JPH06203261A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the automatic vending machine which prevents an article can, fallen and carried out of an article rack, from standing and sending it out smoothly to an article take-out opening through a chute while its laterally laid attitude is held and, specially, the structure of its article carrying-out passage. CONSTITUTION:The forward slanting chute 6 which is linked to the article take-out opening is laid below the article rack 5 and the article 10 which is fallen and carried out of the article rack is sent out to the article take-out opening through the chute. This automatic vending machine is provided with an article carrying-out guide 11 which projects halfway in the article fall passage between the carrying-out end of the article rack and the chute, and the article which is carried out of the article rack is temporarily received on a plate surface and transferred to the chute below it. Here, the carrying-out guide consists of a flapper 14 pivoted on a front end as a fulcrum in an oscillating state, a stopper 12a which restricts the oscillating range of the flapper, and an energizing spring 15 which hops up the flapper in a stand-by state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine for selling can-based products, and more particularly to the structure of the product delivery path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, FIG. 2 shows a main structure of an automatic vending machine to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a main body case of a vending machine, 2 is a front outer door, 3 is a middle door, and 4 is an outer door 2.
The product outlets 5 that are open to the left and right are the serpentine-type product racks 5a-
5c is a product column lined up in the front and rear rows of the product rack 5,
5d is a merchandise delivery mechanism, 6 is a shooter laid under the merchandise rack 5, 7 is an anti-theft flapper attached to the inner door 3, 8 is a cooler, and 9 is a fan inside the warehouse.

The merchandise selling operation with such a configuration is well known, and the merchandise rack 5 selected based on the sales instruction.
When the merchandise delivery mechanism 5d is operated, the merchandise (can-based merchandise) 10 stored in the rack drops out from the carry-out end and is carried out to land on the shooter 6, and then slides on the slope of the shooter 6. It is sent to the product outlet 4. Further, the shooter 6 guides the products carried out from the plurality of product racks 5 arranged on the left and right to the center and sends the products to the product take-out port 4.
The left and right sides 6a of the fan-shaped plate are bent forward in a U shape to form a trough-shaped body.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional vending machine, there may occur the following troubles of carrying out the product at the time of selling the product. That is, the can-type product 10 is stored in the product rack 5 in a horizontal position, and as shown in FIG. 2A, the product 10 dropped and carried out from the product rack 5 in the horizontal position is left and right of the shooter 6. Both sides 6
When hitting the inclined surface of a, the product 10 may bounce on the inclined surface and change to an inverted posture. Moreover, while the product 10 is standing upright, the main surface of the shooter 6 is connected to the product outlet 4
When it slides toward, the anti-theft flapper 7 provided on the middle door 3 on the way cannot be rubbed through, and the product 10 is caught in this part and gets stuck in the middle of the carry-out passage, and cannot be taken out to the product take-out port 4. Becomes

According to the results of experiments conducted by the inventors, the phenomenon of can standing of products as described above is caused by the product racks 5 lined up at the left and right ends of the inside of the warehouse, and particularly the product columns 5a lined up in the front row. It is recognized that a large number of products are shipped from Japan. This is because the products 10 dropped and carried out from the front row columns 5a of the product racks 5 arranged at the left and right ends hit the inclined surfaces of the left and right sides 6a of the shooter 6, and the columns 5a arranged in the front row of the product rack 5 serve as the carry-out end. It is presumed that the drop between the shooter 6 and the shooter 6 is large, so that the shooter tends to bounce when landing on the shooter surface.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to solve the above-mentioned problems and prevent canning of a product taken out from a product rack, and to take a product through a shooter while maintaining a horizontal posture. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine capable of smoothly delivering to an exit, particularly a structure of a product carry-out passage.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the above-mentioned object is to overhang in the middle of a product drop passage between a carry-out end of a product rack and a shooter, and to temporarily receive the product carried out from the product rack on a plate surface. This is accomplished by providing a product delivery guide that transfers to the lower shooter. Further, the product delivery guide in the above-described configuration is composed of a flapper pivotally supported about the front end as a fulcrum, a stopper for restricting the swing range of the flapper, and a biasing spring for flipping the flapper upward in a standby state. It depends on the composition.

The product unloading guide is installed below the product unloading guide so as to face the unloading ends of the frontmost columns of the product racks lined up at the left and right ends of the inside of the warehouse.

[0009]

According to the above construction, the product dropped and carried out from the product rack in the horizontal position first lands in the horizontal position on the product discharge guide parallel to the product falling position in the middle of the drop passage. It is received by the robot, rolls on the plate surface to the tip, then falls by its own weight and lands on the rear area of the shooter, and then slides on the shooter surface and is delivered to the product outlet.

