JP5561405B2 - Vending machine's direct product storage rack - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a box-type product such as a paper-packed beverage product or a vending machine for directly selling a can-type product, and more particularly to a rack case column when a product is replenished in the product storage rack. The present invention relates to a fall prevention mechanism that supports products stacked in the inner passage so as not to fall forward.

  The direct-product-type product storage rack described above stores products stacked in a vertical row in a product storage column defined in a box-shaped rack case, and then drops and transports the products from the lowest product in order by operating the bend mechanism. Next, an outline of the configuration of a vending machine equipped with a direct product storage rack and a direct product storage rack is shown in FIGS. First, in FIG. 7, 1 is a cabinet of a vending machine, 2 is an outer door of the cabinet 1, 3 is a heat-insulated inner door, 4 is a commodity outlet of the heat-insulated inner door leading to a commodity outlet (not shown) of the outer door, 5 is a drawer-type direct-product-type product storage rack mounted in the cabinet 1, 6 is a product delivery shooter for delivering products delivered from the product storage rack 5 to the product exit 4, and 7 is an interior of the cabinet 1. This is a condensing unit for a refrigerator that is kept cold.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 8, the direct-product-type product storage rack 5 is constructed by arranging a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) box-shaped rack cases 10 side by side between the upper and lower support frames 8 and 9. The case 10 is provided with a partition wall 11 arranged in the center of the case, and a bend mechanism 12 on the lower side of the partition wall 11 to define a pair of product storage columns between the left and right side walls of the rack case 10. Each column is provided with a single-open column door 13 on the front surface.

FIG. 9 is an internal structural view of the rack case 10 (for one unit). In other words, the rack case 10 is a box-shaped case with its front and lower surfaces open, and a pair of left and right product storage columns 14 are provided between the case sidewall and the partition wall 11 and bend mechanism 12 disposed in the center of the case. It is defined. Further, as described in Patent Document 1 , the bend mechanism 12 holds the carry-out flapper 12a carrying the products arranged at the lowest position of the column 14, and holds the products arranged second from the lowest position at the sales standby position. A tilting stopper 12b is provided and is linked to a bend motor (not shown), and when the product is sold, the flapper 12a and the stopper 12b are tilted to drop and carry out the product 15 arranged at the lowest position. In addition, 12c is an operation part of the height adjustment mechanism of the stopper 12c, 16 is a movable side plate that adjusts the product passage width of the column 14, and 17 is a depth attachment that regulates the depth dimension of the product passage of the column 14.

  On the other hand, the product replenishment to the product storage rack of the vending machine is performed in the following procedure. First, after opening the outer door 2 and inner door 3 of the vending machine and pulling out the product storage rack 5 from the interior (see FIG. 7), the column door 13 of the column 14 for replenishing products (see FIG. 8). open. Next, from the front of the rack case 10, the product 15 (for example, paper-packed product) is inserted and loaded into the internal passage of the column 14 by one or several hands, and stacked and stored in the column passage sequentially from the bottom. . When the predetermined number of products have been loaded, the column door 13 is closed, and the drawer-type product storage rack 5 is pushed into the cabinet for storage.

  By the way, the column door 13 of the product storage rack 5 is opened as described above, and the product 15 is stacked and loaded in order from below in the passage of the column 14. The stacked posture may become unstable and fall forward, causing a situation where it is scattered in front of the rack together with the previously loaded product. For this reason, the clerk supports the product loaded in the column with one hand while proceeding with the replenishment work by stacking the next product on it, but only one hand can be used freely with this method. The workability is very bad.

  Therefore, as a measure to prevent the products piled up in the column when the products are refilled, the stacked products are protruded from the side toward the front edge of the partition wall provided in the rack case from the side to the front. There is known a configuration in which a plurality of protrusion-shaped fall-preventing members that are supported from above are installed at appropriate intervals in the vertical direction (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP-A-11-185139 Japanese Patent No. 3771612

