JPH04340192A - Cup type automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a cup type automatic vending machine provided with a cup feeder for feeding cups one by one to pour drinking merchandise also into a cup brought by a customer to vend it. CONSTITUTION:The automatic vending machine is provided with a command device 41 for outputting a command signal indicating whether a cup 16 is to be fed from the cup feeder to a receiving board 2 or not at the time of vending to a control device 18. The device 41 outputs the command signal indicating the necessity/unnecessity of cup feeding to the device 18 based upon the detection of the existence of a cup by a cup detector 40 for detecting the existence of a cup 16 on the receiving board 12 or the operation of an input apparatus such as a pushbutton arranged on an operation part 8.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] This invention is designed to take out containers such as cups stored inside the machine, which are used to store various food products such as beverages that are cooked and produced from raw materials in the machine or stored in the machine. The present invention relates to a cup-type vending machine equipped with a container feeding device that supplies a container to a cradle formed in a container according to a sales command signal outputted from a control device at the time of selling.

0002

[Prior Art] A cup-type vending machine that sells various products that are cooked and manufactured from raw materials or stored inside the machine in containers such as cups has a holder on the front of the machine that receives the containers. It has an outlet formed on the inside that opens on the front from which the product is taken out, a selection button for selecting the product, and an insertion slot that opens on the front and inserts coins or banknotes. An operation section for purchasing operations is generally provided. Inside the machine, there is a control device that controls the vending operation of the cup-type vending machine, and a container supply that supplies the containers stored inside to the cradle one by one according to the sales command signal output from this control device at the time of sale. Equipped with equipment, etc. In such conventional cup-type vending machines, after inserting coins or banknotes into the slot, when the customer selects the product to purchase by operating a selection button from among various products, the control device outputs a sales message. In response to a command signal, containers are fed from the container feeding device to the receiving stand.
During this period, the product selected using the selection button is either cooked or manufactured from the raw materials inside the machine, or is taken out of the machine and poured into a container on the cradle, which is usually a continuous and automatic sales operation. conduct. Therefore, even if a customer tries to purchase a product from a cup-type vending machine using a container that they have brought themselves, they will have to place their own container on the cradle and purchase the product instead of the container that is automatically supplied to the cradle. Although it is difficult to do so, conventional examples of this type of cup-type vending machine are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a cup-type vending machine to which the present invention is applied, in which (A) is a front view of the main part showing the external appearance, (B) is a vertical sectional view on the right side of the main part of (A), and (B) is a front view of the main part showing the appearance. The left side of the figure is the front side, and FIG. 5 is a right side vertical cross-sectional view of the main part showing the configuration of a conventional cup-type vending machine, and the left side of the figure is the front side.

[0003] In FIGS. 4 and 5, 1 is a case with an opening at the front, and the front opening of this case 1 is covered with a door 2, and this door 2 and case 1 constitute a fuselage 3. . In the front part of the door 2 forming the front side of the aircraft body 3, an exhibition room 4 for advertising and displaying sales products is partitioned at the top. Below this exhibition room 4 are selection buttons 5 for selecting products. An input port 6 for inserting coins, a return lever 7 for returning the inserted coins, etc., an operating section 8 for operating the product purchase, a return port 9 for refunding change, and a take-out port 10 that opens on the front and for removing the product. etc. are provided. The front opening of this outlet 10 is covered with an outlet door 11,
The outlet 10 and the inside of the fuselage 3 are the case 1 inside the outlet 10.
They communicate through a box-shaped pedestal 12 that is formed inside and has an open front and top surface. This pedestal 12 has a funnel-shaped floor plate 14 fitted inside the bottom of which a drain port 13 is formed at the lower end. The lower end of the cup shooter 15 projects into the interior thereof. This cup shooter 15 is disposed at the upper front side of the case 1, and discharges and supplies disposable cup-shaped containers 16 made of paper, synthetic resin, etc. stored therein one by one each time it is sold. The container 16 discharged and supplied from the container supply device 17 is guided onto the bottom plate 14 of the receiving table 12. Also, inside the case 1, a control device 18 for controlling the sales operation is provided.
is supported on the back side of the door 2, and a hot water tank 19 for storing hot water is arranged above the rear of the container supply device 17, and hot water is supplied to this hot water tank 19 via a hot water valve 20. One end of the hose 21 is connected. The other end of this hose 21 communicates with an agitation device 22 arranged at the rear lower side of the container supply device 17, and a beverage hose 24 is connected to a beverage outlet 23 formed at the lower end of this agitation device 22. One end is connected. The other end of this beverage hose 24 is connected to a beverage nozzle 25 that projects into the pedestal 12 and is fixed to the upper part of the deep side wall of the pedestal 12 with its tip directed into the container 16 on the bottom plate 14. Also, the stirring device 22
Above the raw material box 26 is a raw material box 26 that stores powdered or granular raw materials and discharges a certain amount each time it is sold.
A funnel-shaped raw material chute 27 for guiding the raw material dropped and discharged from the raw material box 26 to the stirring device 22 is disposed below each of the raw material boxes 26 and 6 .

