JP2009020817A - Token discharge mechanism and token cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a token discharge mechanism and a token cleaning device using the same which can suppress persistent clogging of tokens in which a plurality of tokens are pressed into a discharge port like a wedge. <P>SOLUTION: The token discharge mechanism is provided with: a cleaning tank 4 in which a discharge port 4a of tokens 15 is formed on its surrounding wall; and a token disk 7 which is slidably provided in the rotation direction and in its axis direction in the cleaning tank 4, mounts tokens 15 to rotate them, leads the tokens 15 to the discharge port 4a, and discharges them. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a medal cleaning device that cleans medals used in gaming machines, and more particularly, to a medal discharge mechanism that can automatically release clogging of medals and a medal cleaning device provided with the medal discharge mechanism.

  As a conventional medal washing device, for example, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1. This apparatus includes a cleaning tank for cleaning medals used in gaming machines, and a drying roller for drying the cleaned medals. A large amount of medals are washed in the washing tank, but in order to remove the cleaning liquid adhering to the medals, it is necessary to discharge the medals one by one from the washing tank and pass between the drying rollers. As a medal discharge mechanism for discharging medals from the cleaning tank one by one, for example, the one disclosed in Patent Document 2 has been proposed. In this mechanism, a disk-shaped medal disk is rotatably provided in the cleaning tank, and medals are discharged one by one from a discharge port provided on the wall surface of the cleaning tank by centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the medal disk.

JP 2006-198208 A JP 2002-282517 A

  The conventional medal discharge mechanism has a problem in that when the medal is firmly fitted in the discharge port, a rotation resistance force that inhibits the rotation of the medal disk is generated and the medal clogging may be frequently caused.

The above problem will be specifically described.
6 is a view showing a medal discharge mechanism of a conventional medal cleaning device disclosed in Patent Document 2, FIG. 6 (a) is a sectional side view of a cleaning tank and a drying chamber, and FIG. It is a cross-sectional side view around a discharge port. In the medal discharging mechanism shown in FIG. 6A, a disc-shaped medal disk 101 is formed integrally with the shaft 101a in the cleaning tank 100, and the medal disk 101 rotates around the shaft 101a.

  Further, a hole for discharging the medal 106 is formed in the peripheral wall portion on the drying chamber 104 side in the cleaning tank 100, and the lower discharge port plate 102 parallel to the medal arrangement surface of the medal disc 101 is formed in this hole portion. The upper discharge port plate 103 is disposed opposite to the upper discharge plate 103. A gap through which one medal 106 can pass is provided between the lower discharge port plate 102 and the upper discharge port plate 103. The drying chamber 104 that stores the medals 106 discharged from the cleaning tank 100 is provided with a water-absorbing drying roller 105.

  When the medal disk 101 rotates about the shaft 101a with power transmitted from a power system (not shown), the medal 106 on the medal arrangement surface receives centrifugal force and moves to the peripheral portion of the medal disk 101. At this time, the medals 106 discharged from the discharge port of the cleaning tank 100 are sent to the drying chamber 104 one by one via the lower discharge port plate 102 and the upper discharge port plate 103. In the drying chamber 104, the drying roller 105 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 6A, and the medal 106 discharged from the cleaning tank 100 is taken in between the drying rollers 105. Thereby, the drying roller 105 absorbs the cleaning liquid of the medal 106 and dries it.

  In addition, when a large amount of medals 106 are washed in the cleaning tank 100, a plurality of medals 106 are continuously discharged from the discharge port of the cleaning tank 100. At this time, the gap between the lower discharge port plate 102 and the upper discharge port plate 103 is narrow enough to allow the medals 106 to pass one by one, which may cause clogging of medals. In this case, when a discharge failure due to a clogged medal is detected by a sensor (not shown), the rotation of the medal disc 101 is temporarily reversed to automatically cancel the clogged medal.

