JP4433380B2 - Goods delivery mechanism - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mechanism for holding out various articles in a suspended state and dispensing them by individually dropping the suspended articles in an article dispensing apparatus that dispenses various stored articles.

  FIG. 1 is an external view showing a form of a prize dispensing device which is a general article dispensing device.

  In the prize dispensing device 1 of FIG. 1, a prize storage space 2A is formed in the upper part of the main casing 2 and a prize dispensing part 2B is provided in the lower part.

  In the prize storage space 2A of the prize dispensing apparatus 1, a plurality of prize dispensing mechanisms 3 as article dispensing mechanisms are arranged in two rows and four stages, and various prizes are attached to each prize dispensing mechanism 3. G is held by being suspended.

  FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of a conventional prize payout mechanism 3, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the prize payout mechanism 3.

  2 and 3, a disc-like rotating body 3A for holding a prize G is supported rotatably at the tip of a support arm 3B in a horizontal plane, and is rotated clockwise by a drive motor 3D via a drive belt 3C. It is designed to rotate in the direction.

  The prize suspensions 3Aa are provided at equiangular intervals on the outer periphery of the rotating body 3A. The prize suspensions 3Aa are hooks that are detachably locked in a state where the prizes G are suspended. 3Aa1 is attached.

  In the prize payout mechanism 3, a prize payout position P is set at a position in front of the front end portion (left end portion in FIG. 2) of the support arm 3B in FIG. 2, and at the payout position P, the prize suspension 3Aa. Disengagement arms 3Ea and 3Eb for releasing the prize G by releasing the engagement between the prize G suspended on the hook 3Aa1 and the hook 3Aa1 are fixedly attached to the support arm 3B.

  The prize payout mechanism 3 is attached to the payout position P when the rotating body 3A is rotated stepwise by the drive motor 3D via the drive belt 3C and the prize hanging part 3Aa is moved to the payout position P. The engagement release arms 3Ea and 3Eb work together to release the engagement state of the hook 3Aa1 with the prize G, thereby dropping the prize G.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the prize G stored in the prize storage space 2A of the prize delivery device 1 by being suspended by the prize delivery mechanism 3 as shown in FIG. 1 is sent from the prize delivery mechanism 3 to the prize delivery unit 2B. And can be taken out from a prize outlet 2Ba (see FIG. 1) provided in the prize dispensing unit 2B (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The conventional prize payout mechanism 3 has the following problems.

That is, when using the conventional prize payout mechanism 3 to the prize dispensing device 1, this prize payout mechanism 3, the rotary body 3A to the conveyance to the suspension and the dispensing position P of the prize G configured in a disk shape Therefore, the transport path of the prize G always draws a circle, so that the arrangement of the rotating body 3A in the prize storage space 2A of the prize dispensing device 1 is restricted and the degree of freedom of the configuration of the prize dispensing device 1 is restricted. The problem of receiving it occurs.

  Furthermore, since the prize G is suspended along the outer periphery of the rotating body 3A, the conventional prize payout mechanism 3 cannot effectively use the limited space of the prize storage space 2A and can store the prize. There arises a problem that the number of G is limited.

Japanese Patent No. 3081568

  The present invention has been made to solve the problems in the conventional article dispensing mechanism.

  That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an article dispensing mechanism having a high degree of freedom in arrangement.

In order to achieve the above object, the article dispensing mechanism according to this invention (the invention described in claim 1) conveys the article in the row direction while holding the plurality of items in a suspended state in a row. And an article delivery mechanism for delivering articles by releasing and dropping the holding state one by one at the delivery position, the article delivery mechanism comprising a drive pulley member, at least one driven pulley member, and a plurality of articles. An article conveying chain member that holds and conveys the article in a suspended state, and a release member that releases the holding state of the article suspended from the article conveying chain member at the payout position. When the drive pulley member is wound between the drive pulley member and the driven pulley member and driven in the horizontal plane by the drive of the drive pulley member, Moni, is constructed by concatenating several articles holder double in a chain, the article holder includes a holder main body, a hook member for holding the articles one by one in a lower portion of the holder main body, the and a rocking lever attached to the pivotable holder main body between a position for opening the lower position and the hook member that covers the lower hook member and said Rukoto.

