JPH11283104A - Article dispenser for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article dispenser for an automatic vending machine with which articles can be surely and smoothly dispensed one by one regardless of the material or shape of the container of articles. SOLUTION: Concerning an article dispenser 1 for an automatic vending machine, a movable plate 4 and a chassis 5 are provided at the lower part of an article column 3 while being mutually confronted, and the chassis 5 is provided with upper and lower poling boards 6 and 7, which can be freely moved between a position protruded into an article passage and a saving position saved from the article passage, and a driving mechanism 10 for driving these boards. When the upper poling board 6 is located at the protruding position, a stopper part 6a or closing plate 14 closes a gap C between the upper end part of the upper poling board 6 and a front wall 5a of the chassis 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine provided at a lower portion of a product column (product passage) for storing products such as canned beverages and bottled beverages in a lying state, and paying out products one by one at the time of sale. The present invention relates to a product dispensing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional product dispensing device of this type, for example, a device shown in FIG. 7 is known. This product payout device 70 is composed of a plate 72 and a product payout mechanism 73, with the lower part of a product column 71 facing each other. The commodity dispensing mechanism 73 includes an upper weir plate 75 and a lower weir plate 76 rotatably attached to a chassis 74, and a drive mechanism 77 for driving these upper and lower weir plates 75, 76. At times, the product S is held in the product column 71. The chassis 74 has a flat front wall 74a, and an upper dam plate 75 is disposed below the front wall 74a.

The driving mechanism 77 includes a solenoid 77a and a link mechanism. When the solenoid 77a is excited / demagnetized, an upper dam plate 75 is provided.
And the lower weir plate 76 are each driven as described below. In other words, in the sales standby state shown in FIG. 7A, the upper dam plate 75 is held at the retracted position, the lower dam plate 76 is held at the projecting position, and the lower dam plate 76 is at the lowest position. The product S1 is locked from below to prevent the entire product S including the sold product S1 from falling. When the product S is sold, the solenoid 77a of the drive mechanism 77 is excited to rotate the upper weir plate 75 to the projecting position, and to move the upper dam plate 75 from the bottom by two.
By locking the second next sale product S2 from below, the fall is prevented, and the lower weir plate 76 is rotated to the retracted position, so that the sale product S1 falls and is paid out (FIG. 7B). ). Subsequently, when the upper dam plate 75 returns to the retracted position and the lower dam plate 76 returns to the projecting position, the entire product S group is lowered by one, and the next product S2 up to that time is sold next time. The product S1 is locked to the lower weir plate 76, and returns to the sales standby state. By the above operation, the products S in the product column 71 are paid out one by one.

[0004]

As shown in FIG. 7 (b), when the upper weir plate 75 is turned to the protruding position, the upper end of the upper weir plate 75 is closed. A relatively large gap C is formed between the chassis 74 and the front wall 74a. For this reason, when storing a product S having a soft material such as a PET bottle product in a container column 71, as shown in FIG. , The weight W of the product S group stacked thereon
, The deformed part fits in the gap C. When the next-commercial product S2 is fitted, the driving force of the drive mechanism 77 cannot push the next-commercial product S2 against the weight W of the product S group, and moves the upper dam plate 75 to the retreat position. Cannot be returned to the original position. As a result, the product S
, The payout operation becomes impossible, and the unsale of the product S occurs.

[0005] In addition, angular products S, for example, FIG.
In the case of paying out the product S having a rectangular cross-sectional shape in which four corners are cut off as shown in (c), a part of the corner of the product S easily enters the gap C due to the cross-sectional shape of the product S or its deformation. At the same time, the upper weir plate 75 cuts into the corner of the product S, so that the product S gets stuck. As a result, the upper weir plate 75 cannot return to the retracted position, and the same problem as described above occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine which can reliably and smoothly pay out products one by one regardless of the material and shape of the product container. It is an object to provide a dispensing device.

[0007]

In order to attain this object, a vending machine according to the first aspect of the present invention is provided with a pair of passage walls provided at a lower portion of a commodity passage so as to face each other and constituting a commodity passage. A damper plate rotatably attached to one of the passage walls and rotatable between a projecting position protruding obliquely upward in the product passage and a retracting position retracting from the product passage; A locking means movably provided between a protruding position protruding into the product passage and a retreat position retreating from the product passage; and By holding the products at the protruding positions, the lowermost sales product is locked by the locking means, and at the time of sale of the product, the second next product from the bottom is locked by rotating the weir plate to the protruding position. At the same time, rotate the locking means to the retracted position And a closing means provided to close the gap between the upper end of the weir plate and one of the passage walls when the weir plate is at the projecting position. It is characterized by being.

