Abstract:
The present invention provides a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus. The apparatus comprises a cabinet body. A depositing shelf and an item transferring mechanism for outputting the flat item are disposed within the cabinet body. An item outputting port is disposed on the cabinet body. The depositing shelf comprises vertical posts ( 2 ) and baffle plates ( 1 ) disposed on the vertical posts ( 2 ). Baffle plate layers are formed between baffle plates ( 1 ). The item transferring mechanism comprises a pushing rod ( 6 ) that can pass through the baffle plate layers and a movement element for driving the pushing rod ( 6 ) to move. The shape of the flat item does not limit the apparatus when the apparatus transfers the item. The apparatus does not damage the item when transferring the item.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus, and particularly to an apparatus for depositing and outputting flat items, such as periodicals, newspapers, magazines and books. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    As a sale mode convenient for shopping, an automatic vender has been accepted by more and more people. At present, the common automatic venders include a cold drink vender, a nosh vender, a condom vender, a paper towel vender, a smallware vender, a OTC drugs vender, a newspaper vender, an automatic hot drink vender and the like. However, with respect to items like journals and books, due to outline and side, thickness, weight, material of cover and package thereof are different from each other and they are not fully rigid, a depositing and outputting mechanism of the common automatic vender is hard to be applied in such items. Therefore, up to now, an automatic vender for selling books, journals and the like remains rare. 
         [0003]    Presently, there are mainly two kinds of automatic newspaper venders available in market: a vender which employs a three-dimensional mechanical arm as an automatic item outputting mechanism and a vender which uses a longitudinal screw propulsion type item outputting mechanism. 
         [0004]    The automatic newspaper vender which employs the three-dimensional mechanical arm arranges newspapers and magazines of the same kind in the depth direction and arranges newspapers and magazines of the different kind in an up-down-left-right plane side by side in line-row manner. The automatic newspaper vender performs positioning by the three-dimensional mechanical arm of rectangular coordinates and attracts target objects by a vacuum suction disk. Due to the fact that flat items the material and quality of surface, packaging form, degree of roughness and weight of journals and books are different from each other, it can not be ensured that attraction of various items by use of the suction disk succeeds each time. Meanwhile, the number of kinds of newspapers or periodicals placed on shelves of the automatic vender is fixed and can not be larger than a set value of the vender. For example, if the set value is nine, the number of kinds of items placed thereon can not be larger than nine. Furthermore, the manners of using three-dimensional mechanical arm and the vacuum suction disk cause increase manufacturing and maintenance costs. 
         [0005]    The longitudinal screw propulsion item outputting type newspaper vender employs the structure of the existing automatic smallware vender to arrange newspapers and magazines of the same kind vertically in the longitudinal direction and arrange newspapers and magazines of the different kind in an up-down-left-right plane side by side in line-row manner. Newspapers and magazines of each kind are pushed out gradually by a screw propeller and drop to an item output port. Due to an unstable track of the magazine&#39;s falling in this manner, a jam often occurs in an item transferring passage. Furthermore, such a manner of dropping and outputting items causes books and magazines to be easily damaged and makes it inconvenient to put items on the shelves. 
         [0006]    It is known from the above that the existing automatic vender is not suitable for selling flat items such as periodicals, newspapers, magazines and books, mainly because the depositing and outputting apparatus of the automatic vender can not meet the requirement of the particular performance of such items. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The problem to be solved in the present invention is to provide a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus, which transfers items without being limited by the shapes of flat items such as newspapers and magazines, accurately outputs the items, enables the items convenient to be deposited and outputted and capable of being positioned and selected to be outputted according to a command, and will not damage the items during the transferring thereof, with respect to the deficiencies existing in the prior art. 
         [0008]    The technical solution adopted in the present invention for solving its technical problem resides in a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus comprising: a cabinet body, in which a depositing shelf and an item transferring mechanism for outputting flat items are provided and on which an item outputting port is provided, wherein the depositing shelf includes posts and baffle plates which are provided on the posts, baffle plate layers are formed between the baffle plates, and the item transferring mechanism includes a pushing rod which can pass through the baffle plate layers and a movement element for driving the pushing rod to move. 
         [0009]    The movement element may include a first linear driver, the body of which is substantially provided parallel to the posts, a second linear driver, the body of which is substantially provided parallel to the direction of placing the baffle plates as well as drive units for the first and second linear drivers, a first slide block capable of moving along the body of the first linear driver is provided on the body of the first linear driver and the body of the second linear driver, on which a second slide block capable of moving along the body of the second linear driver is provided, is fixed to the first slide block, and the pushing rod is fixed to the second slide block. 
         [0010]    The baffle plate layers may be formed of a plurality of baffle plates which are arranged in the extending direction of the posts. 
