JP2006000495A - Game ball pay-out device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a game ball pay-out device suitable for high-speed operation of paying out game balls at constant intervals using a plurality of ball cutting teeth. <P>SOLUTION: The game ball pay-out device 4 has two ball cutting teeth 14(1) and 14(2) coaxially attached to a horizontal rotation shaft 13, and four pockets 31(1)-31(4) are formed at intervals of 45° in the angle range of 180° on the outer surface 14a of each ball cutting tooth. The ball cutting teeth 14(1) and 14(2) integrally rotate in the 180° offset state around the respective center lines 13a of rotation. Four game balls are put out at constant intervals while one ball cutting tooth 14(1) rotates at 180°, and next, four game balls are put out at constant intervals while the other ball cutting tooth 14(2) rotates at 180°. This operation is repeated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a game ball payout device used when paying out a predetermined number of prize balls or rental balls to a player in a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine, or counting the prize balls acquired by the player when prizes are exchanged. It is about.

  In a gaming machine such as a pachinko machine, a predetermined number of game balls are paid out when lending or winning a ball. The game balls are supplied to the ball tanks of each game machine from the ball supply path formed in the game island. Inside each game stand, the game balls stored in the ball tank fall by their own weight along the ball rail and are supplied to the game ball dispensing device, and the game ball dispensing device connects the ball balls on the ball rail. The game balls sliding down in the state are paid out at regular intervals. The number of game balls to be paid out is counted by a sensor, and control is performed so that the number of game balls to be paid out becomes a predetermined number. A predetermined number of game balls paid out through the game ball payout device are paid out as premium balls or rental balls to an upper ball plate attached to the front of the game table.

  In general, a game ball payout device uses a rotating body called a ball tooth having a shape in which ball receiving grooves are formed on the outer peripheral surface at regular angular intervals. The game balls falling on the ball rail in a continuous state are received one by one in the ball receiving groove of the ball cutting teeth rotating at the lower position. When the ball cutting teeth rotate until the ball receiving groove holding the game ball turns sideways, the game ball falls from the ball receiving groove by its own weight, and falls by its own weight on the ball discharge path opened below it. To do. As a result, the game balls supplied in a continuous state fall through the ball discharge path at regular intervals. Therefore, it is possible to count the number of game balls that fall at regular intervals by a sensor attached to the ball discharge path.

As disclosed in the following patent document, the game ball payout device having this configuration is provided with a plurality of ball cutting teeth, and configured to alternately drop game balls into the ball discharge path. Things are known. In this case, a configuration is adopted in which the width of the ball discharge path is narrowed and only one game ball is dropped at the same time so that a game ball falling in the ball discharge path can be reliably detected.
Japanese Patent No. 3386054

  In a conventional game ball dispensing device having a plurality of ball cutting teeth, in order to count the game balls paid out from each ball cutting tooth, the ball discharge path is narrowed so that a plurality of game balls do not fall at the same time. ing. For this reason, for example, when the ball cutting teeth are rotated at a high speed in order to increase the paying speed, the game balls that are alternately paid out from both ball cutting teeth are quickly passed through the narrowed portion of the ball discharge path. May not be able to fall, and the part may be clogged and the dispensing speed may not be increased.

  In view of these points, an object of the present invention is to propose a game ball payout device suitable for performing a game ball payout operation at a high speed using a plurality of ball cutting teeth.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a game ball supplied one by one in a continuous manner in a ball receiving groove formed at a predetermined angular interval on the outer peripheral surface of a rotating body rotating at a predetermined speed. In the game ball dispensing device that receives and feeds out in the circumferential direction and sequentially dispenses each game ball from each ball receiving groove at a predetermined interval, the game balls are arranged in parallel so as to rotate integrally around a common rotation center line. N pieces of the rotating bodies (n is an integer of 2 or more), the ball receiving grooves formed at equiangular intervals in a 360 ° / n angular region on the outer peripheral surface of each rotating body, and each rotation A ball supply path for supplying game balls from the same position in the circumferential direction to the ball receiving groove of the body, and a common for paying out the game balls discharged from the ball receiving groove of each rotating body A ball discharge path, and the rest against one rotating body Each rotary body is characterized in that it is held sequentially in a state of being offset in the circumferential direction by 360 ° / n.

