JP2008132236A - Pachinko ball polishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To polish the whole surface of a pachinko ball and to easily replace ball polishing cloth without fearing for falling of pachinko balls. <P>SOLUTION: A polishing unit 20 includes a cylindrical body 36 driven in rotation by a motor and a passage block provided with a helical groove 24 to form a helical passage R in a space up to the cylindrical body 36. In the polishing unit, the passage block 22 is notched from the outside to provide an exposure part 26 for exposing a part of the surface of the pachinko ball in the helical passage R, and a ball polishing cloth piece not shown in figure, which is wrapped round a pulley, is located in the exposure part 26 to thereby polish the exposed surface of the pachinko ball. Since the pachinko ball moves while spirally rolling along the helical passage R, the surface is brought into contact with the ball polishing cloth piece 54 in a wide range and polished. Since the exposure part 26 inhibits the pachinko ball from passing to the outside, even if the ball polishing cloth piece 54 is removed for replacement, the pachinko balls do not fall. Therefore the removal work for the pachinko balls is not needed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pachinko ball polishing apparatus for polishing pachinko balls used in amusement facilities.

As a pachinko ball polishing apparatus used in amusement facilities such as pachinko parlors, for example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-730.
As shown in FIG. 9, in the pachinko ball lifting machine, a guide 93 having a ball feeding groove 94 in the vertical direction is attached to a dampening belt 90 wound in the vertical direction. A guide case 92 that is pressed by force is disposed.
A ball polishing cloth 96 is laid in the ball feeding groove 94, and when the pachinko ball P sandwiched between the guide 93 rolls and is fed as the doffing belt 90 moves upward, A pachinko ball is polished by a ball polishing cloth 96. In the figure, reference numeral 97 denotes a pressing roller that supports the doffing belt from the back surface.
JP-A-9-730

  However, in the above-described conventional apparatus, the pachinko ball that is rolled by the doffing belt 90 only rotates in one direction along the ball feed groove 94 of the guide. There is a problem that it cannot be polished.

  Further, the ball polishing cloth 96 laid on the guide 93 needs to be replaced periodically. However, when the guide case 92 that supports the guide 93 is opened, a large number of sandwiches between the doffing belt 90 and the guide 93 are provided. Since the pachinko balls spill out, the guide case 92 cannot be opened immediately, and the pachinko balls must be removed from the guide case-corresponding portion before opening. However, since the pachinko balls are sandwiched between the doffing belt 90 and the guide 93 by the urging force of the spring 95, normally, the doffing belt 90 is driven in a state in which inflow of new pachinko balls is blocked, and the guide By lifting the pachinko balls in the 93 corresponding area, the pachinko balls are extracted from the area, but it is difficult to extract all the pachinko balls in a short time, and a certain degree of spillage is unavoidable.

  The present invention provides a pachinko ball polishing apparatus that can polish the entire surface of a pachinko ball and can easily replace the ball polishing cloth without worrying about the spilling of the pachinko ball. For the purpose.

  A pachinko ball polishing apparatus according to the present invention includes a cylindrical body that is rotationally driven by a drive source, a passage block that includes a spiral groove on the inner peripheral surface and forms a spiral path of a pachinko ball between the cylindrical body, and a ball polishing cloth The passage block includes an exposed portion that is notched from the outside and exposes a part of the surface of the pachinko ball without passing the pachinko ball in the spiral passage to the outside, and the ball polishing cloth is exposed to the exposed portion. The surface of the exposed pachinko ball was configured to be polished.