  However, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), when another medal 106b enters the lower side of the medal 106a that first faces the discharge port, the medal 106a comes into contact with the lower discharge port plate 102 and the upper discharge port plate 103. Thus, the movement is restricted, and the medal 106b receives the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the medal disk 101 and is pushed into the lower side of the medal 106a. In this state, depending on the design of the medals 106a and 106b, the degree of wear, and the like, the medal 106b is firmly pushed like a wedge under the medal 106a, and a rotational resistance force that prevents the medal disc 101 from rotating is generated.

  If the rotation of the medal disc 101 is thus prevented, medal clogging at the discharge port frequently occurs, and further, the medal clogging due to the reversal of the medal disc 101 cannot be automatically canceled by the rotational resistance. As a result, it is necessary for the operator to perform the work of releasing the jammed jam many times, and the personnel, work time, work cost, etc. required for the release work are increased.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a medal discharge mechanism capable of suppressing the occurrence of a strong medal clogging in which a plurality of medals are pushed into a discharge port like a wedge. It aims at obtaining the medal washing device used.

  The medal discharge mechanism according to the present invention is provided with a storage tank in which a discharge port for the medal is formed in the peripheral wall portion, and is provided in the storage tank so as to be rotatable and swingable in the axial direction thereof. And a disk-shaped member for discharging the medal from the discharge port.

  According to the present invention, the storage tank in which the outlet for the medal is formed in the peripheral wall portion, the rotation of the storage tank in the storage tank and the swing in the axial direction, and the rotation of the medal by placing the medal. The disc-shaped member that guides and ejects the disc to the discharge port, so that the clogging of medals that are pushed into the discharge port like a wedge can be suppressed by the swing of the disc-shaped member, and the clogged medal Since the automatic release of the medal can be performed, the medal jam release operation can be easily performed.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a medal washing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, in which a part of the external configuration is described in a transparent manner so that the internal structure can be seen. As shown in FIG. 1, in the medal washing apparatus according to the first embodiment, the washing apparatus body 1 is fixed on a gantry 2 formed in a rectangular parallelepiped box shape, and a liquid tank 3 filled with a cleaning liquid is placed in the gantry 2. It is arranged so that it can be removed. The cleaning device main body 1 is provided with a cleaning tank (storage tank) 4, a drive chamber 5 disposed below the cleaning tank 4, and a drying chamber 6 adjacent to the cleaning tank 4.

  A disk-shaped medal disk (disk-shaped member) 7 is rotatably disposed in the cleaning tank 4, and a discharge port 4 a is formed in the peripheral wall portion on the drying chamber 6 side. The drive chamber 5 stores a power system for rotating the medal disc 7. In the drying chamber 6, two pairs of water-absorbing drying rollers 8 are arranged, and a drain pipe 9 is provided below the pair.

The medal cleaning process performed by the medal cleaning device according to the first embodiment will be described.
First, a medal to be cleaned is supplied to the cleaning tank 4 from a medal supply unit (not shown) such as a hopper. The medals transported into the cleaning tank 4 are cleaned by the rotation of the medal disk 7 while being immersed in the cleaning liquid. The cleaned medal is discharged from the discharge port 4a of the cleaning tank 4 to the drying chamber 6. The drying roller 8 absorbs the cleaning liquid, and the processed medal is discharged out of the medal cleaning device. The cleaning liquid absorbed by the drying roller 8 is squeezed by the rotating operation of the drying rollers 8 that are in contact with each other, and is guided to the liquid tank 3 via the lower drain pipe 9 as indicated by an arrow in FIG. The cleaning liquid stored in the liquid tank 3 is supplied again to the cleaning tank 4 by a pump (not shown) through a filter.

  2 is a cross-sectional side view showing a configuration of a medal discharge mechanism used in the medal cleaning device according to Embodiment 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, in the medal discharge mechanism according to the first embodiment, a disc-shaped medal disk 7 is provided in the cleaning tank 4 so as to be rotatable around a shaft 12. In the medal discharge mechanism according to the first embodiment, unlike the conventional case, the medal disk 7 and the shaft 12 are formed separately.

