JP2001161901A - Ball feeder for pachinko machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable Pachinko balls to be continually fed even when a ball counter sensor became enabled in ball detection and to prevent Pachinko balls from being fed by an unfair act by equipping two ball counting sensors and a time difference detecting means on a Pachinko game machine. SOLUTION: This Pachinko ball feeder is equipped with at least two wing wheels 3a, 3b neighboring in shifted phases fixed on an almost horizontally supported rotary shaft 2 and ball guide tubes 4a, 4b set to flow Pachinko balls p on both wheels. Pachinko balls flowed down through the ball guide tubes 4a, 4b and bound in between wings of each wing wheel are released from wing wheels and fed by wing wheels rotated by the Pachinko balls themselves. A funnel shaped tapered passage 6 is equipped under the wing wheels to arrange Pachinko balls in a row. At least two sets of optical ball counting sensors 18, 19 comprising light projectors 18a, 19a and light interceptors 18b, 19b are equipped so that their optical axes are almost in one horizontal plane to enable the optical ball counting sensors to simultaneously detect Pachinko balls released from the wing wheels.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball dispensing device for a pachinko game machine which dispenses a predetermined number of pachinko balls by rotating an impeller provided in a ball dispensing passage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various types of ball dispensing devices for pachinko gaming machines have been known, and those configured to discharge a predetermined number of pachinko balls by rotating an impeller include, for example, JP-A-5-345069, JP-A-10-118279, JP-A-10-1278
It is known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 98 and the like.

[0003]

By the way, in these ball dispensing apparatuses, the pachinko balls released from the respective impellers are arranged in a line by passing them through a narrowing passage formed below the pachinko balls. Because it was configured to detect the number of dispensed balls by passing it through a ball counting sensor, if any abnormality such as adhesion of dust occurs, it will not be possible to accurately count pachinko balls, and such a failure will cause trouble with the player There was a fear.

[0004] Further, since only one detection signal is obtained by one ball counting sensor, when it is desired to obtain a detection signal as a prize ball and a detection signal as a rental ball, for example, the detection sources are insufficient. There was a problem of doing. That is, in the conventional card-type pachinko gaming machine, the prize ball and the lending ball are counted by the pulse signal from the same ball counting sensor, so that the ball is automatically lengthened at the time of shipment from the factory or during use. Inspection that counts the number of awarded balls by firing over time is performed, and in the case of a card type pachinko machine, if the ball runs out during the inspection, operate the ball lending request switch and replenish the hitting ball supply tray appropriately with the hitting ball However, as described above, if the pachinko ball is configured to count pachinko balls by a pulse signal obtained from the same ball counting sensor in the case of a prize ball and in the case of a lending ball, the ball counting sensor Even if the pulse signal obtained from is counted by an instrument such as a digital counter,
There is a problem that the characteristics of the pachinko gaming machine cannot be accurately measured because there are two types of the counted value, one based on the winning and the other based on the ball lending request signal.

Further, in the conventional ball dispensing apparatus, a large number of prizes can be obtained by preventing a player from inserting a thin wire or the like into a pachinko gaming machine for an unjust purpose and preventing the ball counting sensor from detecting pachinko balls. There was a risk of cheating that would steal the ball. That is, even if there is a fraudulent act such as pushing a wire or the like into the payout path of the prize ball, whether the pachinko ball is detected by one conventional ball counting sensor, or a foreign matter such as a wire is detected. It has been difficult to detect and prevent fraudulent activities because it is impossible to determine whether or not the fraudulent activity has been detected.

[0006] Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to make it possible to continue paying out pachinko balls without any trouble even if one ball counting sensor cannot detect pachinko balls for some reason. A second object of the present invention is to prevent abnormal payout of pachinko balls due to wrongdoing. Further, a third object of the present invention is to make it possible to separately count prize balls and lending balls at the time of inspection.

[0007]

For this purpose, the present invention provides a rotary shaft supported substantially horizontally, in which at least two impellers are fixed adjacent to each other with their phases shifted from each other, and each of the impellers is mounted on each of the impellers. A ball-introducing tube for aligning and flowing down the pachinko balls is provided, and the pachinko balls that flow down from the ball-introducing tube and are restrained between the blades of each of the impellers are opened from the respective impellers by rotating the respective impellers. In the ball dispensing device which is made to be dispensed, a funnel-shaped narrowing passage is provided below the impeller to align the pachinko balls released from each of the impellers in a line,
At least two sets of optical ball counting sensors each including a light emitter and a light receiver are disposed at the end of the narrowing passage so that their optical axes are substantially in a horizontal plane, and a pachinko machine opened from each of the impellers. It is characterized in that a sphere can be detected almost simultaneously by each of the optical sphere counting sensors. Further, the present invention is characterized in that in the ball dispensing device, the optical axes of the two sets of optical ball counting sensors are provided so as to be orthogonal to each other in a substantially horizontal plane. Further, the present invention is characterized in that in the ball dispensing device, a motor for driving the impeller to rotate is provided. Further, the present invention is characterized in that in the ball dispensing device, the impeller is freely rotated by the weight of the pachinko ball, and an actuator for braking the rotation of the impeller is provided.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a ball dispensing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line CC. In the figure, 1 is a rotating shaft 2
The driving motors 3a and 3b, such as stepping motors, which are supported so as to be substantially horizontal, are two impellers fixedly mounted adjacent to the rotating shaft 2. Each of the impellers 3a, 3b
Is formed by forming three crescent-shaped blades radially at intervals of 120 °, and the respective impellers 3a and 3b are fixed to each other with a phase shift of 60 ° with respect to the rotating shaft 2. 4a and 4b are formed on the casing 5 so that the pachinko balls p stored in a prize ball tank (not shown) on the back of the pachinko machine are aligned in a line by passing through a straightening gutter and flow down onto each of the impellers 3a and 3b. It is a pair of ball introduction cylinders.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a narrowing passage through which the pachinko balls released from the respective impellers 3a and 3b fall. The narrowing passage is formed such that opposing inner wall surfaces 6a and 6b are inclined in a funnel shape.
The pachinko balls p released from the respective impellers are aligned in a line. Reference numeral 11 denotes a square sensor mounting frame provided at the end of the narrowing passage 6. The end of the narrowing passage 6 communicates with a payout passage (not shown) on the back of the pachinko machine.