[0008] According to the commodity dispensing device of this vending machine,
At the time of waiting for sale of the product, the weir plate is held at the retracted position by the driving unit, and the locking unit is held at the projecting position, so that the locking unit locks the lowest sales product. By rotating the weir plate to the protruding position, the second next product from the bottom is locked, and the locking means is rotated to the retracted position to pay out the sold product. At the time of this sale, when the weir plate is rotated to the protruding position, the closing means closes the gap between the upper end portion of the weir plate at the protruding position and one of the passage walls, so that the product is relatively easily deformed. Even if the container is made of a soft material or has a square cross section that is easily hooked, it will not be fitted into the gap between the weir plate and one of the passage walls. Therefore, regardless of the material and the cross-sectional shape of the product container, the weir plate can be reliably rotated and returned from the protruding position to the retreat position, so that unlike conventional products, dispensing of products does not occur. It can be paid out reliably and smoothly.

In the above, it is preferable that the closing means is constituted by a stopper portion which protrudes obliquely upward from the upper end of the weir plate toward one of the passage walls when the weir plate is at the projecting position.

[0010] According to the commodity dispensing device of the vending machine,
When the weir plate is in the protruding position, its stopper
The gap between the upper end of the weir plate and one of the passage walls can be closed. Further, since the stopper portion is formed integrally with the weir plate, the above-described operation can be obtained only by changing the shape of the weir plate without increasing the number of components.

In the above, the closing means is rotatably attached to a position above the weir plate of the one of the passage walls so that the upper end portion is rotatable when the weir plate is at the projecting position. It is preferable that it is constituted by a closing plate abutting from the inside.

According to the vending machine product dispensing apparatus,
The gap between the weir plate and one of the passage walls can be reliably closed by the closing plate. Further, since the closing plate rotates in conjunction with the weir plate, another power for driving the closing plate is not required. Furthermore, since the closing plate rotates toward the passage wall side in conjunction with the rotation of the weir plate to the retracted position, it does not protrude into the product passage during standby for sale and does not become an obstacle during loading or the like. .

Furthermore, in the above, it is preferable that the contact surface of the closing plate with the weir plate has lubricity.

According to the vending machine product dispensing apparatus,
Since the sliding resistance when the weir plate slides on the contact surface of the closing plate is reduced, the operation of the weir plate and the closing plate becomes smooth, and the weir plate is turned without increasing the driving force of the driving means. Can be moved.

[0015]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vending machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention; As shown in FIG.
It is used in a vending machine 2 that sells canned beverages, bottled beverages, and the like, and is provided below the product column 3 of the vending machine 2. The product column (product passage) 3 stores a large number of products S of the same type, which are thrown sideways from the slot,
It is a so-called serpentine track type that is stored in a stacked state while meandering in the vertical direction. The commodity payout apparatus 1 pays out the commodities S in the commodity column 3 one by one from the lowest order. The product columns 3 are provided in four rows in the front-rear direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 1). Hereinafter, a description will be given of a product column provided with the product column 3 at the frontmost position as an example.

As shown in FIG. 2, the commodity dispensing apparatus 1 includes a movable plate 4 and a chassis 5 attached to the front and rear of the column 3a of the commodity column 3 so as to face each other. The movable plate 4 and the chassis 5 are each made of a steel plate. The movable plate 4 constitutes the lowermost front passage wall of the product column 3 and the chassis 5 constitutes the rear passage wall. As shown in FIG. 1, the chassis 5 is fixed to a predetermined height of the column main body 3a. Although not shown, the movable plate 4 can be set to be moved to three positions in the front-rear direction.
That is, the depth of the lower portion of the product column 3 can be set in three stages: for the small-diameter product S, for the large-diameter product S, and in the middle.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the chassis 5
Is provided with upper and lower dam plates 6 and 7 which are close to each other in the vertical direction and extend in the horizontal direction. These upper and lower weir plates 6,7
Are respectively arranged in openings 5b in which the front wall 5a of the chassis 5 is cut out, and are rotatably attached to two support shafts G1 and G2 which extend horizontally to the chassis 5, respectively. Further, the upper weir plate (weir plate) 6 protrudes obliquely upward into the product column 3 (see FIG. 2B), and the front wall 5a of the chassis 5 retracts from the product column 3.
And a retracted position (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 2 (a)) which is flush with each other. Similarly, the lower weir plate (locking means) 7
Is a projecting position (see FIGS. 3 and 2 (a)) projecting obliquely downward in the product column 3;
2 (see FIG. 2 (b)).