  By the way, the fall prevention member (projection) disclosed in Patent Document 2 is fixedly installed on the partition wall of the rack case, and this projection remains protruding toward the front side of the column. Therefore, the protrusions become obstacles in the process of replenishment work in which products are stacked and loaded in order in the column from the front of the rack, and the clerk takes the replenished products from the upper side of the protrusions to the inside of the column so as to avoid the protrusions. After being inserted into the product, it is necessary to perform a troublesome loading operation of lowering and stacking on the loaded product, which reduces the workability of product replenishment.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to improve the product replenishment workability as a measure for preventing the product stacked in the passage in the column from falling forward during the product replenishment operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine direct stacking type product storage rack with an improved fall prevention mechanism so that products stacked and loaded on a column can be supported without falling forward.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, products are vertically aligned in a product storage column that is defined on both the left and right sides of a partition wall and a bend mechanism in a box-shaped rack case having an open front and bottom surface. Automatic storage, stacking and closing, closing the column door on the front of the product storage column and then dropping and unloading from the lowest product in sequence by operating the bend mechanism connected to the partition wall on the outlet side of the rack case As a means for preventing the product piled up in the passage of the product storage column when the product is replenished in the direct-product-type product storage rack of the vending machine, the partition wall is aligned with the height of the middle or upper part of the product storage column. the retractable freely falling prevention member projecting on the front side of the column passage from the side provided in tandem with the interlock lever and a prevention member and the column door collapse, closed column door And the preventing member fall when assumed to forcibly retracted from the front of the commodity storage column as (claim 1), the specific embodiments thereof, the rear end of the claw portion formed at the tip as pivot point from the side of the column passage A hook-shaped lever that is spring-biased so as to protrude to the front surface is formed, and a tapered cam surface is formed on the tip claw portion of the lever so that the lever is retracted to the side when the product is pushed in (claim 2).

According to this invention, the product that has been stacked up to the height of the middle of the column is supported from the front by the fall prevention member that protrudes from the side toward the front of the passageway of the column and prevents the product from falling down. Products can be stacked on top of each other for replenishment. Here, the fall prevention member is a hook-shaped lever, and the tip claw portion is formed with a tapered cam surface that recedes to the side when the product is pushed in, so that the lever is pushed from the front of the column and pushed by the product to be loaded. Since it is retracted to the side, it does not become an obstacle to the product replenishment work. Further, according to the present invention, the fall prevention member is linked to the column door via the interlock lever, so that the movement of the product falling in the product storage column with the product sale operation after the sale is resumed falls down. There is an advantage that the trouble hindered by the prevention member can be surely avoided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is the schematic diagram showing the structure of the direct product type goods storage rack concerning 1st Example of this invention, and the closing operation procedure of the rack door opening at the time of goods replenishment, (a) is a column empty state, (b)- (D) is a front view showing the state of the column door which opens and closes according to the progress of the product replenishment operation. FIG. 2 is a specific structural diagram of the main part of the rack in FIG. 1, (a) is an external perspective view seen from the front, (b) is an exploded perspective view of (a), and (c) is an enlarged front view of part A in (a). It is. It is the abbreviation block diagram showing the direct product type commodity storage rack concerning the 2nd example of this invention, (a) is the front view, (b) is the top view inside the rack. It is a schematic front view showing the direct product type goods storage rack structure concerning 3rd Example of this invention. It is the schematic plan view showing the internal structure of the direct product type goods storage rack concerning 4th Example of this invention, (a), (b) is a figure showing the state which opened and closed the rack door, respectively. . FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a direct-product type product storage rack according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) to (c) are diagrams showing the behavior of a lever for preventing a fall due to product loading, and (d) is a partition wall. It is a perspective view showing the structure of the lever for fall prevention arranged in the. It is the outline outline drawing showing the open state of the outer door of the vending machine carrying a direct-stacking type product storage rack. It is an external appearance perspective view of the goods storage rack in FIG. FIG. 9 is a schematic external view illustrating the structure of one rack case in FIG. 8.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiments. In each embodiment, members corresponding to those in FIG. 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  First, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention and the product replenishment work procedure.

