GB2248609A - Apparatus for dispensing from top of stack - Google Patents

Abstract

A package dispenser for a compartmented vending machine has, for each compartment 11 a platform 16 for supporting the stack 14 of packages. The platform 16 is urged to move upwardly by a spring 22 until the uppermost package 13 engages abutment rollers 44. When a package is to be dispensed, a solenoid 52 is energised to push pivotally a lever 60 having a pin-and-slot lost-motion device 72 and, the lower end 74 of which 'kicks' the uppermost package 13 free of the rollers 44, thus permitting the platform 16 to move further upwardly. This motion causes the uppermost package 13 to abut a depending flap 75 to tip the uppermost package 13 into a dispensing chute 80. <IMAGE>

Description

DISPENSING APPARATUS This invention concerns dispensing apnarsus. Although F is not intended to be so limited, the invention will in es preferred embodiment be described with reference to its use as part of a vending machine, e.g. a coin- (or token-) freed cigarette vending machine.

The control of stock in, and timely replenishment of, vending machines is a labour-intensive task. This is expensive.

Also, the replenishment process is disruptive in two senses: firstly, while it is being performed, no sale may take place and indeed, in the case of multi-compartment machines, the sale of all goods is interrupted even though not all the compartments are in need of replenishment. Secondly, often a vending machine is in a public place or in private premises (railway platforms, club houses, cinemas etc.) where the operators of such premises do not wish the it customers to be present when replenishment occurs.

For these and other reasons it is desirable to prolong the interval between consecutive replenishments. One obvious way of doing this is to increase the internal volume or capcity of the vending machine. However, there are evident limits to this, namely the volume of each package to be dispensed and the volume of the machine that its operators or renters are willing to accommodate.A turther limitation lies in the inability in practice to increase the height of the machine from the floor beyond a certain level (because of e.g. access problems); and in the case of vending machines supported on legs or mounted on a wall, either the legs cannot be shortened below a certain 'comfort' level, or the mounting on the wall cannot be extended downwardly, because the packages are dispensed at the bottom region of the machine and the customer cannot be expected to stoop below that 'comfort' threshold level.

The present invention seeks to overcome the above drawbacks and aims to provide a dispensing apparatus for dispensing the topmost package from a vertical stack of such packages, thereby enabling the stack to be extended downwardly.and so increasing its capacity without in any way affecting the user's 'comfort thieshold' mentioned above. Furthermore, the invention seeks reliably to prevent jams from occurring in the process E dispensing or ejection, e.g. bv two superposed packs being stuck together, and to assure that when a dispense column is exhausted of product, that fact is reliably signalled.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided dispensing apparatus for dispensing one package or product at a time from a vertical stack of such packages or products, comprising a casing, a vertically mobile platform in said casing, biasing means for biasing said platform in an upward direction, pusher means actuatable to abut and substantially horizontally displace the uppermost package or product of said stack, deflecting means disposed or disposable in the path of substantially horizontal displacement of a package or product that has been acted on by said pusher means, said deflecting means being effective to deflect said package or product along a path clear of said stack and towards a dispensing outlet, and wherein said pusher means includes a lost-motion device.

Preferably, said biasing means is a spring having one end anchored to a lower region of the casing or other fixed structure and its other end attached to said platform, e.g. by a cord or wire, which may be trained around at least one rolling member, e.g. a pulley.

In an advantageous embodiment, said platform has stack a supporting surface which slopes to the horizontal from the front to the back of the casing. This serves to maintain the uppermost package or product in a desired position prior to dispensing even if the upward motion of the platform has a lot of 'play'.

The pusher means may include a lug or flange on a lever, e.g. a two-part lever the parts of which are connected to each other by the said lost motion device, said lever being pivotally displaceable by an actuator, e.g. by the stroke of a solenoid plunger rod, and being resiliently biased to an inactive position. The lost motion device allows the position of impact of the lug or flange to be adjusted to its maximum power.

Expediently, an angled plate may be fixed to the casing to se:vice as a stop and positive forward deflector for the uppermost package product. Alternatively, freely rotatable roller means may be fixed in the casing serving as an otf-centre stop to the upward movement of the stack (platform) and/or as an assist/guide device to the substantially horizontal displacement of the uppermost package.

