JP4924251B2 - Product carrying device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a commodity carry-out device applied to a vending machine.

  2. Description of the Related Art A vending machine that sells canned beverages and beverages containing plastic bottles as products is provided with a product carry-out device at the lower end of a product rack that stores a plurality of products. The product carry-out device is a device in which a pedal member and a solenoid are disposed on a substrate disposed between a pair of rack side plates. The pedal member is appropriately driven by the solenoid, and the product disposed at the lowest level of the product rack is integrated. It will be carried out one by one.

  5 and 6 show a substrate applied to this kind of commodity carrying-out apparatus. The substrate 70 of the merchandise carry-out apparatus includes a rectangular base portion 70a, upper and lower wall portions 70b and 70c extending in the same direction from both upper and lower edges of the base portion 70a, and both left and right ends of the base portion 70a. A pair of left and right side wall portions 70d that are bent and extend in the same direction as the upper wall portion 70b from the respective portions are integrally formed. Although not explicitly shown in the drawing, the pedal member and the solenoid described above are respectively held at appropriate portions of the base portion 70a.

  The substrate 70 is provided with a pair of hook pieces 90 on the upper wall portion 70b and positioning protrusions 80 on the pair of side wall portions 70d. The hook piece 90 is a portion that bends and extends upward from the tip of the upper wall portion 70b, and is provided at a position spaced from each other. The surfaces of the pair of hook pieces 90 facing the product path R of the product rack are located on the same plane and constitute an engagement surface 90a. The positioning projection 80 is configured by projecting the upper end of the side wall portion 70d upward from the upper wall portion 70b, and the end surface facing the engagement surface 90a of the hook piece 90 forms a contact surface. Yes. Between the engagement surface 90a of the hook piece 90 and the contact surface 80a of the positioning projection 80, a gap is secured so that the upper through pin installed between the pair of rack side plates can be positioned and accommodated. An elastic locking piece 79 is provided at the lower end portion of the substrate 70 to which a lower through pin laid between a pair of rack side plates can be attached.

  In order to hold the product carry-out device including the substrate 70 having the above configuration on the product rack, the contact surface 80a of the positioning projection 80 is brought into contact with the upper through pin, and the substrate 70 is moved upward as it is. The upper through pin is accommodated between the positioning projection 80 and the hook piece 90 by using 80a as a guide. Accordingly, the substrate 70 is positioned with respect to the upper through pin by the contact surface 80a of the positioning protrusion 80 and the engaging surface 90a of the hook piece 90. Thereafter, if the lower through pin is attached to the elastic locking piece 79 provided at the lower end portion of the substrate 70, the product carry-out device is placed between the rack side plates with the surface of the substrate 70 facing the product passage R of the product rack. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this type of merchandise unloading device, when merchandise is stored in the merchandise rack, the load of the merchandise acts in a direction in which the base portion 70a of the substrate 70 is pressed. In this respect, in the product carry-out device attached as described above, the end face of the positioning projection 80 extending in the direction of bending from the base portion 70a of the substrate 70 comes into contact with the upper through pin as the contact surface 80a. Even if added, there is no risk of deformation being easily caused, and if the pedal member operates by driving the solenoid, it is possible to reliably carry out the products located at the bottom of the product rack one by one. It becomes.

JP 2006-163926 A

  By the way, in recent years, thinning of vending machines has become an important issue for manufacturers due to market demands such as overhang restrictions during installation and space saving installation. As for the product carry-out device applied to the vending machine, the thickness direction dimension affects the interval between the product racks. Therefore, the structure including the pedal member and the solenoid disposed on the substrate 70 is reduced in thickness. It has been. That is, with respect to the product carry-out device in which the base portion 70a of the substrate 70 is disposed in the left-right direction, if the structure is reduced in thickness, the mutual interval between the product racks can be reduced, and the vending machine can be reduced in thickness. It becomes possible to contribute to.

  On the other hand, in the product carry-out device described above, when considering the workability when attaching to the rack side plate, the positioning protrusion 80 that is first brought into contact with the upper through pin can be formed at a height sufficiently higher than the hook piece 90. preferable. That is, if the positioning protrusion 80 protrudes larger than the hook piece 90, the upper through pin can be surely brought into contact with the positioning protrusion 80, and the operation of accommodating the upper through pin between the hook piece 90 can be performed. It becomes easy.

