1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of vending machines and, more particularly, to an internal column wall construction including integral stiffeners and isolation slot structure for a vending machine.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In a vending machine, internal column walls are employed to define product storage magazines or zones. More specifically, a series of column walls are arranged at spaced positions within a vending cabinet and serve as partitions to contain, separate, and support a stack of products to be dispensed. The overall series of column walls are interconnected to maintain their desired spaced relationships by a plurality of cross braces, including vertically spaced front and rear braces, as well as top cross braces.
Regardless of the existence of the cross bracing which effectively capture the front, rear and top portions of the column walls, the center sections of the column walls still need to be stiffened in order to prevent bowing which can hamper proper product dispensing. To address this potential problem, prior art column wall designs employ various discrete, stiffening components which extend fore-to-aft along and are mechanically fastened to the respective column walls to ensure proper function.
Obviously, this construction requires a significant number of parts and assembly to establish the overall vending cabinet. That is, with particular reference to the stiffening components, numerous separate fastening locations must be individually established for each of the stiffening components. Certainly this assembly process can significantly add to the manufacturing costs. In addition to employing separate stiffening components, the prior art also attaches additional structure to the column walls in connection with aiding in the proper positioning of products to be dispensed.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for an improved column wall construction arrangement for a vending machine. More specifically, there exists a need for an column wall system which is advantageously stiffened and incorporates enhanced product positioning structure, while being cost effective and efficient to manufacture.
The present invention is directed to an enhanced column wall construction for a vending machine wherein the column wall includes integral stiffeners. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, various, vertically spaced and fore-to-aft extending stiffeners are embossed into the column wall, thereby eliminating the need for any additional discrete stiffener parts and fasteners. In addition, the integral stiffeners advantageously permit thinner material to be employed in forming the column walls, thereby improving the entire manufacturing process by reducing the material weight, tooling and press factors, and assembly handling requirements.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, each of the column walls is integrally formed with louver structure in the form of a flange which provides for product positioning through a vending area. That is, instead of requiring another, individual component to be attached to a column wall for product positioning purposes, such as a hat channel, shim or similar functioning component with associated fasteners, the column wall is actually formed with structure which provides the requisite product positioning function. Furthermore, the column wall is designed to avoid any bow force transfer from an upper section of the column wall to a lower section thereof by incorporating a lowermost decoupling stiffener.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
With initial reference to
Central cavity 26 includes a storage section 33, a dispensing section 34, a delivery section 36 and a lower section 38. Storage section 33 is provided to hold products in escrow until a vending operation is performed. Towards that end, storage section 33 is provided with a plurality of vertically extending column walls 44-48 which, together with side walls 20 and 21, form a plurality of column or stack areas 52-57. In the embodiment shown in
As further shown in
As best illustrated in
Reference will now be made to
In order to provide stability to column wall 44, considered particularly important in connection with the area of storage region 138, a plurality of stiffening elements 146-150 are provided on planar surface 120. In accordance with the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, stiffening elements 146-150 are integrally formed into planar surface 120 and extend fore-to-aft between opposing edges 118 and 119. As best illustrated in
In accordance with one aspect of the most preferred embodiment, stiffening member 150 actually serves a dual purpose. In addition to enhancing overall structural integrity of column wall 44, stiffening member 150 also acts to decouple dispensing region from storage region 138. In general, a weight of product containers 61 arranged in storage region 138 has a tendency to cause planar surface 120 to slightly deform and lower edge 117 to bow inward. The inward bowing of lower edge 117 could cause product containers 61 to become trapped or jammed in dispensing region 140, thereby interfering with or otherwise causing inconsistencies in the overall vend operation. In order to prevent the transferring of a bow force from storage region 138 into dispensing region 140, stiffening member 150 is arranged at bottom portion 132 of planar surface 120. That is, as stiffening member 150 includes a fore-to-aft extending, elongated narrow slot, dispensing region 140 is loosely connected to storage region 138 through narrow webs of material as indicated at 154 and 155 in
Before product containers 61 pass from storage region 138 into dispensing region 140, the product containers 61 must be properly aligned or oriented in order to enter into a cradle or oscillator (not shown). To address this requirement in accordance with the present invention, column wall 44 is provided with a louver structure or alignment element 160 having a flange or guide surface 165. Alignment member 160, and by extension guide surface 165, is integrally formed from planar surface 120. More specifically, guide surface 165 is preferably stamped from planar surface 1230 and formed to project outward from column wall 44. Guide surface 165 causes each product container 61 to move and shift away from planar surface 120 of column wall 44 and align within stack area 53 for proper dispensing purposes. That is, product containers 61 travel downward in stack area 53 through dispensing operations. As best seen in
As indicated above, the overall construction of column wall 44 provides a substantial reduction in manufacturing and fabrication costs. By integrally forming the stiffening elements and alignment member from with the column wall, mechanical fasteners are eliminated and fabrication time is reduced. Moreover, the integral stiffeners allow for a thinner material than traditionally used in fabricating the column walls. In any case, the present invention enhances the overall manufacturing process by reducing material weight, tooling and press factors, as well as assembly handling requirements, without sacrificing the mechanical performance of the column wall.
Although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it should be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. For instance, the overall number of stiffening elements can be varied depending on the particular construction of the vending machine. As one example,
The present application claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/415,768 entitled “INTEGRATED COLUMN WALL FOR VENDING MACHINE” filed on Oct. 4, 2002.
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