JPH1186118A - Commodity carry-out device for vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity carry-out device, which can successively carry out the commodities at and after the lowest position in a simple constitution and in regard to a zigzag stacked commodity store rack and also excels in the commodity supply performance. SOLUTION: With respect to a rack case 1 where the commodities 2 are zigzag stacked in a column, a commodity carry-out device consists of a pair of right and left guide plates 3 which are rockably pivoted on a sidewall of the case 1 via the upper end of each plate 3, a commodity support rod 4 which is placed at the exit side of the column between both plates 3, and a carry-out control means consisting of a combination of a solenoid 5, a slide plate 6, a rocking link 7 and a stopper pin 8 which is fit into an inverted T-shaped guide groove 3a opening toward the plates 3. In a selling wait mode, the rod 4 is restricted and held at the center position of the column to hold the zigzag stacked commodities 2. In a selling mode, the restriction on the rod 4 is canceled temporarily and it is freely rockably released via the operation of the solenoid 5. Then the lowest commodity 2 pushes the free rod 4 toward its side position so as to be dropped and carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a merchandise unloading apparatus for a vending machine, which implements a staggered-type merchandise storage rack in which cylindrical products such as cans and bottles are stacked and stored in a vertical column in a staggered manner. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a product storage rack of a vending machine that sells products containing cans and bottles, the staggered type product storage rack described above is well known. This staggered product storage rack,
Compared to serpentine-type product storage racks in which products are arranged in a row in a meandering meandering product passage, they have the advantage that there is less dead space in the product storage and higher product storage efficiency, but product storage The merchandise unloading device (bend mechanism) mounted on the rack uses a serpentine-type rack bend mechanism that controls the unloading of the products arranged in a line in order to carry out the products stacked in a staggered pattern alternately from the front and rear rows. Is different.

[0003] In this regard, a swing type locking piece conventionally called a flipper is incorporated at the exit end of a rack case, and the locking piece is alternately rocked back and forth in accordance with a sales command to produce products arranged in a staggered manner. A flipper-type unloading mechanism that unloads in order from the bottom, or an unloading mechanism that was filed in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-329422 prior to the same applicant as the present invention.
Various product unloading devices have been proposed for use in a staggered product storage rack.

[0004]

The conventional product unloading device applied to the staggered stacking type product storage rack has a complicated structure, and the unloading operation is not sufficiently reliable. Is desired. Further, in the conventional system in which the flippers are alternately rocked back and forth by driving with a motor, a solenoid, or the like, the order in which the products arranged in a staggered manner are carried out is determined by the driving operation of the flippers. Therefore,
Unless the storage position of the products lined up at the bottom when loading the products into the rack case must be adjusted to the direction of the next operation of the flipper, short-selling sales troubles occur such that the products are not ejected even if the product unloading device operates. For this reason, conventionally, test sales must be performed prior to the start of sales after the product has been loaded, and a check operation to normally perform the sales operation is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has a simple structure in which a product carrying-out operation can be reliably performed with a simple structure as a product carrying-out device applied to a staggered product storing rack described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new vending machine product unloading device which exhibits an excellent effect on replenishment of a vending machine.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, cylindrical products stacked and stored in a staggered manner in a vertical column of a box-shaped rack case are sequentially carried out from the lowest position. For a staggered stacking type product storage rack, a pair of left and right guide plates, which are pivotally arranged with the upper end pivotally supported on the side wall of the rack case, and are suspended between the guide plates, and a column outlet is provided. A product support rod laid at the end, and carrying-out control means for restraining and holding the support rod at the center position of the column during standby for sale, temporarily releasing the restraint at the time of sale to make the support rod swing free, At the time of selling standby, the support rods carry the products stacked in a staggered manner, and at the time of the selling operation, the lowermost product pushes the support rods to the side to drop and carry out (claim 1).

[0007] Further, the unloading control means in the above-mentioned configuration,
An inverted T-shaped guide groove formed on the plate surface of the guide plate, and a stopper pin fitted into the guide groove, and the stopper pin is moved up and down along the central vertical groove portion of the guide groove during a selling operation. It is composed of a solenoid operated link mechanism (claim 2). In the above configuration, when products are loaded in the vertical column of the rack case, the products lined up at the bottom straddle between the support rod, which is restrained and held at the center of the column, and one of the front and rear wall surfaces of the rack case. The product is held in the horizontal position, and other products are stacked and stored on this product in a staggered manner, and the product is put on standby. On the other hand, from this state, when the support rod is temporarily released at the time of sale and released to swing free, the support rod supporting the lowest product is pushed to the side under the product load, The lowest order product slips through the support rod and drops down and is carried out. Also, when the lowermost product slips through the support rod, the support rod tries to swing in the opposite direction under the load of the products lined up, and when returning to the center position of the column on this way, it is locked by the stopper pin. It is restrained by the position and returns to the state of waiting for sale.

In other words, in the commodity carrying device of the present invention, the commodity supporting rod functioning as a flipper is not forcibly swung by an external driving force at the time of sale as in the conventional system, but is at the neutral position during standby for sale. Is temporarily released, and the support rods are pushed back from the standby position to the selling operation position by the weight of the products stacked and stored in the column to drop and carry the products. This makes it possible to carry out the products stacked in a zigzag form in the column one by one in order from the bottom, and when loading the products into the rack case, the bottom-most product is moved to the next operation of the flipper as in the conventional device. There is no need to position the product in accordance with the order, and the product can be normally carried out without troubles such as empty carry-out even if the products are arranged on either side of the front and rear rows.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 (a), 1 (b) and FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes left and right side plates 1a and front and rear wall plates 1b.
In the vertical column, cylindrical products 2 are stored in a zigzag manner in a horizontal position in a vertical column.

