JP2531900B2 - Product storage device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product storage device used in an automatic vending machine for beverages in cans or bottles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vending machine of this type, products are stacked and stored in a plurality of vertically extending product passages and are dropped and carried out one by one from the lower end of the product passages. Most of them are the mainstream, but recently, as an indoor type vending machine, the actual application is 3-105.
The one described in No. 616 is also proposed.

In this vending machine, as shown in FIG. 7, inside a vending machine body 1 whose upper surface is openable and closable, a product container 2 having an opening for product insertion on the upper surface, and a product container 2
A pair of upper and lower sprockets 3 and 4 arranged on one side surface of the
An endless chain 5 attached to each sprocket 3, 4 and a plurality of push-up members 6 attached to the chain 5.
And a chain drive motor 8 connected to the lower sprocket 4 via a belt 7 for raising the commodity A stored in the commodity container 2 by the push-up members 6. Then, the product is sequentially carried out to the product outlet 1a provided on the front surface of the vending machine body 1.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the product A in the product container 2 needs to be rolled to the push-up member 6 side, the bottom plate 2a of the product container 2 is inclined downward toward the front. It is provided. Therefore, there is a problem that the rear portion of the product container 2 becomes shallow and the capacity of the product container 2 becomes small. Further, the above-mentioned type of product storage device is characterized in that a large number of products A can be loaded into the product container 2 whose upper surface is wide open at one time. On the other hand, the loaded products A are placed on the bottom plate 2a of the product container 2. Because it falls violently,
There is also a drawback that the product A is easily damaged.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to increase the capacity of a product container and to prevent product damage during product insertion. To provide a device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a product container having an opening for product insertion on the upper surface, and a push-up member that rises along the front surface of the product container. in product storage device by the product in the container is raised by the push-up member is unloaded outside <br/> section, extends over the top rear from the bottom front portion of the product container, the back side of the product container
Tension is applied so that it makes a downward slope from the front to the front side.
The flexible sheet-shaped member is provided .

[0007]

According to the product storage apparatus of the present invention, a sheet-like member of the product in the container Deflection by goods accommodated in the goods receptacle
Only the bottom and back sides of the product container are brought closer to each other. At that time, the sheet-shaped member is placed from the back side to the front side of the product container.
Since the tension is applied so as to make a downward inclination toward the commodity, the commodity in the commodity container is pressed by the sheet-shaped member to be restored by the tension and rolls to the front side of the commodity container. Also, the product loaded in the product container is
Since it falls onto the tense sheet-shaped member, the impact of dropping when the product is loaded is alleviated by the elastic force of the sheet-shaped member.

[0008]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention. This product storage device is provided in the same vending machine body as in the conventional example, has a product container 10 having an opening for product insertion on the upper surface, and a shaft 20 with a screw attached to the front side of the product container 10. A push-up member 30 for carrying out a product, which is screwed into the threaded shaft 20, and the threaded shaft 2.
It is composed of a geared motor 40 for rotating 0, a product locking mechanism 50 provided on the upper front side of the product container 10, and an elastic sheet 60 provided in the product container 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, the product container 10 has a front surface and an upper surface opened, and the product A can be stored in bulk through an opening 10a on the upper surface which serves as a product insertion port. A substantially horizontal bottom plate 11 is attached inside the product container 10 in a raised bottom shape, and a push-up member 30 to be described later is provided at the front end of the bottom plate 11.
Is formed with a notch 11a that allows passage of.
The bottom plate 11 at the cutout portion is slightly inclined forward and downward. A front plate 12 extending upward from the front end of the bottom plate 11 is provided on both side surfaces of the product container 10 with a slight forward inclination, and the gap between the front plates 12 is equal to the width of the cutout 11a. There is.

The threaded shaft 20 is arranged in front of the front plate 12, extends vertically along the front plate 12, and has its lower end connected to the rotary shaft of the motor 40.

The push-up member 30 is formed in a plate shape as shown in FIG. 2, and the tip end thereof is bent slightly upward. The lower surface of the push-up member 30 has two mounting pieces 30 protruding downward.
a are formed at intervals in the width direction, and each mounting piece 30a is rotatably connected to a slider 31 screwed to the threaded shaft 20 via a shaft pin 32. Further, as shown in the bottom view of FIG. 3, a notch 30b is formed at the center of the push-up member 30 in the width direction, and the notch 30b allows the threaded shaft 20 to be inserted therein without resistance. That is, the push-up member 30 can be rotated upward to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 2, and at the lower position, it is held substantially horizontally by the contact with the upper surface of the slider 31 as shown by the solid line. The angle θ1 formed by the upper surface of the push-up member 30 and the threaded shaft 20 at the lower position is 70 °.
To 90 °, the bending angle θ2 of the tip of the push-up member 30 is 5 °.
It is suitable that each is set to -40 °.

The geared motor 40 is designed to be capable of normal rotation and reverse rotation, and is installed on the bottom of the product container 10.
The rotating shaft is connected to the lower end of the threaded shaft 20. The motor 40 is connected to a micro switch 41 arranged above the product container 10,
When the commodity A on the ascending push-up member 30 comes into contact with the contact 41a, the operation of the motor 40 is stopped.