  However, it is difficult to secure a sufficient width of the positioning projection 80 formed by projecting the upper end of the side wall portion 70d of the substrate 70 upward, which is larger than the hook piece 90. When formed into a length, it is extremely disadvantageous in terms of strength. For this reason, for example, the positioning protrusion 80 may be deformed to the extent that it is dropped when the product carry-out device is held on the upper through pin, and it may be difficult to perform accurate positioning with the upper through pin.

  In view of the above circumstances, the present invention is to provide a commodity carry-out device that can be easily attached to a rack side plate and can be reduced in thickness without affecting the positioning accuracy with respect to a through pin.

  In order to achieve the above object, a merchandise carry-out apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention has a substrate holding a merchandise dispensing mechanism, and has positioning means at the upper end of the substrate, and a pair of racks. In a product unloading apparatus in which a product delivery mechanism is positioned and held on a rack side plate in a state in which a surface of a base portion of a substrate is opposed to a product path of a product rack by engaging a through pin installed between side plates with a positioning means. The positioning means protrudes above the upper end of the base along the direction intersecting the surface of the base, and a positioning protrusion that constitutes a positioning surface on the back of the product path of the product rack, After projecting from the upper end of the base toward the direction away from the passage, it extends upward in a manner along the extending direction of the base and faces the product passage of the product rack A hook piece constituting an engagement surface for accommodating a through pin between the positioning projection and a positioning surface of the positioning projection, and protruding from the upper end of the base portion in a direction away from the product passage, and then extending the base portion In order to guide the through pin between the engaging surface of the hook piece and the positioning surface of the positioning projection to a portion that extends upward in a manner along the direction of the product and that is the back side of the product path of the product rack And a guide piece constituting the guide surface.

  According to the present invention, the guide piece having the guide surface extending along the base portion of the substrate is provided, and the guide pin of the guide piece allows the through pin to be interposed between the positioning surface of the positioning protrusion and the engagement surface of the hook piece. I try to guide you. Therefore, even if the guide piece is formed at a height sufficiently larger than the hook piece so as to facilitate the attachment work between the pair of rack side plates, it does not affect the thinning of the commodity carry-out device. On the other hand, the positioning projection for positioning with respect to the through pin may be formed to a height sufficient to contact the through pin, which is advantageous in terms of strength even when a sufficient width cannot be secured. Therefore, even when the thickness is reduced, it is possible to prevent the positioning protrusion from being deformed to the extent that it is dropped when being held by the through pin, and to perform accurate positioning with respect to the through pin.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a merchandise carry-out device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a lower end portion of a merchandise passage of a vending machine to which a merchandise carry-out apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a substrate applied to the merchandise carry-out apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the substrate applied to the commodity carry-out apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a side view of the substrate shown in FIG. FIG.

  The product carry-out apparatus 10 illustrated here is provided at the lower end of a product rack that stores a plurality of products in a vending machine that sells canned beverages, beverages in plastic bottles, paper pack beverages, and the like as products. . Although the product rack is not explicitly shown in the drawing, the product carry-out device 10 and the product outlet passage plate 13 are disposed opposite each other between a pair of rack side plates 11 (only one of them is shown in FIG. 1). A merchandise passage R for storing merchandise in between is configured. An upper through pin 12a and a lower through pin 12b are installed horizontally in a manner in which the lower through pin 12b and the lower through pin 12b are parallel to each other between the rack side plates 11 at the lower end of the product rack. The positioning is maintained.

  The merchandise unloading apparatus 10 is for dispensing the merchandise stored in the merchandise path R one by one by driving a merchandise dispensing mechanism 21 described later, and includes a substrate 20 that holds the merchandise dispensing mechanism 21. The substrate 20 includes a rectangular base portion 20a, upper and lower wall portions 20b and 20c extending from the upper and lower end portions of the base portion 20a in the same direction and extending at substantially right angles, and left and right end portions of the base portion 20a. Each of the pair of left and right side wall portions 20d that bend and extend substantially at right angles in the same direction as the upper wall portion 20b is integrally formed. For example, a metal plate material is appropriately formed. The base 20a of the substrate 20 is provided with an opening 20e in the lower half thereof. The lower wall portion 20c of the substrate 20 is provided with an elastic locking piece 29 to which the lower through pin 12b can be attached.

