JPH0442717B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] This invention targets various products such as cans, bottles, and paper packs, and stores the products in a direct stacking manner in a shelf. This invention relates to a product delivery device for a vending machine that drops and transports products one by one from a vending machine.

[Conventional technology]

As a product delivery device for selling products in cans, bottles, and paper cartons of various beverages such as soft drinks and milk, the above-mentioned product delivery device for direct stacking product shelves has been conventionally disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 166081/1981. It is known from etc.

Such a direct stacking type product shelf is different from a product shelf consisting of open-bottom containers, in which the products are sorted into two rows on the left and right and stored in a direct stacking manner, and the product delivery device is used to store the products on the shelf in relation to the rows of stored products. A swinging and opening type product carrying flapper is placed at the lowest position of the store to place and hold a row of products while waiting for sales, and a swinging type product holding flapper is located opposite the second product from the lowest position. , and a control cam driven by a bend motor that controls the swinging of each flapper in accordance with the sales operation.

When a sales command is given in this configuration, the bend motor is started, and the product holding flapper is tilted via the control cam so as to be pushed out from the hanging position toward the product row side, and the second and subsequent products from the bottom are held in that position. While temporarily holding the product, the product carry-out flapper is opened downward to allow the lowest product to fall and be carried out. When the product ejection flapper returns to its original horizontal position, the product retention flapper closes,
The products stored in the shelf that have been held by the product holding flaps are no longer restrained and fall freely within the shelf, landing on the product carrying flaps and returning to the sales standby state again.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned product carrying out device has been improved to reduce the impact of falling products on the shelves during product carrying out, and to prevent damage and deformation of product containers, as well as the occurrence of beverage foaming in the case of carbonated beverages. A second product holding flapper and its control cam are additionally installed at a middle position in the shelf as the first product holding flapper, and temporarily hold the products stored in the shelf in that position when the product is taken out. Said first,
The same applicant has proposed a structure in which the second product-holding flapper closes slightly later than the first product-holding flapper.

Here, the configuration and operation of the product delivery device will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7. In each figure, 1
is a product storage shelf with an open bottom surface, and within this shelf, products 2 are stored in two rows on the left and right in a direct stacking manner. On the other hand, a vertical rotary drive shaft 4 connected to a bend motor 3 at the top is arranged in the center of the product storage shelf 1, and a swinging drive shaft 4 is mounted on both sides of the lowest part of the shelf with this rotary drive shaft 4 in between. An open type product carrying flapper 5 is provided. This product delivery flapper 5
In the sales standby state, the product 2 is supported in a horizontal position from below by a control cam 6 formed as a semicircular plate provided on the axis of the rotary drive shaft 4, and the product 2 is placed and held thereon. When the support is removed by the rotation operation of 6, the flapper 5 swings downward and is opened. On the other hand, above the product carrying out flapper 5, there is a first product holding flapper 8 which is swing-controlled by a control cam 7 and faces the second product from the lowest.
However, a second product holding flapper 10 whose swing is controlled by a control cam 9 is provided at a middle position in the shelf further above. Further, the control cams 7 and 9 are in phase with each other, and a phase angle of 90 degrees is set between the control cam 6 and the control cam 6 of the product delivery flapper 5.
The cam width D of the upper control cam 9 is set to be slightly wider than the cam width d of the lower control cam 7 in the latter half region. Note 1
1 is a partition wall that separates the left and right product storage columns within the shelf.

Next, to explain the product carrying-out operation with the above configuration, first, FIGS.
In this state, all the products stored in the shelf are placed and held on the product carry-out flapper 5. Further, in this state, both the first and second product holding flappers 8 and 10 are in a hanging position.
When a sales command is given from this sales standby state,
The bend motor 3 starts and rotates the drive shaft 4, and in this process, when the drive shaft 4 first rotates 90 degrees,
As shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, the product holding flappers 8 and 10 on the left row side of the shelf are pushed by the control cams 7 and 9 and tilted so as to protrude toward the product row side, and the product that is lined up second from the bottom and While the product in the middle position of the shelf is pressed from the side against the side wall surface of the shelf 1 and held in that position, at the same time, the product carry-out flapper 5 on the left row side of the shelf disengages from the control cam 6 and moves downward. It swings to open the product aisle. As a result, only the lowest-ranked products on the left row side are dropped and carried out below the shelf as indicated by arrow P. In this state, higher-order products including the second product from the lowest rank are held in storage positions within the shelf, separated by the first and second product-holding flaps 8 and 10. When the rotation of the drive shaft 4 further progresses from this state and the rotation angle reaches 160 degrees as shown in FIGS. At the same time, first, the first product holding flapper 8 and the control cam 7 are disengaged, and the second product holding flapper 10 is brought into a free state and closed to a hanging position. As a result, the products lined up in the lower row of the shelf that were previously supported by the first product holding flapper 8 will be moved by the arrow A, which is equivalent to one product.
It falls and lands on the product carry-out flapper 5 as shown in FIG. At this point, the second product holding flapper 10 is pushed by the control cam 9 and is in a tilted position, and the remaining stored products lined up in the upper row of the shelf remain held by the second product holding flapper 10. be. When the rotation of the drive shaft 4 further progresses and the rotation angle approaches 180 degrees as shown in FIGS. As a result, the product on the upper shelf in the shelf held by the second product holding flapper 10 falls in the direction of arrow B and lands on top of the product that has already landed earlier. .
At the same time, the bend motor 3 is stopped and the state returns to the sales standby state shown in FIG. 4. If a sales command is given again here, the lowest order product will be carried out from the right column in the same manner as above.

