JP2011177239A - Ball putout device and pachinko game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ball putout device capable of completely discharging all balls to the outside when discharging the balls, and to provide a Pachinko game machine. <P>SOLUTION: The ball putout device 16 includes a standby path 18 for making balls from the upstream stand by, a sprocket 21 for receiving the balls flowing down from the standby path 18 by pawls on the outer peripheral surface and is rotated on the basis of the drive of a motor M to rotationally feed the balls by the pawls one by one, and a ball putout path 14 and a ball discharge path 19 branched from the standby path 18 on the downstream side of the sprocket 21 and connected. The sprocket 21 is pivoted by a support shaft 22 movably in a pivoting direction, and the ball putout device is provided with an operation body 23A for moving the sprocket 21 from a ball putout position to a withdrawn position along the support shaft 22, and a guide body 23B configuring a ball discharge guide path 37 for closing the ball putout path 14 and simultaneously redirecting and guiding the balls in the standby path 18 to the ball discharge path 19. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a ball payout device used for paying out a winning ball or a rental ball of, for example, a pachinko game machine, and more particularly to a ball payout device and a pachinko game machine that are small and capable of complete ball removal.

  In general, pachinko gaming machines use a pachinko ball (hereinafter referred to as a ball) as a game medium and supply the ball from the back side to the front side of the pachinko gaming machine. When supplying these balls, the storage tank (prize ball tank) installed at the upper back side of the pachinko gaming machine is replenished with a replenishment mechanism (not shown) and stored, and the stored ball is paid downward. I am doing so.

  From this storage tank, the balls arranged through the ball alignment passage for aligning the balls are led to the ball dispensing device (winning ball processing device) on the downstream side, and the number of balls instructed to be dispensed here is paid out. It is paid out to the upper plate or the lower plate located in the lower part of the front.

  By the way, at the time of shipment inspection, the pachinko gaming machine discharges (collects) the balls stored in the storage tank for the movement or disposal of the pachinko gaming machine in the game hall to the outside of the pachinko gaming machine and stores it. There is provided a ball removal mechanism for emptying (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  However, in this type of ball removal mechanism, a sphere remains between a passage switching member that switches the passage between a normal ball payout state and a ball removal state and a rotation member that rotates to discharge the ball. For example, in Patent Document 1, a sphere remains in the payout path 38 between the ball feeder 23 and the restriction piece 44. In Patent Document 2, a sphere remains in the sphere passage 35 between the rotating body 62 and the plate-like portion 43a. In addition, there is a problem that the sphere remains in the recess for ball feeding formed on the outer peripheral surface of these rotating members. In Patent Document 1, a sphere remains in the recess of the ball feeder 23, and in Patent Document 2, a sphere remains in the ball receiving portion 68 of the rotating body 62.

  Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a technology that eliminates the remaining of the sphere by discharging all the spheres in the gaming machine by sliding a portion (a sphere removal slide 3) that forms a ball passage facing the impeller 4. It is disclosed.

  However, while all the spheres are discharged, it is necessary to form a wide passage so that the left and right spheres can be discharged even if the left and right spheres are aligned in the ball removal passage L5. Had a problem.

  Further, there has been proposed a ball dispensing device that can obtain a ball dispensing operation and a ball removing operation by changing the position of a rotation actuating member (sprocket 111) that rotationally feeds the ball guided to the passage (for example, Patent Documents). 4).

  However, a dedicated motor is required to displace the rotary operation member, and electrical control and the number of parts are increased, leading to an increase in the size and cost of the apparatus. In particular, if the power is cut off at the time of a power failure or the like, there is a problem in that it malfunctions due to unstable movement or the ball cannot be removed.

JP 2001-327711 A JP20031644631 JP 2008-289534 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-15187

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a ball payout device and a pachinko gaming machine that can completely pull out all the balls to the outside at the time of ball removal while being a non-electric ball removal mechanism.

  According to the present invention, a standby passage for waiting for a ball from upstream, and a ball flowing down from the standby passage are received by a claw on an outer peripheral surface, and are rotated based on driving of a motor, and the sphere is rotated one by one by the claw. A ball dispensing device comprising: a rotating body to be fed; and a ball dispensing path and a ball discharge path branched and connected from the standby path on the downstream side of the rotating body, wherein the rotating body moves in the axial support direction An operating body that is pivotally supported by a support shaft and moves the rotating body from the ball payout position to the retracted position along the support shaft. The ball payout passage is closed, and at the same time, the ball of the standby passage is It is a ball payout device provided with a derivative that constitutes a ball removal guide path that is guided by changing its direction to the extraction passage.

  The operating body and the derivative may be configured separately and operated independently, or the operating body and the derivative may be integrated and operated simultaneously.

  According to the present invention, since the rotating body is retracted from the ball payout passage when the ball is removed, the rotating body does not come into contact with the ball, and the ball does not remain in the portion of the rotating body. For this reason, there is no room for remaining spheres in all of the standby passage, the sphere payout passage, the sphere removal passage, and the rotator, so that complete sphere removal can be realized.