A drive shaft 8 extends horizontally in the chassis 5, and the drive shaft 8 is connected to upper and lower dam plates 6, 7, and is always urged downward by a coil spring (not shown). Have been. Further, a driving mechanism (driving means) 10 for driving the upper and lower dam plates 6 and 7 is attached to the chassis 5, and the driving mechanism 10 includes a solenoid 11. Plunger 12 of solenoid 11
Is connected to the drive shaft 8 via a link member 13, and when the solenoid 11 is excited,
It is driven upward while resisting the urging force of the coil spring, and is driven downward by the urging force of the coil spring when the solenoid 11 is demagnetized. As described above, the drive shaft 8 is driven vertically by the excitation / demagnetization of the solenoid 11, and when the drive shaft 8 rises, the upper dam plate 6 and the lower dam plate 7 rotate to the projecting position and the retreat position, respectively. When the drive shaft 8 is lowered, the upper dam plate 6 and the lower dam plate 7 are configured to rotate to the retracted position and the projected position, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the upper weir plate 6 extends horizontally in the left-right direction and is made of a synthetic resin (for example, polycarbonate). The upper end of the upper weir plate 6 is located rearward (rightward in the figure) over the entire left-right direction.
A stopper portion 6a is formed integrally with the stopper portion. As shown in FIGS. 2B and 4B, when the upper dam plate 6 is at the projecting position, the stopper 6a projects obliquely upward from the upper end of the upper dam plate 6 toward the chassis 5. Posture. An upper surface (hereinafter, referred to as a contact surface) 6b of the upper weir plate 6 including the stopper 6a has a gentle curved surface in an upwardly convex arc shape. By contacting the product S at the protruding position, the product S is locked between the movable plate 4 and the product S. At this time, the upper weir plate 6
It comes into contact with the product S about the position on the chassis 5 side (the point of action P) with respect to the line connecting the rotation center O of the upper weir plate 6 and the center O2 of the product S. Furthermore, the contact surface 6b has a line O (center of the arc that forms the curved surface) displaced from the center of rotation O toward the chassis 5 and connects the center O2 of the product S and the center of the contact (a load F to be described later). (Action line).

As shown in FIG. 3, a sold-out detection lever 9 is rotatably mounted above the upper weir plate 6 of the chassis 5 and protrudes from the chassis 5 to the movable plate 4 side. So that it is always energized. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, when the product S is stored in the product column 3, the sold-out detection lever 9 is pushed by the product S and retreats to the front wall 5 a side of the chassis 5, so that the product S is released. Protrudes toward the product column 3 when sold out. The sold-out of the product S is detected by such an operation of the sold-out detection lever 9.

Next, the dispensing operation of the commodity dispensing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
(A) has shown the sale waiting state of the goods delivery apparatus 1. FIG. As shown in the figure, when the product S is on standby for sale, the solenoid 11 is in a demagnetized state and the drive shaft 8 is urged downward by the urging force of the coil spring, so that the upper dam plate 6 is The lower dam plate 7 is held at the retracted position and the lower dam plate 7 is held at the protruding position. In this state, the lowest product S
1 is locked to the lower weir plate 7 at the protruding position, and the product S1 is paid out as a sold product S1 at the time of this payout operation. Next sales products S2 to be paid out at the next payout operation are stacked on the sales products S1, and a large number of products S are stacked on the next sales products S2.

When the product S is sold, the drive shaft 8 is driven by the plunger 12 of the solenoid 11 when the solenoid 11 is excited, as shown in FIG. 2B, while resisting the urging force of the coil spring. Rise. In conjunction with this, the upper weir plate 6 is rotated to the protruding position, thereby locking the next sale product S2 from below, preventing its falling, and rotating the lower weir plate 7 to the retracted position. As a result, the sale product S1 falls and is paid out. When the upper dam plate 6 is in contact with the product S at the projecting position, the stopper portion 6
a protrudes obliquely upward from the upper end of the upper weir plate 6 toward the chassis 5, thereby closing a gap C between the upper weir plate 6 and the edge of the opening 5 b of the front wall 5 a of the chassis 5. .

