JPH0460896A - Cup type automatic vending machine capable of selling simultaneously plural cups - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable two persons to take a drink purchased one time by providing a first selecting means to select the drink to be sold by using one piece of a cup, and a second selecting means to select the drink to be sold by using prescribed plural pieces of the cups through the sale of one time. CONSTITUTION:The first selecting means to select the drink to be sold by using one piece of the cup and the second selecting means to select the drink to be sold by using prescribed plural pieces of the cups through the sale of one time are provided. Then, a vend stage 1A is made capable of moving in an automatic vending machine as being mounted with the cup, and the time of the sale of the drink to be sold by using two pieces of the cups, first of all, this movable vend stage 1A receives two pieces of the cups one by one in a form that they are piled just one upon another just under the dropping port of a cup mechanism, and it carries the cups to a material delivering port, and further, it carries them about to the pouring port of hot water, and finally, it carries them to a take-out port. Thus, the sale for a customer who wants to take the sold drink of one time by dividing it between two persons becomes possible.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a cup-type vending machine (hereinafter also referred to as a vending machine) that pours beverages into cups and sells them, and particularly relates to a cup-type vending machine that can sell multiple cups at the same time. Note that in the following figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional cup-type vending machines use a system that uses one cup per sale.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] Recently, in addition to the conventional cups such as 7 ounces and 9 ounces, large capacity cups such as 12 ounces and 16 ounces have appeared and are also used in vending machines. With the advent of 12-ounce and 16-ounce cups, customers have been asking for two cups for each drink they purchase. This is when people with small children want to drink one drink for two people and think that about 7 ounces is sufficient for small consumption. There are also cases where the amount needed is not decided and two people want to discuss and divide it. However, in this case, the total amount of drinks for two people (that is, the amount of drinks sold at one time) is 1.
You will need 2 ounces or 16 ounces. In order to meet this demand, the following solutions (1) to (2) can be considered. ■Provide a product selection button to sell only cups without drinks. ■ Stack two (or three if necessary) cups and serve the beverage onto the stacked single cup. ■For drinks sold in 12 ounces or 16 ounces, a selection method will be provided so that they can also be sold in 7 ounces. Regarding option (■), it is difficult to sell only cups because the product seller wants to sell as expensive a product as possible while the number of selection buttons is limited. In addition, as for the proposal (2), since the timer setting and beverage warranty for vending machines would increase, the vending machine would become more complicated than the current one, and it would end up being more expensive. Therefore, proposal (2) seems to be a good idea, but there is a problem with conventional cup-type vending machines that it is practically impossible to carry out two cups on top of each other, as described below. That is, FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of a cup delivery section of a conventional cup-type vending machine. In the same figure, 1 is a vent stage where the carried out cup lands like a cup CPI.
In this landing state, a drink is poured into I by a means not shown, and taken out of the vending machine by the customer. 2 is a cup delivery mechanism (also abbreviated as cup mechanism) that separates cups one by one from a group of cups stored in a stack in advance and carries them out to the pend stage 1 side via a cup drop ring (not shown); 3 is a cup mechanism This cup shooter serves as a guide path for guiding the cup separated at the drop opening 28 at 2 to the pend stage 1. In this way, in conventional vending machines, depending on the position of the drop port 2A of the cup delivery mechanism 2, the cup must be delivered to the pend stage 1 via the cup shooter 3 as shown in FIG. With respect to the cup CPI that was taken out, the cup that was carried out the second time will enter the cup CPI with a posture like CF2, and the two cup CPI,
CP2 does not overlap correctly. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cup-type vending machine that can solve this problem and can sell multiple cups at the same time. [Means for solving the problem] In order to solve the above problem, the vending machine of the present invention has the following features:
A cup carrying means (cup mechanism 2, etc.) that vertically carries out and drops stored cups (CP) one by one while maintaining their normal posture (through cup dropping port 2A, etc.), and one sale. A first selection means (push button 8, etc.) for selecting a beverage using one cup, and a second selection means for selecting a beverage using a predetermined plurality of cups in one sale.
A selection means (push button 8, etc.) is provided for each beverage to be sold or the type of raw material including hot water, water, etc. for the beverage (attached to the raw material box 4, hot water tank 5, etc.), and a selection means for the beverage is provided. Alternatively, a beverage injection means (raw material motor 4
B, hot water valve 58, etc.), and when the first selection means is selected, one cup is carried out via the cup carrying out means, and the cup that falls due to this carrying out is maintained in its posture. Receive it for free,
The received cup is injected with the beverage or raw material selected by the first selection means via the beverage injection means, and the cup after the injection is conveyed to the customer's outlet. When the selection means 2 is selected, the cup 1
The plurality of cups specified by the second selection means are sequentially carried out one by one through the first selection means, and all the cups that fall due to this carrying out are received one on top of the other while maintaining their posture. The plurality of overlapping cups are injected into the uppermost cup through the beverage injection means related to the beverage selected by the second selection means, and after this injection, J is provided with a means (a mobile bending stage 18, a bending stage moving mechanism IB, a control unit 10, etc.) for conveying the overlapping cups to the customer outlet.

