parts 3 and 4 installed on the both sides on the sliding face 2, and a delivery means 17 delivering the article 7 in the foremost row on the sliding face 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine merchandise delivery device, and more specifically, a plurality of vending machines for noodles, confectionery, stationery, daily necessities, etc. packaged in cup containers, box-shaped containers and the like. The present invention relates to a merchandise sending device for a vending machine for delivering one merchandise to one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, various miscellaneous goods have been sold by vending machines. That is, by inserting an appropriate amount of coins or bills and pressing a desired product corresponding button, desired products are delivered to a product outlet. As a matter of course, each vending machine has a built-in device for sending out one product to each destination.

[0003] However, the product delivery device employed in the conventional vending machine has a relatively complicated structure, is expensive, and is not easy to maintain. As a relatively simple configuration, there is a configuration in which the surface on which the product is placed is inclined and the product is slid to the downstream side by its own weight, but the friction is large because the entire lower surface of the product is in contact with the product placement surface. Therefore, smooth and reliable sliding operation cannot be expected.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has a simple structure, allows a product to smoothly and reliably slide on a sliding surface, is easy to maintain, and is relatively inexpensive. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine product delivery device which can be supplied by a vending machine.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a main body having a sliding surface on which a plurality of products are placed in an inclined state, a product support provided on both sides of the sliding surface, and a front row on the sliding surface. The above-mentioned problem has been solved by a merchandise delivery device for a vending machine characterized by having a merchandise feeding means.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a product delivery device according to the present invention. The product delivery device is usually installed in a plurality of rows and a plurality of stages in a case of a vending machine.
The product delivery device includes a main body 1 having a sliding surface 2 and left and right product supporters 3 and 4, and a drive unit provided with a drive motor 5 installed on a back surface or a bottom surface (a back surface in the illustrated example) of the main body 1. 6.

The product support 3 supports the side surface of the product 7, and may be a plate or a fence as shown. The height of the product support 3 corresponds to the height of the product 7, but is set so as to hit the upper half of the product 7. A stopper 8 is formed in the product support 3 by extending its front end in a right angle direction. The stopper 8 locks the side surface of the product 7 in a tilted state to prevent the product 7 from passing therethrough. When the product 7 is erected by an operation described later, the product 7 is in the locked state. Length that can be released from

The other product support portion 4 supports the bottom surface of the product 7 and has a height capable of locking the bottom surface of the product 7 when the product 7 is placed on the sliding surface 2 in a tilted state. And it is considerably lower than that of the product support 3.

[0009] On both side surfaces 9, 9 of the drive unit 6, there are formed engaging grooves 10 with which the horizontal rails 11 extending between the side walls of the case of the vending machine are engaged. The main body 1 is supported by engaging the horizontal rail 11 with the retaining groove 10.
The body 1 is lifted up from that state,
It can be removed from the crosspiece 11. Of course, the mounting method of the main body 1 is not limited to this, and various mounting methods are possible.

[0010] If the forming angle of the engaging groove 10 is provided in the direction of 90 ° with respect to the sliding surface 2, the sliding surface 2 will be kept horizontal, and if it is smaller than 90 °, The sliding surface 2 is inclined downward toward the front (the same applies to an embodiment described later). It is preferable that the commodity sending device according to the present invention be inclined forward and downward as shown in the figure in view of feeding the commodity forward.

The method of feeding out the product 7 in this embodiment is based on raising the product. An example of the mechanism for this will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. Reference numeral 13 denotes a seesaw bar, which performs a seesaw motion around a shaft 14 passed between the side walls of the main body 1. Reference numeral 15 denotes a drive rod attached to the rotating shaft of the drive motor 5, and the seesaw rod 1
3 Press the rear end.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a return spring, the upper end of which is the drive unit 6.
And the lower end is fixed to the rear end of the seesaw bar 13, so that the rear end of the seesaw bar 13 always acts to be pulled up. At the front end of the seesaw bar 13, there is provided a push-up member 17 which contacts the bottom surface of the product 7 when lifting and acts to push up the product 7.
Is formed.

