JPH0548079U - vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Regardless of the posture in which the product is unloaded, the longitudinal direction can always be adjusted to the width direction of the vending machine body, and the width of the conveyor can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction. Provided is a vending machine which can be formed into a shorter length. A guard member 17 facing the inner door 1a is provided on one side in the width direction of the conveyor 6, and the upper end side of the guard member 17 is unevenly distributed closer to the inner door 1a than the vertical surface 17b on the lower end side. When the product S is carried out in a vertical posture in which the longitudinal direction is the front-back direction of the vending machine body 1, a sloped surface of the guard member 17 is formed on a part of the product S. 1
By contacting 7a, the product S smoothly rotates about the contact point A, and the longitudinal direction is the main body 1 of the vending machine 1.
It is corrected to a horizontal posture in the width direction of.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a vending machine that conveys products such as canned beverages carried out from a product carry-out port in the width direction of the vending machine body.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, as this type of vending machine, a plurality of product outlets are provided at the bottom of the inner door that covers the front of the product storage unit, and products delivered from any product outlets are provided in front of these product outlets. It is known that a conveyor for conveying in the width direction of the vending machine body is arranged (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-123681).

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, when the vending machine handles products such as canned beverages that have an outer shape in which one direction is longer than the other direction, if the width of the conveyor is made shorter than the longitudinal direction of the product, When the product is unloaded onto the conveyor in a posture that is oriented in the width direction of the vending machine, it is conveyed in this posture, but the product is carried out with its longitudinal direction oriented in the front-back direction of the vending machine body. If this happens, one end of the product in the longitudinal direction will remain on the product outlet side, and the product may be locked at the product outlet and cannot be conveyed. Therefore, in order to prevent such a situation, it is necessary to make the width of the conveyor longer than the longitudinal direction of the product, which increases the size of the conveyor in the front and rear directions of the main body of the vending machine. There was a problem that the main body of the vending machine was enlarged.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to always direct the longitudinal direction of a product in the width direction of the vending machine body regardless of the posture in which the product is unloaded. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine that can be adjusted to a different posture and that can form the width of the conveyor shorter than the length of the product in the longitudinal direction.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an inner door having a product outlet and a conveyor that conveys a product delivered from the product outlet in the width direction of a vending machine body. In a vending machine that handles a product having an outer shape in which one direction is longer than the other direction, a guard member is provided on one side in the width direction of the conveyor so as to face the inner door via the conveyor. In addition, the guard member is formed so that its upper end side is more eccentrically located on the inner door side than its lower end side.

[0006]

[Action]

 According to the vending machine of the present invention, when the product carried out from the product carry-out exit comes out with the longitudinal direction oriented in the width direction of the automatic vending machine body, the product is carried on the conveyor in the same posture. Also, when the product is unloaded with its longitudinal direction oriented in the front-back direction of the vending machine body, one end in the longitudinal direction remains at the product exit side, while the lower part of the other end is on the conveyor and the other end. The upper portions of the sides contact the guard members, respectively. At this time, since the contact portion of the product with the conveyor is pulled in the conveying direction of the conveyor, a rotational force about the contact point with the guard member acts on the product. At this time, this rotation causes the portion between the contact point of the product and the contact point of the guard member to wrap around to the guard member side and project, but the upper end side of the guard member is more than the lower end side. Since it is formed so as to be unevenly distributed on the inner door side, the rotation of the protruding portion of the product is not hindered by the guard member, and the product smoothly rotates. Therefore, even if the product is carried out with its longitudinal direction oriented in the front-back direction of the vending machine body, the attitude of the product is corrected so that the longitudinal direction is oriented in the width direction of the vending machine body. It is possible to make the width of the conveyor shorter than the length of the product in the longitudinal direction.

