JP2009106571A - Ball leveling mechanism for game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably level game balls flowing in stacked without causing clogging while shortening the length and reducing the height of a ball-flowing-down gutter for expanding a game area within the surface of a game panel. <P>SOLUTION: A ball leveling mechanism is provided to the ball-flowing-down gutter 2 of a game machine and levels the game balls B flowing in from an upstream side to flow out to a downstream side. The mechanism is provided with a ball leveling member 3 which has a guide surface 31a extending in the longitudinal direction of the gutter 2 and tilted upward in the upstream direction and which the game balls B in a top stage flowing in from the upstream side abuts on. The ball leveling member 3 is supported by inserting a shaft portion 37 into an oblong hole 36 such that the guide surface 31a is rotate-movable forward and inversely in a vertical direction, and movable linearly in the vertical direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a ball leveling mechanism for a gaming machine, and more particularly to a ball leveling mechanism that is provided in a ball flow down passage and leveles game balls that flow in from the upstream side and flows out to the downstream side.

Conventionally, as this type of ball leveling mechanism, a suspension type ball leveling member 5 pivotally supported by a top hole 51 as shown in FIG. Are used so that the stacking of the game balls B is gradually eliminated until reaching the downstream end of the ball lowering basket 6. However, in view of the recent demand for expansion of the game area within the game board surface, the ball is used for the purpose of expanding the opening area on the back side of the main body frame of the gaming machine (particularly the opening area on the upper back side of the main body frame). Attempts have been made to reduce the downstream passage. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sphere flow down passage that is provided with a single sphere equalizing plate that is inclined upward in the upstream direction. The ball leveling plate has projections provided on both sides of the base end inserted into the bearing hole so that it can be rotated in the vertical direction. The higher the pressing plate is, the more downward pressing force is applied to the ball leveling plate. According to this, compared with the thing using the conventional suspension-type sphere leveling member, the shortening of the passage length of the ball flow down passage and the reduction of the passage height are possible.
JP-A-11-226183

  However, it is difficult to always level the stacked game balls effectively only by increasing the pressing force to the game balls, and sometimes the balls are clogged often at the shaft portion of the ball leveling plate.

  Accordingly, the present invention solves such a problem, and allows the game to flow in in a stacked manner while enabling the path length of the ball flow down path to be shortened and the path height to be reduced in order to expand the game area in the game board surface. It is an object of the present invention to provide a ball leveling mechanism for a gaming machine that can level a ball reliably without causing ball clogging.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a ball leveling mechanism is provided in the ball flow down passage (2) of the gaming machine to level the game ball (B) flowing in from the upstream side and outflowing to the downstream side. The ball leveling means has a guide surface (31a) that extends in the longitudinal direction of the ball flow down passage (2) and is inclined upward in the upstream direction so that the uppermost game ball (B) flowing in from the upstream side comes into contact therewith. The member (3) is provided, and the sphere leveling member (3) is supported so that the guide surface (31a) can move forward and backward in the vertical direction and linearly move in the vertical direction.

  In the first aspect of the invention, the stacked game balls rotate the ball leveling member and the upper game balls are pushed downward by the guide surfaces thereof, so that the stacking is eliminated. When the number of stacked game balls increases, the ball leveling member is moved upward to prevent clogging of the ball and the upwardly moving ball leveling member moves downward and the inclined guide surface As a result, the upper game ball is pushed downward to eliminate the stacking. As described above, since the ball leveling member of the first invention is configured to rotate and move linearly, it can accurately cope with irregular sphere overlapping of game balls. It is possible to move, prevent clogging of balls, and eliminate stacking of game balls.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, a long hole portion (36) extending in the vertical direction is formed in the ball leveling member (3), and a shaft portion (37) is inserted into the long hole portion (36) to level the ball. The member (3) is supported. In the second invention, it is possible to realize forward / reverse rotational movement in the vertical direction and linear movement in the vertical direction of the guide surface with a simple structure. As described above, the ball leveling member of the second aspect of the present invention is configured so that the shaft portion configured to rotate the ball leveling member can be moved in the vertical direction without being fixed. It is possible to prevent clogging of the balls in the section and to eliminate the stacking of game balls.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the said parenthesis shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later.

  As described above, according to the ball leveling mechanism of the gaming machine of the present invention, the opening area on the back side of the main body frame of the gaming machine (particularly the upper part on the back side of the main body frame) In order to enlarge the opening area of the ball), it is possible to shorten the length of the ball flow down passage and reduce the height of the passage, and to level the game balls flowing in in a stacked manner without causing clogging. Can do.

