JPH09147213A - Article pay-out device of automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the depth of the automatic vending machine and make the machine thin by providing an article lift means which pushes up other articles stacked on the bottom article associatively with pay-out operation for an article by a pusher and forming a gap between the articles and the bottom article. SOLUTION: The article pay-out device 2 is equipped with a base 8 which constitutes the bottom surface of an article column 5, the pusher 9 which pushes an article S out of the article column 5 through pay-out openings 6 and 7, and a linear driving mechanism part 10 which drives the pusher 9 forward and backward. Further, this device has the article lift means 12 which lifts the bottom article S and other articles S so that they are separated. Then the lift means 12 puts the bottom article away from the effect of the weight of the remaining articles S and the bottom article S already slants when coming out of the pay-out openings 6 and 7, so the depth of a chute part can be made much less than the size of the article S in the pay-out direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product dispensing device for a vending machine, which dispenses products such as cigarettes and boxed confectionery one by one from the lowest products based on a sales instruction. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional product dispensing device for an automatic vending machine is known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-82470. This device can be used to store the same type of product before and after 2
It is a type that stores products in rows and alternately pays out the products in each row (double type). A product column that stores products by stacking them in front and rear two rows, and the lower part of the product column to pay the products to the chute section. Front and rear dispensing openings formed on the front and back sides of the product, a base that constitutes the bottom of the product column, and a pusher that reciprocates on the base by a linear drive mechanism. When the pusher moves forward due to the sales command, the lowest product in the front row is pushed out horizontally from the dispensing opening in the front side, and when the pusher moves backward, the lowest product in the back row is pushed out horizontally from the dispensing opening in the rear side. The goods will be paid out.

[0003]

In such a conventional product dispensing device, the weight of other products stacked on the product pushed out from the pusher acts on the product pushed by the pusher, and It will not fall unless it is pushed out to the position where it is completely removed from the end or the end of the base.
That is, the lowermost product is pushed out while maintaining a substantially horizontal posture until it is completely removed from the end of another product stacked on it or the end of the base. In this case, the base is formed to have substantially the same width as the depth width of the product column so that, in the dispensing operation, when a product on the non-dispensing side in the front row or the rear row is slanted, the product does not slip off from the base. For this reason, even if the product falls obliquely on the chute, the depth of the chute must be at least one product wide,
There is a problem that the depth dimension of the vending machine becomes longer accordingly.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and provides a product dispensing device for an automatic vending machine which can shorten the depth dimension of the automatic vending machine and promote its thinning. That is the purpose.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a product column for stacking and storing products, and a dispensing opening for discharging one product to a chute portion formed in the lower part of the product column. And a pusher that pushes the bottommost product in the product column from the dispensing opening to the outside of the product column while sliding along the base and the base that constitutes the bottom of the product column. In, in conjunction with the push-out operation of the product by the pusher, push up other products stacked on the lowest product,
It is characterized in that it is provided with a product lifting means that forms a gap between the product and the lowest product.

According to this structure, when the lowest product among the products stacked in the product column is pushed out from the dispensing opening by the pusher that slides along the base, it interlocks with this dispensing operation, The product lift means lifts other products that are stacked on top of the bottom product. As a result, a gap is created between the lowest item and another item, and the lowest item is released from the influence of the weight of the other item. Therefore, the lowest-order product pushed out of the dispensing opening by pushing out the pusher tilts as its center of gravity moves away from the base, and eventually becomes slanted and slides off the base, and then falls onto the chute portion. As described above, when the product is completely removed from the dispensing opening, the product has already been largely tilted, so that the dimension of the depth width of the chute portion can be made extremely shorter than the size of the product in the dispensing direction.

In this case, the product lifting means is provided on the base so as to extend in the moving direction of the pusher, a riding portion connected to the end of the guide groove, and an intermediate portion rotatably provided on the pusher. The lift member includes an L-shaped lifting member formed of a lift piece protruding from and retracting from the upper surface and a guide piece that is inserted into and removed from the guide groove. The lifting member is a guide piece as the pusher pushes out a product. It is preferable that the item is rotated by riding on the riding portion and the lifting piece is projected from the upper surface of the pusher to lift the other product.