  In the article delivery mechanism, an article transport chain member is wound between a drive pulley member and one driven pulley member or a plurality of driven pulley members, and travels in a certain direction by driving rotation of the drive pulley member. The article holders connected in a chain form constituting the chain member are sequentially moved one by one to a preset dispensing position.

  Each article holder constituting the article transport chain member is held in a state in which an article such as a prize is suspended by being locked to the hook portion of each hook member, and is held by the article holder. The articles are sequentially conveyed to the payout position as the article conveyance chain member travels.

  The release member is engaged with the lever portion of the hook member of the article holder on the near side of the payout position, and the lever portion is pressed by the release member as the article holder moves due to the traveling of the article transport chain member. When the hook member is rotated, the locked state of the article by the hook portion is released.

According to the article dispensing mechanism according to the present invention, the article carrying chain member that holds the article in a suspended state and conveys the article to the dispensing position is connected to the article holder that holds the article one by one in a chain shape. Therefore, the degree of freedom in setting the article conveyance path is greatly increased as compared with the conventional article delivery mechanism.

  For example, in order to increase the number of articles held by the article dispensing mechanism, the distance between the driving pulley member and the driven pulley member is set to be large, or a plurality of driven pulley members are used to change the article conveyance path to a triangle or It becomes possible to form a quadrangle or even a polygon larger than that, and the conveyance route of the article can be configured in various forms. As the degree of freedom increases, it is possible to greatly contribute to improving the display effect of the prize in the prize dispensing device or the like.

  In the article dispensing mechanism according to the present invention, an article transport chain configured by connecting a plurality of article holders holding articles one by one in a chain shape is wound between a driving pulley and a driven pulley. The article delivery mechanism is the best embodiment.

  In the article delivery mechanism in this embodiment, the article transport chain is driven by the drive rotation of the drive pulley, and each article holder constituting the article transport chain is sequentially transported to the article delivery position, and is supplied to the article holder. Articles held in a suspended state are paid out by dropping the held state at this payout position.

  4 to 6 show an example of the embodiment of the article delivery mechanism according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the article delivery mechanism, FIG. 5 is a side view, and FIG. 6 is a front view.

  4 to 6, in the article dispensing mechanism 10, a driving pulley 11 and a driven pulley 12 are arranged in the same horizontal plane with their respective axes oriented vertically and at a required interval.

  An article transport chain 13 is wound around the drive pulley 11 and the driven pulley 12.

  The drive pulley 11, the driven pulley 12, and the article transport chain 13 are supported by an arm 14 that is fixed to a main body casing of an article dispensing apparatus (not shown).

  That is, the arm 14 extends horizontally to the position where the tip of the arm 14 is located above the drive pulley 11 and faces the intermediate portion between the driven pulley 12, and the support plate 15 is provided on the lower surface side of the tip of the arm 14. Is fixed horizontally.

  The drive pulley 11 is disposed on the upper surface side of the rear side portion (the right side portion in FIGS. 4 and 5) of the support plate 15 so as to be positioned between the arm 14 and is rotated in the horizontal plane by the arms 14 and 15. It is supported freely.

  The rotation shaft 11A of the drive pulley 11 is driven and rotated by being connected to a drive motor (not shown) of the drive unit 16 supported by the arm 14.

  The driven pulley 12 is supported on the upper surface side of the front side portion (the left side portion in FIGS. 4 and 5) of the support plate 15 so as to be rotatable in a horizontal plane around the rotation shaft 12A.

