JPH0765225A - Automatic article vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the automatic article vending machine which is easily applicable to articles of different size by providing a parallel link mechanism which moves respective side plates associatively in the upper-lower and left-right directions in parallel with respect to a partition plate. CONSTITUTION:The parallel link mechanism which is applicable to articles of different size is provided at a storage part 21. The parallel link mechanism is constituted by engaging the respective side plates 4 and partition plate 3 by two link plates, and the respective side plates 4 are moved in the upper-lower and left-right directions in parallel about the partition plate 3. Consequently, the interval (corresponding to the width of an article) between the side plate 4 and partition plate 3 and the interval (corresponding to the size of a carry-out opening) between the lower end of the side plate 4 and a base 2 can be varied at the same time. Therefore, the articles which differ in size can easily be stacked at the storage part 21 and articles which are different in thickness can easily be carried out. Further, an article guide 25 can be moved in the depth direction, so articles which differ in depth can be handled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article vending machine,
More specifically, the present invention relates to an article vending machine having an improved delivery mechanism for sequentially delivering articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vending machine for selling articles such as cigarettes, when there are many kinds of articles to be sold, a column having a dimension corresponding to the dimension of each article is provided and the article is stored in each column. In addition, an article unloading mechanism configured to sequentially unload these articles is known. 6 is a plan view showing a configuration of an article unloading section of a conventional article unloading mechanism, FIG. 7 is a front view of the article unloading section shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is an article unloading section shown in FIG. FIG. With reference to FIGS. 6 to 8, first, the configuration of the article unloading section of the conventional article unloading mechanism will be described.

The article unloading section is a main unit for moving a slide angle 127 for unloading articles, drive pins 125, 126 for reciprocating the slide angle 127, and circumferentially moving the drive pins 125, 126. Gear 1
21, the intermediate gears 122 and 123 and the secondary gear 124,
Conveyor motor 106 for rotationally driving the main gear 121
A cam switch 107 and a push plate 128 that is integrally attached to the slide angle 127 and that pushes out an article when the article is conveyed. The slide angle 127 is provided with an outer frame 127a for preventing two articles from being carried out (two pieces are dropped). In an actual article unloading mechanism, a magazine for stacking and storing articles is attached to the upper part of the article unloading section.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the conventional article transport mechanism, and FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of the article unloading section 100 of the article transport mechanism shown in FIG. Next, the operation of the article transport mechanism will be described with reference to FIG.
First, in this case, an example of alternate carrying-out of two rows vertically stacked will be described. In the standby state, the article 113 is located between the push plate 128 and the outer frame 127a, and the article 113 is not in contact with the push plate 128 as shown in FIG. When the carry-out operation is started from this state as shown in FIG. 7B, the push plate 128 moves to the right and presses the side surface of the article 113. As a result, the article 113 is moved to the right.

The movement of the push plate 128 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
21 is rotated, and by the rotation of the main gear 121, the slave gear 124 is rotated via the intermediate gears 122 and 123,
This is performed by the drive plates 125 and 126 integrally attached to the main gear 121 and the slave gear 124 being rotated in the circumferential direction to move the push plate 128 in the left-right direction. By the rightward movement of the push plate 128, the article 113 falls downward as shown in FIG. 9C, and the carry-out operation is completed. In this way, the carry-out operation is performed alternately right and left.

In the state shown in FIG. 9 (c), the outer frame 127a is tilted and erroneously tilted when the lowermost article 113 in the left row moves downward as the push plate 128 moves to the right. It is intended to prevent two articles from being dropped and carried out, and the diagonal dimension of the article 113 is larger than the diagonal dimension of the article 113 so that the article at the bottom of the left row can be moved downward even when tilted. It is formed to be large. As a related prior art, for example, there is a means disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-49734. With this technology, when a normal vending machine cannot cope with variations in the thickness of an article, it is possible to move the article stopper, etc. following changes in the article dimensions in the vertical and thickness directions. It is a proposal for a vending machine whose configuration has been tried to be improved.

As another related prior art, there is a means disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-29078. According to this technique, partition plates whose rear ends are bent in an L shape are arranged on the left and right sides in an article unloading compartment of an automatic vending machine, and the partition plates are divided into two pieces, a first piece and a second piece, respectively. It is configured so as to form a space corresponding to a change in the depth dimension of the article by moving the article back and forth relatively.