  In the cleaning tank 4, a discharge port 4 a for discharging the medal 15 is formed in the peripheral wall portion on the drying chamber 6 side. The discharge port 4 a has a lower discharge port plate 10 parallel to the medal placement surface of the medal disk 7 and the discharge port 4 a. The upper discharge port plate 11 is disposed so as to face the surface. A gap through which one medal 15 can pass is provided between the lower discharge port plate 10 and the upper discharge port plate 11.

  In the center of the medal disc 7, a two-stage hole is formed which includes a hole 7a for fitting the shaft 12 and a hole 7b communicating with the hole 7a. A screw hole for screwing the medal disc 7 through the fixing tool 14 is formed in the shaft 12 at the center of the shaft. In the medal disc 7, the upper end portion of the shaft 12 is fitted into the hole portion 7a, and the O-ring (elastic member) 13 is disposed on the step surface between the hole portion 7a and the hole portion 7b. 7b, and the fixing screw 16 is screwed into the screw hole of the shaft 12 through the fixing tool 14, and is attached to the shaft 12.

  When the force along the axial direction is applied to the medal disc 7, the O-ring 13 disposed between the step surface of the two-step hole portion and the lower surface of the fixture 14 has a step surface of the two-step hole portion. And deformed by being pressed against the lower surface of the fixture 14, and when released from the force, the original shape is restored. Thereby, the medal disc 7 according to the first embodiment swings up and down in the axial direction according to the force applied in the axial direction.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the upper end portion of the shaft 12 is formed with two surfaces facing each other by notching along the axial direction, and these surfaces transmit the rotational force applied to the shaft 12 to the medal disk 7. It functions as a power transmission surface 12a. That is, by fitting the upper end of the shaft 12 into the hole 7 a of the medal disc 7, the power transmission surface 12 a and the inner wall of the hole 7 a come into contact with each other, and the rotational force from the shaft 12 is transmitted to the medal disc 7. Is done.

Next, the operation when a token jam occurs will be described.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view showing a state when a medal clogging occurs in the medal discharge mechanism according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view schematically showing a peripheral portion of the medal disk in FIG. When the medal disk 7 rotates about the shaft 12, the medal 15 on the medal arrangement surface receives a centrifugal force and moves to the peripheral portion of the medal disk 7. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, when another medal 15 b enters the lower side of the medal 15 a that has been directed to the discharge port 4 a, the medal 15 a comes into contact with the lower discharge port plate 10 and the upper discharge port plate 11. The movement is constrained, and the medal 15b receives the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the medal disk 7 and is pushed to the lower side of the medal 15a.

  In this state, depending on the design of the medals 15a and 15b, the degree of wear, etc., the medal 15b is pushed below the medal 15a, and a rotational resistance force is generated that pushes the medal disk 7 downward and prevents its rotation. In the medal discharge mechanism according to the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the discharge resistance 4a of the medal disc 7 is pushed downward (B2 direction) by the rotational resistance generated on the discharge port 4a side of the medal disc 7. The side facing the discharge port 4a via the shaft 12 is pushed upward (B1 direction). At this time, the O-ring 13 is compressed between the step surface between the hole 7 a and the hole 7 b and the lower surface of the fixture 14. As a result, the position of the medal 15b that has restrained its movement by bringing the medal 15a into contact with the upper discharge port plate 11 moves downward (B2 direction) as shown in FIG. The restraint is released and the rotational resistance as described above disappears.

  In this way, the medal disk 7 swings along the axial direction of the shaft 12 in the B1 and B2 directions (up and down directions), so that the medal disk 7 receives a rotational resistance force that completely prevents its rotation. It continues to rotate around the axis 12. Here, when a not-shown sensor detects a medal discharge failure due to a clogged medal generated in the gap between the lower discharge port plate 10 and the upper discharge port plate 11, the control device (not shown) responds accordingly to the medal disk 7. Is controlled to reversely rotate temporarily.