[0004] The vending operation of the cup-type vending machine configured as described above will be explained below. When a coin is inserted through the input slot 6 and a product is selected by pressing the selection button 5, the control device 18
Container 1 is transferred from container supply device 17 to container 1 by a sales command signal from
6 is guided by the cup shooter 15 and supplied onto the bottom plate 14 in the pedestal 12. On the other hand, raw materials supplied from the raw material box 26 through the raw material chute 27 and hot water supplied from the hot water tank 19 through the hose 21 when the hot water valve 20 is opened are stirred and cooked in the stirring device 22 to produce a beverage. Ru. This beverage is automatically and continuously performed in a series of operations in which the beverage is poured from the stirrer 22 through the beverage hose 24 and from the beverage nozzle 25 onto the bottom plate 14 in the pedestal 12 and into the waiting container 16. Further, the beverage in the tray 12 which is a sales product contained in the container 16 is taken out by the customer through the takeout port 10 whose front side is opened by opening the takeout door 11.

[0005]

By the way, in such a conventional cup-type vending machine, a disposable cup-shaped container 16 made of paper, synthetic resin, etc. is placed on the bottom plate 14 of the pedestal 12 for sale. Each time, the containers are automatically discharged and supplied one by one from the container supply device 17. Therefore, from the standpoint of effective resource utilization, it is not possible to purchase products in reusable containers made of glass, ceramics, etc. instead of disposable containers 16 that are used only once. For this reason, even if it would be easier to purchase products in a reusable container instead of the container 16, which is especially the case with cup-type vending machines used in offices etc., it is not possible to purchase the product in a disposable container 16. The problem is that the product has to be purchased, which not only wastes resources, but also increases waste, and it is not possible to supply the product to the customer at a cheaper price by at least the cost of the container 16. .

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a cup-type vending machine that can suppress the increase in waste and make effective use of resources, and can supply products to customers at low prices.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, various products such as food such as beverages that are cooked and manufactured from raw materials in the machine body or stored in the machine body are stored in containers such as cups. A cup-type vending machine that sells the product in a cup-type vending machine, wherein the front part of the machine body has a holder formed inside to receive the container, an outlet opening at the front from which the product is taken out, and the product is selected. There is also a control device inside the machine that controls the sales operation, and a sales command signal outputted from this control device when selling the product. A container supplying device or the like is provided for supplying the containers stored inside one by one to a cradle, and the product selected by the selection button is placed in the container supplied from the container supplying device to the pedestal. A cup-type vending machine that sells cup-type vending machines includes a command device that outputs a command signal to the control device indicating whether or not to supply the container from the container supply device to the holder at the time of sale. shall be taken as a thing.

[0008] In addition to the above, the command device is a command device that outputs a command signal indicating whether or not container supply is necessary to the control device by operating an input device such as a push button provided on the operation section.

Furthermore, in addition to the above, the command device outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply a container based on the presence or absence of the container detected by a container detection device that is installed in the machine and detects whether or not there is a container in the cradle. The command device shall be

0010

[Operation] The present invention provides containers such as cups for storing and selling various products such as drinks and other foods that are cooked and produced from raw materials in the machine body or stored in the machine body, and are arranged in the machine body and operated for sale. In response to a sales command signal outputted at the time of sale from a control device that controls the containers, the containers are supplied one by one from the container supply device that receives the containers and supplies the products one by one to a cradle formed inside a takeout port that opens at the front. Since the command device is equipped with a command device that outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply the container to the receiving stand at the time of sale to the control device, the command signal is outputted from the command device to the control device to determine whether or not the container is necessary to be supplied. For example, if the command signal that commands does not require container supply,
The sales command signal outputted from the control device at the time of sale can be changed so that the supply of containers from the container supply device to the pedestal is omitted and the product is placed in the container placed on the pedestal by the customer.

