JPH0680248A - Merchandise delivering device for vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce cost and to improve productivity for a vending machine optionally selecting and discharging plural kinds of merchandises by means of a merchandise delivery device. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of merchandise shelves 1, 2, 3 are juxaposed for housing cylindrical merchandises G under fallen sideways state. A spiral groove 9-formed feed bar 7 is provided through the merchandise discharge sides 1A, 2A, 3A for each mechanidise shelf, 1. 2, 3. A motor 8 is provided for driving the feed bar 7 in normal rotation and reverse rotation. A merchandise delivery claw 10 is slidably engaged with the groove 9 of the feed bar 7. The merchandise delivery claw 10 is connected to the feed bar 7 when the feed bar 7 is in normal rotation. A clutch 13 is provided for releasing the connection of the merchandise delivery claw 10 to the feed bar 7 when the feed bar 7 is in reverse rotation. The merchandise delivery claw 10 reciprocally moves among the merchandise shelves 1, 2, 3 due to the reverse rotation of the feed bar 7 and discharges the merchandises C on the merchandise shelves 1, 2, 3 due to normal rotation of the feed bar 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product discharge device for an automatic vending machine that sells cylindrical products such as canned beverages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in automatic vending machines of this kind, particularly those which sell cylindrical products such as canned beverages, as shown in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-10178 (G07F11 / 24), a plurality of vending machines are available. A cylindrical product is stored on the product shelf in a laid-down state, and a product discharge device having a feed claw called a star wheel is provided at the lowest product discharge side of this product shelf. The product located on the product discharge side is discharged one by one by rotating the.

Further, in the above-mentioned publication, by rotating the chains and the star wheel by slightly shifting the rotation angles of the star wheels, a single solenoid can discharge the products one by one from a plurality of product shelves. Is configured.

[0004]

According to this structure, it is possible to discharge the products one by one from a plurality of product shelves by a single drive means such as a solenoid.
With such a configuration, it is only possible to discharge the products on the product shelves that are erected above and below one by one from the upper product shelves in order, and therefore each product shelf can store only one type of product. It is not possible to store different kinds of products in the respective product shelves and selectively discharge the products from the respective product shelves.

After all, in order to store different kinds of products in a plurality of product shelves and selectively discharge the products, each product shelf is provided with a driving means such as a motor or a solenoid to discharge the products. However, due to the complicated structure and increase in the number of parts, the cost is increased and the productivity is deteriorated. The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and aims to reduce the cost and improve the productivity of an automatic vending machine that selectively discharges a plurality of types of products by using a product discharge device. With the goal.

[0006]

A product unloading device according to the present invention is a product shelf 1 for storing a cylindrical product G in a state of being laid down.
It is used for a vending machine in which a plurality of 2, 3 are arranged side by side, and the product discharge side 1A, 2A, 3A of each product shelf 1, 2, 3
A feed rod 7 provided across a space in which a spiral groove 9 is formed, a drive device (motor) 8 for driving the feed rod 7 in forward and reverse directions, and freely slidable in the groove 9 of the feed rod 7. Provided on the product delivery claw 10 engaged with the product delivery claw 10,
The feed-out pawl 10 is connected to the feed-out rod 7 when the feed-bar 7 is rotated in the forward direction, and the clutch 13 that disengages the product-feed-out pawl 10 and the feed-bar 7 when the feed-bar 7 is rotated in reverse is provided.
The product discharge claw 10 reciprocates between the product shelves 1, 2, and 3 along the groove 9 by the reverse rotation of the feed rod 7, and also rotates in accordance with the forward rotation of the feed rod 7, thereby rotating the product shelves 1, 2. ,
The product G of 3 is discharged.

