JPS632955Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention is incorporated into a cup-type beverage vending machine, and directs the cups one by one from a row of cups stored vertically to a bending stage based on a sales command. The present invention relates to a cup feeding device for conveying cups.

PRIOR ART

A cup feeding device has already been proposed which is configured to appropriately supply vertically stacked rows of cups stored in a cup storage drum to a cup ejecting mechanism located on the outer periphery away from the rotation locus of the cup storage drum. It has been commercialized (for example, patent application 1983-
No. 24931, No. 57-36977, etc.).

The outline will be explained based on FIGS. 1 and 2. The cup feeding device shown in Figures 1 and 2 is a cup-type beverage vending machine that can simultaneously sell cold beverages such as syrup and hot beverages whose main ingredients are powdered ingredients such as coffee and cocoa. This system stores multiple types of beverage cups in the aircraft, including large-capacity cups for cold beverages and small-capacity cups for hot beverages, and transports one of the specialized cups depending on the product selection. It is then fed to the bend stage.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the cup feeding device is roughly divided into a rotationally driven vertical shaft type cup storage drum 10, and two sets of cup ejectors, one for cold beverage cups and one for hot beverage cups, each equipped with a cup ejecting mechanism. Mechanisms 20C and 20H (suffix C stands for Cold and H stands for Hot), a cup sorting mechanism 30 by type, a cup row delivery mechanism 40 corresponding to each cup takeout stage, and a cup storage drum 10. It consists of a combination with a gate mechanism installed at the border of the cup extraction position from the cup.

The cup storage drum 10 has a drum main body consisting of a polygonal inner cylinder 11 and partition plates 12 radially projecting from each vertex of the inner cylinder, a rotating shaft 13 attached to the main body, and a drum connected to the rotating shaft. It consists of a drive motor 14 and a fixed outer cover 15 that surrounds the outer periphery of the main body, all of which are installed on a base plate 60. Cup storage chambers 16 arranged circumferentially between partition plates 12 each store a cup row 1 in which a large number of beverage cups of the same type are stacked in a vertical line. On the other hand, on the outer periphery of the cup storage drum 10 away from the rotation locus, there are two types of cups, one for cold beverage cups and one for hot beverages, which are distributed to the left and right of the base plate 60.
A set of cup removal stages are formed. This cup ejecting stage has a cup ejecting hole 61 formed in the base plate 60 which communicates with the cup ejecting mechanisms 20C and 20H described above. Also, 62 is the cup extraction hole 6
1 and is an outer wall supported on a base plate. The cup ejecting mechanisms 20C and 20H are designed to drop and carry out cups one by one by motor drive based on a sales command, starting from the lowest cup in a row of cups set in a vertical manner, and are adapted to the size of the cup. It is equipped with an adjustment mechanism for the cup, a sold-out detection switch that detects when the cup is sold out, etc. The cup row delivery mechanism 40 also includes an L-shaped slide plate 41 that can slide in the radial direction on a base plate placed at a cup retrieval position on the movement trajectory of the cup storage chamber, and a slide plate 41 that can be moved in the radial direction by a command. It consists of a drive section 42 that operates forward and backward movement.

The cup feeding operation is performed as follows. Initially, the cup storage chamber and cup ejection mechanism 20C, 20
Sales begin with cup row 1, in which a large number of cups are stacked stacked on H, set. When there are only a few cups remaining in one of the cup ejecting mechanisms 20 or 20H, for example 20C, the cup storage drum 10 begins to rotate based on the cup sold-out detection signal. On the other hand, on the cup storage drum side, a detection lever 31 corresponding to the type of cup stored in each cup storage chamber is attached to the partition plate 12, and a detection switch 32 is installed at a predetermined position on the outer circumference facing the detection lever 31. is fixedly installed and constitutes the cup sorting mechanism 30, which detects when a specified type of cup row reaches the cup take-out position, stops the drive motor 14, and moves the cup storage drum 10 to that position. stop. Next, the sliding gate plate 51 at the boundary with the cup ejecting stage is opened, and at the same time the cup row delivery mechanism 40 is operated to move the cup row 1 onto the slide plate 41 as shown by arrow A. send it to someone else. During this process, the swinging gate plate 52 is pushed by the row of cups, opens once, and closes again after the cups have passed through. Finally, when the slide plate 41 retreats, the cup row 1 is prevented from retreating by the gate plate and stops at this position. When the slide plate 41 comes out, it falls through the cup ejection hole 61 of the base plate 60, and the cup ejection mechanism Refueled on top of 20C. The cup ejecting mechanism 20H is also replenished with cups in a similar manner, and thereby the storage ratio of cold cups and hot cups in the cup storage drum 10 can be arbitrarily set, and designated cups can be picked up according to the sold-out state of cups. It is possible to automatically replenish the extraction mechanism.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

By the way, as clearly shown in FIG. 2, the L-shaped slide plate 41 of the cup row delivery mechanism 40 has a cutout window 17 formed at the bottom of the inner cylinder 11 to avoid interference with the cup storage drum 10. However, due to the rigidity of the cup storage drum, the cutout window 17 cannot be made large enough, especially in the height direction, and therefore the size of the cutout window 17 is not large enough in the cup storage chamber 16 compared to the height of the slide plate 41. The height of cup row 1 to be stored becomes much taller. For this reason, if the cups are not stacked loosely when the cup row is stored, or if the standing posture of the cup row is slightly tilted, when the cup row is fed out, the cup row 1 is It often happens that the top tips backwards. If such a situation occurs, when the cup storage drum 10 rotates in the next stroke, the cup row 1 will be caught on the partition plate 12 on the drum side and locked, and the gate plates 51 and 5 will be locked.
The cup row 1 is sandwiched between the cup rows 2 and 2, and the upper part of the cup row remains in that position forever, causing troubles such as the inability to take out the cups from the cup take-out mechanisms 20C and 20H.

Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a cup feeding device that is an improvement on the conventional device described above, which prevents the cup row from tilting backwards when feeding the cup row, and prevents troubles when feeding the cup row. This is the purpose.

[Means to solve the problem]

This idea is based on a vertically rotating cup storage drum that has multiple cup storage chambers lined up along its circumference.
A cup ejecting mechanism installed on the outer periphery of the cup storage drum away from the movement locus; a fixed outer cover that surrounds the outer periphery of the cup storage drum without a portion communicating with the cup ejecting mechanism; and each of the cups The cup row delivery mechanism is equipped with a cup row delivery mechanism that places the vertically stacked rows of cups stored in the storage chamber on a slide plate at a predetermined rotational position and sends them out from the cup storage chamber toward the cup ejection mechanism. In the cup supply device, which replenishes the cup row by rotating the cup storage drum and sliding the cup row delivery mechanism when the cup runs out, the cup row is transferred from the cup storage drum to the cup ejection mechanism for replenishment. A spring member is provided on the side of the cup storage drum, which abuts against the upper part of the row of storage cups and biases them so as to push them out in the radial direction from behind.

[Effect]

According to the cup feeding device of the present invention based on the above means, the rows of cups in the cup storage drum are constantly biased by the spring member provided on the cup storage drum so that the upper portions are pushed out from behind in the radial direction. Therefore, when the cup row is transferred toward the cup ejecting mechanism, the upper part is supported by the biasing force of the spring member, so that the entire cup row can be delivered correctly without tilting at the rear.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of this invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In FIGS. 3 and 4, parts corresponding to those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are given the same reference numerals. 3 and 4, the basic structure of the cup feeding device is the same as in FIGS. 1 and 2, but the difference from the conventional device is that each cup storage chamber 16
A spring member 18 is attached to the outer surface of the drum inner cylinder 11 on the rear side thereof, and a posture support guide 4 is attached to the front of the upright piece of the L-shaped slide plate 41.
3 is provided. Among these, the spring member 18 has one end fixed to the drum inner cylinder 11 and has a tongue shape that protrudes in the radial direction. It is urged to push out in the radial direction, that is, in the radial direction. The posture support guide 43 also works to maintain the upright posture of the cup row 1 by coming into contact with the middle position of the cup row 1 mounted on the slide plate 41 from behind.

According to the above structure, the storage cup row 1 in the drum is always pressed toward the outer cover 15 or the sliding gate plate 51 by the spring bias from behind, and the cup row 1 is always pressed toward the outer cover 15 or the sliding gate plate 51, and the cup row 1 in the drum is always pressed toward the outer cover 15 or the sliding gate plate 51. When the gate plate 51 opens and at the same time the slide plate 41 of the cup row delivery mechanism starts transporting the cup row 1, the cup row 1 is moved to the position shown in FIG. This prevents the cup from tilting backward as shown in FIG. 4, and the cup is sent out toward the take-out stage of the cup row while maintaining an upright posture as shown in FIG. In this way, it is possible to reliably prevent trouble from occurring during the delivery of a row of cups. Note that the above-mentioned effect of preventing the cup row 1 from inclination can be sufficiently obtained by simply providing the spring member 18;
In addition to this, by providing the posture support guide 43, the tilt prevention effect can be further enhanced.

[Effect of idea]

As mentioned above, this invention provides a spring member on the cup storage drum side for each cup storage chamber in the cup storage drum, which abuts against the upper part of the row of stored cups and biases them so as to push them out in the radial direction from behind. Therefore, when the cup row delivery mechanism sends and replenishes the stored cup row from the drum to the cup take-out mechanism, the spring member presses the spring member to prevent the cup row from tilting backwards, and when the cup row is taken out. It is possible to reliably prevent troubles from occurring and improve reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 3 are plan views showing the structure of a conventional cup feeding device and an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and FIGS.
It is a sectional view taken along arrows in the figure. 1...Cup row, 10...Cup storage drum, 15
...Outer cover, 16...Cup storage chamber, 18...Spring member, 20C, 20H...Cup ejection mechanism, 40...
Cup row delivery mechanism, 41...Slide plate, 42...Drive unit, 43...Position support guide, A...Cup row delivery direction.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] 1. A vertically rotating cup storage drum having a plurality of cup storage chambers lined up along its circumference, which is installed on the outer periphery side away from the movement locus of the internal cup storage drum. A cup ejecting mechanism, a fixed outer cover that surrounds the outer periphery of the cup storage drum without the part communicating with the cup ejecting mechanism, and a fixed outer cover that surrounds the outer periphery of the cup storage drum, and a cup row stacked vertically stored in each of the cup storage chambers is moved to a predetermined rotational position. It is equipped with a cup row delivery mechanism that places the cups on a sliding plate and sends them out from the cup storage chamber toward the cup ejection mechanism. In a cup feeding device that transfers and replenishes a row of cups from a cup storage drum to a cup ejecting mechanism by a sliding operation, the cup is brought into contact with the top of the storage cup row in each cup storage chamber and is radially moved from behind. A cup supply device for a vending machine, characterized in that a spring member that urges the cups to be pushed out is provided on the side of the cup storage drum. 2 Utility Model Registration Scope of Claim 1. The cup feeding device for a vending machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein the slide plate of the cup row conveying mechanism is provided with a posture support guide for supporting the cup row from behind.