The ^' present invention relates to a device for delivering products, such as edible goods or durable goods of various kinds, within a vending machine.

More particularly, the invention relates to an automatic vending machine for the rental and/or the sale of durable goods and/or edible goods, which is equipped with a new system for delivering products; said system is perfectly compatible with the control systems and with the spaces provided within most types of automatic vending machines that are currently available and/or in use.

The most common automatic vending machines include a storage room, which is provided with multiple housing rows or lanes, placed at different height levels and corresponding to respective shelves, and the products to be delivered are placed inside a plurality of support housings or compartments which are provided in each housing lane.

In particular, the mechanism for delivering and expelling the products selected by the user may use plates or discs or may be of the gravity or pushing type, but the mechanical system that still appears to be more effective is the distribution and/or dispensing system that uses one or more spirals and which derives from the known "screw transport system", according to which a spiral element is placed on each housing row and said spiral element is practically a constant pitch spring, whose coils house the items for sale.

The spiral element is driven by a geared motor unit, equipped with a gear box, which rotates the spiral about its axis when a selection and a purchase are performed by a user, so that the purchased product is expelled from the spiral to reach the output mouth of the automatic vending machine.

Depending on the size and type of products to be distributed, the spiral elements that support said products may have different dimensions and pitches and, above all, their mutual distance can be varied; consequently, also the geared motor units of the spiral elements are provided in order to vary the positions, by increasing and/or decreasing the distances between a geared motor unit and the other, on the basis of the type and size of the item to be delivered.

In cases where the product has dimensions and/or packaging types that are particularly large or atypical, double geared motor units can be used, consisting of a single gear box, with a double-center distance, which includes two discs able to support the spiral element, with a gear system that is configured so that the two spirals, a right spiral and a left spiral, that are connected together, rotates in opposite directions; thus, each product can be delivered to the output mouth and outside by both spirals, the right spiral and the left spiral, which have respectively a clockwise and a left-handed involvement.

Said spiral distribution systems can be surely made at low costs and ensure a certain degree of use flexibility, but, however, they may have many technical drawbacks.

In fact, because of their shape, it is impossible to obviate the loss of space when the products are loaded, due to the spiral involvement, as it is impossible to Overcome the inclined positioning of the products (due to the formation of the spiral pitch), the need of replacing the spiral in order to adapt it to the different shapes of the products and/or of the product packaging, the need to arrange the same type of products within the same spiral, the dimensional limits to which the products must be subjected (by the way, the use of single and double geared motor groups for different types of packaging, as mentioned above, still requires the preparation of different production lines and involves the need to replace the whole geared motor unit in case the type or size of products for sale are varied within the same automatic vending machine).

Other embodiments of products' delivering devices that are installed within known vending machines includes worm screws or motorized conveyor belts, that really constitute transport systems of the products towards the output mouth of the vending machine.

However, due to the geometrical shape of the products packaging and/or of the housing seats of said products that are formed on the conveyor belt, the thrust exerted by said belt when the customer selects a product is not always sufficient to cause the fall of the products in the output mouth and said products may thus remain hanging in the balance on the front edge of the lane.

Furthermore, said housing seats cannot efficiently contain all kinds of products, with different shapes, sizes, packaging and use, and thus it is not possible to have automatic vending machines which are capable of delivering different and various products.

Finally, it is also necessary to completely dismantle and replace the shaped elements delimiting said housing seats, in order to change their shape and to adapt them to other types of products and/or packaging.

In this case, it is also necessary to have and manage a high number of shaped elements, in order to make versatile and multipurpose the delivering device/ and consequently further problems deriving from the long maintenance time and from the high costs arise.

