JP2007007059A - Ball feeder of pinball game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the height of a ball feeder by shortening the streaming distance of game balls in the ball feeder without causing jamming with balls. <P>SOLUTION: In a ball tank 3, a bottom plate 31 is inclined downward to the right so that its height is set smaller to the left, namely, to the upstream side and larger to the downstream side. The game balls B move to the right by their dead load and a ball outflow port 32 is made to communicate with a step part 40 of a tank rail 4. The step part 40 is formed at the left end part (rear end part) in the downstream side portion of the tank rail 4 and disposed at the upper center part with respect to a mechanism board. The length L<SB>6</SB>of the step part 40 is 5 to 20% of the length L<SB>3</SB>of the mechanism board 13 and the position of the step part 40 is less than the range of the length M, which is 50% of the length L<SB>3</SB>of the mechanism board, preferably 70%. It is especially preferable that the length is within the range excepting the length at both end parts of the mechanism board equivalent to 80% of the length. The height H<SB>9</SB>of the step part 40 is 1-2 times the diameter of the game ball. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a ball supply device for a ball game machine that includes a tank and a tank rail and supplies a game ball to a ball payout device.

A conventional ball supply device B attached to a mechanism panel A of a ball game machine represented by a pachinko machine is as shown in FIG. The ball supply device B includes a ball tank C for storing game balls, an outlet D formed at the left end of the ball tank C, and a tank disposed in the lower region of the ball tank C and connected to the outlet D. A rail E is provided, and the bottom surface of the ball tank C is inclined to the left side, and the bottom surface of the tank rail E is inclined to the right side. The game ball flows in the reverse direction (left direction in the figure) in the ball tank C and flows in the forward direction (right direction in the figure) in the tank rail E (Patent Documents 1 to 4).
JP 07-241370 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 07-241371 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 07-250956 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-173609

However, in the sphere supply devices shown in Patent Documents 1 to 4, the length L ₁ of the sphere tank C occupies more than half of the length L ₂ of the mechanism panel A, and the length L ₃ of the tank rail E is The length of the game board A is almost the same as the length L ₂ of the mechanism board A, and the length of the game ball is long. In addition, since the tank rail E is located under the ball tank C, the height H ₁ at the left end and the height H ₂ at the right end of the ball supply device B are also increased, and there is a problem that the whole is bulky. Further, due to the increase in size of the liquid crystal device, there are many portions protruding on the back side of the liquid crystal device, which hinders the back mechanism parts and makes attachment difficult. On the other hand, when trying to make the ball supply device compact, there is a problem that ball clogging easily occurs.

  The present invention intends to constitute a ball supply device for a ball game machine from a point of view that has never been conceived so far, and an object of the present invention is to provide a game ball in the ball supply device without causing clogging of the ball. This is to shorten the in-flow distance and to reduce the height of the ball supply device.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a tank rail for supplying a game ball of a ball tank to a ball payout device, and the ball tank and the tank rail are arranged on the upper back side. In the sphere supply device, the rear surface of the sphere tank is provided with a sphere outlet on the bottom surface of the right end of the sphere tank, and a step formed on the left end of the tank rail is connected to a lower region of the sphere outlet. The ball supply device for a ball game machine is characterized in that the step portion is provided at the center of the upper part of the back surface.

  It is preferable to set the height of the stepped portion to a height that is 1 to 2 times the diameter of the game ball.

  It is preferable that the inclination angle of the sphere tank and the inclination angle of the tank rail are set so as to incline downward to the right in a rear view.

  It is preferable that a ball leveling plate having a height from the bottom surface of the tank rail set to 1.5 to 3.5 times the diameter of the game ball is provided at the upper part of the ball outlet.

  As a part of the ball outlet, a notch set so that the height from the bottom surface of the tank rail is 2 to 3 times the diameter of the game ball is provided on the downstream side of the ball tank. It is preferable to form on the back plate.

  It is preferable that the bottom surface of the spherical tank includes at least two regions having different inclination angles that are inclined toward at least the outlet.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the game ball flowing through the ball tank is dropped into the stepped portion while being energized, the ball does not become clogged. In addition, it is possible to reduce the inflow distance of game balls in the ball supply device. Furthermore, since the height of the ball supply device can be reduced and the space below the ball tank and tank rail can be expanded, it is possible to cope with an increase in the size of the center accessory provided in the game board.

  According to invention of Claim 2, the height of a level | step-difference part can be hold | suppressed in the predetermined range, and it can be set as a compact structure.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the slope is continuously formed, the flow of the game ball by its own weight becomes smoother.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the ball is smoothed in advance by the ball leveling plate and then guided to the ball outlet, the flow of the game ball can be made smooth.

