JPH11100126A - Article cutout device and article sale device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article cutout device capable of easily and rapidly charge articles and increasing storing capacity while reducing a floor area needed for the stock of articles. SOLUTION: Articles 3 can be stocked under directly stacked condition. Also provided are a pivotally supporting member 24 which supports the bottom surface of the lowermost article 3 and a locking member 25 which can support from both sides the article on the second stage from the bottom. When the locking member 25 locks the article 3 on the second stage from the bottom, the pivotally supporting member 24 oscillates downward, makes the lowermost article 3 slide down, and returns to the original horizontal condition. Then the locking member 25 performs the releasing operation for the article 3 to drop the article 3 on the pivotally supporting member 24. Now one-cycle of operation is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article extracting apparatus and an article selling apparatus using the article extracting apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vending machine in which a packaged food or the like is cooked and sold every time a purchase operation is performed, a portion for storing a packed food (hereinafter referred to as "article") is provided. Usually, a column conveyor or the like is used. This column conveyor is a kind of a vertical type of bucket conveyor. An article storage shelf corresponding to a bucket is provided at a predetermined interval in a height direction between a pair of endless chains vertically extended. A plurality is provided.

Each of the article storage shelves is connected to the endless chain at one side and is held so as to move up and down with the other side protruding outward. When the goods storage shelves reach the lowermost position of the conveyor when they are wound up, the outer end thereof is gradually inclined downward so that the goods placed on the upper part thereof can be moved on the subsequent horizontal feed conveyor. It is structured to slide down.

[0004]

In the above-described column conveyor, since the articles must be stored in each of the article storage shelves in advance, it is troublesome to replenish the articles. was there. Also, only the article storage shelves on the side where the endless chain descends can store articles, and the floor area of the article storage shelves on the side where the endless chain rises cannot be used for storing any articles,
The amount of articles stored per floor area of the entire conveyor was low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an article cutting apparatus capable of easily and quickly replenishing articles and improving the article storage capacity per floor area. It is another object of the present invention to provide an article selling apparatus using the article extracting apparatus.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the following technical measures have been taken in order to achieve the above object. That is, the article cutting device according to the present invention includes a stock space section that can store articles provided with locking portions on both sides in a directly stacked state with each other, and an article that is a lowermost section in a lower region of the stock space section. And a pair of locking members that can be engaged with the locking portions of the article at the second level from the top above the supporting member.

As described above, since the stock space portion has the above-mentioned structure, a plurality of articles can be replenished at once from the beginning in a stacked state, and the work can be performed extremely easily and quickly. In addition, the floor area used for storing articles is based on the bottom area of one article and the area provided with the supporting members and the locking members is added to the center area. The article storage capacity per area can be doubled or more than the conventional one.

In addition to such a configuration, the support member can release the support state of the article while the locking member locks the article, and the support member returns to the original support position after the article is taken out. When returning, the locked state of the article by the locking member can be released, and this locking member can be shifted to the locked state of the article. That is, if the locking portion of the second-level article is locked and held by the locking member,
All the articles stacked above this article can be held.

Further, if the bottom of the lowest article is supported by the support member in this state, even if the locking member releases the locked state of the article, even if the locking member releases the locked state of the article, the bottom of the article including the article supported by the support member is also placed thereon. All stacked articles can be held. Therefore, by interlocking the operation timings of the locking member and the support member with each other in the predetermined relationship as described above, it is possible to cut out the articles in the stacked state one by one from the lowest one. it can.

If the operation of the locking member and the operation of the support member are interlocked by an interlocking mechanism having one driving wheel, there is no concern that the interlocking timing is shifted.
There are various advantages such as reliable operation, simple structure and small size, and low cost. The support member has a swing support at one end so that it can swing up and down. By swinging this downward, the article placed on the support member can be slid down by the chute action. And the structure can be simplified. In addition, since the position and posture of the article that has slipped down by this bearing member can always be unified in the same state,
There is also an advantage that subsequent article handling becomes easy.

[0011] Further, an article sales apparatus according to the present invention, which is constructed using such an article cutting apparatus, includes a cooking apparatus for cooking an article taken out by the article cutting apparatus, and an article cutting apparatus. The apparatus includes a transfer device for transferring the product to the article cutting device, the cooking device, and the sales outlet, and a control device that performs a series of these operations in one cycle based on a predetermined operation of a product purchaser.

By adopting such a configuration, various advantages such as miniaturization, simplification of structure, reliability of movement, improvement of article storage capacity, etc. can be obtained as an article sales apparatus.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 7 show an article cutting device (article removing device) 1 according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 10 to FIG. 10 show an article selling apparatus 2 configured using the article extracting apparatus 1.