  In the game ball dispensing device of the present invention, when game balls are supplied to each of the rotating bodies (ball cutting teeth) while integrally rotating, only one rotating body always receives the game balls in the ball receiving groove and discharges the balls. Perform the operation of paying out to the road. Each rotating body sequentially performs the game ball receiving and dispensing operations without overlapping each other. Therefore, the game balls always fall on the ball discharge path at regular intervals, so that the number of game balls to be paid out can be accurately counted even when the rotation speed of the rotating body is increased. In addition, if the ball discharge path has a wide width corresponding to each rotating body, the game ball can be quickly dropped.

  Here, in order to count the game balls falling through the wide ball discharge path, a transmission type optical sensor may be arranged.

  In addition, in order to control the rotation angle position, rotation speed, and the like of the rotating body, it is necessary to arrange a rotary encoder that detects the rotating state of the rotating body. In this case, in order to avoid the necessity of separately arranging an encoding plate, at least one of the rotating bodies has a light transmitting portion or a light reflecting portion at a certain angular interval in the circumferential direction around the rotation center line. What is necessary is just to form the to-be-detected part which consists of a part, and to detect this with an optical sensor.

  In the game ball payout device of the present invention, a plurality of rotating bodies do not pay out game balls at the same time, and a game ball paying operation is always performed by only one rotating body, and this paying operation is sequentially performed on another rotating body. Move. Therefore, the game balls can be discharged to the ball discharge path at a constant interval at all times, which is extremely advantageous for speeding up the payout operation. Also, if the ball discharge path is wide enough to correspond to the number of rotating bodies, the game balls that are paid out from a plurality of rotating bodies are jammed in the ball discharge path, unlike when the game balls discharged from a plurality of rotating bodies are discharged through the narrow ball discharge path. No negative effects such as these occur.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, game balls to be paid out are counted by disposing a transmissive optical sensor in a wide ball discharge path, so that it is possible to count game balls to be paid out only by a single sensor. Therefore, the apparatus can be reduced in size and size and the cost can be reduced.

  Further, in the present invention, in order to detect the rotation state of the rotating body, the rotating body itself is formed with a detected portion such as a light transmitting portion or a light reflecting portion, so that a member such as an encoding plate needs to be separately arranged. There is no. This also makes it possible to reduce the size and size of the apparatus and reduce the cost.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a game ball dispensing apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

(overall structure)
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a game ball supply system inside a pachinko gaming machine to which the present invention is applied. As shown in this figure, a ball tank 2 is disposed at the upper end portion of the pachinko gaming machine 1, and a ball supply path (not shown) disposed in the game island is provided in the ball tank 2. The game ball is configured to be supplied via From the ball tank 2, the game ball slides down by its own weight along the ball rail 3 and is supplied to the game ball dispensing device 4 arranged on the side in the gaming machine 1. The game balls fall from the game ball dispensing device 4 at regular intervals, and the dropped game balls pass through a ball dispensing passage (not shown) to an upper ball plate arranged in the lower front portion of the pachinko gaming machine 1. To be paid out. The operation of the game ball payout device 4 is controlled by a payout control board 6 that operates based on a command from the gaming machine control board 5.

(Structure of game ball dispensing device)
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the game ball dispensing device 4, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross-sectional views taken along lines 3A-3A and 3B-3B in FIG. (A) And (B) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the part cut | disconnected by the 4A-4A line | wire and 4B-4B line | wire of FIG. Referring to these drawings, the game ball dispensing device 4 of this example has a rectangular parallelepiped device case 11, and two ball inlets 12a and 12b have a width on the upper surface plate 12 of the device case 11. It is formed in a state of being arranged in parallel in the direction. The game balls that have slid down the ball rail fall into the device case 11 from these ball inlets 12a and 12b. Inside the device case 11, a horizontal rotation shaft 13 is disposed horizontally across the width direction. The horizontal rotation shaft 13 has two (n = 2) ball cutting teeth 14 (1), 14 (2) is mounted coaxially. A wide ball outlet 16 is open on the bottom plate 15 of the device case 11, and the game balls P that fall at regular intervals by the two ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) fall from the ball outlet 16. Then, it is paid out to the upper ball dish via a ball payout passage (not shown).

