Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6615623
-
Patent Number
6,615,623
-
Date Filed
Wednesday, September 29, 199924 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, September 9, 200320 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Knight; Anthony
- Boswell; Christopher
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 070 208
- 070 210
- 070 224
- 070 2787
- 070 2791
- 070 283
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A vending machine locking arrangement operates electronically by way of an electric motor. In particular, the arrangement is a retrofit of an existing, mechanical-key operated T-bar, which is used to close and lock the machine's doors, to provide an electronic locking system not reliant on the use of a mechanical key. The arrangement substitutes for the conventional barrel lock at the handle-end of the T-bar a small electric motor (e.g. a camera re-wind motor) which acts upon the resident locking piece in the T-bar by, e.g., a cam arrangement. The inventive arrangement also makes use of an existing hole near the locking piece for making an electrical connection to the motor. An alternative embodiment places the motor outside the T-bar, the motor then having its own locking piece in the form of, e.g., a rocker arm engaging with an opening in the T-bar. Also disclosed is a smart-card system for driving the motor to trigger the unlocking process. The smart-card may also be used to download the contents of a reader mounted on the machine, these contents providing information on various access parameters related to the machine, e.g. the number of accesses over a period, the cards not allowed access, the identity of the machine, etc.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to lock arrangements in vending machines, and in particular, but not exclusively, a lock arrangement for a vending-machine T-bar closure device.
Vending machines, and especially those machines, usually quite large, which dispense cold drinks, conventionally employ a so-called T-bar for effecting closure of the machine. This device consists of a fairly long rod having a threaded portion at one end and a handle at the other, forming the “T” of the device. The “T” portion is slideably connected to the threaded portion and spring-loaded with respect thereto. This is illustrated in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, in which a vending machine
10
is shown with its selection buttons
12
and coin changer
14
, shown for illustrative purposes only, and in addition the T-bar
16
which passes through the outer door
18
and an inner, so-called “vault”, door
20
. When it is desired to close the machine, the threaded portion
22
is brought into engagement with a corresponding female member
24
attached to the body
26
of the machine and the handle
27
is turned until both the vault door
20
and the outer door
18
are tightly shut. (It is particularly important to ensure firm seating of the door surfaces in cold-drinks machines in view of the action of the cooling section
28
normally situated below the dispensing columns
30
.) Once the doors are tightly closed, the “T” handle portion is pushed into a recess in the front door, whereupon a locking piece in the “T” portion springs up and holds the “T” portion in place until the next unlocking exercise.
Unlocking is conventionally done by means of a key inserted in a barrel lock
32
disposed inside a bore
34
of the T-bar at the handle end (see FIGS.
3
and
4
). Slideably disposed inside the bore at right angles to the axis of the T-bar and protruding from the bore in the locked state is a locking piece
36
having an outer profile
38
which is angled to facilitate the pushing of the “T” portion into the machine-body recess, as already described. The locking piece
36
in the locked state is held behind a detent member (not shown) secured to the chassis or body
26
of the machine. The locking piece
36
is urged in its uppermost (“locked”) position by a spring
40
, so that a force has to be applied in a downward direction to the locking piece in order to move it to its “unlocked” position. This is achieved by turning of the key in the lock
22
which operates a suitable mechanism (e.g. cam or levers, etc,
42
) which acts on a shoulder
44
of the locking piece
36
, forcing it downwards against the action of the spring.
Once the key is turned and the locking piece is thereby retracted into the bore
34
of the T-bar, the handle
26
is partially ejected by the spring
46
, allowing the holder of the key to open the machine doors by unscrewing the T-bar.
A problem with this conventional system is, firstly, that the key which operates the lock is easily mislaid or lost, or even stolen. Consequently a machine may become subject to theft of its contents. A second problem is that vandals can abuse the machine by interfering with the lock mechanism, in particular by inserting foreign objects into the lock opening, thereby jamming it and preventing lawful opening of the machine. Clearly, such loss and abuse leads to undesirable replacement and repair costs for the operator of the machine. (It should be appreciated that not just the key, but the lock itself may have to be replaced in the interest of security).
There is a requirement for a solution to these problems. Ideally, any solution should be in the form of a retrofit to existing machines, and preferably an inexpensive retrofit, since the profit margin on goods sold via vending machines is already quite small.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a vending machine lock arrangement, comprising a lock mechanism, a T-bar closure device and an electric motor, the lock mechanism being actuable by means of the electric motor and the lock mechanism and motor being functional in association with the closure device.