Subsequently, when the solenoid 11 is demagnetized at a predetermined timing, the drive shaft 8 is lowered by the urging force of the coil spring. In conjunction with this, the upper weir plate 6 pivots to the retreat position and the lower weir plate 7 pivots to the protruding position, whereby the entire product group S is lowered by one, and FIG.
To return to the standby state.

When the above-mentioned upper weir plate 6 locks the next sale product S2, the weight W of the product S group including the next sale product S2.
Are supported by the mechanical relationship shown in FIG.
That is, at the time of this locking, the weight W of the commodity S group is equal to the load F
Acts on the contact surface 6b of the upper weir plate 6. The point of action P of the load F is determined by the rotation center O of the upper dam plate 6 and the center O2 of the product S.
Are located on the chassis 5 side with respect to the line connecting. At this point of action P, the load F is decomposed into a component force F1 and a component force F2. The component force F1 acts toward the rotation center O of the upper weir plate 6, and the component force F2 is applied to the upper weir plate. 6 acts as a rotational moment to rotate the retracted position 6 toward the retracted position. Thereby, the turning force when the upper dam plate 6 turns from the projecting position to the retracted position can be relatively small. Further, the contact surface 6b is formed such that the center O1 of the arc forming the curved surface is located on the line of action of the load F, so that the load F of the commodity S group can be received in a well-balanced manner.

According to the commodity dispensing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above, when the upper weir plate 6 is turned to the projecting position, the stopper 6a is connected to the upper end of the upper weir plate 6 and the chassis 5
Of the product S by closing the gap C between itself and the front wall 5a.
In the case of a container made of a relatively soft material that is easily deformed,
Even in the case of the angular cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. 4 (c), which is easy to be caught, it does not fit into the gap C between the upper dam plate 6 and the front wall 5a. Therefore, regardless of the material and cross-sectional shape of the container of the product S, the upper dam plate 6 can be reliably rotated from the projecting position to the retracted position while resisting the weight W of the product S group. It is possible to pay out the goods one by one reliably and smoothly without dispensing. Further, since the stopper portion 6a is formed integrally with the upper weir plate 6, the above-described operation can be achieved only by changing the shape of the existing upper weir plate 6 without increasing the number of parts.

Next, a merchandise payout apparatus 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in both figures, the goods dispensing device 1 of the present embodiment
Has substantially the same configuration as the commodity dispensing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment described above, and is different only in that the closing plate 14 is attached to the chassis 5. As shown in FIG. 5, the closing plate 14 is a horizontally long steel plate extending in the left-right direction, and is arranged so as to be in contact with the front surface of the upper weir plate 6. The closing plate 14 is provided with a convex part 14a projecting upward at the center part, and the opening part 5b of the chassis 5 is provided with the convex part 14a.
A notch 5c cut out is formed in accordance with.
The closing plate 14 is rotatably attached to a shaft (not shown) whose protruding portion 14a extends horizontally in the cutout portion 5c, and the entire closing plate 14 is normally accommodated in the opening portion 5b. It is flush with the front wall 5a (see FIG. 6A).

6 (b) and 6 (b).
As shown in (c), at the time of sale, it has a height (length in the vertical direction) such that it comes into contact with the contact surface 6b of the upper weir plate 6 rotated to the projecting position from the movable plate 4 side. . Further, the rear surface of the closing plate 14 which abuts on the abutting surface 6b of the upper dam plate 6 is formed into a surface having low sliding resistance and lubricity, for example, by being coated with PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). Have been.

