JP2002074488A - Article carry-out device of vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article carry-out device of a vending machine which can speedily and accurately carry a dispersed article downward, out of an article storage box to an article taking-put opening provided at a relatively high position. SOLUTION: This device is equipped with a upwardly reclining chute 24, which is provided below the article storage box 11, an article push rod 27 which carries an article S fallen on the chute 24 by pushing it from behind, a stop control switch 28 which stops the article push rod 27 at a stop position after vending is ended, and an article stopper 21 which is provided rotatably in a drooping state and has its lower end part nearby the chute 24 and facing the front face of a pushing rod 27A for article at the stop position and engages the dispersed article S pushed out of a opening 17 a before the stop position and fallen on the chute 24 from behind, while the lower end part abuts against the pushing rod 27A for article in the front.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of transferring a product, which has been dispensed downward from a product storage at the time of sale, to a product take-out port provided at a relatively high position by conveying the product diagonally upward and forward. The present invention relates to a vending machine product carrying device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has proposed a product unloading device of this kind,
For example, it has already been proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-66749. In this product unloading device, a belt conveyor is applied as a transport device that transports the dispensed products toward a product outlet. The belt conveyor is provided below a product storage box that stores a large number of products in a horizontal state in a vertically stacked state, and includes a frame extending inclining forward and a front end portion and a rear end portion of the frame. It has a conveyor belt that is wound around two rotatable front and rear rotation shafts and that is inclined upward and forward, and a drive mechanism that drives the conveyor belt to rotate via the rotation shaft. The conveyor belt has a width corresponding to the width of the product storage, and the surface of the conveyor belt has a projection for supporting the delivered product from the rear side when the delivered product is transported. Are mounted at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.

[0003] The goods delivered from the goods storage at the time of sale by the goods carrying device having such a belt conveyor are carried out to the goods outlet as follows. That is, the product discharged from the product storage falls onto the conveyor belt, and then rolls slightly rearward along the conveyor belt, and is supported on one of the protrusions on the rear side. Then, with the rotation of the conveyor belt, the product is conveyed diagonally upward and forward with the rearward movement prevented by the projection, and is carried out to the product outlet.

[0004]

In the above-described commodity discharging apparatus, all of the projections project at a right angle to the surface of the conveyor belt, that is, in a posture inclined backward and upward from the surface. Is easy to get over the protrusion when rolling down backwards.
By being deflected rearward by being pressed by the abutting product, the product can easily get over the protrusion. For this reason,
In some cases, the dispensed product rolls down to a projection behind the projection that should originally support the product. In this case, even if the product is delivered from a position near the product exit of the product storage, it takes time to carry out the product after the delivery, and there is a possibility that forming may occur. Further, when the inclination angle of the forward rise of the belt conveyor is set to be large, the above-mentioned problem becomes more remarkable, and the product may not be properly conveyed in a state where the product is stopped by the protrusion, which may cause a product unloading error. There is a risk. Therefore, there is room for improvement in this product carrying-out device in the above points.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and allows a product delivered downward from a product storage to be quickly transferred to a product outlet provided at a relatively high position. It is another object of the present invention to provide a vending machine product unloading device that can reliably unload a product.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a merchandise unloading device for a vending machine, which conveys a product dispensed downward from a merchandise storage box at the time of sale, diagonally upward and forward, and unloads the product to a product outlet. A merchandise storage, wherein the merchandise storage is divided into a plurality of merchandise passages arranged in the front-rear direction, each of which stores merchandise, and each merchandise passage has a plurality of payout openings for paying out the merchandise Is provided at the lower end of the chute, and is provided below the product storage, and is inclined forward and upwards. A product pressing member that conveys the product by pressing the product dropped on the chute from behind while moving to the chute, and a stop control unit that controls the product pressing member to stop at a predetermined stop position after the sale ends. When, Rotatably provided in a state of beat was, with facing to the front side of the product pressing member bottom end stops in the vicinity of a and predetermined stop position of the chute, the time of sale,
The product that has been paid out from the payout port located on the front side of the predetermined stop position and has fallen on the chute is engaged from the rear with the lower end portion in contact with the product pressing member stopped at the predetermined stop position from the front. And a product locking member for stopping the product.

