Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F11/00—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles
  • G07F11/02—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles from non-movable magazines
  • G07F11/04—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles from non-movable magazines in which magazines the articles are stored one vertically above the other
  • G07F11/16—Delivery means
  • G07F11/24—Rotary or oscillatory members
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
  • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
  • G07F11/00—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles
  • G07F11/02—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles from non-movable magazines
  • G07F11/28—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles from non-movable magazines in which the magazines are inclined
  • G07F11/32—Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles from non-movable magazines in which the magazines are inclined two or magazines having a common delivery chute

Definitions

• Automatic bottle dispensing device in particular made of flexible material.
• the present invention relates to automatic dispensing devices for bottles, in particular of flexible material.
• the technical sector of the invention is that of the manufacture of automatic vending machines for drinks in individual packaging of the bottle type.
• One of the applications of the invention is the production of coin-operated automatic dispensers for the distribution of plastic bottles containing mineral water.
• dispensers can be classified into two main families: - the first which includes most of the cold drink dispensers, groups together all those which deliver rigid individual bottles generally in glass, which the consumer extracts by often forcing a retained valve blocking said bottle, which releases it only after payment of the price (by currency or token), and which then blocks the next after extraction of the previous one.
• the bottles are automatically recharged behind this valve from an inclined ramp storage, of sufficient slope so that the bottles slide on their own until taking the position of the bottle ready to be taken by the consumer, there is in general, "" access to the end of each ramp which are therefore arranged one above the other and parallel so as not to lose space, which allows the rest to put different bottles of drinks on each row.
• a single access may be common to several rows, which then supply a single corridor, in which the bottles
• the second family of drink dispensers which also includes some cool drink dispensers, includes all those who dispense the liquid in individual cups; hot drinks are almost always dispensed by this method.
• the cups are brought empty by a vertical barrel system, in which they are stacked one inside the other and fall one by one within easy reach of the consumer, when the latter introduces the change or the corresponding token in the device.
• the cup is then held under a filling orifice from which is poured the fresh or hot liquid contained, or prepared on demand in a single reserve. It is in this area that many patents have been taken in the area of automatic dispensers.
• the problem is to make a vending machine bottles of soft material, which is compact and 'allows to store a lot of bottles, large or small, not requiring too frequent reloading and not spoiling thereof. and which delivers said bottles one by one without risk of breaking open, or possibility of fraud.
• a solution to the problem posed is an automatic bottle dispensing device comprising a closed cabinet, including a storage system for said bottles, composed of two sets inclined in opposite directions, of ramps grouped by game, superimposed, parallel slope and staggered against the two side walls of said closed cupboard, so that the upper ramp of each set collects the bottles descending by gravity from the set placed above, which cupboard is kept at constant temperature by any means known and includes a coin or token coin changer allowing anyone to order the dispensing of one or more bottles, a manual access airlock of known type for recovering the latter, a cylindrical bucket movable in rotation, a bucket of any type (8) mobile in rotation, taking only one bottle at a time and allowing the distribution, characterized in that:
• Said ramps 15 are grouped by set of two ramps at most and continuously load a feed support 4 of the bucket;
• any stop means 11 of said bottles is placed in front of said supply support 4 and above said bucket 8. leaving sufficient space for the descent by gravity therein of a single bottle 62 and then allowing the blocking of the next bottle 63 in the waiting position until the distribution by rotation of the cup of the previous bottle 62 - - said cup 8 is placed below said supply support, so that the bottles 6 arriving on said support 4 can, on the one hand, fall freely and without too much jerk into the bucket 8 when the latter is empty and the edge 18 of its opening is oriented towards the end rim of the support 4, and, on the other hand, remain stopped on said support, both, either by a bottle already in place in the cup 8, or by the bottom of said cup and said stop means 11, when the latter turns on its axis (17);
• a drive system 9 of the axis of said bucket is connected to any motor 10 ensuring the exact rotation of this bucket with a single step for each control of dispensing a bottle 6] _.
• the result is a new automatic bottle dispensing device specially adapted for those made of flexible material, of the type containing mineral waters.
• the advantages of such a device are numerous, especially in applications for distributing large-volume plastic bottles. Indeed, the main characteristic is that in at no time do the said bottles undergo crushing effects which can damage them, and do not pass through mechanical systems to tear them apart. Their envelopes are fragile, and their storage and movement in the device according to the invention are carried out without suddenly requesting them, as is the case in the distributors known to date.
