JP3099731B2 - Product exit door device for vending machines - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a merchandise outlet door device for a cup-type beverage vending machine, and more particularly to a structure of a finger stuffing detection switch mechanism incorporated in the door device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a cup-type beverage vending machine described above,
Equipped with a door device that automatically opens and closes the product exit that leads to the in-flight bend stage in conjunction with the product sales operation. Is not inserted.

Further, as such a product take-out door device, the door plate is slid by a motor drive between an open position and a closed position, and when the door is in a closed position, the door plate has little gap in the product take-out opening. A sliding door device that is fitted into the door has been used in a vending machine that has already been developed in the market, and the specific configuration is proposed by the same applicant as the present invention as Japanese Patent Application No. 7-273864. Have been.

By the way, when a customer takes out a product (beverage cup) taken out to a bend stage from a product outlet when selling a product, the door device detects this and automatically closes the door. . For this reason, if a child or the like keeps hands on the product exit without knowing when removing the product, fingers may accidentally get caught between the makeup frame of the product exit and the door plate and cause unexpected injury. There is.

Therefore, in the above-described product outlet door apparatus for a cup-type beverage vending machine, a finger-stuffing detection plate and a finger-stuffing detection switch (microswitch) using the detection plate as an actuator are provided on the back side of the door plate. Incorporating the combined finger stuffing detection device, if a finger or the like is caught between the door plate and the product exit while the door closes, the closing operation is interrupted based on the operation signal of the finger stuffing detection switch. Safety measures such as opening the door.

[0006]

By the way, in the conventional finger stuffing detection device incorporated in the door device of the product outlet,
The following problems remain in terms of functions. In other words, when the fingertip is caught between the door plate and the product outlet during the closing operation of the product outlet door, the finger stuffing detection switch is activated and the drive motor for opening and closing the door stops and reverses. Although the period is short, since the motor driving force is continuously applied in the direction of closing the door plate, a considerable force is applied to the pinched finger, which may cause injury to infants and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has been developed to solve the above-mentioned problem with a product exit door provided with a finger stuffing detection mechanism and to further enhance safety in terms of injury prevention. It is an object of the present invention to provide a product exit door device for a vending machine.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the structure of the present invention, at least one finger corresponds between the tip of the door plate and the product outlet at the fully closed position of the door. The width of the door plate is set shorter than the width of the exit of the product outlet so that a gap is left, and the auxiliary door is connected to the back side of the door plate via a slide mechanism on the back side of the door plate as a finger-filling detection mechanism. A finger stuffing detection plate that also serves as a plate, a spring member that projects and biases the finger stuffing detection plate laterally from the door plate so as to cover the gap, and a finger stuffing detection plate that is driven by a relative displacement with the door plate as an actuator And a finger stuffing detection switch that operates in response to the command.

In addition, in the above-described configuration, there is also a configuration in which a finger cover detecting plate is provided with a decorative cover that protrudes forward of the door plate and covers a gap between the product outlets. According to the above configuration, at the fully closed position of the product outlet door, a gap (for example, about 12 mm) corresponding to at least one finger is provided between the front end of the shortened door plate and the side edge of the product outlet. There is a finger stuffing detection plate that protrudes to the back side of the door plate to cover this gap,
It is urged by a spring that is weak enough to apply a pressing force necessary for the reversing operation of the finger stuffing detection switch (micro switch). Therefore, even if a finger is kept inserted into the product outlet during the closing operation of the door, the finger is not completely caught by the door plate in the gap, and the fingertip of the finger stuffing detection plate slightly biased by the spring is applied to the fingertip. Only the tip hits, and even a little child can remove the finger from the product exit with almost no pain, thus ensuring high safety against injury.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is a front outer door of the vending machine main body, 2 is a product outlet opened to the outer door 1, 3 is a door for opening and closing the product outlet, and the door 3 slides along a guide rail (not shown). And a sliding link from the open position on the left side as shown by the arrow A in the figure by operation of the drive motor, and the door 3 swings just before the closed position to move the product outlet 2.
It operates to fit in. The door 3 serves as a finger stuffing detection device, a finger stuffing detection switch (micro switch) 4, a finger stuffing detection plate 5 acting as a switch actuator, and a slide bearing for supporting the detection plate 5 left and right on the back side of the door plate 3a. 6, components such as a biasing spring 7 for biasing the detection plate 5 rightward are incorporated.

Here, the door plate 3a has a width L1 between the tip and the side edge of the product outlet 2 in the fully closed position, the width L1 of which is about 12 mm, which is equivalent to at least one finger. The width of the front end L2 of the outlet 2 is set to be shorter. Also,
The finger stuffing detection plate 5 also serves as an auxiliary door plate that covers the gap G from the back side of the door plate 3a, and is provided with a spring G stretched between the finger plate detection plate 5 and the door plate 3a. It is urged to protrude to the side. further,
The dog 5a cut and raised from the detection plate 5 faces the push button of the finger-stuffing detection switch. The urging spring 7 is set to a very weak spring force required for pressing the finger-stuffing detection switch 4.

