JP3555822B2 - Vending machine product guide chute - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a product guide chute for a vending machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
FIGS. 5 to 7 show a conventional vending machine of this kind. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of merchandise storage columns 11 are suspended in the merchandise storage 14 of the vending machine 10 side by side, and a merchandise guide chute 100 inclined downward and forward is provided below the column. Below the inner door 13 that opens and closes the front of the product storage 14, a delivery port 17 for delivering the product guided from the product guide chute to the product removal unit 19 is provided. Below the main body door 16 that opens and closes the front surface, a product outlet 18 for the purchaser to take out the product sent to the product take-out section 19 is provided. The products stored in the product storage column 11 are dispensed one by one by the product dispensing device 15 based on a sales instruction by operating a product selection button (not shown), and fall on the product guide chute 100. The product that has fallen on the product guide chute 100 is moved in a predetermined direction by the left and right guide slopes 102 a (FIG. 6) provided on the guide chute 100, guided toward the outlet 17, and sent out to the product take-out unit 19. .
[0003]
The product guide chute 100 is formed of a metal plate having a thickness of about 0.8 mm, and has two insertion pieces 102c extending from the rear end as shown in FIG. And is screwed into the bottom portion 21 of the product storage 14 by passing the screw 6 through a fixing hole 102d provided in a fixing piece 102e hanging down at the lower front end, thereby being attached and fixed in the product storage 14. I have.
[0004]
By the way, in the product provided with the product guide chute 100 formed of a metal plate as described above, the product delivered from the product storage column 11 falls on the fixed metal surface as shown in FIG. the impact is large, when it is sending a carbonated beverage product inconvenience foaming during open plug resulting in excessive resulting had often occur. Therefore, proposals for reducing the impact at the time of transmission to the guide chute are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-6-96340 and JP-A-6-231346. Both of the article guide chutes disclosed in these publications absorb the drop impact of the article by moving the chute body.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, according to the configurations disclosed in the above publications, since the chute body having the guide slope moves up and down, the product guiding position is likely to fluctuate, and the elastic member supporting the chute body requires much durability and strength. Is done. Further, there has been a problem that many parts and design changes are required for the conventional chute structure in order to make the chute body movable.
Accordingly, the present invention can reduce the impact of dropping when the product is sent out, can reliably guide the product to a predetermined position, and can reduce the number of parts and design changes with respect to the conventional chute structure. A guide chute is provided.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an automatic receiving and guiding device that receives a product sent based on a sales command from a product storage column disposed in a product storage and guides the product to a product removal unit. In a product guide chute of a vending machine, the product guide chute has a guide slope for guiding a product delivered from the product storage column to a predetermined position and guiding the product, and a chute body fixed in the storage, A movable plate provided on a top surface of the chute main body excluding the guide slope and provided at a position where the commodity delivered from the commodity storage column falls, the front end of the chute being pivotable about a rear end; made by providing a resilient member interposed between the body and the movable plate, the movable plate, a hooked engagement piece forwardly extending downward and having a hook portion at the rear end The chute body has an engagement hole through which an engagement piece of the movable plate is inserted and engaged, and a hook portion of the movable plate is engaged with a rear edge of the chute body to rotate the movable plate. A movable fulcrum and an engagement piece of the movable plate is engaged with an engagement hole of the chute main body to regulate a movable range of the movable plate to a length of the engagement piece. .
According to this configuration, the impact of the product dropped on the movable plate can be reduced, and since the chute body provided with the guide slope is fixed, the product can be guided reliably.
[0007]
In the above, it is desirable that the elastic member be a plurality of coil springs. According to this configuration, the elastic force can be easily changed, and the change in the movable range can be easily performed by changing the number of coil turns.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 4 are drawings relating to a product guide chute 1 of the present invention. In addition, the same reference numerals are given to the same and the same components as those of the conventional vending machine 10 shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, and the description is omitted.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the product guide chute 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the product guide chute 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the product guide chute 1 includes a chute main body 2, a movable plate 3, and a plurality of coil springs 5 as elastic members. The chute main body 2 is formed of a metal plate having a thickness of about 0.8 mm similarly to the conventional product guide chute 100 shown in FIG. 6, and has two insertion pieces 2c at a rear end and a hanging at a lower front end. a fixing piece 2e having a fixing hole 2d Te, the slanting guide surface 2a for guiding Intention and products sent from the commodity storage column to the delivery port 17 formed on both sides of the front, receiving slope 2g of bottom rear It is formed in a fan shape spreading toward.
In addition, a step portion 4 protruding downward is formed on the slope receiving surface 2g, and an engagement hole 2b that engages with an engagement piece 3b of the movable plate 3, which will be described later, opens on both outer sides of the step portion 4. Is provided. Further, a plurality of fixing portions 2 h and 4 a for fixing the coil spring 5 are provided on the chute body 2 and the step portion 4. The step portion 4 is fixed by welding to the lower surface of the chute main body 2, and a plurality of ventilation holes 4b for air convection in the refrigerator are formed over the entire area.
[0009]
The movable plate 3 is formed in a sector shape having substantially the same shape as the inclined surface 2g, and a hook portion 3a bent in a U-shaped cross section is provided near the center of the rear end. An engagement piece 3b that extends downward and has a tip bent forward in an L-shape is provided. Further, a plurality of ventilation holes 3c for convection of the air in the refrigerator over substantially the entire area of the movable plate 3 are formed.