As can be seen from the above description, when the products are taken out, the stored products temporarily held in the shelves do not all fall at the same time, but are divided into two groups and fall separately. Therefore, the landing impact force caused by falling products is alleviated, and it becomes possible to prevent deformation and damage of products such as cans and bottles, as well as the occurrence of foaming of the contents of the drinks.
Since the impact force applied to the container is alleviated, the occurrence of failures in the delivery mechanism is reduced accordingly.

However, in this type of product delivery device, when changing the product to be sold, it is necessary to change the tilting angle of the product holding flapper, that is, the amount of push into the passageway, depending on the product type, especially the product size. Next, this will be explained with reference to Figures 8 to 10. First, Figure 8 shows the case where a large-diameter can product is handled as product 2. In order to hold product 2 correctly on the shelf, It is necessary to set the extrusion amount H1 of the holding flapper 8 to be relatively small. On the other hand, for products in paper packs that are easily deformed as shown in Fig. 9, it is necessary to set the extrusion amount H2 of the product holding flapper 8 to be slightly larger than that shown in Fig. 8. It is not possible to hold it stably by holding it between the two. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 10, if the product in a small size paper pack is not pushed out by the product holding flapper 8, it will fall off without being held.
You need to set H3 even higher.

On the other hand, in order to change the extrusion amount of the product holding flapper from H1 to H3 according to the product size as described above, conventionally the upper end of the flapper is fixedly supported by a shaft as shown in Figs. 11 and 12. For the swing-type product holding flapper 8, the control cam 7 facing the product holding flapper 8 is moved up and down in the direction of the arrow X to variably adjust the pushing amount of the product holding flapper 8. For this purpose, the long groove 72 opened in the boss portion 71 of the control cam 7, which is slidably and loosely fitted onto the drive shaft 4 of the bend motor, is engaged with the key 41 attached to the drive shaft 4 to prevent rotation. At the same time, a method is adopted in which the boss portion 71 is fixed at each of the upper and lower adjustment positions using a fixing screw 73.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, when adjusting the movement of the control cam 7 using the above adjustment method, as shown in FIG.
It is necessary to perform this operation from the front of the product storage shelf using the screwdriver 12, but the screw holes in the shelf cannot be clearly seen and the screws cannot be operated unless the direction of the control cam 7 is adjusted, making the work extremely difficult. This is bad, and setting errors are likely to occur. Moreover, in a product carrying out device equipped with first and second product holding flappers inside the shelf as shown in Figure 4, each time the product is changed, the mounting position of the control cams described above can be adjusted by attaching the control cams to the upper and lower control cams. The adjustment work has to be done individually, which makes the adjustment work even more troublesome, leading to a decline in serviceability.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and includes first and second product holding flaps located above and below within the shelf shown in FIGS. 4 to 7, and first and second product holding flaps opposite to the product holding flaps. Targeting a product discharging device equipped with two control cams, the movement adjustment of the first and second control cams in response to product changes is performed simultaneously with almost one touch operation, and the amount of extrusion of each product holding flapper is adjusted depending on the product type. It is an object of the present invention to provide a product carrying-out device that can be easily adjusted according to the size.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a product delivery device for a vending machine that drops and transports products stored in a stacked manner in a shelf one by one from the bottom of a product row based on a sales command. For the open-bottom product storage shelf, there is a swinging flap-type product delivery mechanism installed facing the lowest stored product, and a swinging flap-type product discharging mechanism located opposite the second-to-lowest and middle-level stored products. First and second product holding flappers provided and first and second controls installed on the drive shaft of the bend motor so as to control the swinging of the first and second product holding flappers in accordance with the sales operation. A slider that collectively holds the first and second control cams that are slidably supported on the drive shaft of the bend motor, and a slider that holds the first and second control cams together with each control cam according to the product size. It shall be equipped with adjustment means for adjusting the movement up and down.

[Effect]

The slider and the adjusting means allow the first and second control cams to be moved and adjusted to predetermined positions at the same time with almost a one-touch operation to adjust the movement of the control cams in response to changes in products. Therefore, troublesome screw operations can be eliminated, and serviceability can be greatly improved.