The product locking mechanism 50 is composed of a carry-out element 51 that locks the product A on the push-up member 30 and a solenoid 52 that moves the carry-out element 51 up and down. When 52 is operated, the product A held on the carry-out piece 51 is released to the front of the product container 10.

The elastic sheet 60 is made of a plastic film or the like, and its width is formed to be slightly smaller than the space inside the product container 10 as shown in FIG. One end of the elastic sheet 60 is inserted into the notch 11a of the bottom plate 11,
It is fixed to the edge of the notch 11a. Further, stretching the other end of the sheet 60 extends toward the outer side of the product container 10 downward by winding a roller 61 mounted on the rear plate upper part of the product container 10, a spring 62 fixed beneath the product container 10 It is connected to the. That is, the elastic sheet 60 is
Product container between the bottom front and rear top of the product container 10
10 Make a downward slope from the back side to the front side
It is stretched in a state where the tension has been applied to.

The commodity storage device configured as described above is
Although not shown, a plurality of vending machine main bodies are provided in the width direction so that different types of products can be stored. That is, when a product selection button (not shown) is pressed, the product locking mechanism 50 operates, and the product A on the push-up member 30 rolls and drops in front of the product container 10 and is carried out to a product outlet (not shown). At this time, since the carried-out product A is separated from the micro switch 41, the motor 40 operates and the shaft 20 with a screw rotates. As a result, the slider 31 follows the rotation of the threaded shaft 20 and the push-up member 30 descends. At that time, although the push-up member 30 hits the product A in the descending path, when the push-up member 30 hits the product A, the push-up member 30 rotates upward as shown in FIG. 5 and descends without being caught by the product A. When the push-up member 30 reaches below the bottom plate 11, the push-up member 30 returns to the horizontal state and rises again due to the reverse rotation of the motor 40. As a result, one of the products A on the front side in the product container 10 is placed on the push-up member 30 and lifted up, and when the product A contacts the contact of the micro switch 41, the motor 40 is stopped. Then, the product A is restrained by the product locking mechanism 50 and stands by until the next carry-out signal is given.

An elastic sheet 60 in the product container 10
Is the product A stored in the product container 10 as shown in FIG.
It bends downwards and is pushed toward the bottom and back sides of the product container 10. At that time, the elastic sheet 60 is directed from the back side to the front side of the product container 10 by the spring 62.
Since the tension is applied so as to make a downward slope , the commodity A in the commodity container 10 is pressed by the elastic sheet 60 which is going to be restored by the tension and is rolled to the front side of the commodity container 10. To do. The dashed-dotted line in FIG. 1 shows the state of the elastic sheet 60 when the products are fully loaded.

Further, when the product A is replenished in the product container 10, the product A introduced through the opening 10a is tensioned.
Since the elastic sheet 60 falls on the stretched elastic sheet 60, the impact of the drop when the product is loaded is alleviated by the elastic force of the elastic sheet 60.

As described above, according to the product storing apparatus of this embodiment, the elastic sheet 60 urged in the contracting direction by the spring 62 is installed between the front bottom part and the upper rear part in the product container 10, The product A in the product container 10 is made to roll toward the front side of the product container 10 by the elastic sheet 60 that tries to shrink, so that the product A does not have to be provided with the bottom plate 11 of the product container 10 in a downward slope toward the front. Can be reliably carried out. Therefore, the bottom plate 1 of the product container 10
1 can be provided substantially horizontally, or if the biasing force of the spring 62 is sufficient, the rear side of the bottom plate 11 can be lowered, and the capacity of the product container 10 can be greatly expanded. In addition, since the impact of dropping when the product is loaded can be alleviated by the elastic force of the elastic sheet 60, the product A can be reliably prevented from being damaged.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention. That is, the elastic sheet 70 shown in FIG. 6 (a) is configured such that one end side is rolled at the upper part on the back side of the product container 10. As a means for rolling the sheet, heat treatment is performed in a rolled state of a polyester film or the like. Although it is easy to give the property of returning to the original state even if it is stretched, the sheet may be wound by a spiral spring or the like. In addition, the elastic sheet 80 shown in FIG. 6 (b) is made of a thin rubber sheet or a cloth manufactured by an elastic weave, and both ends are fixed in the product container 10 in a tension state so that the sheet itself can be expanded and contracted. It has a function.

[0020]

As described above, according to the product storage device of the present invention, the capacity of the product container can be greatly expanded, and the product storage efficiency can be improved. In addition, since it is possible to reduce a drop impact when the product is loaded, it is possible to reliably prevent the product from being damaged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a product storage device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional side view of a push-up member.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the push-up member.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional plan view of a product container.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of the push-up member.

FIG. 6 is a side view of an elastic sheet showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a vending machine provided with a conventional product storage device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Commodity container, 10a ... Opening part, 11 ... Bottom plate, 30 ...
Push-up member, 60, 70, 80 ... Elastic sheet, 62 ... Spring, A ... Product.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] Comprising a product container having a 1. A opening for product launches on the upper surface, and a push-up member which rises along the front surface of the product container, <br/> raises the commodity of the product in the container by push-up member In the product storage device carried out to the outside, extending from the bottom front part inside the product container to the back upper part ,
Make a downward slope from the back side to the front side of the product container
Product storage device according to claim <br/> further comprising a sheet-like member of flexible granted tension so.