Automated beverage system

• US 6,102,246 A
• Filed: 11/16/1999
• Issued: 08/15/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Restaurant Technologies Incorporated (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Restaurant Technologies Incorporated (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ziesel, Lawrence B., Goulet, Douglas P., Coffey, Jimmie L., Weinaug, Kenneth S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Noland, Kenneth W.
• Application Number:
  US09/441,071
• Time in Patent Office: 273 Days
• Field of Search: 221/5, 221/8, 221/11, 221/13, 221/21, 221/119, 221/121, 221/120, 221/122, 221/132, 221/221, 221/222
• US Class Current: 221/11
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 43/44 from supply magazines
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/133 the circuit being confined in a horizontal plane
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 17/32 Individual load-carriers
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/02 Articles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/22 Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors during feeding B65G47/14
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 59/106 comprising lifting or gripping means
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/00 Apparatus or devices for dispensing beverages on draught B67D3/00 takes precedence; apparatus for making beverages A47J31/00
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0888 Means comprising electronic circuitry (e.g. control panels, switching or controlling means)
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/00068 Means for filling simultaneously a plurality of cups
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/00076 Cup conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 1/00 Coin inlet arrangements; Coins specially adapted to operate coin-freed mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/10 with associated dispensing of containers, e.g. cups or other articles

Abstract

An automated system for preparing and delivering postmix beverages in response to one or more drink orders being entered from a remote point of sale unit or a local keypad and including: a postmix beverage preparation assembly for dispensing ice and a selected postmix beverage into a cup; an oblong carousel type conveyor assembly including a plurality of upwardly open cup holders which are driven by a motor driven belt so as to pass beneath a cup dispensing station, an ice dispensing station, a beverage dispensing station, and a plurality of pick-up stations; a cup storage and dispenser assembly including a bi-directionally rotatable turret upon which is mounted a plurality of different sized cup supply tubes for holding a respective stack of beverage cups; and a pneumatic vertically driven cup gripper/extractor mechanism having a pair of pneumatically operated gripper arms which operate to remove a cup from a selected supply tube on the turret and placing the extracted cup into an empty cup holder which is then transported past the dispensing stations and then to a pick-up station on the conveyor for manual removal by an attendant.

Claims

1. A cup conveyor for an automated beverage dispensing system, comprising:

a motor driven carousel type of cup conveyor including a plurality of open cup holders which travel over a grate and spillage tray for transporting beverage cups past a beverage dispensing station to a pick-up station, and

wherein each of the cup holders includes an open portion in the bottom thereof and the grate includes an upwardly projecting resilient bias member extending through said open portion for moving a cup dropped into a cup holder against an inner wall surface of the cup holder for optimally receiving a beverage during a beverage dispensing operation.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said bias member comprises an angulated spring type element mounted on the grate and being deformable by movement of a cup holder thereover toward the dispensing station.

3. A system according to claim 2 wherein said spring type element includes a pair of upwardly projecting arms for contacting a bottom rim portion of the cup inside the cup holder.

4. A system according to claim 1 and wherein each of the cup holders includes a set of upwardly projecting cup stops in a bottom portion thereof for keeping a cup in place once moved against the inner wall surface of the cup holder.

5. A system according to claim 4 wherein the bottom of said cup holders includes a pair of centralized cross members spanning said open portion and wherein the set of cup stops are located on said cross members.

6. A system according to claim 5 wherein the set of cup stops include a plurality of cup stops on one of said pair of cross members and at least one cup stop on the other of said pair of cross members.

7. A system according to claim 5 wherein said cup stops comprises barb type elements.

8. A system according to claim 1 wherein the cup conveyor includes a sensor assembly for detecting the arrival of an empty cup holder at a cup extraction station.

9. A system according to claim 8 wherein said sensor assembly comprises a magnetic sensor assembly including a magnet element mounted on a body portion of each said cup holders and a magnetic detector element located in a fixed position on a side portion of the conveyor.

10. A system according to claim 1 wherein the beverage dispensing system includes plurality of pick-up stations and wherein the cup conveyor includes a sensor assembly located at a last pick-up station of said pick-up stations for detecting a cup holder containing a cup so as to inhibit further movement of the conveyor until the cup is removed from the cup holder.

11. A system according to claim 10 wherein said sensor assembly for detecting a cup holder containing a cup comprises a light energy sensor assembly generating a beam of light passing across the conveyor so as to intersect a cup holder, and wherein the cup holders include apertures for the passage of the beam therethrough.

12. A system according to claim 11 wherein said sensor assembly includes an infrared emitter element and a receptor element located on opposite sides of a section of said cup conveyor.

13. A cup storage and dispensing assembly for an automated beverage dispensing system, comprising:

a rotatable turret having a plurality of cup supply tubes of a predetermined size mounted thereon for providing a mix of different sized cups at a cup extration station,

a drive motor for rotating the turret,

and control means for controlling the drive motor so as to rotate the turret in either a clockwise or counter clockwise direction for minimizing the time for a cup supply tube containing a desired sized cup to be positioned at the cup extraction station, the improvement comprising;

the rotatable turret including a central mounting plate including an arrangement of supply tube size attachment elements having a specific pattern for each size of supply tube to be mounted thereon and wherein each size of supply tube includes complementary attachment elements for attachment to said control mounting plate at a predefined location around the mounting plate.

14. A system according to claim 13 wherein the turret includes a sensor assembly for detecting which of said cup supply tubes is presently in position at the cup extracting station.

15. A system according to claim 14 wherein the sensor for detecting supply tube position comprises a light energy sensor assembly including a rotatable disk attached to a shaft connected to the drive motor, said disk having a respective set of apertures being spaced apart so as to define a code for each of said plurality of supply tubes, and a set of light emitter and receptor elements located on either side of said disk for detecting a coded pattern of light transmission and non-transmission indicative of both size and position of the supply tubes positioned opposite the gripper arms.

16. A system according to claim 15 wherein the coded apertures are located at the periphery of the disk.

17. A system according to claim 16 wherein said light emitter and receptor elements comprise infrared elements.

18. A system according to claim 13 wherein said attachment elements include complementary sets of pins and slots.

19. In a cup storage and dispensing assembly for an automated beverage dispensing system, comprising,

a rotatable turret having a plurality of cup supply tubes of a predetermined size mounted thereon for providing a mix of different sized cups at a cup extraction station,

a drive motor for rotating the turret,

and control means for controlling the drive motor so as to rotate the turret in either a clockwise or counter clockwise direction for minimizing the time for a cup supply tube containing a desired sized cup to be positioned at the cup extraction station, the improvement comprising:

said cup supply tube including at least one bifurcated cup restraining member located in a bottom portion of the respective supply tube, said restraining member comprising a resilient member having a relatively short finger element and an adjacent relatively long finger element, both of said finger elements angulating inwardly and including an inwardly bent end portion for stopping a cup by contacting a rim portion thereof, and wherein cup stopping at one of the end portions is dependent on the weight of overlying cups in a stack of cups located in the supply tube.

20. A system according to claim 19 wherein at least one cup restraining member comprises a plurality of cup restraining members located around the bottom portion of the tube.

21. A method of dispensing beverages from an automated beverage dispensing system, comprising the steps of:

moving a plurality of cup holders containing beverage cups on a conveyor;

filling a drink order inputted to the system, and

leaving a cup holder vacant between drink orders for serving as a marker delineating the last-filled cup of one order and the first-filled cup of a following order.