JP3188164B2 - Vending machine product storage column - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product storage column of a vending machine for selling products having a circular cross section such as cans and bottles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional product storage column of this kind,
A so-called serpentine type product storage column having a meandering product path formed by arranging a large number of arc-shaped guide plates is known.
No. 2-6399. In this product storage column, a cylindrical spacer is inserted into a curled mounting hole provided at the upper end of the guide plate, and a shaft is inserted into the spacer. After being inserted into the column side plates, the locking pieces are expanded to connect the column side plates. Thereby, the both end surfaces of the spacer abut against the inner surface of the column side plate, and the expanded locking piece abuts on the outer surface of the column side plate, thereby defining the width between the column side plates from inside and outside. I have. The guide plate is swingably supported between the column side plates via a spacer.

[0003]

In such a product storage column of a conventional vending machine, in order to define the width between column side plates from inside and outside, a spacer and a shaft inserted into a mounting hole of a guide plate are required. Two types of parts are required. Since a large number of guide plates are generally used in a serpentine type product storage column, if a spacer and a shaft are used for each of a large number of guide plates, the number of these components will inevitably increase, and the number of such components will increase. However, this has an adverse effect on the workability of assembling the product storage column, which in turn causes an increase in manufacturing cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and a vending machine having a vending machine capable of improving assembly workability and reducing manufacturing costs by reducing the number of parts. It aims to provide a column.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a width dimension between a pair of column side plates is defined by an intervening spacer, and a plurality of arc-shaped guide plates are formed by a column. A product storage column having a meandering product passage formed by arranging between side plates.
The spacers are provided at both ends thereof, are inserted into spacer mounting holes formed in the column side plate, and are expanded to form a pair of split pin portions for mounting the spacer between the column side plates. A pair of stopper portions provided inside the pin portion and abutting against the inner surface of the column side plate by inserting the split pin portion into the spacer mounting hole, and the guide plate has an upper end portion.
A curl portion formed by winding into a cylindrical shape;
A pair of split pin portions formed at both ends of the
Insert the split pin into the guide plate mounting hole formed in the column side plate.
To the column side plate by expanding
Between the pair of split pins on the guide plate
Is longer than the distance between the pair of split pins of the spacer.
It is characterized by being set to a low value .

[0006]

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

According to this structure, the guide plate is formed such that the split pins formed at both ends of the curled portion are inserted into the guide plate mounting holes of the column side plate from the inside and protruded outward, so that appropriate caulking is performed. It is attached between column side plates by expanding from the outside with a jig. In this case, since the interval between the split pin portions of the guide plate is set to a value longer than the interval between the split pin portions of the spacer, that is, the outer dimension between the column side plates, the expanded split pin of the guide plate is set. Department
The guide plate does not come into tight contact with the outer surface of the column side plate. Therefore, the guide plate can be swingably mounted between the column side plates with the curl portion as a support shaft by simply expanding the split pin portion.

Further, since the mounting of the guide plate can be performed by the caulking method of the split pin portion as in the case of the mounting of the spacer, the work can be shared and simplified. Furthermore, the guide plate with the curled part and split pin part
Since it can be directly attached to the column side plate and a separate attaching member is not required, the number of parts is reduced accordingly.

In this case, it is preferable that the spacer is arranged at a position facing the lower portion of the guide plate. According to this configuration, when the guide plate swings due to a collision of a product, the lower portion thereof abuts on the spacer fixed to the column side plate, thereby preventing excessive swing. That is, the stopper can be used also as the stopper of the guide plate, and the number of parts is further reduced accordingly.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a product storage column of a vending machine according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a product storage column to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view thereof. The product storage column 1 constitutes a product storage of a vending machine for canned beverages and bottled beverages. As shown in both figures, the product storage column 1 is arranged between a pair of left and right column side plates 2, back to back. There are provided two product passages 4, and in each of the product passages 4, many products A of the same type are stored in the vertical direction.

Each of the product passages 4 has a horizontal passage 4a extending obliquely downward and rearward from the product insertion port 5, a vertical passage 4b bent downward from the rear end of the horizontal passage 4a, and a payout connected to the lower end of the vertical passage 4b. And a passage 4c. The lateral passage 4a is
The product A, which is constituted by a top plate 6 extending obliquely downward from the product insertion port 5, is guided to the upper portion of the vertical passage 4 b while being rolled down from the product insertion port 5 while being placed sideways. The vertical passages 4b are formed in a meandering manner by a large number of arcuate guide plates 7 which are arranged alternately in the vertical direction and are opposed to each other in the front and rear direction. The payout passage 4c is composed of a product payout mechanism 8 and a regulating plate 9 facing the product payout mechanism 8, from which products A are paid out one by one.

