JPH07200939A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shift the position of a rear stopper according to the size of a commodity by forming plural fitting holes for the rear stopper in a partition plate. CONSTITUTION:Push-out machines 4 are arranged on the commodity storage rack of the automatic vending machine at equal intervals. The rack is partitioned with a partition plate 24 to form commodity storage chambers. Three fitting holes 14 for the partition plate 24 are provided corresponding to the width of commodities can be changed in fitting position by three kinds. Similarly, many fitting holes 34 for the rear stopper 32 are provided in parallel, so the rear stopper 32 can be changed in fitting position according to the depth size of the commodities. Further, the position of a front stopper can be changed by adding an adapter 46. Consequently, the rack can be repartitioned according to variations in the width and depth of the commodities and pile of the plane- stacked commodities is never disordered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine, and more particularly to freely storing articles of different sizes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional vending machine, canned drinks and the like are vertically accommodated in a shelf and a stopper is used to prevent the product from dropping, and when the product is taken out, the stopper is removed to drop the products one by one. Such a merchandise take-out mechanism is
It is suitable for products with a certain shape such as canned juice, cigarettes, chewing gum, etc. The vending machine is a dedicated vending machine for each type of product, such as canned drinks, cigarettes, chewing gum. However, such vending machines cannot sell different types of products, cannot change the types of products to be sold, and cannot sell multiple types of products at the same time. This is because the product storage unit and the take-out mechanism are dedicated to products of a specific size.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to freely accommodate products of different sizes. Particularly, the product is partitioned according to the width and depth of the product, and the product is on the front of the vending machine. It is to prevent falling to the door side.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the need to change the width of the rear stopper even if the distance between the partition plates changes according to the width of the product, and to use the same rear stopper. A third object of the present invention is to add a front stopper according to the front position of the product (position on the door side) so that the surface of the front stopper appears at the correct position according to the product size.

[0004]

The automatic vending machine of the present invention is provided with an extruder for pushing out and picking up products one by one on a shelf, and a mounting hole for a partition plate between the extruders. By installing the partition plate so that the mounting position can be changed according to the product size, the partition plate is provided with a rear stopper mounting hole to mount the rear stopper, and a large number of mounting holes are provided in parallel, depending on the product size. The rear stopper can be changed in position, and the front stopper is attached to the door of the vending machine at a position between the partition plates. Preferably, a pair of left and right rear stoppers are provided between the partition plates, the right rear stopper is attached to the right partition plate, and the left rear stopper is attached to the left partition plate. Further, preferably, the front stopper of the door is provided with an engaging projection and an engaging groove, and the engaging projection is locked in the engaging groove so that the front stopper can be added depending on the front position of the product. To do.

[0005]

According to the present invention, an extruder for pushing out the products one by one is provided on the shelf, and a partition plate is provided between the extruders. Since the partition plate is fixed to the mounting hole of the shelf and a large number of mounting holes are provided in parallel, the position of the partition plate can be freely changed according to the product size. Next, a large number of mounting holes for the rear stoppers are provided in parallel at the rear of the partition plate, and the rear stoppers are attached here.
Since a large number of mounting holes for the rear stopper are provided, the position of the rear stopper can be changed according to the product size.
Furthermore, a front stopper is installed on the door.

As a result, the position of the partition plate is changed according to the width of the product, the position of the rear stopper is changed according to the depth of the product (the depth as seen from the front of the vending machine), and the front of the product is used as a door. Since it is supported by the attached front stopper, products of any shape can be stored.

Since the distance between the partition plates changes depending on the product size, it is preferable to provide a pair of left and right rear stoppers, and the right rear stopper on the right partition plate.
Attach the left rear stopper to the left partition plate. Further preferably, the front stopper of the door is provided with an engaging projection and an engaging groove, and the engaging projection is locked in the engaging groove,
The front stopper will be added according to the front position of the product so that the position of the front stopper can be changed.

[0008]

EXAMPLE An example is shown in FIGS. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a shelf for storing products in a vending machine, which is 3 to 5 vertically.
When the products are provided in rows and dropped in front of the shelf 2, the products are taken out through a take-out opening at the bottom of a door (not shown). 4 is an extruder, and 6 is its carrier, which pushes the back of the product and conveys it from the back to the front of the drawing. The carrier 6 is made of metal or plastic, and its height is lower than the height of the product,
Be able to push out products one by one. 8 is carrier 6
The carrier 6 may be fixed to the chain 8 by using a belt or the like for moving, and in the embodiment, two carriers 6 are attached to the chain 8 at positions opposite to each other by 180 degrees. A carrier switch 10 is composed of a touch sensor or the like and detects that the carrier 6 has passed this position. Reference numeral 12 denotes a sold-out sensor, which detects the load of the product by using the touch sensor or detects reflected light of the product by using the photoelectric sensor to detect whether or not the product is on the shelf 2. In the extruder 4, the carrier 6 is moved by the chain 8, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the rotation of the motor may be converted into a reciprocating linear motion by a crank or a cam, and the carrier 6 may be constrained by the groove 16 and driven by the crank or a cam to perform a reciprocating linear motion.