A plurality of recesses 11 </ b> B and 12 </ b> B for driving and driving the article transport chain 13 are formed on the outer peripheral portions of the drive pulley 11 and the driven pulley 12 at equal angular intervals.
The article transport chain 13 is configured by connecting article holders 13A shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 in a chain shape.

  7 is a front view of the article holder 13A, FIG. 8 is a rear view, and FIG. 9 is a front view of the article transport chain 13 as viewed from the front side (left side of FIG. 7) of the advancing method described later.

  7 to 9, the main body 13Aa of the article holder 13A is formed in a substantially rectangular shape having a small width in the front and back directions and a vertically long outer shape.

  And the 1st which extended in the horizontal direction and opened the back side and the front side (the left side in FIG. 7 and the right side in FIG. 8) at the upper end part of the back side (the side shown in FIG. 8) of the main body 13Aa. A groove 13Aa1 is formed, and the front surface of the first groove 13Aa1 is open to the surface side (the side shown in FIG. 7).

  Further, the main body 13Aa has a connecting portion 13Ab that protrudes rearward from the main body 13Aa at a position facing the first groove 13Aa1 on the side of the rear surface side (the right side in FIG. 7 and the left side in FIG. 8). A connecting hole 13Ab1 penetrating in the vertical direction is formed in the connecting portion 13Ab.

  The upper portion of the main body 13Aa is formed with a second groove 13Aa2 that extends in the horizontal direction and is open on the back side, the front side, and the rear side at a position immediately below the first groove 13Aa1 on the back side. .

  The lower portion of the main body 13Aa is formed with a first slit portion 13Aa3 that extends in parallel to the front surface and the back surface inside the main body 13Aa and has an opening in the front and lower surfaces of the main body 13Aa and the second groove portion 13Aa2. ing.

  Further, second slit portions 13Aa4 that vertically cut upward from the lower end side are respectively formed in the rear portions of the front wall surface and the back wall surface in the width direction of the lower surface portion of the main body 13Aa with the first slit portion 13Aa3 interposed therebetween. ing.

  In the first slit portion 13Aa3, a hook 13Ac having a shape as will be described later is supported by a support shaft 13Ad attached so as to extend in the front-back direction with respect to the main body 13Aa at the upper front position of the second slit portion 13Aa4. By pivotally supporting the upper end portion, the main body 13Aa is swingably mounted in a plane parallel to the front wall surface and the back wall surface.

  The hook 13Ac has an arm portion 13Ac1 linearly extending downward from a portion supported by the support shaft 13Ad, and a tip portion upward from the lower end portion of the arm portion 13Ac1 to the rear side (right side in FIG. 7). Are integrally formed by a hook portion 13Ac2 that is curved in this manner and a lever portion 13Ac3 that extends upward from a portion that is pivotally supported by the support shaft 13Ad at the upper end of the arm portion 13Ac1 and that is inclined at a required angle to the rear side. Yes.

  A spring 13Ae is interposed between the hook 13Ac and the main body 13Aa, and the lever 13Ac3 of the hook 13Ac is urged backward (counterclockwise in FIG. 7) by the spring 13Ae. It has become so.

  The spring 13Ae has its winding portion centered by a support shaft 13Ad, one end engaged with the main body 13Aa, and the other end engaged with the lower end of the arm 13Ac1 of the hook 13Ac. In this state, it is interposed between the hook 13Ac and the main body 13Aa, and biases the hook 13Ac in the counterclockwise direction in FIG.

  Further, a swing lever 13Af having a shape as described later is attached to the main body 13Aa so as to be swingable while being suspended from the main body 13Aa.

  That is, as can be seen from FIG. 9, the swing lever 13Af is shaped so that the shape seen from the front is an approximately U-shape upward, and the main body 13Aa is formed on both sides of the swing lever 13Af. It is loosely fitted from above between the two arm portions 13Af1 and 13Af2, and the upper end portions of the arm portions 13Af1 and 13Af2 are respectively pivotally supported at positions immediately below the support shaft 13Ad on the front wall surface and the back wall surface of the main body 13Aa. Thus, it is suspended so as to be swingable with respect to the main body 13Aa.

