JPH09218978A - Article take-out device and vending machine using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eject articles such as milk, soft drinks or others housed in a case one by one by spreading a traction wire between a pusher and the article ejection side of the case, reversibly attaching a takeup means to the traction wire and adding an ejection control means for articles to the case. SOLUTION: A pusher 6, which can be slid on rollers 2, is bridged inside a case 1 and both the sides of a supporting board 7 at the lower end of the pusher 6 are loosely fitted into guide grooves 8 provided at the lower parts of both side walls 3. One end of a wire (traction wire) 9 is fixed to the lower end part of the pusher 6 and while being guided by loop-shaped grooves 2a provided at the centers of respective rollers 2, the wire 9 is extended to the other end of the case 1, inverted, and reaches the lower parts of the rollers 2 and is connected to the take-up part of a drum 12 to be rotated by a helical spring 11 inside a spring box 10. Therefore, by housing articles in the case 1, the articles can be smoothly ejected from the end of the case one by one.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to articles contained in a case, such as milk, soft drinks and other articles (cans, cups,
The present invention relates to an article take-out device for the purpose of constant discharge of one bottle or other packaged article) and a vending machine using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pusher for pushing out articles horizontally is provided at the ends of articles arranged side by side in a case, and articles placed side by side in each article shelf are pushed toward pusher positions. There is known a product sales shelf of an automatic vending machine provided with (No. 60-100888).
An invention using a spiral spring as the power of the push piece is also known (Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-61007).

[0003]

According to the above-mentioned known technique, the article presser and the pusher are indispensable requirements, and there is a problem that a large space and an interlocking device are required above and below the pusher.

In general, the conventional vending machine has a problem that the volume of the equipment for controlling the vending machine is larger than the volume of the article storage, and the so-called effective volume of the article storage is small.

Further, in the vending machine, it is difficult to make it thin because the thickness of the vending machine is large in terms of accommodation of articles.

[0006]

However, according to the present invention, since the pushing piece and its driving force are installed in the case for accommodating the articles,
The problem of the prior art was solved by significantly increasing the storage capacity of the article (for example, 1.5 times or more) and enabling a thin vending machine.

That is, in the invention of the take-out device, a gutter-like case is constructed by providing side frames parallel to the traveling direction of the article on both sides of the bottom portion formed so that the article slides, and one side of the case is formed. From the other side to the other side, a push piece is slidably installed along the bottom of the case, and a pulling line is stretched between the push piece and the article discharge side of the case. The article take-out device is characterized in that the winding means is reversibly attached, and the article discharge control means is attached to the case, and the traveling direction of the article is on both sides of the bottom portion formed so that the article slides on the upper surface. A gutter-shaped case is constructed by providing side frames composed of guide side plates in parallel with each other, and a push piece is slidably installed along one side of the case along the bottom of the case, and is pulled to a lower portion of the push piece. One end of the strip is fixed, and the pulling strip is on the bottom of the case toward the discharge side of the article. The article take-out is characterized in that the other end of the towed line is connected to the take-up portion of a drum which is rotated by a spiral spring installed on the bottom surface of the bottom of the case, and article discharge control means is attached to the case. It is a device. The article discharge control means is a stopper that stops the movement of the pressing piece, an article stopper at the discharge port, and an instruction button for releasing the stopper.

