JPH0223915B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product dispensing device for a vending machine equipped with an endless conveyor belt that extends vertically and moves products downward for sale.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 88194/1983 has been published as a product delivery device for a vending machine that sells products one by one using an endless conveyor belt extending in the vertical direction. This Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 55-88194 discloses that a large number of shelves are provided on the conveyor belt, and when these shelves rotate at the lowest reversing part, the products fall downward, and a semi-cylindrical shape is formed below the lowest reversing part. The product trays were arranged to rotate. A shooter is disposed below the product receiving tray and is inclined toward the product outlet.

The product tray is placed in a horizontal position facing downward and closes the product delivery port to prevent the product from being stolen by unauthorized means such as by inserting a hand or a stick through the product removal port.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above configuration, in order for the product to fall onto the chute as the product tray rotates, the angle at which the semi-cylindrical portion of the product tray is oriented is carefully set. If this was not done, the product tray would hit the products on the chute, damaging the products or locking the product, making it impossible to sell.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a product dispensing device for a vending machine that uses an anti-theft opening/closing plate to prevent products from being damaged or being locked and unable to be sold.

Means for Solving the Problems The product dispensing device for a vending machine of the present invention includes an endless conveyor belt that circulates between upper and lower sides, a large number of shelves for placing products on this conveyor belt, and a plurality of shelves for placing products on the conveyor belt. An opening/closing plate that always closes the space between the lowest reversible part and the product take-out port, and opens downward about a shaft at one end when receiving a product dropped from a shelf that has rotated the lowest reversible part, and this opening/closing plate. The cam is provided with a shooter that guides the product to the take-out port below the shutter, and a cam that is moved up and down by a motor and has a horizontally long groove that engages with the side opposite to the fulcrum of the opening and closing plate to open and close the opening and closing plate. It has a horizontally extending cam groove that engages with the rotating eccentric pin, and this cam groove consists of a continuous opening groove and a closing groove, and the closing groove is higher in the height direction than the opening groove. It is something.

Operation The present invention has the above-described configuration, and when the opening/closing plate opens from the open state to release the product falling from the shelf located at the lowest position, and when the direction of movement changes from the open state to the closed state, the cam groove is opened. Since the heights are different, the product is closed after temporarily remaining in the open state for a long time, and the product is reliably released in this temporarily held open state for a long time.