The present invention overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and, in particular, an object of the invention is to provide a device for delivering products in vending machines, which allows to support and distribute a broad variety of products, different from each other in shape, size, packaging and intended use, in a practical, safe and reliable way, with respect to the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for delivering products in vending machines, which ensures a total compatibility and replacing with the known distribution and delivery systems.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device for delivering products in vending machines, which makes easier the use of spare parts and the fast configuration of the distributor, which can be made directly at the installation site.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device for delivering products in vending machines with low costs, with respect to the known delivery mechanisms and systems. These and other objects are achieved by a device for delivering products in vending machines, according to the enclosed claim 1 ; other technical characteristics of the device are disclosed in the dependent claims.

Advantageously, the delivering device of the present invention does not use spiral elements and/or worm screw transport systems, which, both for the high production and operation costs and for their functionality (because of the length of the delivery mechanism), are not very suitable for the purpose.

According to the invention, a track or belt which supports the products is used; the belt is integrated with a thrust and/or drive system including a belt and pulleys and with a motor which gives the movement to the pulleys; the device is able to replace, both from the mechanical and geometrical point of view and from the electrical and electronic point of view, the spiral delivering devices that are still known and used.

Using the support track or belt, it is possible to gain even more space for loading the products inside the vending machine, with respect to the known solutions and for a given size of the housing trays that are used in the known spiral dispensing devices, as the overall dimension of the spiral thickness is absent.

In particular, on each support and delivering track, according to the present invention, 7 bottles or cans can be positioned, while only 6 bottles or cans can be positioned on the known spring or spiral delivering devices, for equal length of the delivering device and for equal capacity of the vending machine.

The above mentioned aims and advantages, as well as others that will be better clear in the following description, will appear to a greater extent from the following description, relating to a preferred embodiment of the device for delivering products in vending machines, and from the attached drawings, in which:

- figures 1 and 2 are two perspective views of a first embodiment of the device for delivering products in vending machines, according to the invention; - figures 3 and 4 show two side views of the device for delivering products in vending machines of figures 1 and 2, in two respective operating positions;

- figures 5 and 6 show two side views of another embodiment of the device for delivering products in vending machines, in two respective operating positions, according to the present invention;

- figure 7 shows a side view of the device for delivering products in vending machines of figures 1-4, in an operating position, on which the products to be delivered are arranged;

- figure 8 shows a perspective view of the device for delivering products in vending machines of figures 5-6, in an operating position, on which the products to be delivered are arranged;

- figure 9 shows a perspective view of an enlarged detail of the products delivering device for vending machines of figures 5-6, according to the present invention;

- figures 10A and 0B show two perspective views of a part of the detail shown in figure 9;

- figures 11 A, 11B, 1C, 12A, 12B, 12C, 2D show a series of detailed views of the detail shown in figure 9, according to the present invention; - figure 13 is a side view of an enlarged detail of the products delivering device for vending machines of figure 2;

- figure 14 shows a perspective view of an enlarged detail of the products delivering device for vending machines, according to the present invention;

- figure 15 is a side view of the detail of figure 14, in a first operating position, according to the invention;

- figure 16 is a side view of the detail of figure 14, in a second operating position, according to the invention.

With reference to the above mentioned figures, the device for delivering products in vending machines, according to the present invention, includes a support base 1 , on which a belt or conveyor belt 2 of the products 30 to be delivered slides.

The support base 1 includes a drive motor 8 for moving the tape or belt 2, a belt-tensioner, a transmission disengagement system and a set of gears which transfer the movement to a drawer pulley 7 and to the transport tape or belt 2.

The transport or conveyor belts 2 can be of a smooth type with a pushing elements, placed at one end and free to slide on the belt 2 (fig. 1-4 and 7); otherwise, the conveyor belts 2 can be divided with separation blades 4 that are placed in relative shaped hooks 3 of the transport belt 2 and that are able to place the products 30 and that, in some cases, constitute the real support of the products 30 to be delivered (fig. 5-6 and 8-9).

The shaped hooks 3 of the separation blades 4 may also be used for inserting special supports in case products 30 with atypical shape and/or packaging are delivered, as well as it is possible to use only the hooks 3, which determine the suitable spaces for the sub-division and the housing of products 30.