[0011] In addition to the above, the command device is a command device that outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply a container to the control device by operating an input device such as a push button provided on the operation section. For example, if the input device is a push button and the customer presses the push button as a signal that containers are not required to be supplied, the command device that receives this signal will control this signal as a command signal that containers are not required to be supplied. Can be output to a device.

Furthermore, in addition to the above, the command device outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply a container based on the presence or absence of the container detected by a container detection device installed in the machine and which detects whether or not there is a container in the cradle. For example, if the container detection device detects that there is a container on the cradle and outputs an output signal that is a signal that container supply is unnecessary, the command device that receives this signal will A command signal that does not require container supply can be output to the control device.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. 1 is a front view of the essential parts showing the configuration of a cup-type vending machine according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a right-hand vertical sectional view of the main parts showing the composition of the cup-type vending machine according to a different embodiment of the present invention. , FIG. 3 is a right-hand vertical cross-sectional view of the main part showing the configuration of a cup-type vending machine according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. (A) is a front view of the main parts showing the external appearance, (B) is (A)
This is a right side longitudinal cross-sectional view of the main part of (B), with the left side of the figure being the front side. Components common or identical to those in FIG. 5 are indicated by the same reference numerals.

In FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a case with an open front. The front opening of the case 1 is covered with a door 2, and the door 2 and the case 1 constitute a body 3. In the front part of the door 2 that forms the front surface of this aircraft 3, an exhibition room 4 for advertising and displaying products for sale is partitioned at the top, and a selection button 5 for selecting products is provided below this exhibition room 4.
, an input slot 6 for inserting coins, a return lever 7 for returning the inserted coins, etc., and an operating section 8 for operating the product purchase operation. FIG. 1 showing one embodiment of this invention
Now, on the right side of this operating section 8, an input device 29 is arranged, which is a push button that the customer presses to operate when the customer brings a container 28 for storing the product, including a reusable container made of glass, ceramics, etc. A return port 9 for refunding change, a take-out port 10 that opens at the front and allows products to be taken out, etc. are provided below the operating section 8. The front opening of this outlet 10 is covered with an outlet door 11, and the outlet 10 and the fuselage 3
It communicates with the inside via a box-shaped holder 12 formed in the case 1 inside the outlet 10 and having an open front and top surface. In FIG. 2, which shows a different embodiment of the present invention, a slatted bottom plate 14 is fitted into the inside of the funnel-shaped bottom part of the pedestal 12, which has a drain port 13 formed at the lower end. In FIG. 3, a pair of upper and lower drainboard-shaped bottom plates 31 are inserted with a coil spring 30 sandwiched therebetween. When the customer places the container 28 they brought on the upper bottom plate 31 in the gap between the pair of bottom plates 31, the container 28 is placed on the upper bottom plate 31.
The coil spring 30 bends under the weight of 8 and lowers the upper floor plate 3.
Micro switch 3 whose contacts open and close when pressed by the bottom surface of 1
The microswitch 32, coil spring 30, and bottom plate 31 constitute a container detection device 33 that detects whether or not there is a container 28 on the pedestal 12. Also,
Inside the cradle 12, a funnel-shaped cup shooter 15 has a lower end protruding downward from the ceiling through an opening on its top surface. A pair of left and right sliding bodies 35 in the shape of a round bar whose axial length direction is horizontal in the front and rear directions are supported by penetrating the rear wall and being biased forward by a coil spring 34 fitted in the front end so as to be slidable back and forth on the rear wall. ing. The front end of each of the pair of sliding bodies 35 is fixed to a round bar-shaped contact rod 36 whose axial length direction is horizontal to the left and right, and the left and right ends of this contact rod 36 are fixed to a contact rod 36 whose axial length direction is horizontal to the left and right. They are respectively fitted into elongated holes 39 formed at the lower ends of a pair of left and right flat steel rotating bodies 38 whose upper ends are rotatably supported by rotation shafts 37 whose left and right ends are supported on the left and right side walls of the pedestal 12. . When the container 28 is placed on the bottom plate 14 and pushed in, the container 28 comes into contact with the contact rod 36 and the contact rod 36 is pushed backward, and accordingly, the lower end of the rotating body 38 is pushed backward. At the same time, the sliding body 35 is also pushed backward against the biasing force of the coil spring 34. At this time, a microswitch 32 is disposed at a rear position of the sliding body 35, where it is pressed by the rear end of the pushed sliding body 35 to open and close the contacts. The container 28 is mounted on the pedestal 12 using the microswitch 32, coil spring 34, sliding body 35, contact rod 36, rotating shaft 37, and rotating body 38.
This constitutes a container detection device 40 that detects whether or not there is a container. In addition, inside the case 1, on the upper front side, there is a container supply device 17 for discharging and discharging disposable cup-shaped containers 16 made of paper, synthetic resin, etc. stored inside the case one by one each time the case is sold. This container supply device 1
The container 16 discharged and supplied from the container 7 is guided by the cup shooter 15 and supplied onto the bottom plates 14 and 31. Furthermore, inside the case 1, a control device 18 for controlling the sales operation is installed at the door 2.
an input device 29 that outputs to the control device 18 a command signal indicating whether or not to supply the containers 16 at the time of sale from the container supply device 17 to the receiving stand 12, and whether or not container supply is necessary; A command device 41 electrically connected to the container detection devices 33 and 40 is installed on the back side of the door 2 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and on the cradle 12 in the embodiments shown in FIGS.
Each is attached to the back of the rear wall. In addition, a hot water tank 19 for storing hot water is disposed inside the case 1 at the rear of the container supply device 17, and one end of a hose 21 that supplies hot water to the hot water tank 19 via a hot water valve 20. are connected. The other end of this hose 21 communicates with an agitation device 22 arranged at the rear lower side of the container supply device 17, and one end of the beverage hose 24 is connected to a beverage outlet 23 formed at the lower end of this agitation device 22. Connected. The other end of this beverage hose 24 is projected into the holder 12, and the bottom plate 14,
It is connected to a beverage nozzle 25 fixed to the upper part of the deep side wall of the pedestal 12 with its tip directed into the containers 16 and 28 on the holder 12 . Also, above the stirring device 22, there is a raw material box 2 in which powdered or granular raw materials are stored and a certain amount is dropped and discharged each time it is sold.
6 and below the raw material box 26, a funnel-shaped raw material chute 27 for guiding the raw material dropped and discharged from the raw material box 26 to the stirring device 22 is provided. Note that the other configurations are the same as the conventional example described above.