The motor in a first embodiment may be disposed within an internal bore of the T-bar at a hand-operated end thereof. The T-bar may comprise a locking piece disposed in the bore and slideable along a transverse axis through an opening in a wall of the T-bar, and the arrangement may comprise an actuation means connected to a shaft of the motor for the displacement of the locking piece. The actuation means may comprise a cam member which is engageable during at least part of its travel with the locking piece, advantageously in such a way as to cause the locking piece to be retracted into the bore. In this way use can be made of an existing locking piece and its existing mode of operation.
The motor may derive its power by way of a contact piece likewise slideably disposed in the bore transverse to a longitudinal axis thereof, the contact piece being urged to protrude through an opening in the T-bar wall for contact with a corresponding contact assembly external to the T-bar. Preferably the contact piece is constituted by a contact pin forming one pole of a voltage supply to the motor, the other pole being constituted by a chassis return of the T-bar. Advantageously the chassis return may be made by way of a securing element holding the motor in place inside the T-bar, and in particular by means of a grub screw.
The motor may be a motor commonly used as a film wind-on drive in cameras.
The locking piece may expediently be a locking piece as conventionally provided in T-bars and the opening through which the contact piece is urged may be an opening conventionally present in T-bars in the vicinity of the locking-piece opening.
The motor, cam and contact piece may be disposed inside a tubular insert dimensioned such as to form a push-fit inside the bore.
In an alternative embodiment of the lock arrangement, the motor may be mounted externally to the T-bar and may be adapted to bring a locking piece into engagement with an opening in the T-bar. A shaft of the motor may be attached to an actuation means for the displacement of the locking piece. The actuation means may comprise a cam member, which can be brought into engagement with the locking piece. The locking piece may be constituted by a rocker arm pivoted by pivot means secured to the vending machine chassis, one end of the arm being engageable with the cam member and the other end having an extension substantially transverse to a longitudinal axis of the T-bar for engagement with the opening in the T-bar.
The motor is preferably caused to operate by means of an electrical signal generated in a card reader mounted in the vending machine, such generation occurring upon validation of a card inserted into the reader.
In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vending-machine T-bar closure device, comprising a locking piece and, inside an internal bore of the device at a handle-end thereof, an electric motor for the actuation of the locking piece.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a vending machine comprises a card reader and a locking means connected to the reader and responsive thereto for performing a locking and/or unlocking operation on the machine, the card reader being arranged to write data to a smart card inserted, in use, into the reader, the data including data relating to access to the machine.
The reader may be arranged to transfer to the smart card at least some of the contents of a memory associated with the reader. The data which are transferred may relate to one or more of the following: the number of machine accesses made during a given period; the identity of the smart cards used to gain those accesses; the number of accesses refused by said reader; the identity of the smart cards to which access was refused; the identity of said machine; the times of day during which access is authorised, and the route on which the machine is situated.
Prior to writing access-related data to the card, the reader will preferably read authorisation-type data from the card in order to determine whether the card has the right to receive the access-related data.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, a data transfer system is provided comprising at least one vending machine as described above and a central administration point, wherein access data relating to the at least one vending machine are transferred to the central administration point by means of the smart card.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, purely by way of example only and with the aid of the drawings, of which:
FIG. 1
is a simplified front view of a vending machine;
FIG. 2
is a perspective view of a vending machine in its unlocked and partly open state;
FIG. 3
is a front view of a T-bar conventionally provided for the closing and locking of the machine shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
;
FIG. 4
is a side, partly internal, view of the T-bar shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
and illustrating the conventional use of a barrel lock;
FIG. 5
is the same view as
FIG. 4
, but illustrating a first embodiment of a lock arrangement in accordance with the present invention in which the barrel lock is replaced by an electric motor;
FIGS. 6 and 7
show, respectively, a control arrangement and locking-piece reset mechanism associated with the first embodiment of the lock arrangement according to the invention;
FIG. 8
shows a second embodiment of the lock arrangement according to the invention, and
FIG. 9
is a simplified front view of a vending machine showing the incorporation of a card reader for controlling access.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to
FIG. 5
, the invention makes use of the fact that the T-bar has an internal bore
34
normally carrying the lock
32
and takes the inventive step of substituting for that lock
32
a small electric motor
50
. The shaft
52
of the motor has mounted thereon an actuating means in the form of a cam disc
54
bearing a cam protrusion
56
. The protrusion is arranged to be able to engage with the shoulder
44
of the locking piece
36
during at least part of the rotational path of the protrusion. The motor and cam plate are fitted into the bore
34
via a plastic sheath
58
which is designed to be a push-fit inside the bore and is retained by a grub screw
81
which is normally used to retain the barrel lock
32
in the conventional locking arrangement.