For this reason, when the impellers 3a, 3b are rotated in the directions of the arrows, the pachinko balls p flowing down in the ball introduction cylinders 4a, 4b are restrained between the blades of the impellers 3a, 3b, thereby forming an arc. After moving along the trajectory, they are released from the respective impellers, hit the inner wall surface of the narrowed passage 6 and are aligned in a line to be paid out to the payout passage.

As shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG. 5, the sensor mounting frame 11 is composed of a substantially square main body 15, a printed circuit board 16, and a lid 17; A ball counting sensor 18 composed of a light receiving device 18a and a light receiving device 18b is mounted, and a ball counting sensor 19 composed of a light emitting device 19a and a light receiving device 19b is mounted on the other two opposite sides. Reference numeral 20 denotes a connector that conducts to each of the sensors. In the main body 15, four boxes 21 for accommodating the respective light emitters and light receivers are formed on each side, a slit-like cut 21a is formed on one side wall of each box, and the light emitter 18a is formed on the inner surface of the side wall. , 19a, the light receiving devices 18b, 19b are formed with positioning projections 21b that can be engaged with the lower edges thereof, and a plurality of elastic mounting pieces 22, extending to the front surface and the back surface.
23 are formed integrally. The printed circuit board 16 is loaded from the back of the main body 15 and further covered with the lid 1.
7 and is fastened by an elastic mounting piece 23. Then, the mounting frame 11 is fixed by engaging the elastic mounting piece 22 with an engaging hole 24 formed at the end of the narrowing passage 6.
The optical axis 25 of the counting sensor 18 and the optical axis 26 of the prize ball counting sensor 19 are arranged so as to intersect in a plane orthogonal to the passing direction of the pachinko ball.

As described above, the light projector 18a, the light receiver 18b,
By providing the light projector 19a and the light receiver 19b in one plane orthogonal to the pachinko ball passing direction, the two ball counting sensors can simultaneously detect the pachinko balls p passing therethrough, or the detection time difference between them can be extremely small. can do. For this reason, it is possible to prevent shortage or excess of pachinko balls due to disturbance of the stop timing of the motor 1 due to too early or late detection timing, and to simplify the configuration of the control circuit.

The optical axes 25, 2 of the two ball counting sensors
6 is provided so as to intersect at the center of the ball passage, for example, a player enters a wire or the like into the back of the pachinko game machine for an illegal purpose and interrupts the optical axis to stop the operation of the sensor. Even so, it is difficult to block both optical axes at the same time unless the tip of the wire is located at the center, so that such misconduct can be almost completely prevented.

Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the two ball counting sensors 18 and 19 are connected to the ball payout control circuit 29 via input switching means 30 operated by a switching signal from the ball payout control circuit 29. I do. 31 is a ball counting sensor 18
And a sensor operating state monitoring unit which constantly detects a ball passing signal transmitted from the ball counting sensor 19. The sensor operating state monitoring unit always counts the ball passing signals transmitted from the two sensors 18 and 19 equally. Monitor that
When there is an abnormality, the abnormality notification lamp 33 is turned on and the abnormality state is notified to the outside. The sensor operation state monitoring unit includes two ball counting sensors 18 and 19.
When the ball passing signal is no longer detected by one of the ball counting sensors, a switching signal is output to the input switching means 30 and the ball whose one of the two ball counting sensors 18 and 19 is detected. The ball passing signal from the counting sensor is received by the ball payout control circuit 29. Note that 32
Is a ball-counting sensor 18, 1 provided to the sensor operation state monitoring unit 31.
This is an operation state display means provided with three LEDs of blue, yellow, and red provided for displaying the detection state of the ball passing signal from the LED.

As described above, the two ball counting sensors 18, 1
Since the passage of a pachinko ball is detected by 9, an abnormality in the detection state can be easily determined,
The abnormality can be immediately notified, and even when one of the ball counting sensors is out of order, the prize ball is continuously paid out and it is avoided that the game must be stopped halfway.