  In another configuration of the present invention, the operation body and the derivative may be configured integrally, and the operation body may be configured to include an operation unit that manually slides the operation body.

  According to the present invention, the passage can be switched so that the rotating body is retracted, and at the same time, the ball that has been moved down by the operating body is guided to the ball passage. That is, at the branch position of the passage, the rotator performs ball payout by rotation and ball reception by rotation stop. Since the operating body for retracting and moving the rotating body itself and the derivative are integrated, both the operating body and the derivative work together, and the guiding direction of the derivative is switched as the operating body moves. As described above, when the ball is removed, an interlocking movement can be provided, so that the ball always flows into the ball removal passage when the rotating body is retracted, which is also suitable as a countermeasure against fraud.

  And if an attendant operates an operation part and moves a rotary body, it can switch to either a ball discharge path | pass or a ball removal path | pass. Therefore, electric parts for path switching such as a motor can be omitted. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the size of the ball dispensing device. In addition, since no electrical control is required, the ball removal operation can be stably performed from the beginning even when the energized state is not established.

  In another configuration of the present invention, a drive gear that rotates based on an output of a motor and a driven gear that is integrally connected to the rotating body are meshed, and the axial length of the drive gear is The driven gear is configured to have a length longer than that of the axial movement, and the operating body moves the driven gear in the axial support direction.

  According to this invention, when the rotating body is moved, the driven gear integral with the rotating body slides while meshing with the drive gear. For this reason, the driven gear moves while maintaining the meshing state, and is in a positional relationship in which the gears are not disengaged. That is, the rotating body can retreat while maintaining the rotation performance. Therefore, even when the rotating body returns from the retracted position to the ball payout position, the gears mesh with each other and are in a power transmission state, so the rotating body rotates in synchronization with the drive output of the drive gear, It can be switched to the ball payout state.

In another configuration of the present invention, a drive gear that rotates based on the output of a motor and a driven gear that fits the rotary body so as to be relatively slidable in the axial support direction are meshed, and the rotary body is When the ball is in a ball payout position relative to the driven gear in the axial support direction, the motor is prevented from rotating with the driven gear and integrated in the rotational direction, and the motor is driven from the drive gear via the driven gear. While rotating under the drive of
When the driven gear is in the retracted position relative to the driven gear, the integration of the rotating body and the driven gear is released while the driven gear is engaged with the drive gear. To do.

  According to the present invention, the rotating body and the driven gear are separated, and only the rotating body moves in the axial support direction, and the driven gear does not move in the axial support direction. For this reason, since the driving gear and the driven gear are meshed at a fixed position from the beginning, it is not necessary to increase the meshing width parallel to the axial support direction. Further, since only the rotating body moves, the ball dispensing device can be miniaturized.

  When moving an integrated part in which the rotating body and the driven gear are integrated, or when moving only the rotating body, the part that moves in the axial direction by incorporating an elastic body such as a coil spring is placed on the ball payout position side, An urging means for urging the evacuation position side may be provided.

  If the ball dispensing device configured in this way is incorporated into a pachinko machine, it can perform a complete ball removal operation, and does not require a dedicated motor for path switching, making it suitable for locations where space saving is required. A small ball removal mechanism can be constructed.

  According to the present invention, since the rotating body that has received the ball can be withdrawn from the passage, the remaining of the ball on the passage and the rotating body is eliminated, and all the balls can be completely extracted to the outside.

The principal part rear view which shows the board surface back side of the game stand provided with the ball dispensing apparatus of Example 1. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a ball dispensing device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. (A) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the internal structure of the storage tank of Example 1, (B) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the use condition of the storage tank of Example 1. FIG. (A) is a perspective view which shows the ball paying state which looked at the ball paying apparatus of Example 1 from the front side, (B) is a perspective view which shows the ball removal state which looked at the ball paying apparatus of Example 1 from the front side. (A) is a perspective view showing a ball payout state when the ball payout device of the first embodiment is viewed from the back side, and (B) is a perspective view showing a ball removal state when the ball payout device of the first embodiment is seen from the back side. The disassembled perspective view which looked at the ball dispensing apparatus of Example 1 from the front right side. The disassembled perspective view which looked at the ball dispensing apparatus of Example 1 from the front left side. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a ball dispensing device according to Embodiment 1. FIG. (A) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in (B), (B) is an internal configuration diagram showing a state in which the ball dispensing path of the ball dispensing apparatus of Example 1 is switched, and (C) is a diagram in (B). BB sectional view taken on the line. (A) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in (B), (B) is an internal configuration diagram showing a state in which the ball dispensing device of the first embodiment is switched to a ball removal passage, and (C) is a diagram of (B). BB sectional view taken on the line. (A) is a perspective view which shows the ball paying state which looked at the ball paying apparatus of Example 2 from the front side, (B) is a perspective view which shows the ball removal state which looked at the ball paying apparatus of Example 2 from the front side. (A) is a perspective view which shows the ball paying state which looked at the ball paying apparatus of Example 2 from the back side, (B) is a perspective view which shows the ball removal state which looked at the ball paying apparatus of Example 2 from the back side.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the back side of a board 11 of a pachinko gaming machine. A storage tank 15, an alignment passage 17, and a ball dispensing device 16 are arranged in an inverted L shape from the top to the side on the back side of the game board 11, and a large display device, a control unit, etc. The board | substrate part 13 provided with is arrange | positioned. Further, a replenishment chute (not shown) is provided above the storage tank 15 so as to face the upper surface opening, and a ball is replenished to the storage tank 15 from above via this replenishment chute.

