Kabushiki Kaisha Kito

Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated

J. Schmalz Gmbh

Masayuki Ohno

Kazuo Maeda

Takayoshi Nakamura

Kurt Schmalz

Wolfgang Schmalz

Shozo Iwamoto

Yoshihiro Kawaguchi

Michinobu In

Hiroshi Yamada

Hiroyuki Kakiuchi

Teruo Akiyama

Yutaka Nishioka

Merchandise temperature sensors 16 for detecting merchandise temperatures simultaneously with in-housing temperature sensors 17 for detecting the in-housing air temperature of a merchandise housing are provided in the merchandise housing of a vending machine. Further, the cooling mechanism is controlled by means of the merchandise temperature sensor 16 during the peak shift or peak cut, whereas the cooling mechanism is controlled by means of in-housing temperature sensor 17 during normal operation. Thus the merchandise temperature is directly detected during the peak shift or peak cut where the temperature sharply varies so as to increase merchandise temperature control accuracy. Even when the installation of the merchandise temperature sensors is limited to some columns in view of cost reduction, the cooling mechanism is made controllable by collectively detecting the merchandise temperature in the whole column by means of the in-housing temperature sensors 17 during the normal operation.

Method of controlling cooling in a vending machine and device therefor

A vacuum lift device comprising a lift tube which is able to contract and expand in an upward and downward direction, and a lift tube expansion control valve controlling the opening areas of the atmospheric openings of the lift tube. A hovering control valve controlling the flow area between the second atmospheric opening and the interior of the lift tube is provided. The lift tube expansion control valve is normally positioned at a position such that is completely covers the first atmospheric opening, and the second atmospheric opening is open to the outside space. At this time, the level of vacuum in the lift tube is adjusted by the hovering control valve so that an object to be lifted is maintained at a desired height.

Vacuum lift device

A hoist includes a shaft driven by external force, a driving shaft connected to the shaft, a reduction gear train for transmitting rotation of the driving shaft to a load sheave, a mechanical brake assembly in the reduction gear train, and an overload safety device having a clutch mechanism capable of transmitting torque larger in driving said load sheave in a winding-off direction than that in a winding-up direction. According to the invention, the clutch mechanism comprises a disc-like driving member, a disc-like driven member, surfaces of these members facing to each other being formed with a plurality of recesses which are arranged in circles on the surfaces of these members and in opposition to each other, slide elements each accommodated in each set of the opposite recesses respectively formed in these members, and resilient urging means for urging the slide elements between the driving and driven members, any one of each set of the recesses having a gentle slope surface facilitating each the slide element to ride thereon and slip when driving the load sheave in the winding-up direction. The hoist according to the invention is capable of automatically preventing the lifting, lowering or dragging of a load under overload condition, and enabling the once lifted load to be securely lowered regardless of its light or heavy weight, and is simple in construction, easy to assemble and adjust and suitable for mass-production.

Hoist

A lever hoist comprises a change gear provided in a driving shaft for driving a sheave for winding-up a chain or rope for a load, an operating lever rockably driven by a hand, winding-up and winding-off driving pawls engageable with teeth of the change gear and changeable in response to the purpose of hoisting or lowering the load, and a braking assembly for preventing the change gear from being driven by a gravity of the load and having a spring for releasing the braking assembly. According to the invention the lever hoist further comprises a brake spring control member rotatably fitted on the driving shaft, a brake clamping spring arranged between the driving member and the brake spring control member, and a direction change transmission mechanism for transforming rotation of the brake spring control member into axial urging force of the brake clamping spring. The lever hoist is capable of lifting and lowering even a light load by repeatedly rocking the operating lever and includes the brake spring control member which is rotated to release the brake clamping and hence the load sheave into a freely rotatable condition.

Lever hoist

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masayuki Ohno