According to this configuration, after the sale is completed, the product pressing member is stopped at the predetermined stop position by the stop control means, and the lower end portion of the product locking member that is rotatably hung is attached to the chute. It faces the front side of the product pressing member stopped near and at the stop position. In this state, when a product is dispensed from a payout port located on the front side of the stop position at the time of sale, the product falls onto a chute, and then slightly rolls diagonally downward and rearward along the chute to lock the product. Contact the member from the front. The product locking member has a lower end portion in contact with the product pressing member from the front, that is, in addition to the rotatably supported portion, the lower end portion is in a supported state, so that the product locking member is in a state of being supported. The posture of the locking member is kept constant, and the product is locked in this posture. Thereafter, when the product pressing member is driven by the drive source and moves forward along the chute along the chute, the lower end of the product locking member is pressed from behind by the product pressing member. While moving forward, the locked product is moved forward along the chute. When the product pressing member moves further forward and moves to a position where the lower end of the product locking member cannot reach, the product pressing member contacts the product instead of the product locking member, and moves the product while moving further forward. By pressing the product from the rear, it is carried out to the product outlet, and returns to the hanging state before the product locking member is driven to rotate.

As described above, according to the commodity discharging device having the above-described structure, during the sale, the commodity discharged from the payout port located on the front side of the stop position and dropped on the chute is:
It is rotatably supported and the lower end is securely locked by the product locking member supported by the product pressing member, so that it does not roll down more backward than the product pressing member stopped at the stop position. . Moreover, when the product pressing member moves forward along the chute at the time of sale, the product locking member rotates so as to allow the product pressing member to move, and does not hinder the movement. Therefore, the product paid out from the product storage, specifically, the product paid out from the payout port located on the front side of the product pressing member stopped at the stop position, is moved to a relatively high position. The product can be quickly and reliably carried out to the provided product outlet.

In this case, the product locking members are spaced apart from each other in the left-right direction, each of which is rotatably supported in a hanging state, and the lower end of which can be abutted against the product pressing member. It is preferable to be constituted by a pair of hanging parts and a locking part which is arranged so as to extend between the pair of hanging parts, is arranged above the product pressing member, and locks the product at the time of sale. .

According to this configuration, since the product locking member is constituted by the pair of left and right hanging portions and the locking portion, the product locking member can be used, for example, at the time of maintenance inside the vending machine. The inside of the vending machine can be visually inspected to the depth of the product locking member without being detached and in a state of being hung down without being rotated. This allows
It is possible to easily determine whether maintenance is necessary for the rear part of the product locking member, and it is possible to enhance maintenance efficiency. Also, if there is a sufficient gap between the product storage and the locking portion of the product locking member for the worker to insert his / her hand or arm, by inserting his / her hand all the way through the gap, The operation of the setting change lever of the payout port provided in the vicinity of each payout port can be easily performed on the rear side, similarly to the setting change lever on the front side of the product locking member.

In this case, it is preferable that the product locking member is formed by bending a single wire.

According to this configuration, since the product locking member is formed by bending a single wire, the product locking member can be manufactured more easily than when it is formed by, for example, welding. Can be.

[0013] In the above case, it is preferable that the product locking member is detachably mounted near the lower end of the product storage.

According to this configuration, since the product locking member is detachably attached, the product locking member is detached during maintenance of the vending machine, for example, so that the product storage and the chute are detached. , A large space can be secured, and as a result, maintenance efficiency can be further enhanced.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the inside of a vending machine in which a product discharging device according to an embodiment of the present invention is incorporated. As shown in FIG. 1, the vending machine 1 has a main door 2 in which a product outlet 3 is provided at a relatively higher position than a general vending machine, so that the purchaser does not bend over. It is a so-called barrier-free type from which commodities can be taken out. The vending machine 1 includes the main door 2 and a box-shaped vending machine main body 4 whose front surface is opened and closed by the main door 2.

