JP2013102821A - Ball dispenser of game machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ball dispenser of a game machine, configured to properly dispense balls at high speed without causing ball jam or excessive dispensing.SOLUTION: The ball dispenser of a game machine includes: a ball path 11 where game balls B flow down in a line; a ball detector 13 having a ball detection range for the passing game balls and detecting a position (a) where a ball can be detected and a position b where no ball is detected; and a ball receiving member 15 arranged below the ball detector, moved into the ball path by an electric actuator 17 when the game ball positioned between the ball detection position and the non-ball detection position is detected, and interposed between the last game ball in a prescribed amount of game balls and the next game ball beyond the prescribed amount, to receive the game ball beyond the prescribed amount. When the game ball beyond the prescribed amount is received by the ball receiving member, the position is shifted from a ball center O2 within a plane orthogonal to the moving direction of the ball receiving member passing through the ball center of the game ball, and the direction of a ball pressure to be applied to the ball receiving member by the game ball and the moving direction of the ball receiving member are orthogonal to each other within the plane.

Description

  The present invention relates to a ball payout device for a gaming machine that is mounted on the back side of a gaming machine and pays out a predetermined amount of gaming balls that match a winning ball.

  Conventionally, pachinko gaming machines, which are a type of gaming machine, have a gaming board arranged on an inner frame attached to an outer frame that is long in the vertical direction, and are synthesized so that the back side of the inner frame covers the back of the gaming board. A resin mechanism plate is mounted so as to be freely opened and closed. On the back surface of the mechanism plate, a ball tank for storing game balls is disposed on one upper side thereof, and a tank rail for guiding a pachinko ball discharged from the ball tank to the other side is provided below the ball tank. A ball circulation basket is connected to the end of the tank rail via a curve rail. A ball dispensing device is connected to the lower end of the ball circulation basket. In addition, the game balls flowing down the ball circulation basket are supplied to the ball dispensing device. Normally, when the ball payout device is not operating, the earliest game ball in the ball payout device is stopped. Therefore, for example, when a winning ball is generated and a command to pay out a specified amount of game balls is issued from the central controller, the ball payout device is activated and a specified amount of game balls is paid out from the ball payout device. . These paid out game balls are stored in a ball tray mounted on the surface of the pachinko gaming machine. The stored game balls are supplied one by one to the hitting ball launch position and are driven into the game section formed on the game board surface.

  By the way, there exist some which consist of the following structures as said ball paying-out apparatus, for example. That is, the ball payout device has a ball passage in the vertical direction in which a game ball flows down in the device main body, and a plurality of ball receiving recesses are arranged on the outer peripheral edge so as to be adjacent to one side thereof. A sprocket as a ball receiving member is mounted so as to freely rotate in a vertical plane. A control member that engages and controls the rotation of the sprocket is disposed in the vicinity thereof. Then, the specified amount of game balls is paid out by operating the control member to release the engagement and rotating the sprocket for the required number of revolutions. These paid out game balls are detected by a ball detector (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-6-312055 (page 3-6, FIG. 2)

  However, in the ball dispensing device according to Patent Document 1, the sprocket rotates in a plane including the ball passage, and a plurality of ball receiving recesses are arranged along the outer peripheral edge of the sprocket. A tip chevron-shaped protrusion is formed between the spherical recesses. When a plurality of mountain-shaped protrusions are formed in this way, when the sprocket is rotated and the game ball is paid out, the flow speed of the game ball and the rotation speed of the sprocket may be misaligned. As described above, when the flow velocity of the game ball deviates from the rotational speed of the sprocket, the game ball is bitten between the tip chevron of the sprocket and the inner wall surface of the ball passage, and the payout operation of the game ball is performed. There was a so-called ball biting phenomenon that could not be continued.

  Also, since the sprocket rotates freely along the flow of the game ball while receiving the game ball in the ball receiving recess on the outer peripheral edge, if the sprocket rotates at a high speed, such as when paying out many game balls at once. The predetermined stop position of the sprocket may be out of order. If the stop position goes wrong like this, the sprocket is stopped by the ball pressure after the sprocket is stopped, and the sprocket rotates excessively, so that more than the specified amount of game balls are accidentally paid out, and the number of game balls on the central computer There is a problem that the management of the game balls becomes difficult because of no match.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to pay out at a high speed and at the same time, without causing the biting of the ball, and also to accurately pay out the game ball, exceeding the prescribed amount. It is an object of the present invention to provide a ball dispensing device for a gaming machine that does not pay out.

  In order to achieve such an object, a ball payout device for a gaming machine according to the present invention includes a ball path provided in the vertical direction in which game balls flow down in a line, a ball detection range of game balls that are disposed in the ball path and pass therethrough. A sphere detector that detects a position where the sphere is detected and a position where the sphere is not detected and a position where the sphere is not detected, and a position between the sphere detection state and the sphere non-detection state. Intervening between the last game ball out of a prescribed amount of game balls that are moved out into the ball passage by the electric actuator and detected in response to the detection of the game ball to be played and the first game ball outside the next prescribed amount And a ball receiving member that receives the first gaming ball outside the specified amount, and when the first gaming ball outside the specified amount is received by the ball receiving member, the received position is The direction of movement of the ball receiving member through the ball center of the game ball and The direction of the ball pressure applied to the ball receiving member by the game ball and the moving direction of the ball receiving member in the intersecting plane are orthogonal to each other in the plane, and the prescribed amount This game ball is not received by the ball receiving member and is naturally dropped and paid out.