  The internal structure of the game ball dispensing device 4 will be described in detail. The inside of the device case 11 is partitioned left and right by a vertical partition plate 20 extending in the front-rear direction. The upper half portion of the right compartment of the device 4 is partitioned left and right by a vertical hanging wall 21 extending in the front-rear direction. A game ball supply path 24 (1) extending in the vertical direction is formed by the front wall portion 23a and the rear wall portion 23b connecting the vertical hanging wall 21 and the right side plate 22 of the apparatus case 11. Similarly, a game ball supply path 24 (2) extending in the vertical direction is formed by the front wall portion 23 a and the rear wall portion 23 b connecting the vertical hanging wall 21 and the vertical partition plate 20. Both game ball supply paths 24 (1) and 24 (2) are paths having the same cross-sectional shape, and each is a path through which only one game ball P can pass. The upper ends of the game ball supply paths 24 (1) and 24 (2) are connected to rectangular game ball inlets 12 a and 12 b formed on the upper surface plate 12 of the device case 11. The lower end portion of the front wall portion 23 a extends forward in a state of being connected to each other, and is connected to the front plate 26 of the device case 11. The lower end portion of the rear wall portion 23 b also extends rearward in a state of being connected to each other, and is connected to the back plate 27 of the device case 11.

  At a position below the lower end openings 24a and 24b of the game ball supply paths 24 (1) and 24 (2), the horizontal rotary shaft 13 is rotatable between the right side plate 22 and the vertical partition plate 20 of the apparatus case 11. It is laid over. The ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) attached to the horizontal rotating shaft 13 are located directly below the lower end openings 24a and 24b. The ball cutting teeth 14 (1) have four arc-shaped pockets (ball receiving grooves) 31 at intervals of 45 ° within an angular range of 180 ° (= 360 ° / 2) on the outer peripheral surface 14a of the disk having a constant thickness. (1) to 31 (4) are formed. A cylindrical boss 14b to which the horizontal rotation shaft 13 is attached is integrally formed at the central portion.

  The other ball cutting teeth 14 (2) have the same structure, and four arc-shaped pockets 31 (1) to 31 (4) are formed at intervals of 45 ° within an angular range of 180 ° on the outer peripheral surface 14a. In the center portion, a cylindrical boss 14b is integrally formed. The difference is that the ball cutting teeth 14 (2) are offset by 180 ° (= 360 ° / 2) with respect to the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) around the rotation center line 13a. Both the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) are attached to the horizontal rotation shaft 13.

  The interval between the outer peripheral surface 14a of each ball cutting tooth 14 (1), 14 (2) and the lower end portion of the front wall portions 23a, 23b is narrower than the outer diameter size of the game ball P, and the pockets 31 (1)- It is set so that the game ball P can pass only in the state of entering 31 (4). Therefore, it is possible to send the game ball P forward in a state where it enters the pockets 31 (1) to 31 (4).

  In front of each of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2), a vertical plate 32 extending in the width direction is bridged between the right side plate and the vertical partition plate. The vertical plate 32 is disposed at a position close to the outer peripheral surface 14a of each of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2), and the upper end thereof is set to a height position substantially the same as the rotation center line 13a. . Therefore, the game ball P sent forward in the state of entering the pockets 31 (1) to 31 (4) rolls forward due to centrifugal force or its own weight and falls to the front side of the vertical plate 32. A ball discharge path 33 is formed vertically between the vertical plate 32 and the front plate of the apparatus case 11, and the lower end thereof is a ball outlet 16. The ball outlet 33 and the ball outlet 16 have the same width in the vertical direction, and are wide enough to allow two game balls P to pass through.