  The substrate 20 is provided with positioning means at the upper end thereof in order to engage the product carry-out device 10 with the upper through pin 12a. In the present embodiment, the positioning means is constituted by a pair of hook pieces 50 provided on the upper wall portion 20b, positioning protrusions 30 provided on the pair of left and right side wall portions 20d, and a guide piece 40 provided on the upper end of the base portion 20a. It is composed.

  The hook piece 50 is configured to bend upward from the distal end portion of the upper wall portion 20b and extend upward in a manner along the extending direction of the base portion 20a. In the present embodiment, a pair of left and right hook pieces 50 are provided at positions spaced apart from each other on the upper wall portion 20b. Each of the pair of hook pieces 50 has an engagement surface 50a at a portion facing the product passage R of the product rack. These engagement surfaces 50a are configured to be located on the same plane. The engaging surface 50a of the hook piece 50 only needs to be formed at a height that can contact the upper through pin 12a. In the present embodiment, the hook piece 50 is provided so that the engaging surface 50a has a height slightly larger than the outer diameter of the upper through pin 12a. The width of the hook piece 50 is configured to be large so as to ensure sufficient strength.

  The positioning projection 30 is configured by projecting the upper ends of the left and right side wall portions 20d above the base portion 20a, and extends substantially perpendicular to the surface of the base portion 20a, like the left and right side wall portions 20d. is doing. The positioning projection 30 is the back surface with respect to the product passage R of the product rack, and constitutes a positioning surface 30a at a portion facing the engagement surface 50a of the hook piece 50. The positioning surface 30a of the positioning protrusion 30 only needs to be formed at a height that can contact the upper through pin 12a. In the present embodiment, the upper end of the positioning protrusion 30 is configured to be substantially the same height as the upper end of the hook piece 50.

  Between the engagement surface 50a of the hook piece 50 and the positioning surface 30a of the positioning protrusion 30, a gap is secured so that the upper through pin 12a installed between the pair of rack side plates 11 can be positioned and accommodated.

  The guide piece 40 protrudes from the upper end of the base portion 20a toward the direction away from the product passage R, and then extends upward from the upper end of the hook piece 50 in a manner along the extending direction of the base portion 20a. It is constituted as follows. In the guide piece 40, a guide surface 40 a for guiding the upper through pin 12 a between the hook piece 50 and the positioning projection 30 is configured at a portion that is the back surface with respect to the product passage R of the product rack. The guide surface 40 a of the present embodiment is configured to have a height that is greater than the hook piece 50 and the positioning protrusion 30 and has a width that is substantially equal to the hook piece 50.

  Further, the base portion 20a of the substrate 20 includes components constituting the commodity delivery mechanism 21, that is, bearing members 22a and 22b, a link member 23, a lower pedal 24a, an upper pedal 24b, a sold-out detecting means 25, a solenoid 27, and Guide protrusions 28 are provided. Among the above-described components, the bearing members 22a and 22b, the link member 23, and the solenoid 27 are disposed in the left half of FIG. 2 on the back side of the base portion 20a. This is because, when a plurality of product passages R are arranged side by side on the rack side plate 11, the product carry-out devices 10 having the above-described configuration are arranged with the back surfaces of the substrates 20 facing each other so that the product racks are spaced apart from each other. This is to reduce the thickness of the vending machine.

  In order to hold the product carry-out device 10 including the substrate 20 having the above configuration between the pair of rack side plates 11, first, the guide surface 40a of the guide piece 40 is brought into contact with the upper through pin 12a, and the substrate 20 is moved upward as it is. Move. In this case, the upper through pin 12a is accommodated in the gap between the positioning protrusion 30 and the hook piece 50 with the guide surface 40a as a guide. Therefore, the positioning of the substrate 20 with respect to the upper through pin 12a is performed by the positioning surface 30a of the positioning protrusion 30 and the engaging surface 50a of the hook piece 50. Thereafter, in the substrate 20, if the elastic locking piece 29 provided on the lower wall portion 20c is attached to the lower through pin 12b, the product carry-out device with the surface of the base portion 20a facing the product passage R of the product rack. 10 is positioned and held between the rack side plates 11.

