JP2005242724A - Commodity supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity supply device that can reduce a maintenance cost, shorten the time required for renting, selling, etc. of commodities, and increase the number of commodities that can be accommodated. <P>SOLUTION: The commodity supply device comprises mainly an enclosure 10 of almost rectangular solid shape in which a pair of display racks 2 capable of displaying a video V are disposed on the front face 8 and on the back face 9, a taking-out restriction part 4 that is disposed inside the enclosure 10 and restricts an action of taking out the video V from the display rack 2, a part 5 for releasing the restriction that is disposed inside the enclosure 10 and releases the restricted state of taking-out effected by the taking-out restriction part 4, and an operation panel part that is disposed on the front face 8 of the enclosure and operates a commodity supply device 1. Taking out of the video V is restricted by a locking lever in a restriction position of the taking out restriction part 4. The locking lever is turned to the release position by the control of a release rod 31 and a push-out rod 21, and one video is pushed out from the display rack 2 by the push-out rod 21 for renting. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a product supply apparatus, and in particular, is installed in a rental video store rental store or the like, and is equipped with a video cassette tape (video), a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a document. In addition, the present invention relates to a product supply apparatus that can lend or sell products and the like unattended without requiring work by a store clerk.

  Conventionally, a lending business for renting products such as videos, CDs and DVDs has been rented, and many rental video stores have been installed. At this time, a customer who uses the rental video store selects a product with a title (for example, a movie) desired to be rented from a display shelf arranged at the store, and brings it to a rental counter, where the clerk Hand it over directly. At this time, a membership card indicating that the customer is a member of the store is presented at the same time as the product. Then, the store clerk uses a reading means such as a bar code reader to acquire information on the member authentication and the lent product and perform the lending registration work. At the same time, the rental fee is settled, and the work related to the loan is completed.

  On the other hand, when returning a rented product, the user visits the rental video store again and hands the product directly to a clerk in the counter. In the case of return, for example, there is a place where a method of posting a product on a return post installed outside the store is employed. That is, in a general rental video store or the like, at least at the time of rental, an opportunity for direct contact between the store clerk and the customer is required.

  However, rental video stores are often open late night or 24 hours due to the nature of business. For this reason, it was necessary to secure a clerk such as a part-time worker who performs the business related to the above-mentioned lending and returning within a long business hours. As a result, labor costs incurred in store operations may have risen due to an increase in the number of store staff to be secured and an increase in hourly wages due to late-night work. As a result, many store managers felt that these costs were heavy. Furthermore, due to the recent influence of the nuclear family, there are an increasing number of young people who dislike communicating with others, and there is an increasing tendency to refrain from face-to-face sales such as the rental video stores mentioned above.

  Therefore, in recent years, robot-type “automatic rental equipment (automatic product supply equipment)” has been developed for unattended lending work for the purpose of labor saving (or unmanned) of lending work by store staff. It has already been installed and operated in the store.

  Here, the automatic rental apparatus will be described in more detail. In the automatic rental apparatus, a plurality of products (for example, video cassette tapes) to be rented or sold are stored in an internal storage space in advance. Then, a user operates an operation panel provided on the front surface of the apparatus, and faces a clerk by selecting a product, selecting a rental period, and selecting a rental fee according to instructions on the screen of the operation panel. The product can be taken out from the automatic rental apparatus. The general configuration of these automatic rental devices includes a robot arm that is installed inside the device and can move vertically and horizontally, grips products in the storage space by the robot arm, and maintains the gripping state. However, the product is transported to the product outlet.

  When the commodity reaches the take-out port, the robot arm releases the gripping state and enables the user to take it out. Furthermore, in the case of return, the operation almost reverse to the above-mentioned operation is performed, and the robot arm grips again the product thrown in from the return port (generally often used also as an outlet), and a predetermined storage location The operation to return the product to the original is performed. In many general automatic rental devices, a part of the front surface of the device main body is often formed of a transparent material such as glass, and the user can visually recognize the gripping and transporting operations of the robot arm described above. Can be done. In addition, sales apparatuses that sell products and the like by applying these automatic rental apparatuses have been developed.

  The above conventional techniques are naturally implemented by those skilled in the art, and the applicant of the present application is not particularly aware of a document or the like in which such conventional techniques are described at the time of filing the present application.