The front side of the main door 2 has a selection button for selecting a product and a cash slot (not shown) for inserting money. Although not shown in the same manner as these, on the back of the main door 2,
A control circuit including a microcomputer for performing various controls in the vending machine main body 4 including a product unloading device 12 described later is provided. The product outlet 3 has an outer door 5 that opens and closes the front surface, and a product receiver 6 that receives the product S carried out to the product outlet 3. The outer door 5 is rotatable around the upper end, and always closes the product outlet 3 in a hanging state, and the lower end of the outer door 5 is lifted by the purchaser when taking out the product S. Thus, the product outlet 3 is opened. On the other hand, the front wall of the product receiver 6 is rotatable about its lower end, and is always in an upright position on the back side of the outer door 5 and receives the product S that has been carried out and takes out the product S. At times, the upper end is slightly pulled forward by the purchaser, so that the product S can be easily taken out.

The vending machine body 4 includes a product storage 11 for storing the products S, a product unloading device 12 for discharging the products S paid out from the product storage 11 downward to the product outlet 3 at the time of sale, A cooling / heating device 13 for cooling / heating the product S in the product storage 11 is internally provided, and a heat insulating door 14 that can be opened and closed is provided on the front surface. The inside of the vending machine main body 4 is partitioned by a plurality of heat insulating walls (not shown) in the left-right direction (the front and back directions in FIG. 1), and the product storage 11 and the product unloading device 12 are provided between the heat insulating walls facing each other. Each is arranged, and further, a cooling / heating device 1
The third evaporator 13a or the heater 13b is disposed.

The product storage 11 is a vertically extending column 1 formed of a metal plate having a vertically long rectangular shape in the front and rear and a cylindrical shape.
5 are connected in the front-rear direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 1).
One product passage 17 is provided. In each product passage 17, various canned beverage products, plastic bottle products, etc.
Commodities S of the same item are stored in a state where they are stacked sideways and vertically (see FIG. 3). In each column 15, a commodity payout device (not shown) that pays out only the lowest commodity S at the time of sale is provided at a lower end of each commodity passage 17. The payout opening 17a at the lower end of the product passage 17 regulated by each product payout device can be set to be changed by manually operating a setting change lever (not shown) or the like according to the size of the product S. I have. Further, each column 15 is provided with a product carrying device 12.
In accordance with the inclination of the conveyor device 20 to be described later, the deeper one extends downward to a lower position. In this way, by shortening the falling distance of the product S paid out from each column 15 to the product carrying-out device 12 as much as possible, it is possible to reduce the impact on the product S at the time of dropping and to increase the number of products S. It can be stored in the storage 11.

In the merchandise storage 11 configured as described above, at the time of sale, only the lowest-order merchandise S is paid out from the merchandise passage 17 for storing the merchandise selected by the purchaser. It falls on a chute 24 described later. The frontmost column 15 is provided with an opening / closing plate 18 for opening and closing the payout opening 17a of the product passage 17 on the front side. At the time of sale, the goods S paid out from the payout port 17a are guided by the opening / closing plate 18 which opens the payout port 17a in a state of being inclined forward and downward, and without the product unloading device 12 being operated, the product takeout port 3 is opened. To be carried out. Also,
The product S paid out from the rear product passage 17 in the innermost column 15 is located on the lower front inclined plate 4 a, which is attached to the back of the vending machine main body 4 below the product passage 17. , Then roll forward and shoot 24
Passed to.

The commodity unloading device 12 is disposed below the commodity storage 11, and upon receiving the commodity S which has been paid out from the commodity storage 11 and dropped at the time of sale, conveys it diagonally upward and forward. It is carried out to the product outlet 3. This product unloading device 12 is a conveyor device 2 for transporting a product S at the time of sale.
0 and the goods S paid out from the two rear commodity paths 17 of the three front commodity paths 17 are transferred to the conveyor device 20.
And a support 22 for holding the conveyor device 20 at a predetermined position (a selling position or a maintenance position, which will be described later). I have.