In this embodiment, the article 3 is the same as that shown in FIG.
10 shows a sealed pack in which uncooked food is packed in a rectangular container 4 as shown in FIG. The rectangular container 4 is provided with a flange 5 that protrudes outward from an upper peripheral portion thereof, and a sheet-like sealing lid 6 is attached to an upper surface of the flange 5. Accordingly, the flange 5 is provided with a locking portion (hereinafter referred to as reference numeral 5) necessary for holding the article 3 as the article 3.
Will be used).

First, an outline of the article selling apparatus 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10. The article selling apparatus 2 is arranged on both sides of a single horizontal conveyor 8 in a facing or staggered arrangement. A plurality of (six in the example in the figure) article cutting devices 1, a cooking device 11 provided on an upper side of a three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 following the above-mentioned horizontal feed conveyor 8, the above-mentioned horizontal feed conveyor 8 and three-dimensional feed. It has a transfer means 12 having a conveyor 9 and the like, and a control device (not shown).

In each of the article cutting devices 1, only the apparatus that stocks the specified article 3 is operated based on the operation performed by the product purchaser, and cuts out one article per operation onto the traverse conveyor 8. It has become. The transfer means 12
As described above, the horizontal feed conveyor 8 and the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9
And a front kicking mechanism 13 provided in the middle of the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 and various assisting mechanisms (not shown) for smoothly and reliably connecting these parts. The articles 3 cut out by the apparatus 1 are once supplied to the cooking apparatus 11, where they are cooked and then sold.
It is transferred to.

As shown in FIG. 10, a belt conveyor provided with article guides 15 on both sides is used for the lateral feed conveyor 8, and the endless chain 16 and the linear guide 17 are used for the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 in combination. An elevator mechanism for raising and lowering the article lifting table 18 is used.
The forward kicking mechanism 13 includes various gear mechanisms using an electric motor, a solenoid, a fluid pressure cylinder, and the like as driving sources.
A mechanism that operates a feed screw mechanism, a cam mechanism, a swing lever mechanism, or the like may be used.

The cooking device 11 is, for example, a microwave oven or another heater, a pouring device, or the like. The cooking device 11 is installed with the article entrance 19 facing downward, and is raised by the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 of the transfer means 12. Article 3 can be received as it is. The control device selects and operates a predetermined article cutting device 1 based on the content of the operation when a product purchaser performs a predetermined operation such as after charging a charge, and performs a series of operations in the transfer unit 12 and the cooking device 11. Are sequentially performed in accordance with a signal input from a predetermined arrangement of an operation detection sensor (not shown), a timer, and the like, and after one cycle of operation, each of them returns to the standby state (initial state). The circuit is configured to stop in a form.

As is clear from the above description, in the article selling apparatus 2, when one article 3 is sent from the article extracting apparatus 1 to the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 via the horizontal feed conveyor 8, the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 The article 3 is once raised to the cooking device 11 and the cooking device 11 is kept in this state.
Starts operation. After the article 3 is cooked in a predetermined manner by the cooking device 11, the three-dimensional feed conveyor 9 is used.
Lowers the article 3 to the level of the sales port 14 and stops, and then the cooked article 3 is pushed out to the sales port 14 by the forward kicking mechanism 13.

When the article 3 can be stored at room temperature, a relatively simple heat-insulating structure may or may not be used to manage the temperature of the area where the article cutting device 1 is installed. Becomes unnecessary. However, article 3
Is required to store frozen or heated, a temperature control device 20 such as a refrigerator or a heater is provided in the installation area of the article cutting device 1 and the heat retaining structure is made to have a heavy structure. Is suitable.

Next, the article cutting device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. The article cutting device 1 has a support member 24 provided near a lower portion of the stock space portion 23 for stocking the article 3 and a locking member 25 provided immediately above the support member 24. is there. The support member 24 and the locking member 25 can be interlocked by an interlocking mechanism 26.

In the stock space section 23, the articles 3 can be stored in a directly stacked state. A device frame 27 is provided around the lower half of the stock space portion 23. As described later, each connection between the support member 24 and the locking member 25 and the interlocking mechanism 26 is performed by the device frame 27. It is performed only on one side (the front side in FIG. 1). Therefore, as shown in FIG.
On the back side of the product 3
Can be easily and quickly performed while the articles 3 are stacked.

The support member 24 has a dish shape capable of supporting the bottom surface of the article 3 at the lowermost stage in the stock state, and has a bearing 29 provided on one side of the apparatus frame 27.
And a swinging support portion 31 which is constituted by a swinging shaft 30 which is non-rotatably connected to the support member 24 through the bearing 29 so as to be vertically swingable. Therefore,
In a state where the support member 24 swings downward around the swing support portion 31, the support member 24 itself acts as a chute, and the article 3 placed thereon can slide down. .

