Apparatus for storing and delivering sale units

• US 5,438,523 A
• Filed: 06/13/1994
• Issued: 08/01/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Wurth International AG (Reinhold Würth Holding GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Adolf Wã¼Rth GmbH & Company KG
• Inventors: Weidner, Karl, Palosi, Gabor, Humm, Siegfried
• Primary Examiner(s): RUGGIERO, JOSEPH F
• Application Number:
  US08/259,242
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• Field of Search: 364/479, 364/478, 364/403, 221/2, 221/5, 221/7, 221/8, 221/9, 221/12, 221/13, 221/14, 221/83, 221/90, 221/154, 221/155, 221/76, 221/77, 221/129, 235/381, 340/825.35, 194/217
• US Class Current: 700/243
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/16 Delivery means
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/163 characterised by blocking access to the output bins
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/58 the articles being supported on or by endless belts or like conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/62 in which the articles are stored in compartments in fixed receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 5/18 specially adapted for controlling several coin-freed apparatus from one place
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 5/26 Interlocks, e.g. for locking the doors of compartments other than that to be used
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/002 Vending machines being part of a centrally controlled network of vending machines

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for delivering assembly and machining expendable materials or tools. The apparatus has an internal continuous mechanism with different compartment rows arranged in rotary manner and to move past a removal door row. An embodiment having relatively stationary compartments and movable doors to align with a selected compartment is also disclosed. An inputting keyboard for the positioning of the particular compartment row in front of the removal door row also controls the unlocking of a door in the door row associated with the selected compartment. The delivery unit is connected by means of a long-range transmission means to a data processing unit, which records the removal of the materials and optionally initiates reloading, billing, etc.

Claims

1. An apparatus for storing and delivering articles, comprising:

long-range transmission means;

storage means comprising a plurality of compartments for storing articles;

at least one delivery unit operatively connected to said transmission means, and the delivery unit having at least one delivery door arranged on a front side of the delivery unit;

positioning means for moving the delivery door relative to the plurality of compartments into a delivery position in which one of said plurality of compartments is in alignment with the at least one delivery door;

release means for releasing the delivery door for exposing a corresponding one of said plurality of compartments located behind the door; and

signal generating means for generating signals representative of alignment of one of said plurality of compartments with the delivery position and the release of the door, and said long-range transmission means being for transmitting said signals to a data processing central unit remote from the delivery unit for recording door releases and delivery position alignments of said delivery unit and delivery door relative to individual ones of said plurality of compartments.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of compartments are juxtaposed with respect to each other in a plurality of article compartment rows, and said compartment rows are arranged one on top of another.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compartments further comprise access openings arranged in a common, substantially vertically extending plane.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the substantially vertically extending plane is slightly inclined with respect to a strictly vertical plane.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said compartments have bottoms with the bottoms thereof downwardly inclined to a rear thereof away from a front opening of each of said compartments.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the delivery unit comprises multiple delivery doors juxtaposed as a delivery door row, each door of said multiple delivery doors being separately openable.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of compartments are arranged fixed in a housing, and the delivery unit is moveable relative to said housing.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the delivery unit is moveable in a vertical direction, and is connected to moveable cover means for covering the plurality of compartments.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the cover means is at least partially transparent.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the cover means is constructed in the form of a roller-shutter.

11. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising guides located at two lateral sides of said housing for guiding the delivery unit.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the guides are made up of transparent guiding strips and non-transparent guiding strips making up the cover means, and arranged in alternating sequence, with the transparent strips being wider than the non-transparent strips.

13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the cover means is guided at the upper and lower ends of said housing by wheels which are rotatable around horizontally extending axes.

14. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the delivery unit is moveable manually after manual triggering of a delivery unit releasing mechanism, said releasing mechanism being releasable only if memory means, interconnected between the signal generating means and the long-range transmission means, is in an operating status for enabling said release.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal generating means comprises coding means for cooperating with the delivery unit for producing position signals representing the position of the delivery unit relative to each individual row of a plurality of rows made up of a corresponding number of compartments of said plurality of compartments.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the coding means comprises optically readable code surfaces, and at least one optical sensor for reading said optically readable code surfaces.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus for storing and delivering article comprises a plurality of apparatus for storing a delivery articles, each as a storage unit, each storage unit comprising a corresponding plurality of said compartments and a delivery unit, each storage unit being of modular construction for being interconnected to other storage units electrically.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1, comprising at least one storage unit, said storage unit comprising of a plurality of said compartments and a delivery unit, and the apparatus further comprising a separate control unit having memory and the long-range transmission means, the control unit being of modular construction for being electrically connected to the storage units.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the control unit comprises entry means for entering data and a display.

20. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front of the delivery unit is openable for providing access to door release means and to an electronic control device comprising a part of the signal generating means.

21. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display element near each door for indicating a full or empty condition of a compartment of said plurality of compartments which is aligned with the door.

22. The apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a direction indicator for indicating a direction in which the delivery unit is to be moved to approach a desired compartment of said plurality of compartments, in which an article is contained, and which has been selected through use of entry means.

23. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising access duration control means for controlling the timing of release of the door.