[0007]

【Example】

 1 to 7 show an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a box-shaped vending machine main body having an opening on the front side, and a heat-insulating inner door 1a is attached to the front opening, and a commodity outlet 1b is provided below the inner door 1a. It is provided.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a product storage portion provided inside the inner door 1a, which is a well-known serpentine column for stacking and storing beverage cans, and operates the product unloading device (not shown) to store the lowest stored product. You can drop one by one by its own weight. As shown in FIG. 2, a total of five product storage units 2 are arranged side by side in the width direction of the vending machine body 1, and the products can be individually carried out. Further, the product outlet 1b of the inner door 1a is provided only at a position corresponding to the conveyor 6 described later, that is, only for the fourth product storage unit 2 from the right side in the drawing, and below each product storage unit 2. Is provided with an inclined shoe 3 for guiding the fallen product S 1 to the product outlet 1b. A product outlet is not provided at the position corresponding to the bucket 7 described later, that is, the leftmost product storage unit 2, and the product is guided to the adjacent product transfer port 1b below the product storage unit 2. An inclined seat 4 is provided.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an outer door that covers the front of the inner door 1a, which has a product sample chamber, a sales button, and the like (not shown), and is openably and closably attached to the vending machine body 1. Further, a product outlet 5a is provided on the front surface of the outer door 5, and the product outlet 5a is located above the product outlet 1b and in front of the leftmost product storage section 2. ing. Reference numeral 5b is a product receiver provided inside the product outlet 5a.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a conveyor provided at a lower front portion of each of the product carry-out ports 1b, and as shown in FIG. 2, an endless feed belt 6a extending between the product carry-out ports 1b and both ends of the feed belt 6a are provided. It comprises a supporting pulley 6b. In this conveyor 6, the pulley 6b is rotated by a motor (not shown), and the feed belt 6a is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a bucket for receiving the product carried out from the product storage unit 2, and as shown in FIG. 4, a box-shaped bucket body 7a having an open upper surface and a bucket body 7a protruding from one side. It is composed of a pair of reversing levers 7b, and each side surface of the bucket body 7a is shaped so as to gradually widen upward. Each of the reversing levers 7b extends obliquely upward, and a hole 7c into which the pin 8 can be inserted is provided at the base thereof.

Reference numeral 9 denotes an elevating mechanism for moving the bucket 7 up and down. As shown in FIG. 5, a guide member 10 is provided vertically inside the outer door 5, and a slider 11 vertically moving along the guide member 10. , A driving motor 12. The guide member 10 has a substantially U-shaped cross section, and guide grooves 10a extending in the vertical direction are formed on both side surfaces of the guide member 10. Further, a reversing shaft 13 is attached to the upper end of the guide member 10 so as to extend through the respective guide grooves 10a and extend laterally. The slider 11 is formed into a substantially U-shaped cross section, and rollers 11a mounted in pairs on the upper and lower sides of the inner side surfaces of the slider 11 are slidably engaged with the respective guide grooves 10a. In addition, support pieces 11b for attaching buckets are provided on both sides of the upper end of the slider 11, and each support piece 11b is provided with a hole 11c through which the pin 8 is inserted. That is, by connecting the hole 11c and the hole 7c of the bucket 7 with the pin 8, the bucket 7 is supported by the slider 11 so as to be vertically rotatable. On the other hand, the motor 12 is attached to the lower portion of the guide member 10, and the first sprocket 14 is attached to the rotation shaft thereof. A second sprocket 15 is attached to the upper part of the guide member 10, and the sprockets 14 and 15 are connected by an endless chain 16. Further, a part of the chain 16 is connected to a fixed portion 11d provided on the slider 11. That is, in the elevating mechanism 9, the chain 16 is rotated by the normal rotation and the reverse rotation of the motor 12, and the slider 11 connected to the chain 16 is vertically moved along the guide groove 10a of the guide member 10. Can be moved. Further, the upper stop position and the lower stop position of the slider 11 are determined by the detection of a sensor (not shown). Further, the bucket 7 rises and descends together with the slider 11 starting from a position slightly lower than the conveyor 6, and at the raised position, the reversing lever 7b hits the reversing shaft 13 as shown in FIG. In addition, it is turned upside down toward the product outlet 5a.

