JP2001252438A - Ball extractor for pachinko machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of part items of a ball extractor for a machine and the lateral size of the extractor and improve assembling performance and cost effectiveness. SOLUTION: A lever member 22 is longitudinally arranged at the side of a switch valve 19 for switching a Pachinko ball passage, with its axial portion 26 in horizontal. A locking portion 24 is integrally formed on the lever member 22 and an elastic member 25 is integrally formed on a portion of the lever member 22, located at the reverse in view from an operating direction. Normally (referring to (a)), the lever member 22 is rotationally moved in a locking direction (counterclockwise) by the elastic force of the elastic member 25 to cause the switch valve 19 to be locked to a normal position with the locking portion 24. In extracting balls (reference to (b)), the lever member 22 is rotationally moved to in unlocking direction (clockwise) against the elastic force of the elastic member 25 by thrusting an operation portion 27 to cause the switch valve 19 locked with the locking portion 24 to be unlocked to switch the switch valve 19 into a ball extracting position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball punching device for a pachinko machine which switches a flowing down destination of a pachinko ball from a normal ball path to a ball draining passage leading to the outside of the machine to remove the ball.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a ball removing device of a pachinko machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-33781, as shown in FIG. 8, a ball discharging device is used for discharging a pachinko ball flowing down from a ball tank (not shown). Ball supply path 2 and ball removal path 3 leading to 1
The movable bottom plate 4 for switching between the movable bottom plate 4 and the engaging claw 5 a of the engagement lever 5 is normally provided.
To lock the movable bottom plate 4 at the position where the pachinko balls flow into the ball supply path 2 (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 8). An elastic piece 6 for urging the engagement lever 5 in the locking direction (upward) is formed integrally with the engagement lever 5 and connected to the engagement lever 5 via a shaft 10 when the ball is removed. By operating the operating lever member 7 to rotate the engaging lever 5 in the unlocking direction (downward) against the urging force of the elastic piece 6, the engaging claw 5 a of the engaging lever 5 is moved to the movable bottom plate 4.
The bottom of the movable bottom plate 4 is released by unlocking the movable bottom plate 4, and the movable bottom plate 4 is switched to a position where the pachinko balls flow into the ball removal passage 3 (a position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 8).

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional ball punching device, the movable bottom plate 4 is used as a component for switching the downstream of the pachinko balls from the ball supply passage 2 to the ball punching passage 3.
And the engagement lever 5 and the lever member 7 must be assembled, so that the number of parts is relatively large. For this reason, the ball punching device becomes large, and the portion protruding to the side of the mechanism plate 8 increases, and accordingly, the ball punching device is likely to be damaged or malfunction. In addition, there are disadvantages that the structure is complicated, the assembling work is troublesome, and the manufacturing cost is high.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the number of components of a ball punching device and to reduce the lateral dimension of the device. Another object of the present invention is to provide a ball punching device for a pachinko machine which can satisfy the demands for improved assemblability and lower cost.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a ball removing device for a pachinko machine according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided with a position (hereinafter referred to as a "normal position") for causing a pachinko ball to flow down into a normal ball passage. ) And a position (hereinafter, referred to as a “ball-pull position”) operable to flow down to the ball-pulling passage, and a lever member for operating the switching member. A pivot shaft for movably supporting is provided substantially horizontally, and a lever member is integrally provided with a lock portion for locking the switching member at a normal position and an elastic piece for biasing the lock portion in the lock direction. The switching member is switched to the ball-pulling position by rotating the lever member in the unlocking direction against the urging force of the elastic piece.

In this configuration, since the lock portion and the elastic piece portion are integrally formed on the lever member, the passage switching function of the ball punching device can be constituted by the two components of the switching member and the lever member. Can be reduced. Moreover,
Since the rotation axis of the lever member is provided substantially horizontally, the lever member is arranged so as to be longer in the vertical direction, so that the space in the horizontal direction can be reduced. The amount of protrusion of the ball punching device to the side of the mechanism plate can be reduced, and accordingly, the possibility of damage and malfunction of the ball punching device can be reduced.

In this case, the elastic piece may be formed on the back side of the lever member when viewed from the operating direction. In this case, since the lever member plays a role of protecting the elastic piece, it is possible to prevent the elastic piece from being caught by another member in the assembling step or the like and damaged. Moreover, the lever member and the elastic piece can be compactly formed by overlapping the lever member and the elastic piece as viewed from the operation direction, and the requirements for miniaturization and space saving can be satisfied.

Further, the lever member may be directly assembled to the mechanism plate of the pachinko machine. However, in such a case, it is necessary to form a complicated shape such as a bearing for rotatably mounting the lever member to the mechanism plate. However, the structure of the forming die of the mechanism plate becomes complicated, and it becomes difficult to form the mechanism plate.