Embodiment An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 1 denotes a vending machine body made of an insulated box, which has a machine room 2 at the bottom and a product storage room 3 at the top. The machine room 2 is provided with a cooling cycle compressor 4, a condenser 5, and its cooling fins 6, and the product storage room 3 is provided with an evaporator 7 and a fan 8 for circulating cold air and cooling products. Reference numeral 9 denotes an insulating door 1 that has a product outlet 10 at the bottom and opens and closes the front of the vending machine main body 1;
1 is an openable and closable lid that always closes the outlet 10;
Reference numeral 2 denotes a pair of front and rear U-shaped planar pillars installed in the product storage chamber 3 of the vending machine main body 1, 13 a turning shaft rotatably mounted on the upper end of the pillar 12, and 14 a turning shaft 1.
3 is a sprocket A fixed at both ends, 15 is a motor installed at the upper end of the column 12 and drives the rotating shaft 13, 16 is a sprocket B rotatably provided at the lower end of the front and rear columns 12, and 17 is a sprocket. An endless conveyor belt such as a chain is installed between A14 and sprocket B16, and the sprocket A14 is rotated by a motor 15 to circulate around the upper and lower rings. Reference numeral 18 denotes a number of shelves for placing products, which are attached to the front and rear conveyance belts 17 so as to be rotatable at the upper ends of both ends in the front and back direction, and are suspended from the shelves.The shelves 18 are approximately L-shaped on the sides, and are erected on the sides at regular intervals. A product 20 such as a bottle is supported by a guide plate 19 and transported from top to bottom. 21
is a support plate that is erected close to the shelf 18 and supports the shelf 18 as it moves from top to bottom so as not to separate from the products 20. Therefore, the shelf 18 reaches the lowest part of the conveyor belt 17, and as it begins to rotate, it is released from contact with the support plate 21, and the product 2
The product 20 is tilted away from the product 20 due to the weight of 0, and the product 20 is dropped. Reference numeral 22 denotes a shutter consisting of a large number of rollers 23 that guides the products 20 falling from the shelves 18 to the outlet 10. The shutter 22 is made up of a number of rollers 23 that guide the products 20 falling from the shelves 18 to the outlet 10. The first shooter 2 is provided with a steep angle of inclination.
2a, it has a second shooter 22b having a gentler inclination angle than this. The stepped portion 24 serves as a product stopper to prevent a bottle or the like from being reversely inserted into the vending machine from the outlet 10. 25 is the conveyor belt 17
A pair of double-opening opening/closing plates arranged approximately horizontally between the lowest inverted part of the shelf 18 and the starting end of the shutter 22.
It is used to prevent theft by preventing people from taking the products on top, and if the product falls while it is being sold, it can be opened and placed on the shutter 2.
This will be passed on to 2. A shaft 26 provided at one end of the opening/closing plate 25 is rotatably attached to a U-shaped substrate 27 fixed to the column 12. 28
is an engagement pin protruding only from the other end on the rear end side of the opening/closing plate 25, which engages with a circular hole 29 provided in the base plate 27 and serves as an opening/closing guide. A cam 30 is provided on a shaft 31 provided on the board 27 so as to be movable up and down, and is moved up and down by the rotation of a motor 32 provided on the board 27 to open and close the opening/closing plate 25. That is, the cam 30 is provided with a substantially horizontal horizontal groove 33 into which the engagement pin 28 of each opening/closing plate 25 is slidably fitted. Therefore, when the cam 30 descends, the engaging pin 28 fitted in the horizontally long groove 33 is guided to the hole 29 that serves as an opening/closing guide in the opening/closing plate 25, so that it moves from both ends of the horizontally long groove 33 to the center. Then, the engagement pin 28 stops at a position slightly moved toward both ends again, and the opening/closing plate 25 is completely opened.When the cam 30 rises in the opposite direction, the engagement pin 28 moves through the hole 29 and the horizontally long Slide the groove 33 to completely close the opening/closing plate 25. Further, the cam 30 has a substantially horizontal cam groove 34 at the upper end of the surface opposite to the horizontal groove 33.
It consists of a continuous groove including a groove 34a that opens the opening/closing plate 25 and a closing groove 34b that widens upward from this groove. An eccentric pin 38 of an eccentric plate 37 that transmits the rotational force of the motor 32 to the cam 30 via reduction gears 35 and 36 is slidably fitted into the cam groove 34 of the cam 30. Therefore, cam 3
0, when the eccentric pin 38 rotates, the eccentric pin
As shown in the figure, the cam 30 slides back and forth from the center of the cam groove 34 to the end of the groove 34a that opens to the center, and the cam 30 reaches its lowest position, completely opening the opening/closing plate 25. The cam 30 slides back and forth from the end of the groove 34b closed by the center to the center, and the cam 30 reaches its highest value, completely closing the opening/closing plate 25. When the opening/closing plate 25 rotates in the closing direction, there is play between the eccentric pin 38 rotating and hitting the upper edge of the closing groove 34b from the center and lifting the cam 30, so that the opening/closing plate 25 is opened. 25 is not immediately reversely rotated in the closing direction, but is left open for the play time to ensure that the product 20 falls. 39 is a widening notch formed by cutting off adjacent ends of the opening/closing plate 25 along the slope of the uppermost end of the shutter 22, which reduces the rotation range of a part of the opening/closing plate 25 and allows the first shutter 22a to be The upper end side of the opening/closing plate 25 is made to be as close as possible to the opening/closing plate 25. Reference numeral 40 denotes an elastic plate protruding from the end of the shaft 26 of the opening/closing plate 25 on the transport belt 17 side, and when the shelf 18 rotates after dropping the product 20, it comes into contact with it as shown in FIG. 6a, and prevents the product from falling. This prevents the shelf 18 from moving upwards from the pivot point due to reaction.

