1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to vending machines suitable for selling beverages, various type of goods, etc., and more particularly to a burglar-proof apparatus for the vending machines for preventing those articles disposed in a main body and money stored inside a door from being stolen.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Generally, vending machines can be classified into various types of machines depending upon kinds of articles available from those machines; a vending machine adapted to provide beverage filled in such as a disposable paper cup; and another vending machine adapted to provide such as a can or the like; and still another type of a vending machine used for providing various different kinds of articles like a lottery ticket, beverage, etc. According to the present invention, there is illustrated for a burglar-proof apparatus for the above-mentioned cup-based vending machine.
As shown in FIG. 1, an exterior appearance of the above type of the vending machine includes a main body 100 which forms an appearance and has a door 200 positioned at front surface of the body 100, for opening or closing the inside of the body 100. At an outer side of the door 200 is installed a handle 211 used when the door 200 is to be opened or closed, and a slit 212 for inserting coins in order to obtain desired beverages. Further, the door 200 has a beverage selection portion 213 in which push buttons are provided for selecting desired beverages, and a beverage taking portion 214 adapted to take a beverage therefrom by a user. Also, a user can receive, as coins, difference in amount between the inserted amount and the sale price of the beverage selected through a coin outlet 215.
Inside of door 200 as illustrated in FIG. 2, there are provided a coin chute 231 to slidably guide the coins inserted through the slit 212, a coin mechanism 232 arranged downstream of said coin chute 231 and functioning to discriminate if the correct coins are inserted, a change storage 233 integrally coupled to the coin mechanism 232, a guide 234 coupled to a lower side of the change storage 233 and for guiding coins corresponding to difference in amount between the inserted coin amounts and the sale price of a beverage into the coin outlet 215, and a coin box 236 for depositing final coins traveled through a duct 235 which is coupled to the coin mechanism 232.
Inside of the main body 100 as illustrated in FIG. 3, there are provided a water tank 111 for storing hot water, a plurality of material storing boxes 112 located downstream of the water tank 11 and for storing respective powder materials, a cup depositing box 113 located at a side of the material storing boxes 112 and for storing cups, a cup stand 115 capable of supporting the cup received through a passage 114, which is located downstream of the cup depositing box 113, and a container 117, at a lower side of the cup housing 115, for temporarily storing powder material or water discharged through a drain hose 116.
In order to obtain a desired beverage from the machine, a user is required to insert coins through the slit 212 and then to push one button selected in the a beverage selection portion 213. At this time, a cup having been stored in the cup depositing box 113 is supplied into the cup stand 115, followed by the supplying of desired beverage into the discharged cup by a predetermined amount. Upon the completing of the beverage supply, a user can take the beverage-contained cup from the beverage taking portion 214. After this procedures, the vending machine gives a user coins corresponding to difference in amount between the inserted coin amounts and the sale price of a beverage through the coin outlet 215.
At this time, powder material or water may be discharged outside of the cup during the supplying of material or water, but which can be collected in the container 117 which would be cleaned by an operator.
Such a vending machine is also provided with a burglar-proof apparatus for preventing the money in the coin box 236 and various valuable things inside the main body 100 from being stolen, as shown in FIG. 4.
In the prior art burglar-proof apparatus, there has been employed upper hinge 300 and lower hinge (not shown) operated when the door 200 of the body 100 is opened or closed.
More specifically, to an upper side of the main body 100 is operatively coupled an end of one side of the door 200. On both top surfaces of the main body 100 and door 200, there is provided the upper hinge 300 for a hinge action of the door 200. To this end, the upper hinge 300 has one side thereof coupled to the main body 100 and other side thereof from which a protrusion 310 is integrally, downward extended. Since the protrusion 310 is inserted into the door 200 to provide a hinge action of the door 200, separation of the door 200 from the main body 100 is prevented for the burglar-proof.
However, there is problem in that the above-mentioned burglar-proof apparatus for the vending machine has only upper and lower hinges, so an effective burglar-proof cannot be guaranteed.
In other words, the space X defined between the main body 100 to which the upper hinge 300 is installed and the door 200 can be used to insert therebetween relatively long metallic rod for an intended separation of the door 200 from the main body 100. An external force constantly applied thereto causes an easy separation of the protrusion 310 of the upper hinge 300 from the door 200, leading to the separation of the door 200 from the main body 100.