JPH09245243A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine capable of storing two articles in an article storing room and selling articles one by one. SOLUTION: This machine has many article storing rooms, and the small door 9 on the front surface side of each of these article storing rooms is opened to take out an article A. In this case, each article storing room is constituted so that two storing parts 82a and 82b are formed before and behind by a partition door mechanism 81, and a carrier device 83 for carrying the article A stored in the storage part 82b on the rear side to the storage part 82a on the front side is provided. Thus, the second article A can be sold by carrying the article A of the storage part 82b on the rear side to the storage part 82a on the front side when the article A of the storage part 82a on the front side is sold.

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 having a large number of individual product storage chambers for storing products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as an automatic vending machine of this type, the one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-26623 has been proposed.

In this vending machine, a large number of product storage chambers are individually installed in the vending machine body vertically and horizontally. Also, on the front side of each product storage room, a middle door is installed vertically, while a small door facing each product storage room is attached to this middle door, and this small door is opened. It is designed to take out products.

[0004]

By the way, since the products are sold one by one from the product storage chamber, naturally only one product is stored in the product storage chamber. In addition, since each of the product storage chambers has a variety of products stored therein, such as a large product or a small product, the storage space is formed to be a little larger to accommodate this.

Therefore, although the product storage room is large, only one product is stored, and when the product is small, most of the large storage space is wasted. Further, there is a problem that the product must be replenished each time one product is sold, the product replenishment becomes frequent, and the product is often sold out, resulting in loss of sales opportunities.

[0006] In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide:
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine which can store two products in each product storage room and can sell the products one by one.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention according to claim 1 has a large number of product storage chambers, and a small door on the front side of each product storage chamber is opened. In an automatic vending machine for taking out products, at least one of the product storage chambers forms two storage parts at the front and back by a partition door mechanism, and conveys the products stored in the rear storage part to the front storage part. It is configured to have a transporting means for performing.

As a result, when the product in the front storage unit is sold, the second product can be sold by transporting the product in the rear storage unit to the front storage unit. Further, when the partition door mechanism is set to the open state, one product can be stored in each of the front and rear storage parts, and thus even a large product in the front and rear storage parts can be stored and sold.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the product in the front storage section is sold, the door is held closed by the lock means. When the lock means is unlocked after the first sale of the product, the door body is moved in the opening direction by the elastic force of the first spring means. As a result, the product tray is conveyed to the storage section on the front side by the urging force of the second spring means, and enters a standby state for the second product sale.

When purchasing a product, the small door is opened, the product is taken out from the front storage portion, and then the small door is closed. Here, according to the invention of claim 3, the small door open / close detector detects the closed state of the small door, and the counter means counts that the sales signal from the selection means at the time of product purchase is one time. The lock means unlocks the door when the door is open. As a result, as described in the invention of claim 2, the door body is opened and the product in the rear storage section is conveyed to the front storage section.

[0011]

1 to 7 show one embodiment of a vending machine according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of the vending machine, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the vending machine, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the product storage chamber, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the product storage chamber showing a state where products are stored in the rear storage unit, and FIG. 5 is a view in which the products in the rear storage unit are conveyed to the front storage unit. Side sectional view showing the state
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing drive control of the lock device, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing drive control of the lock device.

In this vending machine, an inner box 2 having a front opening is provided in a vending machine body 1 constituted by a vertically long heat insulating box, and the front opening of the vending machine body 1 can be opened and closed by an outer door 3. . In addition, a ventilation duct 4 is formed between the vending machine body 1 and the inner box 2, and the air cooled by the evaporator 6 by the blower 5 circulates in the ventilation duct 4 (one-dot chain line in FIG. 2). (Arrow), cooling inside. Further, while the inner door 7 is provided at the front opening of the inner box 2, a large number of product storage chambers 8 are formed inside the inner box 2 in a plurality of stages vertically and horizontally so as to face each product storage chamber 8. A small door 9 of the product storage room 8 is provided in the middle door 7. Further, each of the product storage chambers 8 is formed by incorporating a large number of wires 8a vertically and horizontally so that cool air can flow between the product storage chambers 8 adjacent to each other.