The deflecting means is preferably disposed outside the vertical planes bounding the platform and its effective surface being above the substantially horizontal plane of the displacement of the uppermost package or product by an amount less than the vertical height of said package or product in the stack; and it may be a depending, vertical, resilient metal or plastics flap. Alternatively, the deflecting means may include a transversely extending angled bar fixed to the inner face of the front panel of the casing.

A transverse bar may extend across the side of the stack opposite the side with the pusher means at a height below substantially horizontal plane of the displacement of the uppermost package or product by an amount less than the width of said package or product, the bar being able to support one end of a vertically extending stack-retaining means, e.g. a piece of curtain wire. Preferably, however, the apparatus includes depthwise and widthwise adjustable column dividers as well as adjustable front 'fence' plates secured to the said column dividers.

The invention includes a vending machine having at least one dispensing apparatus as set forth above.

The invention will be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a partial transverse cross-section of dispensing apparatus according to a first embodiment the invention, wherein the left and right (as viewed) represent the front and rear, respectively, of the apparatus, Figure 2 is a partly broken-away rear elevation of the apparatus of Figure 1, looking forwardly from the rear of the apparatus; and Figures 3, 3a and 4 essentially correspond to Figures 1 ad 2, respectively, but illustrating a second embodiment, Figure 3a being a detail.

The preferred embodiments of dispensing apparatus forms part of a vending machine, e.g. a vending machine for flat packages or products (hereafter referred to simply as 'packages') in which a plurality of vertical stacks of packages are arranged next to each other. As is well-known, such machines include a slot for the insertion of coins or tokens, devices for checking the validity of the inserted coins or tokens and summing them, rejecting invalid coins or tokens or returning them if they exceed in value a predetermined amount, a dispensing outlet and associated means for freeing or barring it, a selector mechanism operable bv a purchaser for selecting the stack containing the desired brand of cigarettes and a window panel at the front of the machine.

Preferred embodiments of this invention are concerned solely with the apparatus involved in that part of the overall machine which dispenses and ejects a selected package within a purchasing/vending process in which a package is removed from a slected stack and shifted towards the dispensing outlet.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, there is shown a dispensing apparatus 10 in a vending machine, with a plurality of dispensing compartments 11 arranged next to each other. In each compartment 11 (only one is shown) packages 12 are arranged in a vertical stack 14 supported on a vertically mobile platform 16. The platform 16 is provided with projections (not shown) engaged in grooves 18 formed in a casing 20 to guide the movement of the platform 16.

The platform 16 is biased to move upwardly (vertically) by means of a spring 22 one end 24 of which is fixed to the casing 20 while its other end 26 is indirectly connected to a lug 28 integral with the platform 16. In fact, the other end 26 is connected to a floating pulley 30 around which is trained a length of cord 32. One end 34 of the cord is fixed to the casing 20 and after passing around the pulley 30 the cord 32 is led upwardly to pass around another pulley 36 mounted in a slot 38 in the casing 20. From there the cord 32 is led downwardly inside the casing and is fixed to the lug 28.

In this way the platform 16 is permanently biased to move upwardly. In order to ensure that the uppermost pack 13 is accurately positioned adjacent an opening 40 in the casing, for reasons to be described below, despite any 'play' for rocking movements of the platform in the grooves 18, the platform 16 is provided with a nose piece 42 which causes the stack 14 to be tilted to the horizontal from the front to the rear of the casing 20.

A latch (not shown in Figures 1 and 2) may be provided for retaining the platform 16 against the upward bias of the spring 22, for loading/replenishing purposes; and such latch may be an individual one for each compartment 11 or a common one for all the compartments.

The upward movement of the platform 16 and stack 14 is limited by a pair of transversely spaced-apart, freely rotatable rollers 44 made e.g. of low-friction plastics material and rotatable about a shaft 46 fixed in the grooves 18. As is clear from Figure 1, each roller 44 is closely adjacent to the rear of the casing 20 and, as is clear from Figure 2, extends only a short way across the width of the stack 14.