According to this structure, when the pusher moves along the base toward the dispensing opening, the guide piece rides on the riding portion to rotate the push-up member, and the lift piece projects from the upper surface of the pusher. Push up other products that are stacked on top of the bottom product. In this way, the movement of the pusher is used to push up other products and create a gap with the lowest product,
This does not require a dedicated drive means for pushing up other products, and this can be achieved reliably with a very simple structure.

In this case, a butterfly plate disposed above the guide piece and on the upper surface of the pusher and rotatably attached to the pusher is further provided, and the butterfly plate is rotated in the direction opposite to the push-up member. It is preferable that the lifting member lifts the other product via the butterfly plate.

According to this structure, since the other product can be pushed up by the tip of the butterfly plate, the product can be pushed up in a stable state. Further, by increasing the length of the butterfly plate, the amount of pushing up the product can be adjusted. Further, since the butterfly plate rotates in the direction opposite to the push-up member, other products are moved in the direction opposite to the payout direction. Therefore, it is possible to cause the lowest-ranked product to drop more smoothly.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of a product dispensing device for a vending machine according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This product dispensing device is installed in a vending machine that sells products such as cigarettes and boxed sweets, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the product dispensing device of the vending machine. As shown in the figure, in the product storage 1, a plurality of product dispensing devices 2 are arranged side by side in the left-right direction (direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 1). Each of the product dispensing devices 2 is arranged so as to be sandwiched between the front and rear chutes 3 and 4, and stores the same type of products S having a vertical width L by stacking them in two rows in the front and rear, based on the sales instruction. Thus, the lowest order products S in each row are alternately paid out one by one in the front-rear direction.

The product dispensing device 2 includes a product column 5 for accommodating the products S stacked in two rows in the front and rear, and a pair of front and rear dispensing openings 6 and 7 formed at the lower part of the product column 5 for dispensing one product S. And the base 8 that constitutes the bottom of the product column 5
And a pusher 9 that pushes the lowest product S in the product column 5 out of the product column 5 through the dispensing openings 6 and 7 while sliding along the base 8, and a linear drive that drives the pusher 9 back and forth. The mechanical section 10 is provided.

The product column 5 is of a type in which the products S are replenished from the front side, and a double-sided holding bar 11 for lightly pressing the stored products S is provided on the front side of the product column 5. In this case, the products S are stacked from the back row in the product column 5 or alternately stacked in the back row and the front row, and finally, the top of the back row is stacked and then the top of the front row is stacked. Will be replenished.

The pusher 9 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped box body and has an appearance slightly larger than the vertical width L of the product S and smaller than the thickness of the product S. Further, the linear drive mechanism section 10 has a motor and a link mechanism such as a crank mechanism connected to the motor, which is not particularly shown, and is engaged with the bottom surface of the pusher 9 of the operation protrusion of the link mechanism. Thus, the pusher 9 is reciprocally moved in the front-rear direction via the operation protrusion of the link mechanism. As the linear drive mechanism section 10, a cylindrical cam having a cross-shaped cam groove on the peripheral surface may be used.

As shown in FIG. 2, the product dispenser 2 lifts the lowest product S and other products S stacked on top of the product S so as to separate them in the product S dispensing operation by the pusher 9. It has means 12. The product lifting means 12 is provided with a guide groove 13 extending in the moving direction (front-back direction) of the pusher 9 on the upper surface of the base 8 and an L-shaped lifting member 14 arranged in the pusher 9. The push-up member 14 includes a lift piece 15 that extends horizontally along the upper surface 9 a of the pusher 9.
And a guide piece 16 inserted into the guide groove 13 are formed in an L shape. The connecting portion 17 between the lift piece 15 and the guide piece 16 is provided with a support shaft 18 which is fixed inside the pusher 9 and extends in a direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the guide groove 13. . Therefore, the push-up member 14 rotates about the support shaft 18 in the vertical plane.