In the above embodiment, when a predetermined amount of money is inserted into the coin slot (not shown) arranged on the front of the vending machine main body 1 and a product selection button (not shown) is pressed, the product delivery device is instructed to sell the product. It takes. Then, the motor 15 rotates for a predetermined period of time, and the conveyance belt 17 circulates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 6a. and conveyor belt 17
The shelf 18 descends while being supported by the support plate 21,
The product 20 is conveyed downward while being supported by the guide plate 19. Since the load of the product 20 is applied to the shelf 18, when it passes the support plate 21 and begins to turn over, the product 20 moves backward and tilts due to the load of the product 20, and the product 20
begins to fall as shown in Figure 6a. On the other hand, shelf 18
The motor 32 associated with the movement of the opening/closing plate 2 also rotates.
5 will be opened. That is, at the point when the product 20 is about to fall, the rotational force of the motor 32 is transmitted to the opening/closing plate 25 via the reduction gears 35, 36, the eccentric pin 38, the cam 30, and the engagement pin 28, that is, at the solid line position in FIG. The cam 30 slightly descends in the direction of the arrow and the opening/closing plate 25 begins to open slightly, and the product 20 in this state falls and absorbs the impact. and,
As the cam 30 further descends, the opening/closing plate 25 opens further as shown in FIG. 6a, and when the cam 30 reaches the position indicated by the dashed-dotted line in FIG.
The product 20 received from the shelf 18 is dropped downward as shown in FIG. 6b, the product 20 is guided by the shutter 22, reaches the outlet 10, and the lid 11 is opened to complete the takeout sale. Further, after the product 20 has been dropped, the opening/closing plate 25 remains open until the eccentric pin 38 hits the upper edge of the closing groove 34b of the cam 30 as shown in FIG. 34
When the eccentric pin 38 hits point b, the cam 30 begins to rise and when it reaches the position shown in solid line in FIG. 9, the opening/closing plate 25 closes again. Therefore, product 20 is definitely
There are also things that fall on top of 2.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention includes an endless conveyance belt that circulates between the upper and lower sides, a large number of shelves for placing products on this conveyance belt, a lowermost reversal part of the conveyance belt, and an outlet for taking out products. An opening/closing plate that always closes the space between the shelves and opens downwards using a shaft at one end as a fulcrum when receiving an item dropped from a shelf that has rotated at the lowest inversion part, and a horizontal opening/closing plate that is moved up and down by a motor to open and close the opening/closing plate. a cam extending in the direction;
The cam has a groove that engages with an eccentric pin rotated by a motor, and this cam groove consists of a groove that opens the opening/closing plate and a groove that closes it, and the closing groove is higher in the height direction than the opening groove. After the opening/closing plate opens and drops the received product, it can remain open for a period of time equal to the play dimension, which is the difference in the height of the groove in which the cam closes, so that the product can be easily dropped. This prevents the product from being damaged by the opening/closing plate, and prevents the product from coming into contact with the opening/closing plate and locking.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing shows a vending machine showing one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the opening/closing plate, Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section of the main part, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the main part, and Figure 5 is the conveyor belt part. 6a and b are side views showing the operation of the opening/closing plate when the product is dropped; FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the engagement state of the opening/closing plate and the cam; and FIG. 8 is the cam and eccentricity. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the engaged state of the pin, and FIG. 9 is a developed view showing the operation of the cam and the eccentric pin. 10... Outlet port, 17... Conveyance belt, 18...
Shelf, 25...opening/closing plate, 30...cam, 34a...
Groove that opens, 34b... Groove that closes.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The vending machine is equipped with a coin slot and a product selection button located on the front of the machine, and when a predetermined amount of money is inserted through the coin slot and passed through the product selection button, the motor rotates for a predetermined period of time and an endless In the product delivery device of a vending machine that drives a conveyor belt and sells products, an endless conveyor belt that circulates between the upper and lower parts,
A large number of shelves for placing products on this conveyor belt are always closed between the lowest reversible part of the conveyor belt and the product take-out port, and the lowest reversible part receives the products dropped from the rotating shelves. An opening/closing plate that opens downward using a shaft at one end as a fulcrum when the opening/closing plate is opened, a shutter that guides the product to the takeout port below the opening/closing plate, and a shutter that moves up and down by a motor and engages with the side opposite to the fulcrum of the opening/closing plate. The cam has a horizontally elongated groove to open and close the opening/closing plate, and the cam has a cam groove extending in the horizontal direction that engages with an eccentric pin rotated by a motor. A product delivery device for a vending machine consisting of a closing groove and a closing groove that is higher in height than the opening groove.