Next, the invention of an automatic vending machine includes a case in which articles are accommodated in parallel and provided with article discharging means and discharge control means.
In a vending machine in which the articles are stacked to form an article storage and the articles in the storage can be discharged to one by the instruction of an instruction button, a push piece for pressing the article in the discharge direction is connected to the pulling means in the case. The push piece is slidably installed along the bottom surface of the case, and article discharge control means is provided for each case in association with the instruction by the instruction button. An automatic vending machine characterized by being provided with a means for taking out articles, the case containing articles in parallel, and provided with means for discharging articles and discharge control means,
In a vending machine in which the articles are stacked to form an article storage and the articles in the storage can be discharged to one by the instruction of an instruction button, a push piece for pressing the article in the discharge direction is connected to the pulling means in the case. The push piece is slidably installed along the bottom face of the case, and the discharge control of the article is provided for each case in conjunction with the instruction by the instruction button and vertically communicated with one side of the storage box. An automatic vending machine is characterized in that a drop gap for articles is provided, a resilient plate that is in sliding contact with a side wall of a falling article is provided in the drop gap, and a lower end of the drop gap is connected to an article outlet. The pulling means of the push piece includes a spiral spring in which a winding shaft is vertically installed on the bottom surface of each case, a pulling-up means for winding a pulling line constituted by a drum rotated by the spiral spring, a lower portion of the push piece and a rotary drum. Is connected to the rotary drum to form a towed line, and the discharge control means includes a rotatable chute continuously provided at a lower part of the discharge end side of each case, A stopper interlocking with the chute and an instruction button means for selectively rotating the chute are combined. Further, the elastic plate provided in the drop gap is characterized in that the elastic plate is punched out from a large elastic thin plate, or the elastic plate is combined with a plate body serving as a base.

In the present invention, since the spiral spring is used as the power of the pushing piece, and the spiral spring is installed on the back side of the case with the winding shaft extending vertically, the height is extremely low, which contributes to an increase in the volume of storing articles. . However, since the spiral spring can be attached to the rear portion of the pressing piece and the height of the case can be reduced, it is appropriately selected in the overall configuration.

Further, since the motive force for pushing out the article is provided for each case, no apparatus is required on the main body side for pushing out the article, so that it can be made compact as a whole.

The cases can be stacked vertically and horizontally (conventional vending machine) or vertically (ultra-thin vending machine).

[0012]

According to the present invention, the pushing piece of the article is slidably installed in the case formed so that the article slides, and one end of the pulling bar is connected to the pushing piece, and the spiral spring is used for the power of the pulling bar. Therefore, each case can be installed, and since the article discharge control means is installed, the articles can be sequentially taken out one by one.

Further, in the vending machine, the cases are stacked vertically and horizontally, and in conjunction with the instruction buttons,
Since the discharge control stopper of the article is removed, it is possible to easily and smoothly take out one predetermined article by the instruction of the article instruction button.

[0014]

Embodiment 1 An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

A large number of rollers 2 and 2 are rotatably installed on the bottom of a case 1 (trough) having an upward U-shaped cross section (FIGS. 1 and 4).
The width adjusting spacers 5 and 5 of the article 4 are attached to the side walls 3 and 3 (guide side plates or side frames), respectively. A push piece 6 that can slide on the rollers 2 and 2 is provided in the case 1, and both sides of the support plate 7 at the lower end of the push piece 6 are provided on both side walls 3,
3 is loosely fitted in a guide groove 8 provided in the lower part of
One end of a wire 9 (which is a pulling bar) is fixed to the lower end of the wire 9, and the wire 9 is guided by the annular grooves 2a, 2a provided at the center of the rollers 2, 2 and extends to the other end of the case 1. , The drum 12 which is reversed and reaches the lower portions of the rollers 2 and 2 and which is rotated by the spiral spring 11 in the spring box 10.
It is connected to the take-up part. A stopper rod 13 is slidably attached to the side wall of the case 1, and a projection 30 is made to face the guide groove 8 at one end of the stopper rod 13. As shown in FIG.
0b and the hooking side 30a, and the hooking side 30a and the cutout 7a of the support plate 7 are hooked. Therefore, when the pushing piece 6 is moved in the direction of the arrow 14 in FIGS. 1 and 5, the projection 30 at the tip of the stopper rod 13 is moved by the oblique side 30b.
It is elastically deformed like C, and the supporting plate 7 is passed. Then, when the cutout portion 7a of the support plate 7 passes through the projection 30, the cutout portion 7a of the support plate 7 and the hooking side 30a of the projection 30 are hooked. When the stopper rod 13 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow 15 in FIGS. 1 and 5, the hypotenuse 30b is guided by the guide rod 29 (fixed to the case) and elastically deformed (FIG. 5, b).
5 is pulled in the direction of arrow 16 in FIG. 5 and does not engage with the support plate 7, the push piece 6 can move in the direction of arrow 17.