The conveyor device 20 pivots about a pivot shaft 23 at the lower rear end between a selling position (see FIGS. 1 to 3) inclined forward and a maintenance position where the whole is substantially horizontal. And support 22,
The vending machine is normally held at the selling position, and is held at the maintenance position when the inside of the vending machine main body 4 is maintained. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the conveyor device 20 includes a chute 2 that is inclined upward and receives the paid-out product S on the upper surface.
4, a pair of left and right drive mechanisms 25, 25 arranged at both left and right ends of the chute 24, a drive motor 26 (drive source) for driving these drive mechanisms 25, 25,
Each chain 36 of the two drive mechanisms 25, 25, which will be described later,
A plurality of product pressing rods 27 mounted between 36
And a stop control switch 28 (stop control means) for controlling the stop of the drive motor 26 by being turned on / off by the product pressing rod 27. 29
Housed within.

The chute 24 has a base frame 31 which is inclined forward and has a substantially rectangular planar shape.
A chute plate 33 having a rectangular planar shape is attached to the base frame 31 via a plurality of conical coil springs 32. Therefore, at the time of sale,
The commodity S paid out from the commodity storage 11 falls onto the chute plate 33, and the impact of the commodity S from the chute plate 33 at the time of the fall can be reduced by the coil spring 32. Thereby, the deformation of the product S can be prevented, and the forming when the product S is a carbonated beverage can be suppressed. The base frame 31 and the chute plate 33 are formed with a large number of through holes (not shown) penetrating in the vertical direction, so that cool air or warm air generated by the cooling / heating device 13 passes through these through holes. Then, it circulates above and below the product unloading device 12 to cool or heat the product S in the product storage 11.

Each drive mechanism 25 includes two front sprockets 34 (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as an upper sprocket 34a) rotatably provided at the front end of the chute 24 at an interval in the up-down direction. , A lower front sprocket is referred to as a “lower sprocket 34b”), a rear sprocket 35 rotatably provided at the rear end of the chute 24, and a chain 36 wound around the front sprocket 34 and the rear sprocket 35. And The upper sprocket 34a, the lower sprocket 34b, and the rear sprocket 35 of the two drive mechanisms 25, 25 are connected to each other via connection shafts 37a, 37b, 37c extending in the left-right direction, respectively. I do. Also, the lower sprocket 34
A drive gear 38 composed of a spur gear is fixed in the middle of a connection shaft 37b connecting the b and 34b to each other. The drive gear 38 is driven to rotate in a predetermined direction by the drive motor 26. The drive gear 38 is provided on the lower sprocket 3
4b may be integrally formed.

The drive motor 26 is disposed below the chute 24 and has a plurality of gears 39 in a gear box 39.
a (only one is shown) and the intermediate gear 40 are connected to the drive gear 38. Thus, at the time of sale, the drive gear 26 is operated to drive the drive gear 3.
2, the lower sprocket 34b of both drive mechanisms 25, 25 also rotates counterclockwise. Thus, both lower sprockets 3
As the 4b and 34b rotate, the chains 36 of the two drive mechanisms 25 and 25 rotate counterclockwise using the lower sprockets 34b and 34b as driving sprockets.

Each chain 3 of the two drive mechanisms 25, 25
6 and 36, four product pressing rods 27 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the chain 36 in a state of being bridged between them.
Is attached. Therefore, as mentioned above,
At the time of sale, chains 36, 36 of both drive mechanisms 25, 25
As the counterclockwise rotates, each product pressing rod 27 moves around the chute 24 in the counterclockwise direction.

The stop control switch 28 is provided in the vicinity of the drive motor 26, and is turned ON / OFF by the product pressing rod 27 via a link 41 having a predetermined shape which is rotatable.
OFF is switched. That is, the link 41 is always at a predetermined position indicated by a solid line in FIG.
By pressing the switch button 28a of the stop control switch 28, the stop control switch 28 is turned on or off. On the other hand, one of the product pressing rods 27
When the link 41 passes below the switch button 2, the link 41 is rotationally driven to a switching position shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
8a is released, whereby the stop control switch 2
8 is turned OFF or ON.

