JP2008079802A - Operation handle for game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation handle for a game machine which can improve the feel of gripping the handle and operation characteristics of the handle regardless of the size of the hand of the operator when an operator holds the operation handle and allows easy variation in design and appearance. <P>SOLUTION: The operation handle for a game machine 1 is used by turning a turning operation section which adjusts the shooting strength of a game ball. The turning operation section is equipped with a turning base section and a surface cover 4 which covers the turning base section from the front side. The surface cover 4 is equipped with a protruding surface section 41 which abuts against the palm of the operator and a plurality of operation protrusions 42 projecting outward in the radial direction of a rear end section 402 of the surface section 41. The surface cover 4 is provided with a palm abutment surface 40 continuously formed in a protruding state from either one of the operation protrusions 42 through a top section 401 of the front side of the surface section 41 up to the rear end section 402 of the opposite side. The palm abutment surface 40 is applied with a metal plating constituting a conduction detecting section of a touch sensor 54. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an operation handle for adjusting the firing strength of a game ball in a gaming machine.

  In a gaming machine such as a pachinko gaming machine, for example, an operation handle that adjusts the launch intensity of a game ball to a game area is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the pachinko ball launching operation device of Patent Document 1, a plurality of protrusions are provided on a portion of the grip portion of the operation handle where the palm hits so that hand fatigue is reduced even when the operation handle is held for a long time. ing. Further, by providing the plurality of protrusions, even if the player's palm sweats for a long time, the hand is prevented from slipping and the design is improved.

  Further, in the handle structure of the game ball launching device of Patent Document 2, a technique for giving a sufficient fit to the player without twisting the finger and palm of the player is disclosed. In Patent Document 2, a rotation operation unit that changes the launch strength of a game ball is configured by a handle ring that is rotatably disposed between a handle cover and a handle base, and a part of the handle ring is configured as a handle cover. It extends to cover a part of the front of. The front surface of the handle is formed by a part of the handle ring and the exposed portion of the handle cover that is not covered by the handle ring.

  However, there are individual differences in the size of the hand of the operator who operates the operation handle. Therefore, in order to improve the fit and handle operability when the operator grasps the operation handle regardless of the size of the operator's hand, the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2 are not sufficient, Further ingenuity is required.

JP-A-11-267276 JP 2004-267354 A

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and can improve the fit and handle operability when the operator holds the operation handle regardless of the size of the operator's hand. It is an object of the present invention to provide an operation handle for a gaming machine that can be easily configured with various variations in design appearance.

The present invention is an operation handle for adjusting the launch intensity of a game ball in a gaming machine,
The operation handle includes a fixed base portion that is fixed to the front panel of the gaming machine, and a rotation operation portion that is rotated relative to the fixed base portion to adjust the firing strength of the game ball. And
The fixed base portion includes a shaft-shaped case portion that protrudes forward of the front panel, and a convex-shaped convex case portion that contacts the operator's finger on the front surface side of the shaft-shaped case portion. ,
The rotation operation unit is fixed to the rotation base unit in a state where the rotation base unit is disposed so as to be rotatable with respect to the fixed base unit, and the rotation base unit is covered from the front side. A front cover,
The surface cover includes a convex surface portion that comes into contact with the palm of the operator, and a plurality of operation protrusions that are formed continuously from the surface portion and project radially outward at the rear end portion of the surface portion. And having a palm contact surface continuously formed in a convex shape from any one of the above-described operation projections to the rear end of the opposite side via the apex on the front side of the surface portion. And
The palm contact surface has conductivity for constituting a continuity detecting portion of a touch sensor that detects that an operator has touched the operation handle. (Claim 1).

In the operation handle for gaming machines of the present invention, a device for facilitating the handle operation is provided for many operators with different hand sizes.
The operation handle of the present invention includes the fixed base portion and the rotation operation portion. The fixed base portion is provided with a convex case portion on the front side of the shaft-like case portion, and the turning operation portion is formed by covering the turning base portion from the front side with a surface cover. Further, the surface cover has a palm contact surface continuously formed in a convex shape from any one of the operation projections to the rear end on the opposite side via the apex.