  However, the automatic rental apparatus described above sometimes has the following problems. In other words, since products such as video cassette tapes stored in the internal storage space are gripped by the robot arm, troubles are likely to occur during the transport operation for transporting products to the outlet while maintaining the gripping operation and the gripping state. . For example, when trying to grip a product with a robot arm, if the position or orientation of the product is slightly deviated, the robot arm may miss the product or it may be held in an unstable state. there were. Therefore, when the product is transported to the take-out port, the product may come off the robot arm, or the product may be caught on a part of the transport path, and the operation of the robot arm may be stopped.

  Furthermore, in order to cause the robot arm to perform operations related to gripping and transporting, high-precision control by a complicated mechanism is required, and maintenance costs and maintenance frequency may increase. Furthermore, as described above, since it has a complicated configuration, even if a trouble occurs, it cannot be repaired manually by a store clerk or the like, and it is necessary to request a repair by an engineer of the manufacturer of the automatic rental apparatus. . Therefore, during the period until repair, the automatic rental apparatus cannot be used to lend goods, and sales at stores may be reduced.

  In addition, since there is only one outlet and return port for the product, when renting and returning multiple products in one operation, the robot arm grips the product, and the exit and product Therefore, it was necessary to repeat the conveyance between the storage positions, and it took a lot of time.

  In addition, since the apparatus has a complicated mechanism such as a robot arm and performs control, the entire apparatus tends to increase in size, and the number of products accommodated in the apparatus may be limited. For this reason, the ratio of the automatic rental apparatus to the store area is high, and the number of products accommodated in the installation area is not so large. Therefore, the business efficiency of these automatic rental devices is not so great, and store managers are dissatisfied with this point and sometimes hesitate to introduce automatic rental devices.

  Accordingly, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention has a first object to reduce the maintenance cost and reduce the time required for lending and returning with a relatively simple configuration, and can be accommodated in the installation area. It is an object to provide a product supply apparatus capable of lending and selling products whose second problem is to increase the number of products.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the product supply apparatus of the present invention arranges and stores supplies including at least one of a product to be lent or sold or a product package in which the product is stored. A housing having a display shelf that is removably displayed from, a locking lever having a locking claw engageable with a locking receiving portion provided in at least a part of the supply, and the locking claw A lever support that pivotally supports the locking lever between a restriction position engaged with the stopper and a release position where the engagement by the locking claw is released, and the locking lever is the restriction A lever urging portion for urging the position, a take-out restricting portion provided for each of the supplies displayed on the display shelf, a release device main body disposed inside the housing, and a take-out restriction To the release position of the supply to be released. A movement control unit that moves the release device main body vertically and horizontally, a release rod that is formed to extend and contract in a substantially horizontal direction, and has a release portion that contacts a part of the locking lever at one end, the release device body, and the release A release rod expansion / contraction control unit that connects a rod, controls expansion / contraction of the release rod, and rotates the locking lever to a position of the release position against the urging by the lever urging unit, substantially horizontal An extruding rod having an extruding portion that is formed to be extendable and contractable in one direction and contacting a part of the supply at one end, the release device main body and the extruding rod are connected, and expansion and contraction of the extruding rod is controlled to control the removal A restriction release unit comprising an extrusion rod expansion / contraction control unit for extruding at least a part of the supply released from the display shelf, movement control of the release device body of the restriction release unit, and the release rod Fine wherein an operation control unit for operating the expansion control of the push rod "and is composed mainly provided.

  Here, the products to be rented or sold are rented out in rental businesses such as rental video stores. For example, video cassette tapes or DVDs containing video works such as movies and animation, and music works are recorded. CDs, books, and the like. Further, the product package in which these products are stored is generally intended to protect the surface of the product from being scratched or to protect it from an impact. Examples include cases and CD cases.

  Further, the display shelf is for allowing the supplies such as the above-mentioned products to be regularly arranged and accommodated, and examples thereof include those that are respectively displayed in the space partitioned for each supply. The direction of the supplies to be displayed is not particularly limited. However, in the case of video cassette tape, the longitudinal direction of the video cassette is set so that as many supplies as possible can be seen from the side of the casing. It is preferable to make it match with the depth direction of the housing, that is, in a state of being placed horizontally. Furthermore, since such a display shelf is displayed so that supplies can be taken out from the outside, a user or the like can directly touch the supplies.