• a dispenser manufactured with the device according to the invention is robust and reliable, while being simple to produce and allowing it to be placed on the market at a reasonable price for amortization compatible with the cost of bottles of mineral water which must be relatively small to appeal to consumers.
• dispensers can be produced according to this same invention for bottles of different volume, from a half-liter to a liter and a half for example, to adapt to the needs of the sites on which these devices would be installed.
• the devices described below also give an interesting compactness to the cabinets constituting the envelope of the distributors.
• a device that can contain 60 bottles of a liter and a half is only 1.50 m high, and for the same height, a device can contain at least 120 bottles of 0.5 liters.
• This compactness thus reduces the interior volume which is maintained at constant temperature, preferably cool, by a cold group with little power and makes it possible to house the devices easily on site, even in places where space problems are crucial.
• the dispensers of a liter and a half according to the invention will find an application interest in all hospitals and clinics.
• Figures 1A and 1B are perspective views of two bottle dispensing systems.
• FIG. 1A is a partial perspective view of the cabinet 1 of a beverage dispensing device, representing more particularly the actual dispensing part of bottles from a supply support 4, loaded continuously by ramps 15 of the storage system 2 , placed above and described in Figure 2.
• the bottles 1 can be of fragile material, of the flexible plastic type, and slide and roll by gravity along the ramps 154 and 155, sufficiently inclined for this and fixed in staggered rows against the opposite walls of the cabinet 1.
• the bottles can have a capacity of 0.1 to 1.5 liters and fall one by one at the end of the journey in a support 4, also inclined, and fixed against
• ramps and these supports can be of any material and of any form of planar and inclined assembly, for example in solid metal sheet as shown by the ramps 154 and I55 or in rail type trellis and metal grating, as shown for support 4.
• This bucket is mounted movable in rotation about its axis 17, integral with the structure of the cabinet 1. Its position is determined so that the bottles 6 arriving on the support 4 can, on the one hand, slide or fall freely and without too much jerk in the bucket 8 when the latter is empty and the edge 18 of its opening is oriented towards the end rim of the support 4, and, on the other hand, remain stopped on said support , without being overwritten by the following, either by a bottle already in place in the bucket 8, or by the bottom of said bucket, when the latter rotates on axis 17.
• a stop means 11 is placed in front of this support 4 and above this cup 8, leaving sufficient space for the passage of a bottle between the end rim of the support 4 and itself.
• Said stop means 11 may consist of at least one bar of circular section and free to rotate about its axis, on which the bottles can come to bear one after the other, before sliding in said bucket 8 , then rotating said bar.
• the bucket 8 is rotated by any system, preferably chain 9, mounted on toothed pinions, one of which 12 ⁇ is secured to the axis and another 122. - e the motor axis 10 at speed slow exit.
• This drive system 9 ensures the exact rotation of a single step of said bucket 8, for each control of dispensing a bottle: in the case of a cylindrical bucket as here the pitch is one complete revolution.
• said motor 10 is electric and powered by a time relay controlled by the introduction of a coin or a token, of a known material, into a coin mechanism, which relay then stops the motor after a determined period corresponding to the exact rotation of a single step of said bucket 8.
• said motor 10 is electric and powered by a time relay controlled by the introduction of a coin or a token, of a known material, into a coin mechanism, which relay then stops the motor after a determined period corresponding to the exact rotation of a single step of said bucket 8.
• said motor 10 is electric and powered by a time relay controlled by the introduction of a coin or a token, of a known material, into a coin mechanism, which relay then stops the motor after a determined period corresponding to the exact rotation of a single step of said bucket 8.
• said motor 10 is electric and powered by a time
• the bucket 8 loaded with a waiting bottle, rotates on its axis, blocking the following bottles between its bottom, the edge of said support 4 and the stop bar 11; when its opening is inclined sufficiently towards the sheet of the inclined bottom of the airlock 7 of manual access, of known type, the bottle which it contains rolls thereon and comes into position to be recovered by the customer.
• the bucket then continues to rotate and, when its opening passes under the support 4, so that its edge 18 is oriented towards and at best in the extension of the rim of the support 4, the next bottle slides inside the bucket, and the latter comes to a standstill again awaiting another distribution order.
• the space left free by the bottle which has thus fallen "smoothly" into the cup is taken by the next bottle and so on, along the support 4 and the ramps 15.
• Figure 1B is a partial perspective view of the cabinet 1 as in Figure 1A with a bucket 8 of the previous different type and shown in partial cutaway of the state parts 12 ⁇ which are already described above.
• said cup 8 ⁇ consists of at least three and at most five sets of fins 21 mounted around the axis 17 by any support and each space between two fins can receive one of said bottles 6, which cup is mounted in such a way that it is loaded with only one bottle at a time, and that during its rotation, said bottle follows a movement curve never having a positive slope above the horizontal.