In the above configuration, when a customer purchases a product by placing it in the container 16 which is discharged and supplied from the container supply device 17 onto the bottom plates 14 and 31, the vending operation of the cup type vending machine of the present invention is as described above. Since this is the same as the conventional example, the vending operation of the cup-type vending machine of the present invention will be described below when a customer purchases a product using a container 28 that he/she has brought with him/her. The customer opens the outlet door 11, places the container 28 brought from the front opening of the outlet 10 on the bottom plates 14, 31 in the tray 2, selects the product with the selection button 5, and selects the product as shown in FIG.
Only in the case of the embodiment, when the push button that is the input device 29 is further pressed, the input device 29 and the container detection devices 33 and
A signal indicating that the container 16 is not required to be supplied is outputted from each of the containers 1 and 2, and the command device 41 receiving this signal outputs a command signal indicating that the container 16 is not required to be supplied to the control device 18. As a result, the control device 18 recognizes that the container 16 does not need to be supplied, and
A sales command signal that does not include a command signal for commanding the supply of containers 16 from the container supply device 17 onto the bottom plates 14 and 31 in the pedestal 12 is output. In response to this sales command signal, the raw material is supplied from the raw material box 26 through the raw material chute 27,
The hot water valve 20 opens and the hose 21 passes through the hot water tank 19.
A beverage is produced by stirring and cooking the hot water supplied from the stirring device 22. A series of operations is automatically performed in which the beverage is poured from the stirrer 22 through the beverage hose 24 and into the waiting container 28 from the beverage nozzle 25 onto the bottom plates 14, 31 in the holder 12. In addition, the beverage in the tray 12, which is a sales product in this container 28, is removed from the outlet door 11.
It is taken out by the customer through the takeout port 10 which is opened and the front side is open. Therefore, when purchasing a product using the container 28 that the customer brought, the container feeding device 17 is
Disposable cup-shaped containers 16 made of paper, synthetic resin, etc. are not supplied on the floor plates 14, 31, and products can be sold by putting them into containers 28, including reusable containers brought by customers.