According to the present invention, the pachinko ball that moves while rolling along the spiral path by the rotation of the cylindrical body is rubbed in contact with the ball polishing cloth at the exposed portion, and at this time, the pachinko ball rotates along the spiral path. As a result, a wide range of the surface is polished.
In addition, the exposed part is formed to the extent that the pachinko ball does not pass outside, so when replacing the ball polishing cloth, the pachinko ball will not fall out even if it is removed from the exposed part, and the pachinko ball must be removed And not.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.
This pachinko ball polishing apparatus is located below the pachinko machine row, for example, on amusement islands where the pachinko machine is arranged in the horizontal direction, as well as the recovery tank that is arranged below the pachinko machine row and collects the pachinko balls overflowing from each pachinko machine. It also serves as a part of a lifting machine that lifts the pachinko balls of the collection tank to the upper tank arranged above the pachinko machine row to store the pachinko balls to be supplied to each pachinko machine.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a pachinko ball polishing apparatus according to an embodiment.
A side wall 12 is attached to one side surface of the vertically placed rectangular frame 10, and a plurality of pulleys are provided on the inner surface side of the side wall 12 so as to be rotatable up and down. Are alternately routed between the upper and lower pulleys.
On one corner side of the bottom of the rectangular frame 10, the polishing unit 20 is attached to the side wall 12 and disposed.

The polishing unit 20 includes a ball outlet 21 o that opens in the horizontal direction along the side wall 12 at the upper end of the rectangular frame 10.
A bracket 16 extending vertically is attached to the other side surface of the rectangular frame 10, and a lifting rod 60 whose inlet is aligned with the ball outlet 21 o of the polishing unit 20 is fixed to the bracket 16.
The lifting rod 60 extends upward and has an outlet at the upper end. In the vicinity of the entrance of the lifting rod 60, a stopper 70 for preventing the fall of the pachinko balls in the lifting rod is attached.
The polishing unit 20 penetrates the side wall 12 and has a ball entrance outside the rectangular frame 10 and is driven by a motor 56 installed outside.

Details of each part will be described below.
2A and 2B show the polishing unit 20, wherein FIG. 2A is a front view, FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-B in FIG. It is CC section sectional drawing in a). FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the polishing unit 20.
The polishing unit 20 includes a passage block 22 including a spiral groove 24 that defines a pachinko ball path on an inner peripheral surface, and a cylindrical body 36 that is inserted into the passage block 22. Between the spiral groove 24 and the cylindrical body 36, a pachinko ball spiral path R is formed.

The cylindrical body 36 is provided with an elastic body 38 such as urethane on the outer periphery of a cylindrical hub 37, and the outer diameter of the elastic body 38 sandwiches pachinko balls between the elastic body and the spiral groove 24 of the passage block 22 with an appropriate pressing force. Is set to
The cylindrical body 36 is connected to the above-described motor 56 and is driven to rotate clockwise (clockwise) in FIG. The pachinko ball is forcibly moved along the spiral path R by the rotation of the cylindrical body 36. In FIG. 2, the connecting shaft with the motor 56 is not shown.

  The spiral grooves 24 of the passage block 22 have a two-row configuration. In FIG. 2A, the spiral groove 24 proceeds clockwise in the forward direction of the drawing, and the front end in the traveling direction is the upper end position of the passage block 22. As shown in FIG. 2C, two spiral passages R (R1, R2) are opened at the upper end of the passage block 22 to form a ball outlet 21o. On the other hand, on the opposite side of the spiral central axis direction, the rear end in the traveling direction of the spiral groove 24 opens at the lower end position of the passage block 22 and serves as a ball inlet 21 i of the polishing unit 20.

  As shown in FIGS. 2B and 2D, the passage block 22 is formed with an exposed portion 26 that is notched until reaching the spiral passage R from the outside. The exposed portion 26 has a width corresponding to two rows of the spiral grooves 24 and occupies an angular range extending substantially half a circumference in the circumferential direction of the passage block 22. A bridge 28 that connects the side walls of the spiral groove 24 is provided at a substantially intermediate portion in the circumferential direction of the exposed portion 26 in order to maintain rigidity of the passage block 22.