  According to the product carry-out device 10 having the above-described configuration, the guide piece 40 protrudes from the upper end of the substrate 20 and extends above the hook piece 50, so that the upper through pin is provided on the guide surface 40a. It becomes easy to contact 12a. As a result, when the product carry-out device 10 is attached to and held by the pair of rack side plates 11, the upper through pin 12a is brought into contact with the guide surface 40a of the guide piece 40 and the substrate 20 is moved upward as it is. The upper through pin 12a can be quickly and reliably accommodated between the positioning protrusion 30 and the hook piece 50 with the guide surface 40a as a guide. Therefore, the work of attaching the product carry-out device 10 between the pair of rack side plates 11 can be facilitated.

  In addition, since the guide piece 40 is configured to extend in the left-right direction along the base portion 20a of the substrate 20, even if the width of the guide surface 40a is increased, the size of the substrate 20 in the thickness direction is affected. Don't give. Therefore, even when the product carry-out device 10 is thinned, the strength of the guide piece 40 can be ensured by configuring the width of the guide surface 40a to be sufficiently large.

  On the other hand, since the guide piece 40 is configured to have a sufficient height, it is not necessary to provide the positioning projection 30 with a guide function. Therefore, the positioning protrusion 30 may be formed at a height that can contact the upper through pin 12a. As a result, even when the product carry-out device 10 is thinned, sufficient strength can be secured to the positioning protrusion 30 and is temporarily dropped when the product carry-out device 10 is held by the upper through pin 12a. However, there is no possibility that the positioning protrusion 30 is easily deformed. Therefore, if the positioning protrusion 30 is brought into contact with the upper through pin 12a, the commodity carry-out device 10 can be accurately positioned and arranged on the pair of rack side plates 11.

  Further, the positioning protrusion 30 is formed by extending the upper end of the side wall portion 20d of the substrate 20 above the upper wall portion 20b, and is positioned on the end surface facing the engagement surface 50a of the hook piece 50, that is, the end surface of the flat plate. The surface 30a is configured. Accordingly, when a large number of products are stored in the product passage R, even if the load of the product acts in the direction in which the base 20a of the substrate 20 is pressed, the load is applied by the positioning surface 30a contacting the upper through pin 12a. Therefore, there is no possibility that the positioning protrusion 30 is easily deformed. As a result, if the upper and lower pedals 24b and 24a are appropriately operated by driving the solenoid 27, it is possible to reliably carry out the products located at the lowest position of the product passage R one by one.

It is a side view which shows the goods channel | path lower end part of the vending machine to which the goods carrying-out apparatus which is embodiment of this invention is applied. It is the perspective view which looked at the board | substrate applied to the goods carrying-out apparatus shown in FIG. 1 from the back side. It is the schematic which looked at the board | substrate applied to the goods carrying-out apparatus shown in FIG. 1 from the back side. FIG. 4 is a side view of the substrate shown in FIG. 3. It is the schematic of the board | substrate applied to the conventional goods carrying-out apparatus. FIG. 6 is a side view of the substrate shown in FIG. 5.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Commodity carry-out apparatus 11 Rack side plate 12a Upper through pin 20 Substrate 20a Base 20b Upper wall part 20c Lower wall part 20d Left and right side wall parts 20d Side wall part 21 Product delivery mechanism 30 Positioning projection 30a Positioning surface 40 Guide piece 40a Guide surface 50 Hook piece 50a Engagement surface

Claims (1)

The substrate has a substrate for holding the product delivery mechanism, and has positioning means at the upper end of the substrate. By engaging the through pins laid between the pair of rack side plates with the positioning device, the surface of the base portion of the substrate is fixed. In the product carry-out device in which the product delivery mechanism is positioned and held on the rack side plate in a state facing the product passage of the product rack,
The positioning means includes
A positioning protrusion that protrudes above the upper end of the base portion along the direction intersecting the surface of the base portion, and that forms a positioning surface on the back side of the product path of the product rack;
After projecting from the upper end of the base toward the direction away from the product passage, it extends upward in a manner along the extending direction of the base, and the positioning projections A hook piece constituting an engagement surface for accommodating a through pin between the positioning surface and
After projecting from the upper end of the base part in the direction away from the product passage, the hook extends upward in a manner along the extending direction of the base part, and the hook is attached to a part that is the back surface with respect to the product passage of the product rack A product carrying device comprising: a guide piece configured as a guide surface for guiding the through pin between the engagement surface of the piece and the positioning surface of the positioning protrusion.

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