JP2004174272A - Lead-in gutter for ball lifting/feeding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lead-in gutter for a ball lifting/feeding machine, which can facilitate work for the entrance and exit of the ball lifting/feeding machine. <P>SOLUTION: When an installation base board 17 for the ball lifting/feeding machine 10 is slid to a prescribed position, where an abutting part abuts on a recovery gutter 5, from a direction orthogonal to the recovery gutter 5 along a prescribed guide rail, a ball receiving part 31 of the lead-in gutter 20 is brought into the state of connection with a drop port 6 of the recovery gutter 5. Thus, the receiving part 31 is brought into the state of the connection with the fall port 6 of the recovery gutter 5 only by moving the machine 10 up to a position where the abutting part of the lead-in gutter 20 abuts on the recovery gutter 5; and even one worker can easily perform the work for the entrance and exit of the machine 10 and work for installing the lead-in gutter 20, from the side of the entrance and exit of the machine 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

  The present invention relates to an introduction gutter that lays in the longitudinal direction of a pachinko island stand and supplies balls that flow from left and right collection gutters for collecting used balls to a doffing machine.

Conventionally, used balls discharged from a pachinko machine installed on a pachinko island stand are collected by a collecting gutter, and the collected balls are polished by a ball lifting machine installed at the center of the pachinko island stand and having a transport belt. An automatic ball circulating mechanism that lifts up and supplies the pachinko machines again via a supply gutter is provided inside the pachinko island stand. In such a ball automatic circulation mechanism, in order to smoothly and quickly perform a ball circulation cycle, it is necessary to efficiently supply the balls from the left and right collection gutters to the ball drier at the center of the pachinko island stand. was there. Therefore, the present applicant has previously proposed an introduction gutter satisfying the above demands in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-18909 (hereinafter referred to as prior art). The introduction gutter is provided integrally on the installation base plate of the doffing machine, and has a structure in which the tip portion is curved in a V-shape and connected to the left and right collection gutters.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-18909

  By the way, if a conveyor belt used in a doffing machine is used for a certain period of time, it needs to be replaced because it is worn out or cut off due to an unexpected accident. It is necessary to pull out the entire transmitter from the pachinko island stand, replace the transport belt, and push it again into a predetermined position. In the prior art described above for performing this operation, it is necessary to accurately and firmly connect the introduction gutter and the recovery gutter. , Slide the installation base plate, and instruct another worker to slide from the other side of the pachinko island stand while calling out so that the introduction gutter and the collection gutter exactly match. In order to make the connection state firm when the introduction gutter and the collection gutter coincide with each other, a connection aid is attached. On the other hand, during the withdrawal work, after removing the connection aid from the other side of the pachinko island stand, the installation base plate was slid so that the entire doffing machine was pulled out. As described above, the prior art described above has a drawback that extremely troublesome work must be performed when the doffing machine is taken in and out. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an introduction gutter in a doffing machine capable of easily performing an in-and-out operation of the doffing machine.

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 1,
In the introductory gutter that supplies the balls flowing from the left and right collection gutters that are laid in the longitudinal direction of the pachinko island stand to collect used balls,
At the lowest part of the recovery gutter, a recovery port is formed for a collected ball to fall,
The introduction gutter has a ball receiving portion for receiving a ball falling from the drop opening, a contact portion for abutting on the recovery gutter to adjust the position, and a ball receiving portion for transferring the ball received by the ball receiving portion. And a ball guiding gutter leading to an inflow arc gutter at the bottom of the machine, and is integrally attached via a mounting base to an installation base plate on which the doffing machine is erected. The installation base plate is configured to be located at a position abutting on the collection gutter and at a position away from the collection gutter along with sliding movement along a predetermined guide rail,
When the installation base plate of the doffing machine is slid from a direction perpendicular to the collection gutter along a predetermined guide rail to a predetermined position where the contact portion abuts on the collection gutter, The ball receiving portion of the introduction gutter is connected to the falling port of the recovery gutter.