  A light emitting element 34a and a light receiving element 34b are arranged opposite to each other on the right side plate 22 and the vertical partition plate 20 defining the upper end portion of the ball discharge path 33, and a light transmission type sensor 34 is constituted by these. Yes. When the game ball P falls on the ball discharge path 33, the detection light directed from the light emitting element 34a to the light receiving element 34b is blocked, so that it can be detected that the game ball P has passed, and the game ball discharged based on this is detected. The number of P is counted.

  On the other hand, a stepping motor 35 for driving the cutting teeth rotation is disposed in the left compartment of the vertical partition plate 20, and the rotation shaft 35 a of the stepping motor 35 is coaxially connected to the horizontal rotation shaft 13. Yes. A control board 36 for motor drive control is arranged above the stepping motor 35. The control board 36 is electrically connected to the payout control board side through a wiring board such as a flexible printed board inserted into a connector insertion port 37 formed on the upper surface plate of the apparatus case 11.

  Here, as a detection mechanism for detecting the rotation angle of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) that rotate integrally, the ball cutting teeth 14 (2) are spaced at a constant angular interval, 45 ° in this example. A configuration is adopted in which the light transmission hole 14c is formed and detected by the light transmission type sensor 38. The sensor 38 is attached to a substrate 39 disposed below the ball cutting teeth 14 (2) inside the device case 11. In this example, in order to make the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) common, the other ball cutting teeth 14 (1) have a light transmission hole 14 c. . In the case of using a light reflection type sensor, light reflection surfaces may be formed at a constant angular interval instead of the light transmission holes 14c.

  Next, in the game ball dispensing device 4 of this example, a plurality of mounting ribs are provided so that the device case 11 can be fixed to a member on the fixed side from three sides. That is, as can be seen from FIG. 2, mounting ribs 41 a to 41 d used when the mounting direction is the direction of arrow A are formed at the four corners of the front plate 41 of the device case 11. Further, mounting ribs 42 a to 42 d used when the mounting direction is the direction of arrow B are formed at the four corners of the right side plate 22. Further, mounting ribs 43 a to 43 d used when the mounting direction is the direction of arrow C are formed at the four corners of the back plate 27. Therefore, the game ball payout device 4 can be attached so as to correspond to the model of the pachi-con gaming machine 1.

(Description of operation)
In the initial state, as shown in FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B), the rotation angle positions of the respective ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) are determined. In the ball cutting teeth 14 (1), the pocket 31 (4) faces directly upward, and is positioned at the lowest of the game balls P1, P2,... Game ball P1 is in the pocket 31 (4). On the other hand, since the other ball cutting teeth 14 (2) are offset by 180 ° in the circumferential direction, the portion of the outer peripheral surface 14a where the pocket is formed is located directly above, and the ball supply path The game ball P11 located at the lowermost position at 24 (2) is in the state of riding on it.

  From this state, the ball cutting teeth 14 (1), 14 (2) are rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow D in FIG. The game ball P1 contained in the pocket 31 (4) of the ball cutting tooth 14 (1) is sent forward with the rotation. However, since there is no subsequent pocket on the outer peripheral surface 14a of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1), the subsequent game balls P2 and the subsequent balls remain held in the ball supply path 24 (1). On the other hand, with the other ball cutting teeth 14 (2), the pockets 31 (1) to 31 (4) are sequentially moved directly below the ball supply path 24 (2) with the rotation. The game balls P11, P12, P13 and P14 are received and dropped into the front ball discharge path 33. FIGS. 5A and 5B show a state after the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) have been rotated 180 ° from the state of FIG. In this way, every time the player rotates 180 degrees, four game balls are continuously paid out from one of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2). That is, 8 game balls are paid out per rotation.

  In this way, game balls are paid out continuously from one ball cutting tooth 14 (1) or 14 (2), so that each game ball is compared with the case where game balls are paid out alternately from different ball cutting teeth. The balls can be paid out from the ball discharge path 33 at regular intervals. Therefore, it is suitable for speeding up the dispensing operation by rotating the ball cutting teeth at high speed.

  Further, the ball discharge path 33 is wide and the game balls paid out from the respective ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) fall without hitting the inner peripheral surface. Therefore, unlike the case where only one game ball is dropped by narrowing the width of the ball discharge path, the game balls to be discharged are clogged in the ball discharge path, and the quick discharge operation is hindered. This does not cause any negative effects.