The support member 24 is provided with a lever 32 projecting radially from one end of the swing shaft 30.
The lever 32 is not rotatable with respect to the swing shaft 30, and thus swings integrally with the support member 24 about the swing support 31. The locking member 25 is connected to the stock space 2.
There is a pair of articles 3 facing each other across both sides of the lower part of the article 3, each of which is the second row from the bottom in the stock state.
Has a toe 34 which can be separately engaged with the locking portion 5 protruding to both sides.

The locking members 25 are provided with bearings 35 provided on both sides of the apparatus frame 27, and a swing shaft 36 penetrating through the bearings 35 and non-rotatably connected to the locking members 25. Are provided so as to be able to sway freely around the swing support portion 37 constituted by. In addition, in each locking member 25,
A connecting rod 38 is provided which protrudes from one end of the swinging shaft 36 in a direction facing each other, and the distal ends of these connecting rods 38 have a play through a long hole 39 and a pin 40. Are connected by

Each of the connecting rods 38 is not rotatable with respect to the swing shaft 36, and therefore swings integrally with each of the locking members 25 around the swing support portion 37. Each connecting rod 38 is suspended from the upper part of the apparatus frame 27 via a spring 42 and is urged upward. For this reason, one of the two connecting rods 38 has a swing support 37
Swings around the center, the other also synchronously swings symmetrically. That is, only by swinging one of the connecting rods 38, both the locking members 25 are moved to their toes 34.
Are brought close to and away from each other.

Then, one locking member 25 (right side in FIG. 1)
Of the connecting rod 38 also extends to the opposite side of the swing support 37,
After that, it has a portion 38a that is bent downward, and a cam follower 44 is provided at the lower end of this portion 38a.
Is provided. The support member 24 and the locking member 2
An interlocking mechanism 26 for interlocking the driving wheels 5 is driven by a motor 45 with an electromagnetic brake.
have.

A link 47 connected to the lever 32 provided on the support member 24 is attached to the driving wheel 46.
And a cam follower 4 provided on one of the locking members 25.
There is provided a cam piece 48 capable of kicking up the cam follower 4 every one rotation, and a detection piece 50 for enabling a rotation detecting section 49 such as a limit switch to detect when the cam piece 48 kicks up the cam follower 44. ing.

The link 47 inclines the support member 24 from the horizontal state to an inclined state at a predetermined angle (45 ° in this embodiment) while the driving wheel 46 makes one rotation, and returns to the original horizontal state. It is connected so that it can be returned. Actually, when the driving wheel 46 is at the standby position (when the cam piece 48 is kicking up the cam follower 44), the connecting position between the link 47 and the driving wheel 46 and the connecting position between the link 47 and the lever 32 are set. (That is, the center line of the link 47) is connected to the driving wheel 4
It is preferable that they are arranged in line with the rotation center of No. 6.

The reason is that the link 47 is located at the top dead center with respect to the driving wheel 46 at the start of rotation of the driving wheel 46, so that even if the driving wheel 46 starts to rotate, the support member 24 will be kept for a while.
Can be delayed, and during this time, the operation of the locking member 25 via the cam piece 48 and the cam follower 44 can be started first, leading to an advantage.

Further, when the rotation of the driving wheel 46 is started, that is, when the driving wheel 46 is stopped, the link 47 is positioned at the top dead center with respect to the driving wheel 46. This means that the brake force load against the weight and the starting torque at the start of rotation are set to the most reduced state. Therefore, it leads to the advantage that the size of the motor 45 can be reduced.

Next, the operation of the article cutting device 1 will be described based on the operation status of the interlocking mechanism 26. First, FIG.
When the driving wheel 46 is at the standby position as shown in FIG. 19, the connecting rod 38 is in the downward swinging position in response to the cam follower 44 being in the kicking-up position. Have their toes 34 separated from each other. Therefore, among the articles 3 in the stacked state in the stock space 23, the article 3 in the second tier from the bottom is still in the released state.

On the other hand, the support member 24 is held horizontally via the link 47 and the lever 32, and supports the lowermost article 3 among the articles 3 stacked in the stock space 23. As a result, all articles 3 are supported. When the driving wheel 46 starts rotating clockwise from this state as shown in FIG. 5, the cam piece 48 comes off the cam follower 44, so that the two connecting rods 38 swing upward by the lifting bias of the spring 42. Accordingly, both locking members 25 bring their toes 34 closer to each other. Therefore, the articles 3 in the second tier from below are engaged with the locking portions 5 on both sides from below.

At this stage, since the link 47 does not vary so much in angle, the support member 24 is still supporting the lowermost article 3. Then, FIG.
When the driving wheel 46 rotates to some extent and the lever 32 is pulled down by the link 47, the support member 24 also swings downward. Therefore, the lowermost article 3 is tilted downward together with the support member 24.