The products A, which are placed one by one in a horizontal state from the product insertion port 5, are dropped into the vertical passage 4b via the horizontal passage 4a, and are sequentially filled into the product passage 4 from the payout passage 4c. . Then, at the time of sale of the product, the product A is paid out one by one from the payout passage 4c by the operation of the product payout mechanism 8. Although not particularly shown, the regulating plate 9 is configured to be movable in the front-rear direction so that the dispensing passage 4c can be switched between the thin can setting and the large can setting according to the can diameter of the product A to be stored. Has become.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pair of left and right column side plates 2 and 2 are connected and fixed to each other by a plurality of spacers 10. Each spacer 10 is formed of a tubular body, and has a pair of split pin-shaped fixed caulking portions 13, 13 (a pair of split pin portions) at both ends thereof, and a pair of stopper portions 11, 11 inside thereof. ing. Spacer 1
The diameter of 0 is set to D1, and each fixed caulking portion 13 is inserted into a spacer mounting hole 14, 14 formed at a predetermined position of the column side plate 2, 2. Each of the stoppers 11 is a disk having a diameter D1 of the tubular body and a diameter D2 larger than the diameter of the spacer mounting hole 14, and the outer dimension between the stoppers 11, 11 is the column side plate 2, It is set equal to the design width dimension L between the two.

Although not shown, the spacer 10 having such a configuration is manufactured by, for example, the following method.
That is, a flat plate having cutouts corresponding to the fixed caulking portions 13 at both ends is prepared, and then, the flat plate is bent and deformed so as to be rounded to finally form a tubular body having a constant diameter. Apply a compressive force by appropriate means to
By expanding the predetermined portion to form the stopper portions 11, 11, the spacer 10 can be manufactured relatively easily. By integrally processing the stopper portion 11 and the fixed caulking portion 13 with the spacer 10 in this way, it is not necessary to fix these to the spacer 10 as separate members, and thus the manufacturing cost of the spacer 10 can be reduced. .

When the column side plates 2 and 2 are connected and fixed by the spacer 10, the fixed caulking portions 13 and 13 of the spacer 10 are connected to the spacer mounting holes 1 of the column side plates 2 and 2.
After being inserted into the insides 4 and 14 to protrude outward, they are pushed outward by using a caulking jig (not shown) and strongly contact the outer surfaces of the column side plates 2 and 2. In this state, since the inner surfaces of the column side plates 2 and 2 are pressed against the stopper portions 11 and 11, respectively, the width dimension of the column side plates 2 and 2 is defined as the outer dimension L between the stopper portions 11 and 11, and the column side plates 2 and 2 are defined. 2 and 2 can be firmly connected and fixed to each other.

Many guide plates 7 constituting the vertical passage 4b
Is swingably mounted between the column side plates 2 and 2. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each guide plate 7 has a curled portion 18 at the upper end of an arc-shaped main body plate portion 17 and a pair of movable caulking portions 15 (a pair of split pins) at both ends of the curled portion 18. ) Has spacer projections 19 on both upper side portions of the main body plate portion 17. The curl portion 18 includes the main body plate portion 1.
7 is formed by winding the upper end portion into a cylindrical shape having a predetermined diameter, and slightly protrudes on both sides of the main body plate portion 17, and each movable caulking portion 15 formed on this protruding portion is connected to the column side plate 2, 2. The guide plate mounting holes 16 are formed in the guide plate mounting holes 16.

The movable caulking portion 15 has the same split pin shape as the fixed caulking portion 13 of the spacer 10, and the distance S 2 between the movable caulking portions 15, 15 is equal to the fixed caulking portion 1.
The value is set to a value longer than the mutual interval S1 between 3 and 13. It should be noted that the guide plate 7 having such a configuration is used to
As in the case of 0, a flat plate having a predetermined shape is prepared and can be easily manufactured by bending the flat plate.