  When an operator such as a player grasps the operation handle of the present invention, the operator's palm fits the palm contact surface on the surface portion, and the operator's finger touches the palm contact surface on the operation projection portion. To fit. Thereby, the operator's hand can fit continuously from the surface part to the operation projection part by the palm contact surface. Therefore, it is possible to stably give a feeling of fitting when the operation handle is gripped to many operators having different hand sizes.

  When the operator holds the operation handle, the fingertip of the operator can be brought into contact with the convex case portion of the fixed base portion. Thereby, an operator's finger can contact | abut to a convex-shaped case part via a convex-shaped palm contact surface. Therefore, it is possible to improve handle operability when operating the operation handle for many operators having different hand sizes.

Further, the palm contact surface has conductivity in order to constitute a conduction detection unit of the touch sensor. As a result, the continuity detection unit of the touch sensor can stably detect the contact of the operator regardless of the position of the palm or finger in the operator's hand. Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary for the entire surface cover to have conductivity, and only a part of the surface cover has conductivity, so that the continuity detection unit of the touch sensor is configured. Can do. Therefore, the conductive portion of the surface cover can be changed as appropriate, and various variations of the operation handle can be configured.
In addition, the palm contact surface can have conductivity by performing metal plating on the resin molded product, and can also have conductivity by being made of a metal material.

  Further, the surface cover of the present invention can be easily attached to and detached from the rotation base portion. Therefore, by replacing the surface cover with another surface cover having a different shape, operation handles of various variations having different design appearances can be easily configured.

  As described above, according to the operation handle for the gaming machine of the present invention, it is possible to improve the fit and handle operability when the operator grasps the operation handle regardless of the size of the operator's hand. In addition, various types of operation handles having different design appearances can be easily configured.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention described above will be described.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the surface cover has a full face shape that covers the entire rotation base portion from the front side.
In this case, the palm of the surface cover does not come into contact with the member on the fixed base portion side (for example, a cap member that holds the rotation operation portion between the fixed base portion). It is possible to stably contact the surface. Thereby, regardless of the size of the operator's hand, it is possible to further improve the fit feeling and handle operability when the operator holds the operation handle.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the operation handle for a gaming machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the operation handle 1 for the gaming machine of this example adjusts the firing strength of the game ball in the pachinko gaming machine 10. The operation handle 1 is used to adjust the firing strength of the game ball by rotating the fixed base portion 2 fixed to the front panel 11 of the pachinko gaming machine 10 and relative rotation with respect to the fixed base portion 2. And a rotation operation unit 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the fixed base portion 2 includes a shaft-shaped case portion 21 that protrudes forward of the front panel 11, and a convex-shaped convex surface that comes into contact with the operator's finger on the front surface side of the shaft-shaped case portion 21. And a case 22. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the rotation operation unit 3 covers a rotation base unit 31 disposed so as to be rotatable with respect to the fixed base unit 2, and covers the rotation base unit 31 from the front side. In this state, the front cover 4 is fixed to the rotation base portion 31.
As shown in FIG. 2, the surface cover 4 is formed continuously from a convex surface portion 41 that abuts against the palm of the operator, and the surface portion 41, and protrudes radially outward at the rear end portion 402 of the surface portion 41. And a plurality of operation projections 42 formed.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the surface cover 4 is a convex surface from any one of the operation projections 42 to the rear end 402 on the opposite side via the front vertex 401 on the surface 41. A palm contact surface 40 continuously formed in a shape (convex curved surface). The palm contact surface 40 is formed by applying conductive metal plating to the surface of the resin molded product, and the touch sensor 54 detects that the operator has touched the operation handle 1 by the metal plating. (See FIG. 6) is configured.
Note that the front side refers to the side or direction facing the player, and the rear portion refers to the part opposite to the side facing the player.