Reference numerals 14a, b and c are mounting holes provided in the extruder 4 for mounting the partition plate 24 of the product shown in FIGS. The mounting holes 14a, 14b, 14c are provided in parallel, for example, in three places, on each of four circumferences of the extruder 4, so that the mounting position of the partition plate 24 can be changed to three positions, a, b, and c. Although the mounting hole 14 is provided in the extruder 4 here, it may be provided in the shelf 2. 16 is a groove for accommodating the chain 8, 18,18
Is a hole that serves as an entrance / exit of the carrier 6. The carrier 6 appears from a hole 18 at the back of the drawing, and the carrier 6 enters the back side of the extruder 4 from the hole 18 at the bottom of the drawing.

Turning to FIG. 2, 20 and 20 are a pair of gears for driving the chain, 22 is a chain driving motor, and 01 is a product housed in the shelf 2. Reference numeral 24 is a partition plate, and the projection 26 at the bottom is attached to the mounting holes 14a, b,
Similarly, the upper protrusion 28 is fitted into a hole (not shown) of the upper shelf 2 and fixed. Reference numeral 30 denotes a front guide of the partition plate 24, which may be a protrusion provided at the lower front corner of the partition plate, and is for preventing the product 01 from rotating and getting out of orientation when being pushed out. 32 is a rear stopper,
It is mounted in the mounting hole 34 of the partition plate 24. A large number of mounting holes 34 are provided in parallel as shown in FIG. 2, and the position of the rear stopper 32 can be changed depending on which mounting hole 34 is mounted.
Next, a pair of left and right rear stoppers 32 are provided, and the right stopper 32 is attached to the right partition plate 24 and the left partition plate 24 is attached.
Attach the left stopper 32 to. This is because the same rear stopper 32 is used even if the width of the product is changed, and the chain line in FIG. 1 and the broken line in FIG. 3 indicate that a pair of rear stoppers 32 are used.

Reference numeral 40 in the figure is a heat retaining door, which is a part of the door of the vending machine. That is, in the vending machine, in addition to a front door on which samples and the like are displayed, a heat retaining door 40 is provided inside the front door to keep the product 01 inside or keep it warm. 42 is a mounting plate for mounting the front stopper 44, and 46 is an adapter for expansion and is mounted on the front stopper 44.

The front stopper 44 and the adapter 46 are
As shown in FIG. The stopper 44 is fixed to the mounting plate 42 with screws or fitting. Stopper 44 and adapter 46
Has an engaging groove 52, and the adapter 46 has an engaging protrusion 50. Then, by engaging the engagement projection 52 of the adapter 46 with the engagement groove 52 of the stopper 44 and thereafter engaging the projection 50 of the next adapter 46 with the engagement groove 52 of the adapter 46, the adapter 46 can be added. . The stopper 44 and the adapter 46 are attached so that the lower ends of the stopper 44 and the adapter 46 are above the height of the product to be pushed out so that the product can be pushed out smoothly without touching them. In the embodiment, the stopper 4 is provided for convenience of mounting on the mounting plate 42.
4 and the adapter 46 are separate members, but the mounting plate 42
The adapter 46 may be directly fixed to the mounting plate 42 by fitting in a groove or the like, in which case the stopper 44 and the adapter 46 are the same.

Returning to FIG. 2, reference numeral 48 denotes a cover of the extrusion port 54 provided in the heat retaining door 40. The product 01 pushed out from the front guide 30 is opened to the lower portion of the front door (not shown) by opening the cover 48. Be dropped.

The operation of the embodiment will be described. The extruder 4 itself is fixed to the shelf 2, for example, and is arranged at equal intervals. The partition plate 24 can be mounted in any of the mounting holes 14a, 14b, 14c, and the mounting position can be changed to three types. Similarly, the position of the rear stopper 32 can be changed depending on which mounting hole 34 is mounted. Furthermore, by adding an adapter 46, the position of the front stopper can be changed. Therefore, even if the width and depth (the rear end position and the front end position) of the product are changed, the partition can be made according to them, and the piles of the flatly stacked products are not disturbed. An example of the arrangement of the partition plate 24 is shown in FIG. This drawing shows an example in which the partition plates 24, 24 are arranged without a gap.