  The introductory gutter has a ball receiving part for receiving the ball falling from the dropper, a contact part for abutting on the collecting gutter and adjusting the position, and an inflow arc at the bottom of the doffing machine for the ball received by the ball receiving part. And a ball guiding gutter for guiding the gutter is formed, and is integrally attached to an installation base plate on which the doffing machine is erected via a mounting base so that the installation base plate of the doffing machine has a predetermined shape. It is configured to be located at a position abutting on the collection gutter as it slides along the guide rail and at a position away from the collection gutter, and the installation base plate of the doffing machine is disposed along the predetermined guide rail. When the contact portion is slid to a predetermined position where the contact portion comes into contact with the collection gutter from a direction orthogonal to the collection trough, the ball receiving portion of the introduction gutter is connected to the falling port of the collection gutter, so that The loading / unloading operation can be performed without concern for the direction of the introduction gutter. For this reason, it is possible to easily perform the work of arranging the introduction gutter at the falling port of the collection gutter in a connected state or taking out the gutter from the pachinko island stand. In addition, when arranging the introduction gutter at the falling port of the collection gutter in a connected state, the positioning is completed only by moving the doffing machine to a position where the contact portion of the introduction gutter contacts the collection gutter, The position of the introduction gutter and the collection gutter can be easily adjusted. In addition, simply moving the doffing machine to a position where the contact portion of the introduction gutter abuts the collection gutter allows the ball receiving portion to be connected to the dropout of the collection gutter. Even one worker can easily carry out the work of taking in and out the doffing machine and installing the introduction gutter.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of the pachinko island stand 1 to which the introduction gutter 20 according to the embodiment is applied will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing the internal structure of the central portion of the pachinko island stand 1. In the figure, as is well known, the pachinko island stand 1 is generally formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape by framing a number of horizontal rails 2 and vertical rails 3, and a plurality of pachinko machines (not shown) are provided on both sides in the longitudinal direction. ) Are arranged in reverse. In addition, a doffing and feeding machine 10 is erected substantially at the center of the pachinko island stand 1. In addition, a storage tank 4 for storing a large amount of pachinko balls used in the pachinko island stand 1 is provided below the pachinko island stand 1 and on the left and right of the doffing machine 10, and between the storage tanks 4. The collection gutter 5 is connected so as to be inserted. Although not shown, the recovery gutter 5 extends to the end of the pachinko island stand 1. The relationship between the storage tank 4 and the collection gutter 5 in this embodiment is as follows. The used balls discharged from the pachinko machine installed on the pachinko island stand 1 flow down the collection gutter 5, and the balls stored in the storage tank 4 when the number of the flowing balls is reduced become smaller than the collection gutter 5. Is to be replenished. That is, when the used balls discharged from the pachinko machine are sufficient, the balls stored in the storage tank 4 are not replenished to the collecting gutter 5, and the used balls discharged from the pachinko machine have become insufficient. Sometimes, the balls stored in the storage tank 4 are replenished to the collection gutter 5.

  The bottom surface of the above-mentioned collection gutter 5 is a slanted bottom shape (see FIG. 1) so that the flowing balls flow smoothly, and a rectangular drop port 6 is formed at the lowest part thereof. . Therefore, the balls that have flowed down the left and right collecting gutters 5 fall down from the falling ports 6, and below them, the ball receiving portions 31 of the introduction gutters 20 are located as described below to catch the falling balls. The balls are guided to the lower part of the doffer 10. Therefore, the configuration of the doffing machine 10 will be described first. In the doffing machine 10 according to the present embodiment, an endless transport belt 12 is erected in the vertical direction by a lower drive pulley 13 having a built-in motor. The balls driven by rotation along both sides of the lifting cylinder 11 and guided by the frictional force of the transport belt 12 through the introduction gutter 20 and the inflow arc gutter 19 (see FIG. 4) are on one side of the lifting cylinder 11. The polishing cloth (not shown) mounted on the polishing cloth mounting door 14 is raised while being polished in contact with the polishing cloth, and finally discharged from the discharge port 18 at the upper end. The belt tension of the transport belt 12 is adjusted by a tension roller 15 provided below the lifting cylinder 11. The lifting cylinder 11 is provided upright on a support box 16 formed integrally with the installation base plate 17. The lower drive pulley 13 is rotatably supported inside the support box 16. Further, the installation base plate 17 supports the entire doffing machine 10, and moves the installation base plate 17 along a predetermined guide rail (not shown) fixed to the floor surface to carry out doffing. The whole machine 10 can be pulled out from the pachinko island stand 1 or pushed into the pachinko island stand 1.

