JP3683315B2 - Vending machine product dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a product dispensing device for a vending machine that is provided at the bottom of a product rack of a vending machine that sells products such as canned beverages and bottled beverages and that dispenses products one by one at the time of sale.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As this type of conventional product dispensing device, for example, the one shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is known. This commodity dispensing device is provided at the lower part of a commodity rack (not shown), and includes a chassis 10 and a movable plate 11 that define a commodity passage 5 therebetween, and an upper weir plate and a lower plate that are rotatably attached to the chassis 10. The dam plates 12 and 13 and the drive rod 14 for driving the upper and lower dam plates 12 and 13 are provided.
[0003]
The movable plate 11 has a flat passage wall surface and can be fixed at two positions in the left-right direction in FIGS. 5 and 6, whereby the width of the product passage 5 is for a thin can and a thick can shown in FIG. Can be set in two stages. The drive rod 14 is engaged with or connected to the upper and lower weir plates 12 and 13. Further, the drive rod 14 is always urged downward by a coil spring (not shown), and a solenoid plunger (none of which is shown) is connected to be driven upward by excitation of the solenoid. It has become.
[0004]
In the sales standby state shown in the figure, the solenoid is demagnetized, so that the drive rod 14 is positioned at the lowered position by the spring force of the coil spring, the upper dam plate 12 is at the retracted position, and the lower dam plate 13 is projected. The lower dam plate 13 locks the lowest-order sales commodity A1 from the lower side and prevents its drop. When selling the product, the drive rod 14 is driven upward by energizing the solenoid from this sales standby state, and in conjunction with this, the upper weir plate 12 rotates to the protruding position, and the second from the bottom. The next sale product A2 is locked from the lower side to prevent the fall, and the lower dam plate 13 disengaged from the drive rod 14 is rotated to the retracted position by the weight of the sale product A1. As a result, the sales commodity A1 falls and is paid out. Subsequently, when the solenoid is demagnetized at a predetermined timing, the upper dam plate 12 is returned to the retracted position and the lower dam plate 13 is returned to the protruding position by the spring force of the coil spring. Is lowered by one, and the next sale product A2 up to that point is locked to the lower dam plate 13 as a sale product, and again enters a sale standby state. With the above operation, the products A in the product passage 5 are paid out one by one.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventional product dispensing apparatus described above is used when a bottle product or the like having a special shape with a taper as shown in FIG. 1 (hereinafter referred to as “tapered product”) is inserted in the left and right directions (alternate loading). , There is a drawback that it becomes impossible to pay out or two pays out.
[0006]
That is, when the tapered products are alternately loaded, as shown in FIG. 6, when one constant diameter portion of two adjacent products overlaps with the other taper portion, the regular loading in the same direction ( 5), the relative distance in the vertical direction between the products A and A is shorter, and the center of the next sale product A2 is located at the same height as the upper dam plate 12 or below the upper dam plate 12. . When the next sale product A2 is located on the chassis 10 side, even if the solenoid is energized at the time of sale, the upper dam 12 cannot rotate because the next sale product A2 is in the way (X in FIG. 6). Mark), the lower dam plate 13 connected to the upper dam plate 12 via the drive rod 14 also cannot be rotated, so that the commodity A1 cannot be paid out. Further, when the next sale product A2 is positioned below the upper barrier plate 12, the next sale product A2 cannot be locked even if the upper barrier plate 12 rotates at the time of sale. Will be paid out together with A1.
[0007]
Such a defect is caused by, for example, setting the width of the merchandise passage 5 to a special dimension that is extremely narrower than the narrow can setting, and is set to a very specific size that matches the diameter of the merchandise A. It can be solved by preventing the jamming from going down. However, in that case, a product with a larger diameter cannot be sold, and the product column must be specialized for a tapered product.
[0008]
The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and even when tapered products are alternately loaded, the products can be delivered one by one reliably and also for the delivery of products with larger diameters. The object is to provide a vending machine product dispensing device that can be shared.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve this object, a product dispensing device for a vending machine according to the present invention is provided at a lower portion of a product storage column so as to face each other, and is attached to a pair of passage walls constituting a product passage and one of the passage walls. Each of an upper dam plate and a lower dam plate that are rotatable between a protruding position that protrudes into the product passage and a retracted position that retreats from the product passage; By holding the lower dam plate in the protruding position at the retracted position, the lowest sale product is locked to the lower dam plate, and when selling the product, the upper dam plate is moved from the top to the top. with locking the second Tsugi販goods from below by projecting the projected position is rotated downward, thereby paid the commodities by rotating the lower dam to the retracted position drive Means on the other side of the passage wall At the time of sale stand the next sales Product to escape away from the Kamizeki plate between sales products and Tsugi販Product vertical Kamizeki plate even when the relative distance becomes shorter tip and Tsugi販the product It is characterized in that a recess is formed so that a gap is generated for the upper dam plate to turn to a projecting position where the next sale product is locked during sales.
