BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an automatic vending machine including a product housing rack including: product housing shelves including a plurality of product housing paths in a right-left direction, the product housing shelves being disposed at multiple rungs in an up-down direction, the product housing shelf being configured to define the corresponding product housing path in which a plurality of products each having a sideways posture are housed to be arrayed in line in a front-back direction; and a product discharge device being disposed on a rear end side of the product housing shelf and configured to separate and discharge, one by one, the products that are housed in the product housing path.

2. Related Art

Such an automatic vending machine includes a product housing rack (also referred to as a slant rack) including product housing shelves disposed at a plurality of rungs in the up-down direction and each including a product housing path (also referred to as a product column) in which a plurality of products each having a sideways posture are housed to be arrayed in line in the front-back direction in a body cabinet. Each product housing shelf disposed in the product housing rack is tilted at a predetermined slope so that a product discharge port of the product housing path is lower. A partition member extending in the front-back direction and partitioning an upper surface of the product housing shelf in a width direction (right-left direction) to define the product housing path is installed on the product housing shelf. A product discharge device configured to separate and discharge, one by one, products that are housed in the sideways posture in the product housing path is provided at the product discharge port of each product housing path partitioned by the partition member (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-123590).

The product discharge device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-123590 is disposed above the product housing path and includes: a first stopper member capable of freely appearing in the product housing path and provided to be movable between a protrusion position where the first stopper member protrudes in the product housing path to hold a product of the first vending order (product at the rearmost end) and a retracted position where the first stopper member is retracted from the product housing path to release holding of the product; a second stopper member capable of freely appearing in the product housing path and provided to be movable between a retracted position where the second stopper member is retracted from the product housing path and a protrusion position where the second stopper member protrudes in the product housing path to hold a product of the second vending order (product following the product at the rearmost end; also referred to as a next product) following the product; a link mechanism configured to move each of the first stopper member and the second stopper member to the protrusion position and the retracted position; and a drive device (solenoid or motor) configured to drive the link mechanism, and at vending standby, the first stopper member is caused to protrude in the product housing path to hold the product while the second stopper member is retracted from the product housing path, and the drive device is driven based on a vending command to cause the second stopper member to protrude in the product housing path through the link mechanism to hold the next product and simultaneously cause the first stopper member to retract from the product housing path to deliver the product.

Such a slant rack as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-123590, in which a large number of product columns can be defined in the up-down and right-left directions, is suitable for a request for the capability of vending a large number of kinds of products along with product diversification (providing a large number of options).

SUMMARY

In a slant rack of this kind, it is vital that products each having a sideways posture arrayed in line in the front-back direction in a manner such that the axis line of each product is orthogonal to the traveling direction (front-back direction) of the product are housed in the product housing path defined in each product housing shelf. Thus, the set position of the partition member is adjusted so that the path width of the product housing path is slightly longer than the length of each product, and for example, when the product has a cylindrical container shape, the partition member is set so that the path width of the product housing path is equal to or longer than the length of the cylindrical container and equal to or shorter than the length of the diagonal line of the cylindrical container. However, products having odd container shapes (for example, a plastic bottle product having a spout narrowed relative to the shank) have become used along with product diversification, and product clogging potentially occurs when such a product rolls or slides on the product housing path, the product undergoes posture change involving tilt of the axis line of the product from the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction (front-back direction) of the product, and stops halfway through the product housing path. In addition, a first loaded product (at installation of the automatic vending machine or replacement of products) on the product housing path is held in a state by a pedal member of the product discharge device disposed at the product discharge port of the product housing path, but when the first loaded product undergoes posture change and is held by the pedal member in a tilted state, product clogging potentially occurs where protrusion of a stopper member configured to hold the next product into the product housing path is interfered by the first loaded product and becomes locked. When product clogging has occurred in this manner, the product clogging needs to be solved. The product clogging is solved by inserting a hand into the product housing path and taking out, one by one, products housed in the product housing path while visually recognizing the products from the front side of the product housing path. In this case, when product clogging has occurred closer to the front side of the product housing path, the product clogging can be solved by inserting a hand, but when product clogging has occurred closer to the back side of the product housing path, it is difficult to insert a hand, and this problem is particularly significant for the product housing paths defined in the product housing shelves at upper and lower rungs. Thus, the product housing rack housed and installed in the automatic vending machine needs to be removed and taken out of the automatic vending machine, which is cumbersome.

Since the product discharge device disposed at the product discharge port on the back surface of each product housing shelf includes the first and second stopper members for delivering products one by one, and an electric component (drive device) configured to control appearance of the first and second stopper members in the product housing path is provided to each of the product housing shelves disposed at multiple rungs in the up-down direction, a control side wire pulled out of each product housing shelf is interfered by any product housed in the product housing shelf when exposed in the product housing path, which leads to a discharge operation defect.

In view of the above-described circumstances, it is desirable to provide an automatic vending machine capable of easily solving product clogging and performing smooth product discharge.

In some embodiments, an automatic vending machine includes a product housing rack including a plurality of product housing shelves that are disposed at multiple rungs in an up-down direction, each product housing shelf being tilted so that a product discharge port is arranged at a position lower than a product injection port, a plurality of product housing paths corresponding to the plurality of product housing shelves, each product housing path being defined in the corresponding product housing shelf and configured to house products each having a sideways posture that are arrayed in line in a front-back direction, a plurality of product discharge devices corresponding to the plurality of product housing shelves and the plurality of product housing paths, each product discharge device being disposed near the product discharge port and above the product housing path of the corresponding product housing shelf and configured to separate and discharge, one by one, the products that are housed in the corresponding product housing path. The product housing shelf includes a front side shelf member and a back side shelf member that are divided in the front-back direction, supported by support members, and detachably coupled with each other so that the front side shelf member is sandwiched by the back side shelf member.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical and industrial significance of this disclosure will be better understood by reading the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments of the disclosure, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

