Article ejecting device of automatic vending machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9811965-B2
Application number	US-201514933521-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2015
Priority date	Nov 7, 2014
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

An article ejecting device of an automatic vending machine includes an article storage rack having an article storage passage for storing articles while being laid sideways, a base board forming one side of the article storage passage, a first stopper member movable between a protruding position in which the first stopper member protrudes toward the article storage passage and a retractable position in which the first stopper member is retracted from the article storage passage, a second stopper member movable between a protruding position in which the second stopper member protrudes toward the article storage passage and a retractable position in which the second stopper member is retracted from the article storage passage, and an outlet adjustment member forming another side of the article storage passage. The first stopper member includes an article placement surface having a holding portion holding the first vending article in a rolling manner.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An article ejecting device of an automatic vending machine, comprising:
an article storage rack having an article storage passage for storing articles while being laid sideways and stacked in an up and down direction;
a base board forming one side of the article storage passage;
a first stopper member movable between a protruding position in which the first stopper member protrudes toward the article storage passage so as to hold a first vending article and a retractable position in which the first stopper member is retracted from the article storage passage so as to release holding of the first vending article;
a second stopper member movable between a protruding position in which the second stopper member protrudes toward the article storage passage so as to hold a second vending article and a retractable position in which the second stopper member is retracted from the article storage passage;
a closing plate separately formed from the second stopper member and rotationally attached to the base board above the second stopper member, and
an outlet adjustment member forming another side of the article storage passage,

wherein the first stopper member includes an article placement surface having a holding portion holding the first vending article in a rolling manner so that the first vending article does not contact the outlet adjustment member when only the first vending article is placed on the article placement surface without the second vending article stacked thereon,
the second stopper member includes a shaft support portion having a pin insertion hole and rotatably supported at the base board, another holding portion having a tongue portion to hold the second vending article at the protruding position, and a stopper wall portion, the shaft support portion, the another holding portion, and the stopper wall portion being integrally formed as one member, and
when the second stopper member protrudes at the protruding position, the closing plate is pushed to protrude together with the another holding portion into the article storage passage and interposed between the second vending article and the another holding portion of the second stopper member to fill a gap between the base board and the another holding portion, and when the second stopper member is retracted at the retractable position, the closing plate is drooped to overlap the second stopper member from the one side of the article storage passage.

2. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , wherein the holding portion is an inverse trapezoidal recess portion formed on the article placement surface of the first stopper member.

3. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , wherein the holding portion is a circular-arc recess portion formed on the article placement surface of the first stopper member.

4. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , wherein the holding portion is a recess portion formed by an upward protruding protrusion portion provided in a front end of the first stopper member.

5. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a link member slidably attached to the base board, and connected to the second stopper member,
a plunger attached to the link member to operate the link member, and
a rotation stopper rotationally attached to the base board, and connected to the link member so that when the link member is actuated by the plunger, the rotation stopper is rotated to move the first stopper member to the retractable position, and the second stopper is rotated to the protrusion position to hold the second vending article thereon.

6. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 5 , wherein the rotation stopper includes another pin insertion hole for inserting a lock pin, the lock pin engaging and supporting the first stopper member.

7. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , wherein the tongue portion is arranged such that when the article ejecting device and another article ejecting device are disposed back to back, the tongue portion engages another tongue portion of the another article ejecting device without being interfered each other.

8. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , wherein the shaft support portion is arranged at a lower portion of the second stopper member, the another holding portion is arranged at an upper portion of the second stopper, and the stopper wall extends between the shaft support portion and the another holding portion;
the another holding portion has a width greater than that of the shaft support portion in a direction of a rotation axis of the second stopper member to form extension portions at sides of the another holding portion; and
the tongue portion includes a plurality of tongue pieces arranged apart from each other to form spaces therebetween such that when the article ejecting device and another article ejecting device are disposed back to back, another plurality of tongue pieces of the another article ejecting device is arranged in the spaces without being interfered with the plurality of tongue pieces at the retractable position.

9. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 1 , wherein the base board includes a first protrusion portion protruding in the article storage passage above the closing plate, and the outlet adjustment member includes a second protrusion portion protruding toward the first stopper member in the article storage passage; and
the first and second protrusion portions guide the second vending article such that a gravity center of the second vending article is not located at a position on an extension line of a gravity center of the first vending article.

10. The article ejecting device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 9 , further comprising an article detection lever rotatably attached to the base board, and protruding in the article storage passage to suppress rebounding of the second vending article from the first second vending article.

Assignees

• Fuji Electric Co Ltd

Inventors

• Erikawa Hajime
• Fukuda Katsuhiko
• Iwako Tsutomu

Classifications

• G07F11/005 Primary

  Special arrangements for insuring that only one single article may be dispensed at a time · CPC title

• G07F11/04

  in which magazines the articles are stored one vertically above the other · CPC title

• G07F11/72 Primary

  Auxiliary equipment, e.g. for lighting cigars, opening bottles · CPC title

• G07F11/00

  Coin-freed apparatus for dispensing, or the like, discrete articles · CPC title