However, in the above-described conventional structure, although the width and the depth of the article 113 can be coped with to some extent, the article 113 having a different height may still be caught in the carry-out port, which is not enough. Have Further, since the outer frame 127a is provided, the volume of the article unloading section 100 increases, and as a result, the article 11
There is a problem that the storage rate of No. 3 decreases. Furthermore, it is more difficult to deal with the case where the width, height and depth of the article are different, and there remains a problem to be solved.

For example, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-2907.
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8, even if the dimension variation in the depth direction can be coped with, the dimension in the width direction cannot be changed because the interval between the partition plates is fixed. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to stack articles having different widths on the base of a storage unit in an automatic vending machine, and to carry out articles having different heights, as well as articles having different widths and depths. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article vending machine that can easily handle articles of different sizes in a single unit so that articles of different heights can be delivered without any hindrance.

[0010]

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problem, and the first gist of the present invention is to provide a storage unit for stacking articles in two rows on the left and right on a horizontal base. In the vending machine provided with a carry-out section for carrying out the articles in the storage section, in the storage section, a vertical partition plate fixed on the base, and side plates respectively arranged on both sides of the partition plate, It is equipped with a parallel link mechanism that moves the side plate in parallel with the partition plate vertically and horizontally, and a setting mechanism that fixes the side plate, making it an article vending machine that stacks articles between the partition plate and each side plate. is there.

A second gist of the present invention is to provide a vending machine having a storage unit for stacking articles in two rows on the left and right on a horizontal base, and an unloading section for unloading the articles in the storage section. In the above-mentioned storage part, a vertical partition plate fixed on the base, side plates arranged on both sides of the partition plate, and parallel links for moving the side plates in parallel with each other vertically and horizontally. A mechanism, a setting mechanism for fixing the side plates, and a mechanism for moving and fixing the article guide in the depth direction are provided, and the article vending machine stacks articles between the partition plate and each side plate.

In the above structure, the parallel link mechanism is composed of link plates provided at at least two upper and lower positions of the partition plate for engaging the side plate and the partition plate, and the link plate is the partition plate. It is configured so as to make an arc motion in a vertical plane around the engagement point with, or, alternatively, the setting mechanism has a plurality of lock holes arranged in an arc shape on the support plates fixed above and below each side plate. , A lock pin that fits in the lock hole, and furthermore, the carry-out portion is arranged on the lower side of the base and performs pendulum motion, and is arranged on the upper side of the base and engaged with the arm. A push plate is provided, and it is effective to carry out the article left and right by horizontally moving the push plate on the base in accordance with the pendulum movement of the arm.

Further, particularly in the structure related to the second aspect of the present invention, the article guide moving mechanism has a rod-like rotatable article guide supported by the upper and lower rotation holes and a depth dimension of the article. It is effective to be composed of a set plate having a plurality of notched grooves for fixing the set.

[0014]

According to the present invention, since the parallel link mechanism for moving the side plates in parallel with each other vertically and horizontally with respect to the partition plate is provided, not only can the spacing between the partition plate and each side plate be changed, The distance between the side plate and the base can also be changed. As a result, articles having different widths can be stacked on the base, and furthermore, articles having different heights can be prevented from being caught between the side plate and the base. Further, in the present invention, by providing a mechanism for moving and fixing the article guide in the depth direction, it is possible to handle not only articles having different width and height directions but also articles having different dimensions in the depth direction. It will be. Therefore, one vending machine can easily handle articles of different sizes. Further, the parallel link mechanism can be made simple, the side plate can be fixed at a desired position, and a large storage can be secured. Further effects can be exhibited.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a front view of the vending machine of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is its side view, FIG. 3 is its plan view, and FIG. 4 is its rear view. As shown in FIG. 1, the vending machine of the present embodiment includes a storage section 21 for storing an article 1 (FIG. 3) such as a cigarette and an unloading section 22 for unloading the article 1 from the storage section 21. . As shown in FIG. 3, the storage unit 21 includes a vertical partition plate 3 fixed on a horizontal base 2 (FIG. 1) and side plates 4 arranged on both sides of the partition plate 3.
It is made up of four parts, and the articles 1 can be stacked between the partition plate 3 and each side plate 4. In the vending machine of the present embodiment, the parallel link mechanism is provided in the storage section 21 so that it can accommodate articles 1 of different sizes.

In the parallel link mechanism, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each side plate 4 and the partition plate 3 are provided with two link plates 6.
The link plate 6 moves in an arc in a vertical plane around the engagement point with the partition plate 3 so that each side plate 4 moves in parallel in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the partition plate 3. To do. As a result, as shown in FIG. 1, the distance between the side plate 4 and the partition plate 3 (corresponding to the width of the article 1) and the distance between the lower end of the side plate 4 and the base 2 (corresponding to the size of the carry-out port) are simultaneously set. Can be changed. Therefore, according to the vending machine of the present embodiment, the articles 1 having different widths can be easily stacked in the storage section 21 and the articles 1 having different thicknesses can be easily carried out.