In case the blades 4 are used, it is also necessary to employ a rise block 11 , positioned below the support module 1 , so that the blades 4 are able to pass between the belt 2 and the plane of the products' dispensing tray, on which the delivery device of the present invention is positioned.

The upper length of the belt 2 constitutes the useful space for inserting and supporting the products 30 and said length goes from the products' drop point C, within the distribution mouth, to the coupling point Q of the fixed pushing element 5, in case a free conveyor belt 2 is used as well as a conveyor belt 2 with partition blades 4 is used.

After the delivery of the last product 30 placed on the conveyor belt 2, the front surface of the pushing element 5 with the word "VOID" is visible and directly facing the front transparent surface of the vending machine (position shown in fig. 4).

It is thus clear that if a further selection of the same support module 1 were done, even in the absence of products 30 to be dispensed, the pushing element 5 would rotate in the lower part of the module 1 , causing it to break and/or to jam; similarly, in case the partition blades 4 were used, after having dispensed the all products 30 of the conveyor belt 2 placed between the positions C and Q, the blades 4 would be positioned in the lower part of the support module 1 and said blades 4 should be brought back on the top surface of the module 1 by a further curvature of 180°.

Moreover, this operation is not possible, since, for making a maximum use of the top surface of the conveyor belt 2, the support module 1 is directly fixed to the bottom wall of the relative dispensing tray and therefore space is not sufficient for a complete 360° round of the belt 2 and of the partition blades 4.

Then, after the delivery of the last product 30 placed on the belt

2, the pushing element 5 acts mechanically on a end-stop switch 14, which is parallel connected to an electric driver 6 of the motor 18 that actuates the belt 2 and which is positioned at the end portion of the top surface of the belt 2, near the falling point C of the products 30 inside the delivery mouth of the vending machine, thus excluding the advancement of the belt 2 when a selection of the tray corresponding to the dispensing device having no products 30 is made.

The above mentioned steps are performed by using a particular system of engagement and disengagement of the transmission, which can be driven by pushing a button placed in front of the support module 1.

In fact, in order to take back the conveyor tape or belt 2 to the starting position, once the products 30 on the top surface of the belt 2 are exhausted the dispensing device is "recharged", i.e. the pushing element 5 is replaced at the starting point Q and the belt 2 is brought back for replacing the products 30 to be dispensed on the belt 2.

Therefore, the conveyor belt 2 is placed between two pulleys, i.e. a drawer pulley 7 and an idle pulley 8 (fig. 8), and the drawer pulley 7 is mechanically connected, through a cascade of gears 16, 17, 27 (that are placed between the side walls of the support module 1), to the motor 18 for driving the conveyor belt 2, while the idle pulley 8 rotates around a shaft 10 mounted on squared dowels, which slide on the walls of the support module 1 , so that, by rotating the cam 9, which is symmetrically mounted on both sides of the dispensing device, the squared dowels and the idle pulley 8 bring back and the conveyor belt 2 is tensioned in a suitable way.

The tape or belt 2 is manually replaced and reversed after having disengaged the motion transmission system through the lever 12, that is coupled to the gear 24 and that is placed in the front part of the support module 1 , which constitutes the only point available from the outside when the dispensing device is mounted on the relative tray of the automatic vending machine.

The lever 12 is fixed to the support module 1 , while the gear 24 has at least one toothed portion, which engages the disengaging gear 13; the gear 13, in turn, has a hollow body provided with four internal reference teeth 26 and an upper sliding hole 25, where the shaft 20, which is part of the floating gear 23, is inserted so that it can rotate (fig. 10A, 10B).

The disengaging gear 13 is fixed by rotating it and by properly engaging the internal teeth 26 in the helical tracks of the hub 28, which is made on the side wall of the support module 1 and which is screwed to the floating shaft 20 of the gear 23; the shaft 20 can then rotate via the disengaging gear 13, but it is constrained to said gear 13 during a transverse motion (fig. 11 A; 11 B, 11C, 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D).