  The bar 13Af3 suspended between the arm portions 13Af1 and 13Af2 is inserted into the second slit portion 13Aa4 of the main body 13Aa at the inner portion of the upper end portions of the arm portions 13Af1 and 13Af2 with respect to the main body 13Aa. Thus, the swing of the swing lever 13Af relative to the main body 13Aa is restricted between the position where the bar 13Af3 is in contact with the upper edge of the second slit portion 13Aa4 and the position of contact with the front side edge. It is supposed to be.

  The arm portions 13Af1 and 13Af2 are formed such that the lower portion from the position where the bar 13Af3 is formed, and the tip portion is curved upward toward the front side of the main body 13Aa. The wing portions 13Af4 projecting in the front direction and the back direction are integrally formed.

  Further, a protruding portion 13Af5 is integrally formed on the outer portion of the arm portion 13Af1 located on the back side of the main body 13Aa where the bar 13Af3 is substantially formed.

  As can be seen from FIG. 4, the article holder 13A has a connecting portion 13Ab formed integrally with the main body 13Aa, on the front side of the first groove 13Aa1 formed on the main body 13Aa of the other article holder 13A. The connecting pin 13Ag that is fitted into the portion and is inserted into the connecting hole 13Ab1 of the connecting portion 13Ab so as to penetrate the front side portion of the first groove portion 13Aa1 in the vertical direction in the main body 13Aa of the other article holder 13A. Is inserted, two adjacent article holders 13A are connected to each other in a swingable manner in a horizontal plane.

  In this manner, the plurality of article holders 13A are connected to each other in a chain shape, whereby the annular article transport chain 13 is configured.

In this article transport chain 13, the connecting portion 13 </ b> Ab positioned between the main bodies 13 </ b> Aa of the adjacent article holders 13 </ b> A is formed at an equal angular interval position on the outer peripheral portion of the drive pulley 11 and the outer periphery of the driven pulley 12. In a state of being fitted in a recess 12B formed at an equiangular interval position of the part, it is wound between the drive pulley 11 and the driven pulley 12, and the recess 11B of the drive pulley 11 and the recess 12B of the driven pulley 12 By fitting with the connecting portion 13Ab of the article holder 13A, the article conveying chain 13 is driven in the conveying direction (clockwise in FIG. 4 in this example) by the driving rotation of the driving pulley 11 . .

  In the article delivery mechanism 10, a release bar 17 is further fixed to a lower portion of the base plate at a position where the rotating shaft 12 </ b> A of the driven pulley 12 of the support plate 15 is attached. At the same height position as the second groove 13Aa2 of each article holder 13A, it is attached so as to extend in the horizontal direction.

  The release bar 17 is rearward (driven) by a required angle in the traveling direction of the article transport chain 13 from the delivery position P1 set at the most advanced position of the article delivery mechanism 10 (left end position in FIG. 4). The tip end portion is positioned in the second groove portion 13Aa2 of the article holder 13A that extends toward the position of the pulley 12 in the counterclockwise direction) and is located at this position.

  The article dispensing mechanism 10 having the above-described configuration is used by being installed horizontally in a prize storage space of a prize dispensing apparatus as described with reference to FIG.

  Next, a method for mounting an article on the article delivery mechanism 10 and an operation of the article delivery mechanism 10 will be described.

  The article is attached to the article transport chain 13 of the article delivery mechanism 10 attached to the article delivery apparatus in the following procedure.

  That is, the attachment of the article to the article transport chain 13 is performed for each article holder 13A. First, as shown in FIG. 10, the swing lever 13Af of the article holder 13A is lifted up in FIG. By pivoting counterclockwise, the tip of the swing lever 13Af is moved from a position facing the lower opening of the second slit portion 13Aa4 of the main body 13Aa.