[0010] Further, the commodity carrying-out device mounted on the rack case 1 comprises a pair of left and right guide plates 3 supported by a side plate 1a of the rack case 1 so as to pivotally support the upper end thereof and swingably.
A product support rod 4 having a convex cross-section and laid across the end of the guide plate 3 so as to extend across the exit side of the rack case 1; And a discharge control means for temporarily releasing the restriction at the time of sale and releasing the support rod in a swing-free manner, wherein the discharge control means is fixed to the front of the rack case 1. 4. plunger type solenoid A vertically movable slide plate 6 connected to a plunger 5a of the solenoid 5, and a support shaft pin 7a which is bridged between the slide plate 6 and the guide plate 3 and has a central portion.
And a stopper pin 8 attached to the end of the link 7 is fitted in an inverted T-shaped (anchor-shaped) guide groove 3a formed on the plate surface of the guide plate 3. become. A long window hole 1c is opened at the lower end of the side plate 1a of the rack case 1 in the front-rear direction.
The support rod 4 described above is bridged between the left and right guide plates 3.

Next, a description will be given of a product unloading operation in the above configuration. First, during standby for sale, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), the solenoid 5 is turned off, and the stopper pin 8 attached to the link 7 is inserted into the inverted T-shaped guide groove 3a of the guide plate 3 at the central longitudinal groove. The guide plate 3 is constrained at this position by fitting into the upper end portion, and the product support rod 4 bridged between the guide plates 3 is held at the front-rear center position in the column. Therefore, in the sales standby state, the commodity (#
1) is carried between the support rod 4 and one of the front and rear plates of the rack, and a higher-order product (# 2, # 3,.
・) Are staggered and held.

Here, when a sales command is given, the solenoid 5 is controlled to be ON only for a very short time, and the plunger 5a is suctioned. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the slide plate 6 moves upward, and the link 7 swings clockwise in accordance with the upward movement, and the stopper pin 8 descends along the guide groove 3a to move the central vertical groove portion. From the horizontal groove crossing this. Thereby, the restraint of the guide plate 3 by the stopper pin 8 is released, and the product holding rod 4 is released together with the guide plate 3 in a swing-free state. As a result, the product holding rod 4 is pushed laterally (to the left in the figure) by the weight of the product 2, and the lowest product (# 1) slips through between the support rod 4 and the rear wall of the rack case 1. And carry it down.

Also, the energization ON of the solenoid 5 during the above-mentioned selling operation is for a very short time (almost instantaneously),
It becomes FF. Accordingly, the link 7 attempts to swing back to the standby position by the return operation of the plunger 5a when the solenoid 5 is turned off. On the other hand, after the product (# 1) is carried out, the support rod 4 is weighted by the weight of the next product (# 2). Attempts to reverse (rightward in the figure). As a result, the stopper pin 8 moves from the horizontal groove portion to the vertical groove portion along the guide groove 3a and rises, restrains and holds the guide plate 3 and the product support rod 4 at the positions shown in FIG. Becomes

From here, when a sales order is given again,
The product holding rod 4 receives the weight of the stored product 2 and receives the weight shown in FIG.
After returning the product (# 2) by dropping and carrying it out in the opposite direction, it returns to the standby state again and repeats the same operation for each sale command to carry out the stored product sequentially. Also, when loading the empty rack case 1 with the product 2, it is not necessary to particularly specify the loading position of the products arranged in the lowest order. Even if the products are loaded at random, the products always always start normally from the lowest order. Can be carried out.

[0015]

As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, the goods stored in a staggered manner in the rack case can be carried out in order from the lowest order, and the goods holding functioning as a flipper during the selling operation can be carried out. After releasing the rod restraint, the stored product is pushed to the side by its own weight, so even if the lowest order product is lined up in any row of the staggered stack, the product can be securely sold without short selling trouble Can be carried out.

In addition, the product unloading device is structurally constituted by a simple mechanism. In particular, the solenoid of the unloading control means has a low output only by pulling up the link with the stopper pin without substantially receiving the product load. Can be sufficient. In addition, when loading products into the rack case, products at the bottom can be loaded at random without specifying the loading position of the products at the lowest position. Route work and management of vending machines become easier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of a product unloading device of a staggered product storage rack according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Is a diagram showing the state at the time of selling standby, and (b) is a diagram showing the product unloading operation

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the product unloading device in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rack case 1a Side plate 2 Product 3 Guide plate 3a Guide groove 4 Product holding rod 5 Solenoid 7 Swing link 8 Stopper pin

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A merchandise discharge device for a vending machine for sequentially discharging cylindrical products stacked and stored in a vertical column of a box-shaped rack case in a staggered manner from the lowest order, wherein an upper end is pivotally supported on a side wall of the rack case. A pair of left and right guide plates slidably arranged, a product support rod bridged between the guide plates and laid at the outlet end of the column, and the support rod is restrained and held at the center position of the column during standby for sales, It consists of unloading control means for temporarily releasing the restraint at the time of sale and making the support rod free to swing, carrying the products stacked in a staggered shape with the support rod at the time of sale standby, and the lowest order product at the time of sale operation A product unloading device for a vending machine, wherein a support rod is pushed out to the side and dropped out. 2. The product unloading device according to claim 1, wherein the unloading control means includes an inverted T-shaped guide groove formed on a plate surface of the guide plate, and a stopper pin fitted in the guide groove.
A merchandise unloading device for a vending machine, comprising a solenoid operated link mechanism for moving the stopper pin up and down along a central vertical groove portion of the guide groove during a selling operation.