JP2541321B2 - Vending machine product support mechanism - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a product support mechanism for a vending machine that sells box-shaped products such as cigarettes.

[Conventional technology]

First, FIG. 5 shows the internal structure of a cigarette vending machine, which is the object of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a front door of a vending machine, 2 is a product outlet, and the inside of the refrigerator is divided into upper and lower stages, and a front open type product storage column 3 (in the illustrated example, only one product is in the column) They are stacked and housed, but usually the products are arranged side by side in two rows). Further, each column 3 is provided with a pusher type product discharge mechanism 4 at the bottom thereof and a product gate 5 at the front thereof. 6 is a mounting rail for the product gate 5, 7
Is a fastening screw for fixing the product gate 5 to the rail 6, and a product unloading shooter arranged between the product unloading port 2 and the product unloading end of each column.

With this configuration, the cigarette products 10 are stacked and housed on the product unloading mechanism 4 in the column 3 as shown in the figure. When a sales command is given in this state, the product unloading mechanism 4 of the selected column operates. Then, the pusher 4a moves in the direction of the arrow and pushes out the products 10 lined up at the bottom to the front side to move the products out 2
Drop it out and carry it out. In this case, the merchandise gate 5 works to stop the merchandise lined up in the upper position at the accommodation position. The product gate 5 has its mounting position moved and adjusted in the front-rear direction according to various sizes (short size, standard size, long size) of the tobacco product 10.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned vending machine, the guide bar 11 is provided on the front side of the column as a product support mechanism for preventing the products 10 stacked and stored in the column from falling forward with respect to the product storage column 3 in the refrigerator. I have it. The guide bar 11 is laid across the upper plate 12 of the column 3 and the product guide 5 described above. The guide rod is formed by bending a steel rod into a crank shape, and the upper end shaft portion 11a of the upper end shaft portion 11a and the lower end shaft portion 11b aligned vertically with the shaft center O aligned is the upper end shaft portion 11a.
Fits in the shaft hole drilled in the part of the upper plate 12 protruding toward the front of the column 3, and the lower end shaft part 11b fits in the shaft hole drilled in the product gate 5 and can move around the shaft center O Is supported by.

The guide rod 11 is used as follows. That is, when the product is stored in the column, the guide rod 11
6 is rotated to the product support position shown by the solid line in FIG. 6 and then fitted and held in the receiving groove 5a formed on the upper surface of the product gate 5, and in this state, the product rows stacked and accommodated in the column are supported from the front. To prevent the product line from falling. On the other hand, when replenishing the product in the column, the guide bar 11 is slightly pulled up to remove from the receiving groove 5a of the product gate 5, and further rotated in the direction of arrow P to the product replenishing position indicated by the chain line to the side of the column. Pull it toward you to release the front of the column.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

By the way, in the product holding mechanism of the above-mentioned vending machine,
There are the following problems in terms of use.

That is, in order to reduce the overall size of the vending machine by cutting the excess space inside the machine as much as possible,
The product unloading shooter 8 corresponding to the upper product storage column shown in the figure is arranged close to the upper front surface of the lower column, and for this reason, the upper end shaft portion of the guide rod 11 is pivoted in the lower column. The protruding size 1 of the supporting upper plate 12 is restricted, and in order to avoid interference with the shooter 8, the above-described protruding size 1 is suppressed to a slight size.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, there is no problem when selling the product 10 of the normal size L1 in the product storage column 3 on the lower side, but as shown in FIG. If 10 is changed to a special large size L2 product, the following problems will occur. That is, when the product 10 to be accommodated in the column is to be changed to a large size, the product gate 5 is arranged in front of the mounting position corresponding to the product size L2 corresponding to the product of the normal size L1 shown in FIG. You need to adjust the movement. Moreover, when the commodity gate 5 is adjusted and moved forward, the guide rod 11 having the lower end shaft portion fitted to the gate also moves forward accordingly. Therefore, the above-mentioned guide rod
If 11 is used as it is, as shown in FIG. 8, the position of the upper end shaft portion of the guide rod 11 moves further forward than the protruding tip portion of the upper plate 12, so that the guide rod 11 is moved to the upper plate.
It is impossible to pivot on 12. Moreover, since the shooter 8 is arranged close to the front of the upper plate 12 as described above, the protruding size of the upper plate 12 cannot be extended, and as a result, a large product of a special size is left as it is. The guide rod cannot be set correctly in the position corresponding to. If the upper end shaft portion of the guide rod 11 is forcibly fitted into the shaft hole of the upper plate 12 and used, the posture of the entire guide rod tilts,
When set at the product support position, the guide bar 12 abuts against the end surface of the products 10 arranged in a higher order in the column and pushes it backward, thereby hindering the downward movement of the products in the column.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a product support mechanism that can accommodate a large size product with an existing column simply by changing the shape of the guide rod.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the product support mechanism of the present invention, a guide rod corresponding to a large size product has a lower end shaft portion that pivotally supports the upper end plate that pivotally supports the upper plate. To be biased forward from the upper end shaft,
The guide bar itself shall be twisted to form an offset type guide bar.

