JPH06251237A - Raw material carry-out device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a raw material carry-out device which smoothly stir powdery raw materials put in a raw material storage container and effectively prevents the raw material powder from caking owing to damp. CONSTITUTION:A spiral body 40 is provided at the lower part in the raw material storage container 30 which contains the powdery raw materials. A raw material discharge opening 4A is formed on one end side of the spiral body 40. A stirring machine 33 is provided in a free swinging state in the raw material storage container 30. The device is provided with a spring member 34 which energizes the stirring machine 33 in a pulling-down direction at all times by fixing the base part 34A at one end to a base part 31 and engaging the engagement part 34B at the other end slidably with the stirring machine 33. Further, the device is provided with a cam 35 which abuts on the part between the base part 34A and engagement part 34B of the spring member 34 and pushes it up intermittently. The base part 34A of the spring member 34 is fixed to the base part 31 at the other end side of the spiral body 40.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raw material carrying-out device used for an automatic vending machine or the like to feed a powdered raw material such as coffee.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional vending machines for selling cupped beverages have been equipped with a raw material unloading device as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-84984 (G07F13 / 06) and storing the raw materials. It was configured to store a powdered raw material such as coffee in a container and release a predetermined amount for each sale to prepare a beverage. That is, a conventional raw material carrying-out device comprises a raw material storage container, a spiral body provided in a lower portion of the raw material storage container, and a raw material outlet provided at one end side of the spiral body, and the spiral body is rotated by a motor. Thus, the powder raw material stored in the raw material storage container is conveyed to one end side and discharged from the raw material outlet.

By the way, since the raw material stored in the raw material storage container is powder, it absorbs moisture in the air during storage and solidifies. When the powder raw material is solidified, it cannot be carried out smoothly. Therefore, in the above publication, an agitator (stirrer) is provided in the raw material storage container. This agitator is composed of a leaf spring, etc., is fixed to the raw material storage container above the raw material outlet which is one end of the spiral body, and is intermittently pushed up and pushed up by the stirring disc that rotates in conjunction with the spiral body. When not in use, it lowers by its own elasticity to perform a vertical swing motion in the raw material storage container, and by such swinging, the powder raw material in the raw material storage container is agitated to prevent solidification as described above. is there.

[0004]

By the way, in this kind of raw material carrying-out apparatus, the powder raw material in the raw material storage container is not uniformly taken in from above the spiral, but the other end of the spiral opposite to the raw material outlet. Side is taken in and is conveyed to the raw material outlet side. Therefore, in the upper part of the spiral body, the raw material is lost from the other end side of the spiral body.

Therefore, since the powder raw material is exhausted above the raw material outlet, the reduction of the powder raw material below the agitator is delayed in the structure of the above publication. In this way, when the powder raw material is clogged below the agitator, the agitator is temporarily lifted by the stirring disk, but when it descends, the agitator compresses the raw material, so the resistance at that time causes the agitator to rise. There was a problem that the stirring function could be impaired due to the inability to descend and the descent operation becoming dull.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and smoothly stirs the powder raw material contained in the raw material container to effectively prevent solidification of the raw material powder due to moisture. It is an object of the present invention to provide a raw material unloading device that can be used.

[0007]

That is, a raw material carrying-out device 4 of the present invention comprises a raw material storage container 30 for storing a powder raw material, and a spiral body 40 provided below the raw material storage container 30.
Raw material discharge port 4A formed at one end of the spiral 40
And a stirrer 33 swingably provided in the raw material storage container 30, a base portion 34A at one end is fixed to the raw material storage container (base portion 31), and an engaging portion 34B at the other end is provided in the stirrer 3.
By being slidably engaged with 3,
The spring member 34 for urging the spring member 34 in a downward direction and a drive device (cam 35) that abuts between the base portion 34A and the engagement portion 34B of the spring member 34 and pushes it up intermittently. The base portion 34A of 34 is fixed to the raw material storage container (base portion 31) on the other end side of the spiral body 40.

[0008]

According to the raw material unloading device 4 of the present invention, the spring member 3
4 is intermittently pushed up by a drive device (cam 35), and the agitator 33 slidably engaged with its engaging portion 34B is pushed up by this spring member 34. Also,
When there is no pushing up by the drive device (cam 35),
The spring member 34 pulls down the stirrer 33 by its elastic force. The raw material container 30 is moved by the swinging of the agitator 33.
The powder raw material therein is agitated.