         [0011]    Preferably, the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus may further comprise an item receiving mechanism which is provided between the depositing shelf and the item outputting port. The item receiving mechanism may employ a variety of forms of automatically outputting items and the preferred two of the forms are described as follows. 
         [0012]    One form is that the item receiving mechanism may comprise a receiver bin, one side edge of which is fixed to the first slide block and which is opposite to the baffle plate layers, and the first linear driver is provided in the vicinity of the item output port. 
         [0013]    In order to prevent the receiver bin from being crushed due to excessive weight of the items and make the procedure of transferring the items more smooth, the preferred item receiving mechanism may further comprise a linear guide rail, which is provided in the vicinity of the item outputting port in such a manner to parallel to the first linear driver and on which a slide block capable of sliding up and down along the body of the linear guide rail is provided, and the other side edge of the receiver bin is fixed to the slide block. 
         [0014]    The receiver bin reaches the selected baffle plate layer before the pushing rod moves to a position where it is required to take items out, therefore, the item receiving mechanism is an ideal mechanism for performing the take-out procedure quickly and being compact. 
         [0015]    The other form is that the item receiving mechanism may comprise a receiver bin and a third linear driver which is provided between the depositing shelf and the item outputting port, the body of the third linear driver, on which a third slide block is provided, is substantially provided parallel to the posts, and one side edge of the receiver bin is fixed to the third slide block. 
         [0016]    The preferred item receiving mechanism may further comprise a second linear guide rail, which is provided in the vicinity of the item outputting port in such a manner to parallel to the third linear driver and on which a forth slide block capable of sliding up and down along the body of the linear guide rail is provided, and the other side edge of the receiver bin is fixed to the forth slide block. 
         [0017]    According to different situations, the drive units may be electric motors, linear motors, hydraulic or pneumatic mechanisms. 
         [0018]    The drive mechanism for each of the linear drivers may include a screw rod drive mechanism, a toothed belt drive mechanism, and a linear motor or a pneumatic drive mechanism. 
         [0019]    The depositing and output apparatus of the present invention uses a depositing shelf with a plurality of baffle plates to put items, which helps to deposit items such as journals and books, which have different volumes, shapes and packages. The interval between two adjacent baffle plates can be regulated, as required, so as to be adapted to the depositing of items with different specifications, sides and thicknesses. 
         [0020]    By using of such depositing shelf, the kind of books deposited can be combined or changed. For example, within a maximum depositing number, books or journals of a certain kind can be distributed so that three books are put in order as one kind and five books are put in order as another kind, etc. The distribution manner is flexible. When depositing items, the items are generally put from the front of the depositing shelf on the baffle plates in a manual manner or in other manner. 
         [0021]    The depositing and outputting apparatus of the present invention may select the number of the depositing shelves according to the number and/or the kind of the flat items. When the number and/or the kind of the flat items to be deposited is large, a plurality of depositing shelves can be employed, and a plurality of item receiving mechanisms can be provided correspondingly to the plurality of depositing shelves, or only one item receiving mechanism capable of moving in a plurality of directions can also be employed. 
         [0022]    In the depositing and output apparatus of the present invention, during the item outputting procedure, the falling procedure of the flat items deposited, such as journals, books and the like, is stable, therefore the items are not damaged. Furthermore, it is not needed to consider the difference of surface material of the items and the items to be deposited on the shelves can be flexible items. 
         [0023]    The item transferring mechanism in the present invention can position and output items only by use of two-dimensional movement of the vertical (Z) direction and the depth (Y) direction. The maintenance procedure of the item transferring mechanism is simpler and more convenient than the case of employing the manner of a three-dimensional system and a suction disk, and the manufacturing and maintenance costs are reduced. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  is a schematic front perspective view of a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 1 of the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 2  is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 1 of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIG. 3  is a schematic front perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 2 of the present invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 4  is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 2 of the present invention. 
           [0028]      FIG. 5  is a schematic front perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 3 of the present invention. 
           [0029]      FIG. 6  is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 3 of the present invention. 
           [0030]      FIG. 7  is a schematic front perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 4 of the present invention. 
           [0031]      FIG. 8  is a schematic rear perspective view of the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus according to the embodiment 4 of the present invention. 
       
    
    
       [0032]    wherein:  1 —baffle plates  2 —posts  3 —second linear driver  4 —Y-direction drive motor  5 —second slide block  6 —pushing rod  7 —first linear driver  8 —Z-direction drive motor  9 —first slide block  10 —linear guide rail  11 —slide block  12 —receiver bin  13 —base  14 —framework  15 —third linear driver  16 —third slide block  17 —second linear guide rail  18 —forth slide block  19 —Z-direction drive motor 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0033]    The present invention will be described in detail in connection with embodiments and drawings. 