[Action]

In the guide rod having the above-mentioned structure, the upper end shaft portion and the lower end shaft portion are offset from each other, so that the lower end shaft portion is pivotally supported while the upper end shaft portion of the guide rod is pivotally supported by the upper plate of the product storage column. Even when the gate is moved and adjusted forward in accordance with a large-sized product, the product row stored in the column can be supported by the guide bar at this position without any hindrance.

When the guide bar is moved from the product support position to the product replenishment position, the guide bar is slightly tilted from the vertical direction due to the offset between the vertical shaft portions. Therefore, in order to smoothly rotate the guide rod in this state,
A little play is set in the column upper plate into which the shaft end of the guide rod fits, and in the shaft hole drilled in the product gate, and the lower end shaft of the guide rod is made into a tapered shaft.
Moreover, it is preferable to provide a guide member on the product gate side so as to support the entire guide rod to the extent that it is slightly raised.

〔Example〕

1 to 4 show the structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and the same members corresponding to FIGS. 5 and 6 are designated by the same reference numerals.

That is, the large size L2 product 10 in the product storage column 3
The guide rod 11 used in the case of accommodating is slightly different in shape from the guide rod shown in FIG. 6, and after bending the entire shape into a crank shape as clearly shown in FIG. 2,
Further, the guide rod itself is twisted to form an offset type guide rod in which an offset A is set between the shaft center 01 of the upper end shaft portion 11a and the shaft center 02 of the lower end shaft portion 11b. Further, the lower end shaft portion 11b of the guide rod 11 is processed into a tapered shaft with a tapered tip as shown in FIG.
In addition, the upper plate 12 on the column side that fits with the upper and lower shaft ends of the guide rod 11 and the shaft hole drilled in the product gate 5 have guide rods 11
The hole diameter is selected to be one size larger than the shaft diameter dimension of the. Further, on the upper surface of the product gate 5, there is provided a partition-shaped guide member surrounding the shaft hole and indicated by reference numeral 13. The guide member 13 is set so that its upper edge is slightly higher than the guide rod supporting surface of the product gate 5, and guides when the guide rod 11 is rotated from the product supporting position to the product replenishing position. The crank portion of the rod 11 is placed on the upper edge of the guide member 13 so as to slightly lift and support it.

By using the above offset type guide rod 11,
As shown in Fig. 1, large size L2 products in the product storage column 3
Even when the product gate 5 is accommodated and the product gate 5 is moved forward and adjusted according to the product size, the upper end shaft portion 11a of the guide rod 11 due to the offset A is the upper plate 12 of the column.
Further, the lower end shaft portion 11b can be fitted into the shaft hole of the product gate 5 to support the stored product 10 without any trouble.

On the other hand, when the guide rod 11 is rotated from the product support position to the product replenishment position when replenishing the product in the column,
First, the guide rod 11 is pulled upward, removed from the receiving groove 5a of the product gate 5, and then rotated forward, and the crank portion of the guide rod 11 is placed on the upper edge of the guide member 13 described above. And
The guide rod 11 is rotated toward the product replenishment position while being slightly raised with respect to the product gate 5. In this case, the guide shaft 11 slightly tilts based on the above-described offset A, and the shaft end portion thereof swings. However, as described above, the guide member 13 lifts up the guide rod. The lower end shaft portion 11b of the guide rod 11 slides with the tapered surface of the tip facing the shaft hole of the product gate 5 and the backlash of the shaft hole. The guide rod 11 can be smoothly rotated with almost no twisting between the guide rod 11 and.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the guide rod of the product support mechanism according to the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

That is, an offset type in which the guide rod itself is twisted so that the lower end shaft portion that pivotally supports the product gate is biased forward with respect to the upper end shaft portion that pivotally supports the upper plate of the product storage column. Since it is configured as a guide rod, (1) Even for large products with special sizes that conventional guide rods cannot handle, the guide rod can be used as an upper plate on the column side without changing the shaft support position of the upper end shaft. And a product gate that is moved and adjusted forward can support large products stacked and stored in the column.

(2) Therefore, the product storage column of the vending machine is divided into upper and lower stages and is defined in the storage, and the product discharge shooter corresponding to the upper column is arranged close to the front of the lower column. However, it is possible to store large products in the lower column and sell them, thus expanding sailability.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show the structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the structure of an entire product storage column, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is an assembled perspective view of the product support mechanism in FIG.
4 and 5 are respectively a top view of the guide rod and a partial cross-sectional side view of the product gate in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is an internal configuration diagram of a cigarette vending machine to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 7 is an assembly perspective view of a conventional product support mechanism using a guide bar, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are sales state diagrams for normal size and special large size products employing the guide bar of FIG. 6, respectively. . In the figure, 3: Product storage column, 4: Product unloading mechanism, 5: Product gate, 8:
Product discharge shooter, 10: Product, 11: Guide rod, 11a: Upper end shaft part, 11b: Lower end shaft part, 12: Upper plate, A: Offset, L1, L2:
Product size.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A product support mechanism of a vending machine for supporting products stacked and accommodated in a front open type product storage column equipped with a product discharge mechanism. In the case where a crank-shaped bent guide rod is rotatably installed on the front side of the column straddling the product gate installed at the end, the guide rod for large size products is pivotally supported to the upper plate. It is an offset type guide bar that twists the guide rod itself so that the lower end shaft portion that pivotally supports the product gate with respect to the upper end shaft portion is biased forward of the upper end shaft portion. Machine product support mechanism.