〔Example〕

1 to 3 show the structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and the same members corresponding to those in the previous drawings are given the same reference numerals. That is, according to the present invention, first, in the center of the interior of the product storage shelf, a rib 13 cut and raised from the left and right partition walls 11 is sandwiched between ribs 13 (FIGS. 2 and 3) and guided in the vertical direction. A slider indicated by reference numeral 14 is installed. Note that this rib 13 also serves as a support for the swing shaft 15 of the product holding flappers 8 and 10.
Here, the slider 14 includes first and second control cams 7, which are slidably supported on the shaft of the drive shaft 4, facing the first and second product holding flappers 7, 9.
The structure is a frame with a U-shaped cross section, and the control cams 7, 9 are provided with protruding windows 16, 17 at locations corresponding to the control cams 7, 9. Ribs 18 and 19 are cut and raised to serve as pedestals for supporting the slider 14 from below, and a cutout hole 20 is opened in the front and rear sides of the slider 14, into which an adjustment rod (to be described later) is inserted from the front in a skewering manner. . On the other hand, on the front and rear sides of the partition wall 11 on the product storage shelf side, symbols 21 and 22 are provided corresponding to the notch holes 20 on the slider side.
A stopper is installed having a plurality of adjustment stages as shown in FIG. Among these, the front stopper 21 has a plurality of upper and lower engagement protrusions 23, and the rear stopper 21
2 is formed with an insertion hole 24 corresponding to the engagement protrusion 23. In order to support the slider 14 to the partition wall 11, a manually operated adjustment rod 25 is inserted through the cutout hole 20 of the slider 14 in a skewer manner, and the adjustment rod 25 has its front and rear ends fixed to stoppers. 21 engaging protrusion 23
and the insertion hole 24 of the stopper 22, and is supported in a fixed manner.

With this configuration, when the adjustment rod 25 is locked in the upper position of the stoppers 21 and 22 as shown in FIG. They are set so as to face each other at a position close to 15, so that the amount of extrusion of the product holding flapper corresponds to H3 in FIG. On the other hand, by manual operation from the front of the product storage shelf, the adjustment rod 25 is replaced as shown by arrow Y in FIG.
22 to the middle or lower adjustment position, it will follow this and move the slider 14 along with the first,
The height position of the second control cams 7, 9 moves downward. As a result, the amount of extrusion of the product holding flappers corresponds to H1 and H2 in FIG. 11, respectively.

As can be seen from the above explanation, when changing the product to be sold, the adjustment rod 25 supporting the slider 14 in a skewered manner is replaced and operated, and the stoppers 21, 2
By simply selecting the vertical adjustment stage in 2 according to the size of the product to be sold, the product holding flaps 8 and 10 can be adjusted.
It becomes possible to simultaneously set the height positions of the first and second control cams 7, 9 to new positions. Furthermore, compared to the conventional adjustment method described in FIG. 12, there is no need for troublesome driver operations, and adjustment work can be performed extremely easily with almost one-touch operations and without setting errors.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a bend motor is applied to a product discharging device equipped with first and second product holding flappers on the upper and lower sides of a shelf, and first and second control cams opposing these flaps. a slider that collectively holds the first and second control cams that are slidably supported on a drive shaft; and an adjusting means that adjusts the slider by moving it up and down together with each control cam in accordance with the product size. This configuration allows the same product storage shelf to handle a variety of products with different sizes and shapes, and also enables easy operation of the first and second control cams when changing products. At the same time, the vending machine can be moved and adjusted to a new adjustment position that is suitable for the merchandise being sold, which greatly improves the serviceability of the vending machine management.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an assembled structure of an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are a cross-sectional view and an exploded perspective view of FIG. 1, respectively, and FIGS.
Figures a and b are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the product carrying out device to which this invention is implemented, sequentially showing the steps from standby for sales to the end of the sales operation, and Figures 8 to 10 are for products corresponding to the type and size of the product, respectively. 11 and 12 are side and perspective views of the main structure of a conventional control cam adjustment method, respectively. In each figure, 1... Product storage shelf, 2... Product, 3... Bend motor, 4... Rotation drive shaft, 7... First control cam, 8... First product holding flapper, 9... Second
control cam, 10... second product holding flapper,
11... Partition bulkhead, 14... Slider, 21, 2
2...stopper, 25...adjustment rod.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A product delivery device for a vending machine that drops and transports products stored in a shelf in a direct stacking manner one by one from the bottom of a row of products based on a sales command, and is of an open-bottom type. With respect to the product storage shelf, there is a swinging flap-type product delivery mechanism installed facing the stored items at the lowest position, and a first and second mechanism installed facing the stored items at the second and middle positions from the bottom. 2 product holding flappers, and first and second control cams mounted on the drive shaft of a bend motor to control the swinging of the first and second product holding flappers in accordance with the sales operation, a slider that collectively holds the first and second control cams that are slidably supported on the drive shaft of the bend motor; and an adjusting means that adjusts the slider by moving it up and down together with each control cam in accordance with the product size. A product delivery device for a vending machine, characterized by comprising: 2. In the product carrying out device according to claim 1, the adjustment means for adjusting the vertical movement of the slider includes a manual adjustment rod attached to the slider, and a plurality of adjustment rods installed on the product storage shelf side to support the adjustment rod. A product dispensing device for a vending machine, comprising a stopper with adjustable steps. 3. A product dispensing device for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the slider is guided and supported by a partition wall in a product storage shelf.