In this embodiment, the column door 13 arranged on the front surface side of the rack case 10 is composed of a slide type upper door 13a and a lower door 13b which are divided into two upper and lower stages and protrude from the side to the front surface of the product storage column 14. doing. Here, the upper door 13a and the lower door 13b are shared doors that straddle both the product storage columns 14 defined on both the left and right sides of the partition wall 11 and the bend mechanism 12 as shown in FIG. ~ (C), guide doors 13c are formed in each of the upper and lower parts of each door plate as shown in (c), and are slidably moved to the front face of the partition wall 11 and the bend mechanism 12 via stepped screws 13d. doing. The guide groove 13c in the illustrated example is a “mountain” -shaped deformed groove in which convex locking groove portions are branched and formed at three positions of the left and right ends a and b and the central portion c. Further, the lower door 13b has a window portion 13b-1 opened at a portion corresponding to the adjustment operation portion 12c of the bend mechanism 12. To open and close the upper and lower doors 13a and 13b with this configuration, the door plate is slightly lifted to remove the stepped screw 13d from the locking groove, and then the door plate is slid in the left-right direction along the guide groove 13c. Operate and set to open / close position.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1D, the procedure for opening and closing the rack door in accordance with the progress of the product replenishment when the product is replenished to the column 14 defined on the left side of the rack case 10 will be described. explain. First, FIG. 1 (a) shows a state before product replenishment in which both the upper door 13a and the lower door 13b are set at the closed position, and the stepped screw 13d is a locking groove c (see FIG. 2 (see FIG. 2 (c)), and the both ends of the door plate are held in the closed position protruding from the front surfaces of the left and right columns 14.

  In order to replenish the left column 14 with the product 15, first, the lower door 13b is opened by sliding it to the right, and retracted from the front of the left column to the side (see FIG. 1B). At this door open position, the stepped screw 13d is fitted into the locking groove a in FIG. 2C, and the lower door 13b is locked and held at this position. In this state, as shown in the figure, the products 15 are loaded onto the column 14 from the bottom side and stacked in order at the middle height position.

  Here, when the stacked height of the products 15 reaches the height of the upper edge of the lower door 13b, the lower door 13b is slid to the left and set to the closed position protruding to the front of the column. Thereby, the goods 15 piled up in the channel | path in a column are supported by the lower door 13b so that it may not fall forward. Next, after replacing the lower door 13b, the upper door 13a is slid to the right to open the upper front area of the left column 14, and then the next product is placed on the loaded product in the same manner as described above from the front. 15 are stacked and stored until reaching the upper height of the column (see FIG. 1C). In this case, since the product 15 stacked up to the intermediate height position of the column 14 in the first half process is supported by the lower door 13b, the product 15 does not fall forward even if the product 15 is stacked thereon. When a predetermined number of products 15 are replenished to the left column 14, the upper door 13a is closed to complete the product refilling to the left column 14 (see FIG. 1 (d)).

  In addition, for the work for replenishing the product 15 to the right column 14 of the rack case 10, the product is stacked and loaded in the column while opening and closing the upper and lower doors 13a and 13b alternately in the same procedure as described above. It can be carried out. In the illustrated embodiment, the column door 13 is divided into two upper and lower stages, but the number of the column doors 13 may be divided into three or more according to the height of the column 14 and the shape of the product.

  As described above, the column door 13 disposed on the front surface of the rack case 10 is divided into upper and lower slide doors 13a and 13b so as to protrude from the side of the front surface of the passage of each column 14, so that the intermediate height of the column 14 is increased. It is possible to load and load the products up to the upper part of the column 14 while supporting the stacked products 15 by the lower door 13b to prevent the products from falling forward.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. In this embodiment, a product fall prevention member having the following structure is provided in a partition wall 11 provided in the center of the rack case 10, and a passage of a product storage column 14 defined on both the left and right sides of the partition wall 11. The product 15 stacked in the above is pressed between the above-described collapse prevention member and the opposite case side wall to prevent the product 15 from falling forward.

  This fall-preventing member is constituted by a retractable flapper 18 that is spring-biased so as to protrude from the side toward the column from the partition wall 11 in alignment with the middle or upper height of the product storage column 14. In this embodiment, the flappers 18 are installed at two locations, upper and lower, in alignment with the upper and middle heights of the columns toward the passages of the left and right columns 14.

  Here, the front end of the flapper 18 is pivotally supported so as to be swingable inside the partition wall 11 via a support shaft (vertical axis) 18a, and a relatively spring force is installed on the shaft of the support shaft 18a. A slanted posture represented by a solid line toward the passage of the column 14 through a window hole (not shown) having a rear end side of the flapper 18 opened in the side surface of the partition wall 11 by a weakly biased spring 18b (torsion coil spring type torsion spring) The spring is biased so as to protrude.

