Automatic vending machine, particularly for vending packages of ice cream or of deep-frozen products in general

Abstract: A vending machine, particularly for packages of ice cream or of deep-frozen products in general, comprising a supporting structure (2) and a plurality of flaps (3) that are individually pivoted to the supporting structure about a substantially horizontal pivoting axis. Actuation means act on the flaps (3) and rotate them about the corresponding pivoting axis from a position for supporting the product to be vended to a position for releasing the product. The machine according to the invention comprises elastic return means that act on the flaps (3) to keep them in the supporting position and in the release position and to make them pass automatically from the release position to the supporting position when they move beyond an intermediate position of unstable equilibrium that lies between the release position and the supporting position.

Description: The present invention relates to a vending machine, particularly for vending packages of ice-cream or of deep-frozen products in general. Conventional machines for vending packages of ice cream are substantially composed of a thermally-insulated and sealed compartment that is kept at a low temperature (approximately -20°C), with a door for resupplying the machine and a door for the exit of the vended product. In some types of machine, a same door performs both functions. These machines are furthermore provided with a device that holds the various products and dispenses them when the buyer inserts a token, a coin, or the like, in a coin box that activates the product release device. Depending on the device used for the automatic delivery of the products on sale, currently commercially available ice-cream vending machines can be divided mainly into four groups: a first group, which is constituted by machines that operate with rotating chains, to which flaps are rigidly coupled, the ice creams being arranged on said flaps; a second group, which is constituted by machines with a drum that rotates about a horizontal or vertical axis and in which the product to be vended is deposited on circular segments, from which it is removed through a recess; a third group, which includes machines with a rotating spiral, in which the product, deposited in the "turns" of the spiral, is made to advance and allowed to drop at each rotation of the spiral, which is in turn actuated by an electric motor; and a fourth group, which includes machines in which the device for holding and delivering the products is constituted by a plurality of flaps that are pivoted about horizontal axes and are arranged one above the other in a vertical alignment. In machines of this fourth group, the flaps can rotate individually substantially through 90° about the corresponding pivoting axis, so as to pass from a supporting position, in which the corresponding flap is arranged substantially horizontally so as to correctly support the product to be vended, to a release position, in which the flap is arranged substantially vertically so as to let the product drop below by gravity into an appropriately provided compartment that can be accessed by the buyer. Among the above-described vending machines, the machines of the fourth group are undoubtedly those that have less problems as regards bulk. It should be noted that limited bulk is one of the most appreciated qualities of these machines, since it makes it less troublesome to install them in commercial premises. Machines that belong to the fourth group, that is to say, machines in which the device for supporting and releasing the products to be vended is constituted by a plurality of flaps that are individually pivoted about horizontal pivoting axes and are mutually superimposed along a vertical direction, have the drawback that they require relatively long loading times. In this type of machine, when the machine is resupplied with new products, the operator must manually return to the supporting position the various flaps that had been moved to the release position due to the vending of the product, in order to be able to load the new products. This operation, which is generally performed while the door of the refrigerated compartment is open, requires a rather long time, and this can cause an unwanted increase in the temperature inside the refrigerated compartment, with a consequent negative effect on the qualities of the product to be vended. US-A-3 767 081 discloses an article dispensing device having a plurality of hinge mounted shelves which are held in a releasable storing position by a spring-biased retaining rod engaged in a frame holding notch. When the spring-biased retaining rod is disengaged from the holding notch by means of a trip finger, the shelves fall by gravity into the dispensing position. US-A-3 813 005 discloses a vending machine module with a plurality of pivoted flaps held in support position by spring-biased rod, which when released allows the flaps to fall into the release position. The aim of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem by providing a vending machine, particularly for packages of ice cream or deep-frozen products in general, that requires a very short time to load it. Within the scope of this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a machine in which it is possible to automatically or semiautomatically position the flaps for supporting the products to be vended, so as to make the loading operation particularly quick. Another object of the invention is to provide a machine that is structurally simple and can be manufactured with competitive costs. Another object of the invention is to provide a vending machine that ensures high reliability in operation. Another object of the invention is to provide a machine that offers adequate assurances of safety as regards the correct preservation of the products to be vended. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a vending machine as defined in the appended claims. The particular characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the machine according to the invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: figure 1 is a front elevation view of the machine; figure 2 is a schematic sectional view of the machine, taken along the plane II-II of figure 1; figure 3 is a sectional view of figure 1, taken along the plane III-III, with the access door removed; figure 4 is an enlarged-scale view of a detail of figure 3; figure 5 is a view of two rows of flaps supported by a same post, seen from the rear side; figure 6 is a view of the two rows of flaps seen from the rear side, with the rear post removed for greater clarity; figure 7 is a schematic perspective view of some flaps connected to the supporting posts and of the actuation means; figures 8 and 9 are perspective views of the passage of a flap from the supporting position to the release position; figure 10 is a view of a detail related to the pin of the actuation means for the passage of the flaps from the supporting position to the release position. With reference to the above figures, the machine according to the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a supporting structure 2 and a plurality of flaps 3 that are individually pivoted to the supporting structure about pivoting axes 3a that are substantially horizontal. More particularly, the supporting structure comprises a front post 4 and a rear post 5 that rise vertically and support the flaps 3 so that they can rotate about their respective pivoting axes 3a. Each flap 3 can rotate individually about the corresponding pivoting axis 3a to pass from a supporting position, in which it is arranged substantially horizontally so as to support the product to be vended, to a release position, in which it is arranged substantially vertically to let the product fall by gravity, and viceversa. Each flap 3 is fixed to a shaft 8 that is supported by the front post 4 and by the rear post 5 so that it can rotate about its own axis, which forms the axis 3a. The rear end 8a of the shaft 8 is crank-shaped. According to the invention, the machine comprises elastic return means that act on the flaps 3 to keep them in the supporting position and in the release position and to produce their automatic passage from the release position to the supporting position, or viceversa, when an intermediate position of unstable equilibrium of the flaps 3, between the release position and the supporting position, is passed. Said elastic means, in the illustrated embodiment, are constituted, for each flap 3, by a spring 9 that connects the crank-shaped end 8a of the shaft 8 to a pin 10 that is fixed to the rear post 5. The spring 9 is stretched between a portion of the corresponding flap 3, constituted by the crank-shaped end 8a of the shaft 8, which is spaced from the pivoting axis 3a of the flap, and the supporting structure. Said spring 9, when the corresponding flap 3 is in the supporting position, is arranged on one side of the plane that passes through the pivoting axis 3a and through the point where the spring 9 is connected to the supporting structure, whereas when the corresponding flap 3 is in the release position, said spring 9 is located on the opposite side with respect to said plane. In this manner, the spring 9 has the effect of causing the passage of the flap 3 into the supporting position or into the release position as soon as the flap 3 has passed beyond the point of unstable equilibrium that is constituted by the position in which the flap is aligned with the plane that passes through the pivoting axis and through the point where the spring 9 couples to the supporting structure. Advantageously, the various flaps 3 are pivoted to the supporting structure with a portion thereof that is located proximate to one of their perimetric sides, and are mutually spaced so that each one of said flaps 3, in the release position, except of course for the last lower flap, overlaps the underlying flap, and so that each one of the flaps 3, in passing from the release position to the supporting position, acts on the overlying flap 3 until it has passed beyond the point of unstable equilibrium in its oscillation toward the supporting position. In this manner, the passage of the last lower flap from the release position to the supporting position automatically causes the passage of all the overlying flaps from the release position to the supporting position. The machine comprises actuation means that act on the flaps 3 to cause their rotation about the corresponding pivoting axis 3a from a position for supporting the product 6 to be vended to a position for releasing the product 6. Advantageously, the actuation means that act on the flaps 3 to achieve their passage from the product supporting position to the product release position can also be used to achieve the automatic passage of the flaps from the release position to the supporting position. More particularly, each flap 3 is provided, proximate to a longitudinal end of the shaft 8, with a lever 12 that is also rigidly coupled to the flap, or to the shaft 8, and has two arms, respectively 12a and 12b, that are mutually angularly spaced about the pivoting axis 3a of the corresponding flap 3. Said actuation means comprise an element 13 that can move on command along a vertical direction and can engage, in each instance, the levers 12 that are connected to the flaps 3 to perform, in combination with the action applied by the springs 9, the passage of the flaps 3 from the supporting position to the release position or viceversa. The element 13 is constituted by a pin that is parallel to the axes 3a and is fixed to a chain 15 that is arranged so that one of its portions, to which the pin 13 is indeed fixed, is vertical proximate to the region of the flaps 3 that is pivoted to the post 4. The chain 15 is stretched between two pinions 16 that have horizontal axes; only the lower pinion is shown, and said pinions are supported so that they can rotate about the respective axes by the front post 4; one of these pinions, the lower pinion in the illustrated case, is connected, by means of a shaft 7, to a drive unit 17, whose actuation causes the upward or downward movement of the portion of the chain 15 to which the pin 13 is connected. The chain 15 is accommodated in the front post 4 and the pin 13 is fixed to a block 31 that protrudes from a vertical slot 18 that is formed on the inner side of the post 4. The arms 12a and 12b of the levers 12 form, respectively, a first abutment 20, which can engage the pin 13 during upward motion and so as to cause the passage of the corresponding flap 3 from the supporting position to the release position, and a second abutment 21, which can be engaged by the pin 13 during downward motion to achieve the passage of