Further, in the vending machine of the present embodiment, the side plate 4 setting mechanism is provided in the storage portion 21 so that the side plate 4 can be easily set corresponding to articles 1 of different sizes. The setting mechanism includes a U-shaped lock pin 10 and a compression spring 9 for preventing the lock pin 10 from coming out of the inserted state, and a U-shaped lock pin holding plate 8 formed on a side plate for holding the lock pin 10. It is configured. To describe the operating procedure,
First, when the lock pin 10 shown in FIG. 2 is pulled out to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line, the lock pin 10 is pulled out from the lock hole 12. Next, after holding the operation shaft 7 fixed to the side plate 4 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the side plate 4 is moved to an appropriate position according to the width of the article 1 and the size of the carry-out port, and then a predetermined lock is performed. When the lock pin 10 is released at the position of the hole 12, the lock pin 10 is inserted into the lock hole 12 by the action of the compression spring 9, and the side plate 4 is fixed. In these figures, 25 is an article guide and 26 is a set plate, but they need not be used when the depth dimension of the article does not change.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which not only the width direction and the height direction of the article but also the change in the depth dimension can be dealt with. That is, FIG. 5 is a plan view (a) showing an example of such a vending machine, and a perspective view (b) of a main part. The configuration of this plan view (a) is basically the same as that of FIG. 3 which is the above-mentioned plan view, but in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the depth adjusting mechanism further includes a portion A in FIG. 5 (a). As shown in FIG. 5B, which is a perspective view of an essential part showing three-dimensionally, a rod-shaped rotatable article supported by upper and lower rotating holes (however, the upper hole is omitted in the drawing) 27. Guide 2
5 and a set plate 2 having a plurality of notched grooves 28a, 28b
And 6 are provided.

In this case, the rod-shaped article guide 25 is maintained via a connecting plate 29 whose one end is supported by a rotating shaft 30 so as to be rotatable and vertically movable. Therefore, for example, when the connecting plate 29 is inserted into the cutout groove 28a of the set plate 26, the article guide 25 and the connecting plate 29 are in the positions shown by the solid lines in the plan view of FIG. Similar to the case of (1), it corresponds to the sale of goods in the case of a large depth (L) when the depth dimension is fully used. On the other hand, when the connecting plate 29 is moved up and down from the notches 28a to 28b in the direction of the inverted U-shaped arrow shown in FIG. 5 (b) and replaced, in the plan view of FIG. The connecting plate 29 is located at the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line, and as the article 1, it is possible to deal with article sales when the depth dimension is small (S).

Next, the carry-out section 22 for carrying out the article 1 in the storage section 21 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the carry-out section 22 is provided on the lower substrate 16 of the base 2, and is housed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped case 18 so as to be compact and save space. At the center of the case 18, a transfer motor 19 is installed so that its rotation shaft 19a is horizontal. On the rotary shaft 19a,
The cam 13 is fixed, and the cam 13 has a pin 13a.
Are integrally formed. Push plate 17 for carrying out the article 1
The arm 15 for driving the motor is provided so as to surround the transport motor 19, and is rotatably attached to the substrate 16 by pins 16a and 16a.

The arm 15 is formed with an oval opening 15a, and the pin 13a is formed in the opening 15a.
Is slidably inserted into. Therefore, pin 13
When a rotates around the rotation shaft 19a, the arm 15 makes a pendulum motion to the left and right with the pins 16a and 16a as fulcrums. The push plate 17 is disposed on the upper side of the base 2 so as to horizontally reciprocate on the base 2, and the arm 15
Is engaged with the upper part of. In the configuration of the carry-out section 22 described above, when the vending machine is in the standby state, the drive arm 15 is located at the left side position (or the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1).
It has stopped at the right position). When the customer inserts a coin into the vending machine and presses a button (not shown), the transportation motor 19 is turned on and the rotary shaft 19a starts to rotate. Along with this, the pin 13a integrated with the cam 13
Starts to rotate around the rotation axis 19a.