  Therefore, according to the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of supplies to be lent or sold are accommodated in a regularly arranged state on the display shelf provided in the housing. At this time, it is in the state which the latching claw of the latching lever of the extraction control part displayed on the display shelf and the latching receiving part of a supply have engaged. That is, the user can visually recognize the supplies displayed on the display shelf and can touch a part of the surface, but the supply cannot be taken out from the outside (restricted position). Then, after the operation control unit is operated by the user and processing such as selection of a product desired to be lent and member authentication is completed, the restriction release unit performs release. Specifically, based on the operation control unit, the release device body of the restriction release unit can move the inside of the casing vertically and horizontally to the release position for performing the release operation of the supply (for example, It is moved by a combination of motors, gears, belts, and the like.

  Thereafter, the restriction position is released by the locking lever by the release rod expansion / contraction control unit and the release rod installed in the release device main body. At this time, the release rod that can be expanded and contracted in the substantially horizontal direction is extended by the release rod expansion / contraction control unit and comes into contact with a part of the locking lever that is pivotally supported by the lever support holder. Furthermore, the locking lever pivotally supported by the lever support holder is urged to the restriction position by a lever urging portion using an elastic force such as a spring, for example. Then, when the release portion of the release rod comes into contact with the locking lever, the locking lever is rotationally displaced from the restriction position to the release position. Note that the position of the locking lever with which the release portion of the release rod comes into contact is set so as to be at the opposite position of the locking claw across the rotation shaft. Thereby, the engagement state of the latching claw of the latching lever and the latch receiving part of the supply is released, and the supply can be taken out freely from the outside.

  Here, for the extension / contraction of the release rod by the release rod extension / contraction control unit, a well-known drive technique such as a motor, hydraulic pressure, and water pressure can be used (the same applies to the extension / contraction of the extrusion rod described later). Thereafter, after the locking lever is displaced to the release position, the push rod installed via the release device main body and the push rod expansion / contraction control section is extended in a substantially horizontal direction. Thereby, since the extrusion part of the end of an extrusion rod contact | abuts a part of supply, and a latching lever exists in a cancellation | release position, a supply is easily extruded from a display shelf. In addition, it is not necessary to extrude all of the supply from the display shelf, and the movement by the extruding is to extrude a part protruding from the display shelf to such an extent that the user can grip the supply. It ’s okay. Thereby, the user takes out the supply and completes the lending or sales work. The expansion and contraction of the release rod and the push rod is to extend the length of the rod itself, or to change the position of the release portion or the push portion of the end of each rod with respect to the release device main body in the substantially horizontal direction. It doesn't matter.

  Further, the product supply apparatus according to the present invention may include, in addition to the above-described configuration, “the display shelf is partitioned with an inner peripheral shape that substantially matches an outer peripheral shape of the supply to be displayed, and is used for taking out the supply. It may be configured to further include a plurality of partition portions that limit the direction to one direction.

  Therefore, according to the product supply apparatus of the present invention, the display shelf is provided with a partition portion having an inner peripheral shape that substantially matches the outer peripheral shape of the supply. That is, when extruding a feed with an extrusion rod, if there is a wide space around the feed, the direction of extrusion is not constant, and the feed may be pushed at an angle with respect to the extrusion direction. is there. Then, a supply may be caught in the display shelf, and the malfunction which is not fully extruded from a display shelf may arise. Therefore, as shown in the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention, the display shelf is divided into a plurality of sections, and further, a partition section having an inner peripheral shape that substantially matches the outer peripheral shape of the supply to be stored is provided, so (Direction) can be limited to one direction, and the above-mentioned problems can be solved. In addition, also when the supply is stored (returned) in the display shelf, the inner peripheral surface of the partition portion serves as a guide, and the insertion direction of the supply is stabilized, so that the work can be easily performed. Note that the inner shape of the compartment is slightly larger than the outer shape of the supply, and is loosely inserted so that unnecessary force is not required when removing the supply and returning the supply to the compartment. It is in the state that was done.

  Furthermore, in addition to the above-described configuration, the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention may be configured such that “one surface of the supply is substantially coincident with the front surface of the display shelf or retreated with respect to the front surface of the shelf. It does not matter.

  Therefore, according to the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention, the supplies are displayed at the front of the shelf of the display shelf and at the so-called “surface (icicle) position” or the retracted position retracted from there. Here, if one surface of the supply is displayed in a state of protruding from the front surface of the display shelf, the supply may be gripped and the supply may be taken out with an unreasonable force. As a result, there is a possibility that the supply having the take-out restricting portion having the locking claw and the locking receiving portion may be damaged. Then, like the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention, the above-mentioned illegal supply is attempted to be taken out by displaying at least one side of the supply at the same position or at a position retracted from the front of the shelf of the display shelf. The operation can be prevented.