[0007]

According to the article discharge device of the vending machine of the present invention,
When the drive rod (motor) 8 reverses the feed rod 7, the clutch 13 releases the connection between the feed rod 7 and the product delivery pawl 10, and the product delivery pawl 10 reciprocates along the groove 9 of the feed rod 7. With forward rotation, the clutch 13 causes the product delivery claw 1
Since 0 is coupled to the feed rod 7 and the product delivery pawl 10 is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the feed rod 7, the product delivery pawl 10 is moved by the reverse rotation of the feed rod 7 to discharge the product G. It is possible to select the product shelves 1, 2, and 3 and rotate the product carry-out pawl 10 in this state in the forward direction to rotate the product discharge claws 10 to discharge the product G from the selected product shelves 1, 2, and 3.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of product shelves 1, 2, and 3 of an automatic vending machine capable of selling cylindrical products G such as three types of canned beverages, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the product shelf 1. The product shelves 1, 2 and 3 are provided in a storage room of a vending machine (not shown) and are arranged side by side in the left-right direction. The left end of the product discharge side 1A, 2A, 3A is bent slightly upward to prevent the product G from falling naturally. Further, rectangular cutouts 4, 5, 6 are formed on the product discharge sides 1A, 2A, 3A of the product shelves 1, 2, 3, respectively.
Different kinds of products G are stored on the respective product shelves 1, 2, and 3, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, two products G are provided on the product shelf 1 and one product G is provided on the product shelf 2. It is assumed that each of the products G is stored and the product G is not stored on the product shelf 3.

Merchandise discharge sides 1A, 2 of the commodity shelves 1, 2, 3
On the lower side of A and 3A, the product discharge side 1 of all product shelves 1, 2, and 3
A feed rod 7 is arranged across A, 2A, and 3A, and the feed rod 7 is connected to a rotating shaft of a motor 8 as a drive device including a direct-current reversible DC motor. This feeding rod 7
A spiral groove 9 is formed on the surface of the device in the longitudinal direction, and the groove 9 is composed of two grooves that are orthogonal to each other and communicate with each other at the upper and lower ends.

A product discharge claw 10 is inserted through the feed rod 7 and is provided slidably. The product carrying-out pawl 10 has a carrying-out pawl portion 11 which projects in the radial direction of the feed bar 7 and extends downwardly of the product shelves 1, 2, 3 and an inner surface of which is slidably engaged with the groove 9 of the feed bar 7. And an engaging projection 12 that constitutes a screw spline mechanism together with the feed rod 7, and clutches 13 and 13 that are roller clutches at the left and right ends. The carry-out claw portion 11 has a size capable of passing through the notches 4, 5, and 6 of the product shelves 1, 2, and 3 and a size capable of lifting one product G located at the very lower end. When the feed rod 7 is normally rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, the clutches 13 and 13 bite into the surface of the feed rod 7 to connect the feed rod 7 and the product carry-out pawl 10 and the feed rod 7 is moved to the arrow direction. When it is reversed in the opposite direction, it separates from the surface of the feed rod 7 and releases the connection between the feed rod 7 and the product discharge claw 10.

When the feed rod 7 is rotated in the reverse direction by the operation of the clutches 13 and 13, the connection between the feed rod 7 and the product carrying-out pawl 10 is released, and the projection 12 of the product carrying-out pawl 10 moves along the groove 9. Therefore, the product discharge claw 10 reciprocates in the left-right direction along the feed rod 7. Also, the feed rod 7
When is rotated in the normal direction, the product carry-out pawl 10 is coupled to the feed rod 7, so that the product carry-out pawl 10 rotates as the feed rod 7 rotates.

An embodiment of the operation with the above configuration will be described.
A switch 16 is provided at a position closest to the motor 8 when the product discharge claw 10 moves, and the motor 8 is drive-controlled by a control device 17 that operates based on the detection operation of the switch 16. Now, it is assumed that the product carry-out claw 10 is located on the product shelf 3 at the farthest position from the motor 8 and the customer selects the product G on the product shelf 1 in that state. The sales signal according to the selection is output to the control device 17,
The controller 17 first causes the feed rod 7 to rotate in the reverse direction by the motor 8 and moves the feed rod 7 in the direction of the motor 8. At this time, the product delivery claw 1
0 moves once to the position farthest from the motor 8 and then turns back to move in the direction of the motor 8. Then, when the protrusion 12 of the product discharge claw 10 reaches the communication portion at the upper end of the double groove 9, the product discharge claw 10 comes closest to the motor 8, the switch 16 detects the position, and the detection signal is sent to the control device 17. Is output.