The presence / absence of the product is monitored by the sold-out sensor 12, and when the product is sold-out, it is displayed on a showcase or the like provided on the front surface of the door of the vending machine. Now, let's assume that coins are inserted and products are selected. When the product selection button determines which product of the extruder 4 to take out, the motor 22 is turned on by a switch (not shown), and the carrier 6 moves to the chain 8
Rotate the top 180 degrees from left to right in Figure 2,
Push the back of the product and drop the product 01 into the outlet on the right side of the figure. If the carrier 6 does not push the center of the product 01, the product 01 tends to bend at the exit of the partition plate 24, but this does not occur because the front guide 30 is provided.

At the position where the product 01 has been dropped, there is a carrier switch 10, which is a kind of limit switch.
When the carrier 4 touches, the motor 22 is stopped. The chain 8 has two carriers 6, and one stroke means that the carrier 6 makes 1/2 rotation of the entire length of the chain 8. Therefore, the state at the right end of FIG. 1 is the stationary state of the extruder 4, and the carriers 6, 6 are in the front and rear holes 18, 18.
Since the carrier 6 moves from the hole 18 at the back to the hole 18 on the front side (the lower side in FIG. 1), it can be pushed out without any problem even if the length of the product 01 is changed.

In order to prevent the product 01 from touching the carrier switch 10 and malfunctioning, for example, the carrier 10 and the product 01 have different forces so that the product 01 does not operate even if the carrier switch 10 is lightly touched. To do. On the other hand, the carrier 6 has a strong force, and is operated by pushing the carrier switch 10 with a strong force. Alternatively, the mounting position of the carrier switch 10 may be devised so that the switch 10
May be housed in the groove 16 or the hole 18 so that only the carrier 6 is touched without touching the product 01.

The chain 8 has a pair of carriers 6, 6
Since the carrier is provided at the opposite position of 80 degrees, the carrier on the opposite side stops at the back position of the product, and when the product 01 is taken out next time, the product can be taken out promptly. A preferable number of carriers 6 is to provide N carriers 6 if one stroke is one stroke from the start to the stop of the operation of pushing out a product and one stroke is 1 / N of the entire length of the chain 8. Note that the chain 8 is hidden in the groove 16 during the movement process of the carrier 6, so that the chain 8 does not touch the product 01 to stain the product 01 or disturb the row of the stacked products 01.

[0019]

According to the present invention, products of different sizes can be freely accommodated, and in particular, a partition plate is used for partitioning according to the width of the product, and a rear stopper is used for partitioning according to the depth of the product. To do. Furthermore, the front stopper prevents the product from falling toward the front door of the vending machine. Because of these, products of arbitrary width and depth can be stored and sold.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the pair of left and right rear stoppers are used and the rear stopper of one piece is not used, it is necessary to change the rear stopper width even if the interval between the partition plates changes according to the width of the product. There is no. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the front stopper can be added according to the front position of the product, and even if the front position of the product is constantly changed, it can be dealt with only by adding the front stopper. In addition, the front stopper to be added can be added by simply adding the same member.
It is not necessary to prepare many kinds of front stoppers.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of an automatic vending machine according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the vending machine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of the vending machine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a front stopper.

[Explanation of symbols]

01 product 2 shelves 24
Partition plate 4 Extruder 26, 28
Protrusion 6 Carrier 30
Front guide 8 Chain 32
Rear stopper 10 Carrier switch 34
Mounting hole 12 Sold out sensor 40
Heat insulation door 14 Mounting hole 42
Mounting plate 16 Groove 44
Front stopper 18 holes 46
Adapter 20 Gear 48
Cover 22 motor 50
Engagement protrusion 52 Engagement groove 54 Extrusion port

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A shelf is provided with an extruder for pushing out products one by one, and a mounting hole for a partition plate between the extruders, and a plurality of mounting holes are provided in parallel so that the partition plate is mounted at a position. The partition plate can be changed according to the product size, and the partition plate has mounting holes for the rear stoppers to mount the rear stoppers, and a large number of mounting holes are provided in parallel so that the position of the rear stoppers can be changed according to the product size. And a vending machine with a front stopper attached to the door of the vending machine at a position between the partition boards. 2. A pair of left and right rear stoppers are provided between the partition plates, the right rear stopper is attached to the right partition plate, and the left rear stopper is attached to the left partition plate. The vending machine according to claim 1. 3. A front stopper of the door is provided with an engagement protrusion and an engagement groove, and the engagement protrusion is locked in the engagement groove,
The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a front stopper can be added depending on a front position of the product.