  In addition to the above-described structure, the product supply device of the present invention may be configured as follows. “The supply is a video cassette tape having an erroneous erasure prevention hole, and the erroneous erasure prevention hole is connected to the engagement of the locking lever. It may be “used as the locking receiving portion with which the pawl is engaged”.

  Here, the currently sold VHS video cassette tape has a hole for preventing erroneous erasure on one side of the tape. This hole prevents accidental recording on the video cassette tape by the video deck, and is provided with a tab when recording is possible. Then, the video cassette tape that is displayed at a rental video store or the like and is a rental target has no such claw, or has been subjected to a work of folding the claw at the store, and the erroneous erasure preventing hole is exposed. As a result, the video cassette tape enters a state in which recording is impossible.

  Therefore, according to the product supply apparatus of the present invention, the erroneous erasure preventing hole provided in the video cassette tape in advance is used as it is as the latch receiving portion and is engaged with the latch pawl of the latch lever. As a result, it is possible to display on the display shelf without creating a video cassette tape in the product package, etc., and create a regulated state by the locking lever, thereby omitting the cost and storage work related to the product package. be able to.

  Furthermore, in addition to the above configuration, the product supply apparatus of the present invention may be “the supply has a chamfered corner portion where at least one corner is chamfered in a curved shape”.

  Therefore, according to the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention, a supply having a chamfered corner portion with a chamfered corner is used. Here, the locking lever of the take-out restricting portion at the position after the supply is taken out is in the restricting position by the lever urging portion described above. Therefore, when the supply returned after lending is displayed again on the display shelf, the locking lever is once rotated to the release position against the urging force of the lever urging portion, and then the supply It is necessary to engage the latching claw with the latching receiving portion and set it to the restricted position. However, these operations are very troublesome, and it is troublesome to perform the operations for each supply one by one.

  Therefore, by providing a chamfered corner with a rounded shape at a part of the supply, in particular, where the locking claw (and the locking lever) abuts, the engagement with the chamfered corner is abutted. The pawls rotate against the urging force of the lever urging portion along the shape according to the rotation axis, for example, by turning up and twisting. Further, by continuing the insertion of the supply, when the latching claw of the latching lever reaches the position of the latch receiving portion of the supply, the latching lever is rotationally displaced to the regulation position by the lever urging portion. , The removal is regulated. That is, in order to make the removal of the supply regulated, it is completed simply by inserting the supply in the direction opposite to the removal direction, so that these operations performed by the store clerk and the like can be simplified. . Note that the video cassette tape adopting the above-described VHS method can be used as it is without modification, since the corners are chamfered in a curved shape.

  Furthermore, in addition to the above-described configuration, the commodity supply device of the present invention may be one in which “the pair of display shelves are provided on opposite sides of the casing”.

  Therefore, according to the commodity supply apparatus of the present invention, for example, a pair of display shelves can be arranged facing the front side surface and the back side surface of the housing. Thereby, compared with the past, when an installation area is the same, it becomes possible to accommodate more goods. This makes it possible to increase the number of products to be accommodated without expanding the installation area, and an increase in sales per vehicle is expected. Furthermore, the maintenance cost for the number of products to be accommodated can be reduced.

  As an effect of the present invention, it is possible to regulate the taking-out of the supply such as the video cassette tape by the locking claw of the L-shaped locking lever, and easily supply the supply from the outside by a relatively simple release device. Can be taken out. In addition, the unjust removal of the supply in a state in which the removal is restricted and the trouble related to the extrusion operation are formed in accordance with the shape of the supply, and further, the supply is displayed so as not to protrude from the front surface of the shelf. This can be easily prevented. Furthermore, it is possible to arrange display shelves facing the front and back surfaces of the housing, which has been difficult in the past, and the number of products that can be accommodated without increasing the installation area of the product supply device. It can be increased (for example, twice or more).