Here, after the switch 16 of the control device 17 detects the closest position of the product discharge claw 10, the product detection claw 10 is placed at the positions of the notches 4, 5, 6 of the respective product shelves 1, 2, 3. Reverse rotation time t of the motor 8 until the carry-out claw portion 11 of
1, t2 and t3 are preset respectively. Then, in this case, since the product G on the product shelf 1 is selected, the control device 17 reverses the motor 8 for t1 hours from the time when the notification from the switch 16 is given. As a result, the product discharge claw 10 moves below the notch 4 in the product shelf 1 as shown in FIG.

Next, the controller 17 causes the motor 8 to rotate the feed rod 7 forward by one rotation as indicated by the arrow in FIGS. By this normal rotation, the product discharging claw 10 is connected to the feed rod 7 and rotates as shown by an arrow in FIG. 2, and the discharging claw portion 11 rises from below the notch 4 to lift the lowermost product G, and FIG.
And discharged to the left side of the product shelf 1 in FIG. Product shelves 1, 2, 3
2 has a product chute and a sales port (not shown) provided on the lower left side, and the discharged product G falls on the chute.
It will be sold from the sales outlet.

Also, when selling the products G on the other product shelves 2 and 3, the controller 17 similarly pulls the product carry-out claw 10 once to the motor 8 side, and from there, the motor 8 is t2,
Alternatively, the product carry-out pawl 10 is moved to the selected product shelf 2 or 3 by reversing for t3 time, and in that state, the feed rod 7 is normally rotated by the motor 8 to carry out the carry-out pawl unit 1.
1 discharges each product G. With the above configuration, it is possible to arbitrarily select each of the product shelves 1, 2, and 3 by the single motor 8 and discharge the products G stored therein.

The control method of the motor 8 by the control device 17 is not limited to the embodiment. For example, each of the product shelves 1, 2 and 3 is provided with a position detection switch of the product carry-out pawl 10 to drive the motor 8. It can be controlled.

[0017]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the feed bar is rotated in the reverse direction by the drive device to move the product take-out pawl to an arbitrary product shelf out of the plurality of product shelves and rotate the product forward. Since the products stored in the selected product shelves can be discharged by the product discharge claw, it becomes possible to arbitrarily select and discharge the plurality of types of products stored in the plurality of product shelves by a single drive device. . Therefore, the cost can be reduced by reducing the number of parts, and the productivity can be improved by simplifying the structure such as wiring.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a product shelf of an automatic vending machine for explaining a commercial product delivery device of the automatic vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the product shelf.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Product Shelf 2 Product Shelf 3 Product Shelf 7 Feed Rod 8 Motor 9 Groove 10 Product Delivery Claw 11 Delivery Claw 12 Protrusion 13 Clutch G Product

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Imamura 2-18 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine in which a plurality of product shelves for storing cylindrical products in a state of being laid down are arranged side by side, and is provided across a product discharge side of each of the product shelves and is formed with a spiral groove. A rod, a drive device for driving the feed rod in the normal and reverse directions, a product carry-out claw that is slidably engaged with a groove of the feed bar, and a forward rotation of the feed bar provided on the product carry-out claw. The product delivery pawl may be coupled to the feed rod at the same time, and the product delivery pawl may be provided with a clutch that releases the coupling between the product delivery pawl and the feed rod when the feed rod is reversed. By reversing, the product is reciprocated along the groove between the product shelves and the product is discharged from the product shelf by rotating with the forward rotation of the feed rod. apparatus.