A transverse bar 48 extends between the sides of the casing.

The uppermost edge 49 of the bar 48 is below the horizontal plane containing the bottom of the uppermost package 12 but above the horizontal plane containing the top of the vertically next package. The bar 48 has a slot (not shown) revealing a transverse metal rod (also not shown) to which one end of a flexible wire, e.g. curtain wire 50 may be hooked. The lower end of the wire 50 is not shown. The wire 50 serves to provide a frontal stop for the stack 14 and is, of course, easily unhooked to provide ready access to the platform 16 during replenishment.

Mounted on top of the casing 20 is a solenoid 52 connected by conductors 54 to a non-illustrated battery or other electric power source. A plunger 56 is axially movable along the arrow 57 he Fhe solenoid 52 on energisation of the latter and has a plunger tip 58 adjacent a pusher lever 60.

The lever 60 is mounted for pivotal movement about the shaft 69 of a roller 64 freely rotatably mounted at the corner of the top and rear of the casing 20. The top end of the lever 60 has a lateral flange 66 connected by a spring 68 to a lug 70 projecting upwardly from the top of the casing. Thus, the lever 60 is normally biased to the position illustrated in Figure 1, which is its inactive position.

The main body of the lever 60 is in three parts which are i-.terconnecFed by slot-and-pin connections 72 to provide 'lost motion' for longitudinal adjustment. The lower end of the lever 60 has a lateral projection 74 serving as a pusher.

A resilient deflector flap 75 is secured to the inner top surface of the casing 20. It is made of plastics or metal and is yieldable to move along the arc shown by a double-headed arrow 76. The flap 75 is disposed in a vertical plane to the left of the frontal plane of the stack 14 and terminates in a bottom edge 77 which is in a horizontal plane higher than that of the upper surface ot the uppermost package 13 by an amount less than the vertical height of the package 13.

In use, when a purchaser has selected the compartment 11 for the put chase of a package 12 and has inserted the appropriate coin(s) or token(s) into the vending machine, actuation of the non-illustrated selector will energize the solenoid 52, whereupon the plunger tip 58 moves in the direction of the arrow 57 to hit the top of the lever 60. The lever 60 is then forced to pivot (clockwise, as shown) about the pivot axis 62 and the pusher 74 will move along the arc indicated by arrows 78 through the slot 40 to hit the rear end 79 of the uppermost package 13 abutting against the underside of the rollers 44. The collision force will displace the said package 13 to the left (as viewed) and this movement is assisted by the freely rotatable mounting of the rollers.The magnitude of the leftward displacement of the uppermost package 13 is adjusted to be such that the rear end 79 is clear of the rollers 4!E but is still resting on the next lower package 12.

However because of the continued bias of the spring 22, the platform 16 is now released to move upwardly. Consequently, the uppermost package 13 supported in partial overlap by the next lower package 12 abuts the bottom edge 77 of the flap 75 and is tipped off the stack 14 into the space designated by 80 (arrow 81), as shown in broken lines. It should be noted that only one package can thus be tipped off the stack: thus even if the next lower package were to stick to the uppermost one 13, it would be prevented by the bar 48 from taking part with the latter in the initial forward horizontal movement caused by the impact of the pusher 74.

In this way, the uppermost package 13 freed from the stack 14 may tumble into the space 80 which may serve as a chute to pass the pack 13 to a dispensing outlet located at any desired position.

It should be further appreciated that the lost motion pinand-slot device 72 serves to prevent jams from occurring.

Meanwhile, the restoring force of the spring 68 and the lost motion device 72 are together effective reliably to withdraw the lever 60 and to return it to its initial position without risk of jamming.

