JPH0420233B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product discharging device for a vending machine that includes an endless conveyor belt.

Configuration of conventional example and its problems FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional product delivery device.

The structure of this conventional example is shown below in Figures 1 and 2.
This will be explained with reference to the diagram.

In the figure, 1 is a product delivery device provided within the vending machine main body. This product delivery device 1 has support plates 2 and 3 erected at the front and rear, and a sprocket 4 is rotatably attached to the upper and lower ends of each support plate 2 and 3 by a shaft 5. Reference numeral 6 denotes an endless conveyor belt consisting of a chain, which is stretched between the upper and lower sprockets 4 and attached. Reference numeral 7 denotes a driving body consisting of a motor that moves the sprocket 4 a certain distance in one direction.
The support plates 2 and 3 are formed in a channel shape,
It covers the conveyor belt 6. Reference numeral 8 denotes a product placement shelf that is bent into a substantially L-shape, and a placement portion 10 on which the product is placed is longer than the vertical portion 9. This product shelf 8
A vertical portion 9 is attached to the pin 11 protruding from the conveyor belt 6.
The upper end of the pin 11 is inserted into the pin 11 so that it can rotate freely around this pin 11. Furthermore, a roller 12 is provided on the tip side of the placement section 10 of the product placement shelf 8. 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a guide plate attached to one of the supporting plates 3 so as to extend in the vertical direction, and the guide plate 3 comes into contact with the rollers 12 of the product loading shelf 8 that moves from the top to the bottom at a position away from the conveyance belt 6 to place the product. Rotation of the shelf 8 is prevented.
This guide plate 13 has a length that is located between the sprockets 4 provided above and below. In particular, the upper end of the guide plate 13 is made lower than the upper sprocket 4 by a dimension that allows the product placement shelf 8 to rotate when the product placement shelf 8 is located at the top dead center of the conveyance belt 6. Also,
The product placed on the product shelf 8 is released downward when the roller 12 of the lowest product shelf 8 is no longer in contact with the guide plate 13, and the product shelf 8 rotates. It is something that will be done.

Reference numeral 14 denotes an inversion plate attached to the support plates 2 and 3 at approximately the same height as the upper sprocket 4, and forms a stepped portion 15 projecting toward the sprocket 4 side.
This stepped portion 15 is a contact piece 16 of the product shelf 8 that has moved over the top dead center of the sprocket 4 and moved to the lowering side.
come into contact with. Then, as the conveyance band 6 moves, the product placement shelf 8 is rotated to bring the roller 12 into contact with the upper inclined surface 17 of the guide plate 13.

Next, the operation of the above conventional example will be explained.

The conveyance belt 6 is moved in one direction by the driving body 7 in the direction of the arrow in the figure. At this time, the product shelf 8 on the descending side where the guide plate 13 and rollers 12 are in contact with each other is no longer in contact with the guide plate 13 and rollers 12 at the bottom, and the product is placed around the pin 11 of the conveyance band 6. It rotates due to the weight and the weight of the product placement shelf 8, and sends the product downward. Further, above the sprocket 4, the step portion 15 and the abutting piece 16 of the product shelf 8 that has passed the top dead center of the sprocket 4 come into contact with each other, as shown by A in the figure. When the conveyor band 6 moves downward, it is forcibly rotated about the pin 11, thereby rotating the product shelf 8 at the position indicated by B in the figure. Further, the contact piece 16 descends while contacting the vertical surface of the stepped portion 15, and brings the inclined surface 17 of the guide plate 13 into contact with the roller 12. When the conveyance belt 6 further descends, the contact piece 16 is no longer in contact with the vertical surface of the stepped portion 15, but the roller 12
moves so as to come into contact with the vertical surface of the guide plate 13. In this state, products can be placed on the placing section 10.

However, in such a device, since the distance between the sprocket 4 and the stepped portion 15 is short, the force required to forcibly rotate the product shelf 8 is large, and therefore the torque of the driver 7 is increased. There were some drawbacks that I had to deal with.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional examples.
To provide a product discharging device for a vending machine that smoothly moves a product placement shelf to a contact position with a guide plate even when the torque of a drive body is small when a conveyance belt is reversed from an ascending direction to a descending direction. purpose.

Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises sprockets attached above and below a support plate, an endless conveyor belt provided between the sprockets, and a sprocket rotatably supported by the conveyor belt. , a roughly L-shaped product placement shelf on which the product is placed on the descending side and sent out at the bottom, and a product placed in contact with the product placement shelf at a position away from the conveyance belt on the descending side. A guide plate that prevents rotation of the shelf and has an inclined surface against which the tip of the product shelf comes into contact when reversing to the descending side; The moving body is pivotably supported on a support plate so as to be able to move up and down, and includes a moving body that moves the product shelf from an ascending side to a descending side, and a driving body that moves the conveyance belt a certain distance. The sprocket side from the shaft support to the plate comes into contact with the shaft support side of the product shelf located at the top position on the rising side of the conveyance belt, and the contact continues until the product shelf moves from the rise side to the descent side. The contacting arcuate cam surface and the upward rotation caused by the contact between this cam surface and the product shelf push the back surface of the product shelf, causing the opposite shaft support side of the product shelf to move toward the conveyor belt. It is equipped with a pressing piece that moves from the ascending side to the descending side, and when the product shelf passes the top dead center of the sprocket, the moving body is lifted on the shaft support side of the product shelf, and At the same time, the back side of the product shelf is pushed to move the tip side of the product shelf to the inclined surface of the guide plate.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Below, the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. Omitted.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a product placement shelf, which is bent into a substantially L-shape into a vertical portion 19 and a product placement portion 20. and,
The vertical portion 19 is inserted into the pin 11 of the conveyance belt 6 and is rotatably provided around the pin 11 as an axis. Further, a roller 12 is rotatably attached to the tip of the loading section 20, and a guide plate 12 is mounted on the lowering side of the conveyance belt 6.
3 and prevents the product placement shelf 18 from rotating. The guide plate 13 has a sloped surface 17 on its upper surface as in the conventional one, and is arranged in the same manner with respect to the sprocket 4. 21 is a moving body located outside the rising side of the conveyance belt 6;
It is located above the sprocket 4 and is attached on one side between the support plates 2 by a shaft 21'. This movable body 21 has a cam surface 22 formed downward in the form of a half-heart-shaped arc. This cam surface 22 is
When moving through the top dead center from the ascending side to the descending side, it comes into contact with the shaft portion D of the product placement shelf 18. The cam surface 22 is normally located below the top dead center of the upper sprocket 4. Further, due to the contact between the cam surface 22 and the product shelf 18, the movable body 21 rotates upward about the shaft 21'. 23 is a pressing piece extending from the moving body 21;
When the moving body 21 rotates upward, the product placement shelf 1
8 and extends to the lowering side of the conveyor belt 6. The pressing piece 23 then presses the product shelf 18 until the roller 12 comes into contact with the inclined surface 17 of the guide plate 13.
The cam surface 22 also contacts the shaft side D of the product shelf 18.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10, but since the delivery of the product is the same as the conventional method, the explanation will be omitted. FIG. 5 shows the state before the drive body 7 operates, and the cam surface 22 of the movable body 21 is not in contact with the shaft side D of the product shelf 18 at the top of the rising side. Next, when the drive body 7 operates and the conveyance belt 6 moves, the cam surface 22 and the shaft side D come into contact, causing the movable body 21 to rotate counterclockwise in the figure about the shaft 21'. At this time, the pressing piece 23 presses the back surface of the product shelf 18 due to the rotation of the moving body 21 (the state shown in FIG. 6). As a result, the opposite shaft support side, which is the tip of the product shelf 18, also rotates counterclockwise in the figure. Then, as the conveyor band 6 moves, the moving body 21 is moved counterclockwise until the shaft side D reaches the top dead center of the sprocket 4 (the state shown in Fig. 7) and further moves to the downward side (the state shown in Fig. 8). Move to. As a result, the leading end of the mounting section 20 is moved to the outside of the descending side of the conveyance belt 6 (to the right in the figure). Then, the cam surface 22 and the shaft side D are in contact with each other until the conveyance belt 6 moves until the center of the sprocket 4 and the shaft side D become parallel (the state shown in FIG. 9). Then, the cam surface 22 of the moving body 21 and the shaft side D
When the roller 12 is no longer in contact with the guide plate 1
4 and abut against the inclined surface 17 (state shown in FIG. 10). Due to the movement of the conveyance belt 6, the roller 12 moves outward (to the right in the figure) on the inclined surface 17, and the guide plate 1
3 and the roller 12 come into contact with each other to place the product on the shelf 1.
8 will no longer rotate. The reason is pin 11
This is because the product placement shelf 18 can only move downward due to this contact. From this state shown in Figure 5,
The distance up to the state shown in FIG.

