Abstract:
An article storage container for use in an article handler which uses a suction-type gripping device. The container comprises a bin having wall portions and a bottom portion, for storing in a columnar manner, articles to be retrieved by the gripping device. The gripping device enters a dispensing end of the bin which is opposite the bottom portion of the bin. An airflow path providing device at the bottom portion of the bin prevents the gripping device from developing enough suction force to grip to the bottom of the bin.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims priority under 35USC 120 of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No 60/580,440, filed Jun. 17, 2004, entitled “Anti-Suction Device For Bin Floor In A Suction Vending Machine”. The entire disclosure of this patent application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to techniques for reducing/preventing the tendency of the pick-up head in a suction-type article dispensing machine from adhering to the bottom of an article storage bin in the event that the pick-up head tries to retrieve another article after the last article has already been dispensed. 
   2. Background Information and Description of the Related Art 
   My earlier published prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,139 and one of my more recent patent publications, such as WO 01/95276 A3 (entitled Method And Apparatus For Positioning An Article Handling Device, or US Patent Publication 2003/0063969 having the same title, disclose automatic vending machines which use a robotically controlled vacuum (sometimes referred to as suction) hose, in order to retrieve and dispense the articles stored in stacks in aligned bins. 
   With such an article dispensing arrangement, it is possible that in the event of a malfunction, the article pick-up head at the end of the vacuum hose may actually contact and then adhere to the bottom of an article storing bin. It would be desirable to provide modifications to the bottom of an article storage bin so as to reduce/prevent the pick-up head in a suction-type article dispensing machine from adhering to the bottom of the bin after the last article has been dispensed. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In accordance with one aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, to prevent/reduce the tendency of the pick-up head in a suction-type article dispensing machine from adhering to the bottom of an article storage bin in the event the pick-up head inadvertently tries to retrieve another article after the last article has already been dispensed from the bin, an airflow path providing device is positioned or formed at the bottom of the article storage bin, which device prevents the article pick-up head from developing enough suction to grip/adhere to the bottom of the bin. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments and details of the invention, and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the features of the invention. 
       FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate a side section view and a perspective cut away view, respectively, of a vending machine constructed and operating in accordance with the principles of the present invention. 
       FIGS. 3A ,  3 B,  3 C and  3 D illustrate cross-sectional side views of the article storage bin of  FIG. 1 , having various modifications made thereto in accordance with the principles of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , vending machine  10  typically includes a housing  12 , typically comprised of sheet metal which forms three side walls of housing  12 , as well as a top and a bottom portion therefore. A front door  14  is typically constructed of similar material, which is mounted to the open fourth side of the housing  12  via hinges  16 . Details of conventional portions vending machine  10 , such as the user article selection mechanism (typically comprising article graphics and selection buttons or a keypad), and a user payment system (typically comprising a coin mechanism and bill validator), which portions are typically mounted wholly or partially on door  14 , are not necessary for understanding the invention, and therefore no further description will be provided herein. 
   The interior of housing  12  includes a storage area  20 , which in the illustrated embodiment comprises a plurality of a vertically aligned article storage bins  22  for storing vertical stacks of the articles to be dispensed by vending machine  10 . The upper portion of the interior of housing  12  includes an electronically controlled (i.e., robotic) article retrieving device (ARD)  24 . ARD  24  can be constructed as is known and shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,139, or as taught by one of my more recent PCT patent publications, such as WO 01/95276 A3 (entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING AN ARTICLE HANDLING DEVICE, or U.S. Ser. No. 10/205,770 (now US Patent Publication 2003/0063969), incorporated herein by reference), the significant Figure of which is shown as  FIG. 2  herein. ARD  24  includes at its free end an article pick-up head  38 , which is used to retrieve articles  27  stored in bins  22  and deposit them into a dispensing chute  23 . Once the article is deposited into dispensing chute  23 , a user can operate an access door  25  located near the bottom of chute  23 , so that the dispensed article can be retrieved. 