Therefore, the lever member may be assembled to the pachinko machine via a mounting member for rotatably holding the lever member. This eliminates the need to form a complicated shape such as a bearing portion on the mechanism plate, simplifies the structure of the forming die of the mechanism plate, and facilitates forming the mechanism plate. In addition, since the elastic piece can be positioned between the lever member and the mounting member, the elastic piece can be protected by the lever member and the mounting member from both the front and back sides, and damage to the elastic piece can be more reliably performed. Can be prevented.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the switching member is provided with an engagement hole with which the lock portion engages when the switching member is at the ball releasing position. The switching member may be held at the ball removal position by engaging the lock portion with the engagement hole. With this configuration, the switching member can be reliably held at the ball-pulling position when the ball is pulled. In addition, since it is not necessary for the operator to keep holding the lever member in the unlocking direction against the urging force of the elastic piece during ball removal, even if the ball removal time becomes longer,
Workers do not get tired.

In this case, it is preferable that the switching member is configured to return to the normal position by its own weight when the engagement between the lock portion and the engagement hole is released after the ball is completely removed. With this configuration, after the ball is removed, simply by rotating the lever member in the disengagement direction, the switching member returns to the normal position by its own weight, so that the ball removal state can be released by a simple operation.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
7 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the schematic configuration of the back side of the pachinko machine 11 will be described with reference to FIG. On the back side of the pachinko machine 11, a mechanism plate 12 for assembling back parts is attached. On the upper rear surface of the mechanism plate 12,
A ball tank 13 for storing pachinko balls is provided, and a tank rail 14 is connected to the ball tank 13 so that the pachinko balls flowing out therefrom flow down in an aligned state. A ball supply path 15 (normal ball path) is provided at a lower end of the tank rail 14, and a ball payout device 16 is connected to a lower end of the ball supply path 15. In addition, a ball removal passage 17 communicating with the outside of the machine is provided on the side of the ball supply passage 15, and near the outlet of the tank rail 14, the downward flow of the pachinko balls is switched from the ball supply passage 15 to the ball removal passage 17. For removing the ball is provided.

Next, the configuration of the ball removing device 18 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, a switching valve 19 (switching member) for switching the pachinko ball flow path is provided at an outlet of the tank rail 14 by a cylindrical shaft portion 20 formed at an upper end portion thereof and a rotating shaft 21. Is rotatably supported. When the switching valve 19 is switched to the normal position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, the inlet of the ball removing passage 17 is closed and a flow path for guiding the pachinko balls to the ball supply passage 15 is formed.
The switching valve 19 is configured to rotate to its normal position by its own weight. On the other hand, when the switching valve 19 is switched to the ball removing position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, the inlet of the ball removing passage 17 is opened and a flow path for guiding the pachinko balls to the ball removing passage 17 is formed. The switching valve 19 is formed with an elongated hole 19a (engaging hole) with which a lock portion 24 described later is engaged when in the ball removing position.

A switching valve 19 is provided beside the switching valve 19.
Is mounted on the mechanism plate 12 via the mounting base 23. As shown in FIG. 5, the lever member 22 has shaft portions 26 (rotating shafts) formed on both side surfaces thereof to rotatably support the lever members 22, respectively. The lever member 22 is arranged so as to be longer in the up-down direction so as to reduce the space in the horizontal direction (see FIG. 2). The switching member 1 is provided on the lever member 22 together with an operation part 27 for rotating the lever member 22.
A lock portion 24 for locking the lock member 9 at the normal position and an elastic piece 25 for urging the lock portion 24 in the locking direction are integrally formed. The elastic piece 25 is viewed from the operating direction of the lever member 22. It is arranged to be on the back side.

As shown in FIG. 3, the mounting base 23 is formed in a U-shaped cross section, and the bearing holes 2 formed in both walls thereof.
8 (see FIG. 6), the lever member 22 is rotatably attached to the attachment base 23 by fitting the shaft 26 of the lever member 22. In order to facilitate the attachment of the lever member 22 to the attachment base 23, the lever member 2
A taper portion 29 (see FIG. 5) is formed at the tip of each shaft portion 26 of FIG.
A guide groove 30 (see FIG. 6) for guiding the second shaft portion 26 into the bearing hole 28 is formed.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the lever member 22 is mounted on the mounting base 23, the elastic piece 25 of the lever member 22 is accommodated between the lever member 22 and the mounting base 23, and the distal end thereof is provided. Are in contact with the inner surface of the mounting base 23 and are elastically deformed. An elastically deformable engaging claw 31 (see FIG. 6) is provided below the mounting base 23.
The mounting base 23 is integrally formed so as to project to the two sides.
With the upper end of the hook on the hook 32 of the mechanism plate 12,
The mounting base 23 is fixed to the front side of the mechanism plate 12 by elastically engaging the engagement claws 31 with the engaged portions 33 (see FIG. 4) formed on the mechanism plate 12.