The embodiment of Figures 3, 3a and 4 illustrates a dispensing apparatus operating on essentially the same principles as that of Figures I and 2. Like parts have been designated with like reference numbers but increased by 100. Only the significant differences will be described. Thus the spring 122 and pulley 136 arrangement has been simplified and brought within the casing 120 and the floating pulley 30 of the previous embodiment has been obviated. The platform or stack lifter 116 is modified to be centrally recessed or bifurcated at its front end 117 such that when the last package 112 has been dispensed the recess in said end 117 serves as a blocker to pivotal movement of an ejector arm 160 slidably and pivotably mounted in the casing 12, see further below.The solenoid 152 is associated with a microswitch 185 each activarion of which increments (or decrements) a non-illustrated courter. :iowe':er, when the ejector arm i60 is blocked or latched ny the recesss end 117 o' the platform 115 no pulse is delivered to the microswitch 185, this condition being utilised e.g. to return a coin or token and/or to indicate to a machine operator that the particular column requires replenishment.

In this embodiment, the front of each compartment is flanked by a pair of spaced apart fence plates 148 mounted on column dividers 186. In this embodiment the solenoid plunger 156 is biased upwardly (as viewed) by a spring 165. The solenoid plunger 156 is connected to the arm 188 of a two-armed lever pivoted at 190 abort a pivot pin 192 fixed to the casing 120. The other arm 194 is centrally slotted at 195 and the ejector arm 160 is freely slidably mounted in this slot 195, constituting a lost motion device.

The bottom, free end 161 of arm 160 serves to engage and 'kick' the uppermost package 113 horizontally, this package 113 having been stopped and deflected to the left (as seen in Figure 3) by an angled stop/baffle clip 144 (or a pair of such clips).

The or each clip 144 extend(s) slightly inwardly from the edge of the compartment, e.g. to a length of 1 cm, sufficient to ensure that the uppermost package 113 is positioned at the lowest point (maximum power) of the arcuate movement of the arm end 161.

It also ensures that the uppermost package 113 is reliably separated from the package 112 below, thus e.g. breaking the adhesion or 'seal' that may occur between wetted packaging material, such as polypropylene film packaging for cigarette packs.

The lever arm 188 is in two parts connected by screws or rivets 196, one of the parts forming an actuator plate 197 for actuating the microswitch 185. When the solenoid 152 is energised, the plunger 156 and thus the lever arm 188 is drawn downwaidly (as viewed) against the force of the spring 168, causing Lever arm 194 to rotate clockwise to abut against the uppermost package 113 which has already been shifted forward to the illustrated position by the clip(s) 144. Meanwhile, the actuator plate 197 abuts a switch closer of the microswitch 185, w?:-reby a court pulse will be delivered to circuitry not shown.

The plate 116 supporting the stack has a U-shaped recess which acts as a stop or latch to the bottom part 161 of the arm 160 when the last package 112 has been dispensed. This prevents the lever arm 194 from rotating clockwise and thus prevents also actuation of the microswitch. Thus no count pulse is delivered, signalling a 'stack empty/replenish/return coin' condition.

In a non-illustrated further development, the casing contains at column-type compartments in which product packages to be sequentially dispensed are vertically stackable, wherein the forward-iacing back surface of the compartment is provided with position-identifying markers spaced apart at a pitch generally corresponding to the vertical thickness of a given package, a different and unique marker being associated with each vertical package position, whereby in use, as the lowermost package is dispensed from the said compartment a different one of said markers becomes visible above the uppermost package that has not yet been dispensed, or above the dispensing opening when the last package of the stack has been dispensed.

According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of stock control in a vending machine as set forth above, wherein the lowermost exposed marker is scanned and the result of the scan is electronically stored for subsequent evaluation and replenishment of said compartment.

Preferably, the markers are bar code indicia and the scanning is then effected either by a conventional bar code reader or by such a reader coupled to, or integrated with, an electronic data storage device, e.g. one commercially available under the trade mark 'PSION Organiser'.

In this non-illustrated development the bar codes or other indicia are schematically indicated at 82 in Figure 1, and are readable below the platform 16 of this invention; i.e the datum line for the stack extends downwardly from the plane of engagement between the rollers 44 and the top surface and the top package 13. The markers or bar codes may include productidentifying indicia in addition to position-identifying indicia.

This is especially useful for multi-column vending machines in which the products dispensed in the different compartments are not the same type (e.g. different types of confectionery) or are not the same brand, e.g. of-cigarettes.