On the front of the vending machine, a coin slot 10, a bill slot 10 ', a return lever 11 and a return slot 12 are provided.
Etc. are installed, a selection button 13 for opening the selected small door 9 is installed on the front surface of the small door 9. Here, when purchasing the product A on the front side, the coin insertion slot 10
The coin of the amount (or more) of the purchased product is inserted into, the outer door 3 is then opened, and the selection button 13 corresponding to the purchased product is pressed. Thereafter, the small door 9 corresponding to the selection button 13 is opened and the product A is taken out. Needless to say, the bill may be inserted into the bill insertion slot 10 'in addition to the coin insertion slot 10 by this purchase operation.

The structure described above is not different from the structure of the conventional vending machine, and the vending machine according to the present invention is characterized in that each commodity storage chamber 8 is divided into front and rear to have two chambers. Have. Hereinafter, the commodity storage chamber 8 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The product storage room 8 has a front and rear partition door mechanism 81, and the storage doors 81 form front and rear storage sections 82a and 82b for storing the product A.
In addition, the partition door mechanism 81 is a substantially gate-shaped support frame 8
A door body 812 pivotally supported by 11 is provided, and by rotating the door body 812 up and down, each of the storage portions 82a and 82b is opened and closed. A torsion coil spring (first spring means) 812b is wound around the rotary shaft 812a to urge the door body 812 in the opening direction. On the other hand, a solenoid 812c is provided to regulate the rotation of the door body 812 in the opening direction. The solenoid 812c is attached to the support frame 811 by a bracket 812d, has a hook 812e at its tip, and locks this hook 812e in a lock hole 812f protruding from the back surface of the door body 812. Thereby, the door body 81
The closed state of 2 is maintained. In this way, the solenoid 812c, the hooking claw 812e, and the locking hole 812f constitute the locking means of the door body 812.

In this manner, the product storage chamber 8 divided into two by the partition door mechanism 81 is provided with the transfer device 83 for mounting and moving the product A. The carrying device 83 is composed of a product placing means 831 and a coil spring (second spring means) 832.

The product placing means 831 has a dish-shaped product tray 831a, and the product A is placed on the product tray 831a.
Is to be placed. Also, this product tray 8
Both sides of 31a are placed on rod-shaped guide rails 831b arranged at the lower portions of both sides of the product storage chamber 8, while a connecting cylinder 831c is fitted in the center of this product tray 831a, and further, this connecting cylinder 831c is inserted into the product storage chamber 8a. The track wire 831d is arranged so as to extend in front of and behind. As a result, the product tray 831a is placed in the front and rear storage parts 82a,
It is slidable over 82b. The guide rail 831b and the track wire 831d are connected and fixed to support plates 841 and 842 arranged in front of and behind the product storage chamber 8.

The coil spring 832 is disposed between the connecting cylinder 831c and the support plate 842 on the rear side of the product storage chamber 8, and has a track wire 831d penetrated therein to urge the product tray 831a forward. It is supposed to.
Thus, when the product tray 831a is waiting in the rear storage unit 82b (FIG. 4), the product tray 831a
Is pressed against the back surface of the closed door body 812,
On the other hand, when the door body 812 is opened (FIG. 5), it is pushed out by the biasing force of the coil spring 832 into the front storage portion 82a.

Next, drive control of the solenoid 812c will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 6 and the flowchart of FIG. This drive control is performed by the CPU 14 having a microcomputer configuration, and the CPU 14 has a built-in counter 14a for counting the number of product sales signals. Further, the CPU 14 has a product sale signal from the selection button 13, a money amount signal from a money handling device 15 for discriminating denominations of inserted coins, etc., and a small door open / close detector for detecting opening / closing of the small door 9. An open / close signal from 16 is input. Then, based on these various signals, the solenoid drive circuit 17 drives and controls the solenoid 812c as shown in FIG.