A protective cover 34 (see FIG. 1) is provided on the back side of the ball punching device 18 to cover the ball punching device 18 to prevent damage and malfunction of the ball punching device 18 due to intrusion of foreign matter from the outside. I try to prevent it.

The ball removing device 18 configured as described above is
Normally, as shown in FIG. 1A, the lever member 22 is rotated counterclockwise by the elastic force of the elastic piece 25, and the lock portion 24 is moved to the lock position on the side of the switching valve 19. It is held in a rotated state. In this state, the ball pressure of the pachinko balls flowing down the tank rail 14 is changed by the switching valve 1.
9, the side of the switching valve 19 abuts on the lock portion 24 and is prevented from rotating in the ball-pulling position direction.
Is locked in the normal position. As a result, the pachinko balls that have flowed down the tank rail 14 flow into the ball supply path 15 and are supplied to the ball discharging device 16.

On the other hand, when removing the pachinko ball from the inside of the machine, as shown in FIG. 1B, the operating portion 27 is pressed to rotate the lever member 22 clockwise against the elastic force of the elastic piece portion 25. When rotated in the direction, the lock portion 24 rotates in the unlocking direction and moves away from the side of the switching valve 19, and the lock of the switching valve 19 by the locking portion 24 is released. As a result, the switching valve 19 rotates to the ball removal position due to the ball pressure of the pachinko balls flowing down the tank rail 14, and the pachinko balls flowing down the tank rail 14 flow into the ball removal passage 17 and are extracted outside the machine. .

Thereafter, when the pressing of the operation unit 27 is released,
The lock portion 24 of the lever member 22 is engaged with the elongated hole 19a formed in the switching valve 19 by the elastic force of the elastic piece portion 25, and the switching valve 19 is held at the ball-pulling position. After the ball is removed, the operation portion 27 is pressed again to release the engagement between the lock portion 24 and the elongated hole 19a, and the switching valve 19 returns to the normal position by its own weight. When the pressing of the operation portion 27 is released in this state, the lever member 22 returns to the locked position by the elastic force of the elastic piece portion 25.

According to the above-described embodiment, the lock member 24 for locking the switching valve 19 at the normal position and the elastic piece 25 for urging the lock portion 24 in the locking direction are provided on the lever member 22. Since it is formed integrally, the passage switching function of the ball removing device 18 can be constituted by two parts, ie, the switching valve 19 and the lever member 22, and the number of parts to be assembled can be reduced as compared with the conventional ball removing device. Can be. For this reason,
The configuration of the ball removing device 18 can be simplified, the assembling workability can be improved, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Moreover, since the shaft portion 26 of the lever member 22 is supported substantially horizontally, the lever member 22 is arranged so as to be longer in the vertical direction, so that the space in the horizontal direction can be reduced. Along with the size reduction effect by the reduction, the amount of protrusion of the ball removing device 18 to the side of the mechanism plate 12 can be significantly reduced, and only a part of the operation unit 27 is , And damage or malfunction of the ball removing device 18 can be suppressed.

In this embodiment, since the elastic piece 25 of the lever member 22 is formed on the back side of the lever member 22 when viewed from the operating direction, the elastic piece 25 is protected by the lever member 22. Thus, it is possible to prevent the elastic piece portion 25 from being hooked on another member and damaged in an assembling step or the like. In addition, the lever member 22 and the elastic piece portion 25 can be made compact specifications that overlap with each other when viewed from the operation direction, and the requirements for the downsizing and space saving of the lever member 22 can be satisfied.

Further, in the present embodiment, the lever member 22
Is mounted on the mechanism plate 12 via the mounting base 23, so that it is not necessary to form a complicated shape such as a bearing portion for rotatably mounting the lever member 22 on the mechanism plate 12, and the mechanism plate The structure of the mold 12 can be simplified to facilitate molding. In addition, since the elastic piece 25 is accommodated between the lever member 22 and the mounting base 23, the elastic piece 25 can be protected by the lever member 22 and the mounting base 23 from both the front and back sides. The effect of preventing the piece 25 from being damaged can be further improved.

However, the lever member 22 does not necessarily need to be mounted on the mechanism plate 12 via the mounting base 23, and the lever member 22 may be directly mounted on the mechanism plate 12.

In the present embodiment, the switching valve 19 is held at the ball-pulling position by engaging the lock portion 24 with the elongated hole 19a by the urging force of the elastic piece portion 25 at the time of ball-pulling. When the ball is removed, the switching valve 19 can be reliably held at the ball removal position, and the operator does not need to keep pressing the lever member 22 during the ball removal,
Workers will not be tired even if the ball-drawing time is long.