[0016]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, containers such as cups for selling various products such as drinks and other foods that are cooked and manufactured from raw materials in the machine body or stored in the machine body can be used.
In response to a sales command signal outputted at the time of sale from a control device disposed inside the machine and controlling the sales operation, the product is taken out to a cradle formed inside an outlet opening at the front, which receives the container. The present invention is equipped with a command device that outputs a command signal to the control device indicating whether or not to supply the containers to the receiving stand at the time of sale from the container supply device that supplies each container one by one. The sales command signal output from the control device at the time of sale can be changed so that the product is placed in the container placed on the stand.

[0017] In addition to the above, the command device is a command device that outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply a container to the control device by operating an input device such as a push button provided on the operation section. By operating the input device, a command signal indicating that container supply is not necessary can be output from the command device to the control device.

Furthermore, in addition to the above, the command device outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply a container based on the presence or absence of the container detected by a container detection device that is installed in the machine and detects whether or not there is a container in the cradle. Since the container detection device detects whether or not there is a container on the pedestal and outputs an output signal, the command device can output a command signal indicating that container supply is not necessary to the control device.

As a result, products can be sold in containers including disposable containers discharged and supplied from the container supply device and reusable containers brought by customers.
Not only can you reduce the amount of disposable containers used and make effective use of resources, but if customers bring their own containers, the cost of disposable containers that are discharged and supplied from the container supply device is at least cheaper. This makes it possible to sell products with the same amount of information, and it is possible to increase sales volume.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

[Fig. 1] A front view of main parts showing the configuration of a cup-type vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Right side vertical sectional view of main parts showing the configuration of a cup-type vending machine according to a different embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 3] A right side vertical cross-sectional view of the main part showing the configuration of a cup-type vending machine according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a cup-type vending machine to which the present invention is applied; (A) is a front view of main parts showing the external appearance; (B) is (
A) Main part right side vertical sectional view

[Fig. 5] Right side vertical sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional cup-type vending machine

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Case 2 Door 3 Aircraft 4 Exhibition room 5 Selection button 6 Input port 7 Return lever 8 Operation section 9　　　　Return slot 10 Outlet 11 Exit door 12 cradle 13 Drain port 14　　　　Sillboard 15 Cup Shooter 16 Container 17 Container supply device 18 Control device 19 Hot water tank 20 Hot water valve 21 Hose 22 Stirring device 23 Beverage outlet 24 Beverage hose 25 Beverage nozzle 26 Raw material box 27 Raw material shooter 28 Container 29 Input devices 30 Coil spring 31　　　　Sillboard 32 Micro switch 33 Container detection device 34 Coil spring 35 Sliding body 36 Contact rod 37 Rotation axis 38 Rotating body 39 Long hole 40 Container detection device 41 Command device

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: A cup-type vending machine that sells various food products such as beverages that are cooked and manufactured from raw materials in the machine body or stored in the machine body and sold in containers such as cups, the machine comprising: The part is provided with a holder formed inside to receive the container, a take-out port from which the product is taken out and opens at the front, a selection button for selecting the product, etc.
There is an operation unit for purchasing the product, a control device for controlling the sales operation, and a sales command signal outputted from this control device at the time of sale to control the container stored inside the cradle. In the cup-type vending machine, the machine is equipped with a container supply device for supplying the product one by one, and sells the product selected by the selection button by putting it into the container supplied from the container supply device to the receiving stand. A cup-type vending machine characterized in that the cup-type vending machine is equipped with a command device that outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply a container from the container supply device to the holder at the time of sale to the control device. . 2. The cup-type vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the command device outputs a command signal indicating whether or not to supply the container to the control device by operating an input device such as a push button provided on the operation section. A cup-type vending machine that is a command device. 3. The cup-type vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the command device supplies the container by detecting the presence or absence of the container by a container detection device disposed inside the machine and detecting whether or not there is a container in the cradle. A cup-type vending machine that is a command device that outputs a command signal as to whether or not it is necessary.