         [0034]    The embodiments below are non-restrictive embodiments of the present invention. 
       Embodiment 1 
       [0035]    As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the invention includes a cabinet body which comprises a base  13  and a framework  14  on the base  13 , in front of which an item outputting port (not shown in the figures) is provided, and in which a depositing shelf and an item transferring mechanism are provided. 
         [0036]    In the present embodiment, the depositing shelf includes vertically provided posts  2  and baffle plates  1  which are provided on the posts  2 , a plurality of baffle plates  1  arranged in vertical direction form baffle plate layers and various flat items, such as journals, may be placed on the baffle plates  1 . Two or more posts  2  can be employed, and the baffle plates  1  may exhibit a variety of shapes convenient to lay items. In the present embodiment, the baffle plates  1  have a quadrilateral structure and three posts  2  are employed. The first three corners of the baffle plates  1  are fixed to the three posts  2  respectively and the forth corner of the baffle plates  1  is suspended to facilitate movement of a pushing rod  6  in an item transferring mechanism described below. 
         [0037]    The item transferring mechanism includes a first linear driver  7 , a second linear driver  3  and drive mechanisms for the linear drivers. 
         [0038]    The body of the first linear driver  7  is provided parallel to the posts  2  in the Z-direction. A first slide block  9  capable of moving in the Z-direction is embedded on the body of the first linear driver  7  and the body of the second linear driver  3 , which is substantially perpendicular to the body of the first linear driver  7  and on which a second slide block  5  capable of horizontally moving in the Y-direction is embedded, is fixed to the first slide block  9 , and the pushing rod  6  is fixed to the second slide block  5  which can drive the pushing rod  6  to pass through the baffle plate layers. 
         [0039]    Drive units in the present embodiment employ electric motors in which the first linear driver  7  and the second linear driver  3  are driven by a Z-direction drive motor  8  and a Y-direction drive motor  4  respectively. 
         [0040]    A linear driver is a product of interchangeable parts applied in displacement and positioning in a rectangular coordinate system. Currently, there are products manufactured by factories such as Festo Germany and Parker U.S.A and by factories from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan of China and the mainland of China, as main products of the linear driver. The drive mechanism mainly includes a screw rod drive mechanism, a toothed belt drive mechanism, a linear motor and a pneumatic drive mechanism. The linear driver used in the present embodiment is a linear driver of DGE-SP type or DGE-ER type manufactured by Festo Germany. 
         [0041]    The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the present invention will become an automatic vender for depositing and outputting flat items when assembled with an automatic control system and a corresponding housing. By operating with respect to a human-computer interaction panel, the automatic vending procedure can be completed. 
         [0042]    The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the present embodiment operates in accordance with the following process: 
         [0043]    When a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the present invention receives from an automatic control system a command for instructing to output items (for example books and periodicals) deposited in a certain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body, the apparatus starts the item transferring mechanism according to the command. 
         [0044]    First, the first linear driver  7  is operated to be actuated and the second linear driver  3  is driven to move in the Z-direction and stops when it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle plate layers; 
         [0045]    then, the second linear driver  3  is operated to be actuated and the pushing rod  6  is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the direction of the item outputting port and the pushing rod  6  pushes the items on the baffle plate  1  and makes them drop to the location of the item output port; 
         [0046]    finally, the second linear driver  3  drives the pushing rod  6  to move reversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the starting point; and 
         [0047]    an item takeout process as a time is terminated. 
       Embodiment 2 
       [0048]    As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , this embodiment differs from the embodiment 1 in that the body of the first linear driver  7  is provided in the vicinity of the forth corner suspended of the baffle plate layers. The body of the first linear driver  7  may also be provided at other positions within the cabinet body, as required. 
         [0049]    Other structures and functions of the present embodiment are the same as those of the embodiment 1. 
       Embodiment 3 
       [0050]    This embodiment differs from the embodiment 1 in that the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus further includes an item receiving mechanism. The item receiving mechanism is a receiver bin  12 , one side edge of which is fixed to the first slide block  9  and which is provided between the baffle plate layers and the item outputting port and is opposite to the baffle plate layers. 
         [0051]    Other structures of the present embodiment are the same as that of the embodiment 1. 
         [0052]    The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the present embodiment operates in accordance with the following process: 
         [0053]    When a flat item depositing and automatic outputting apparatus of the present invention accepts from an automatic control system a command for instructing to output items (e.g., books and periodicals) deposited in a certain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body, the apparatus operates the item transferring mechanism according to the command. 