So far what has taken place has been a simple retrofit of the existing T-bar with a motor instead of the usual barrel lock. However, the retrofit goes further by additionally making use of an opening
60
already present in the conventional T-bar a short distance away from the locking piece opening, to accommodate a contact pin
62
. This pin
62
, which is likewise spring-loaded, is held in the plastic sheath
58
which has been moulded to contain it, and is connected at one end to one feed wire
51
of the motor
50
while the other end is arranged to protrude through the opening
60
in order to make contact with a contact assembly
64
, which in this case is simply a contact pad connected to a suitable power-supply point anchored to the vending-machine chassis. The pin is thus urged by its own spring against the contact pad
64
, and a firm and effective contact is thereby ensured. The other feed wire
53
of the motor is ground-returned through the T-bar by being connected to the grub screw
81
and hence to the machine chassis.
The plastic sheath
58
is hollow at its outer end to accommodate the motor
50
, cam member
54
and locking piece
36
, but is solid at its inner end so as to act as a firm seating for the contact piece
62
and its associated spring
67
. The transition between the hollow and solid sections is shown in
FIG. 5
as a dotted line
82
. The motor wire
51
is fed through a largely axially orientated hole (not shown) made in the solid section of the sheath
58
.
Finally, to prevent vandalisation of the new lock assembly, the outer open end of the T-bar bore is closed up by the fitting of an end-cap
66
.
One drawback with this embodiment is the fact that, once the motor has been energised so as to depress the locking piece
36
, the very ejection of the “T” handle portion which takes place automatically causes the two parts of the contact arrangement
62
,
64
to disengage, thereby cutting the power to the motor. Hence the motor stops, leaving the cam protrusion
42
in the position it was in just prior to withdrawal of the T-bar, with the result that, when the T-bar is subsequently reinserted and screwed home, the locking piece
36
is not in its desired uppermost protruding position to allow the “T” handle portion to be locked in place when finally pushed into its recess.
The invention solves this problem (see
FIG. 6
) by arranging for the drive circuit which drives the motor to monitor the resistance of the motor armature coil
67
and, when an open-circuit is detected—which occurs, of course, when the T-bar is ejected—the normal motor drive is switched over to a reset drive which is designed to apply (when the motor is once again in circuit) a short pulse of power to the motor, sufficient to move the cam further round a short distance and release the locking piece. In this respect,
FIG. 7
should now be consulted, which shows a detail of the cam and locking-pin actuation mechanism at different stages in the locking and unlocking process.
FIG.
7
(
a
)—which, in common with FIGS.
7
(
b
) and (
c
), is a view along the longitudinal axis of the T-bar, i.e. along the axis of the motor shaft—illustrates the pin
36
in its uppermost, “locked” position. The cam protrusion
42
has not yet engaged with the shoulder
44
. When commanded to do so, the motor drives the cam round so that the protrusion
42
makes contact with the shoulder and pushes it down, moving the locking piece into its “unlocked” position, FIG.
7
(
b
). Finally, in connection with the reset arrangement described in the last paragraph, when the “T” handle portion is pushed home, the motor drive circuit applies a short pulse to the motor coil which moves the cam round a few more degrees until the protrusion
42
moves into a gap in the shoulder profile, i.e. the shoulder is not annular in shape, but only part-annular. When this occurs, the spring
40
forces the locking piece back up into its fully protruding position shown in FIG.
7
(
a
).
A subsequent command to unlock the T-bar simply drives the motor cam round until the protrusion
42
engages once again with the shoulder
44
, and the whole cycle repeats itself.
It will be found that, in most machines, the locking piece
36
already has a shoulder
44
which allows the piece to be retracted against spring pressure during part of the cam disc's travel, so that the requirement for a cheap and simple retrofitting of an existing machine is met in this respect also.