When the guide plate 7 is mounted between the column side plates 2, the movable caulking portions 15, 15 are connected to the guide plate mounting holes 16, 16 before connecting and fixing the column side plates 2, 2 by the spacer 10. After the column side plates 2 and 2 are connected and fixed, the movable caulking sections 15 and 1 are inserted.
5 is inserted from the inside into the guide plate mounting holes 16 and 16 to protrude outward, and then pushed outward with a caulking jig. From the dimensional relationship S2> S1 between the movable caulking portion 15 and the fixed caulking portion 13 described above, in this state, the expanded movable caulking portion 15 does not come into tight contact with the outer surface of the column side plate 2, whereas Will be loosely attached. Therefore, the guide plate 7 can be swingably mounted between the column side plates 2 and 2 using the curl portion 18 as a support shaft.

Further, when caulking the movable caulking portions 15, 15, the spacer projections 19, 19 abut against the column side plates 2, 2 from the inside, so that the guide plate 7 can be correctly and easily positioned in the left-right direction. be able to. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a spacer for performing such positioning in the curl portion 18, and the guide plate 7 and a configuration for supporting the guide plate 7 can be further simplified. The spacer projection 19 is attached to the attached guide plate 7.
It also functions as a guide for smoothly guiding the rocking motion.

Further, the guide plate 7 is attached by the spacer 1
0, and the above-described relationship that the guide plate 7 is already inserted between the column side plates 2 and 2 at the time of mounting the spacer 10 makes these caulking operations a series of operations. Since it can be performed, the assembling workability can be improved by making the work common, simple, and continuous. Further, the guide plate 7 integrally formed with the curl portion 18 and the movable caulking portion 15 can be directly attached to the column side plate 2, and a separate attaching member is not required, so that the number of parts can be reduced accordingly. Can be.

As described above, in the product storage column 1 of the present embodiment, the only components required for connecting / fixing the column side plates 2 and 2 and defining the width dimension and mounting the swingable guide plate 7 are only the spacers 10. Therefore, the number of parts can be significantly reduced as compared with the related art, thereby improving the assembly workability and reducing the manufacturing cost. Further, since the guide plate 7 and the spacer 10 can be attached by the same caulking method, the assembling workability can be further improved.

Although the mounting position of the plurality of spacers 10 is arbitrary, it is preferable that the spacers 10 are arranged at positions facing the lower part of the guide plate 7 as shown in FIG. This allows
The lower portion of the guide plate 7 that swings due to the collision of the inserted product A is brought into contact with the spacer 10, so that excessive swinging can be prevented. That is, in this case, the spacer 10
Can also be used as a stopper for the guide plate 7, whereby
The number of parts can be further reduced.

[0027]

[0028]

As described above, according to the commodity storage column of the vending machine of the present invention, the number of parts can be reduced, thereby improving the assembly workability and reducing the production cost. are doing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a product storage column of a vending machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the product storage column of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a mounting state of a spacer and a guide plate of the product storage column of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the same situation as in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Commodity storage column 2 Column side plate 4 Commodity passage 7 Guide plate 10 Spacer 11 Stopper portion 13 Fixed caulking portion 14 Spacer mounting hole 15 Movable caulking portion 16 Guide plate mounting hole 18 Curling portion

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuya Murana 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-61-265696 (JP, A) Kaisho 64-46885 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 11/34

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A space interposed the width of the pair of column side plates - with prescribed by Sa, to form a more tortuous commodity passage to be arranged arcuate plurality of guide plates on the column side plates A product storage column, wherein the spacer is provided at both ends thereof, is inserted into a spacer mounting hole formed in the column side plate, and is expanded so that the spacer is connected to the column. A pair of split pin portions to be mounted between the side plates, and a pair of stopper portions provided inside the split pin portions and abutting against the inner surface of the column side plate by inserting the split pin portions into the spacer mounting holes, wherein the guide plate is of formed by winding the upper end into a tubular shape
Curled portion and one end formed at both ends of the curled portion.
A pair of split pin portions, and the split pin portions are
Into the guide plate mounting holes formed in the
By being attached between the column side plates,
The distance between the pair of split pin portions of the guide plate is
Longer than the distance between the pair of split pins of the spacer
Of vending machines characterized by being set to
Goods storage column. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said spacer is provided at a lower portion of said guide plate.
Claims characterized in that they are arranged at opposing positions
Item 4. A product storage column of the vending machine according to Item 1.