[For use]

In the present invention, the bend stage can be moved inside the vending machine with a cup placed on it, and when selling a beverage using two cups, the movable bend stage first places one cup directly under the drop opening of the cup mechanism. Each customer receives two cups in the correct overlapping form, then these overlapping cups are carried around to the raw material delivery port, then roughly to the hot water inlet, and finally the customer takes out the cup filled with the beverage from the vending machine. It is intended to be brought to the outlet of the reservoir.

【Example】

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a principle diagram showing an embodiment of cup conveyance in the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the main part of the control circuit in the invention, and Fig. 3 is for explaining the operation of the main part in Fig. 2. This is a time chart. First, FIG. 1 will be explained. This figure shows a case where drinks are sold in two stacked cups. In the same figure, 1Δ is a movable bending stage 2 with a cup mechanism similar to that shown in FIG.
A raw material box 5 stores raw materials for beverages such as coffee and milk sand cultivation by type of raw materials, and is equipped with a raw material transport mechanism including a raw material motor 4B described later below.
5A is a hot water tank, 5A is a hot water valve for taking out hot water from the hot water tank 5, and 6 is an outlet door from which a customer takes out a cup from the vending machine. Further, 8 to D indicate the stop positions during movement of the cup CP (therefore, the movable vent stage 18). In other words, the bend stage moving mechanism (FIG. 2 IB), which serves as a cup conveyance device (not shown), moves the movable bend stage I, which is always at the stop position A, in response to a request for selling beverages using two cups.
First, move A (no cup is placed on it at first) to position B1 directly below the cup drop opening 28 (2A1) of the cup mechanism 2, and in that state, use the cup mechanism 2 to pick up one cup from the group held by the cup mechanism 2. Receive two cup CPs that are separated one by one. Therefore, these two cups will naturally fall over each other correctly. The naori knob mechanism 2 is also provided with another cup drop port 2A (2A2) which may have a different cup capacity, and if it is necessary to receive a cup from this drop port 2A2, the bending stage 1Δ is moved to the drop port 2A2. is moved to position B2, which is directly below. Next, the bend stage IA is moved to an appropriate position C below the raw material outlet 4A of the raw material box 4 that holds the raw materials related to the sales beverage in question, and receives the raw material carried out from the raw material box 4 into the cup it holds. . However, if there are multiple types of raw materials involved in the sales beverage, bend stage I
A is moved one after another below the raw material outlet 4A of the raw material box 4 for each type in the same manner as described above, and the raw material concerned is received into the cup. Next, the bend stage IA is the hot water valve 5A of the hot water tank 5.
The cup is moved to an appropriate position below the cup, and hot water is poured into the cup to create a beverage. Next, the vent stage 18 is moved to the normal stop position A, and the cup containing the beverage is taken out of the vending machine through the exit door 6 by the customer. Next, in FIG. 2, 10 is a control unit that controls the entire vending machine, and IB is a bending stage moving mechanism as a cup conveying device, which is equipped with, for example, stepping motors for each of the X and YZ axes (not shown). According to the command from the section 10, the movable pend stage I moves the above-mentioned A, Bl, B2 . It has the function of moving (three-dimensionally) to predetermined positions such as C and D. Reference numeral 2 denotes the cup delivery mechanism described in FIG. 4 and FIG. 58 is the hot water valve described in FIG. 1, 5B is a hot water tank heater for heating the water in the hot water tank 5, and 5C is a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the hot water in the hot water tank 5. The control unit 10 constantly monitors the temperature sensor 5C and turns on and off the hot water tank heater 5B to maintain the temperature of the water in the hot water tank 5 at an appropriate value. 7 is sorting and counting the money put into the vending machine. A cash processing mechanism for returning change, etc., 8 is a push button for selecting a product (beverage), 9 is a sales ready button provided one-to-one with each push button 8, and lights up to display a product that has become available for sale based on money input. A lamp 11 is a setting section for inputting various data necessary for the operation of the control section 10 in advance. Next, in Fig. 3, (1) shows the timing of operating the push button 8 after money is inserted, and Fig. 3 (2) shows the cup when selling beverages in one cup (therefore, the movable bending stage 1Δ).
(3) shows the timing of movement of the cups (bend stage 18) when selling beverages in two cups. In addition, Fig. 3 (2), (3
The symbols A to D in ) correspond to the stop positions of the same symbols in FIG. 1, respectively. Next, the operation of the control section 10 shown in FIG. 2 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. By inserting money into the money processing mechanism 7,
The control unit 10 lights up the sellable lamp 9 corresponding to the product (drink) selection push button 8 that is now available for sale. When the next selectable push 81]8 is selected (Fig. 3 (1)), if this selection is for beverage sales using 2 cups, Fig. 3 (3)
The control unit 10 drives the bend stage moving mechanism IB to move the bend stage 18 from the position A in FIG. 1 to the position B (that is, the position specified by the corresponding push button 8 of B1 or B2). After that, the cup carrying-out mechanism 2 is driven to carry two cups one by one onto the bending stage 1 and drop them thereon. Next, the control unit 10 moves the 2
Figure 1C shows the pend stage IA with stacked cups.
After moving to the position, the raw material motor 4B is driven for a predetermined period of time to transport the raw material to the corresponding cup. Next, control section 1
0 moves the pend stage IA on which the cup into which the raw material is poured is placed via the head stage moving mechanism IB to the position D in Fig. 1, and then opens the hot water valve 5^ for a predetermined period of time to pour hot water into the cup. Let it spit out. Even after this discharge, the pend stage IA is kept at position D while the raw material is effectively stirred in the cup due to inertia during discharge of the hot water. Next, the control section 10 moves the bending stage 18 on which the beverage cup is placed to the position again via the bending stage moving mechanism IB, thereby completing the series of operations for conveying the cup. Furthermore, when the sale of beverages in one cup is requested by selecting push button 8, one cup is carried out and dropped from the pend stage IA at position B, as shown in FIG. 3 (2), and the entire operation thereafter is The process is the same as in FIG. 3 (3) except that it is accelerated to .