Here, since the vending machine is of a type (double type) for alternately dispensing the products S stacked in the front and rear, the product dispensing device 2 must also support this. That is, a pair of push-up members 14 are arranged in front of and behind the pusher 9, and each push-up member 14 is mirror-symmetrical in the front-rear direction. Therefore, when the pusher 9 moves forward toward the front surface P side of the product column 5, the push-up member 14 on the front side is used, and when the pusher 9 moves backward toward the rear surface Q side of the product column 5. The rear push-up member 14 is used.

Further, a guide piece raising portion 20 on which the guide piece 16 collides is provided in the middle of the guide groove 13, and the guide piece raising portion 20 is pushed by the pusher 9 to push it.
The guide piece 16 is provided at a position where the guide piece 16 collides when the lowermost product S squeezes out from the end of the base 8 by more than half. A pair of the guide piece riding portions 20 are arranged in the front and rear in the middle of the guide groove 13. Therefore, when the pusher 9 moves forward, the front guide piece 16 collides with the front guide piece riding portion 20 and rides up, and when the pusher 9 moves backward, the rear guide piece 16 moves backward. It collides with the guide one-riding part 20 and gets on. When the pusher 9 moves forward or backward, the guide piece 16 collides with the guide piece riding portion 20 and rides on it, and then returns to the original guide groove 13.

Further, the pusher 9 is provided with a pair of front and rear butterfly plates 21 so as to form the upper surface 9a. The bottom surface of each butterfly plate 21 is located above the lift piece 15 and is in contact with the upper portion of each lift piece 15. The base ends of the pair of front and rear butterfly plates 21 are rotatably mounted on a support shaft 22 arranged at the center of the pusher 9. Therefore, each butterfly plate 21 is attached to each lift piece 15
By pushing up from below, it rotates in the vertical plane. In addition, each butterfly plate 21 is arranged on the entire surface or a part of the upper surface 9 a of the pusher 9. Further, when the tip of the butterfly plate 21 is extended to the end of the pusher 9, the product S of the next stage near the rear end of the lowest product S (the end pressed by the pusher 9).
It is convenient when pushing up from below. Note that reference numeral 23
Is a drop receiving portion (sales opening box) for the product S, and reference numeral 24 is a sales opening door.

Next, the operation of the product dispensing device 2 will be described based on the above-mentioned configuration. The linear drive mechanism unit 10 operates based on the sales instruction, and the pusher 9 starts retreating from the position shown in FIG. 2 toward the rear surface Q side. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the pusher 9 pushes the lowest-ranked product S in the rear row, discharges this product S from the dispensing opening 7, and pushes it out from the end of the base 8 by more than half.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the guide piece 16 that continues to move along the guide groove 13 collides with the rear guide piece riding portion 20 to cause the lift piece 15 to center around the support shaft 18.
Is rotated clockwise in the figure.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the butterfly plate 21 on the rear side is rotated counterclockwise about the support shaft 22 by being pushed up by the lift piece 15, and the tip of the butterfly plate 21 is used for the next stage product. Push up the bottom edge of S. As a result, the lowest-order product S and the next-stage product S are separated and a gap is created. As a result, the lowest-order product S is released from the influence of the weight of the next-stage product S, as shown in FIG. At that moment, the lowest-ranked product S that squeezes out from the end of the base 8 by more than half becomes dangling due to its own weight and falls to the chute unit 4.

Further, even after the lowest order product S is dispensed from the dispensing opening 7, the pusher 9 continues to retreat, so that the guide piece 16 collides with the guide piece riding portion 20 and rides on it. After that, it returns to the original guide groove 13 (see FIG. 7). Then, at the same time when the lift piece 15 returns to the inside of the pusher 9, the butterfly plate 21 returns to the horizontal state,
As a result, the product S is placed on the upper surface 9a of the pusher 9 (see FIG. 8). Even when the pusher 9 is moved forward toward the front surface P, the lowest-ranked product S in the front row can be surely paid out from the payout opening 6 toward the chute portion 3 as described above.