  The polished balls discharged from the discharge port 18 are temporarily stored in an upper storage tank (not shown), and then flow out of a supply gutter (not shown) connected to the bottom surface of the upper storage tank. The supply gutter is provided in an inclined manner from the upper storage tank toward both end portions of the pachinko island stand 1, and is provided at an upper part on the back of each pachinko machine by a flow divider provided corresponding to each pachinko machine in the middle thereof. It is supplied to a well-known prize ball tank. In addition, a return pipe is connected slightly above the middle of the upper storage tank, and this return pipe uses less prize balls in pachinko machines, and it is not necessary to supply balls to the supply gutter. When the number of balls stored in the storage tank increases, surplus balls are returned to the storage tank 4.

  In the pachinko island stand 1 configured as described above, the balls polished and fed by the ball hoisting machine 10 are supplied to each pachinko machine through the supply gutter, while the used pachinko machine used in each pachinko machine is used. Are collected in the ball lifting machine 10 by the collecting gutter 5 and polished and fed again to be supplied to the supply gutter. That is, the balls are circulated and used inside the pachinko island stand 1. However, in order to connect the left and right recovery gutters 5 installed at an angle from the end of the pachinko island stand 1 to the center and the inflow arc gutter 19 of the doffing machine 10, the collection gutters 5 are orthogonal to the recovery gutters 5. And the introduction gutter 20 needs to be provided on the extension of the inflow arc gutter 19. Therefore, the relationship between the collection gutter 5 and the introduction gutter 20 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 are plan views showing the relationship between the collection gutter 5 and the introduction gutter 20, and FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view showing the relationship between the collection gutter 5 and the introduction gutter 20, and FIGS. 5 is a side view showing the relationship between the recovery gutter 5 and the introduction gutter 20, and FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the introduction gutter 20.

  In the drawing, the collection gutter 5 and the introduction gutter 20 are arranged in an up-and-down step shape so that the collection gutter 5 is directed upward in the orthogonal direction, and a ball is formed on the introduction gutter 20 in the overlapping part of the collection gutter 5. The drop port 6 for dropping is formed. By the way, as shown in FIG. 6, the introduction gutter 20 is composed of a lower introduction gutter 21 and an upper introduction gutter 22 formed of a synthetic resin, and by fixing the upper introduction gutter 22 to the lower introduction gutter 21, The introduction gutter 20 is integrally formed as a whole. Therefore, first, the configuration of the lower introduction gutter 21 will be described. A ball guidance gutter 23 having a plurality of partition walls 24 erected at an interval slightly larger than the diameter of the ball is provided above the lower introduction gutter 21. The ball guide gutter 23 is mounted on a mounting base 25 having a substantially L-shape. Specifically, the upstream surface of the ball guiding gutter 23 is rotatably supported by a mounting shaft 26 (see FIG. 4), and both downstream sides of the ball guiding gutter 23 are supported by the tilt adjusting screws 27. Have been. Therefore, by adjusting the inclination adjusting screw 27, the optimum inclination angle of the ball guiding gutter 23 can be adjusted. A coil spring is provided around the inclination adjusting screw 27 so that the adjusted inclination angle can be accurately maintained even after a long period of time, and the lower end of the ball guiding gutter 23 and the inflow arc gutter are temporarily provided. Even if the ball that flows down at the connection with the connecting member 19 is in a clogged state, the clogged state is eliminated by the elastic force of the coil spring.

  The downstream side of the ball guide gutter 23 has an arc shape so as to follow the shape of the outer peripheral surface of the lower drive pulley 13 when the mounting base 25 is fixed to the installation base plate 17. Further, hook-shaped engaging pieces 28 are formed on both sides on the back surface of the downstream end of the ball guiding gutter 23, and as shown in FIG. 4, when the mounting base 25 is fixed to the installation base plate 17, The starting end of the inflow arc gutter 19 is sandwiched between the downstream end of the inflow arc gutter 19 and the engagement piece 28. Thereby, the connection between the inflow arc gutter 19 and the downstream portion of the introduction gutter 20 is performed accurately and reliably. On the other hand, a joining portion 29 for joining the upper introduction gutter 22 is formed on the upstream side of the ball guiding gutter 23. The joining portion 29 is formed in a stepped shape so as to overlap with the downstream end of the upper introduction gutter 22, and joining holes 30 are formed on the left and right of the bottom surface of the stepped portion.