Conveniently, it has been found that an ideal motor for this purpose is the kind of motor used to wind on the film in a camera. Indeed, the fit with the wind-on motor used for the prototype was found to be virtually perfect, taking into account the presence of the plastic sheath
58
. The only slight problem was that the motor was found to be a little longer than the available distance between the end of the handle part of the T-bar and point at which the locking piece
36
emerges. However, this excess length (of the order of 2 mm) was easily compensated for in a prototype by the fitting of a domed end-cap
66
on the T-bar handle.
While this embodiment is a neat retrofit of the existing T-bar lock arrangement, it nevertheless has one major drawback, which is the need for a secure ground return through the bar itself to the vending-machine chassis. In a second embodiment this potential drawback is overcome by fitting the motor outside the T-bar. This is illustrated in FIG.
8
. In
FIG. 8
the motor
50
is housed inside a small sub-housing
70
attached to the vending-machine chassis. The shaft
52
of the motor is, as in the first embodiment, equipped with a cam disc
54
, the cam protrusion
56
of which engages one end of a rocker arm
72
. The rocker arm
72
is pivoted at an intermediate point
74
along its length and the other end of the arm
72
carries a bent portion
76
directed approximately transversely to the longitudinal axis of the T-bar. Finally, both the supply wires of the motor exit the housing
70
for connection to a motor drive circuit.
In operation of the second embodiment, the arm
72
is biassed in the position shown by a compression spring
78
, so that the T-bar is held locked in place by the end-portion
76
. When a command to unlock is given, power is fed to the motor
50
which then turns the cam disc
54
until the protrusion
56
engages with the other end of the rocker arm
72
, forcing it down against the action of the spring
78
. This causes the bent portion
76
to rise until it is lifted free of the opening
80
made in the T-bar. At this point the bar is unlocked and the handle portion is automatically ejected from its recess, as described earlier. When, in a subsequent locking procedure, the handle portion is pushed home into its recess once again, the bent portion
76
of the rocker arm simply slides over the cylindrical surface of the T-bar until it reaches the opening
80
, upon which it will drop down into the opening under the action of the spring
78
. The machine is now in its locked state once again.
A further advantage of this second embodiment is that, unlike the first embodiment, the motor does not lose its power once the T-bar is withdrawn Consequently there is no need for a motor drive circuit such as that shown in FIG.
6
.
The second embodiment envisages that the existing locking piece, which was taken advantage of by the first embodiment, will not be used, but will be replaced by an arrangement such as the rocker arm described. While this embodiment has the advantage of a secure and reliable electrical connection to the motor, it suffers the disadvantage of somewhat greater complexity and requires, for example, the making of a dedicated opening (e.g. a slot)
80
in the T-bar wall.
Clearly, since in both embodiments a conventional key is no longer used by service personnel to gain entry into the machine to replenish stock, etc, some alternative means must be provided for instructing the machine to go through its unlocking procedure. To this end the present invention employs a card entry system, in which a card reader
90
is provided in the machine (see
FIG. 9
) having processing and memory facilities known per se in the art. The processor is connected to a drive output stage (e.g. that of
FIG. 6
) which is connected to the motor
50
associated with the T-bar.
The reader software is configured so that, when a card is inserted into the reader slot, at least some of the contents of the card are read and stored in memory. Those contents are scanned for signs of authorisation, as determined by comparison of an “authorisation number” field in the card contents with a predetermined such number already lodged in the reader memory. If the two coincide, and if additionally an expiry date programmed into the card's memory has not yet been reached, the motor
50
is energised and the machine is unlocked. The reader may at this stage also record the time of access. If the two numbers do not coincide, or if the expiry date is already past, the reader notes that fact in its memory, along with the actual number input from the card, and refuses access to the holder of the card. The reader may have several such numbers relating to several cards to which it will yield access. Also, it is envisaged that the card will be programmed with a list of vending machines for which it will be valid. That list may be changed every month, or even every day, depending on system requirements.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the card employed to open the machine is a smart card, i.e. a card having its own intelligence in the form of chips resident on the card. The invention in this case provides for the reader to not only download the card's contents into its memory, but also to upload into the card's memory data including the access log for the machine in question as well as other vending-machine data which the reader accesses via a serial port. The holder of the card can then remove the card and take it to a central administrative section where he can reinsert the card into a reader at that end and have the new contents of the card downloaded into that system's database. The data concerning each vending machine is kept discretely in both the card's memory and the system's database. Any one card may carry, then, data relating to a number of machines.