Then, a predetermined stop condition to be described later for stopping the drive motor 26 is satisfied, and the stop control switch 28 is turned ON / OFF by the product pressing rod 27 via the link 41 as described above. When
A control signal is output from the control circuit (not shown) to the drive motor 26, and based on this, the drive motor 26 stops. Thereby, the chain 3 of the two drive mechanisms 25, 25
The rotation of 6, 36 also stops, and accordingly, each product pressing rod 27 stops at a predetermined position (standby position). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, at four positions above an intermediate portion of the chute plate 33 in the front-rear direction, between the upper sprocket 34 a and the lower sprocket 34 b, below the link 41, and near the rear sprocket 35, Each of the four product pressing rods 27 stops. In particular, shoot plate 3
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the product pressing rod 27 that stops above 3 stops so as to be located directly below (stop position) between the two front and rear payout ports 17 a of the central column 15, The lower end of the product stopper 21 is abutted from behind.

The housing case 29 for housing the above-described chute 24 and the like includes a bottom wall 43, a pair of left and right side walls 44, 44,
It is constituted by a front wall 45 and a rear wall 46, and the upper part and the upper half of the front face are open. At the upper part of the front wall 45, a carry-out chute 45a which is inclined upward and extends to near the front end of the chute 24 is provided. The carry-out chute 45a receives the product S conveyed to the front end of the chute 24, drops it forward, and carries it out to the product outlet 3.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the product stopper 2
1 is detachably attached to a pair of mounting brackets 47, 47 which are screwed to the lower ends of the left and right ends of the center column 15, respectively. The product stopper 21 is formed, for example, by bending a single steel wire rod, is arranged at an interval from each other, and is rotatably supported in a suspended state. A pair of hanging parts 21a, 21a and the pair of hanging parts 21a, 21
and a locking portion 21b extending horizontally so as to extend horizontally between them, and has a substantially H-shaped front surface.

Each hanging portion 21a is bent so that the upper end portion extends horizontally in the left-right direction and outwardly, and the upper end portion thereof is inserted into a cylindrical insertion portion 47a provided at the lower end portion of the mounting bracket 47. By being inserted, it is rotatably supported. The lower end of each of the hanging parts 21a has a U-shaped front surface and is formed to reach the vicinity of the chute plate 33 of the conveyor device 20 located at the selling position. When the product pressing rod 27 stops after the end of the sale, these lower ends are in front of the product pressing rod 27 stopped above the chute 24 (hereinafter, the product pressing rod is denoted by “27A”). It is coming.

On the other hand, as described above, the locking portion 21b
It is connected to the lower ends of the hanging parts 21a, 21a, and is located above the product pressing rod 27A stopped above the chute 24. As a result, at the time of sale, the product S paid out from the payout port 17a (excluding the foremost payout port 17a) on the front side of the product pressing rod 27A is placed at a position higher than the product pressing rod 27A in the locking portion 21b. Locked.

The product stopper 21 thus configured
Since the hanging portions 21a, 21a have resilience that allows them to approach and separate from each other in the left-right direction about the respective lower ends, the mounting of the product stopper 21 to the mounting brackets 47, 47 is performed. At this time, the operator holds the hanging parts 21a, 21a with both hands and applies force from both the left and right sides so that the upper ends thereof come close to each other, and inserts each upper end into the insertion portion 47a of each mounting bracket 47. After that, the product stopper 21 is released by releasing the hands from the hanging portions 21a, 21a.
Can be easily attached to the mounting brackets 47, 47. Conversely, when removing the product stopper 21 from the mounting brackets 47, 47, the both lower portions 21a,
21a can be easily removed simply by applying force from both the left and right sides.