Further, in this embodiment, when the engagement between the lock portion 24 and the elongated hole 19a is released after the ball is completely removed, the switching valve 1
Since the ball 9 is returned to the normal position by its own weight, the ball removing state can be released by a very simple method of releasing the engagement by pressing the lever member 22 after the ball releasing is completed.

The position of the ball removing device 18 is not limited to the outlet of the tank rail 14, but may be changed as appropriate, for example, it may be provided in the middle of the ball supply path 15. In addition, the present invention can be implemented with various changes without departing from the gist, such as changing the shapes of the switching valve and the lever member (locking portion, elastic piece portion).

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the ball removing device of the pachinko machine of the first aspect of the present invention, the lock portion and the elastic piece are integrally formed on the lever member.
The number of parts can be reduced, and the demands for simplification of the configuration, improvement in assemblability, and cost reduction can be satisfied. Further, since the rotation axis of the lever member is provided substantially horizontally, the lever member is arranged vertically and the horizontal dimension can be reduced,
Along with the downsizing by reducing the number of parts, the projecting portion of the ball punching device to the side of the mechanism plate can be greatly reduced, thereby reducing the damage and malfunction of the ball punching device. The durability and reliability of the device can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the elastic piece is formed on the back side of the lever member when viewed from the operating direction, the lever member has a role of protecting the elastic piece, thereby preventing the elastic piece from being damaged. Can be obtained, and the lever member and the elastic piece can be overlapped to be compact, and the lever member, and eventually the ball punching device, can be reduced in size and space.

Furthermore, in the third aspect, since the lever member is assembled to the pachinko machine via the mounting member, it is not necessary to form a complicated shape on the mechanism plate, and the formation of the mechanism plate can be facilitated. In addition, since the elastic piece can be accommodated between the lever member and the mounting member, the elastic piece can be protected from both front and back sides, and the effect of preventing the elastic piece from being damaged can be further enhanced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the switching member is formed with an engagement hole with which the lock portion engages when the switching member is at the ball releasing position. Is engaged with the engagement hole, so that the switching member is held at the ball-pulling position. Therefore, at the time of ball-pulling, the switching member can be reliably held at the ball-pulling position. This eliminates the need for the operator to keep holding the lever member in the unlocking direction, thereby reducing the burden on the operator.

Further, according to the fifth aspect, the switching member returns to the normal position by its own weight when the engagement between the lock portion and the engagement hole is released after the ball is completely removed. In addition, the ball removal state can be released by a very simple method of rotating the lever member in the disengagement direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are longitudinal side views of a ball punching device showing an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A shows a normal state, and FIG.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a ball removing device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

5A is a front view of a lever member, and FIG. 5B is a bottom view of the lever member.

6A is a front view of a mounting base, and FIG. 6B is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 7 is a back view of the pachinko machine.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a conventional ball removing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: Pachinko machine, 15: Ball supply path (normal ball path),
16 Ball ejection device, 17 Ball ejection passage, 18 Ball ejection device, 19 Switching valve (switching member), 19a Slot (engagement hole), 21 Rotating shaft, 22 Lever member, 23 Mounting base (mounting member), 24: lock portion, 25: elastic piece portion,
26: shaft part, 27: operation part.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shinji Mukai 13-13 Higashi-Osone-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya City F-term (reference) 2C088 BA79 EA30

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A ball-pulling device for a pachinko machine that performs ball-pulling by switching the flow destination of a pachinko ball from a normal ball path to a ball-pulling path that leads outside the machine, wherein the pachinko ball flows down into the normal ball path. A switching member provided so as to be able to perform a switching operation between a position (hereinafter, referred to as a “normal position”) and a position (hereinafter, referred to as a “ball removal position”) flowing down into the ball removing passage, and for operating the switching member. A lock shaft for locking the switching member at the normal position, and a lock shaft for locking the switching member in the normal position. An elastic piece portion to be urged is formed integrally with the lever member, and the switching member is rotated in the lock release direction against the urging force of the elastic piece portion to move the switching member to the ball-pulling position. Switch to Pachinko machines sphere vent apparatus according to claim. 2. The ball punching device of a pachinko machine according to claim 1, wherein the elastic piece is formed on a back side of the lever member when viewed from an operation direction. 3. The lever member is mounted on a pachinko machine via a mounting member that rotatably holds the lever member, and the elastic piece is positioned between the mounting member and the lever member. The ball punching device for a pachinko machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. The switching member is formed with an engagement hole with which the lock portion engages when the switching member is at the ball releasing position, and when the ball is released, the locking portion is pressed by the elastic piece. The ball removing device for a pachinko machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the switching member is held at the ball removing position by engaging the switching member with the engaging hole. 5. The switching member is configured to return to a normal position by its own weight when the engagement between the lock portion and the engagement hole is released after the ball is completely removed. The ball removing device for a pachinko machine according to claim 4.