  Thereafter, the suspension engaging portion G1a provided on the article G1 is inserted into the second slit portion 13Aa4 from below the article holder 13A, and the rear end portion of the hook portion 13Ac2 of the hook 13Ac and the rear side of the second slit portion 13Aa4. It is inserted while spreading between the side inner part.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 11, when the hanging engagement portion G1a of the article G1 is inserted to the required position of the second slit portion 13Aa4 of the article holder 13A, the hanging engagement of the article G1 is performed. The hook portion 13Ac2 of the hook 13Ac is inserted into the suspension hole G1a1 formed in the portion G1a, and the suspension engagement portion G1 of this article is locked to the hook 13Ac.

  In this manner, one article G1 is suspended from each article holder 13A of the article transport chain 13 one by one.

  Thereafter, the drive unit 16 of the article delivery mechanism 10 is driven by the drive control by the control unit of the article delivery apparatus, and the drive pulley 11 is stepped, whereby each article holder 13A of the article transport chain 13 is The vehicle is sequentially moved so as to be moved in the direction of the dispensing position P1 set at the most advanced position of the article dispensing mechanism 10.

  At this time, when each article holder 13A is transported and traveled toward the payout position P1 and passes the position of the release bar 17 disposed in front of the payout position P1, the second groove portion of the article holder 13A. The distal end portion of the release bar 17 that relatively moves in 13Aa2 engages with the lever portion 13Ac3 of the hook 13Ac of the article holder 13A.

  When the article holder 13A further advances as the article transport chain 13 travels, as shown in FIG. 12, the tip of the release bar 17 that moves relative to the article holder 13A is hooked. The lever portion 13Ac3 of 13Ac is pushed down, whereby the hook 13Ac is rotated clockwise against the urging force of the spring 13Ae.

  When the article holder 13A reaches the position of the payout position P1, the hook part 13Ac2 of the hook 13Ac is retracted from the position facing the second slit part 13Aa4 of the main body 13Aa, and the hanging engagement part G1a for the article G1 Is disengaged.

  In this way, the article G1 held in the state suspended from each article holder 13A is dropped from the article transport chain 13 at the delivery position P1 and is provided at the lower part of the article delivery device (not shown). It can be removed from the outlet.

  After the article holder 13A passes through the payout position P1, the hook 13Ac is released by the spring 13Ae by releasing the engagement state between the lever 13Ac3 of the hook 13Ac and the tip of the release bar 17. 12 is urged counterclockwise to return to the original standby state (the state shown in FIG. 7).

  According to the article delivery mechanism 10 described above, the article transport chain 13 that holds the article G1 in a suspended state and transports the article G1 to the delivery position P1, and the article holder 13A that holds the articles G1 one by one. By being configured to be connected in a chain shape, the degree of freedom in setting an article conveyance path is greatly increased as compared with a conventional article dispensing mechanism.

  For example, in order to increase the number of articles held by the article delivery mechanism 10 per unit, the distance between the drive pulley 11 and the driven pulley 12 is set large, or a plurality of the driven pulleys 12 are used to convey the articles. It is possible to configure the route so as to form a triangle, a quadrangle, or a polygon larger than that, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of installation in the article dispensing apparatus, and in the prize dispensing apparatus etc. The effect of being able to greatly contribute to improving the display effect of the prize can be exhibited.

Furthermore, according to the article delivery mechanism 10, each article holder 13A constituting the article transport chain 13 has a swing lever 13Af that is swingably attached to the main body 13Aa. Since the lever 13Af covers the lower end opening of the second slit portion 13Aa4 into which the article hanging engagement portion G1 is inserted, an operator who wears the article can attach the article to the article holder 13A. When attaching to the product, the swing lever 13Af is operated to open the lower end opening of the second slit portion 13Aa4, and then the hanging engagement portion G1a of the article G1 is inserted into the second slit portion 13Aa4. In other words, the work of mounting the article must be carefully performed compared to the conventional one, and this can prevent the article holder 13A from being damaged when the article is mounted. Uninaru.