On the other hand, the raw material stored in the raw material storage container 30 is taken from the other end side of the spiral body 40 (the side opposite to the raw material discharge port 4A) and conveyed to the raw material discharge port 4A. At this time, the spring member 34 is used. Since the base portion 34A of is fixed to the raw material storage container (base portion 31) on the other end side of the spiral body 40,
The raw material is in the form of disappearing from below the spring member 34 first. Therefore, the lowering of the spring member 34 due to the restoration is less likely to be hindered by the raw material below, and the spring member 34 can be smoothly lowered, so that the stirrer 33 is also swung smoothly.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a raw material discharge device 4 of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of an automatic vending machine equipped with the raw material unloading device 4 of the present invention. In a vending machine (not shown in FIG. 2), a cup supply device 2 for supplying a cup 1, a hot water tank 3 equipped with heating means such as a heater (not shown), and powder raw materials of coffee, sugar and cream are stored. The raw material carry-out devices 4, 5, and 6 of the present invention are provided.

In the present embodiment, the cup supply device 2 sends the cup 1 at the lowermost end to a predetermined selling position with the start of a predetermined selling operation. Further, a hot water valve 8 is attached to the hot water tank 3, and the hot water valve 8 is used to mix the ball 9 with the hot water.
The hot water supply pipe 11 extends to the. Further, the raw material discharge ports 4, 5 and 6 are provided at the front lower ends thereof with the raw material discharge ports 4 respectively.
A, 5A, and 6A are formed and open forward, and the powder shooter 12 is provided below each raw material discharge port 4A, 5A, and 6A.
Are arranged.

The powder shooter 12 has an upper surface opened below the respective outlets 4A, 5A, 6A, and a lower end converged and opened above the mixing ball 9. A beverage supply pipe 13 extends downward from the mixing ball 9, and a lower end is opened above the cup 1 at the selling position.

Next, the structure of the raw material unloading device 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, other raw material carrying-out devices 5, 6
Since it has the same structure, the description thereof will be omitted. The raw material carry-out device 4 is a rectangular raw material storage container 3 having an open top surface.
0, in which the coffee powder raw material is stored. Reference numeral 32 is a lid that closes the upper opening. A base portion 31 as a part of the raw material storage container 30 that supports the raw material storage container 30 is provided below the raw material storage container 30, and the base portion 31 has a shape in which the lower portion is narrowed.

At the lower end of the base portion 31, the spiral body 4 is provided.
0 is attached, and one end side of the spiral 40 enters the raw material discharge port 4A. The other end of the spiral body 40 has a gear motor 42 provided outside the base portion 31.
Is connected to the output shaft of. A drive shaft 36 is rotatably attached to the upper base portion 31 of the spiral body 40, and the drive shaft 36 is configured to rotate by a gear 39 in association with the rotation of the gear motor 42. The drive shaft 36 is provided with stirring blades 37 and 38 for making the raw material powder contained therein uniform, and further, between the stirring blades 37 and 38, a substantially circular shape eccentrically fixed to the drive shaft 36 is provided. A plate-shaped cam 35 is attached.
The gear motor 42, the drive shaft 36, and the cam 35 constitute the drive device of the present invention.

On the other hand, above the drive shaft 36, a stirrer 33 for preventing solidification of the raw material powder and a spring member 34 are provided. The stirrer 33 has a long and narrow rectangular frame shape as shown in FIG. 3, and one side of the rectangle having the shorter width is a base portion 33A, and the base portion 33A is provided in the raw material storage container 30 above the other end side of the spiral body 40. It is pivotally supported so that it can swing vertically.

The spring member 34 is composed of a leaf spring made of a steel plate having a predetermined width, and is approximately V as a whole.
It is bent in a letter shape. One end of the spring member 34 is bent downward at an acute angle to form a base portion 34A, and the other end has an engaging portion 34B formed of two through holes. Further, the bottom of the V-shape located between the base portion 34A and the engaging portion 34B is made flat and serves as the contact portion 34C. Then, the two long sides of the agitator 33 are inserted into the engaging portion 34B of the spring member 34, and the two are slidably engaged with each other. The spring member 34 is mounted in the raw material storage container 30 by fixing the base portion 34A to the base portion 31 above the other end side of the spiral body 40, and the peripheral surface of the cam 35 contacts the lower surface of the flat portion 34C. Touching. Further, the spring member 34 always biases the agitator 33 in the direction of pulling it downward due to its elasticity.

The operation will be described with the above configuration. When the vending machine (not shown) starts the selling operation, the cup 1 is delivered from the cup supply device 2 to the selling position (inside the selling port of the vending machine (not shown)) as described above. Then, the raw material discharge ports 4A, 5A, 6A of the respective raw material carrying-out devices 4, 5, 6
From this, a predetermined amount of each raw material powder of coffee, sugar and cream is discharged and supplied from the powder shooter 12 into the mixing bowl 9. Furthermore, the hot water valve 8 of the hot water tank 3 opens,
Hot water is supplied to the mixing balls 9 via the hot water supply pipe 11, and the mixing balls 9 are agitated. The coffee (beverage) thus produced by the mixing ball 9 is supplied to the cup 1 by the beverage supply pipe 13.