In the above configuration, when a proper coin or bill is inserted, the drive motor 5 is operated, and the push-up member 17 located below the sliding surface 2 is raised from the opening 18 by the above operation. As a result, the product 7 that has been inclined is erected (FIG. 5), and as a result, the product 7 is released from the product locked state by the stopper 8, slides down the sliding surface 2 by its own weight, and enters the product outlet. Fall. In addition, in order to assist the sliding of the product 7, a weight may be arranged on the upstream side of the last product.

The push-up member 17 descends immediately after the above-mentioned ascending operation with the progress of the rotating operation of the drive rod 15, and sinks below the sliding surface 2. Thus, the next product 7 slides in the inclined state, hits the stopper 8 and stops, and enters the standby state.

As the mechanism for raising the bottom of the product 7, in addition to the above-described mechanism, a mechanism such as an impeller that protrudes from the sliding surface 2 intermittently and rotates can be employed.

Preferably, an out-of-stock checker 20 is attached to the sliding surface 2. The stockout checker 20 has, for example, an opening 18 whose upper part is always formed in the sliding surface 2.
A detection lever 21 arranged to protrude from
It operates according to the presence or absence of the sliding product 7.

That is, the detection lever 21 is made of a resilient material such as a leaf spring, and when the load is not applied, the detection lever 21 protrudes from the opening 18 onto the sliding surface 2 (see FIG. 2). If at least one product 7 remains on the surface 2, the product 7 slightly protrudes from the sliding surface 2 to hit the bottom surface of the product 7 (see FIG. 4). As is apparent from this configuration, the out-of-stock checker 20 turns off the corresponding product button on the front panel of the vending machine when the detection lever 21 pivots upward largely when there is no product on the sliding surface 2. Operate to inform the buyer that the product is out of stock.

More preferably, the counter 22 is installed close to the rotation axis of the drive motor 5. The counter 22 includes, for example, a counter lever 24 that is pressed each time it is rotated by a protrusion 23 installed on the rotating shaft of the drive motor 5. The counter 22 counts each time the protrusion 23 presses the counter lever 24. Be composed. The number of times counted is treated as the number of items sold, and is used for checking the sales of the items.

The commodity delivery apparatus according to the present invention is arranged in several rows and several stages in a vending machine, and the commodities supplied from each commodity delivery apparatus are dropped and supplied to a commodity take-out port arranged below the vending machine. You.

Next, a second embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 to 10 will be described. This embodiment is mainly for a product packaged in a square box, and has a product support member 3 for supporting a side surface of a product 7 and a product support member 4 for supporting a bottom surface, like the above-described embodiment. A product feeding mechanism is installed on the support member 3.

This product feeding mechanism comprises a rotating rod 31 which is driven to rotate by a drive motor and is supported by a shaft support plate 32 projecting from the product supporting member 3. The two types of locking rods 33 and 34 are attached at intervals corresponding to the thickness of. Locking bar 33 and locking bar 34
Are alternately arranged, and extend on both sides of the rotating rod 31, respectively. The projecting directions of the locking rods 33 and 34 are 90 °.
Stagger.

In the case of the second embodiment, each product 7
Are locked by the locking rods 33 (state in FIG. 7), but when the proper coins or bills are inserted and the driving unit 6 operates to rotate the rotary rod 31, the goods 7 are locked. The foremost product 7 is released from the state of being locked by the rod 33 and moves forward, slides down the sliding surface 2 by its own weight, and falls to the product outlet. At that time, the products 7 in the next and subsequent stages are also released from the locking rods 33 and move forward, but are temporarily locked by the short locking rods 34 that rotate 90 degrees behind the locking rods 33 and The product 7 is prevented from falling and the approach between the products 7 is prevented (the state of FIGS. 8 and 10).

When the rotating rod 31 is further rotated from this state, each product 7 is released from the locked state by the locking rod 34 and advances, but since the locking rod 33 is rotated again to the locked position, Each product 7 is again locked by the locking bar 33 and stands by (state of FIG. 9). The rotation of the rotating rod 31 may always be in the same direction, or may be, for example, forward or reverse rotation of 90 degrees.

In the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, the mechanism of the rotating rod 31 provided with the long locking rod 33 and the short locking rod 34 in the second embodiment slides. It is installed in an opening 36 provided in the length direction of the central part of the surface 2. Each of the locking rods 33 and 34 protrudes from the opening 36 onto the sliding surface 2 when facing upward. In this case, product 7
The rearmost product 7b is tilted backward and overlapped with the sliding direction, and the last product 7b is placed on the sliding surface 2 and supported by the receiving table 37. The cradle 37 also serves as a free-acting weight. Normally, the product support portions 3 and 4 have the same height, and both support the side surface of the product 7.