Hereinafter, the operation handle 1 for the gaming machine of this example will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the operation handle 1 of this example is arranged to stand forward from a front panel 11 on which a ball tray 12 in a pachinko gaming machine 10 is arranged. As shown in FIG. 4, the convex case portion 22 of the fixed base portion 2 has a circular shape when viewed from the front side, and has a circular opening end 220 on the front side and a shape similar to a hemispherical surface. have.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the convex case portion 22 abuts against the fingertip of the operator and makes it easy to maintain the rotation operation portion 3 at a predetermined rotation position. 221 is formed. A plurality of the contact protrusions 221 are formed toward the circumferential direction C of the surface of the convex case portion 22. Further, the contact protrusions 221 are formed longer in the axial direction L of the fixed base portion 2 than in the circumferential direction C, and a plurality of contact protrusions 221 are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction C.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, a plurality of alignment scales 222 are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction C on the surface in the vicinity of the opening end 220 of the convex case 22. As shown in FIG. 2, an alignment mark 47 that can be aligned with the alignment graduation 222 is formed on the rear end portion 402 of the surface portion 41 of the front cover 4. When the rotation operation unit 3 is rotated to a predetermined rotation position, the operator visually observes the positions of the alignment marks 47 with respect to the plurality of alignment marks 222 and rotates the rotation operation unit 3. The moving position can be determined.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a rotation center member 51 that forms a rotation center of the rotation base portion 31 in the rotation operation portion 3 is inserted into the shaft-like case portion 21 of the fixed base portion 2. is there. A cap member 52 is provided at the front end portion of the rotation center member 51 so as to pivotably hold the rotation base portion 31 between the opening end portion 220 of the convex case portion 22. is there. The cap member 52 has a convex shape along the back surface of the front cover 4.
The rotation operation unit 3 formed by assembling the rotation base unit 31 and the surface cover 4 can be stably rotated along the opening end 220 of the convex case 22 and the cap member 52. .

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the surface cover 4 of this example has a full face shape that covers the entire rotation base portion 31 from the front side. Further, the front cover 4 has a minimum outer diameter portion 451 along the outer diameter of the opening end portion 220 of the convex case portion 22 in the circumferential direction C. It is formed to protrude radially outward from the diameter portion 451.
Further, the surface cover 4 of this example includes a convex lower cover portion 45 formed with a minimum outer diameter portion 451 and an upper cover having a shape covering a part of the lower cover portion 45 in the circumferential direction C. Part 46.

As shown in FIG. 2, the operation protrusion 42 in this example is formed on both the lower cover 45 and the upper cover 46. The plurality of operation protrusions 42 includes a first operation protrusion 42A formed on the lower cover part 45, and a second operation protrusion 42B and a third operation protrusion 42C formed on the upper cover part 46.
The upper cover part 46 passes through the apex part 401 from a part in the circumferential direction C at the rear end part 402 of the front cover 4 to a part on the opposite side to the part in the circumferential direction C (a part different by about 180 °). Is formed. Further, the lower cover portion 45 is exposed on both sides of the upper cover portion 46. The palm contact surface 40 of this example is formed by the upper cover portion 46, and is continuously formed from the second operation projection portion 42B to the third operation projection portion 42C via the apex portion 401.

As shown in the figure, the surface cover 4 of this example is formed by assembling an upper cover portion 46 on the surface of the lower cover portion 45, and the surface of the upper cover portion 46 is subjected to conductive metal plating. Yes. In addition, conductive metal plating is also applied to the surface of the rotation base portion 31. The fixed base portion 2, the rotation base portion 31 and the surface cover 4 of this example are all made of synthetic resin, and metal plating is applied only to the upper cover portion 46 and the rotation base portion 31 of the surface cover 4. It has been subjected.
In addition, the lower cover part 45 and the upper cover part 46 can also be integrally formed with a synthetic resin.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the touch sensor 54 of this example is a capacitance sensor, and is disposed on the rear surface of the rotation base portion 31. When the operator's hand comes into contact with the palm contact surface 40 of the upper cover portion 46 of the surface cover 4, the operator handles the operation handle by static electricity flowing through the upper cover portion 46 and the rotation base portion 31. 1 can be detected.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rotation base portion 31 is urged by a torsion coil spring 53 in a direction that weakens the launch strength of the game ball. In addition, the fixed base portion 2 is provided with a stop switch 55 that can stop the launch of the game ball even if the turning operation portion 3 is turned. The stop switch 55 includes an operation unit 551 that is operated by an operator with a finger, and a switch unit 552 that detects an operation state of the operation unit 551.

  Although illustration is omitted, when the rotation operation unit 3 in which the surface cover 4 is assembled to the rotation base unit 31 is rotated, a plurality of gears and variable resistors connected to the rotation base unit 31 are used. Thus, the rotation operation amount of the rotation operation unit 3 is detected. Thereby, the control apparatus in the pachinko gaming machine 10 can control the launch intensity of the game ball to be launched into the game area of the game board by operating the ball launcher.

