WO2005106825A1

WO2005106825A1 - Dispensing machines

Info

Publication number: WO2005106825A1
Application number: PCT/GB2005/001619
Authority: WO
Inventors: David Christian Harkness
Original assignee: Regency Design & Print Limited
Priority date: 2004-04-28
Filing date: 2005-04-28
Publication date: 2005-11-10
Also published as: GB2413522B; GB2413522A; GB0508794D0; GB0409452D0

Abstract

A dispensing machine (1) has graphics (19) applied to the exterior surface (4) of its access-door (2) by the attachment of a transparent moulding (10) to the door (2) as an external, surface-conforming skin. The moulding (10), which carries the graphics (19) on its inner, matt surface (18), is thermo-formed from a plastic sheet to conform to contouring of the surface (4). The graphics (19) are applied to the sheet before thermo-forming, and apertures (13-16) cut in the moulding (10) align in register respectively with panels (3, 6), a pushbutton (7) and hopper-cavity (8) of the door (2) to enable manual access to them.

Description

Dispensing Machines

This invention relates to dispensing machines-

It is common for the casing of a dispensing machine to carry graphics of a decorative, branding, display and/or informative nature. In particular where the machine is for use in vending products or services, the front surface or fascia normally has graphics applied to it in the form of advertising or other promotional decoration and text relevant to those products or services . However, the creation and application to the machine of the graphics required to achieve the desired visual effect can be especially difficult and labour-intensive in the circumstances in which, as is usually the case, the front or other surface of the machine-casing where the graphics are required, is significantly contoured or includes selection-panels or other operational features.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a form of dispensing machine having applied graphics, and a method of applying such graphics, by which the above- mentioned difficulty may be overcome or to a large extent reduced.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a dispensing machine wherein graphics for application to a casing of the machine are carried by a moulding attached to the machine, the moulding having surface-conformity with a surface of the casing and being attached to the casing as an external, surface-conforming skin to that surface.

Transparent or translucent plastics material may be used for the moulding, and in this case the graphics may be carried on the inner surface of the moulding so as to be visible through the skin. The moulding may be a ther o- for ed moulding.

The surface of the machine to which the moulding forms the skin may be the front surface of the casing and in this regard may be the external surface of a door through which access is gained to the interior of the machine.

According to another aspect of the invention a method of applying graphics to a casing of a dispensing machine comprises the steps of forming a moulding carrying the graphics, the moulding being formed to have surface- conformity with a surface of the casing, and attaching the moulding to said surface as an external, surface- conforming skin to that surface.

The moulding may be a thermo-formed sheet, and the graphics may in this regard be applied to the sheet before it is submitted to the thermo-forming process.

The thermo-forming process will introduce distortion into the graphics rendered in the resultant moulding, but compensation for this may readily be made in the graphics as these are applied initially to the sheet.

A dispensing machine and a method of applying graphics to it in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is illustrative of the dispensing machine and a thermo-formed moulding that is used for the application of graphics to it according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a section taken on the line II-II of the thermo-formed moulding of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is illustrative of the moulding of Figure 1 in its pre-finished form following thermo-forming.

The example of dispensing machine to be described is for vending a range of articles or products such as bottles of drinks and/or confectionery, to members of the public, each vending operation being made in dependence upon payment and selection by the user of the article or product to be dispensed.

Referring to Figure 1, the dispensing machine 1 has a floor-standing casing which includes a hinged door 2 that provides access to the interior of the machine for restocking it with the range of articles or products that are to be available for dispensing. The door 2 is normally locked, and a selection panel 3 that is let into the external, front surface 4 of the door 2 within a bevelled frame 5, is operable by the user for keying in his/her choice of article or product to be dispensed. Payment for the chosen article or product is made via a panel 6 which is also let into the surface 4 and which includes provision for receiving cash or otherwise taking monetary value for the article chosen. Provided the correct payment is made, operation of a pushbutton 7 on the door 2 causes the machine to dispense the article or product concerned into a hopper-cavity 8 in the door 2 , for collection by the user.

To the extent that the example of vending machine represented in Figure 1 has been described, it is conventional, and in accordance with normal practice graphics would be applied to the fascia or front surface 4 of the door 2 by way of decoration, branding, display and advertising. However, the extent and decorative content of the graphics applied is normally subject to constraints imposed by the location and configuration on the relevant surface of the operational features of the machine, features such as the panels 3 and 6, the pushbutton 7 and the hopper-cavity 8 in the present example. Furthermore, in addition to the operational features there are often contouring features of the fascia, not only around the individual operational features, for example, as illustrated by the bevelled rim 5 to panel 3 , but of more-extensive scale throughout the height and width of the relevant surface; large-scale contouring features of this nature are not illustrated in Figure 1.

The problem that arises from operational and contouring features, in the application of graphics to the surface 4 are significantly overcome according to the present invention by use of a thermo-formed moulding 10 carrying the desired graphics.

Referring now also to Figure 2, the moulding 10 is a transparent, plastics sheet 11 having a rearwardly-turned rim 12 that is a push-fit onto the machine over the door

2. The sheet 11 is moulded to have close surface- conformity with the door 2 so as to fit tightly as a skin throughout the door-surface 4 , including throughout its contouring features and around its operational features. In particular in the latter respect, the sheet 11 has apertures 13 to 16 where it aligns in register respectively with the panels 3 and 6 , pushbutton 7 and hopper-cavity 8, so as to allow manual access to those features through the moulding 10. More especially, the sheet 11 of the moulding 10 has surface conformity with the surface 4 throughout the contouring of that surface, as for example within the bevelled rim 5 to the panel 3.