The actuation of the lever 12 and of the gear 24 causes the rotation of the disengaging gear 13 in the opposite versus (arrow K of fig. 14) with respect to the rotation versus (arrow H of fig. 14) of the gear 24, while the teeth 26 placed inside the gear 13, running on the tracks of the hub 28, cause a transverse movement of the gear 13 and of the relative bounded disengagement shaft 20.

The disengagement shaft 20 slides inside the engaging gear 27 (which has the relative shaft 21) and always engages the gear 29 (which has the relative shaft 19); the intermediate gear 29 is also designed with a teeth length so as to maintain the transmission while translating, and receives the motion, with a ratio 1/1 , by the driving motor 18, through the external gear 6, which in turn is in contact with the motor gear 17.

Therefore, the motion is transferred to the disengagement gear 23 by means of the cascade of gears 17, 16, 29 and the gear 23 has, on the inner face, a series of positive engagement teeth 31 , which can be inserted (arrow L of fig. 16) or disengaged (arrow K of fig. 15) by a respective negative matrix 32 placed on the face of the idle gear 27, so as to give or not to give the motion to the pulley 7 and, consequently, to the conveyor belt 2 (fig. 11C, 12A, 12B, 12D, 14, 15, 16).

In order to use the same electronic components of the known dispensing devices having spiral-type conveyors, it is also possible to use the same drivers of the motors actuating the spirals, which are also provided for the conveyor belt 2 of the present application, by adapting the pitch of the spiral to the size, the shape and the packaging of products 30 to be housed and deliver, once each step of the spiral's pitch for each single turn of said spiral is known.

According to the present invention, therefore, the actuation of each pitch is controlled by a switch 14, which is activated by the cam 15, said cam 15 being connected, through the gear 33 and with 1/1 ratio, to the motor gear 17 (fig. 13, 14, 15, 16).

For each turn of the cam 15 is thus possible to obtain a pulse from the switch 14; alternatively, the gear 33 of the cam 15 can be replaced with an equivalent gear having a double flat part, thus obtaining a double pulse from the switch 14.

In any case, the electronic logic of the dispensing device provides that the drive motor 18 is activated as a result of the selection of one product and said motor 18 is switched-off through the pulse of the switch 14; thus, knowing the forward pitch of the conveyor belt 2 for each single pulse of the switch 14 and therefore for each activation step, it is possible to modify via software the stop point during the conveyance of the products 30 and consequently the advancing step of the products 30 on the belt 2, by stopping the conveyance of the products 30 whenever the switch 14 counts a certain number of pulses which is suitable to eject the selected product 30.

A selection step which is electronically variable, through a suitable software programming, is therefore obtained; this aspect is extremely advantageous, because, as it is possible to vary the selection step even remotely, the dispensing device can be already set up within the automatic vending machine and, therefore, it is enough that the dispensing devices are mounted in the vending machine, without further technical solutions provided from the maintainer and/or the installer.

Based on the foregoing, it is understood, therefore, that the device for dispensing products in automatic vending machines, which is the object of the present invention, achieves the intended aim and the above mentioned advantages, such as, in particular, the advantage of placing a greater number of products on the dispensing device, with respect to the prior art, and of having inside the vending machine, a greater variety of products, with respect to the prior art, because it is possible to have modular supporting elements.

It is finally clear that numerous other variations may be made to the dispensing device of the present application, without departing from the novelty principles inherent in the inventive idea of the application, as well as it is also clear that, in the practical embodiment of the invention, the materials, the shapes and the dimensions of the illustrated details can be any according to the needs and they can be possibly replaced with other details which are technically equivalent.

Where technical features mentioned in the following claims are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been introduced with the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of said claims, and, accordingly, said reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element, which is then identified purely by way of example by said reference signs.