According to the commodity dispensing apparatus 1 configured as described above, as shown in FIGS. 6 (b) and 6 (c), like the first embodiment described above, at the time of sale, the upper dam plate is used. 6 rotates to the projecting position, and locks the product S. The closing plate 14 rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the upper weir plate 6, and assumes a diagonally forward lowering posture in contact with the upper weir plate 6. As a result, the gap C between the upper dam plate 6 and the front wall 5a of the chassis 5 is closed by the closing plate 14, so that unlike the conventional case, the fitting of the product S into the gap C is reliably prevented. Thereafter, with the rotation of the upper weir plate 6 from the projecting position to the retracted position, the closing plate 14 rotates toward the chassis 5 and becomes flush with the front wall 5a. This prevents the closing plate 14 from hindering the movement of the product S during loading. Further, when rotating between the projecting position and the retreat position, the upper dam plate 6 slides on the back surface of the closing plate 14, so that the turning of the upper dam plate 6 and the closing plate 14 becomes smooth and the The upper dam plate 6 can be rotated without increasing the driving force of the mechanism 10. Further, no power other than the drive mechanism 10 is required to drive the closing plate 14.

In each of the above embodiments, the stopper 6a or the closing plate 14 is provided as means for closing the gap C between the upper end of the upper dam plate 6 and the front wall 5a of the chassis 5. Not limited to this, at the time of sale, a member that protrudes toward the product column 3 from the inside of the chassis 5 so as to close the gap C may be provided, as long as the gap C is appropriately closed. Further, although the lower weir plate 7 projecting obliquely downward and protruding into the product column 3 is used as the locking means, the present invention is not limited to this, and a rotating plate that rotates in a horizontal plane is provided at the lower end of the product column 3 as the locking means. The same operation as that of the lower weir plate 7 may be performed by driving this rotary plate with a driving device. further,
Although the back surface of the closing plate 14 is coated with PTFE, it is not limited thereto, and may be coated with another synthetic resin.
Any material having lubricity may be used.

[0030]

As described above, according to the merchandise dispensing apparatus of the vending machine of the present invention, merchandise can be surely and smoothly dispensed one by one regardless of the material and shape of the merchandise container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a vending machine provided with a product payout device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional views illustrating operations of the commodity dispensing apparatus at the time of (a) waiting for sale of a product having a circular cross section, at the time of selling (b), and at the time of selling a product having a rectangular cross section.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a chassis of the commodity delivery device.

4A is a perspective view showing a configuration of an upper weir plate, and FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing a dynamic relationship of a load received from a product locked at a projecting position of the upper weir plate.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a chassis of a product payout device according to a second embodiment.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views illustrating operations of the commodity dispensing apparatus according to the second embodiment during (a) sales standby of a circular cross-section product, (b) sales, and (c) sales of a rectangular cross-section product, respectively. FIG.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are cross-sectional views showing operations of the conventional product dispensing apparatus at the time of (a) waiting for sale of a product having a circular cross section, at the time of selling (b), and at the time of selling a product having a rectangular cross section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Commodity payout apparatus 2 Vending machine 3 Commodity column (commodity passage) 4 Movable plate (passage wall) 5 Chassis (one passage wall) 6 Upper dam board (dam board) 6a Stopper section 7 Lower dam board (locking means) 10 drive mechanism (drive means) 14 closing plate S product S1 sale product S2 next sale product

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Minoru Suzuki 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Shunji Igata 2-chome Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5-5 in Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pair of passage walls which are provided opposite to each other at a lower portion of a product passage, and which constitute the product passage, are rotatably mounted on one of the passage walls, and are inclined upward in the product passage. A weir plate rotatable between a protruding position protruding with the product passage and a retreat position retreating from the product passage; and a protruding position provided below the weir plate and protruding into the product passage and retracting from the product passage. A locking means movable between a retracted position and a lowermost position on the locking means by holding the weir plate at the retracted position and the locking means at the projecting position when the product is on standby for sale; And the second selling product from the bottom is locked by rotating the weir plate to the protruding position when the product is sold, and the locking means is turned to the retracted position. The sale by moving A driving unit for dispensing a sale product; and a closing unit provided to close a gap between an upper end portion of the weir plate and the one passage wall when the weir plate is at the projecting position. A product dispensing device for a vending machine, comprising: 2. The blocking means is configured by a stopper portion that protrudes obliquely upward from an upper end portion of the weir plate toward the one of the passage walls when the weir plate is at the projecting position. The product dispensing device for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The blocking means has an upper end pivotally mounted at a position above the weir plate on the one of the passage walls, and when the weir plate is at the projecting position, the closing means is attached to the weir plate. The product dispensing device of a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the device is configured by a closing plate abutting from the inside of the product passage. 4. The commodity dispensing device of a vending machine according to claim 3, wherein a contact surface of the closing plate with the weir plate has lubricity.