【Effect of the invention】

According to the present invention, a cup conveying device (bent stage moving mechanism) capable of three-dimensionally moving a pend stage on which a cup is placed within the vending machine is provided in a cup-type vending machine, and the pend stage is set in advance so that the cup of the cup mechanism is not dropped. By moving the cup directly under the mouth and stacking the cups that are vertically carried out and falling one by one from the cup mechanism, it is now possible to dispense beverages onto two-tiered cups, making it possible to dispense beverages in a single sale. It is now possible to sell to customers who want to share a drink between two people, which was not possible in the past. This allows for more sales opportunities than before.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of cup conveyance as an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional cup delivery section. IA: Mobile bend stage, IB: Bend stage movement mechanism, 2: Cup delivery mechanism (cup mechanism), 2
A (2A1. 2A2): Cup drop opening, 4:
Raw material box, 48: Raw material outlet, 4B = Raw material motor, 5
: Hot water tank, 5A: Hot water valve, 5B: Hot water tank heater, 5C: Temperature sensor, 6: Outlet door, 7: Money processing mechanism, 8: Push button, 9: Sales ready lamp, 10: Control unit, 11: Data Setting section, CP two cups, A-D: Stop position. ■

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) Cup carrying means for vertically carrying out and dropping the stored cups one by one while maintaining their normal posture, and selecting a beverage using one cup in one sale. a first selection means for selecting a beverage using a predetermined plurality of the cups in one sale; and a second selection means for selecting a beverage that uses a predetermined number of the cups in one sale, and a beverage to be sold or raw materials for the beverage, including hot water, water, etc. a beverage pouring means for pouring the respective beverage or raw material into the corresponding cup; and when the first selection means is selected, pouring one of the cups through the cup discharging means; The cup is carried out, and the cup that falls due to this carrying out is received while maintaining its posture.
The received cup is injected with the beverage or raw material selected by the first selection means via the beverage injection means, and the cup after the injection is conveyed to the customer's outlet. When the second selection means is selected, the plurality of cups specified by the second selection means are sequentially carried out one by one through the cup carrying out means, and all the cups that fall due to this carrying out are removed. While maintaining that posture, the plurality of stacked cups are stacked and received, and the beverage injecting means related to the beverage selected by the second selection means is poured into the uppermost cup while keeping the plurality of stacked cups together. 1. A cup-type vending machine capable of selling a plurality of cups at the same time, characterized by comprising means for injecting the beverage or raw material and transporting the overlapping cups after the injection to the customer outlet.