[0010]
According to this product dispensing device, when the product is on standby for sale, the driving means holds the upper dam plate in the retracted position and the lower dam plate in the projecting position, so that the lower dam plate has the lowest sales product. When the product is sold, when the product is sold, the upper dam plate is pivoted to the protruding position to lock the second sale product from the bottom, and the lower dam plate is pivoted to the retracted position. Pay out. In the sales standby state, the next sale product is released to the other passage wall side by the recess formed on the other passage wall opposite to the one passage wall to which the upper dam plate and the lower dam plate are attached. It has become. As a result, even if the next sale product is located below the normal height due to the taper product being alternately loaded, the clearance between the next sale product and the upper barrier plate is caused by the escape of this next sale product. Occurs. Due to the presence of this gap, the upper barrier plate can be reliably rotated at the time of sale without being obstructed by the next sale product, and therefore the sale product can be paid out reliably. Further, even when used for paying out a tapered product, since it is not necessary to narrow the width of the product passage, for example, it can be used as it is for paying out a thin can product.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a product dispensing device for a vending machine to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. This merchandise dispensing apparatus is provided at the lower part of a merchandise rack of a vending machine that sells canned drinks, bottled drinks, and the like. As shown in FIG. 4, the product rack 1 includes a case 2 in which four series of product storage columns 3 each storing four types of products A are arranged in parallel in the front-rear direction. Each product storage column 3 includes a product input port 4 that opens to the front, and a product passage 5 (not shown in FIG. 4) that extends from the product input port 4 and extends in the vertical direction. A large number of products A of the same type put into the product are stored in the product passage 5 in a state where they are stacked in the vertical direction.
[0014]
The product dispensing device 6 is provided at the lower part of each product storage column 3 and dispenses the products A in the corresponding product passage 5 one by one from the lowest one. In addition, since the adjacent thing is comprised mutually symmetrically about the goods delivery apparatus 6, the following description shall be given taking the leftmost goods delivery apparatus 6 of FIG. 4 as an example. In addition, components common to the above-described conventional commodity dispensing apparatus will be described using common reference numerals.
[0015]
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the commodity dispensing device 6 includes a chassis 10 and a movable plate 11 that are attached to the case 2 so as to face in the front-rear direction, and an upper dam plate and a lower dam plate provided on the chassis 10. 12, 13 and a drive rod 14 (drive means) for driving the upper and lower barrier plates 12, 13 are provided.
[0016]
The chassis 10 constitutes one of the lowermost passage walls of the product passage 5, and the movable plate 11 constitutes the other passage wall. While the chassis 10 is fixed at a fixed position of the case 2, the movable plate 11 can be fixed at two positions in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in the figure), thereby making the width of the product passage 5 the same as the figure. It can be set in two stages for thin cans and thick cans. In addition, a concave portion 21 for allowing the product A to escape to the movable plate 11 side is formed at a predetermined position of the movable plate 11. The concave portion 21 has a predetermined depth of, for example, about 5 mm, and has an upper slope portion 21a and a lower slope portion 21b (guide slope portion) at both upper and lower end portions.
[0017]
The upper and lower weir plates 12 and 13 are rotatably attached to support shafts 15 and 16 extending horizontally to the chassis 10, respectively. The drive rod 14 is engaged or connected to the upper and lower barrier plates 12 and 13 and is always urged downward by a coil spring (not shown). Also, a solenoid plunger (none of which is shown) is connected to the drive rod 14 and is driven upward by excitation of the solenoid.
Next, the basic dispensing operation of the commodity dispensing apparatus 6 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. FIG. 2 shows the sales standby state of the product dispensing device 6. First, before the product A is put in, the solenoid is demagnetized, so that the drive rod 14 is positioned at the lowered position by the spring force of the coil spring, and the upper barrier plate 12 is moved by the lowered drive rod 14. The lower dam plate 13 is held at the retracted position and at the protruding position, respectively. In this state, when the product A is input from the product input port 4, the first product A is locked to the lower dam plate 13 at the protruding position and becomes the sales product A <b> 1. The next product A is overlapped on the sales product A1 in a state where a part thereof enters the recess 21 and escapes to the movable plate 11 side, and becomes the next sales product A2. Hereinafter, the third and subsequent products A are sequentially stacked on the next sales product A2, and enter the sales standby state shown in FIG.
[0019]
Next, when a sales command is issued from this sales standby state, the solenoid is excited to be driven by the plunger of the solenoid, and the drive rod 14 is raised. In conjunction with this, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper weir plate 12 is rotated to the protruding position, and the next sale product A <b> 2 is locked from the lower side to prevent the fall, and with the drive rod 14. When the disengaged lower dam plate 13 rotates to the retreat position by the weight of the sales product A1, the sales product A1 falls and is paid out.