   FIG. 1 shows the upper half of the main body frame MF of the pachinko gaming machine. In FIG. 1, a sphere storage tank 1 extending in the left-right direction is provided on the upper side of a rectangular main body frame MF. The bottom wall of the left half portion of the sphere storage tank 1 is inclined downward to the right, and a sphere drip basket 2 serving as a sphere flow down passage is open-connected to the bottom wall of the right half portion of the sphere storage tank 1. The ball lowering rod 2 extends rightward from the ball storage tank 1 and then bends downward at a substantially right angle along the vertical side portion of the main body frame MF toward the ball dispensing device (not shown).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom wall 21 of the spherical flow lower ridge 2 is inclined slightly downward to the right, and the height of the side wall 22 is increased from the spherical storage tank 1 to the right (downstream side) and upward in the middle. Although there is a protruding portion, the whole is gradually lowered to a height corresponding to one step of the game ball by drawing a gentle curve. A ball leveling member 3 is provided at a position directly below the bottom surface of the right end portion of the ball storage tank 1 and above a substantially intermediate position in the left-right direction of the ball flow lower rod 2. Specifically, the ball leveling member 3 is arranged such that an upstream end of the substrate portion 31 described later is positioned at a position where the game balls flowing down from the ball storage tank 1 are stacked in about three stages. ing.

  The details of the sphere leveling member 3 are shown in FIG. The sphere leveling member 3 includes an elongated plate-like substrate portion 31 having a lower surface serving as a guide surface 31a, and one end 32 (downstream end) thereof is bent upward in a mountain shape, and a bent concave portion 33 is formed on the lower surface. Is formed. The bent concave portion 33 is a concave portion having inclined surfaces 33a and 33b on the upstream side and the downstream side and recessed in a mountain shape. At the downstream end 32 of the substrate portion 31, a bottomed cylindrical weight portion 34 that is open to both the front and rear sides (the front side and the other side in the drawing) protrudes upward. A game ball or the like can be inserted into the cylinder of the weight portion 34 as necessary to adjust its weight. In addition, a coupling portion 35 protruding upward in an inverted U shape is formed at an intermediate position of the substrate portion 31, and a long hole portion 36 extending in the vertical direction is formed therein.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the spherical leveling member 3 is a shaft portion 37 having a circular cross-section projecting substantially horizontally from the main body frame MF to the front (front side in the drawing) in the elongated hole portion 36 of the coupling portion 35. In this state, the base plate portion 31 (that is, the guide surface 31a) has a partition wall 23 in which the downstream end where the weight portion 34 is formed divides the inside of the ball lowering basket 2 into two rows. In a state where it is positioned above and over the two rows of both passages, it is maintained in a posture that rises in the upstream direction substantially along the top surface of the side wall 22 (hereinafter referred to as the original position). . The outer diameter of the main body portion of the shaft portion 37 is substantially the same as the hole width of the elongated hole portion 36, and the shaft portion 37 is normally positioned at the upper end in the elongated hole portion 36. Thereby, the sphere leveling member 3 can be rotated forward and backward in the vertical direction around the shaft portion 37 (arrow X in FIG. 4), and the elongated hole portion 36 moves relative to the shaft portion 37. The sphere leveling member 3 can move linearly in the vertical direction (arrow Y in FIG. 4) and also in the horizontal direction within a certain range. Further, since the ball leveling member 3 can swing in the longitudinal direction of the shaft portion 37, that is, the width direction of the ball flow lower rod 2 (arrow Z in FIG. 4), the game balls are passed through the left and right passages of the ball flow lower rod 2. Even if the number of overlapping stages of B is different, the optimum posture can be maintained according to the number of overlapping stages of the game balls B in each passage. That is, the ball leveling member 3 can be moved three-dimensionally in the X, Y, and Z directions, thereby maintaining an appropriate posture according to the number of overlapping stages of the game balls B in each passage.

  In the state where the ball leveling member 3 is in the original position, as shown in FIG. 5, the distance d1 between the guide surface 31a and the bottom wall 21 of the ball lowering basket 2 is the three-stage game ball. As described above, the distance d2 at the intermediate position where the shaft portion 37 is positioned is less than three stages and less than three stages, and the distance d3 at the downstream position is one stage and less than two stages. The game balls B that have flowed out of the ball storage tank 1 (FIG. 2) flow downstream in the ball flow lower cage 2 in a state where they are overlapped vertically, and flow into the lower part of the ball leveling member 3 and come into contact with the guide surface 31a. Then, while receiving the load of the ball leveling member 3 from the guide surface 31a, the upper game ball B is pushed downward by the guide surface 31a inclined downward in the downstream direction, and the number of stacked steps is gradually reduced. The stacking is eliminated and it is discharged in the downstream direction of the ball lowering basket 2 in one step.