  In the upper introduction gutter 22 joined to the lower introduction gutter 21 having the above-described configuration, the entire shape is formed in a box shape having an open upper part, and an upper surface edge thereof is a facing right-angled portion facing the outer periphery of the collection gutter 5. 35, and the bottom surface is inclined. The vertical portion of the facing right-angled portion 35 is a contact portion 35a. As is clear from FIGS. 2 and 5, the contact portion 35a contacts the front side of the collection gutter 5. Thus, the position of the introduction gutter 20 can be adjusted. An upstream portion of the bottom surface serves as a ball receiving portion 31 for receiving a ball falling from the drop opening 6, and a partition starting end wall 32 constituting a starting end of the partition wall 24 downstream of the ball receiving portion 31. Is erected. The partition start end wall 32 is formed in a substantially triangular shape. In addition, a joining pin 33 can be inserted and screwed into a position corresponding to the joining hole 30 on the downstream side of the bottom surface. Further, on the back surface of the bottom surface, when the upper introduction gutter 22 is fixed to the lower introduction gutter 21, a support piece 34 that abuts on the vertical wall of the mounting base 25 and receives the load applied to the ball receiving portion 31 is hung down. .

  The downstream portion of the upper introduction gutter 22 configured as described above is overlapped with the joining portion 29 of the lower introduction gutter 21, and the joining pin 33 is screwed into the joining hole 30 in this state, so that the upper introduction gutter 22 and the lower The introduction gutter 21 can be integrally assembled with the introduction gutter 21. In the introduction gutter 20 thus integrally assembled, a plurality of partition walls 24 (32) for arranging balls in a line are provided on the downstream side thereof, and On its upstream side, a ball receiving portion 31 for receiving a ball falling from the falling port 6 of the collection gutter 5 is formed, and the mounting base 25 is fixed to the installation base plate 17. It is in a state of being fixed to the body integrally.

  The operation of the introduction gutter 20 integrally fixed to the doffing and conveying machine 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and FIGS. 4 and 5. In a normal use state, FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the falling port 6 of the collecting gutter 5 and the ball receiving portion 31 of the introducing gutter 20 are in a state of being vertically overlapped. For this reason, the used balls flowing down the collecting gutter 5 fall from the falling port 6 to the ball receiving portion 31, are aligned by the partition wall 24 (32), are guided to the inflow arc gutter 19, and are conveyed to the conveyor belt 12. Is raised by When the falling port 6 and the ball receiving portion 31 overlap each other, the facing right-angled portion 35 of the introduction gutter 20 is almost in contact with the front side surface of the collection gutter 5 and the bottom surface. The falling ball does not leak outside.

  On the other hand, if it becomes necessary to replace the conveyor belt 12 of the doffing and conveying machine 10, it is necessary to pull out the entire doffing and conveying machine 10 from one side of the pachinko island stand 1, but in this case, Since the introduction gutter 20 and the collection gutter 5 are not connected by a special connection aid, if the doffing machine 10 is pulled out, the installation base plate 17 slides on the floor surface and can be easily pulled out. (The state shown in FIGS. 1 and 4). When the doffing and feeding machine 10 is stored again in the pachinko island stand 1 after the exchange work of the conveyor belt 12 is completed, the entire doffing and feeding machine 10 is pushed in and the installation base plate 17 is placed on the floor surface. And slide it to the specified position. Then, the facing right-angled portion 35 of the leading end of the introduction gutter 20 is brought into a state of substantially abutting from the front side surface to the bottom surface (a state shown in FIGS. 2 and 5), and the falling port 6 of the collection gutter 5 and the ball receiving portion of the introduction gutter 20. 31 is in a connected state in which balls can be exchanged. In this connection state, the connection state is sufficiently firmly and accurately maintained without using any special connection aid.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the ball receiving portion 31 of the introduction gutter 20 is merely inserted below the dropping port 6 of the collection gutter 5, a special operation is required when the doffing and feeding machine 10 is taken in and out. It is not necessary to perform a connection operation or a disconnection operation, and one worker can enter and exit the doffing machine 10 from the side where the doffing and conveying machine 10 is taken in and out. In particular, the configuration of the pachinko island stand 1 is not a form in which pachinko machines are lined up in a row, but an island wall type pachinko island stand in which pachinko machines are lined up only on one side (in some cases, the pachinko machines are installed along a wall in a game hall). In many cases, a passage that allows people to pass between the back side of the pachinko island stand and the wall of the game hall had to be constructed for entering and exiting work of the doffing and conveying machine 10 in the related art. With the configuration as in the example, the pachinko island stand in the form of an island wall can be installed in close contact with the wall of the game arcade without the passage, so that the floor surface of the game arcade can be used effectively.