In the operation handle 1 for the gaming machine of this example, a device for facilitating the handle operation is provided for many operators having different hand sizes.
When an operator such as a player holds the operation handle 1 of this example, the palm of the operator fits the palm abutting surface 40 of the surface portion 41 and the operator's finger touches the palm of the operation projection 42. Fits the contact surface 40. Thereby, the operator's hand can be continuously fitted from the surface portion 41 to the operation projection portion 42 by the palm contact surface 40. Therefore, it is possible to stably give a feeling of fitting when the operation handle 1 is gripped to many operators having different hand sizes.

  Further, when the operator grips the operation handle 1, the fingertip of the operator can be brought into contact with the convex case portion 22 of the fixed base portion 2. Thus, the operator's finger can come into contact with the convex case portion 22 via the convex palm contact surface 40. Therefore, the handle operability when operating the operation handle 1 can be improved for many operators with different hand sizes.

  In addition, the continuity detection unit of the touch sensor 54 in this example is configured by metal plating applied to the palm contact surface 40. Accordingly, the continuity detection unit of the touch sensor 54 can stably detect the contact of the operator regardless of the position of the palm or finger in the operator's hand. Moreover, in this example, it is not necessary to apply metal plating to the entire surface cover 4, and the conduction detection unit of the touch sensor 54 can be configured by applying metal plating only to a part of the surface cover 4. Therefore, the part which performs metal plating in the surface cover 4 can be changed suitably, and the operation handle 1 of various variations can be comprised.

  Further, the surface cover 4 of this example can be easily attached to and detached from the rotation base portion 31. Therefore, the operation handle 1 having a different design appearance can be easily formed by replacing the surface cover 4 with another surface cover 4 having a different shape.

  As described above, according to the operation handle 1 for the gaming machine of this example, it is possible to improve the fit and handle operability when the operator holds the operation handle 1 regardless of the size of the operator's hand. The operation handle 1 can be easily configured in various variations with different design appearances.

The perspective view which shows the operation handle arrange | positioned in the pachinko game machine in an Example. The front view which shows the surface cover of the operation handle in an Example. The side view which shows the operation handle in an Example. The perspective view which shows the main components when an operation handle is disassembled in an Example. Sectional explanatory drawing which shows the operation handle in an Example. It is a figure which shows the operation handle in an Example, and is AA arrow directional cross-sectional explanatory drawing in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation handle 10 Pachinko machine 11 Front panel 2 Fixed base part 21 Axis case part 22 Convex case part 3 Rotation operation part 31 Rotation base part 4 Surface cover 40 Palm contact surface 401 Vertex part 402 Rear end part 41 Surface part 42 Operation projection part 51 Rotation center member 52 Cap member 53 Torsion coil spring 54 Touch sensor L Axial direction C Circumferential direction

Claims (2)

An operation handle for adjusting the launch intensity of a game ball in a gaming machine,
The operation handle includes a fixed base portion that is fixed to the front panel of the gaming machine, and a rotation operation portion that is rotated relative to the fixed base portion to adjust the firing strength of the game ball. And
The fixed base portion includes a shaft-shaped case portion that protrudes forward of the front panel, and a convex-shaped convex case portion that contacts the operator's finger on the front surface side of the shaft-shaped case portion. ,
The rotation operation unit is fixed to the rotation base unit in a state where the rotation base unit is disposed so as to be rotatable with respect to the fixed base unit, and the rotation base unit is covered from the front side. A front cover,
The surface cover includes a convex surface portion that comes into contact with the palm of the operator, and a plurality of operation protrusions that are formed continuously from the surface portion and project radially outward at the rear end portion of the surface portion. And having a palm contact surface continuously formed in a convex shape from any one of the above-described operation projections to the rear end of the opposite side via the apex on the front side of the surface portion. And
An operation handle for a gaming machine, wherein the palm contact surface has conductivity for constituting a continuity detection unit of a touch sensor that detects that an operator has contacted the operation handle.   2. The operating handle for a gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein the surface cover has a full face shape covering the entire rotation base portion from the front side.

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