  Hereinafter, a product supply apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. Here, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a product supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a product supply apparatus in which a video cassette tape V (hereinafter referred to as “video V” at the end) is displayed. FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view mainly showing the configuration of the display shelf 2 and the partition unit 3 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the schematic configuration of the take-out regulation unit 4 and the regulation release unit 5 of the product supply apparatus 1. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the status of restriction and release of the video V taking out, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the status of accommodation of the video V in the partition section 3. Here, the VHS video V currently marketed is adopted, and an erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 is provided on one side to prevent accidental over-recording on one side. . Furthermore, the video V shows a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and each corner portion is formed with a chamfered corner portion 7 in which a curved shape is chamfered. Here, the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 corresponds to the locking receiving portion in the present invention, and the video V corresponds to the supply (or product) of the present invention. In addition, the product supply apparatus 1 of this embodiment is illustrated about what is installed in a rental video shop etc. and functions as a product rental apparatus which lends a product.

  As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the commodity supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, has an external appearance formed of steel steel plates and can be displayed in a state in which the videos V are regularly aligned vertically and horizontally. The display shelf 2 is installed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 10 provided on the casing front face 8 and the casing rear face 9 facing each other, and a part of the display shelf 2 inside the casing 10. 2, and a restriction that restricts the operation of taking out the video V displayed in the display shelf 2 from the display shelf 2. Similarly, a restriction that is installed inside the housing 10 and releases the removal restriction state by the removal restriction part 4. The release unit 5 and the front surface 8 of the housing are provided respectively, and operate the product supply device 1 to authenticate the touch panel type liquid crystal operation screen 11 and the member for controlling the take-out restriction unit 4 and the restriction release unit 5 described above. For membership card (not shown) And it includes an operation panel unit 13 which is composed of over de opening 12 like is mainly composed. The operation panel unit 13 is also provided on the rear surface 9 of the housing (not shown). Here, the operation panel unit 13 corresponds to an operation control unit in the present invention.

  More specifically, the display shelf 2 has a plurality of partition walls 14, such that the display shelf 2 has an inner shape substantially matching the outer shape of the video V in order to accommodate the video V to be displayed in a loosely insertable manner. A plurality of partition sections 3 partitioned by 14a and 14b are regularly arranged vertically and horizontally. Here, the partition section 3 is set to a depth length L so as to substantially coincide with the size of the longitudinal shape of the video V, and can be accommodated so that the video V is turned sideways and completely included. ing. Thereby, the shelf front surface 15 of the display shelf 2 (or the partition part 3) and the display surface 16 of the video V substantially coincide. As shown in FIG. 4 and the like, the display surface 16 of the video V is accommodated so as to be slightly retracted with respect to the shelf front surface 15. In addition, the display surface 16 has a title, a management number, a bar, and the like so that a user or the like can visually recognize and confirm information such as the title of the video V while being accommodated in the partition section 3 of the display shelf 2. A seal (not shown) including information such as a code may be attached. Here, the partition wall 14 includes a side partition wall (not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) that contacts the side surface of the video V, a back partition wall 14 a facing the back surface 17 of the video V, and a bottom surface of the video V. It has a bottom partition wall 14b in contact with it and an upper partition wall 14c in contact with a part of the upper surface of the video V. The bottom partition wall 14b and the upper partition wall 14c are integrally formed by bending a single plate member into a bowl shape. The back partition wall 14a is formed with a locking lever hole 19 in which a locking lever 18 (details will be described later) can be inserted. A locking claw 20 is provided at the tip of the locking lever 18 inserted through the locking lever hole 19 and can be engaged with the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 of the video V accommodated in the partition part 3. ing. Further, a rod hole having a hole diameter through which a pushing portion 22 provided at the tip of a pushing rod 21 (details will be described later) of the restriction releasing portion 5 can be inserted below the locking lever hole 19 of the back partition wall 14a. 23 is drilled.

  On the other hand, the take-out restricting portion 4 is substantially L-shaped with the lever support portion 24 provided between the locking lever hole 19 and the rod hole 23 of the back partition wall 14 a described above, and passes through the locking lever hole 19. A locking claw 20 inserted into the inside of the partition part 3 at one end, a locking lever 18 pivotally supported by the lever support part 24 via a rotating shaft 25, and a locking lever 18 And the latching claw 20 of the latching lever 18 engages with the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 of the video V, and the elastic deformation that urges the latching lever 18 to the regulation position PP that regulates the video V removal. The lever urging spring 26 is provided, and is provided in accordance with the number of the partition sections 3. Here, the lever urging spring 26 corresponds to the lever urging portion in the present invention.