Further, the conveyor device 20 configured as described above is held at the selling position or the maintenance position by the support 22 as described above. The support 22 is formed by bending left and right ends and an upper end of a metal plate, and has a rotating shaft 51 inserted through a lower end.
Standing position (see FIGS. 1 to 3)
And a fall position (not shown) in a posture of lying substantially horizontally to the rear side. Therefore, by rotating the support 22 to the falling position, the conveyor device 20 can be rotated to the maintenance position. In this case, it is necessary to secure a large space between the product storage 11 and the conveyor device 20. Can be. Thus, for example, when the setting of the payout port 17a of the product passage 17 is changed, even if the payout port 17a is located on the back side in the vending machine main body 4, the worker extends his hand to the back, and the worker easily extends the hand. Settings can be changed. A torsion coil spring 52 for urging the support 22 to the upright position is attached to the rotation shaft 51 of the support 22. Thereby, after the maintenance is completed, the conveyor device 2 at the maintenance position
By raising the front end of the conveyor device 20 to a predetermined height, the conveyor device 20 rotates to a sales position side by a predetermined angle, and the support 22 in the falling position automatically returns to the standing position, and then releases the hand from the conveyor device 20. Thus, the conveyor device 20 is held at the selling position while being supported by the support 22 from below.

As shown in FIG. 1, an opening 14a is formed in the heat insulating door 14 at a portion facing the front surface of the conveyor device 20 located at the selling position, so as to allow the goods S to pass therethrough. The opening 14a is provided with an inner door 53 having a heat insulating property which is rotatable about an upper end. This inner door 5
Reference numeral 3 indicates that the opening 14a is closed in a state of always hanging down, and is opened by the weight of the product S which is delivered to the carrying-out chute 45a and rolled forward along the same at the time of sale, thereby opening the opening 14. I do. At the upper end of the inner door 53, an inner door open / close determination switch 54 for determining whether or not the inner door 53 is open / closed is provided. By this switch 54, the closed inner door 53 is opened. Also, it is determined that the once opened inner door 53 is closed.

Next, the operation of the product unloading device 12 during sale will be described. As described above, the conveyor device 20 of the product unloading device 12 is normally held at the selling position, and each of the product pressing rods 27 is located at the standby position shown in FIG. The product pressing rod 27A located above is in contact with the lower end of the product stopper 21 from behind. When money is inserted by the purchaser and a selection button for a desired product is pressed, the product delivery device in the product path 17 for storing the product is activated, and only the lowest product S is paid out.

When the commodity S is paid out from the foremost commodity passage 17, the commodity S falls on the carry-out chute 45a while being guided by the opening / closing plate 18, and then moves forward along the carry-out chute 45a. Roll down. Then, the product S is carried out to the product outlet 3 while pushing the inner door 53 with the weight. Therefore, in this case, the merchandise S is carried out to the merchandise outlet 3 without operating the conveyor device 20, and the sales of the merchandise are completed.

Except for the foremost product passage 17 described above, when the product S is paid out from the product passage 17 on the front side of the product pressing rod 27 on the chute 24, the product S is transferred to the chute plate 33. After having fallen upward, it slightly rolls backward along this, and is abutted and locked by the locking portion 21a of the product stopper 21 from the front. Thereafter, the drive motor 26 is operated, and the chains 36, 3
When 6 rotates counterclockwise, all the product pressing rods 27 move accordingly, and the product pressing rod 27A moves forward along the chute plate 33. Then, the lower end portion of the product stopper 21 is pressed by the product pressing rod 27A from the rear, so that the hanging portions 21a, 2d
The locked product S is moved forward along the chute plate 33 while rotating forward around the upper end of 1a. When the product pressing rod 27A further moves and moves to a position where the lower end of the product stopper 21 does not reach, the product stopper 21 returns to its original hanging state due to its own weight, and the product pressing rod 27A is replaced by the product pressing rod 21. Touching the product S and moving it further
Is pushed from the rear, the product S is transported forward along the chute plate 33 and delivered to the unloading chute 45a. Thereafter, the commodity S is delivered to the inner door 5 in the same manner as described above.
The product 3 is carried out to the product outlet 3 while being pushed open, and the sale of the product is completed.