In order to attach the movable plate 3 to the chute main body 2, first, the coil spring 5 is attached to the fixing portions 2h and 4a, and the engaging piece 3b of the movable plate 3 is applied from above the elastic force of the coil spring 5 as shown by the arrow in FIG. And slides forward while engaging the hook 3a of the movable plate 3 with the rear edge 2f between the two insertion pieces 2c of the chute body 2. Do.
The height of the engagement piece 3b, the strength and the stroke of the coil spring 5 are appropriately set according to the degree of impact relaxation required for a vending machine on which the guide chute 1 is mounted.
[0010]
FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state where the movable plate 3 is attached to the fixed plate 2. At this time, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 3, the movable plate 2 is vertically movable within the range of the height of the engagement piece 3b with the hook 3a at the rear end as a fulcrum. Since the movable plate 3 is urged upward by the coil spring 5 attached to the chute main body 2, when there is no product on the movable plate 3, the engaging piece 3 b is engaged with the chute main body 2 (arrow A). State).
The step portion 4 is provided to secure a space for mounting the coil spring 5. Since the movable plate 3 rotates about the rear end hook portion 3a as a fulcrum, the range of rotation is smaller toward the rear. Therefore, by securing the installation space and the stroke of the coil spring attached to the rear, the movable plate 3 The force acts in the same manner as the coil spring 5 attached to the front.
As a result, the front and rear coil springs 5 can be shared, and the movable plate 3 can be rotated to a position closer to the surface of the chute main body 2. The chute main body 2 can be easily designed without any change.
Further, by forming the coil spring 5 into a spiral having a conical cross section as shown in FIG. 3, the height of the compressed state can be minimized, so that the depth of the step portion 4 can be reduced.
[0011]
FIG. 4 shows a state in which a product is paid out from the product storage column 11. The product paid out from the product storage column 11 falls directly onto the movable plate 3 or onto the movable plate 3 via the guide slope 2a. At this time, the drop impact of the product is absorbed by the coil spring 5 disposed below the movable plate 3, and the movable plate is urged toward the chute main body 2 by the weight of the product (the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 4). ), The product is guided to the outlet 17, so that the product is reliably guided to the predetermined position along the guide slope 2 a of the fixed chute body 2.
[0012]
According to the configuration of the present invention, since the degree of relaxation of the drop impact of the product can be easily changed by changing the elastic force, the number or the arrangement of the coil springs 5, the design change for the vending machine having a different target product is possible. Can be easily performed.
Further, when a product falls from the delivery port 17 to the product take-out section 19, the degree of impact applied to the product is smaller when the product is dropped in the vertical (longitudinal) direction than in the horizontal direction. In 1, by changing the left and right elastic forces of the coil spring 5, when the product falls from the product storage column 11 onto the movable plate 3, the movable plate tilts to the left or right, so that the product is guided to the delivery port 17. When it is controlled to a vertically oriented posture without rolling in the horizontal direction and slides, and falls from the delivery port 17 to the product take-out section 19, it can be set to a state close to the vertical direction. With this configuration, it is possible to further improve the degree of impact relaxation at the time of selling the product.
In the above embodiment, the step portion 4 for securing the expansion and contraction space of the rear coil spring 5 is welded to the chute main body. However, the step portion 4 is formed like a recess formed by pushing. The shape may be good, and the shape is not particularly limited. If the lengths of the front and rear coil springs 5 are changed, the guide chute can be configured without providing the stepped portion 4 in particular.
Of course, it is also possible to use an elastic member such as a leaf spring or rubber instead of the coil spring 5.
[0013]
【The invention's effect】
According to the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to alleviate the drop impact of the product paid out from the product storage column, and since the chute body provided with the guide slope is fixed to the product storage, the product can be reliably sent to the delivery port. I can guide you. Further, since the chute main body is fixed as before and the movable plate is provided thereon, it is not necessary to largely change the position and structure of the chute main body with respect to the conventional chute, and the design is easy.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a product guide chute of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the product guide chute of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the product guide chute of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state in which a product has fallen on a product guide chute of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a side view of a vending machine to which a conventional product guide chute is attached.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a relationship between a conventional product storage column and a product guide chute.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state in which a product has fallen on a conventional product guide chute.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 product guide chute 2 chute main body 2 a guide slope 2 b engaging hole 2 f rear edge 3 movable plate 3 a hook portion 3 b engaging piece 5 coil spring 11 product storage column 14 product storage 19 product take-out part

Claims (2)

In a product guide chute of a vending machine which receives a product sent based on a sales order from a product storage column arranged in a product storage and guides and sends the product to a product takeout unit,
The product guide chute has a guide slope for guiding a product delivered from the product storage column to a predetermined position and guides the product, and excludes a chute body fixed in the storage and the guide slope of the chute body. A movable plate, which is provided at a position where the product delivered from the product storage column falls and the front end of which is rotatable with the rear end as a fulcrum, between the chute body and the movable plate. An elastic member interposed therebetween ,
The movable plate has a hook portion at a rear end and a key-shaped engagement piece extending downward at the front, and the chute body is engaged with the engagement piece of the movable plate through which the engagement piece is inserted. A hook portion of the movable plate is engaged with a trailing edge of the chute body to be a pivot of the movable plate, and an engagement piece of the movable plate is engaged with an engagement hole of the chute body. Characterized in that the movable range of the movable plate is restricted to the length of the engagement piece by engaging with the product. The product guide chute according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is a plurality of coil springs.

Images