Further, two sphere counting sensors 18 and 19 are provided.
Can be used for different purposes, one for ball lending and the other for prize ball counting. In that case, both sensors 1
It is also possible to provide a display device such as an LED on the back or front surface of the pachinko gaming machine, which indicates whether the counting of the ball 8 or 19 is counting as a lending ball or the counting of a prize ball.

In this embodiment, the impellers 3a, 3b
Is rotated by the motor 1. However, the other embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
Is formed so that the center line thereof is located slightly outside the outer peripheral edge of the impellers 3a, 3b, and the impellers 3a, 3b
a, 4b, the pachinko ball p is freely rotated by its own weight, and an actuator (solenoid) 40 is provided in place of the motor 1, and when the actuator is excited, the advance / retreat operating shaft 41 protrudes and the impeller 3
The rotation of a and 3b can be braked. Also in this case, a narrowing passage 6 for arranging the pachinko balls p released from the impellers 3a and 3b in a line is provided.
Optical ball counting sensors 1 for detecting the pachinko balls p in a square sensor mounting frame 11 provided at the end of
By arranging 8, 19, it is possible to actuate the actuator 40 in accordance with the detection and pay out a predetermined number of pachinko balls.

In these embodiments, two impellers 3a and 3b are provided adjacent to each other. However, even if three or more impellers are provided adjacent to each other, if processing of a detection signal is easy. Close.

FIG. 8 shows an example in which two optical ball counting sensors 18 and 19 are provided on the sensor mounting frame 11 so that their optical axes 25 and 26 are parallel to each other. The ball counting sensors 18 and 19 do not necessarily need to be provided orthogonally. That is, even in this case, it is difficult for the wire to simultaneously block the optical axes 25 and 26, so that fraud can be detected. Also, two optical ball counting sensors 1
It is preferable that the reference numerals 8 and 19 be provided in the same horizontal plane so that the timing of detection of the pachinko ball p is the same, but practically there is almost no problem even if they are shifted vertically up to about 10 mm. For this reason, even if the ball counting sensors having the same structure are provided in the upper and lower two stages, it can be dealt with by keeping the interval to 10 mm or less.

[0020]

As described above, the ball dispensing device for a pachinko gaming machine according to the present invention has at least two impellers fixedly mounted adjacent to each other on a rotating shaft supported substantially horizontally, with their phases shifted from each other. A ball introduction cylinder is provided on each of the impellers for aligning and flowing down the pachinko balls, and the pachinko balls flowing down from the ball introduction cylinders and constrained between the blades of each of the impellers rotate the respective impellers. In a ball dispensing device which is opened and discharged from each of the impellers, a funnel-shaped narrowing passage is provided below the impeller for aligning the pachinko balls released from each of the impellers in a line. At least two sets of optical sphere counting sensors each consisting of a light emitter and a light receiver are arranged at the end of the entrance passage so that their optical axes are substantially in a horizontal plane, and the pachinko balls released from the respective impellers are disposed. Almost simultaneously by each optical ball counting sensor As a result, it is possible to continue paying out pachinko balls without any trouble even if one ball counting sensor becomes unable to detect pachinko balls, and it is possible to prevent an abnormal payout of pachinko balls due to wrongdoing. There are other beneficial effects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of a ball payout device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a sensor mounting frame of the ball dispensing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a ball payout device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the ball dispensing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a horizontal sectional view of a sensor mounting frame showing another embodiment of the ball dispensing device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Motor 2 Rotating shaft 3a, 3b Impeller 4a, 4b Ball introduction cylinder 6 Restriction passage 11 Sensor mounting frame 18a, 19a Projector 18b, 19b Light receiver 18, 19 Ball counting sensor 25, 26 Optical axis p Pachinko ball

Claims (4)

[Claims] At least two impellers are fixedly mounted adjacent to each other on a rotating shaft that is supported substantially horizontally, with their phases shifted from each other, and a ball introduction for aligning and flowing down pachinko balls on each of the impellers. A ball dispensing device provided with a tube, wherein the pachinko balls flowing down from the ball introduction tube and confined between the blades of each of the impellers are opened and discharged from each of the impellers by rotating the respective impellers. , A funnel-shaped narrowed passage for aligning the pachinko balls released from each of the impellers in a row below the impeller, and at least two sets of a light emitter and a light receiver at the end of the narrowed passage. An optical ball counting sensor is disposed so that its optical axis is substantially in a horizontal plane, so that pachinko balls released from the respective impellers can be detected almost simultaneously by the respective optical ball counting sensors. Pachinko machines that feature Ball dispensing device. 2. The ball dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the optical axes of the two sets of optical ball counting sensors are provided so as to be orthogonal to each other in a substantially horizontal plane. 3. The ball dispensing device of a pachinko game machine according to claim 1, further comprising a motor for rotatingly driving the impeller. 4. The ball dispensing device for a pachinko game machine according to claim 1, wherein the impeller is configured to freely rotate by its own weight of the pachinko ball, and an actuator is provided for braking the rotation of the impeller.