   In the environment of the invention, the articles can be stored in a storage area of the vending machine that keeps the articles in a cooled state, such as frozen (for ice cream novelties or frozen foods) or refrigerated (for drinks or fresh food), or the articles can just be kept at the ambient temperature (such as for snack food items or non-food items, such as video cassettes). In the illustrated embodiment housing  12  happens to includes a refrigeration unit  29  so that the stored articles can be kept cool, ARD  24  can be controlled to cause an insulated door  31  to swing open, so that the article  27  can be deposited into dispensing chute  23 . Depending upon the space available within housing  12 , ARD may have a normal resting position, i.e., a position it occupies between time periods when it is dispensing articles, that is located above article storage area  20 , or alternatively, some other portion of the space within housing  12 . Furthermore, although in the described embodiment the article storage bins are oriented vertically, in an alternative embodiment of the invention, other orientations could have been illustrated just as well, such as horizontal, or any angle therebetween. With an orientation for the stored articles which is different from that shown herein, the orientation and operation of the ARD  24  would have to be modified accordingly, a modification well within the ability of one of ordinary skill in this technology. Additionally, as noted above, when this invention is utilized in conjunction with a frozen or refrigerated storage area in the vending machine, such with a freezer as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,139, various kinds of thermal separating barriers can be used between the ARD  24  and the article storage compartments, such as a sheet having an arrangement of flexible fingers or flaps formed therein, such as shown in my PCT patent publication WO 03/073026 entitled Thermal Barrier For A Refrigerated Vending Machine. 
   As seen in greater detail in  FIG. 2 , in the illustrated embodiment, ARD  24  includes a carriage  26  which is mounted for sliding lateral movement along a first beam  28 , for allowing carriage  26  to move, for example, in the front/back (X) direction over the article storage area  20 . Furthermore, beam  28  is mounted for sliding lateral movement along a pair of beams  30   a  and  30   b , for allowing beam  28  to move, for example, in the left/right (Y) direction over the article storage bins  22 . Motors  32  and  34  are mounted in carriage  26  and beam  28 , respectively, for controllably causing the aforesaid sliding lateral movements of carriage  26  and beam  28 . A vacuum generator, comprising in the preferred embodiment a blower motor  36  provides suction to the article retrieving pickup head  38  via a suction hose  40  coupled between blower  36  and pickup head  38 . Since hose  40  is connected between pickup head  38  which is repositioned by carriage  26  during article vending, and a blower motor  36  which is in a fixed position, a supply of hose  40  is needed, and is provided by constraining a supply loop  37  of the hose  40  in a narrow wall portion  39  at one side of housing  12 . A narrow roller  41  which acts as a weight, is positioned so as to roll on top of supply loop  37 , thereby keeping tension on hose  40  as it is extended and retracted from the supply loop  37 . 
   With the above arrangement, carriage  26  can controllably position article retrieving pickup head  38  to a predetermined location, such as over a specific one of the article storage bins  22 . The end of suction hose  40  which is connected to pickup head  38  is controllably driven in the up/down (Z) direction by, for example, a motor  42  which drives a set of pinch rollers (not specifically shown) mounted within carriage  26  and which engage hose  40 , so as to control the up/down (Z) movement of pickup head  38 . A vending machine control system  44  of conventional design develops control signals for controlling motors  32 ,  34  and  42 , thereby moving carriage  26  along beam  28 , moving beam  28  along beams  30  and driving the pinch rollers in carriage  26 . The control signals from control system  44  also control activation of the vacuum generator so that suction is provided to pickup head  38  before or upon its contact with a solid object, which normally is the next article to be dispensed. Altogether, these components, which control the movement of pickup head  32  in the left/right (Y), front/back (X) and up/down (Z) directions, comprise the robotic article retrieving device  24 . Of course, control system  44  also performs all the conventional control functions for proper operation of the vending machine. 
   It is noted that the invention described herein is applicable to other types of electronically controlled positioning means for the suction-type article retrieving device. For example, it may be desirable for the robotic positioning mechanism to include a rotary (R, θ) device of the type including an I beam of fixed length (or alternatively telescopic sections), for establishing an “R” movement for pickup head  38 , and which pivots for establishing a “θ” movement. Alternatively, in other environments for the invention the robotic hose positioning mechanism may include an articulated arm or scissor system. As previously noted, the ARD  24  could me modified to operate so as to dispense articles stored in arrangements other than in vertical columns, and horizontal or other angles for article storage could be accommodated by suitable modification of ARD  24 . Furthermore, ARD  24  could be used for positioning other types of pickup devices, such as a smaller diameter suction hose having a lower volume of air flow, but use a greater amount of suction or vacuum. 