  In addition, a ball payout passage 14 is connected below the ball payout device 16, and the balls are paid out through the ball payout passage 14 to a tray located at the lower front portion of the game table 11. In this payout control, a predetermined number of balls are paid out in accordance with a control signal from a control unit (not shown).

  In FIG. 2, the storage tank 15 that is integrally formed and installed in the horizontal type, the alignment passage 17, and the ball dispensing device 16 that is installed in the vertical type are detachable and connected in an inverted L shape. A vertical ball payout device 16 is connectable to the downstream side of the horizontal alignment passage 17.

  Further, as a detailed configuration, the storage tank 15 is set to the most upstream position, the lateral alignment passage 17 on the downstream side, the first top plate 17a covering the upper surface, the alignment movable plate 17b, the second top plate 17c, A ball payout device 16 provided with a vertically-facing standby passage 18 at the top, and a ball payout passage 14 and a ball discharge passage 19 arranged in parallel on the downstream side are connected in this order.

  Thus, since it is comprised by the reverse L shape same as the corner | angular part of the upper corner of the game stand 11, it can arrange | position with space-saving on the board surface back side.

  The storage tank 15 used here has a box-like shape with an upper opening so as to receive a ball supplied from the replenishment chute. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, the bottom surface of the storage tank 15 has an inclined surface that is inclined toward the alignment passage 17 so that the sphere rolls under its own weight and moves toward the alignment passage 17. Formed. Further, the side wall in the vicinity of the bottom surface of the storage tank 15 is formed so that the width gradually decreases as it approaches the alignment passage 17 so that the balls do not clog at the entrance of the alignment passage 17. The storage tank 15 is formed with a line of alignment passages 17 from the side where the side wall in the vicinity of the bottom surface is slightly wider than one sphere toward the downstream side, and further toward the standby passage 18 on the downstream side. Is opened.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), a first top plate 17a is disposed on the upper portion on the downstream side of the storage tank 15. The first top plate 17a receives the upper layer portion of the sphere that flows down in a state of being stacked in the storage tank 15, and prevents the upper layer portion from flowing down. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a large number of spheres from moving toward the alignment passage 17 while overlapping in the vertical direction.

  The alignment passage 17 is a row of passages having a width slightly wider than that of one sphere so as to guide the balls flowing down from the storage tank 15 to the ball dispensing device 16 one by one. Further, the bottom surface of the alignment passage 17 has a gentle slope with the downstream side being lowered so that the balls roll by their own weight and travel from the storage tank 15 to the ball dispensing device 16.

  Here, if the inclination angle of the bottom surface of the alignment passage is too small, the flow velocity of the spheres becomes slow, and the intervals between the spheres flowing down with respect to the ball paying portion are left. As a result, the rotational speed of the sprocket, which will be described later, does not match the timing, and there is a risk of problems such as ball engagement between the sprocket and the bottom of the passage, and ball omission where the sphere does not flow down continuously. On the other hand, when the inclination angle of the bottom surface of the alignment passage is too large, the pressure applied from the following sphere to the flowing sphere becomes too large, and the spheres are not aligned well, causing clogging of the spheres.

  Therefore, it is preferable to set the inclination angle of the bottom surface of the alignment passage within a range of 5 degrees to 8 degrees. If the inclination angle is set within this range, the flow interval between the spheres flowing down the alignment passage 17 is not too wide, and the spheres can flow continuously, and excessive pressure is applied to the spheres. Can be prevented.

  Further, a first top plate 17a is disposed in the alignment passage 17 in order to align the spheres stacked in a plurality of stages at a two-stage height. An alignment movable plate 17b and a second top plate 17c are arranged for alignment. In this way, the balls guided from the storage tank 15 to the ball dispensing device 16 are aligned in one row and one stage.

Next, the ball dispensing device 16 will be specifically described.
4 and 5 show the appearance of the ball dispensing device 16 as viewed from both sides. Further, FIGS. 6 and 7 show an internal structure in which the ball dispensing device 16 is disassembled. The ball dispensing device 16 includes a drive motor M, a sprocket with gear (hereinafter referred to as a sprocket) 21, a support shaft 22, an operation block 23, a partition plate 24, a ball counting sensor S, and a cover that covers these from the left and right. 25 and a base 26.