  When the medal disk 7 rotates in the reverse direction, a force in the direction opposite to the force that has moved the medal 15 to the discharge port 4a side that has been blocked by the medals 15a, 15b is applied so far, and the medal 15 concentrated on the discharge port 4a. Are discharged one by one from the discharge port 4a. On the other hand, as described above, when the movement of the medal 15a by the medal 15b is released, the medal disk 7 returns to the normal position by the shape restoring force of the O-ring 13, so that the operator does not operate from the outside. Can automatically return to normal operation. If it is difficult to clear the medal jam, the normal rotation and the reverse rotation of the medal disk 7 may be repeated a plurality of times.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the cleaning tank 4 in which the discharge port 4a of the medal 15 is formed in the peripheral wall portion, and the cleaning tank 4 is provided so as to be rotatable and swingable in the axial direction thereof. And a medal disk 7 for guiding and discharging the medal 15 to the discharge port 4a by placing and rotating the medal 15, and the medal disk 7 is interposed in the cleaning tank 4 through an O-ring 13 that can extend and contract in the axial direction. Since the swinging is performed by expanding and contracting the O-ring 13 according to the force applied in the axial direction, the medal 15 is firmly pushed into the discharge port 4a like a wedge by the swinging of the medal disk 7. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of a clogged medal, and it is possible to automatically release a clogged medal without an operator performing a release operation. Thereby, it is not necessary for the operator to stop the operation of the apparatus and perform the work for clearing the medal jam, and the labor required for the work for clearing the medal jam can be significantly reduced.

  In the first embodiment, the case where the medal discharging mechanism is provided in the medal cleaning device has been described. However, since the medal discharging mechanism has a simple structure and has an extremely large effect of automatically releasing the medal clogging, the medal cleaning mechanism is used. The present invention can also be applied to devices other than the device, for example, a medal counter that discharges medals one by one and counts the number of medals. As described above, the medal discharge mechanism of the present invention can be applied to a wide range of uses and is extremely versatile.

  In the first embodiment, the case where the O-ring 13 is provided to swing the medal disc 7 is shown. However, when the rotational resistance generated by the medal clogging is absorbed and released, the original is released. What is necessary is just an elastic member which has the property to restore | restore to a shape, and a member which has flexibility.

It is a perspective view which shows the medal cleaning apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. 4 is a cross-sectional side view showing a configuration of a medal discharge mechanism used in the medal cleaning device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view showing a state when a medal clogging occurs in the medal discharge mechanism according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view schematically showing a peripheral portion of the medal disk in FIG. 4. It is a figure which shows the medal discharge mechanism of the conventional medal washing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1 Cleaning device body 2 Base 3 Liquid tank 4 Cleaning tank (storage tank)
4a Discharge port 5 Drive chamber 6,104 Drying chamber 7 Medal disk (disc-shaped member)
7a, 7b Hole 8, 105 Drying roller 9 Drain pipe 10, 102 Lower discharge plate 11, 103 Upper discharge plate 12, 101a Shaft 12a Power transmission surface 13 O-ring (elastic member)
14 Fixing tool 15, 15a, 15b, 106, 106a, 106b Medal 16 Fixing screw 100 Washing tank 101 Medal disk

Claims (3)

A storage tank with a medal outlet formed in the peripheral wall,
A medal provided with a disk-like member provided in the storage tub so as to be rotatable and swingable in the axial direction thereof, and by placing and rotating the medal, guiding the medal to the discharge port and discharging it. Discharge mechanism.   The disk-shaped member is held via an elastic member that can be expanded and contracted in the axial direction with respect to a shaft that applies a rotational force, and swings by expansion and contraction of the elastic member according to the force applied in the axial direction. The medal discharge mechanism according to claim 1.   The medal washing apparatus provided with a medal discharge mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a storage tank is used as a washing tank for washing medals.

Images