Examples of data which the card could read from the a vending machine are: the identity of the cards used to gain the last so-many accesses; the number of accesses refused by the reader; the identity of the cards to which access was refused; the identity of the machine in question; the times of day during which access is programmed to be authorised, and the route on which the machine is situated. Other data are, of course, possible. It should be noted that the data concerned are nearly all related to the question of access. Other operational data such as product inventory, alarm conditions, temperature fluctuations, etc, may be communicated to a central point by other means, notably by some kind of modem, either radio or telephone, if fitted. However, in the event that no communications modem is fitted, the smart access card could be used to retrieve the information via the reader's serial port which is connected by suitable interface electronics to the various sensors, etc, present in the machine.
An advantage of the card access system herein proposed is that, were a card to be lost or stolen, it is a simple matter for the card holder to inform the central administration point, who would then take steps to reprogram those readers which were set up to accept the access code number of the lost or stolen card, to refuse access to the card in question where an unauthorised attempt is made to use it.
While the two embodiments of the locking mechanism described earlier have assumed the use of a cam member comprising a cam disc with a cam protrusion, other forms of cam member are equally possible. For example, especially in the case of the second embodiment, the motor shaft may be equipped at the end thereof with a simple arm which, in operation, sweeps through an arc and, at the appropriate point along that arc, operates the rocker arm
72
. In both embodiments it may alternatively be possible to employ for the locking-piece actuating means some form of reciprocal motion arrangement with a connecting arm moving the locking pin or the rocker arm, as the case may be, continuously up and down as the shaft rotates. In this case, of course, and considering the first embodiment in particular now, a pivot connection would have to be made with the locking pin, which may require the use of a separately made pin instead of the existing one. This could undesirably increase costs.
Although the first embodiment of the lock arrangement featured a ground return system for the motor drive, an alternative measure would be to substitute for the simple contact pin
62
a two-pole contact piece which engaged with a similarly two-pole contact assembly
64
. In this manner the problem of a potential lack of integrity of the return connection is avoided, though at the same time additional complications are incurred in the form of a more elaborate contact arrangement.
Also, whereas in the lock arrangements as so far described the motor has performed an unlocking action on the locking piece, i.e. the locking piece is normally biased into the locking position, it is conceivable to arrange for the motor to perform a locking action instead. In this alternative case the locking piece will be normally biased into its unlocked position. A third possibility is for the motor to effect both locking and unlocking actions, thereby dispensing with the need for a biasing element such as the spring
40
,
78
.
Claims
- 1. A vending machine lock arrangement, comprising:a) a lock mechanism; b) a T-bar closure device including an internal bore, a wall having an opening, a locking piece disposed in the bore and slidable along a substantially transverse axis through the opening in the wall of the T-bar device, and a hand-operated end; c) an electric motor for actuating the lock mechanism and disposed within the bore at the hand-operated end, the motor and the lock mechanism being operatively associated with the T-bar device, the motor having a shaft; d) actuation means connected to the motor shaft for displacement of the locking piece, including a cam member engageable during at least a part of its travel with the locking piece to cause the locking piece to be retracted into the bore; and e) a contact piece by which the motor derives its power, the contact piece being disposed in the bore and slidable along the transverse axis, the contact piece being urged to protrude through the opening in the wall of the T-bar device for contact with a corresponding contact assembly external to the T-bar device.
- 2. The lock arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contact piece is constituted by a contact pin forming one pole of a voltage supply to the motor, the other pole being constituted by a chassis return of the T-bar device.
- 3. The lock arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the motor, the cam member and the contact piece are disposed inside a tubular insert dimensioned to form a push-fit inside the bore.
- 4. The lock arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the locking piece is constituted by a rocker arm pivoted by a pivot means secured to a chassis of a vending machine, one end of the arm being engageable with the cam member and the other end having an extension substantially transverse to a longitudinal axis of the T-bar device for engagement with the opening in the T-bar device.
- 5. The lock arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the motor is caused to operate by means of an electrical signal generated in a card reader mounted in a vending machine.
- 6. The lock arrangement as claimed in claim 5, wherein the card reader is arranged to generate the electrical signal upon validation of a card inserted into the reader.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
9821081 |
Sep 1998 |
GB |
|
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