  Further, as shown mainly in FIG. 3, the restriction release unit 5 is provided in a space inside the housing 10, and is provided on the plurality of partition portions 3 of the display shelf 2 provided on the housing front surface 8 and the housing back surface 9. A release device main body 27 that can move vertically and horizontally to a predetermined predetermined position, a device moving mechanism 28 that includes belts, gears, motors, and the like, and a housing for moving the release device main body 27 Both the front surface 8 and the housing back surface 9 project in a substantially horizontal direction and are attached to the release device main body 27 so that the rod length can be expanded and contracted, and the release portions 32 provided at the tips are respectively provided. A part of the locking lever 18 of the take-out restricting portion 4, more specifically, a lever piece 30 a provided with the locking claw 20 and a lever piece 30 b provided on the opposite side across the rotating shaft 25 are provided. Release rod 31 that can contact, and release A release rod expansion / contraction control unit 29 having a drive motor (not shown) for controlling expansion / contraction of the head 31, and in a state substantially parallel to the release rod 31 and toward both the housing front surface 8 and the housing rear surface 9. Projecting in a substantially horizontal direction and attached to the release device main body 27, the rod length is formed to be extendable and contracted, and the extrusion portions 22 provided at the respective ends are accommodated in the partition portion 3 and displayed. The extrusion rod 21 formed so as to be able to contact the back surface 17 through the rod hole 23 and an extrusion rod expansion / contraction control unit 34 having a drive motor (not shown) for controlling expansion / contraction of the extrusion rod 21 are mainly provided. It is configured. Although not shown, the operation panel unit 13 and the restriction release unit 5 are electrically connected to each other, and the rod expansion / contraction control unit 29 of the restriction release unit 5 according to the operation received by the operation panel unit 13. 34 and the apparatus moving mechanism 28 are controlled. As for the control technique, it is possible to apply a conventional control technique such as an automatic rental apparatus, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

  Next, the flow of releasing the restriction of the video V taken out by the take-out restricting unit 4 and the restriction of the video V by the restriction releasing unit 5 in the commodity supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described. First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the product supply apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a video V to be rented on the display shelf 2 having a plurality of compartments 3 regularly arranged vertically and horizontally. It is housed and displayed. At this time, the partition portion 3 is partitioned with an inner shape substantially matching the outer shape of the video V, and corresponds to the front surface of the accommodated video V. The display surface 16 that is visible to the user is It corresponds to the shelf front surface 15 of the display shelf 2 and the partition 3. Therefore, a state is created in which the user cannot grasp the video V and take it out from the partition unit 3. Furthermore, since the inner shape of the partition part 3 is formed in accordance with the outer shape of the video V, the video V is taken out only in one direction (see arrow F in FIG. 5B). Therefore, it cannot be forcibly taken out by lifting the video V or the like. As a result, unauthorized removal from the display shelf 2 is restricted.

  In addition, the product supply device 1 according to the present embodiment is in a state in which the video V accommodated in the partition unit 3 is more firmly regulated by the take-out restricting unit 4. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the locking claw 20 of the locking lever 18 of the take-out restricting portion 4 is inserted through the locking lever hole 19 and further into the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 of the video V. Is engaged. Therefore, even if the user can grasp a part of the video V, the video V is not taken out by the engagement state of the locking claw 20 and the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6. The As a result, the user can open the shelf front surface 15 of the display shelf 2 so that the display surface 16 of the video V can be seen and touched directly. Cannot be taken out by the take-out restricting means. As a result, it is possible to eliminate unauthorized extraction of the video V with malicious intent.

  Then, the operation panel unit 13 is operated by the user, and the member authentication by using the same membership card (not shown) as that adopted in the conventional automatic rental apparatus, the selection of the title to be lent, etc. When the processing is performed and a predetermined release condition including settlement of the rental fee is cleared, the restriction release unit 5 installed in the housing 10 is controlled. In addition, since the operation etc. performed via the operation panel part 13 can use the method utilized about a well-known automatic rental apparatus as it is, and also about electrical control, it is also substantially the same here. Description is omitted. Further, by making the method related to the operation the same as the conventional method, there is an advantage that the user does not have time and trouble in the operation.

  Thereafter, the device moving mechanism 28 of the restriction release unit 5 moves the release device main body 27 in which the release rod 31 and the extrusion rod 21 are respectively installed to the position of the partition unit 3 in which the video V for releasing the restriction of removal is accommodated. Move. As a result, the release portion 32 of the release rod 31 and the push-out portion 22 of the push rod 21 come close to the back compartment wall 14 a of the compartment 3.