In particular, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 4, the general cross-sectional shape of the spiral groove 24 in the passage block 22 is that the inner diameter direction opening side is the first fixed width portion 30 corresponding to the diameter of the pachinko ball, and the outer shape direction bottom side is A second fixed width portion 34 smaller than the diameter of the pachinko ball P is used, and an intermediate portion 32 having an arc surface or an inclined surface in contact with the pachinko ball is formed between the first and second fixed width portions. The depth of the exposed portion 26 is set so that it stops in the second fixed width portion 34 and a part of the surface of the pachinko ball is exposed outward from the exposed portion bottom surface 27.
As a result, the pachinko balls are not leaked outside from the spiral passage R, though part of the pachinko balls are exposed. The rolling line or rolling surface of the pachinko ball with the spiral groove 24 is on the intermediate portion 32, and the pachinko ball smoothly moves the spiral groove 24 without discontinuity between the exposed portion and the non-exposed portion. Roll.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the spiral passage R extends obliquely in the exposed portion 26.

A supply rod 80 extending from a supply device (not shown) attached to the recovery tank is connected to the ball inlet 21 i of the polishing unit 20.
As shown in FIG. 5, the supply rod 80 is composed of two rod passages 82 (82A, 82B) individually connected to two rows of spiral passages opened to the ball inlet 21i, and each rod passage is connected to the ball inlet 21i. A slit 87 is provided between the bottom wall 84 and the side wall 85 in front of the connecting portion.
The width of the slit 87 is smaller than the diameter of the pachinko ball, and is set so that the pachinko ball moving through the eaves passage 82 does not fall out. Thereby, foreign matters other than the pachinko balls are removed while passing through the slit 87 portion before entering the spiral path R of the polishing unit 20.

A plurality of pulleys are provided on the side wall 12 of the rectangular frame 10 as described above, and a ball polishing cloth is wound around the pulley.
FIG. 6 is a view showing the arrangement of the pulley and the ball polishing cloth with the bracket 16 removed.
The driving pulley 40 and the four pulleys 42 to 45 are arranged in a row at the upper portion, and the four pulleys 46 to 49 are arranged in a row along the polishing unit 20 at the lower portion. Further, a pulley 50 is arranged in the vicinity of the polishing unit 20 and almost immediately above the polishing unit, and a pulley 51 is disposed along the frame close to the pulley 50. In the drawing, the drive pulley 40 at the upper left end is driven by a motor (not shown) attached to the back side of the side wall 12, and the other pulleys 42 to 51 are idler pulleys that can rotate freely. A tension pulley 41 slidable up and down is provided between the drive pulley 40 and the pulley 42 adjacent thereto.

The belt-shaped ball polishing cloth 54 passes from the driving pulley 40 through the tension pulley 41 and alternately reciprocates between the upper pulleys 42 to 45 and the lower pulleys 46 to 49, and then is polished from the lower right pulley 49 in the drawing. It is wound around the unit 20 so as to return to the driving pulley 40 through the pulleys 50 and 51.
During this time, the ball polishing cloth 54 is reversed between the pulley 45 at the upper right end and the pulley 49 at the lower right end.
The ball polishing cloth 54 passes through the exposed portion 26 in the polishing unit 20 and comes into contact with the pachinko ball exposed from the spiral passage R in a range excluding a predetermined portion before and after sandwiching the bridge 28 in the exposed portion 26. FIG. 7 shows a contact area S with the pachinko ball on the ball polishing cloth 54 by hatching.

The tension pulley 41 is supported by a pulley shaft (not shown) slidably provided along a guide hole 14 formed in the vertical direction on the side wall 12 so that no slip occurs between the drive pulley 40 and the ball polishing cloth 54. The weight is set in
In FIG. 5, the drive pulley 40 rotates to the right and the ball polishing cloth 54 has the tension pulley 41 side on the loose side, so that the tension pulley 41 is not lifted by the ball polishing cloth 54.