  The drive motor M is provided as a drive source for rotating the sprocket 21. The drive motor M is fixedly installed on the inner wall surface of the base 26 with screws 28 with the drive gear G1 connected to the main shaft thereof, and mounting pieces 27 projecting on both sides of the drive motor M. The drive gear G1 used here has a small engagement diameter and a long engagement width in the axial direction.

  The sprocket 21 is formed by integrating a large-diameter driven gear G2 and a small-diameter rotating body feed claw 30 in the axial direction using a resin material. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the driven gear G2 on the left side and the feeding claw 30 on the right side are provided. The sprocket 21 provided with the driven gear G2 is rotated by driving the drive motor M in a state where the driven gear G2 and the drive gear G1 are engaged.

  The feed claw 30 is formed by projecting a claw for rotating and feeding a sphere one by one on the outer peripheral surface, and projecting the claw equally in the circumferential direction (for example, divided into four equal parts). Yes. A smooth concave surface suitable for ball feeding is formed between the circumferential claws. These pawls are arranged so that their tip portions face the side of the vertical passage space as shown in FIG. 8, and the balls P supplied from above rotate to perform a payout operation one by one.

  An annular protrusion 31 is formed on the sprocket side end surface of the driven gear G2 (see FIG. 6) for reducing frictional contact with the operation block 23 described later. The annular protrusion 31 is formed so as to slightly protrude in a semicircular cross section at a position larger in diameter than the feed claw 30.

  Such a sprocket 21 is opened through the shaft support hole 32 in the shaft center portion. With the support shaft 22 passing through the shaft support hole 32, one end of the support shaft 22 is press-fitted into a shaft support hole (not shown) of the cover 25 and fixed, and the other end is supported by the shaft 26 of the base 26. The support shaft 22 is fixed in a state where the support shaft 22 is installed between the cover 25 and the base 26 by being press-fitted into the hole 26a. As a result, the sprocket 21 is rotatably supported by the support shaft 22 as a rotation fulcrum.

  Then, the drive gear G1 rotates / stops based on ON / OFF of the drive motor M, and a rotational force with a rotational speed suitable for payout is transmitted to the sprocket 21 via the driven gear G2 meshing with the drive gear G1. The

  The operation block 23 includes an operation body 23A and a derivative 23B in a single block. The operation block 23 is integrally formed in a box shape with an upper surface opened by a resin material.

  Of these, the operating body 23A constitutes a sliding member that slides to the left and right, and the outer periphery of the box-shaped bottom surface, front surface, and back surface serves as a sliding guide surface, and in the cover 25 and the base 26 in the left-right direction. It is slidably guided and slidably stored.

  On the other hand, the derivative 23B constitutes a guide member for ball removal, and a box-shaped inner peripheral portion is constituted for ball removal guidance.

  First, the slide structure of the operating body 23A will be described. An L-shaped slide piece 33 is projected from a part of the box-shaped front surface. The L-shaped vertical portion of the L-shaped slide piece 33 is an operation portion at the fingertip, and the operation block 23 is slid in the left-right direction by grasping or pushing the portion. Further, horizontal slide grooves 34 are opened in the lower portions of the wall surfaces of the left and right covers 25 and the base 26 facing the L-shaped horizontal portion of the L-shaped slide piece 33 (lower front portion in FIG. 6). An L-shaped horizontal portion engages with these slide grooves 34, and the L-shaped slide piece 33 is slidably supported so as to be slidable in the left-right direction. Thereby, the operation block 23 is stably slid in the left-right direction along the slide groove 34.

  During the sliding movement of the operation block 23, a positioning recess 23a is formed in a part of the front surface of the operation block 23 among the opposed surfaces of the operation block 23 and the base 26, and in the vicinity of the slide groove of the base 26 facing this. A positioning convex portion 26b is formed on a part of the inner surface of the. Here, one positioning convex portion 26b is formed on the base 26 side, and two positioning concave portions 23a are formed on the operation block 23 side to be positioned corresponding to the ball payout position and the retracted position. The degree of unevenness at this time is formed so that the operation feeling transmitted to the fingertip at the positioned position is clearly obtained when the operation block 23 is slid. For this reason, when the clerk moves the operation block 23, it is clearly understood that the slide is completed at one of the ball payout positions or the other retracted position.

  Furthermore, an engagement recess 35 is provided on one end face that is closer to the center in the sliding direction of the operation block 23 (on the left side in FIGS. 6 and 7) so as to concavely enclose a part of the driven gear G2 from the lower side. ing. The sprocket 21 provided with the driven gear G2 and the operation block 23 are incorporated into the cover 25 and the base 26 while maintaining the positional relationship in the engaged state in which the lower portion of the driven gear G2 is clamped. Therefore, when the operation block 23 is slid, the sprocket 21 integral with the driven gear G2 engaged with the engagement recess 35 is pushed and slid from either the left or right direction along with the sliding action. Yes.