         [0054]    First, the first linear driver  7  is operated to be actuated and the second linear driver  3  is driven to move in the Z-direction and stopped when it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle plate layers, and the receiver bin  12  synchronously slides in the Z-direction to the front of the target baffle plate position along with the second linear driver  3 ; 
         [0055]    then, the second linear driver  3  is operated to be actuated and the pushing rod  6  is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the direction of the receiver bin  12  and the pushing rod  6  pushes the items on the baffle plate  1  and makes them drop into the receiver bin  12 ; 
         [0056]    next, the second linear driver  3  drives the pushing rod  6  to move reversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the starting point; 
         [0057]    finally, driven by the first linear driver  7 , the receiver bin  12  is lowered to the location of the item outputting port; and 
         [0058]    an item takeout process as a time is terminated. 
       Embodiment 4 
       [0059]    As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , this embodiment differs from the embodiment 3 in that the flat item depositing and outputting apparatus further includes a linear guide rail  10 , the body of which is provided between the item outputting port and the depositing shelf in such a manner to parallel to the body of the first linear driver  7  and on which a slide block  11  is provided. The other side edge of the receiver bin  12  is fixed to the slide block  11 . Due to the fact that the two side edges of the receiver bin  12  are respectively fixed to the first slide block  9  of the first linear driver  7  and the slide block  11  of the linear guide rail  10 , thus, the receiver bin  12  may move in the Z-direction. When the first slide block  9  drives the receiver bin  12  to move up and down in case of being driven by the Z-direction drive motor  8 , the slide block  11  correspondingly moves up and down within the linear guide rail  10  as well. Thus, the receiver bin  12  is superior in its reliability, capable of transferring items smoothly and carrying higher load capacity. 
         [0060]    Other structures of the present embodiment are the same as that of the embodiment 3. 
         [0061]    The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the embodiment operates in accordance with the following process: 
         [0062]    When a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the present invention receives from an automatic control system a command for instructing to output items (e.g., books and periodicals) deposited in a certain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body, the apparatus operates the item transferring mechanism according to the command. 
         [0063]    First, the first linear driver  7  is operated to be actuated and the second linear driver  3  is driven to move in the Z-direction and stops when it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle plate layers, and the receiver bin  12  synchronously slides in the Z-direction to the front of the target baffle plate position along with the second linear driver  3 ; 
         [0064]    then, the second linear driver  3  is operated to be actuated and the pushing rod  6  is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the direction of the receiver bin  12  and the pushing rod  6  pushes the items on the baffle plate  1  and makes them drop into the receiver bin  12 ; 
         [0065]    next, the second linear driver  3  drives the pushing rod  6  to move reversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the starting point; 
         [0066]    finally, driven by the first linear driver  7 , the receiver bin  12  is lowered to the location of the item outputting port; and 
         [0067]    an item takeout process as a time is terminated. 
       Embodiment 5 
       [0068]    As shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , this embodiment differs from the embodiment 2 in that an item receiving mechanism is provided between the item output port (not shown in the figures) and the posts  2 . 
         [0069]    The item receiving mechanism includes a receiver bin  12  which is opposite to the baffle plate layers, a Z-direction drive motor  19 , and a third linear driver  15  and a second linear guide rail  17  which are parallel to the posts  2 . A third slide block  16  is embedded on the body of the third linear driver  15  and a forth slide block  18  is embedded on the second linear guide rail  17 . One side edge of the receiver bin  12  is fixed to the third slide block  16  and the other side edge thereof is fixed to the forth slide block  18 . A Z-direction drive motor  19  may drive the third slide block  16  on the third linear driver  15  to move in Z-direction along the body of the third linear driver  15  and the receiver bin  12  moves in Z-direction along with the third slide block  16  and the forth slide block  18  slides on the body of the second linear guide rail  17  along with the receiver bin  12 . 
         [0070]    The flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the embodiment operates in accordance with the following process: 
         [0071]    When a flat item depositing and outputting apparatus of the present invention receives from an automatic control system a command for instructing to output items (e.g., books and periodicals) deposited in a certain baffle plate layer of the depositing shelf of the cabinet body, the apparatus operates the item transferring mechanism according to the command. 
         [0072]    First, the first linear driver  7  is operated to be actuated and the second linear driver  3  is driven to move in the Z-direction and stops when it moves to a target baffle plate position of the baffle plate layers, and at the same time, the third linear driver  15  is operated to drive the receiver bin  12  synchronously slide in the Z-direction to the front of the target baffle plate position; 
         [0073]    then, the second linear driver  3  is operated to be actuated and the pushing rod  6  is driven to move in the Y-direction toward the direction of the receiver bin  12  and the pushing rod  6  pushes the items on the baffle plate  1  and makes them drop into the receiver bin  12 ; 
         [0074]    finally, the second linear driver  3  drives the pushing rod  6  to move reversely and the pushing rod stops after it returns to the starting point, and at the same time, driven by the third linear driver  15 , the receiver bin  12  is lowered to the location of the item output port; and 
         [0075]    an item takeout process as a time is terminated.