In the above, when the pushing piece 6 is moved from the position A in FIG. 1 to the position B, the wire 9 is pulled out in the direction of the arrow 18 as the pushing piece 6 moves (FIG. 1).
The spiral spring 11 is wound through the drum 12,
The rotational force of the drum 12 is accumulated.

Reference numeral 19 in FIGS. 1 and 2 denotes a cover plate installed at the discharge port of the case 1. Therefore, the article 4 moves by being sandwiched between the closing plate 19 and the pressing piece 6.

In the above, the article 4 is installed in parallel between the cover plate 19 and the pressing piece 6. Then, when the article 4 on the closing plate 19 side is pulled out as shown by the arrow 20, the other articles 4, 4 are pressed by the pushing piece 6 to move in the direction of the arrow 21 so as to fill the gap of the article 4, so that the case The article 4 is always on standby on the discharge side of 1.

[0019]

Second Embodiment A vending machine will be described with reference to FIGS.

The case 1 shown in the first embodiment is stacked vertically and horizontally. A tiltable chute 22 is provided below the discharge end of the case 1, and a drop path 23 for the article 4 is provided above and below the chute 22. In the falling path 23 of the article 4, elastic plates 24, 24 are cantilevered on three sides of the inner wall, and the area surrounded by the elastic plates 24, 24 on the same plane is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the article 4. . However, since the elastic plates 24, 24 are cantilevered, the article 4 has an arrow 28.
When falling in the direction of, the elastic plates 24, 24 are pushed and spread in the direction of the arrow 31 by the weight of the article 4. Therefore, the article 4 and the elastic plate 24 are elastically brought into sliding contact with each other so that the falling speed of the article 4 is reduced.

As described above, the outer wall of the article 4 and the elastic plate 2
The falling speed of the article 4 is controlled by the sliding contact friction with the articles 4 and 24 so that the article 4 does not collide with the receiving bottom 25.
In the figure, 32 is an article outlet, 33 is its cover, and 34 is a door.

In the above embodiment, when the instruction button 35 is pressed, the chute 22 at the discharge end of the case 1 containing the instructed article 4 tilts in the direction of arrow 26.
The most advanced article 4 moves along the chute 22 as shown by the arrow 36, and is discharged to the falling path 23. In this case, since the rear projection 27 of the chute 22 blocks the succeeding article 4,
One article 4 is accurately dropped for each operation. In the figure, 37 is a stopper and 38 is a case base. The article 4 is held at the tip of the case 1 by the stopper 37 and the chute 22.

Although the article 4 falls by its own weight as described above, the falling speed is controlled by a large number of elastic plates 24, 24 provided in the drop path 23, whereby damage to the article 4 can be prevented. Therefore, the weight of the article 4 and the elastic plate 24
It is necessary to control the falling speed by adjusting the contact pressure and the frictional force. A known electric interlocking control system is used to interlock the instruction button 35 and the chute 22. The chute 22 has its inclination controlled by a stopper 39.

The elastic plate 24 may be formed by punching out a elastic thin plate, or by cutting out a part of the elastic thin plate, or may be formed by incorporating a spring behind the thin plate that does not elastically deform.

The article discharging means is an example, but various known mechanisms can be adopted as a mechanism for guiding the article discharged from the discharge end of the case to the article outlet.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a can is assumed, but in the case of other containers (cups, bottles, other packages), it is needless to say that the shape of the case can be changed accordingly. .

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the articles are stored in the gutter-shaped case, the push pieces are provided, and the pulling means for the push pieces is attached to each case, the articles are stored in the cases. The effect is that one article can be smoothly taken out from the edge of the case.

Therefore, even if the article take-out device is made compact and the article take-out apparatus is accommodated not only in the display shelf but also in the vending machine, there is an effect that the article accommodation capacity in the same volume can be dramatically increased. . In addition, since it is possible to store and manage articles by stacking gutter-shaped cases in one row, it is possible to use an ultra-thin vending machine (gutter-shaped case width + α thickness), and there are significant restrictions on installation due to the installation area. There is an effect that can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view in which a part of an embodiment of a case of the present invention is omitted.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a part of which is also omitted.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional bottom view of the same.