In this way, there is no need to provide a reversing member on the product shelf as in the past, resulting in lower costs. Furthermore, when the product placement shelf 18 moves from the top dead center of the sprocket 4, the product placement shelf 18 and the moving body are required to move the tip of the placement section 20 outward on the descending side of the conveyance band 6. The movable body 21 is brought into contact with the cam surface 22 of 21.
Rotate.

This rotation moves the pressing piece 23 of the movable body 21 from the ascending side of the conveyance band 6 to the descending side, and at this time,
Since the back surface of the product placement shelf 18 is pushed in the rotating direction, it can be moved with a small force. In particular, the shaft side D and the cam surface 22
Since the abutment is in the form of an arc, there is no force that hinders the movement of the product shelf, and therefore the torque of the driver 7 can be small.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is such that a product shelf rotatably supported by a conveyor belt is passed from the rising side through the top dead center of the sprocket to which the conveyor belt is attached above and below. When moving downward, the cam surface of the movable body and the shaft side of the product shelf come into contact, causing the movable body to rotate upward, and the rotation of the movable body also causes the tip of the product shelf to move toward the conveyor belt. By providing a pressing piece on the movable body that pushes from the rising side to the descending side, the tip of the product shelf can be moved toward the guide plate side by vertical rotation of the movable plate. There is no need to install a member that applies a force to the rotation force, and there is no need to forcibly rotate the side of the product shelf near the axis, so a small force is required, and as a result, the torque of the drive body of the conveyor belt is reduced. is small.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the product dispensing device of a conventional vending machine, Figure 2 is a sectional view of the main part of Figure 1, and Figure 3
The figure is a schematic perspective view showing the product carrying device of the present invention corresponding to Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the present invention corresponding to Fig. 2, and Figs. 5 to 10 show the operating state corresponding to Fig. 4. FIG. 2, 3...Support plate, 4...Sprocket, 6...
... Conveyance belt, 7 ... Drive body, 14 ... Guide plate, 18
... Product placement shelf, 21 ... Moving body, 22 ... Cam surface, 23 ... Pressing piece.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Sprockets attached to the top and bottom of the support plate,
An endless conveyance belt provided between the sprockets, and a roughly L-shaped product placement device that is rotatably supported by the conveyance band, places the product on the lowering side, and sends out the product at the bottom. a shelf, and an inclination that contacts the product shelf at a position away from the conveyance belt on the descending side to prevent rotation of the product shelf, and that the tip of the product shelf comes into contact when reversing to the descending side. a guide plate having a surface, and a support plate that is rotatably supported in a vertically movable manner outwardly from the ascending side of the conveyance band and above the sprocket at the upper end, and moves the product shelf from the ascending side to the descending side. The moving body is composed of a moving body and a driving body that moves the conveyance belt a certain distance, and the moving body is arranged to place a product on the uppermost position on the ascending side of the conveyance belt on the sprocket side from the shaft support to the support plate. an arc-shaped cam surface that contacts the shaft support side of the shelf until the product placement shelf moves from the rising side to the descending side;
The upward rotation caused by the contact between this cam surface and the product shelf pushes the back side of the product shelf, and moves the opposite shaft support side of the product shelf from the rising side of the conveyor belt to the descending side. A vending machine product dispensing device equipped with a pressing piece.