The outer surface 17 of the moulding 10 has a high gloss, and the required graphics are carried by the inner, matt surface 18. In this regard, and as illustrated by the representative decoration-graphics 19 in Figure 1 (as seen through the transparent sheet 11) , the graphics can be provided throughout the extent of the sheet 11 to ^λbreak through' the operational features where these appear within any of the apertures 13 to 16.

Before the moulding 10 is pushed rearwardly (from the spaced position illustrated in Figure 1) onto the door 2, double-sided adhesive tape is attached to the surface 4 around the margins of the panels 3 and 6 , pushbutton 7 and cavity 8, and down both side-edges and across the top- and bottom-edges of the door 2 (as an alternative, the adhesive tape may be applied in corresponding locations on the inside of the moulding 10) . The moulding 10 is then pushed onto the door 2 to apply the sheet 11 as a tight-fitting surface-conforming skin adhered to the surface 4 by the adhesive tape. The rim 12 clips resiliently onto the door 2 (including around the door-hinges) adding to the retention of the moulding 10 to it.

The moulding 10 is manufactured by vacuum-forming from a plain sheet of clear thermoplastic material after the graphics have been applied to its underside. The thermoplastic sheet may be for example of a polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, or polyethylene terephthalate copolymer (glycolised polyester) (PETG) and in the present context have a thickness in the range 1.5 mm to 4 mm. More generally, the thickness of the sheet may be in the range 1 mm to 5 mm.

The graphics are applied by silk-screen printing using a malleable ink that is cured by ultra-violet light prior the thermo-forming of the sheet; digital printing technology may be used as an alternative. The image printed is a computer-generated, distorted form of what is required for the machine, in order to compensate for the distortion introduced by the vacuum-forming process. The product of the vacuum-forming process is illustrated in Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 3, the vacuum-formed product 20 has unwanted margins 21 that are cut away in a finishing process which includes the cutting out of areas 23 to 26 required for the apertures 13 to 16 in the moulding 10. The cutting out of the areas 23 to 26 breaks through appropriately any elements of the graphics that may lie in those areas, so that precise definition of where these breaks are required in the printed image is not necessary.

The ease and economy with which mouldings such as the moulding 10, can be produced with the desired graphics and can be applied very easily and quickly to dispensing machines such as the machine 1, enables change of graphics displayed by an individual machine or by a chain of similar machines, to be effected very economically in terms of cost, labour and time.

The example of dispensing machine described above is for vending a range of articles or products such as bottles of drinks and/or confectionery, to members of the public, each vending operation being made in dependence upon payment and selection by the user of the article or product to be dispensed. As an alternative, it might be a machine for dispensing a range of canned or hot drinks, snacks or foodstuffs, or for providing a service, whether free or against payment or otherwise, but the particular nature and form of the machine-operation, and whether it is for vending or otherwise, is not of essential importance in relation to the present invention.

Claims

Claims:

1. A dispensing machine wherein graphics for application to a casing of the machine are carried by a moulding attached to the machine, the moulding having surface-conformity with a surface of the casing and being attached to the casing as an external, surface-conforming skin to that surface.

2. A dispensing machine according to Claim 1 wherein the moulding is of translucent or transparent plastics material.

3. A dispensing machine according to Claim 2 wherein the graphics are carried on the inner surface of the moulding.

4. A dispensing machine according to Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein the inner surface of the moulding is matt.

5. A dispensing machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein the moulding is of moulded-sheet form having a thickness in the range 1 mm to 5 mm.

6. A dispensing machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein the moulding is a thermo-formed moulding.

7. A dispensing machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the moulding is attached to said surface adhesively.

8. A dispensing machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein the moulding has apertures therein in register on said surface with operational features of the machine, to enable external manual access to those respective features.

9. A dispensing machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 8 wherein said surface is the external surface of a door of the machine through which access is gained to the interior of the machine.

10. A dispensing machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 9 wherein the dispensing machine is a vending machine.

11. A method of applying graphics to a casing of a dispensing machine, comprising the steps of forming a moulding carrying the graphics, the moulding being formed to have surface-conformity with a surface of the casing, and attaching the moulding to said surface as an external, surface-conforming skin to that surface.

12. A method according to Claim 11 wherein the moulding is of a translucent or transparent plastics material.

13. A method according to Claim 12 wherein the graphics are carried on the inner surface of the moulding.

14. A method according to Claim 12 or Claim 13 wherein the inner surface of the moulding is matt.

15. A method according to any one of Claims 11 to 14 wherein the moulding is a thermo-formed sheet.

16. A method according to Claim 15 wherein the graphics are applied to the sheet before thermo-forming.

17. A method according to Claim 16 wherein the graphics are applied to the sheet by silk-screen printing.

18. A method according to any one of Claims 15 to 17 wherein the sheet has a thickness in the range 1 mm to 5 mm.

19. A method according to any one of Claims 15 to 18 wherein apertures are cut in the moulding for aligned registration on said surface with operational features of the machine.

20. A method according to any one of Claims 11 to 19 wherein said surface is the external surface of a door of the machine through which access is gained to the interior of the machine.

21. A method according to any one of Claims 11 to 20 wherein the moulding is attached to said surface adhesively.