When purchasing a product, insert a coin,
After that, the outer door 3 is opened, and the selection button 13 of the predetermined small door 9 is pressed to select the desired product A. Whether or not this series of operations has been performed, that is, insertion Whether coins etc. have been inserted over a predetermined amount (S1), and
It is detected whether the selection button 13 of the small door 9 is pressed (S
2). Here, when this condition is satisfied, the purchaser opens the small door 9, takes out the product A, and closes the small door 9. Here, it is determined whether or not the small door 9 is closed (S3), and it is further determined how many times the closed small door 9 has been selected (S4). Here, when it is determined that it is the first time, the solenoid 812c is driven, and the hook claw 812e moves up and disengages from the locking hole 812f. This causes the door body 812 to rotate upward due to the urging force of the torsion coil spring 812b as shown in FIG.
The product tray 831a moves from the rear storage portion 82b toward the front storage portion 82a by the urging force of the coil spring 832, and enters the second sales standby state. On the other hand, when the number of selections is the second, as described above, the product tray 831a
Has already moved to the front storage portion 82a, the solenoid 812c does not operate.

As described above, the vending machine according to the present embodiment can divide the product storage chamber 8 into two parts, the front and rear parts, and store two products A at the front and rear. Available. Further, since one more product A can be stored than in the conventional case, the work of replenishing the product is reduced, and the sales opportunity is not lost.

When a single product A is to be stored in the entire product storage chamber 8, the hook claw 812e is provided in the locking hole 8a.
It is sufficient to remove the door body 812 from 12f and open a large product A.

In the above embodiment, each product storage chamber 8 has two storage parts 82a, 82b at the front and rear, but a part of each product storage chamber 8 is of this two-chamber type. The other product storage room 8 is a single room type (each storage section 82a,
Type not divided into 82b).

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the product storage room is divided into two parts, the front and rear parts can store two products, the storage space of the product storage room can be used effectively, the product replenishment work can be reduced, and the sales opportunity can be lost. Absent. Further, when storing a large product, it is sufficient to open the door body, and it is possible to sufficiently cope with products of various sizes.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1] Front view of vending machine

[Figure 2] Cross-sectional view of a vending machine

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a product storage room

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a product storage chamber showing a state where products are stored in a rear storage portion.

FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state in which a product in the rear storage section is conveyed to the front storage section.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing drive control of a solenoid.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing drive control of a solenoid.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vending machine, 8 ... Merchandise storage room, 9 ... Small door, 13 ... Selection button, 14 ... CPU, 14a ... Counter, 16 ... Small door opening / closing detector, 81 ... Partition door mechanism, 82a, 82b ...
Storage part, 83 ... Conveying device, 812 ... Door body, 812b ... Torsion coil spring, 812c ... Solenoid, 812e ... Hooking claw, 812f ... Locking hole, 831 ... Product placement means,
831a ... Product tray, 832 ... Coil spring, A ... Product.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine having a large number of product storage chambers and opening a front door of each of the product storage chambers to take out products, wherein at least one of the product storage chambers has a partition door mechanism. An automatic vending machine, characterized in that it has two storage units formed in front and rear, and has a transport means for transporting the products stored in the rear storage unit to the front storage unit. 2. The partition door mechanism comprises a door body that can be opened and closed, a first spring means that urges the door in the opening direction, and a locking means that holds the door body in a closed state. The carrying means transfers the product placing means that allows the product tray to slide over the front and rear storage parts and the product tray that abuts the door body whose front end is closed from the rear storage part to the front storage part. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising a second spring means that urges the second spring means toward one another. 3. A product selection unit that outputs a sales signal corresponding to a product in each of the product storage chambers, a small door opening / closing detector that detects opening and closing of the small door, and a counter that counts the number of selections made by the selecting unit. Means and a control means for releasing the locking means when the small door closing signal is output from the small door open / close detector and the counter means counts one selection. The automatic vending machine according to claim 2.