FIG. 4 is also an enlarged vertical side view.

FIG. 5 (a) is a partially enlarged plan view showing the engagement of the push piece. (B) Similarly, a partially enlarged plan view showing unlocking of the push piece.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the same vending machine.

FIG. 7 (a) is a view showing a state immediately before the article is discharged. FIG. 5B is a diagram showing the end of discharging the articles.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Case 2 Roller 3 Both Side Walls 4 Articles 5 Spacer 6 Push Piece 7 Support Plate 8 Guide Groove 9 Wire 10 Spring Box 11 Spiral Spring 12 Drum 13 Stopper Rod 19 Closure Plate 22 Chute 23 Drop Path 24 Resilient Plate 25 Receiving Bottom 27 Protrusion Item outlet 33 Cover 34 Door 35 Instruction button 37, 39 Stopper 38 Case stand

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Mikio Takahashi 4-5-27 Sellobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Hironobu Sangyo Co., Ltd.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A gutter-shaped case is constructed by providing side frames parallel to the traveling direction of the article on both sides of the bottom portion formed on the upper surface so that the article slides, and the gutter-shaped case is formed from one side to the other side of the case. The push piece is slidably installed along the bottom of the case, and a pulling strip is stretched between the push strip and the article discharge side of the case. And a discharge control means for discharging an article to the case. 2. A gutter-shaped case is constructed by providing side frames made of guide side plates in parallel with the traveling direction of the article on both sides of the bottom portion formed so that the article slides on the upper surface, and one side of the case is formed. A pushing piece is slidably installed along the bottom of the case, and one end of a pulling strip is fixed to the lower part of the pushing strip, and the pulling strip is arranged on the bottom of the case toward the discharge side of the article. An article take-out device characterized in that the other end of the towing line is connected to a take-up part of a drum which is rotated by a spiral spring installed on the lower surface of the bottom of the case, and an article discharge control means is attached to the case. 3. The article take-out according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the article ejection control means comprises a stopper for stopping the movement of the pushing piece and an article stopper at the ejection port, and an instruction button for releasing the stopper. apparatus. 4. An article storage is configured by stacking cases in which articles are accommodated in parallel and provided with an article ejection means and an ejection control means, and the articles in the storage can be ejected individually by the instruction of an instruction button. In the vending machine configured as described above, a push piece for pressing the article in the discharge direction is provided in the case in connection with the pulling means, and the push piece is slidably installed along the bottom surface of the case. An automatic vending machine, characterized in that the article discharge control means is provided in association with the instruction by the instruction button, and the article take-out means is attached to one side of the storage. 5. Articles are accommodated in parallel and a case provided with an article ejection means and an ejection control means is piled up to form an article storage, and the articles in the storage can be ejected one by one by the instruction of an instruction button. In the vending machine, the case is provided with a pushing piece for pushing the article in the discharge direction in connection with the pulling means, and the pushing piece is slidably installed along the bottom surface of the case, and the article is provided for each case. Is provided in association with the instruction by the instruction button, and a drop gap for vertically communicating articles is provided on one side of the storage box, and a resilient plate that is in sliding contact with a side wall of a falling article is provided in the drop gap. An automatic vending machine, wherein the lower end of the drop gap is connected to an article outlet. 6. The pulling means of the pushing piece includes a spiral spring having a winding shaft vertically installed on a bottom surface of each case, a winding means of a pulling line constituted by a drum rotated by the spiral spring, and a pushing piece of the pushing piece. The vending machine according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the lower part and the rotary drum are connected to each other to form a tow strip wound around the rotary drum. 7. The discharge control means includes a rotatable chute connected to a lower portion of a discharge end side of each case, a stop interlocking with the chute, and an instruction button means for selectively rotating the chute. The vending machine according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the vending machine is combined with the vending machine. 8. The automatic vending machine according to claim 5, wherein the elastic plate provided in the drop gap is formed by punching out the elastic plate from a large elastic thin plate, or by combining the elastic plate with a base plate. Machine.