The use of a unique bar code associated with each package position evidently eliminates any errors in counting. Also, by applying the bar codes in such a way as to prevent tampering, mis-entry of data is also obviated. To this end, preferably the markers are in the form of a paper or plastics film laminate strip bearing indicia and affixed to the said surface in a tamper-proof (or tamper-revealing) manner. The said strip may have the indicia printed on it from behind, as viewed by a user of the machine.

Claims (23)

1. DSpCnsi. appat at:s for dispensing one package at a time fi-o:n a vertical stack of such packages, comprising a casing, a vertically mobile platform in said casing, biasing means for biasing said platform in an upward direction, pusher means which are actuatable to engage and substantially horizontally to displace the uppermost package of said stack and which include a lost motion device, and deflecting means disposed or disposable in the path of substantially horizontal displacement of a package that has been acted on by said pusher means, said deflecting means being effective to deflect said package along a path clear of said stack and towards a dispensing outlet.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said biasing means is a spring having one end anchored to a lower region of the casing or other fixed structure and its other end attached to said platform, e.g. by a cord or wire which may be trained around at least one pulley.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said platform has a stack-supporting surface which slopes to the horizontal from the front to the back of the casing.

4. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said pusher means includes a lug on a two-part lever the parts of which are connected to each other by the said lost motion device, said lever being pivotally displaceable by an actuator, and being resiliently biased to an inactive position.

5. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein said pusher means includes an ejector arm slidably mounted on a pivot arm pivotable about a pivot axis which carries another pivot arm connected to an actuator.

6. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein freely rotatable :'.iller means are fixed in the casing serving as an off-centre stop to the upward movement of the platform and/or as an assist/guide device to the substantially horizontal displacement of the uppermost package.

7. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3 and 5, where in an angled baffle plate is fixed in the casing to serve srmultaneously as a stop for the upward movement of the platform and forward deflector in a substantially horizontal direction for the uppermost package.

8. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said deflecting means is disposed outside the vertical planes bounding the platform and its effective surface being above the substantially horizontal plane of the displacement of the uppermost package by an amount less than the vertical height of said package in the stack.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said deflecting means is a depending resilient flap, made of plastics or metal.

10. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a transverse bar extends across the side of the stack opposite the side with the pusher means at a height below substantially horizontal plane of the displacement of the uppermost package by an amount less than the width of said package.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said bar includes means for supporting one end of a vertically extending stack-retaining means, e.g. a piece of curtain wire.

12. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the platform includes a recess which serves to block said ejector arm when the last package has been pushed off the platform.

13. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the pusher tneans is electrically actuated at the associated electrical circuitry includes a counter incremented (or decremented) by the package-engaging movement of the pusher means.

14. Apparatus accordng to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein a compartment containing said stack is provided with adjustable frontal fence plates of a height to retain all but the uppermost package.

15. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the casing contains a plurality of juxtaposed compartments each including its own platform, biasing means, pushing means and deflecting means.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein its forms part of a vending machine, preferably a coin-freed vending machine including a copartment-selector device and a coin-collecting and checking device, said pusher means being actuated by said purchaser-operated selector device after the acceptance of the purchaser's coin(s) or token(s) by said coin-collecting and checking device.

17. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a surface of the compartment is provided with scannable position identifying markers spaced apart at a pitch generally corresponding to the vertical thickness of a given package, a different and unique marker being associated with each vertical package position, the said markers being so disposed that, in use, as the uppermost package is dispensed from the said compartment a different one of said markers becomes visible below the platform.

18. Apparatus according to claim' 17, wherein the markers are bar code indicia.

19. Apparatus according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the markers or bar codes include product-identifying indicia.

20. Apparatus according to claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 and 2 or Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

21. A method of stock control in a vending machine as claimed in claim 17, wherein the uppermost marker exposed below the platform is scanned and the result of the scan is electronically stored for subsequent evaluation and replenishment of said compartment.

22. A method according to claim 21, wherein the scanning is effected either by a conventional bar code reader or by such a reader coupled to, or integrated with, an electronic data storage device.

23. A method according to claim 21, substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.