FIG. 8 shows the detailed structure of the stopper 70. FIG. 8A is a partial cross-sectional front view, and FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line DD in FIG. (C) is explanatory drawing which shows the action | operation of a stopper.
The lifting rod 60 fixed to the bracket 16 is divided into two ball passages 61 (61A, 61B) connected to the two openings of the ball outlet 21o corresponding to the two rows of spiral passages R1, R2 of the polishing unit 20. Has been.
In the vicinity of the entrance of the lifting rod 60 connected to the ball outlet 21o, the two ball passages 61 are each formed with openings 64 in the direction parallel to the wall surface of the bracket 16, and the end portions are entered from the openings 64 into the ball passages. A stopper 70 (70A, 70B) is provided.
The stopper 70 has a sector shape, and a shaft hole of a boss 72 provided at the center thereof is supported by a shaft 75 fixed to the bracket 16 so as to be rotatable.

  The stopper 70 is arranged so that the fan-shaped arc edge 77 faces upward, and its center of gravity is located closer to the lifting rod 60 from the shaft 75. The stopper 70 is urged by its own weight in the direction of entering the ball passage 61, and is free. Then, one end of the arc-shaped edge 77 contacts the inner wall 66 on the opposite side of the opening 64 of the ball passage 61. On the other hand, when the ball path 61 is rotated in the direction of withdrawal, the other end of the arc-shaped edge 77 is brought into contact with the flange 18 formed on the bracket 16 so that the rotation more than a predetermined value is restricted. In this restricting position, the center of gravity of the stopper 70 is still located closer to the lifting rod 60 from the shaft 75, and one end side of the stopper 70 is located in the ball passage 61.

  Accordingly, when the pachinko ball is not pushed up or when the pachinko ball below the stopper sinks due to other factors, the stopper 70 enters under its own weight and crosses the ball passage 61, so that the pachinko ball on the upper side of the stopper 70 is placed. The balls P are prevented from falling, and the adverse effect on the polishing unit 20 due to the weight of a large number of pachinko balls staying on the upper side is prevented.

  On the other hand, when the pachinko ball is pushed up in the ball passage 61 by discharging from the polishing unit 20, the pachinko ball rotates the stopper 70 counterclockwise (counterclockwise) as shown in FIG. Here, since the upper side of the stopper receiving the pachinko ball in the ball passage 61 is the arc-shaped edge 77, the height of the upper side of the stopper does not change even if the stopper 70 rotates. Accordingly, since the operation of lifting a number of pachinko balls above the stopper 70 is not performed, the stopper 70 rotates with a light force and allows the pachinko ball to move upward from below.

In the pachinko ball polishing apparatus configured as described above, the pachinko ball entered from the supply rod is forcibly moved while rolling in the spiral path R by rotating the cylindrical body 36 by the motor 56 in the polishing unit 20. Then, it is discharged from the ball outlet 21o of the polishing unit to the lifting rod 60.
The pachinko ball is rubbed in contact with the ball polishing cloth 54 while rolling in the exposed portion 26 while moving in the spiral path R of the polishing unit 20. In the exposed portion 26, the pachinko balls move while rotating along the spiral path R, so that a wide range of the surface is polished instead of on the fixed rotating surface. Therefore, the entire surface of the pachinko ball is polished by passing the polishing unit a few times.

  The ball polishing cloth 54 is stationary for a certain period of time, a predetermined range thereof is positioned on the exposed portion 26 of the polishing unit 20 to polish the pachinko balls, and the motor is driven periodically to rotate the driving pulley 40 by a predetermined angle. The predetermined range positioned in the exposed portion 26 is sequentially shifted.

The embodiment is configured as described above, and is a passage that forms a pachinko ball spiral passage R between the cylindrical body 36 that is rotationally driven by the motor 56 and the spiral groove 24 on the inner peripheral surface. A polishing unit 20 including a block 22 and a ball polishing cloth 54 are included. The passage block 22 is provided with an exposed portion 26 that is notched from the outside and exposes part of the surface of the pachinko ball without allowing the pachinko ball in the spiral passage R to pass outside. Since the surface of the exposed pachinko ball is polished at the position 26, the pachinko ball that moves while rotating the spiral path R by the rotational drive of the cylindrical body 36 has a wide surface area with the ball polishing cloth 54. Polished in contact.
Further, since the exposed portion 26 does not allow the pachinko balls to pass outside, even if the ball polishing cloth 54 is removed from the exposed portion 26 for replacement, the pachinko balls are only exposed from the spiral passage R and do not spill out. No extraction work is required.