In this case, the inner door open / close determination switch 54
Thus, when the opening of the inner door 53 is determined, and the stop control switch 28 is turned ON / OFF a predetermined number of times (for example, twice), a control signal is output from the control circuit to the drive motor 26. Then, the drive motor 26 stops. Thereby, each product pressing rod 27 stops at the standby position in preparation for the next sale. For example, in the case where the products S are successively selected, if the inner door 53 is kept open by the initially selected product S, the product is stored in the inner door 53 in order to avoid the product clogging. Until the S is completely carried out to the commodity outlet 3 and the inner door 53 is closed, the drive motor 26 for carrying out the second selected commodity S is not operated.

When the product S is dispensed from the product passage 17 behind the product pressing rod 27A, the product S falls onto the chute plate 33 and then moves toward the rear end of the chute plate 33. The vending machine rolls down and abuts on the inclined plate 4a in the vending machine main body 4 at the rear side and is locked. When the product S is paid out from the innermost product passage 17, the product S once falls on the inclined plate 4a, rolls forward, and is delivered to the chute plate 33.

Thereafter, when the drive motor 26 operates, all the product pressing rods 27 move, and the product pressing rods 27 (hereinafter referred to as “27B”) located near the rear sprocket 35 are moved. Sign)
Moves forward along the chute plate 33 while pressing the product S from behind. Thereby, the product S
Is conveyed obliquely upward and forward along the chute plate 33. During the conveyance, the product stopper 21
Is driven to rotate forward by the product pressing rod 27B via the product S, and the product S is transported forward of the product stopper 21. Thereafter, in the same manner as described above, after the product S is delivered to the unloading chute 45a, the product S is transported to the product outlet 3 while pushing the inner door 53 open, and the sale of the product is completed. In this case, the inner door 53 is opened similarly to the above,
When the stop control switch 28 is switched ON / OFF a predetermined number of times, the drive motor 26 stops, thereby
Each product pressing rod 27 stops at the standby position in preparation for the next sale.

As described in detail above, according to the commodity discharging device 12 of the present embodiment, the commodity discharged from the dispensing port 17a located on the front side of the commodity stopper 21 and dropped on the chute plate 33 at the time of sale. S is firmly locked by the product stopper 21 whose upper end is rotatably supported and whose lower end is supported by the product pressing rod 27A, and is located behind the product pressing rod 27A stopped at a predetermined stop position. It does not roll down. In addition, since the upper end of the product stopper 21 is rotatable, the product stopper 21 allows the product pressing rod 27A to move when the product pressing rod 27A moves forward along the chute plate 33 at the time of sale. To move forward,
It does not hinder the movement. Therefore, the product S paid out from the payout port 17a located on the front side of the product pressing rod 27A stopped at the stop position is quickly and reliably carried out to the product takeout port 3 provided at a relatively high position. can do. In addition, the paid out product S
As shown in FIG. 3, the product can be locked in a proper posture by the product stopper 21, and can be conveyed in that posture and appropriately carried out to the product outlet 3. Thereby, the forming when the product S is a carbonated beverage can be suppressed, and the completion of carrying out of the product S by the inner door open / close determination switch 54 can be detected quickly and reliably, so that the products S are continuously selected. Commodity unloading device 1
2 enables continuous unloading.

Since the product stopper 21 is formed by bending a single wire and has a substantially H-shaped front shape, the product stopper 21 can be manufactured more easily than, for example, a case formed by welding or the like. During the maintenance of the vending machine main body 4, for example, the vending machine main body 4 is kept hanging down without removing the product stopper 21 without rotating it.
The inside can be visually checked to the depth of the product stopper 21. This makes it possible to easily determine whether maintenance is necessary for the rear part of the product stopper 21 and to improve maintenance efficiency. Also, if there is a sufficient gap between the payout opening 17a of the center column 15 and the locking portion 21b of the product stopper 21 so that the worker can insert his / her hand or arm, the hand can be moved through the gap. , The operation of the setting change lever of the payout port 17a provided in the vicinity of each payout port 17a can be easily performed on the rear side as well as the setting change lever on the front side of the product stopper 21. It can be carried out. In addition, since the product stopper 21 is detachably attached to the mounting brackets 47, 47, the product stopper 21 is detached, for example, at the time of maintenance in the vending machine main body 4, so that the product storage 11 and the chute plate are removed. 33 can be secured widely, and as a result, maintenance efficiency can be further enhanced.