  If the two-stage stacking of the game balls B is not eliminated before reaching the downstream end 32 of the ball leveling member 3, the downstream end 32 of the ball leveling member 3 is rotated upward as shown in FIG. The upper game ball B is pushed downward by the action of the guide surface 31a and the weight portion 34, which are inclined downward while being moved, and the stacking is eliminated. In particular, in the present embodiment, the upper game ball B enters the bent recess 33 and is strongly pushed downward by receiving the load of the weight 34 via the inclined surfaces 33a and 33b (FIG. 3) of the bent recess 33. As a result, the stacking is reliably eliminated. More specifically, the downward pressing force applied to the game ball B is temporarily relieved by the inclined surface 33a inclined upward, and the game is again played by the inclined surface 33b inclined downward immediately thereafter. As a result of the downward pressing force applied to the ball B, the pressing force applied to the game ball B is changed, and the stacking of the game balls B is more reliably eliminated. Note that the bent concave portion 33 is not necessarily required, and the stacking of the game balls B can be eliminated only by the load from the inclined guide surface 31a. However, the provision of the bent concave portion 33 more reliably eliminates the stacking. Can do.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, when the three-tiered stacking of the game balls B is not eliminated until reaching the intermediate position of the ball leveling member 3, the long hole portion 36 is relative to the shaft portion 37. The sphere leveling member 3 is moved upward as a whole. As a result, ball clogging at the intermediate position where the shaft portion is formed is prevented, and the upper game balls B are pushed downward by the guide surfaces 31a inclined downward in the downstream direction, thereby eliminating the stacking of the game balls B. The In the present embodiment, the game ball B receives the load of the weight portion 34 through the bent concave portion 33 and is strongly pushed down, so that the stacking can be reliably eliminated. Since the ball leveling member 3 can swing in the width direction (arrow Z in FIG. 4) of the ball lowering basket 2 as described above, the game balls B overlap in the left and right passages of the ball lowering basket 2. Even if the number of stages is different, the optimum posture can be maintained according to the number of overlapping stages of the game balls B in each passage.

  Such a sphere leveling member 3 can be reduced in height in the vertical direction as compared with the conventional suspended type sphere leveling member 5 (see FIG. 8), and the conventional leveling member 3 along the sphere lowering rod 2 is conventional. In contrast, the conventional ball-type downing rod 6 provided with the suspended sphere-type leveling member 5 is deep and long in the right and left as shown by the chain line in FIG. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, the kite 2 may be shallow and short, so that the opening area S on the back side of the main body frame of the gaming machine can be expanded upward. The structure for rotating and linearly moving the sphere leveling member 3 in the vertical direction is not limited to that of the above embodiment, and any structure may be used as long as the object is achieved. Further, a plurality of the sphere leveling members 3 may be arranged. Furthermore, the ball leveling mechanism of the present invention is not limited to being applied to a ball lowering rod, but can be applied to other locations where a ball leveling is required in a gaming machine.

1 is a front view of an upper half of a main body frame of a pachinko gaming machine showing an embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the peripheral part of a sphere storage tank and a ball flow downwell. It is a perspective view of a sphere leveling member. It is a perspective view of a ball flow lower ridge provided with a sphere leveling member. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ball flow lower heel provided with the sphere leveling member. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ball flow lower heel provided with the sphere leveling member. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ball flow lower heel provided with the sphere leveling member. It is a side view of the conventional sphere leveling member.

Explanation of symbols

2 ... Ball flow lower bowl (ball flow lower passage), 3 ... Ball leveling member, 31a ... Guide surface, 36 ... Long hole part, 37 ... Shaft part, B ... Game ball.

Claims (2)

A ball leveling mechanism that is provided in a ball flow down passage of a gaming machine and smoothes out the game balls flowing in from the upstream side and flows out to the downstream side, and extends in the longitudinal direction of the ball flow down passage and inclines upward in the upstream direction. And a ball leveling member having a guide surface with which the uppermost game ball flowing in from the upstream side abuts, and the ball leveling member is capable of forward and reverse rotational movement of the guide surface in the vertical direction. A ball leveling mechanism for a gaming machine, which is supported so as to be linearly movable in the vertical direction. The ball leveling device for a gaming machine according to claim 1, wherein a long hole portion extending in the vertical direction is formed in the ball leveling member, and a shaft portion is inserted into the long hole portion to support the ball leveling member. Mechanism.

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