A guard member 17 is provided on one side of the conveyor 6 in the width direction, and is formed continuously along the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 6. The guard member 17 is fixed to the inside of the outer door 5 and, as shown in FIG. 1, a substantially upper half of the surface facing the inner door 1a forms an inclined surface 17a facing slightly downward, and a substantially lower surface. Half is formed so as to form the vertical surface 17b. That is, the inclined surface 17a is unevenly distributed closer to the inner door 1a than the vertical surface 17b.

Next, the operation of the vending machine of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, 6, and 7.

First, by pressing the sale button after inserting coins, the product S is dropped from a predetermined product storage unit 2 (see the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3), and the dropped product S is passed through the inclined shoe 3. The product is unloaded from the product exit 1b. The product S carried out from the product carry-out port 1b normally falls on the conveyor 6 in a horizontal posture in which the longitudinal direction thereof is the width direction of the vending machine body 1, and is conveyed to the bucket 7 in that posture. . In addition, when the discharged product S is discharged in a vertical posture with the longitudinal direction facing the front-back direction of the vending machine body 1, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. While one end of the other side remains on the side of the product outlet 1b, the lower part of the other end contacts the conveyor 6, and the upper part of the other end contacts the inclined surface 17a of the guard member 17. At this time, since the contact portion of the product S with the conveyor 6 is pulled in the conveying direction of the conveyor 6, the product S is subjected to a rotational force about the contact point A with the inclined surface 17a. At this time, due to this rotation, the portion between the contact point A with the inclined surface 17a of the product S and the contact point B with the conveyor 6 wraps around to the guard member 17 side and projects (see the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1). ), Since the inclined surface 17a is formed so as to be more unevenly distributed on the inner door 1a side than the vertical surface 17b therebelow, the rotation of the projecting portion S'of the product S is hindered by the guard member 17. Therefore, the commodity S smoothly rotates as shown in FIG. 6 (b), and as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the sideways posture in which the longitudinal direction is oriented in the width direction of the vending machine body 1 Will be fixed. When the product S conveyed by the conveyor 6 is received by the bucket 7, the bucket 7 is lifted by the lifting mechanism 9 as shown in FIG. The bucket 7 revolves around the pin 8 toward the product outlet 5a, and the product S in the bucket 7 falls into the product receiver 5b of the product outlet 5a.

As described above, according to the vending machine of this embodiment, the guard member 17 facing the inner door 1a is provided on one side in the width direction of the conveyor 6, and the upper end side of the guard member 17 is provided. Forms an inclined surface 17a that is unevenly distributed on the inner door 1a side with respect to the vertical surface 17b on the lower end side, and when the product S is carried out in a vertical posture with the longitudinal direction facing the front-back direction of the vending machine body 1, Since the inclined surface 17a of the guard member 17 is brought into contact with a part of the product S and the product S is smoothly rotated about the contact point A, the product S is carried out in any posture. However, it is always possible to correct the longitudinal direction to the lateral orientation of the vending machine body 1 in the width direction. Therefore, since the width of the conveyor 6 can be formed shorter than the length of the product S in the longitudinal direction, the conveyor 6 can be thinned in the front-rear direction of the vending machine body 1, and the vending machine body can be thinned. 1 can be miniaturized.

[0018]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the vending machine of the present invention, the longitudinal direction can always be corrected to the lateral direction of the width of the vending machine body regardless of the posture in which the product is unloaded. The width of the conveyor can be made shorter than the length of the product in the longitudinal direction, and the vending machine body can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of a vending machine showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a main part of the vending machine.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of the vending machine.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a bucket.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a lifting mechanism.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a posture correction operation of a product.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of a bucket.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Vending machine body, 1a ... Inner door, 1b ... Merchandise exit,
6 ... Conveyor, 17 ... Guard member, 17a ... Slope, 1
7b ... Vertical surface, S ... Product.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An inner door having a product carry-out port, and a conveyor for carrying the product carried out from the product carry-out port in the width direction of the vending machine body, and having an outer shape in which one direction is longer than the other direction. In an automatic vending machine that handles products, a guard member is provided on one side in the width direction of the conveyor so as to face the inner door with the conveyor interposed, and the guard member is arranged so that the upper end of the guard member is inside the lower end side. A vending machine characterized by being formed so as to be unevenly distributed on the door side.