[0020]
Subsequently, the solenoid is demagnetized at a predetermined timing. Accordingly, the spring force of the coil spring causes the upper dam plate 12 to return to the retracted position and the lower dam plate 13 to return to the protruding position, whereby the entire product A is lowered by one, and the sales shown in FIG. Return to standby state. At the time of returning to the sales standby state, the next sale product A2 descends while being guided to the chassis 10 side by the lower slope 21b of the recess 21 and is locked to the lower weir plate 13. Further, since the next sale product A2 is guided to the chassis 10 side, the sale product A3 one after another is guided to the movable plate 11 side from the positional relationship of the center of gravity with the next sale product A2. By such guidance, it is possible to reliably release the next-selling products A3, that is, the next-next-selling products to the movable plate 11 side.
[0021]
FIG. 1 shows a sales standby state when a tapered product is stored in the product dispensing device 6. That is, when the tapered product A is normally loaded, the product A can be stored and paid out as in the case of the thin can product shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the tapered product A is alternately loaded, the relative distance between the products A and A becomes shorter as shown in FIG. 5B, and the next sale product A2 is lower than the normal height. In this case as well, the next sale product A2 can be surely escaped to the movable plate 11 side by the concave portion 21 formed in the movable plate 11 and the lower slope portion 21b. As a result, a gap C is secured between the next sale product A2 and the upper barrier plate 12, so that the upper barrier plate 12 protrudes at the time of sale without being obstructed by the next sale product A2 through the gap C. It can be reliably rotated to a position. Thereby, the rotation of the lower dam plate 13 interlocked with the upper dam plate 12 is also ensured, and the sales commodity A1 can be paid out reliably.
[0022]
For example, in the case of a tapered product, the concave portion 21 is arranged and formed such that the center height of the next sale product A2 in the sales standby state is located above the height of the tip of the upper dam plate 12 at the protruding position. It is preferable to do. By arranging and forming the recess 21 in this way, the next sale product A2 can be locked to the upper dam plate 12 at the time of sale, and the two payouts can be reliably prevented. As described above, the commodity dispensing device 6 of the present embodiment can be used as it is set in a thin can without narrowing the width of the commodity passage 5 even when used for dispensing tapered products. Can be increased. Further, the commodity dispensing device 6 has an advantage that it can be easily configured because it is only necessary to form the recess 21 in the existing movable plate 11.
[0023]
In addition, this invention can be implemented in various aspects, without being limited to embodiment described. For example, in order to make the next sale product A2 escape to the recess 21 more reliably, the guide slope that guides the next sale product A2 to the recess 21 side at an appropriate position higher than the recess 21 on the passage wall surface of the chassis 10. May be provided. In addition, it is possible to appropriately change the detailed configuration within the scope of the present invention.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the product dispensing apparatus of the vending machine according to the present invention can reliably eject products one by one even when tapered products are alternately loaded, and can also be used for dispensing larger diameter products. Has an effect.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a standby state in which a tapered product is stored in a product dispensing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a side view of a standby state in which a can product is stored in the product dispensing apparatus of FIG.
3 is a side view showing a dispensing operation of the commodity dispensing apparatus of FIG. 2. FIG.
4 is a perspective view of a product rack on which the product dispensing device of FIG. 1 is mounted.
FIG. 5 is a side view of a conventional product dispensing apparatus.
FIG. 6 is a side view of a conventional product dispensing apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
3 Product storage column 5 Product passage 6 Product delivery device 10 Chassis 11 Movable plate 12 Upper dam plate 13 Lower dam plate 14 Actuating rod 21 Recess 21b Lower slope A Product A1 Sales product A2 Next sale product

Claims (1)

A pair of passage walls that are provided opposite to each other in the lower part of the product storage column and that are attached to one of the passage walls, and a protruding position that protrudes into the product passage and a retreat from the product passage. By holding the upper dam plate and the lower dam plate that can be rotated between the retreat position and the standby position of the product, by holding the upper dam plate at the retreat position and the lower dam plate at the protruding position thereby locking the lowest selling goods to the lower dam, at the point of sale of goods, the Kamizeki plate, the second from the bottom by projecting its tip to the protruding position is rotated from top to bottom Drive means for locking the next sale merchandise and discharging the sale merchandise by rotating the lower weir plate to the retracted position, and on the other side of the passage wall, away goods from the Kamizeki plate Projecting Kamizeki plate at the time of sale to lock the Tsugi販products between the to sell products and Tsugi販 tip and Tsugi販Product Kamizeki plate even when the relative distance in the vertical direction is shortened between items A product dispensing apparatus for a vending machine, wherein a recess is formed so that a gap for rotating the position is formed.

Images