  Further, when the lower portion of the driven gear G2 is clamped at the engaging recess 35, the annular protrusion of the sprocket 21 is formed on the inner side surface of the engaging recess 35 so that the contact resistance is not increased between the side surfaces of the clamping portion. Since 31 contacts and makes line contact, the frictional resistance is suppressed and stable rotation is obtained.

  Furthermore, the operation block 23 has a rectangular cross section on one side (the left side in FIGS. 6 and 7) that allows one sphere to pass in the vertical direction as shown in FIGS. 9 (A) and 9 (C). The operating body passage 36 is opened through in the vertical direction. When the operation block 23 is moved to the ball payout position, the operation body passage 36 is lowered from above with the upper standby passage 18 and the lower ball discharge passage 14 facing each other in the vertical direction. The ball P is allowed to be dispensed almost directly below.

  On the other hand, the derivative 23B is provided inside the operation block 23 and adjacent to the operation body passage 36 on the other side in the sliding direction (the right side in FIGS. 6 and 7). This derivative 23B forms a ball extraction guide path 37 as shown in FIG. The ball guiding path 37 includes a guiding inclined surface 37a that forms a bottom wall and a guiding wall 37b that forms a side wall.

  First, the guide inclined surface 37a is configured such that the inclination direction of the bottom wall is inclined obliquely downward toward the operation body passage 36 side. As a result, the sphere flowing down from the standby passage 18 comes into contact with the guide inclined surface 37a on the bottom surface, and the sphere is guided to the inclined downstream side to change the direction, and the sphere guided here is operated by its own weight. It is guided to the passage 36 side.

  In addition, the box-shaped rear surface side along the inclination direction adjacent to the guide inclined surface 37a raised part of the rear surface side corresponding to the space so as to close the space generated when the sprocket 21 is retracted. It is provided as a guide wall 37b. Thereby, the sphere to be extracted is guided by the guide inclined surface 37a and the guide wall 37b of the sphere extraction guide path 37 so that the sphere can be reliably guided to the operating body passage 36 side. The sphere guided to the operating body passage 36 descends from the sphere removal passage 19 below and is extracted.

  When the operation block 23 is in the ball payout position, the ball removal guide path 37 is in a position where the ball is allowed to be withdrawn from the passage space. On the other hand, when the operation block 23 is slid to the ball removal position, the guide inclined surface 37a of the ball removal guide path 37 is in a position where the discharge is restricted so as to face the lower ball discharge passage 14 and the operation body is in the position. The passage 36 is in a positional relationship opposite to the ball removal passage 19 below it. Therefore, the ball P flowing down from the standby passage 18 is not flowed down to the ball payout passage 14 just below the ball payout passage 14 because the ball payout passage 14 is closed by the guide inclined surface 37a, and the direction is changed to the ball discharge passage 19 side. Then the ball is removed.

  In this way, the operation block 23 is configured by providing both a slide function as the operation body 23A and a ball removal function as the derivative 23B in a single block.

  Further, when the operation block 23 is moved, the sprocket 21 is also moved in the same direction. At this time, since the drive gear G1 on the motor M side and the driven gear G2 on the sprocket 21 side allowed to move are meshed, the axial length of the drive gear G1 is set as shown in FIG. The driven gear G2 is configured to have a length longer than the axial movement. Thereby, the operation block 23 can move the driven gear G2 in the axial direction.

  Therefore, even if the sprocket 21 is moved, the driven gear G2 integrated with the sprocket 21 slides while meshing with the drive gear G1, as shown in FIG. 5B. For this reason, the driven gear G2 moves while maintaining the meshing state, and the gears do not come off. Therefore, when the sprocket 21 moves from the ball payout position to the retracted position or when the sprocket 21 returns from the retracted position to the ball payout position, the gears mesh with each other and the power is transmitted, so the sprocket 21 is in the drive gear G1. The motor always rotates in synchronization with the drive output.

  The operation block 23 configured as described above is a member that can be switched to either the ball paying side or the ball pulling side, and is disposed below the feeding claw 30 to drop the ball that has flowed down from this. It can be branched into the passage 14 or the ball passage 19 and allowed to flow down. Furthermore, since the operation block 23 can be manually moved to the left and right, when the ball removal operation is necessary, the ball removal operation can be performed simply by moving the operation block 23 to the ball removal side by an attendant. Further, at the time of return, if the operation block 23 is moved to the ball payout side, it can be switched to the original ball payout passage.

  The partition plate 24 is integrally formed of a resin material on a vertically long flat plate having a passage width interval, and engaging projections 24a protrude from both sides thereof. The partition plate 24 is attached to the cover 25 by engaging the engagement protrusion 24a with an engagement recess 25a (see FIG. 6) of the cover 25 described later. In addition, the lower side of the attached partition plate 24 has an arcuate closing surface 24 b that avoids the rotation area of the feed claw 30 and that is in the proximity of the feed claw 30. The partition plate 24 is disposed in the vicinity of the feeding claw 30 between the ball paying side and the ball removing side. As a result, when the sprocket 21 is moved to the retracted position, the partition plate prevents the balls from dropping into the space around the feed claw 30 while avoiding contact with the feed claw 30 integral with the sprocket 21. 24 has the role of closing the gap.