   Even furthermore, although only a single storage area and article retrieving device are shown in the illustrated embodiments, the invention described herein could also be used in a dispensing apparatus/article handler of the type having multiple storage areas and/or robotic article handling mechanisms, such as two robotic mechanisms (both positioned vertically (i.e., one above the other) or horizontally (one in front of the other) or mixed, and one vertically and one horizontally) each one serving a different storage area (which storage area can store the articles to be dispensed in horizontal or vertical aligned stacks). Furthermore, when multiple article handling mechanisms are provided, each can be tailored for a particular operation. For example, one may have a relatively large diameter pickup head and use a high airflow/modest suction vacuum supply device (such as the illustrated blower motor  36 ), while the other may have a relatively small diameter pickup head and use a low airflow/high suction vacuum supply (such as a conventional vacuum pump). 
   With an article dispensing arrangement such as described herein, it is possible that if the controller in the vending machine does not keep track of the number of articles stored in each bin and how many have been vended from each bin, or does not have some way of accurately monitoring the height of the articles stored in the bin, or some other way to know when the last article in an article storage bin  22  has been dispensed, or even if it does, it is possible that here can be a malfunction in such mechanisms, and in such a case, it is possible that the article pick-up head  38  may go into an article storage bin from which the last article in that bin has already been dispensed. In that case, it is possible that the article pick-up head  38  may actually contact and then adhere to the bottom  70  of a bin  22 . It would be desirable to provide modifications to the bottom of an article storage bin  22  so as to reduce/prevent the pick-up head in a suction-type article dispensing machine from adhering to the bottom of an article storage bin after the last article has been dispensed. 
   In this regard  FIGS. 3A-3D  illustrate a cross-section view of a portion of the article storage bin  22  of the vending machine, having modifications made in or incorporated with the bottom  70 , in accordance with several alternative embodiments which incorporate the principles of the invention. More specifically, to prevent/reduce the tendency of the pick-up head in a suction-type article dispensing machine from adhering to the bottom of an article storage bin in the event the pick-up head inadvertently tries to retrieve another article after the last article has already been dispensed from the bin, an airflow path providing device is positioned or formed at the bottom of the article storage bin  22 . 
   In  FIG. 3A , the airflow path providing device comprises a piece of material  74 , such as a mat, positioned at the bottom of a bin  22  that has on its upwardly facing surface at least one or more raised parallel channels  72 , having a height sufficient to provide airflow paths which prevent pick-up head  38  from making a good suction contact to floor  70 . In the illustrated embodiment, mat  74  simply comprises a piece of plastic corrugated material, cut so as to fit at the bottom of a bin  22 . Mat  74  has a downwardly facing surface that is smooth, which helps ensure a flat positioning on the bottom of the bin, and also allows a good surface for application of glue or other means to affix the mat  74  to the bottom of the bin  22 . However, a flat bottom for mat  74  is not required. 
     FIG. 3B  illustrates another technique in accordance with the principles of the invention, wherein a mat  74 ′ is comprised of an open-cell foam material, for example. The specific type of foam and the diameter of the open cells are picked in accordance with the amount of suction force that needs to be dissipated in order to prevent a good suction contact and then lifting of the bin  22  by the picker head  38  if it contacts the bottom  70  of the bin. That is, the open cells in the foam mat  74 ′ provide the required amount of airflow passages.  FIG. 3C  illustrates another technique in accordance with the principles of the invention, wherein a mat  74 ″ is comprised of a raised platform  76 , having legs  78  for holding it above the floor  70 , yet has holes in the space  79  between the legs.  FIG. 3D  illustrates another technique in accordance with the principles of the invention, wherein the bottom  70  of the bin  22  is modified so that the bottom  70 ′ effectively provides the function of mat  74 . In this case, bottom  70 ′ has holes formed in it so as to prevent picker head  38  from becoming adhered thereto, and legs  78  are provided so as to slightly lift up the bin  22  so that the holes become more effective to dissipate the suction force in picker head  38 . The holes  70 ′ can be round or slot-shaped. In an alternative embodiment other ways to raise the bin floor are possible, and in fact such raising of the bin may not be needed in some applications and simply forming the holes  70 ′ may be sufficient, for example if the bottom  70  of the bin is formed of several overlapping flaps of the material used to form the bin, only providing the holes  79  in the topmost flap of bin material may be sufficient. 
   While the present invention has been disclosed with reference to certain embodiments, numerous modifications, alterations and changes to the described embodiments are possible without departing from the sphere and scope of the present invention, as defined above, and in the following claims. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the described embodiments, but that it has the full scope defined by the above language and the following claims, as well as equivalents thereof.