In this embodiment, as in the case of the second embodiment, each product 7 is locked by a locking bar 33 (the state shown in FIG. 12), and the locked state is released. Once locked by the locking bar 34 and the locked state by the locking bar 34 is released, the product moves forward by one pitch, and the foremost product 7 falls toward the product outlet (the state of FIG. 13). .

The fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 14 to 16 has a product support 3 for supporting the side surface of the product 7 and a product support 4 for supporting the bottom surface of the product 7. Reference numeral 3 denotes a rotating rod 41 which is rotated by 180 degrees or 360 degrees by the drive motor in the drive unit 6. The front end of the rotating rod 41 is supported by a shaft supporting plate 42 erected on the sliding surface 2, and a push-up rod 43 projects from the front end. When the rotating rod 41 rotates 180 degrees, two push-up rods 43 are provided in opposite directions as shown in the figure, but when the rotating rod 41 rotates 360 degrees, only one of them is sufficient.

The shaft support plate 42 also serves as a product stopper. That is, the part of the front surface of the commodity 7 sliding on the sliding surface 2 in an inclined state hits the shaft support plate 42, and further progress is prevented (see FIG. 15).

In such a configuration, the drive motor is operated by inserting an appropriate coin, and the rotating rod 41 is rotated at a constant angle. The push-up bar 43 rotates in accordance with the rotation of the rotary bar 41. At this time, the push-up bar 43 presses the side surface of the product 7 in the front row, and erects only the product 7 in the front row. In the upright state, the product 7 is released from the locked state by the shaft support plate 42 (see FIG. 16), and slides on the product support 4 to drop to the product outlet. The succeeding product 7 slides in the inclined state, and the product 7 in the front row is locked by the shaft support plate 42 and enters a standby state.

[0029]

The present invention is as described above. In any of the embodiments, the product can be smoothly and reliably slid on the sliding surface with a simple structure, and can be easily maintained and supplied at a low cost. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention, in which an intermediate portion is omitted.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal longitudinal sectional view showing an operation state of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an operation state of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view in the width direction showing an operation state of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view in the width direction showing an operation state of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an intermediate omitted perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing an operation state of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view showing an operation state of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view in the width direction showing an operation state of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view in the width direction showing an operation state of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an intermediate perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal longitudinal sectional view showing an operation state of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal longitudinal sectional view showing an operation state of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an intermediate omitted perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a longitudinal sectional view in the width direction showing an operation state of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a widthwise longitudinal sectional view showing an operation state of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Sliding surface 3 Commodity support part 4 Commodity support part 5 Drive motor 6 Drive part 7 Commodity 8 Stopper 9 Both sides 10 Hook groove 11 Cross bar 13 Seesaw rod 14 Shaft 15 Drive rod 17 Push-up member 18 Opening 20 Checker 21 Detection lever 22 Counter 23 Slider 24 Counter lever 31 Rotating rod 32 Shaft support plate 33 Locking rod 34 Locking rod 36 Opening 37 Cradle 41 Rotating rod 42 Shaft supporting plate 43 Push-up rod

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A main body having a sliding surface on which a plurality of commodities are placed in an inclined state, a commodity support portion provided on both sides of the sliding surface, and a means for feeding out a commodity in the front row on the sliding surface. A product sending device for a vending machine, characterized in that: 2. The product delivery device for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein one of said product support portions supports a side surface of the product, and the other product support portion supports a bottom surface of the product. 3. The commodity sending device for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein said commodity feeding means pushes up the bottom of the commodity. 4. The product delivery means according to claim 1, wherein said product delivery means is a rotary bar provided on one of said product support portions or on said sliding surface, wherein two types of locking bars are provided alternately and shifted by 90 degrees. Item sending device for a vending machine according to the above. 5. One of the commodity support portions is 180 degrees or 36 degrees.
A rotating bar that rotates 0 degrees, wherein the product feeding means is a push-up bar that is attached to a front end of the rotating bar and pushes up the side surface of a product in the front row with the rotation of the rotating bar. The vending machine product delivery device according to claim 1.