• a bucket is used with four sets of fins 21. mounted in pairs towards the two ends of the wing 17 ⁇ on two support blocks 22, integral with the axis by means of screws 23 for locking. The pitch of rotation of said cup 8 ⁇ for dispensing a bottle is then a quarter of rotation of the cup.
• FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a cabinet of a bottle dispensing apparatus 6, with its storage system 2 and its actual distribution system, bucket 8 already described in Figures 1.
• the cabinet it even 1 is isolated, of the conventional type and can be maintained at constant temperature, preferably cool, by a cold group of known type 3. It also includes a coin mechanism 5, of any known type, allowing anyone to order the distribution of one or more bottles 6, by the introduction of coins or tokens, corresponding to the price previously determined by the installer. When this price is paid and recognized by the coin acceptor, the distribution process described in FIG. 1 is executed automatically thanks to the distribution device produced according to the invention.
• the actual storage space 2 is therefore constituted by the three vertical walls of the cabinet 1 and its two upper and lower bottoms: the front face generally consists of an opening door, not shown here, allowing access to all of the devices in the open position, and closing the entire face in the closed position.
• the storage of the bottles is composed of two sets of ramps 15, sufficiently inclined in opposite directions, superimposed and of parallel slope by set of two at most, which sets are staggered against the two side walls of said cabinet 1: either the ramps 15 ⁇ . 153 and 155 on one wall, and 152 e - --b on the other wall.
• ramps 153 and 155 are shown alone, but they could be double. It is not conceivable, for bottles of flexible material of large volume and of plastic type, to put more than two ramps per game, because this already represents three bottles superimposed at the ends and beyond, these are likely to crush them by their own weight.
• each upper ramp of each set allows each upper ramp of each set to collect the bottles of the set placed just above, and which, due to the sufficient inclination of the ramps, descend by gravity by sliding or rolling.
• the lowest ramp 155 allows the loading of the feed support of the bucket 8, as described in FIG. 1.
• the number of ramps and their length are not limited, and are to be determined according to the number of bottles to be stored and the maximum desired size of the cabinet.
• the bucket distribution system 8 pours each bottle into the airlock 7, which can be of any known type, with for example two spring door closings, one of which 19, isolates the storage and distributor part for better thermal insulation. , but also to limit theft attempts, and the other is secured to the door which closes the front panel and which the customer opens to take his bottle.
• FIG. 3 is a section in the axial plane of the storage system, of a blocking bracket 19, situated near the end of the upper inclined ramp 15 of each set of ramps, on which the bottles 6 roll and slide.
• This bracket 19 is articulated free near its edge around an axis 20; its width in the plane perpendicular to the figure is sufficient to ensure support for the bottles 6, without the latter running the risk of pivoting and locking against the guides 16 of the ramps as described in FIG. 1.
• the lengths of the planes constituting the bracket 19 are such that as long as there are still bottles on the upper ramp 15, the weight of one of them passing over keeps the bracket in the closed position, such that shown in the drawing, and then blocking all the bottles stored on the just lower ramp.
• This system prevents crushing and blocking by the bottles of the two ramps pressing simultaneously on the end one against the wall of the cabinet 1, before its descent in the vertical corridor towards the lower ramps: when the ramps are all full, and in the absence of this square, these end bottles may remain blocked and not descend.
• This optional bracket allows only one ramp to be released at a time, thus avoiding this drawback while preserving the fragility of the flexible containers.
• the upper ramp has only a few bottles left, and the upper plane of the bracket is free, the weight of the bottles in the lower ramp raises the latter, which releases said ramp.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Devices For Dispensing Beverages (AREA)
• Vending Machines For Individual Products (AREA)
• Control Of Vending Devices And Auxiliary Devices For Vending Devices (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=9368574

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (11)

Families Citing this family (26)

Family Cites Families (12)

• 1988
  • 1988-07-15 FR FR8809777A patent/FR2634304B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1989
  • 1989-07-07 AU AU39604/89A patent/AU3960489A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1989-07-07 MC MC892124A patent/MC2124A1/xx unknown
  • 1989-07-07 EP EP89908209A patent/EP0428546B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1989-07-07 US US07/635,550 patent/US5092489A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1989-07-07 WO PCT/FR1989/000357 patent/WO1990000784A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1989-07-07 DE DE89908209T patent/DE68909794D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1989-07-07 JP JP1507823A patent/JPH03506087A/ja active Pending
  • 1989-07-12 GR GR890100446A patent/GR890100446A/el unknown
  • 1989-07-13 ES ES8902482A patent/ES2016480A6/es not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1991
  • 1991-01-14 DK DK006791A patent/DK6791A/da not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events