At this time, since the locking member 25 remains in the state of locking the second article 3 from the bottom as described above, if the inclination of the support member 24 reaches a predetermined angle, the locking member 25 is raised. Is released from the support state, and is slid out of the apparatus. Next, as shown in FIG. 7, after the article 3 is taken out from the support member 24, the angle of the link 47 accompanying the rotation of the driving wheel 46 fluctuates.
The support member 24 is returned to the original horizontal support position.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the driving wheel 46 returns to the standby position, and the cam piece 48
4 is determined to be in a state of being kicked up by the detection of the detection piece 50 by the rotation detection unit 49, the motor 45
Stops. In this state, the locking members 25 cause the toes 34 to move away from each other again, so that the article 3 locked up to that point is released. Thus, the unlocked article 3 will drop onto the bearing member 24 which has already returned to its original horizontal support position.

As a result, 1 as the article cutting device 1
The cycle operation ends. Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the article 3, the rectangular container 4 can be replaced with a container having an appropriate shape, such as an oval shape, a disk shape, a bucket shape, or a bag.

The article 3 does not need to be a food-stuffed pack, and is not limited in any way, for example, its material, shape, size, field of use, and the like, such as plastic parts and metal parts. Therefore, the locking portion 5 provided for the article 3 may be a part that is normally provided on the article 3 itself, or may be newly provided for implementing the present invention. You may.

As described above, the cooking apparatus 11 can be made unnecessary as an article sales apparatus using the article cutting device 1 of the present invention. The detailed structure and combination of the transfer means 12 and the layout of the sales outlet 14 are not limited at all. In the article cutting device 1, the support member 24 is not limited to swinging around the swinging support portion 31, and may be configured to vertically move up and down by an appropriate elevator mechanism.

[0040]

As is apparent from the above description, the article cutting apparatus according to the present invention has a support member and a locking member centered on the stock space portion capable of storing articles in a stacked state. In addition, a plurality of articles can be replenished at once from the beginning while being stacked, making this operation extremely simple and quick.

Since the floor area used for storing articles can be a small space centered on the bottom area of one article, the article storage capacity per floor area of the entire apparatus is more than twice that of the conventional apparatus. And the number of support members is small, so that the weight and cost can be reduced. In order to cut out the stacked items one by one from the lowest one,
If the operation of the locking member and the operation of the support member are linked by an interlocking mechanism having a single driving wheel, there is no concern that the timing of the interlock will be shifted, and a reliable operation can be obtained, and the structure is simple. In addition, there are various advantages such as small size and low cost.

Assuming that the support member can be vertically swung,
By swinging this downward, the article can be slid down by the chute action, and the structure can be simplified.
In addition, since the position and posture of the article that has slipped down by the support member can always be unified to the same state, there is an advantage that the article can be easily handled thereafter. On the other hand, the article selling device according to the present invention has a cooking device, a transfer means, and a control device in the article cutting device, and is downsized.
Advantages such as simplification of the structure, reliability of movement, and improvement in article storage capacity are obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an article cutting device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged right side view corresponding to FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged rear view corresponding to FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory diagram subsequent to FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram following FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram following FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a front view (a front side exterior and the like are omitted) of an article selling apparatus configured by using the article extracting apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a right side view corresponding to FIG. 8 (the exterior and the like on the side are omitted).

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 8;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article extraction apparatus 2 Article sales apparatus 3 Article 5 Locking part (flange) 11 Cooking device 12 Transfer means 14 Sales port 23 Stock space part 24 Support member 25 Locking member 26 Interlocking mechanism 31 Oscillating support part 46 Driving wheel

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A stock space portion (23) capable of storing articles (3) provided with locking portions (5) on both sides in a directly stacked state with each other, and the stock space portion (23).
A support member (24) capable of supporting the bottom surface of the lowermost article (3) in the lower region of the above, and an engaging portion of the article (3) being the second uppermost step above the support member (24) And (5) a pair of locking members (25) that can be engaged with the supporting member (24) while the locking member (25) locks the article (3). Can be released, and when the support member (24) returns to the original support position after the removal of the article (3), the locked state of the article (3) by the locking member (25) can be released. Wherein the locking member (25) can be shifted to a locked state of the article (3). 2. The operation of the locking member (25) and the operation of the support member (24) can be interlocked by an interlocking mechanism (26) having one driving wheel (46). The article cutting device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The support member (24) has a swing support portion (31) at one end thereof, and is capable of swinging up and down, and a chute capable of sliding down the article (3) when swinging downward. The article cutting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the device has an effect. 4. An article cutting device (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and a cooking device (11) for cooking an article (3) taken out by the article cutting device (1). And the article cutting device (1) for the article (3),
It has a transfer device (12) for transferring to the cooking device (11) and the sales outlet (14), and a control device for performing one cycle of these series of operations based on a predetermined operation of a product purchaser. Goods selling equipment.