  Then, the extension of the release rod 31 is controlled by the release rod expansion / contraction control unit 29, and the release unit 29 is brought into contact with the lever piece 30 b of the locking lever 18. As a result, the locking lever 18 rotates via the rotation shaft 25. At this time, it is biased by the lever biasing spring 26, the locking claw 20 at one end engages with the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 of the video V, and it jumps upward from the regulation position PP where the removal is regulated. Thus, the locking lever 18 rotates and reaches the release position RP (see FIG. 5A). Thereby, the engagement state by the latching claw 20 of the latching lever 18 is cancelled | released. However, as described above, since the display surface 16 of the video V and the shelf front surface 15 of the display shelf 2 are substantially coincident with each other, if the engagement state of the locking claws 20 is simply released, the user can V cannot be taken out. Therefore, expansion / contraction control of the extrusion rod 21 installed in the release device main body 27 is performed.

  That is, the push rod 21 is extended in a state where the locking lever 18 is held at the release position RP by the release rod 31 described above. At this time, since the back partition wall 14a of the partition part 3 has a rod hole 23 having a diameter larger than that of the push-out part 22 at the tip of the push rod 21, the partition part is formed so as to penetrate the rod hole 23. 3 is in contact with the rear surface 17 of the video V accommodated in the video V. Thereafter, the extension of the extrusion rod 21 is further continued, whereby the video V is pushed out from the partition portion 3 and a part of the video V protrudes from the shelf front surface 15 (see FIG. 5B). As a result, the user can grasp the video V in a state in which a part protrudes, and can easily take out the video V from the partition unit 3 and the lending is completed.

  In addition, when the extrusion part 22 of the extrusion rod 21 reaches a preset position, the extrusion rod expansion / contraction control unit 34 stops the extension, and thereafter, control is performed to reduce it to the original rod length. Further, when the rear surface 17 of the video V is pushed out to the shelf front surface 15 side with respect to the position of the locking claw 20, the release rod expansion / contraction control unit 29 controls the release rod 31 to the original rod length. As a result, the locking lever 18 at the release position RP is urged again to the restriction position PP by the urging force of the lever urging spring 26.

  As described above, according to the product supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the video V can be illegally extracted depending on the shape of the extraction restriction unit 4 and the division unit 3 installed according to the number of the division units 3. The video V can be taken out by the restriction release unit 5 that is restricted and has a relatively simple configuration. In addition, unlike the conventional automatic rental apparatus, the video V is not transported through the apparatus, so that the possibility of troubles due to lending and returning due to unstable gripping of the robot arm is reduced. Further, since the restriction release unit 5 that moves inside the housing 10 moves to release the restriction of removal, even when trying to borrow a plurality of videos V at a time, like the conventional automatic rental apparatus , It is not necessary to transport to the outlet one by one. That is, the entire display shelf 2 can function as a conventional outlet, and the time required for lending can be shortened. In addition, as shown in the commodity supply device 1 of the present embodiment, the release rod 31 and the push rod 21 installed in the release device main body 27 can be expanded and contracted in both directions of the housing front surface 8 and the housing back surface 9. By forming, both surfaces of the commodity supply device 1 can be secured as display spaces. As a result, it is possible to accommodate almost twice as much video V as the device area occupied by one product supply device 1 as compared with the prior art, and increase sales efficiency even in a small installation space. Can do.

  Furthermore, the product supply apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can easily perform the work when the video V is accommodated in the partition section 3 of the display shelf 2 and displayed. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the video V is inserted into the partition 3 with the surface with the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 facing upward (in the direction of arrow I in FIG. 6). As described above, since the partition section 3 has an inner shape that substantially matches the outer shape of the video V, the partition section 3 is inserted in a predetermined direction while being guided by the partition walls 14, 14 b, 14 c located on the top surface, the side surface, and the bottom surface. The And it protrudes into the inside of the division part 3 from the back division wall 14a, and the latching claw 20 of the latching lever 18 in the control position PP contacts one corner of the video V. At this time, one corner of the video V has a chamfered corner portion 7 that has been chamfered in advance so that the insertion is not limited by contact. That is, one end of the locking claw 20 is turned up along the curved shape of the chamfered corner portion 7 so as to rotate around the rotating shaft 25 while resisting the biasing force of the lever biasing spring 26. Move. Thereafter, when the locking claw 20 reaches the position of the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6, the urging force of the lever urging spring 26 acts, and the locking claw 20 and the erroneous erasure preventing hole 6 are engaged. A state is created and the locking lever 18 returns to the restricting position PP again. That is, when the video V is displayed on the display shelf 2, a simple operation that allows the video V to be inserted with only one hand into the partition unit 3 is sufficient.