  Further, an annular boss portion 29 (see FIG. 7) formed around the support hole 26a for supporting the support shaft 22 is opposed to the intersection with the standby passage 18 through which the sprocket 21 rotates and sends the ball. . For this reason, in order to avoid contact with the boss portion 29, the sprocket 21 rotating on the support shaft 22 forms a notch recess 30a (see FIG. 6) in which the axial center portion of the sprocket 21 is notched.

  On the other hand, the boss 29 protrudes from the passage space for one sphere of the standby passage 18 to a position for receiving the center of the sphere. That is, by making the outer peripheral upper surface of the boss portion 29 face the passage space, it is effectively used for avoiding the falling pressure in the ball payout portion. Thereby, the sphere flowing down from above is received by the boss portion 29 so that a load is not applied to the sprocket 21.

  Further, the length of the sprocket 21 in the passage width direction of the feed claw 30 is such that when the sprocket 21 is at the ball payout position, the feed claw 30 is opposed to the center position of the sphere that has flowed down the passage and is stably rotated. The length is set so that the motion can be obtained.

  Therefore, when the sphere guided here is rotationally fed by the sprocket 21, it is rotationally fed along the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface of the boss portion 29. Further, since the sprocket 21 is not subjected to an excessive load, there is an advantage that a smooth ball dispensing operation can be maintained.

  In this way, the sprocket 21 is provided with a falling ball receiving member that receives the lower surface of the ball that has flowed down the passage, and the sprocket 21 that faces the falling ball receiving member is disposed at the rotational feed position of the sprocket 21. A recess is provided to avoid contact with the falling ball receiving member facing in the end face direction.

  The ball counting sensor S is composed of a proximity sensor and is disposed below the feeding claw 30. Then, when the ball P is paid out to the ball payout passage 14 by the feeding claw 30, the ball counting sensor S detects and counts the ball P paid out.

  The cover 25 and the base 26 that support such a member are configured to have a role as a support wall that supports the ball dispensing device 16 and a role as a passage wall that forms a ball passage inside. . Further, the cover 25 and the base 26 are made of a resin material that can be easily molded, and the cover 25 and the base 26 are integrally formed by fixing the screws 28 in a state where both the cover 25 and the base 26 are joined from the left and right.

  Among these, a vertically long standby passage 18 is formed between the upper facing surfaces where the cover 25 and the base 26 face each other, and the drive motor M, the sprocket 21, the support shaft 22 and the operation between the lower facing surfaces are operated. A payout unit 38 that includes the block 23, the partition plate 24, and the ball counting sensor S is configured.

  The cover 25 has an elongated substantially flat plate extending in the vertical direction at the top, and this flat plate constitutes one wall surface of the standby passage 18. Further, the lower part has a two-stage cylindrical cover having an upper end opened on the side facing the base 26. The cylindrical cover portion covers the left side of the drive gear G1, the driven gear G2, and the payout portion 38.

  Further, the cover 25 has screwing insertion holes 39 at substantially regular intervals in the vertical direction, and is screwed and connected to the base 26 described later. Further, a support hole (not shown) for supporting the left end of the support shaft 22 and an engagement recess 25a for engaging the engagement protrusion 24a of the partition plate 24 are formed in the lower portion of the cover 25. . The partition plate 24 is engaged and fixed to the cover 25 in a state where it is in plane contact with the lower inner wall surface of the cover 25. Further, the lower end of the cover 25 is an opening position facing the ball removal passage 19 and is opened as a ball removal opening 40 penetrating in the vertical direction.

  The base 26 forms a passage space for one sphere having a substantially U-shaped cross section that is elongated in the vertical direction. A standby passage 18 having a quadrangular cross section is constituted by the passage space having a U-shaped cross section extending in the vertical direction and the flat plate of the cover 25 covering the opening.

  Then, around the inner wall surfaces of the cover 25 and the base 26, a convex portion 41 for adjusting the flow down pressure is slightly projected at regular intervals in the vertical direction. As a result, the sphere collides with the convex portion 41 at the time of flow down, and the sphere is made to stand by so as to reduce the descending pressure of the sphere so that it can be dispensed with an appropriate pressure of the sphere. In particular, the flow path is slightly bent so that the ball pressure can be sufficiently reduced just before the position where the feed claw 30 is disposed, and the falling ball receiving action by the boss portion 29 is obtained. Yes.

  Further, the base 26 forms a motor storage space A1 and a rotating body storage space A2 on the lower cover facing surface side. The storage space covers the payout part 38 such as the motor M and the sprocket 21.