the corresponding flap 3 from the release position to the supporting position. If the flaps 3 are very close to each other, the levers 12 of two contiguous flaps can be appropriately mutually offset in a direction that is parallel to the pivoting axis 3a, so as to avoid interferences between said levers during the actuation of the flaps 3 by means of the pin 13. The flaps 3 are appropriately provided, on their upper face, with an abutment 19 that can engage a side of the rear post 5, so as to ensure the correct horizontal position of each flap 3 in the supporting position. Conveniently, the posts 4 and 5 can support, laterally and on mutually opposite sides, two rows of flaps 3 that are arranged one above the other in vertical alignment, as shown in particular in figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. In this case, the flaps 3 of one row are vertically offset with respect to the flaps 3 of the other row, and the levers of the flaps of one row are offset with respect to the levers of the flaps of the other row in a direction that is parallel to the axes 3a, to avoid interferences between the levers, as already described. Furthermore, the levers 12 of the flaps of the two rows are arranged proximate to the post 4 in order to be actuated by means of a same pin 13. In a same vending machine it is possible to provide a plurality of vertically-stacked rows of flaps, or a plurality of pairs of rows of flaps that are arranged vertically, according to the requirements and according to the capacity of the machine. The row or rows of flaps 3 are arranged inside a compartment 22, which is appropriately refrigerated in the case of machines for vending ice creams or deep-frozen products in general. One or two doors 23 can be provided on one of the sides of the cabinet-like structure 29 that forms the compartment 22, or on two sides; said doors allow access to the compartment 22 to load the machine with the products to be vended. Below the row or rows of flaps, the compartment 22 has an opening 24 that is appropriately closed by a door 25 for unloading the product, which is actuated, in a per se known manner, so as to free the opening 24 when the product is being vended, as will become apparent hereinafter. An opening 26 for taking the vended product is also provided on the front side of the machine. The activation of the drive unit for delivering the vended product is preferably achieved by means of a conventional token- or coin-operated control device 27, whereas its activation during the loading of the products to be vended can be achieved by means of a button or pedal that is located outside the compartment 22, as will become apparent hereinafter. The operation of the machine according to the invention is as follows. When the machine is correctly loaded, the various products 6 to be vended are arranged on the flaps 3, which are kept in horizontal position by the action applied by the springs 9. In this position, the horizontal arrangement of the flaps 3 is ensured by the engagement of the abutment 19 of the various flaps against the rear post 5. When a buyer activates the machine by means of the token- or coin-operated device, the drive unit 17 is activated and moves upward the portion of the chain 15 on which the pin 13 is mounted by an extent that is substantially equal to the distance between two contiguous levers 12. In this manner, the pin 13 engages the abutment 20 of a lever 12, causing the rotation of the corresponding flap 3, which passes from the horizontal supporting position to the vertical release position, allowing a product to drop. The actuation of the drive unit 17 also causes the actuation of the door 25, so that the falling product ends in a product delivery compartment 28 that is located downward and can be picked up easily by the buyer through the opening 26. When it is necessary to resupply the machine, there is a certain number of flaps 3 that are in the product release position. In these conditions, the pin 13 is below the first abutment 20 of the first lower flap that supports an unvended product 6, or is located at the upper end of the row of flaps if the products 6 have been vended completely. By operating the button located outside the refrigerated compartment, the operator lowers the pin 13, which by engaging in succession the levers of the various flaps arranged below, causes the passage of the flaps from the release position to the supporting position. More particularly, the chain 15, by moving the pin 13 downward, causes said pin 13 to act on the abutments 21 of the levers 12, so that the flaps 3, which are normally kept in vertical position by the springs 9, begin their upward rotation about the corresponding pivoting axis. The pin 13, by continuing to engage the levers 12, causes the flaps 3, by passing beyond the unstable equilibrium position, to rearrange horizontally, thus forming the product supporting rack again. The flaps 3 returned to the supporting position remain horizontal due to the action applied by the springs 9. An electric sensor, of a known type not shown for the sake of simplicity, controls the repositioning process, stopping the drive unit 17 when the flaps 3 are all in the supporting position. At this point the operator can open the refrigeration door to load the products. The operations for loading the machine according to the invention can be performed in an automatic stepwise manner instead of automatically and continuously, for example by means of a pedal-operated actuation that activates the drive unit 17, lowering the pin 13 by an extent that corresponds to the distance between two levers 12 of contiguous flaps 3 and then stopping to allow the operator to load, in each instance, the flap 3 that has been returned to the supporting position. Finally, the passage of the flaps 3 from the release position to the supporting position can be achieved, equally in a very short time, as mentioned, even simply by returning the last lower flap 3 of the row of flaps to the supporting position. If one wishes to use this actuation possibility as well, as shown in particular in figure 10, the pin 13 is pivoted, about a horizontal axis 33 that lies at right angles to the extension of the pin 13, to the block 31, which is fixed to the chain 15 so that the pin 13 can oscillate upward in contrast with the action applied by a return spring 32 to be moved below the lever 12 of the flap 3 that is arranged at the lower end of the row of flaps, despite the presence of the levers 12 of the flaps 3 that have been returned to the supporting position. The downward oscillation of the pin 13 is prevented by a stop element 34 that is arranged on the block 31 and with which the pin 13 engages when it reaches the horizontal position. In practice it has been observed that the machine according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim, since it allows to considerably reduce the time required to load it with new products to be vended, offering adequate assurances as regards correct product preservation. The machine thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept as defined in the appended claims. In practice, the materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art. Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims: Vending machine (1), particularly for packages of ice cream or of deep-frozen products in general, which comprises a supporting structure (2) and a plurality of flaps (3) that are individually pivoted to said supporting structure about a substantially horizontal pivoting axis (3a), actuation means (7,12,13,15,16,17) being provided which act on said flaps for their rotation about the corresponding pivoting axis from a position for supporting the product (6) to be vended to a position for releasing said product, characterized in that it comprises elastic return means (9) that act on said flaps to bias the flaps into said supporting position or into said release position and to make the flaps pass automatically from said release position to said supporting position when the flaps move beyond an intermediate position of unstable equilibrium between said release position and said supporting position. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said elastic means, for each one of said flaps, comprise a spring (9) that is stretched between a portion (8a) of the corresponding flap (3) that is spaced from the pivoting axis (3a) of the flap and said supporting structure (2); said spring, with the corresponding flap in the supporting position and in the release position, being arranged on opposite sides with respect to the plane that passes through said pivoting axis and through the point where said spring couples to said supporting structure. Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said flaps (3) are mutually superimposed and spaced along a substantially vertical direction, and in that said flaps are substantially horizontal in said supporting position and are substantially vertical in said release position. Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said flaps (3) are pivoted to said supporting structure (2) by means of one of their portions (8) that is located proximate to one of their perimetric sides, and are mutually spaced so that each one of said flaps, in said release position, except for the last lower flap, overlaps the underlying flap and each one of said flaps, in passing from said release position to the supporting position, acts on the overlying flap until it passes beyond the unstable equilibrium position toward said supporting position. Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said actuation means comprise an element (13) that can move on command along a vertical direction and can engage, in each instance, levers (12) that are connected to said flaps (3) for the passage of the flaps from said supporting position to said release position or viceversa. Machine according to claim 5, characterized in that said movable element comprises a pin (13) that is fixed to a chain (15) that is arranged so that one of its portions is vertical proximate to said flaps (3), and in that said chain can be actuated, by means of a continuous and/or intermittent drive unit (17), for the movement of said pin along said substantially vertical direction. Machine according to claim 6, characterized in that each one of said levers (12) has two arms (12a,12b) that are mutually angularly spaced about said pivoting axis (3a) and form, respectively, a first abutment (20) that can be engaged by said pin (13) during upward motion for the passage of the corresponding flap (3) from said supporting position to said release position, and a second abutment (21) that can be engaged by said pin (13) during downward motion for the passage of the corresponding flap from said release position to said supporting position. Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims 6-7, characterized in that the levers (12) of two contiguous flaps (3) are mutually offset in a direction that is parallel to the pivoting axes (3a) of the corresponding flaps, and in that said pin (13) is orientated so that it is parallel to the pivoting axes of the flaps. Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said flaps (3) are accommodated in a refrigerated compartment (22) that is delimited, below said flaps, by a movable door (25) for delivering the products unloaded by the overlying flaps. Machine according to claim 9 when dependent from claim 6, characterized in that it comprises means (27) for actuating said drive unit (17) which are arranged outside said refrigerated compartment (22). Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims 6-8 and 10, characterized in that said supporting structure (2) comprises two vertical posts (4,5) that laterally support two rows of vertically stacked flaps (3), the flaps of said two rows of flaps being mutually vertically offset, the levers (12) of said flaps being arranged proximate to a same one of said posts that supports said chain (15) for the actuation of the flaps of said two rows of flaps by means of a same pin (13) that can move vertically in the region between said two rows of flaps. Machine according to one or more of the preceding claims 6-8 and 10-11, characterized in that said pin (13) is pivoted, with one of its portions, to a block (31) that is fixed to said chain (15) about a horizontal axis that is arranged at right angles to the extension of said pin to allow said pin to oscillate upward in contrast with elastic return means (32), so as to allow said pin to pass beyond the levers (12) of the flaps (3) in supporting position during the downward motion of said pin.

Inventors: DI ROSA VINCENZO, DI ROSA, VINCENZO
Applicants: UNILEVER NV, UNILEVER PLC, UNILEVER N.V.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: G07F11
IPC codes: G07F9, G07F11