  More specifically, the spiral groove 24 of the passage block 22 has the first fixed width portion 30 corresponding to the diameter of the pachinko ball on the inner diameter direction opening side, and the outer side in the outer diameter direction smaller than the diameter of the pachinko ball. The fixed width portion 34 of the second portion, and the intermediate portion 32 between which the pachinko balls contact between the first and second fixed width portions, and the depth of the exposed portion 26 is the second fixed width portion 34. Since the pachinko balls are partially exposed, the pachinko balls do not escape from the spiral passage R while being partially exposed, and the rolling points or rolling surfaces of the pachinko balls with the spiral grooves 24 are exposed and unexposed portions. Therefore, the pachinko balls can smoothly roll in the spiral groove 24.

  The ball polishing cloth 54 is wound around a pulley in the form of a belt, and is configured so that different portions are sequentially positioned on the exposed portion 26 by the rotation of the pulley. Since both sides of the front and back surfaces are effectively used for polishing pachinko balls, it is not necessary to replace the ball polishing cloth 54 over a long period of time.

  Since the spiral grooves 24 of the passage block 22 are formed in a plurality of rows and the exposed portions 26 are provided so that the plurality of rows of pachinko balls are exposed, a large number of pachinko balls can be polished efficiently at the same time.

  The stopper 70 attached to the lifting rod 60 that lifts the pachinko balls discharged from the polishing unit 20 is urged to the pachinko ball fall prevention side by its own weight, so a spring for urging is separately used. There is no need to wear the stopper itself, and no noise is generated when the stopper collides with the inner wall of the ball passage due to the large force of the spring.

In the embodiment, the spiral grooves 24 of the passage block 22 are arranged in two rows. However, the number of rows is not limited to this and can be any number of rows.
In addition to the drive pulley 40, four pulleys are arranged around the upper and lower parts, and the ball polishing cloth is reciprocated four times, depending on the length of the ball polishing cloth used. The number of round trips can be set appropriately.

It is an external appearance perspective view of an embodiment. It is a figure which shows a grinding | polishing unit. It is an external appearance perspective view of a grinding | polishing unit. It is an expanded sectional view showing details of a spiral groove. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the ball | bowl entrance side of a grinding | polishing unit. It is a figure which shows arrangement | positioning of a pulley and a ball polishing cloth. It is explanatory drawing which shows the contact area | region with the pachinko ball in a ball polishing cloth. It is a figure which shows the detailed structure of a stopper. It is a figure which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Rectangular frame frame 12 Side wall 14 Guide hole 16 Bracket 18 Flange 20 Polishing unit 21i Ball inlet 21o Ball outlet 22 Passage block 24 Spiral groove 26 Exposed part 27 Exposed part bottom face 28 Bridge 30 First fixed width part 32 Intermediate part 34 Second Fixed width portion 36 cylindrical body 37 hub 38 elastic body 40 drive pulley 41 tension pulley 42-51 pulley 54 ball polishing cloth 56 motor 60 lifting rod 61 ball passage 64 opening 66 inner wall 70 stopper 72 boss 75 shaft 77 arc-shaped edge 80 supply ８２ 82 樋 Passage 84 Bottom wall 85 Side wall 87 Slit R Spiral passage S Contact area

Claims (1)

A cylindrical body that is rotationally driven by a drive source;
A passage block having a spiral groove on the inner peripheral surface and forming a spiral passage of a pachinko ball between the cylindrical body,
With a ball polishing cloth,
The passage block includes an exposed portion that is notched and exposes a part of the surface of the pachinko ball to the outside without allowing the pachinko ball in the spiral passage to pass outside.
A pachinko ball polishing apparatus configured to polish the surface of the exposed pachinko ball by positioning the ball polishing cloth at the exposed portion.

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