  The present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention as described below. And design changes are possible.

  That is, in the product supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the product that uses the video V as the product to be lent is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other products include DVDs, CDs, books, and the like. be able to. In order to store such a product in the display shelf 2, it is necessary to store the product in a plastic product package (not shown) and to provide the product package with a latch receiving portion that can be engaged with the latching claw 20. Moreover, the inner shape of the partition part 3 formed in multiple numbers in the display shelf 2 also substantially corresponds to the outer shape of the above-mentioned product package, and needs to be formed so that it can be loosely inserted. Further, the commodity supply apparatus 1 of the present embodiment may be used for the purpose of selling the video V or the like.

It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the goods supply apparatus of this embodiment. It is an enlarged front view which mainly shows the structure of the display shelf and division part of the goods supply apparatus with which the video cassette tape was displayed. It is sectional drawing which shows schematic structure of the taking-out control part of a goods supply apparatus, and a regulation release part. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the restrictions and cancellation | release condition of taking out of a video cassette tape. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the restrictions and cancellation | release condition of taking out of a video cassette tape. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the condition of accommodation to the division part of a video cassette tape.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Merchandise supply apparatus 2 Display shelf 3 Compartment part 4 Take-out control part 5 Restriction release part 6 Hole for false erasure prevention (locking receiving part)
7 Chamfered corner part 10 Case 13 Operation panel part (operation control part)
18 Locking lever 20 Locking claw 21 Pushing rod 22 Pushing part 24 Lever support part 25 Rotating shaft 26 Lever biasing spring (lever biasing part)
27 Release device body 28 Device movement mechanism (movement control unit)
29 Release rod expansion / contraction control section 31 Release rod 32 Release section 34 Extrusion rod expansion / contraction control section PP Restriction position RP Release position V Video (video cassette tape, product, supply)

Claims (6)

A housing having a display shelf that stores and arranges supplies including at least one of a product to be rented or sold or a product package in which the product is stored, and is detachably displayed from the outside;
A locking lever having a locking claw engageable with a locking receiving portion provided in at least a part of the supply, a restriction position where the locking claw is engaged with the locking receiving portion, and the locking claw The display includes: a lever support portion that pivotally supports the locking lever between the released positions released from engagement by the lever; and a lever urging portion that urges the locking lever to the restriction position. A take-out restricting section provided for each of the supplies displayed on the shelf;
A release device main body arranged inside the housing, a movement control unit for moving the release device main body vertically and horizontally to a release position of the supply for releasing the regulation of removal, formed to be extendable in a substantially horizontal direction, A release rod having a release portion that abuts a part of the locking lever at one end, the release device main body and the release rod are connected to control expansion and contraction of the release rod and resist the biasing by the lever biasing portion. And a release rod expansion / contraction control section for rotating the locking lever to the position of the release position, and an extrusion section that is formed to extend and contract in a substantially horizontal direction and has an extrusion section that contacts a part of the supply at one end. Extrusion rod expansion / contraction control that connects the rod, the release device main body, and the extrusion rod, controls expansion / contraction of the extrusion rod, and extrudes at least a part of the supply from which the restriction of removal is released from the display shelf And a restriction releasing part with a,
A product supply apparatus comprising: an operation control unit for operating movement control of the release device main body of the restriction release unit and expansion / contraction control of the release rod and the extrusion rod. The display shelf is
It is partitioned by having an inner peripheral shape that substantially matches the outer peripheral shape of the supply to be displayed, and further includes a plurality of partition portions that limit the direction in which the supply is taken out in one direction. The product supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: One aspect of the supply is
The commodity supply apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the commodity supply device is displayed at a position substantially coincident with a front surface of the shelf of the display shelf or a position retracted with respect to the front surface of the shelf. The feed is
It is a video cassette tape with a hole for accidental erasure prevention,
The product according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the erroneous erasure preventing hole is used as the locking receiving portion with which the locking claw of the locking lever is engaged. Feeding device. The feed is
The product supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a chamfered corner portion having at least one corner chamfered in a curved shape.   6. The commodity supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pair of display shelves are respectively provided on side surfaces of the housing that face each other.

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