  In the above-described embodiment, the introduction gutter 20 is configured by integrally assembling the lower introduction gutter 21 and the upper introduction gutter 22, but may be configured by integrally molding these from the beginning. Instead of a synthetic resin, a material made of another material (for example, a metal plate) may be used. In the above-described embodiment, the structure for stopping the ball of the collection gutter 5 when the doffing and conveying machine 10 is pulled out is not described. 6 may be closed, or a switch may be pressed before starting the drawing operation to drive a closing plate for closing the dropping port 6, or a stopper member for blocking the flow of the ball of the collection gutter 5. You may make it drive.

It is a top view which shows the relationship between a collection gutter and an introduction gutter. It is a top view similarly showing the relationship between a collection gutter and an introduction gutter. It is a partial perspective view showing the relation between a recovery gutter and an introduction gutter. It is a side view which shows the relationship between a collection gutter and an introduction gutter. It is a side view which shows the relationship between a collection gutter and an introduction gutter. It is an exploded perspective view of an introduction gutter. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the internal structure of a pachinko island stand central part.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pachinko island stand 5 Collection gutter 6 Drop opening 10 Doffer 12 Conveyor belt 13 Lower drive pulley 16 Support box 17 Installation base plate 19 Inflow arc gutter 20 Introduction gutter 21 Lower introduction gutter 22 Upper introduction gutter 23 Ball guidance gutter 24 Partition Wall 25 Mounting stand 26 Mounting shaft 27 Inclination adjusting screw 28 Engagement piece 31 Ball receiving part 32 Partition starting end wall 34 Support piece 35 Right-angled face 35a Contact part

Claims (3)

In the introductory gutter that supplies the balls flowing from the left and right collection gutters that are laid in the longitudinal direction of the pachinko island stand to collect used balls,
At the lowest part of the recovery gutter, a recovery port is formed for a collected ball to fall,
The introduction gutter has a ball receiving portion for receiving a ball falling from the drop opening, a contact portion for abutting on the recovery gutter to adjust the position, and a ball receiving portion for transferring the ball received by the ball receiving portion. And a ball guiding gutter leading to an inflow arc gutter at the bottom of the machine, and is integrally attached via a mounting base to an installation base plate on which the doffing machine is erected. The installation base plate is configured to be located at a position abutting on the collection gutter and at a position away from the collection gutter along with sliding movement along a predetermined guide rail,
When the installation base plate of the doffing machine is slid from a direction perpendicular to the collection gutter along a predetermined guide rail to a predetermined position where the contact portion abuts on the collection gutter, An introduction gutter in the ball lifting machine, wherein the ball receiving portion of the introduction gutter is connected to a drop port of the recovery gutter. Forming an engagement piece on the back surface of the downstream end of the ball guiding gutter,
2. The doffing according to claim 1, wherein when the mounting base is attached to the installation base plate, a downstream end of the ball guiding gutter and the engagement piece sandwich a starting end of the inflow arc gutter. Introductory gutter in the transmitter. An operating means for driving a stopper member for damping down a ball of the recovery gutter when the installation base plate is slid and moved to a position away from the recovery gutter, wherein: An introduction gutter in the doffing machine according to claim 2.

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