  Next, the function of preventing the product from falling over by the flapper 18 will be described. First, when the column 14 is empty before the product is replenished, the flapper 18 protrudes into the passage of the column 14 due to the spring force of the biasing spring 18b. From this state, during the replenishment operation in which the products 15 are sequentially stacked and loaded from the lower side to the column 14 of the rack case 10, the height of the stacked products as shown in FIG. When the installation level is reached, as shown in FIG. 3B, the product 15 that comes into contact with the plate surface of the flapper 18 receives the spring force of the urging spring 18b and is pressed and held between the opposite rack side walls. Thereby, while preventing the product stacked up to the intermediate height from falling unexpectedly forward, the next product 15 can be stacked and loaded thereon. In addition, when the stacked height of the products 15 reaches the flapper 18 installed on the upper side, the products 15 arranged in the uppermost position are pressed and held between the upper flapper 18 and the rack side wall in the same manner as described above to move forward. Prevent falling. Then, when a predetermined number of products 15 are stored in the column 14, the rack door 13 is closed and the product supply to the column 14 is completed.

  In addition, from the verification result in the actual machine test, it is confirmed that the flapper 18 exerts a sufficient fall prevention function by pressing the product from the side with an extremely light spring force. Therefore, if the urging spring 18b is set to the minimum necessary weak spring force, there is no possibility of hindering the product sales operation after the sales are resumed. In addition, in the illustrated embodiment, the flapper 18 for preventing the collapse is divided and arranged in two places, the upper part of the column 14 and the intermediate height, but it may be arranged in three or more places.

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the flapper 18 (product fall prevention member) described in the second embodiment (see FIG. 3) has a range from the middle height to the upper portion of the product storage column 14 as shown in FIG. It consists of a trapezoidal flapper that has a long size that is covered by a single flapper, and whose lateral width gradually increases toward the top, and the rear edge of the flapper 18 is inclined along the vertical direction. Yes. As with the support structure of FIG. 3, the flapper 18 has a front end pivotally supported on the inner side of the partition wall 11 and a rear end edge sideways toward the passage of the column 14 via a biasing spring 18b (torsion spring). It is energized to protrude from.

  Thus, the following effects are acquired by comprising the flapper 18 for preventing a fall with the trapezoidal long flapper long in the up-down direction. That is, in the course of stacking the products 15 loaded in the passages of the column 14 in order from the bottom, when the stacked height of the products reaches the intermediate height of the column 14, the products 15 arranged at the highest level come into contact with the flapper 18, It is held between the opposite rack side wall by the spring force of the urging spring 18b so as not to fall forward. In addition, each time the next product is loaded from the front and stacked, only the products placed in the top position are held against the flapper 18 so that they do not fall forward. At the same time, the flapper 18 changes the rotation angle to the lower side. Separated from the lined products 15.

  As a result, it is possible to prevent the products stacked up to the top of the column 14 during the product replenishment operation from falling forward with the single flapper 18. Moreover, the trapezoidal long flapper 18 hits only the product lined up at the top of the product 15 stacked in the column and pressed and held it between the rack side walls. Since they are separated from each other, it is also possible to avoid hindering the movement of the product falling in the passage along with the product sales operation after the resumption of sales.

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. In this embodiment, including the flapper 18 described in the second and third embodiments, a member for preventing the product from collapsing from the side toward the passage of the column 14 and the column door 13 disposed on the front surface of the rack case 10. Are connected via an interlock lever 19 so that the flapper 18 is retracted from the passage of the column 14 to the inside of the partition wall 11 when the column door 13 is closed after the product replenishment operation is completed. .

  That is, in the structure of the illustrated embodiment, the tip of the interlock lever 19 whose one end is connected to the column door 13 is pressed against the plate surface of the flapper 18, and the flapper 18 is moved via the interlock lever 19 when the column door 13 is closed. (A) From the protruding position in the figure, it is pushed into the inside of the partition wall 11 as shown in FIG. The flapper 18 is spring-biased so as to protrude toward the passage of the column 14 via a biasing spring (not shown) after its front end is pivotally supported inside the partition wall 11. In a state where the door 13 is opened (see FIG. 5B), the rear end of the flapper 18 protrudes toward the column passage and stands by, and is loaded from the front as described in the second and third embodiments. The product 15 stacked in the passage of the column 14 is held so as not to fall forward.

  With the above configuration, when the product replenishment operation is completed and the column door 13 is closed, the flapper 18 that has been pushed into the passage of the column 14 and pressed the product 15 from the side is retracted to the inside of the partition wall 11. Separated from the product 15. Thereby, the trouble which the flapper 18 prevents the movement of the goods 15 falling in the column with the goods sales operation | movement after sale resumption can be avoided reliably.