Further, since four product pressing rods 27 are attached to each of the chains 36, 36 of both drive mechanisms 25, only one product pressing rod is attached to the chains 36, 36. Product S compared to
It is possible to shorten the carry-out time from when the product is paid out to when it is carried out to the product outlet 3. In addition, since the four product pressing rods 27 are arranged at equal intervals along the circumferential direction of the chain 36, each product pressing rod 27 can be set at a predetermined standby position without rotating the chain 36 all around. It can be made to wait reliably.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implemented in various modes. For example, in the embodiment, the commodity S is transported by the commodity pressing rod 27 attached between the pair of left and right driving mechanisms 25, 25 arranged at the left and right ends of the chute 24. A product having the same function, that is, the product S paid out from the product path 17 at the time of sale is supported from the rear side, and the product S is pressed from the rear while moving forward along the upper portion of the chute 24, The shape and configuration of the product pressing rod and the drive mechanism may be any as long as they can contact the lower end of the hanging product stopper 21 from behind. Also,
In the embodiment, the mounting brackets 47, 47 are connected to the center column 15.
Screwed to the lower end of the conveyor,
The right and left side walls 44, 44 are provided with appropriate protruding members extending upward to near the lower end of the central column 15, and a mounting member having the same function as the mounting member 47 is attached to this protruding member. Alternatively, the product stopper 21 may be directly attached to the upper end of the projecting member.

The product unloading device 12 shown in the embodiment
The detailed configuration and the like are merely examples, and can be appropriately changed within the scope of the present invention.

[0046]

As described above in detail, the commodity delivery device of the vending machine according to the present invention allows the commodity discharged from the commodity storage to be moved downward to the commodity outlet provided at a relatively high position.
This has the effect that it can be carried out quickly and reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing the inside of a vending machine incorporating a product unloading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of a product discharging device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an enlarged product unloading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vending machine 3 Merchandise outlet 4 Vending machine main body 11 Merchandise storage 12 Merchandise unloading device 17 Merchandise passage 17a Payout 20 Conveyor device 21 Merchandise stopper (commodity locking member) 21a Hanging part 21b Locking part 24 Chute 26 Drive motor (Drive source) 27 Product pressing rod (Product pressing member) 28 Stop control switch (Stop control means)

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yasutaka Iwasaki 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka F-term in Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. 3E044 AA01 FB09 3E046 BA03 BB03 BB04 CA01 EB01 FA01 HA08

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine merchandise unloading device that conveys a product dispensed downward from a merchandise storage at the time of sale diagonally upward and forward, and discharges the product to a merchandise outlet. , Each containing a product, is divided into a plurality of product passages arranged in the front-rear direction, each product passage has a plurality of payouts at the lower end for paying out products, provided below the product storage box A chute inclined upward and forward, a driving source, and a product dropped on the chute while being moved forward by the driving source at the time of sale, moving above the chute along the chute. By pressing the product from behind, a product pressing member that conveys the product, stop control means for controlling the product pressing member to stop at a predetermined stop position after the end of sales, and And the lower end faces the front side of the product pressing member stopped near the chute and at the predetermined stop position, and at the time of sale, from the payout port located on the front side of the predetermined stop position. A product locking member for locking the product that has been dispensed and dropped on the chute from behind while the lower end portion is in contact with the product pressing member that has stopped at the predetermined stop position from the front. A product unloading device for a vending machine, comprising: 2. The product locking member is disposed at an interval in the left-right direction with respect to each other, each is rotatably supported in a hanging state, and a lower end portion can contact the product pressing member. It comprises a pair of left and right hanging parts and a locking part that extends so as to extend between the pair of hanging parts, is disposed above the product pressing member, and locks the product at the time of sale. The device for unloading goods from a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the product locking member is formed by bending a single wire. 4. The product for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the product locking member is detachably attached near a lower end of the product storage. Unloading device.