  An upper portion of the base 26 is provided with a passage connecting lock lever 42, and the lock lever 42 is integrally connected to the alignment passage 17 thereabove. Further, a screw screw hole 43 is provided at a position of the base 26 facing the screw fixing insertion hole 39 of the cover 25. Then, the cover 25 and the base 26 are integrally joined from the left and right sides by screwing the screw 25 into the screw screwing hole 43 through the screw 28 with the cover 25 and the base 26 facing each other.

  Further, on the lower side of the base 26, a support hole 26a is provided at a position corresponding to the right end of the support shaft 22 to support the shaft by press-fitting the support shaft 22. Therefore, the support shaft 22 is installed substantially horizontally between the cover 25 and the base 26, and the sprocket 21 is rotatably supported on the support shaft 22 in the vertical direction.

  Further, the lower end of the base 26 is positioned to face the ball payout passage 14 below and is opened as a ball payout outlet 44.

Next, the payout process operation of the ball P in the embodiment will be described.
In a storage tank 15 installed on the back side of the game table 11, a large number of balls P are stored in a state waiting for payout. From this standby state, when the payout signal of the ball P is input from a main control unit (not shown) that controls the entire pachinko gaming machine and the drive motor M is driven and the sprocket 21 rotates based on this, the storage tank 15 The inner sphere P flows downward in order. In this flow-down process, the balls P roll by their own weight, flow down while being aligned in one row and one row, and are guided to the ball discharge device 16 on the downstream side via the standby passage 18.

  In the ball dispensing device 16, the ball P supplied from the upper standby passage 18 is guided to the ball dispensing passage 14 directly below by the rotational feeding operation of the sprocket 21. As a result, the ball P descends continuously, and a predetermined number of balls is paid out. At this time, the ball counting sensor S detects and counts the balls P that have been paid out. Then, the paid-out ball P is paid out to the upper plate on the front side of the game table.

  Normally, at the time of paying out the ball, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 9, the operation block 23 has been moved to the ball payout position where the game is permitted in advance and is opened inside the operation block 23. The operating body passage 36 faces the ball payout passage 14 and is in a state where the game can be used so that the ball can be freely paid out.

  Next, when removing a large number of balls P held in the ball dispensing device 16, an attendant picks up the L-shaped slide piece 33 of the operation block 23 and moves the operation block 23 to the ball removal side. At this time, it can be clearly seen that the operation block 23 has moved to the ball removal position because the positioning concave portion 23a and the positioning convex portion 26b correspond to the concave and convex portions and a clear operation feeling is obtained.

  When the operation block 23 moves to the ball removal position, as shown in FIGS. 4B and 10, the operation body passage 36 opened inside the operation block 23 is moved from the ball payout passage 14 side to the ball removal passage 19. Moved to the side. As a result, the operating body passage 36 and the ball removal passage 19 are vertically opposed to form a passage capable of ball removal.

  At this time, the sprocket 21 slides in the same direction along with the movement of the operation block 23 and moves to the retracted position that is in a non-contact position with the ball, so that the sprocket 21 does not intervene in the ball discharge passage 14 when the ball is removed. . For this reason, the sprocket 21 does not come into contact with the flowing-down sphere P, and the sphere P does not remain in the portion of the sprocket 21.

  Further, when the operation block 23 moves to the ball removal side, the vertical passage that has flowed down until then is closed by a ball removal guide path 37 that moves integrally with the operation block 23, and is parallel to the ball discharge passage 14. Only the ball removal passage 19 side to be opened opens. As a result, the ball P is guided toward the operating body passage 36 and is removed from the ball removal passage 19. Thus, the flow path can be switched when the operation block 23 is moved to the ball removal side. As a result, it is possible to eliminate all the remaining space of the sphere by securing the sphere removal passage 19 and retracting the sprocket 21, thereby realizing complete sphere removal.

  In particular, if the feeding claw 30 that receives the ball at the ball payout position is moved from the outside by an illegal act, the ball cannot be received, and the ball can be paid out illegally. However, when the feeding claw 30 is retracted, the operation block 23 also moves in conjunction with it, and the ball removal guide path 37 of the operation block 23 closes the ball payout passage 14 to prevent illegal payout reliably. It has a function. That is, it is particularly effective as a countermeasure against fraud by configuring the feed claw 30 and the ball removal guide path 37 to be integrated as if they were integrated.

  Further, the operation block 23 can be moved manually. For this reason, electric parts for path switching, such as a motor, can be omitted, and the ball dispensing device 16 can be reduced in size and cost. In addition, since no electrical control is required, the ball removal operation can be stably performed from the beginning even when the energized state is not established.

  Since the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the driven gear G2 does not move and only the feed claw 30 moves, and the others are the same in configuration, only the different configuration will be described. .