  According to the invention of claim 5, it is possible to prevent clogging of game balls in the vicinity of the ball outlet.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the efficiency of collecting balls to the ball outlet is increased.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, the ball supply device 1 of the ball game machine according to the embodiment includes a ball tank 3 that is provided at the uppermost left side on the back side of the mounting board 2 and stores game balls, and a ball tank. The tank rail 4 is installed on the right side of 3 and receives a game ball flowing out from the ball tank 3 and guides it in the longitudinal direction while aligning the game balls, and a tank rail 4 inclined in the longitudinal direction. A first sphere leveling member 5 is provided above the tank rail 4, and a second sphere leveling member 6 is provided above the tank rail 4 and is detachably connected to the first sphere leveling member 5. The rail 4 is rotationally displaced in the longitudinal direction of the bottom surface of the rail 4, and the second spherical leveling member 6 is supported by the rotary cradle 7. In the lower right region of the ball supply device 1, a bent rod 8 that is connected to the right end of the tank rail 4 and changes the flow direction of the game ball B from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction, and a ball removal device provided in the middle of the bent rod 8 9, a ball extraction passage 10 for guiding a game ball in accordance with the switching of the ball extraction device 9, a guide rod 11 connected to the bending rod 8 and flowing down the game ball, and a guide rod 11 provided in the middle of the guide rod 11. And a ball payout device 12 for supplying game balls to a dish (not shown). The whole including the ball supply device 1 and the first ball leveling member 5 to the ball dispensing device 12 is called a back mechanism board 13 (the lower left portion side is not shown). Although mechanical parts are provided, their illustration is omitted. In addition, since the whole structure of a ball game machine is well-known, other structures are abbreviate | omitted. Here, the ball tank 3 has a length L _{4 in} the range of 40 to 60% of the length L ₃ of the mechanism panel 13, and is disposed on the upper left region of the mechanism panel 13. The tank rail 4 has a length L _{5 in} the range of 40 to 60% of the length L ₃ , and is disposed on the upper right region of the mechanism panel 13. Hereinafter, the back side of the ball tank 3 and the tank rail 4 will be mainly described.

The ball tank 3 is an elongated box-like body with an upper end opening and a bottom, and is formed in the upper left region on the back of the mounting board 2 so that the longitudinal direction is the width direction of the gaming machine. The sphere tank 3 includes a sphere detection switch 30, a sphere outlet 32 that opens to the bottom plate 31, a left side plate 33, a right side plate 34, a front plate 35 that is located upstream, and a rear plate 36 that is located downstream. An attachment piece 37b having a through hole 37a, an attachment piece 37d having a through hole 37c, a female screw 37e attached to the attachment piece 37b, a female screw 37f attached to the attachment piece 37d, and a ball clogging attached to the upper part of the ball outlet 32. And a sphere leveling plate 38 for preventing the above. The ball outlet 32 includes a cutout 39 formed by cutting out a part of the bottom plate 31 and the rear plate 36. The ball tank 3 has a mounting piece 37b attached to the female screw 37e and a mounting piece 37d attached to the female screw 37f by screws (not shown). In the ball tank 3, the bottom plate 31 is inclined downward to the right, the height is set smaller toward the left side in FIG. 1, that is, the upstream side, and the height of the downstream side is increased, and the game ball B moves to the right by its own weight. To do. The ball outlet 32 communicates with the stepped portion 40 of the tank rail 4. As shown in FIG. 1, the height of the left end of the sphere tank 3 H ₃ is 3-5 times the diameter of the game ball, the height H ₄ from the top of the sphere tank 3 at the right end of the bottom plate 43 of the tank rail 4 5 It is set to 9 times.

As shown in FIG. 8, the bottom plate 31 includes at least two planar regions R ₁ and R ₂ that are inclined at least toward the spherical outlet 32 and have different inclination angles. A ridge line S ₁ is formed between the planar region R ₁ and the planar region R ₁ . In the plane region R ₁ , the game ball B flows in the right direction in the drawing, and in the plane region R ₂ , the inclination is set so that the game ball B flows in the left direction in the drawing. Further, the bottom surface 38a is an end 38t of the side facing the front plate 35 of the sphere leveling plate 38 is formed obliquely (in the figure right edge of the line), outlet port 32 side with a wide planar area R _3, game balls B flows downward as indicated by the arrows in FIG. In FIG. 8, the plane region R ₁ is expanded in the portion of the bottom plate 31 hidden in the plane region R ₃ . The efficiency of collecting the balls is increased by inclining each flow direction differently. The game balls are collected at the ball outlet 32 as a whole. The plane regions R _{1 to} R ₃ may be curved regions.