Next, the operation of the raw material unloading device 4 during the selling operation will be described. The same applies to the other raw material carrying-out devices 5 and 6. A predetermined amount of coffee raw material powder is stored in the raw material storage container 30 of the raw material carry-out device 4, and the lower end thereof is located around the spiral 40.
The sales operation causes the gear motor 42 to rotate for a predetermined time, which causes the agitator 40 to rotate a predetermined number of times. Due to the rotation of the spiral body 40, the powder raw material in the raw material storage container 30 is taken in from the other end side of the spiral body 40, that is, the gear motor 42 side, conveyed in the left direction in FIG. 1 and discharged from the raw material discharge port 4A by a predetermined amount. .

On the other hand, the rotation of the gear motor 42 causes the drive shaft 36 to rotate in conjunction with the gear 39. Drive shaft 3
The rotation of 6 rotates the stirring blades 37 and 38 to level the powder around and the cam 35 also rotates. When the cam 35 rotates, the flat portion 34C of the spring member 34 is lifted when the peripheral surface separated from the drive shaft 36 is directed upward.
The spring member 34 is intermittently rotated by the rotation of the cam 35.
It will be pushed up as indicated by the middle dashed line. When the spring member 34 is pushed up, the stirrer 33 engaged with it
Is also pushed up as indicated by the broken line in FIG.

When the peripheral surface of the cam 35 close to the rotary shaft 36 comes upward, the spring member 34 is no longer pushed up by the cam 35, so that the spring member 34 is lowered by its elasticity and the agitator 33 is pulled down. The agitator 33 is swung in the vertical direction by the pushing-up and pulling-down actions of the spring member 34, whereby the powder raw material in the raw material storage container 30 is agitated. This prevents the raw material powder from solidifying due to moisture.

Here, since the spring member 34 is composed of a leaf spring having a predetermined width, if the powder raw material is clogged below the spring member 34, when it is pushed up and then descends,
The restoring force of the spring cannot overcome the resistance of the raw material, and the spring member 34
Also, the stirrer 33 cannot descend or is slow to descend. However, the base portion 34B of the spring member 34 is fixed above the other end side of the spiral body 40, and the powder raw material is taken in from the other end side of the spiral body 40 as described above. It will disappear. Therefore, the raw material that gives resistance to the fall of the spring member 34 and blocks it is eliminated first.
Will be able to descend smoothly. Therefore, the shaking of the stirrer 33 also becomes smooth, and the effect of preventing the solidification of the raw material is surely achieved.

Further, as the spring member 34, it is possible to use a leaf spring having a weaker elastic force than before, so that the load applied to the gear motor 42 via the cam 35 is also reduced, whereby the gear motor 42. Will be able to reduce the power consumption of. In particular, since the structure is simple, the manufacturing cost is reduced, the mass productivity is high, and the spring member 34 made of a leaf spring is located on the raw material intake side of the spiral body 40. The powder loss is also improved.

[0023]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the stirrer is pushed up by the spring member which is intermittently pushed up by the drive unit, and is lowered by the elastic restoring force of the spring member so that it is shaken in the raw material storage container. Be moved. At this time, since the base of the spring member is fixed to the other end side where the spiral body takes in the raw material, the raw material below the spring member is taken in the spiral body first. Therefore, the restoring force of the spring member allows the spring member to descend smoothly, and the stirrer is also swung smoothly, so that solidification of the raw material powder can be reliably prevented.

Further, since the load applied from the spring member to the drive unit is reduced, the power consumption can be reduced and the structure is simple, so that the cost is reduced and the mass productivity is high. Becomes

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a raw material carry-out device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of an automatic vending machine to which the raw material unloading device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an agitator and a spring member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Raw Material Unloading Device 30 Raw Material Storage Container 31 Base Part 33 Stirrer 34 Spring Member 35 Cam 36 Drive Shaft 40 Helix 42 Gear Motor 4A Raw Material Outlet

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A raw material storage container for storing a powder raw material, a spiral body provided at a lower portion of the raw material storage container, a raw material discharge port formed at one end side of the spiral body, and swinging in the raw material storage container. A stirrer that is freely provided and a base part at one end is fixed to the raw material storage container, and an engaging part at the other end is slidably engaged with the stirrer, so that the stirrer is always pulled down. A spring member for urging the spring member, and a drive device that abuts between the base portion of the spring member and the engaging portion to push up the spring member intermittently, the base portion of the spring member being the other end of the spiral body. A raw material unloading device fixed to a raw material storage container on the side.