Automatic flower-selling equipment

• US 20060219729A1
• Filed: 04/05/2004
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Istvan Dobos
• Original Assignee: Istvan Dobos
• Inventors: Dobos, Istvan
• Granted Patent: US 7,447,563 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 221/9
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 7/0078 for plants or flowers
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/54 about vertical axes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/40 for devices for accepting orders, advertisements, or the like

Abstract

The subject of the invention is automatic flower selling equipment, which contains a house (10) including storage space (11) suitable for storing and protecting flowers (2), a bearing unit (20) situated in the storage space (11) of the house (10) for displaying the flowers (2), a moving unit (30) connected to the bearing unit (20) and a control unit (40) connected to the moving unit (30), the control unit (40) is connected to a selecting partial unit (41) situated on the casing (12) of the house (10), the bearing unit (20) has a supporting column (21) attached to the house (10) in a rotatable way and supporting structures (22) attached to the supporting column (21) below each other, where the supporting structures (22) have a supporting tray (23) suitable for supporting the flowers (2), and one or more delivery doors (13) are arranged on the casing (12) of the house (10), and the delivery door (13) is connected to a delivery outlet (14) for taking out the chosen flowers (2). The characteristic feature of the invention is that at least some of the supporting structures (22) have a distributing ring (24) co-operating with the supporting tray (23).

Claims

1. Automatic flower-selling equipment according to the invention, which contains a house including storage space suitable for storing and protecting flowers, a bearing unit situated in the storage space of the house for displaying the flowers, a moving unit connected to the bearing unit and a control unit connected to the moving unit, the control unit is connected to a selecting partial unit situated on the casing of the house, the bearing unit has a supporting column attached to the house in a rotatable way and supporting structures attached to the supporting column below each other, where the supporting structures have a supporting tray suitable for supporting the flowers and several separating sheets dividing the supporting trays into parts, and all of the parts of the supporting tray in between two neighbouring separating sheets are identified with individual distinctive marks, and one or more delivery doors are arranged on the casing of the house, and the delivery door is connected to a delivery outlet for taking out the chosen flowers, characterised by that at least some of the supporting structures (22) have a distributing ring (24) co-operating with the supporting tray (23), situated above the supporting tray (23) and having a projection perimeter (K2) at least partly bordering on the outside the perimeter (K1) of the projection of the supporting tray (23) falling on the reference plane (S) at right angles to the longitudinal axis (21a) of the supporting column (21), the separating sheets (25) are arranged at regular intervals (T), favourably radially on the distributing ring (24) independently of the supporting tray (23), and the curve (24a) between two separating sheets (25) of the distribution ring (24) are identified with the distinctive marks (24b), and the delivery outlet (14) situated in the environment of the distribution ring (24) is equipped with a cross-section restricting mask (15) suiting the size of the interval (T) between the two separating sheets (25), and in this way the delivery outlet (14) is restricted to the delivery window (15a) suiting the interval (T).

2. Equipment as in claim 1, characteuised by that at least some of the supporting trays (23) are equipped with a water-storage trough (23a).

3. Equipment as in claim 1 or 2, characterised by that a water recirculating partial unit (50) is placed in the house (10), the water recirculating partial unit (50) has a water-storage tank (51), a pump (52) and water-conducting passages (53).

4. Equipment as in claim 3, characterised by that at least some of the water-conducting passages (53) are situated inside the supporting column (21).

5. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-4, characterised by that the selecting partial unit (41) is combined with a money-handling partial unit (42).

6. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-5, characterised by that the storage space (11) of the house (10) is connected to air-conditioning equipment (60).

7. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-6, characterised by that the distribution ring (24) is combined with a skirt (26) situated below it.

8. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-7, characterised by that at least a part of the casing (12) of the house (10) is constructed of large arched door elements (16) made of a transparent material, e.g.:

plexiglas, and the door elements (16) are situated near and along the supporting structures (22).

9. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-8, characterised by that the selecting partial unit (41) has a display unit (41a) and a data input unit (41b).

10. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-9, characterised by that the individual curves (24a) of the distribution ring (24) and the position of the supporting column (21) in relation to the delivery door (13) are allocated to each other with the help of a distinctive mark (24b), via the control unit (40).

11. Equipment as in any of the claims 1-10, characterised by that an opening structure (70) is inserted between the house (10) and the delivery door (13).