The spherical outlet 32 is formed by cutting out a corner on the downstream side of the square sphere tank 3 and is a vertically long rectangle in a plan view (see FIG. 8) and a horizontally long rectangle in a side view ( 6), L-shaped in the rear view. The upper end to the height of the notch 39 from the bottom plate 43 of the tank rail 4 illustrated in FIG. 6 H ₅ (the height of the sphere outlet 32) (see FIG. 7), 2-4 times the diameter of the game ball, preferably 2 to 3 times. A notch 39 is formed by notching the lower part of the downstream rear plate 36 of the ball tank 3. The notch 39 constitutes an upper part on the downstream side of the ball outlet 32. The height H ₆ of the notch 39 (see FIG. 6) is set to be 0.5 to 2 times, preferably 0.5 to 1.2 times the diameter of the game ball B.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sphere leveling plate 38 has a box shape with the upper side and the front side opened, a substantially triangular bottom plate 38 a, and a rear plate 38 b erected from the downstream end of the bottom plate 38 a, The right side plate 38c connected to the bottom plate 38a and the rear plate 38b, the left side plate 38d, the mounting portions 38e and 37h attached to the mounting portions 37g and 37h formed on the ball tank 3, respectively, and the ball tank 3 The latching portions 38g to 38j are provided. The height H ₇ of the bottom plate 38a from the bottom plate 31 (FIG. 5) is preferably 1.2 to 2 times the diameter of the game ball B.

  The inclination angle of the bottom plate 31 of the ball tank 3 and the inclination angle of the bottom plate 43 of the tank rail are inclined downward in the rear view. This inclination angle is preferably set in the range of 3 to 6 degrees (5 degrees in the figure).

The shelf-shaped sphere leveling plate 38, the upper part of the sphere outlet 32, the height H ₈ from the bottom plate 43 of the tank rail, is set to 1.5 to 3.5 times the diameter of the game ball Yes. Since the game ball B rides on the ball leveling plate 38, the pressure from the upper game ball on the game ball below the ball leveling plate 38 is relieved, and the bottom plate on the right side of the step portion 40 in FIG. It is possible to suitably control the flow of the game ball B flowing in from the 31 toward the left side, and the game ball flows smoothly without being in a dumpling state.

The tank rail 4 is formed in the upper right region of the mounting board 2 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, and includes a stepped portion 40 that constitutes the left side and is disposed below the ball outlet 32. A side plate 41 and a side plate 42 which are parallel to each other, and a bottom plate 43 which is inclined to the right and moves the game ball B in the right direction by its own weight, and a partition plate 44 which partitions in the width direction between the side plate 41 and the side plate 42 are provided. This is a two-row configuration in which two rows of right passages 45 and left passages 46 are formed in parallel. The back side plate 42 is formed integrally with the mounting board 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the partition plate 44 extends from the most upstream part of the tank rail 4 to the most downstream part, and has no height at the most upstream part, but the height increases slightly from the upstream to the downstream part. It is formed so that the height decreases slightly from the top of the height (in the figure, a downward depression). The height of the partition plate 44 is sufficiently larger than the diameter R of the game ball B from the vicinity of the apex to the downstream. A plurality of through holes 47 are formed on the bottom surface. The tank rail 4 is fixed to the mounting board 2 by a mounting portion 48 and a mounting portion 49. The length L ₆ of the stepped portion 40 is preferably 4 to 6 times the diameter of the game ball B. A sphere leveling plate 38 is installed in the upper opening of the stepped portion 40. As shown in FIG. 5, the stepped portion 40 is formed at the left end (back side end) of the downstream portion of the ball tank 3. The stepped portion 40 is preferably disposed in the upper center portion with respect to the ball game machine. The length L ₆ of the stepped portion 40 is preferably in a range corresponding to 5% to 20% of the length L ₃ of the mechanism panel 13. Moreover, the range in the horizontal direction where the stepped portion 40 is located is preferably within the range of the length M (see FIG. 1) as shown in FIG. This length M is in the range of 50% of the length L ₃ of the mechanism board, preferably 70%, particularly preferably in the range of the central part excluding the lengths of both ends corresponding to 80%. . The height H ₉ of the stepped portion 40 is 0.5 to 2 times, preferably 1 to 1.7 times the diameter of the game ball. This height H ₉ gradually increases toward the downstream.

  Next, the operation and effect of the sphere supply device 1 will be described.

  First, the game ball payout operation will be described. When a player operates a launch handle (not shown) to launch a game ball onto the surface of a game board (not shown), and the game ball enters a winning opening (not shown) or the like, a payout control board (not shown). Activates the ball payout device 12 and pays out the game ball B to the downstream upper plate (not shown). When the number of payouts is counted and the number corresponding to the type of winning is paid out, the payout operation of the ball payout device 12 is performed. Stop. Further, when the player presses a lending button (not shown) on the upper plate (not shown), the payout control board (not shown) operates the ball paying device 12 to move the game ball to the lower upper plate (not shown). Pay out. Therefore, while the game ball is paid out from the ball payout device 12, the game ball B is moved from the ball tank 3 through the tank rail 4, the bending rod 8, and the guide rod 11 both when lending the ball and when winning. It is sent to the dispensing device 12.