As described above, by accelerating the start of the fall of the lowest order product S, the lowest order product S is discharged.
When passing through, do not keep the horizontal state for a long time, and shorten the space that was conventionally required to be four times the vertical width L of the product S by the width A at the entrance of each chute section 3, 4. As a result, the depth dimension of the vending machine can be reduced by 2A (see FIG. 1).

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but the lift piece 15 of the push-up member 14 allows
Alternatively, the bottom surface of the product S in the next stage may be directly pushed up. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the push-up member 14 is housed in the pusher 9, but the push-up member 14 may be provided outside the pusher 9. Furthermore, by completely closing the upper surface 9a of the pusher 9 with the butterfly plate 21 having a smooth upper surface, even if the next-stage product S is put on the butterfly plate 21 after the lowest-order product S is dispensed, The friction between the bottom surface of the next-stage product S and the top surface of the butterfly plate 21 can be reduced when the pusher 9 moves forward or backward, and the pusher 9 can be moved forward or backward smoothly. Also, by interposing a coil spring between the support shaft 18 and the push-up member 14, the push-up member 14 can be quickly returned to its original position. Similarly, the support shaft 22 and the butterfly plate 2
By interposing a coil spring between the butterfly plate 2 and
1 can be quickly returned to the position of the upper surface 9a of the pusher 9.

[0024]

As described above, according to the product dispensing device of the vending machine of the present invention, other products stacked on the lowest product are interlocked with the dispensing operation of the lowest product by the pusher. Since the product lift means for lifting the product is provided, the depth dimension of the chute portion can be shortened by the amount that the product is tilted and dropped, and by extension, the depth dimension of the vending machine can be shortened and the thinning can be promoted. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a product dispensing device for an automatic vending machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a product dispensing device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the pusher retracts and continues to push the lowest product.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state when a guide piece of a push-up member collides with a guide piece riding portion.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a bottom surface of a product is lifted by a butterfly plate.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a product being dispensed is being pushed by a pusher and falling from a dispensing opening.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the butterfly plate has returned to the upper surface of the pusher.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a product is placed on the upper surface of the pusher.

[Explanation of symbols]

 S product 2 product dispensing device 3,4 chute part 5 product column 6,7 dispensing opening 8 base 9 pusher 12 product lifting means 13 guide groove 14 pushing member 15 lift piece 16 guide piece 17 connecting portion 18 spindle 20 guide one-sided Lifting part 21 Butterfly plate 22 Spindle

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A product column for stacking and storing products, a dispensing opening formed at the bottom of the product column for dispensing one product to a chute portion, a base forming the bottom surface of the product column, and a base for the product. In a product dispensing device of a vending machine having a pusher that pushes the lowest product in the product column from the dispensing opening to the outside of the product column while sliding along the product column, the product dispensing operation of the pusher is interlocked. And push other products stacked on top of the bottom product,
A product dispensing device for a vending machine, comprising a product lifting device that forms a gap between the product and the lowest product. 2. The product lifting means is provided on the base and extends in a moving direction of the pusher, a riding portion connected to an end of the guide groove, and an intermediate portion rotatably provided on the pusher. And a push-up member formed in an L shape by a lift piece protruding and retracting from the upper surface of the pusher and a guide piece that is inserted into and removed from the guide groove, and the push-up member is a product of the pusher. The guide piece is rotated by riding on the riding portion in association with a payout operation, and the lift piece is projected from an upper surface of the pusher to lift the other product. Vending machine product dispensing device. 3. A butterfly plate, which is disposed on the upper side of the guide piece and on the upper surface of the pusher and is rotatably mounted on the pusher, the butterfly plate being in a direction opposite to the push-up member. The product dispensing device for a vending machine according to claim 2, wherein the product is rotated and the pushing member lifts the other product through the butterfly plate.