In such a configuration, in a steady state, the detection plate 5 projects laterally from the tip of the door plate 3a by the bias of the spring, and the door 4 moves to the closed position to close the product outlet 2. In the state, or in the state of the selling operation until the product is sent to the bend stage, the finger stuffing detection plate 5 closes the gap G. On the other hand, if the user takes out the product from the bend stage at the time of selling the product and puts a finger or the like on the product outlet 2 without noticing when the door 3 closes, the finger may be erroneously pinched by the door plate 3a. In the fully closed position of the door 3, since the gap G is set between the tip of the door plate 3a and the side edge of the product outlet 2, the pinched finger is not strongly pressed and the product outlet 2 is not pressed. Can be easily removed from In addition, in this case, the tip of the finger stuffing detection plate 5 which is first biased by the spring only touches the finger lightly, and even an infant hardly feels pain. Then, when the detection plate 5 hits a finger, the switch 4 is inverted by a relative displacement with respect to the door plate 3a, and the door 3 is switched to an open operation for safety based on the switch operation signal. Even if the finger jam detection switch 4 breaks down and the door 3 moves to the fully closed position when the finger is caught, the finger is not strongly pressed by the above-described gap G, and the finger is securely pressed. is there.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. In the steady state, the finger stuffing detection switch 4 is pressed by the dog 5a of the finger stuffing detection plate 5 to turn off the switch (b contact).
It is in the state of. Here, if the fingertip is inserted into the product outlet 2 when the door 3 is closed as shown in FIG.
Before the finger is pinched by the door plate 3a that has moved from the left side as shown in (b), the detection plate 5 hits the finger and the detection plate stops at that position, but the door plate 3a is in the fully closed position. Continue to move towards. Accordingly, the detection plate 5 and the door plate 3a are relatively displaced, and the dog 5a of the detection plate 5 as shown in FIG.
Is released from the push button of the switch 4 and the switch 4 is turned on to be turned on, and based on this switch operation signal, the control unit judges that the finger jam has occurred and reverses the door drive motor to open the door 3. I do. This avoids the risk of injury due to the hand or finger inserted into the product outlet being strongly pressed between the door 3 and the side edge of the product outlet 2.

Next, an applied embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
In the configuration of FIG. 3, an L-shaped decorative cover 8 having one end coupled thereto and projecting in front of the door plate 3 is provided on the tip end side of the finger stuffing detection plate 5.
The decorative cover 8 compensates for the short length of the door plate 3a and closes the gap G described above. With this configuration, the appearance is improved, and the decorative cover 8 itself also functions as a part of the finger stuffing detection plate.
Even when the fingertip is inserted shallowly into the product outlet 2, finger stuffing can be reliably detected.

[0015]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. 1) The width of the door plate is shorter than the width of the product outlet so that a gap corresponding to at least one finger remains between the tip of the door plate and the edge of the product outlet at the fully closed position of the door. When the product exit door is closed, even if a finger inserted into the product exit is caught in the door plate, the finger hits the spring because it is spring-loaded and almost no pain is caused only by the finger jamming detection plate. The finger can be easily pulled out by the gap without being strongly pressed by the door plate without feeling, and the safety for preventing injury is improved.

2) By providing a decorative cover on the finger stuffing detection plate, which extends in front of the door plate and covers the gap between the product outlets.
The appearance of the product outlet is improved in appearance, and the function of detecting finger stuffing is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a product exit door device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the configuration of a product exit door device according to an application example of the present invention.

4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams of a finger-stuffing detection operation according to the configuration of FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 4A illustrates a state in which a door is moving from an open position to a closed position, and FIG. FIG. 3C is a diagram showing a finger stuffing detection operation state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Outer door 2 Merchandise exit 3 Merchandise exit door 3a Door plate 4 Finger stuffing detection switch 5 Finger stuffing detection plate 6 Slide bearing 7 Urging spring 8 Makeup cover G Clearance

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 9/00-15/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sliding door device for automatically opening and closing a product outlet connected to a bend stage in connection with a product selling operation, wherein a finger is provided between an edge of a door plate and the product outlet when the door is closed. A finger stuffing detection mechanism that detects this when it is caught, and a gap corresponding to at least one finger between the tip of the door plate and the edge of the product outlet at the fully closed position of the door. The width of the door plate is set shorter than the width of the product outlet so that
On the back side of the door plate, an auxiliary door plate also serves as a finger stuffing detection plate movably connected to the left and right via a slide mechanism, and the finger stuffing detection plate protrudes and biases from the door plate to the side to cover the gap. A merchandise exit door device for a vending machine, comprising: a spring member; and a finger stuffing detection switch which operates using a finger stuffing detection plate as an actuator in accordance with a relative displacement between the door plate and the door member. 2. A vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a decorative cover is provided on the finger stuffing detection plate so as to protrude forward of the door plate and cover a gap between the product exits. Product exit door device.