Here, the plate surface of the product carry-out guide is parallel to the product carry-out posture from the product rack, and the drop from the carry-out end of the product rack to the product carry-out guide and the tip of the product carry-out guide and the shooter landing point. Since the head drop of the product is also small, the occurrence of the canning phenomenon in which the product bounces at the landing point and is inverted is avoided, and the product is delivered to the product outlet through the shooter in the horizontal position.

In addition, by using the swing-out flapper as the product discharge guide and flipping it up to the upper position by the biasing spring in the standby state, a product discharge passage of sufficient height is provided between the product discharge guide and the shooter. Since it is ensured, even if the height of the product drop path is restricted, unnecessary interference between the product sliding on the shooter surface toward the product outlet and the product delivery guide located above it can be prevented. be able to. The spring force of the biasing spring is set so that when the product lands on the flapper, the biasing spring leans to the backward tilted posture due to the weight of the product.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, the same members as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals. That is, in the configuration of FIG. 1, the columns 5a arranged in the front row of the product racks 5 (the product racks arranged at the left and right ends of the inside of the refrigerator) are arranged so as to project in the middle of the product drop passage so as to face the carry-out end. The commodity delivery guide 11 is newly installed. This product delivery guide 11
Is a mounting bracket 1 provided on the inner door 3 with the front edge as a swing fulcrum.
An oscillating flapper 1 rotatably supported by a horizontal shaft 13
4, a biasing spring 15 that flips up the flapper 14 to an upward standby position represented by a solid line around the support shaft 13, and a stopper 12a that is formed on the mounting bracket 12 to regulate the swing range of the flapper. It is assembled from.

Next, the operation of carrying out the product according to the above configuration will be described. It should be noted that I to IV in the drawing represent the progress of the unloading movement of the product 10. First, during standby, the flapper 14 of the product delivery guide 11 is pushed up to the upper position indicated by the solid line by being biased by the spring 15. Here, when the product 10 is unloaded from the column 5a of the product rack 5 based on the sales instruction, the product 10 first lands on the flapper 14 in a horizontal position (state I) and the flapper 1
4 is tilted by the weight of the product 10 against the biasing spring 15 into a backward tilted posture represented by a chain line (state II). As a result, the commodity 10 rolls on the flapper 14 and is guided to the tip thereof, and then falls on the rear area of the shooter 6 and lands (III
State). At the same time, the flapper 14 is biased by the spring 15 and returns to the standby position. Further, the product 10 landed on the shooter 6 slides on the inclined surface of the shooter (state IV), pushes the anti-theft flapper 7 open, and is delivered to the product outlet.

Here, the product 10 carried out from the product rack 5
Since the falling posture of the product is parallel to the plate surface of the flapper 14 and the drop between the two is small, the posture of the product is not disturbed. Further, the drop between the tip of the flapper 14 and the shooter 6 is much smaller than the vertical drop between the product column 5a and the shooter 6, so that the product 10 dropped from the tip of the flapper 14 onto the shooter 6 is not removed. There is no canning that bounces over the shooter surface and inverts.
This has also been verified by an actual machine test conducted by the inventors. Moreover, since the flapper 14 returns to the standby position above after the product 10 is transferred from the flapper 14 to the shooter 6, there is no risk of the product 10 sliding on the shooter and the flapper 14 unduly interfering with each other.

[0015]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, by providing the product carry-out guide in the middle of the product drop passage, the product carried out from the product rack can be bounced back to the shooter and inverted. The occurrence of the standing phenomenon can be prevented, and the product can be smoothly delivered to the product take-out port without a carry-out trouble (canned goods).

Further, by using an oscillating flapper as the product carry-out guide, the product is guided upward by spring urging during standby, so that a product passage of a sufficient height is secured between the flapper and the shooter to secure the shooter. Unnecessary interference between the sliding product and the flapper can be avoided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention

2A and 2B are diagrams showing a structure around a product unloading portion in a conventional vending machine, in which FIG. 2A is a front view and FIG. 2B is a side sectional view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Product outlet 5 Product rack 5a Frontmost column 6 Shooter 10 Product 11 Product delivery guide 12a Stopper 13 Spindle 14 Flapper 15 Energizing spring

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic vending machine in which a forwardly inclined shooter leading to a product outlet is installed below a product rack, and a product dropped from the product rack and delivered to the product outlet through the shooter is delivered to the product rack. An automatic vending machine, which is provided with a product delivery guide that projects in the middle of a product drop path between the end and the shooter, temporarily receives the product delivered from the product rack on the plate surface, and transfers it to the lower shooter. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the product discharge guide has a flapper pivotally supported about a front end as a fulcrum, a stopper for restricting a swing range of the flapper, and a flapper in a standby state. An automatic vending machine, which comprises an urging spring that flips up. 3. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the product carry-out guides are installed below the carry-out ends of the front row columns of the product racks lined up at the left and right ends of the warehouse. Vending machine.