  Next, a fifth embodiment corresponding to claims 1 and 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, in place of the flapper 18 described in the second embodiment, a lever-shaped collapse prevention member that protrudes from the side to the front surface of the column 14 is provided on the partition wall 11 and stacked in the passage of the column 14. 15 is supported from the front to prevent the product from falling.

  Here, the fall prevention member is a torsion spring (not shown) so that the claw portion 20a formed at the front end with the rear end as an axial fulcrum as shown in FIG. 6 (d) protrudes from the side to the front surface of the column 14. A tapered cam surface that is constituted by a biased hook-shaped lever 20 and that retracts the lever 20 to the side by following the pushing of a product 15 to be loaded from the front of the rack case 10 at the front end claw portion 20a of the lever 20 Is forming. As with the flapper 18 of the second embodiment, the lever 20 is divided into a plurality of upper and lower portions according to the middle or upper height position of the column 14.

  In the above configuration, the lever 20 (falling prevention member) is urged so that the tip claw portion 20a protrudes from the side to the front surface of the column 14 by the urging force of the rear support shaft 20b. (See FIG. 6A). Although the detailed structure is omitted, the column door 13 disposed on the front surface of the rack case 10 is formed with a notch so as to avoid interference with the lever 10.

  Then, when the product 15 is pushed into the column 14 from the front of the rack case 10 in the course of the product replenishment operation (a state where the lever 20 is stacked below the installation height), the product 15 is formed on the tip claw portion 20a of the lever 20. The taper cam surface is pushed, whereby the lever 20 is retracted sideways (see FIG. 6B). Further, when the product 15 passes through the tip claw portion 20a of the lever 20 and enters the depth of the column 14, at the same time, the claw portion 20a of the lever 20 that is spring-biased returns to the front of the column 14 and is loaded. It engages with the front surface of the finished product 15 (see FIG. 6C). As a result, it is possible to prevent the products stacked in the column 14 from falling forward during the product replenishment operation. In addition, the lever 20 is moved sideways following the push-loading of the product 15, so that it does not interfere with the operation, and the product replenishment work can be performed easily.

  Also in this embodiment, as described in the fourth embodiment, the lever 20 as a fall prevention member is connected to the column door 13 via the interlock lever 19 (see FIG. 5) to replenish the product. When the column door 13 is closed after the work is finished, the lever 20 is retracted from the passage of the column 14 (front side of the passage), so that the commodity 15 that falls in the passage in the column with the commodity sales operation after the sales is resumed. Therefore, it is possible to reliably avoid the trouble that the lever 20 hinders the movement.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the example in which the fall prevention means is provided in the partition wall has been described. However, it can be provided on the left and right side walls of the rack case 10 and is not limited to the contents described in the embodiments.

5 Direct product type rack 10 Rack case 11 Partition wall 12 Bend mechanism 13 Column door 13a Upper door 13b Lower door 14 Column 15 Product 18 Flapper (falling prevention member)
19 Interlock lever 20 Lever (falling prevention member)
20a Tip nail

Claims (2)

Products are stacked and stored in a product storage column defined on the left and right sides of a partition rack and bend mechanism in a box-shaped rack case with the front and bottom open, and placed on the front of the product storage column. When refilling a product in a direct-loading product storage rack of a vending machine that drops and unloads in order from the lowest product by operating a bend mechanism that is connected to the partition wall and closed on the outlet side of the rack case after closing the column door As a means to prevent the product piled up in the passage of the product storage column from falling sideways, the partition wall protrudes from the side to the front side of the column passage according to the height position of the middle or upper part of the product storage column. preventing member is provided, and said falling prevention member and the column door tandem by interlock lever, or the front of the commodity storage column prevention member fall when closed column door Direct product type commodity storage rack of an automatic vending machine, characterized in that force retreated. 2. The direct stack type product storage rack according to claim 1, wherein the fall prevention member is a spring-biased hook-shaped lever so that a claw portion formed at the tip with the rear end side as a pivot point protrudes from the side to the front surface of the column passage. A vending machine direct-product-type product storage rack characterized in that a tapered cam surface that recedes to the side when a product is pushed is formed at the tip claw portion of the lever.

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