  Then, by attaching the swing lever 13Af to the article holder 13A, as shown in FIG. 11, the tip of the swing lever 13Af is hooked while the article is held by the article holder 13A. While being brought into contact with the suspension engaging portion G1a of the article G1 locked to the 13Ac, the suspension engagement portion G1a of the article G1 is pressed against the proximal end side of the hook portion 13Ac2, and the hook portion 13Ac2 Since the portion between the front end of the main body 13A and the inner side of the second slit portion 13Aa4 of the main body 13Aa is covered, vibration during driving of the article transport chain 13 and vibration of the article dispensing apparatus itself to which the article dispensing mechanism 10 is attached For example, it is possible to prevent the article from falling off the hook 13Ac and accidentally dropping from the article holder 13A.

  The present invention can be used not only for a prize payout device for paying out game prizes but also for an apparatus for paying out various items such as merchandise for sale.

It is a perspective view which shows an example of the conventional delivery apparatus with which the goods delivery mechanism is attached. It is a top view which shows the conventional goods delivery mechanism. It is a side view of the conventional example. It is a top view which shows the Example of the goods delivery mechanism by this invention. It is a side view of the goods delivery mechanism. It is a front view of the goods delivery mechanism. It is a surface view which shows the goods holder which comprises the goods conveyance chain of the goods delivery mechanism. It is a reverse view of the goods holder. It is a front view of the article holder. It is a state explanatory view showing the state when holding the article in the article holder. It is a state explanatory view showing a state when an article is held by the article holder. It is a state explanatory view showing a state when holding the article of the article holder is released.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... Article delivery mechanism 11 ... Drive pulley (drive pulley member)
12 ... driven pulley (driven pulley member)
13 ... Article transportation chain 13A ... Article holder 13Aa ... Main body (holder body)
13Ac ... Hook (hook member)
13Ac2 ... Hook part 13Ac3 ... Lever part 13Af ... Swing lever 13Af3 ... Bar 13Af4 ... Wing part (tip part)
G1 ... Article G1a ... Suspension engaging part G1a1 ... Suspension hole

Claims (5)

An article dispensing mechanism that holds a plurality of articles in a suspended state while conveying the articles in the row direction and releases the articles by releasing the holding state one by one at the dispensing position and dropping them. Because
The article dispensing mechanism is:
The drive pulley member, at least one driven pulley member, the article transport chain member that holds and transports a plurality of articles in a suspended state, and the holding state of the articles suspended on the article transport chain member are released at the payout position. And a release member that
The article conveying chain member is
Together are running in a horizontal plane by the driving of said drive pulley member and the wound between the driven pulley member said driving pulley member, is constructed by concatenating several articles holder double in a chain,
The article holder is
The holder main body, a hook member that holds articles one by one in the lower part of the holder main body, and a position that covers a lower portion of the hook member and a position that opens a lower portion of the hook member so as to be swingable. An article dispensing mechanism comprising: a swing lever attached to the holder body . The article holder is formed in a substantially square shape, and has a groove part formed to connect the article holders adjacent to each other in the front and back and a connecting part fitted to the groove part,
The article dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the groove portion and the connecting portion are provided on the same horizontal plane in the traveling direction of the article transport chain member. When the article holder releases the holding state of the article being held, the hook member is rotated,
The rocking lever that holds the position covering the lower portion of the hook member by engaging with the article holder covers the cover when releasing the holding state of the article held by the article holder. by the hook member from the position rotated in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation, an article dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that opening the lower side of the hook member. The swing lever is pivotably connected with an upper end portion pivotable about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the conveying direction of the article, and a lower portion of the swing lever is in a direction opposite to the direction in which the tip end portion of the hook member extends. The article dispensing mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein the article dispensing mechanism is curved so as to extend. An article dispensing apparatus having the article dispensing mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4 .

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