JP3100516B2 - Product transport device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for conveying goods in a vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a product transfer device shown in FIGS.
In the first commodity transport device shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, as shown in FIG. 3A, the lowermost commodity 21 among the commodities directly stacked on the stocker ₁ is a motor. It is pushed out by the driven pusher 3 and paid out. As shown in FIG. 3B, the sold-out detecting device 4 for detecting the sold-out of the product is pivotally supported by a shaft 5 so as to be rotatable, and a spring [shown in FIG. Soldout lever 6 urged in the direction of arrow A by
A sold-out switch 7 for detecting the position of the sold-out lever 6 is provided.

In the second product transport device shown in FIG. 4, the sold-out lever 6 is normally held down by the product against the bias of the spring in the direction of arrow A, as shown in FIG. The sold-out switch 7 determines that "there is a product". When the lowermost product is sold out, the sold-out lever 6 projects from the bottom of the stocker 1 as shown in FIG. 4B, and the sold-out switch 7 determines that the product is sold out.

[0004]

In the first commodity transport apparatus, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), when the second commodity from the bottom is lost, the sold-out switch 7 is set to "sold out".
Is determined.

[0005] As described above, in the case where one product is left in the stocker 1 and determined to be "out of stock", the stocker 1
Can be replenished to the stocker 1 sold out after seeing the product remaining in the stocker, so that it is possible to avoid accidentally replenishing another brand of product, but one product is left in the stocker 1. As they are sold out as they are, there is a problem that the remaining products become old.

[0006] In the second commodity transport device, since all the commodities in the stocker 1 are paid out, it is determined that the product is "out of stock". There is a possibility that an accident of restocking the stocker 1 may occur.

[0007] It is also practiced to attach a sticker indicating the product name to be handled to the stocker 1;
In the nighttime filling operation or the like, it may be difficult to read the name of the handled product affixed to the stocker 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a product transporting apparatus which can determine that the product is sold out when all the products have been paid out of the stocker and can prevent replenishment of another brand of product.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a product transport apparatus for detecting a sold-out product in a stocker, a message section in which a message specifying a product to be handled is recorded, and a sold-out detection device. A control unit is provided for detecting the reversal from the absence of the product to the presence of the product and for instructing the message unit to generate a sound corresponding to the stocker reversed to the presence of the product.

[0010]

According to this configuration, when the sold-out detection device detects a product after replenishing the product, the control unit instructs the message unit to, for example, pronounce the name of the product handled in the column. Therefore, the staff can determine the pronounced product name and the replenished product, and avoid erroneous filling.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 showing the conventional example will be described with the same reference numerals.

A sold-out detecting device 4 for detecting the "sold-out" of a product in the stocker 1 includes a sold-out lever 6 urged by a spring in the direction of arrow A, and a sold-out lever for detecting the position of the sold-out lever 6. And a switch 7.

The message section 8 is an EEP used for recording and reproducing messages in the technical field of answering machine and the like.
A message integrated circuit using a ROM is used, and a handling product name is recorded in advance at an address determined for each stocker 1.

The control unit 9 is interposed between the sold-out switch 7 and the message unit 8, and operates as follows when the stocker 1 in the sold-out state is replenished with the replenishment product 2. As shown in FIG. 2A, when the control unit 9 detects that the stock-out switch 7 has been inverted from "sold out" to "product available" in any of the stockers 1, the control unit 9 determines "product available". Message section 8 corresponding to stocker 1 inverted to
, A reproduction start instruction C is given.

Here, assuming that the product name of the product handled by the stocker 1 that has sold out is ““ × △ cigarette ”, the control unit 9 replenishes the stocker 1 with the product and turns the stocker 1 to the product presence state. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, a reproduction start instruction C is given to the message section 8 by designating the reproduction address B so that the pronunciation of “○ × △ cigarette” can be obtained from the message section 8 via the speaker 10.

As described above, when a product is replenished to the stocker 1 which is "out of stock" in a state where all the products have been paid out, the name of the handled product is pronounced from the speaker 10, so that a different product from the handled product Is replenished, the difference between the pronunciation of the message part 8 and the brand of
Incorrect filling can be made known to the attendant.

In the above embodiment, a vending machine for pushing out a product by the pusher 3 has been described as an example. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to a product transport device of another type.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, a sold-out detecting device for detecting a sold-out product in a stocker, a message section in which a message specifying a handled product is recorded,
A control unit that detects the reversal of the sold-out device from the absence of the product to the presence of the product and instructs the message section to instruct sounding in response to the stocker that has been reversed to the presence of the product is provided. Even if it is set to “OFF”, when refilling a product different from the product being handled, the staff can recognize the wrong filling due to the difference in the pronunciation content of the message part and the brand of the replenished product, preventing misfilling. it can.

Further, the present invention is useful for preventing erroneous filling even in a night filling operation or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a product transport device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional product transport device.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 stocker 4 sold-out detection device 8 message section 9 control section

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sold-out detection device for detecting a sold-out product in a stocker, a message section in which a message specifying a product to be handled is recorded, and a reversal of the sold-out detection device from no product to presence of a product is detected. And a control unit for instructing the message unit to generate a sound in response to the stocker inverted to the presence of the product.