  Here, the feed claw 30 of the small-diameter rotating body and the driven gear G2 are separate, and only the feed claw 30 without gears moves, and the driven gear G2 does not move. The configuration will be specifically described below.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the driven gear G2 has the same meshing width as the drive gear G1 and is rotatably supported on the support shaft 22. A relative sliding hole 51 is formed in the axial support direction of the shaft center portion, and a feed claw shaft portion 52 of the feed claw 30 is fitted into the relative sliding hole 51 so as to be capable of relative sliding in the axial support direction. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 12B, the relative sliding hole 51 is provided with a semicircular slide support protrusion 53 that equally divides in the circumferential direction and protrudes small in the axial direction of the inner peripheral surface thereof. A slide support recess 54 is formed in the axial direction of the outer peripheral surface of the feed claw shaft 52 facing the slide support protrusion 53.

  Thus, when the feed claw shaft portion 52 is fitted in the relative sliding hole 51, the feed claw 30 is allowed to slide in the axial direction by the support action of the slide support protrusion 53 and the slide support recess 54. It is in a state and has a support structure that rotates integrally with the driven gear G2 in the rotational direction. For this reason, in the rotation direction, the driven gear G2 and the feed claw 30 rotate integrally as in the first embodiment.

  Further, when the feed claw 30 is moved, the flange portion 55 formed on the end surface opposite to the position where the feed claw 30 is formed is engaged with the engagement concave portion 35 formed in the operation block 23 so that the operation block is moved. The feed claw 30 is configured to be slidable in the axial direction along with the movement of 23.

  Thus, the feed claw 30 is slidable and has a structure that is integrated with the driven gear G2 in the rotation direction when moved to the ball payout position. That is, only the feed claw 30 moves, and the driven gear G2 does not move. For this reason, since the drive gear G1 and the driven gear G2 are meshed at a fixed position from the beginning, it is not necessary to increase the meshing width. Further, since the movement width of the feed claw 30 is also fitted in the driven gear G2, it can be shortened by the thickness of the driven gear G2. As a result, the length in the width direction of the ball dispensing device 16 can be shortened even when the feeding pawl 30 is retracted.

  Even in such a configuration, since the feed claw 30 is retracted from the passage when the ball is removed, the feed claw 30 does not come into contact with the ball P, and the ball does not remain at the portion of the feed claw 30. For this reason, the room where a sphere remains in all of the parts of the ball payout passage 14, the ball removal passage 19, and the feeding claw 30 is eliminated, and complete ball removal can be realized.

  As described above, since the sprocket or feed claw that has received the ball can be retracted from the passage, the remaining of the ball on the passage and at the sprocket or feed claw is eliminated. For this reason, all the spheres can be completely extracted to the outside. Further, the ball dispensing device can be made compact because it can be operated manually without requiring a passage switching motor. In addition, a stable ball removing operation that is not affected by electricity can be ensured.

In correspondence between the configuration of the present invention and the configuration of the above-described embodiment,
The rotating body of the present invention corresponds to the sprocket 21 with the gear of the embodiment,
Similarly, the nail corresponds to the feeding nail 30, but the present invention can be applied based on the technical idea described in the claims and is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment. Absent.

  The present invention can be applied to all ball dispensing positions having a ball removal structure.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Game stand 14 ... Ball delivery path 16 ... Ball delivery apparatus 18 ... Standby passage 19 ... Ball passage 21 ... Sprocket 22 ... Support shaft 23 ... Operation block 23A ... Operation body 23B ... Derivative 30 ... Feeding claw 33 ... Operation part 37 ... Galling guideway G2 ... Driving gear

Claims (5)

A waiting passage for waiting for a ball from upstream,
A rotating body that receives the sphere flowing down from the standby passage by a claw on the outer peripheral surface, rotates based on driving of a motor, and rotates and feeds the sphere one by one by the claw;
A ball payout device comprising a ball payout passage and a ball discharge passage branched and connected from the standby passage on the downstream side of the rotating body,
The rotating body is pivotally supported by a support shaft so as to be movable in a pivotal direction,
An operating body for moving the rotating body from the ball payout position to the retracted position along the support shaft;
A ball dispensing device comprising a derivative constituting a ball removal guide path that closes the ball delivery passage and simultaneously changes the direction of the ball of the standby passage to the ball removal passage. The operation body and the derivative are integrally formed,
The ball payout device according to claim 1, wherein the operation body includes an operation unit that manually slides the operation body. A drive gear that rotates based on the output of the motor and a driven gear integrally connected to the rotating body are meshed,
The axial length of the drive gear is configured to be longer than the length in which the driven gear moves in the axial direction,
The ball operating device according to claim 1, wherein the operating body moves the driven gear in the axial support direction. A drive gear that rotates based on the output of the motor and a driven gear that fits the rotating body so as to be slidable relative to each other in the axial direction are configured to mesh with each other.
The rotating body is
When the ball is at the ball payout position by sliding relative to the driven gear in the axial direction, the driven gear is prevented from rotating and integrated in the rotational direction, and the motor is connected to the motor through the driven gear. Rotate under drive,
The integration of the rotating body and the driven gear is released while the driven gear is engaged with the drive gear when the driven gear is in the retracted position relative to the driven gear in the axial support direction. 2. The ball dispensing device according to 2. A pachinko gaming machine comprising the ball dispensing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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