JPH10232975A - Cup chuter of cup type drink automatic dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the cup chuter so that cleaning can easily be done by freely inserting a hand into a chuter main body without being disturbed by a guide member which controls the conveyance attitude of a cup and its support frame when the cup chuter is cleaned. SOLUTION: The cup chuter 4 which guides a cup fallen and carried out by a cup supply mechanism to a vend stage 3 is constituted by suspending and supporting a chain (cup attitude guide member) 4c which is arranged in the chuter main body 4a in a hopper shape and controls the conveyance attitude of a cup from the support frame 4b extended on the top surface of the chuter main body, and the rear end of the support frame 4b is connected to the chuter main body through a hinge pin 4d and fitted so that it can hop up. When the cup chuter is cleaned, the support frame is made to hop up from the solid-line position to the chain-line position. Consequently, the entire top surface of the chuter main body is made open and up to the corners in the chuter can easily be cleaned.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cup shooter that is incorporated in a cup-type beverage vending machine and guides a cup dropped out from a cup supply mechanism into a bend stage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a cup-type beverage vending machine described above carries out a cup to a bend stage from a cup supply mechanism provided in the machine in accordance with a sales order, and injects the beverage produced in the machine into the cup. A cup shooter is provided between the cup supply mechanism and the bend stage in order to guide the cup dropped out from the cup supply mechanism into the bend stage.

FIG. 2 is an in-machine front view of such a cup-type beverage vending machine. In the figure, 1 is a vending machine cabinet, 2 is a cup supply mechanism arranged at the upper part in the machine, 3
Reference numeral 4 denotes a cup shooter in which the inside of the machine has a bend stage 4 which communicates with a product insertion opening which opens to an outer door (not shown) of the cabinet 1, and a top 4 of which is provided above the bend stage 3 with its upper surface facing the cup supply mechanism 2.

Here, the illustrated cup supply mechanism 2 is a triple cup mechanism accommodating three types of cups having different internal volumes, and has three cup outlets 2a, 2b arranged side by side at the bottom of the case. , 2c are open. on the other hand,
The cup shooter 4 has a shooter body having a hopper-type structure, and is disposed so as to be connected to the upper side of the bend stage 3 with its upper surface facing each of the cup outlets 2a, 2b, 2c of the cup supply mechanism 2.

In FIG. 2, 5 is a canister containing coffee beans, 6 is a coffee mill, 7 is a coffee brewer, 8 is a bucket for collecting coffee slag, 9 is a drain bucket arranged below the bend stage 3, 10. Is a carbon dioxide gas cylinder, not shown, but equipped with a canister containing various powder materials, a syrup tank, a water reservoir, an ice machine, a carbonator for producing carbonated water, a cooling water tank, a hot water tank, etc. Further, the bend stage 3 is provided with a beverage discharge nozzle drawn from a supply system of various beverages.

On the other hand, with respect to the above-described cup shooter 4, means for feeding the cup dropped into the cup shooter 4 from the cup supply mechanism 2 to the bend stage 1 in an upright posture while controlling the conveying posture thereof while applying braking. A configuration in which a cup attitude guide member is disposed inside a chute body has already been proposed by the same applicant as the present invention, and is disclosed and known in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 63-103181.

In this configuration, a rocking plate is disposed in the center of the inside of the cup shooter, and the rocking plate is hung on a support frame extending over the upper surface of the shooter body. It is screwed to the surrounding wall. In recent cup shooters, a plurality of chains suspended from a support frame instead of a rocking plate are often used as cup posture guide members.

[0008]

By the way, as shown in FIG. 2, the cup shooter 4 connected to the bend stage 3 and disposed on the upper side thereof has a discharge nozzle for various beverages disposed in the vicinity thereof. In addition, it is easy to be stained by being exposed to the droplets of the beverage scattered from the nozzle or the steam of the beverage rising from the cup. Therefore, as one of the maintenance operations performed by a routeman who patrols the location of the vending machine, the inside of the cup shooter is cleaned.

However, as described above, in the conventional cup shooter, the support frame in which the cup posture guide member (the swing plate, the chain, etc.) is suspended is screwed to the shooter body and cannot be easily removed. For this reason, it is difficult to clean the inner wall surface by inserting a hand into the inside of the shooter main body because the support frame and the posture guide member are in the way, and as a request from the site, the inside of the cup shooter can be easily cleaned. Measures are needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems. Therefore, when cleaning a cup shooter, the inside of the shooter main body is not obstructed by a cup attitude guide member and its support frame. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cup-type shooter of a cup-type beverage vending machine improved so that cleaning can be performed easily by freely inserting a hand into the vending machine.

[0011]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a cup posture guide member disposed inside a main body of a hopper type shooter is extended over a top surface of the shooter main body in a front-rear direction. In a cup shooter suspended from and supported by a support frame, the rear end of the support frame is hingedly connected to the shooter body so as to be mounted so as to be able to jump upward.

According to this structure, the support frame of the guide member spanned over the upper surface side of the chute body can be flipped upward with its rear end as a fulcrum, thereby opening the entire upper surface of the chute body. The cleaning operation of the shooter can be easily performed without being disturbed by the support frame and the guide member, and the serviceability for the maintenance operation can be improved.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the drawing, a cup shooter 4 is basically the same as a conventional structure, a hopper-type shooter body 4a is connected to an upper portion of a bend stage 3, and a support frame 4b is provided on the upper surface side of the shooter body 4a. A plurality of chains 4c are suspended from the support frame 4b as cup posture guide members. Here, according to the present invention, the rear end of the support frame 4b is hinged to the rear wall of the shooter main body 4a via a hinge pin 4d so as to be able to jump upward.

With this configuration, when cleaning the inside of the cup shooter 4 at the time of maintenance of the vending machine at the location, the hinge frame 4d is used as a swing fulcrum and the support frame 4a is shown by a chain line in the drawing. Then, it is lifted up above the shooter body 4a. Thereby, the support frame 4b,
The shooter body 4 can be seen from the front without being disturbed by the chain 4c.
The hand can be freely inserted into a, and cleaning can be easily performed to every corner. After the cleaning, the support frame 4b can be easily reset by returning the support frame 4b to the position shown in the real gland.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
As one of the maintenance work performed at the location of the vending machine, the support frame of the cup attitude guide member bridged over the upper side of the shooter body is hingedly connected to the shooter body without fixing it with screws. When the inside of the cup shooter is cleaned, the support frame is flipped up, so that the inside of the chute body can be easily cleaned without being disturbed by the support frame and the guide member, and the location of the vending machine The serviceability of the maintenance work performed earlier can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a cup shooter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an in-machine front view of a cup-type beverage vending machine to which the present invention is applied;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Cup supply mechanism 3 Bend stage 4 Cup shooter 4a Shooter body 4b Support frame 4c Chain (cup posture guide member) 4d Hinge pin

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cup shooter for guiding a cup dropped and carried out from a cup supply mechanism into a bend stage. A cup attitude guide member disposed inside a main body of a hopper type shooter is laid over an upper surface of the shooter main body in a front-rear direction. A cup shooter for a cup-type beverage vending machine, wherein a rear end of the support frame is hingedly connected to a shooter main body and attached to the shooter body so that the support frame can be flipped upward.