As a result, the opening 15a of the arm 15 is formed.
Rotates rightward while sliding on the pin 13a, and the push plate 17 moves horizontally rightward. As a result, the partition plate 3
While the article 1 on the right side base 2 is pushed out, the articles 1 stacked between the partition plate 3 and the left side plate 4 come down on the base 2 on the left side of the partition plate 3.
When the cam 13 rotates 1/2 turn, the cam switch 14 is turned off and the carrying motor 19 is turned off. Thereafter, every time a coin is inserted and the button is pressed, the articles 1 stacked in the storage section 21 in the left and right two rows are carried out alternately one by one on the left and right.

[0023]

As described above, the vending machine having the basic structure of the present invention can change not only the distance between the partition plate 3 and each side plate 4 but also the distance between the side plate 4 and the base 2. be able to. Thereby, the articles 1 having different widths can be stacked on the base 2, and the articles 1 having different heights can be prevented from being caught between the side plate 4 and the base 2. Moreover, since the article guide 25 can be moved in the depth direction, it is possible to deal with articles 1 having different depth dimensions. Therefore, one vending machine can easily handle articles 1 of different sizes.

Further, the structure of the parallel link mechanism can be simplified, and the side plate 4 can be easily fixed at a desired position by inserting the lock pin 10 into any of the lock holes 12. Furthermore, since the carry-out section 22 can be made more compact than the conventional one, the storage section 21 of the vending machine can be made large, and the storage rate of the articles 1 can be improved. As described above, the vending machine for articles of the present invention has various excellent improvements that are not found in conventional vending machines, and the practical effects thereof are immeasurable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of a vending machine of the present invention.

2 is a side view of the vending machine of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the vending machine of FIG.

4 is a rear view of the vending machine of FIG.

5 (a) is a plan view and FIG. 5 (b) is a perspective view of essential parts of another embodiment of the vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a configuration of an article carry-out section of a conventional vending machine.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the article unloading unit of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the article unloading section of FIG.

9 is a schematic view for explaining the operation of the article unloading mechanism of FIG.

10 is an enlarged perspective view of an article unloading section of the article unloading mechanism of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,113 Items 2 Base 3 Partition plate 4 Side plate 6 Link plate 7 Operation shaft 8 Lock pin holding plate 9 Compression spring 10 Lock pin 11 Support plate 12 Lock hole 13 Cam 13a, 16a Pin 14,107 Cam switch 15 Arm 15a Opening Part 16 Substrate 17,128 Pushing plate 18 Case 19,106 Conveying motor 21 Storage part 22,100 Unloading part 25 Article guide 26 Set plate 27 Rotating holes 28a, 28b Notch groove 29 Connecting plate 30 Rotating shafts 121, 122, 123, 124 gears 125, 126 drive pin 127 slide angle 127a outer frame

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An automatic vending machine comprising a storage unit for stacking articles in two rows on the left and right on a horizontal base, and a carry-out section for discharging the articles in the storage unit. The storage unit is fixed on the base. It has a vertical partition plate, side plates arranged on both sides of the partition plate, a parallel link mechanism that moves each side plate vertically and horizontally in parallel with the partition plate, and a setting mechanism that fixes the side plate. An article vending machine characterized by stacking articles between a partition plate and each side plate. 2. A vending machine comprising a storage unit for stacking articles in two rows on the left and right on a horizontal base, and an unloading unit for unloading the articles in the storage unit. The storage unit is fixed on the base. Vertical partition plate, side plates arranged on both sides of the partition plate, a parallel link mechanism for moving each side plate vertically and horizontally with respect to the partition plate, and a setting mechanism for fixing the side plate. An article vending machine including a mechanism for moving and fixing the article guide in the depth direction, and stacking articles between a partition plate and each side plate. 3. The parallel link mechanism comprises a link plate provided at at least two upper and lower positions of the partition plate for engaging the side plate and the partition plate, and the link plate has an engagement point with the partition plate. The article vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the vending machine is configured to perform an arcuate movement in a plane perpendicular to the center. 4. The setting mechanism includes a plurality of lock holes arranged in an arc shape on a support plate fixed above and below each side plate,
The article vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the article vending machine comprises a lock pin that fits into the lock hole. 5. The article guide moving mechanism comprises a rod-like rotatable article guide supported by upper and lower rotation holes, and a set plate having a plurality of notched grooves for fixing the set according to the depth dimension of the article. It is characterized by being carried out.
Item vending machine according to item 4. 6. The carry-out section is provided with an arm arranged below the base for performing a pendulum motion, and a push plate arranged above the base and engaged with the arm, and according to the pendulum motion of the arm. The article is carried out to the left and right by horizontally moving the push plate horizontally on the base.
Item vending machine according to item 5.