  On the other hand, in this example, the rotation angle of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2) is detected by using the light transmitting hole 14c formed in the ball cutting teeth 14 (2). Therefore, it is not necessary to attach a member such as an encode plate to the horizontal rotating shaft 13, which is advantageous for downsizing, downsizing and cost reduction of the apparatus. Similarly, game balls falling on the ball discharge path 33 are detected by a single light transmission type sensor 34, and the game balls to be paid out are counted. Compared with the case where a sensor is arranged corresponding to each of the cutting teeth, it is advantageous in reducing the size, size and cost of the apparatus.

(Other embodiments)
FIG. 6 shows another configuration example of the ball cutting teeth 14 (1) and 14 (2). In the ball cutting teeth 14A (1) and 14A (2) shown in this figure, three pockets 31 (1) to 31 (3) are respectively provided at an angular interval of 60 ° within an angular range of 180 ° on the outer peripheral surface 14a. Is formed. Therefore, 6 game balls are paid out per rotation.

  In addition, the number of ball cutting teeth is not limited to two, and may be three or more. When the number is n, the pockets may be formed at equiangular intervals within an angular range of 360 ° / n on the outer peripheral surface of each ball cutting tooth. Further, each of the ball cutting teeth may be attached coaxially so as to be sequentially offset in the rotation direction by an angle of 360 ° / n with respect to one ball cutting tooth with respect to the horizontal rotation axis.

  Next, the above example is an example in which the present invention is applied to a game ball dispensing apparatus built in a pachinko gaming machine. The present invention can also be incorporated into, for example, a ball counter installed in a game shop counter.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the internal structure of the pachinko game machine to which this invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing which shows the game ball dispensing apparatus of FIG. (A) And (B) is a cross-sectional view of the part cut | disconnected by the 3A-3A line | wire of FIG. 2, and the 3B-3B line | wire, respectively. (A) And (B) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the part cut | disconnected by the 4A-4A line | wire and 4B-4B line | wire of FIG. 2, respectively. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state after rotating 180 degrees from the state of FIG. 4 (A) and (B). It is explanatory drawing which shows another structural example of a ball cutting tooth.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pachinko machine 4 Game ball dispensing apparatus 11 Apparatus case 12a, 12b Ball entrance 13 Horizontal rotating shaft 13a Rotation center line 14 (1), 14 (2) Ball cutting tooth 14a Outer peripheral surface 14c Light transmission hole 31 (1) -31 (4) Pockets 24 (1), 24 (2) Ball supply path 33 Ball discharge path 34 Light transmission sensor 38 Light transmission sensor

Claims (4)

The game balls supplied in a continuous state are received one by one in the ball receiving grooves formed at predetermined angular intervals on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body rotating at a predetermined speed, and are sent out in the circumferential direction. In the game ball dispensing device that sequentially dispenses balls from each ball receiving groove,
N sheets (n is an integer of 2 or more) arranged in parallel so as to rotate integrally around a common rotation center line; and
The ball receiving grooves formed at equiangular intervals in a region of an angular range of 360 ° / n on the outer peripheral surface of each rotating body;
A ball supply path for supplying game balls from the same position in the circumferential direction to the ball receiving groove of each rotating body,
A common ball discharge path for paying out game balls discharged from the ball receiving groove of each rotating body;
A game ball dispensing apparatus, wherein each remaining rotating body is held in a state of being sequentially offset by 360 ° / n in the circumferential direction with respect to one rotating body. In claim 1,
The game ball payout device, wherein the ball discharge path has a width through which n game balls can pass simultaneously. In claim 2,
A game ball dispensing apparatus comprising a transmission type optical sensor for detecting the game ball passing through the ball discharge path. In claim 1, 2 or 3,
In at least one of the rotating bodies, a detected part consisting of a light transmission part or a light reflection part formed at a constant angular interval in the circumferential direction around the rotation center line; and
A game ball payout device comprising an optical sensor for detecting the detected portion.

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