  Next, operations and effects of the ball tank 3 and the tank rail will be described. When game balls urged by their own weight on the bottom plate 31 of the ball tank 3 flow downstream, they are aggregated in the ball outlet 32 and dropped into the stepped portion 40 to flow downstream, thereby preventing clogging of the balls. be able to. In addition, the flow distance of game balls in the ball supply device 1 can be shortened. Since the space below the ball tank 3 and the tank rail 4 can be expanded by reducing the height of the ball supply device 1, it is possible to cope with an increase in the size of the center accessory (not shown) provided in the game board (not shown). be able to.

  Moreover, since the inclination of the bottom plate 31 and the bottom plate 43 is continuously formed to the lower right via the stepped portion 40, the flow direction of the game ball due to its own weight is further smoothed by continuing in the forward direction.

  Since the game ball B flowing in the lower part of the ball leveling plate 38 is leveled in advance on the lower surface of the bottom plate 38a and then guided to the tank rail 4 from the ball outlet 32, the flow of the game ball can be made smooth.

  The notch 39 set so that the height from the bottom surface of the tank rail 4 is 2 to 3 times the diameter of the game ball is formed in the rear plate 36 on the downstream side of the ball tank 3 to prevent clogging of the ball. it can.

Since the bottom surface 31 of the sphere tank 3 includes at least two plane regions R ₁ and R ₂ which are inclined at least toward the outflow port 32, the efficiency of collecting the balls into the sphere outflow port 32 is increased.

  Although the tank rail 4 has two strips of the right passage 45 and the left passage 46, the number of rows of the passages is set as appropriate. For example, there may be two prize ball rails and one ball rental rail.

  The above embodiment is a representative example of the technique employed by the present inventors in carrying out the aspects of the present invention. These techniques are examples of preferred embodiments for carrying out the present invention, and those belonging to the present technical field will not depart from the spirit and intended gist of the present invention in view of the disclosure of the present invention. Recognize that many modifications and additions are possible.

It is a rear view of the ball supply device 1 of the embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial exploded perspective view (the 1) of ball supply device 1 of an embodiment of the present invention. It is a partially exploded perspective view (the 2) of ball supply device 1 of an embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial expanded rear view of the ball supply device 1 of the embodiment of the present invention. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is BB sectional drawing of FIG. It is a rear view which shows operation | movement of the bulb | ball supply apparatus 1 of embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows operation | movement of the bulb | ball supply apparatus 1 of embodiment of this invention. It is a rear view of the conventional ball supply apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sphere supply apparatus 2 ... Mounting board 3 ... Sphere tank 31 ... Bottom plate 32 ... Outlet 33 ... Left side plate 34 ... Right side plate 35 ... Front plate 36 .. Rear plate 37a, 37c ... Through hole 37b, 37d ... Mounting piece 37d ... Mounting piece 37e, 37d, 37f ... Female screw 37g, 37h ... Mounting portion 38 ... Guide plate 38a ... Bottom plate 38b ... Rear plate 38c ... Right side plate 38d ... Left side plate 38e, 38f ... Mounting part 38g-38j ... Latching part 39 ... Notch 4 ... Tank Rail 40 ... Stepped portion 41, 42 ... Side plate 43 ... Bottom plate 44 ... Partition plate 45 ... Right side passage 46 ... Left side passage 47 ... Through groove 48, 49 ... Installation Part

Claims (6)

  A ball supply device for a ball game machine comprising a tank rail for supplying a game ball of a ball tank to a ball dispensing device, wherein the ball tank and the tank rail are arranged at the upper back portion. Provided with a ball outlet on the bottom of the part, a step formed on the left end of the tank rail was connected to the lower region of the ball outlet, and the step was provided at the center of the upper back. A ball supply device for a bullet ball game machine.   The ball supply device for a bullet game machine according to claim 1, wherein the height of the stepped portion is set to a height of 0.5 to 2 times the diameter of the game ball.   The ball supply device for a ball game machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an inclination angle of the ball tank and an inclination angle of the tank rail are set so as to incline downward in a rear view. 4. The bullet according to claim 1, wherein a ball leveling plate having a height from the bottom surface of the ball tank set to 0.5 to 2 times the diameter of the game ball is provided at an upper portion of the ball outlet. Ball supply device for ball game machines.   As a part of the ball outlet, a notch set so that the height from the bottom surface of the tank rail is 2 to 3 times the diameter of the game ball is provided on the downstream side of the ball tank. The ball supply device for a ball game machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the ball supply device is formed on a rear plate. The ball supply device for a ball game machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the ball tank includes at least two regions having different inclination angles at which the bottom surface of the ball tank is inclined toward the outlet.

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