  A ball payout device for a gaming machine according to the present invention includes a ball passage provided in the vertical direction in which game balls flow down in a line, and a ball detection range of game balls disposed in the ball passage and passing therethrough is set. Sphere detector for detecting the position to be and the position to be in the non-detection state of the sphere, and is arranged below the sphere detector, and is electrically operated with the detection of the game sphere located between the sphere detection state and the sphere non-detection state Intervene between the last game ball of the specified amount of game balls to be paid out by moving into the ball passage by the actuator and the first game ball outside the next specified amount, and the first game ball outside the specified amount A ball receiving member for receiving the game ball, and when the earliest game ball outside the specified amount is received by the ball receiving member, the received position passes through the center of the game ball and the ball receiving member A ball receiving member that deviates from the center of the sphere in a plane orthogonal to the moving direction and is formed by the game ball Applied to the moving direction of the direction and spherical bearing member of Tama圧 orthogonal to each other within the plane, defined amount of game balls are paid out naturally fall without being received by the ball receiving member. In this way, since a specified amount of game balls are naturally dropped and paid out, high-speed payout becomes possible.

  In addition, when the first gaming ball outside the specified amount is received by the ball receiving member, the received position passes from the ball center of the gaming ball in a plane perpendicular to the moving direction of the ball receiving member. The direction of the ball pressure applied to the ball receiving member by the game ball and the moving direction of the ball receiving member are perpendicular to each other in the plane, so that the ball receiving member is always received in the vertical direction. The game ball is contacted at a lower position shifted from the center of the game ball and the game ball is received, thereby preventing the biting of the ball. Further, since the ball receiving member does not need to be rotated due to the ball pressure, the ball receiving member does not need to be rotated due to the ball pressure, and there is an effect that there is no malfunction that the game ball is erroneously paid out beyond a predetermined amount. .

1 is a perspective view of a ball dispensing device according to the present invention. The exploded perspective view. FIG. (A)-(d) is front sectional drawing of the ball paying apparatus which shows an effect | action. (A) is an operation explanatory view of a ball receiving member, (B) is a longitudinal sectional view showing an operation state of the ball receiving member. The exploded perspective view of a ball distribution basket. The front view. XX line expanded sectional view of FIG. The partially expanded front sectional view of a ball distribution basket. The back view of the pachinko machine to which the present invention is applied.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the best mode of a gaming machine ball dispensing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The ball payout device according to the present invention is applied to a gaming machine such as a pachinko gaming machine, an allapachi machine, or a sparrow ball gaming machine. In the present invention, a case where it is applied to a pachinko gaming machine will be described. First, a pachinko gaming machine to which the present invention is applied will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a back view of a pachinko gaming machine to which the present invention is applied. In the pachinko gaming machine P, an inner frame 101 is attached to an outer frame 100 having a vertically long rectangular shape so as to be freely opened and closed, and a game board 102 is disposed on the inner frame 101. Further, a synthetic resin mechanism plate 103 covering the back surface of the game board 102 is attached to the back surface of the inner frame 101 so as to be freely opened and closed. On the back surface of the mechanism plate 103, a ball tank 104 for storing a pachinko ball, which is a game ball, is arranged on one side of the upper portion thereof. A tank rail 105 is provided below the ball tank 104 to guide the pachinko balls discharged from the ball tank 104 downward. The tank rail 105 is provided at the lower end of the tank rail 105 in the vertical direction via the curve rail 106. A ball circulation basket 107 is arranged. A ball payout device 108 according to the present invention is disposed at the lower end of the ball circulation basket 107.

  Therefore, for example, when a winning ball is generated during a game, a predetermined amount of pachinko balls are paid out as a winning ball from the ball payout device 108, and these pachinko balls are guided to the front side of the inner frame 101 to be pachinko balls. It is stored in a ball tray (not shown) on the surface of the gaming machine P.

  Here, the ball distribution basket 107 will be described first. The ball distribution basket 107 is composed of a distribution pipe 1. The upper end of the flow pipe 1 is connected to the curve rail 106 and the lower end is connected to the ball dispensing device 108, and stands up almost vertically. The length of the circulation pipe 1 may be at least about 120 mm upward from the ball dispensing device 108. The flow pipe 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 and is open at both ends. Further, the flow pipe 1 is composed of a pair of half cylinders 2 and 2 that are divided into two along the central axis, and the outer sides of the half pipes 2 are opposed to each other on both side edges parallel to the center axis. Attachment pieces 3 and 3 are provided. A plurality of mounting holes 4 are formed in the mounting pieces 3 and 3 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the two half-cut cylinders 2 and 2 are opened to face each other so that the mounting pieces 3 and 3 communicate with each other. Screws 5 and 5 are inserted into the mounting holes 4 and 4 and nuts 6 and 6 are screwed to assemble the flow pipe 1.

  The inner diameter of the pipe passage 7 in the flow pipe 1 is set to a size that allows one pachinko ball B to pass, for example, between 12 and 13 mm. The spiral protrusions 8 are provided around the inner peripheral surface 7a of the pipe passage 7 at a predetermined pitch. The spiral protrusion 8 protrudes from the inner peripheral surface 7a at a height of, for example, 0.5 mm. As a result, the pachinko sphere B in the pipe passage 7 of the flow pipe 1 is supported by the spiral ridge 8 and flows down while rotating along the spiral ridge 8. In addition, if the pitch width of the spiral protrusion 8 is narrowed, the flow speed of the pachinko sphere B flowing down in the pipe passage 7 becomes slow, and if the pitch width is widened, the flow speed of the pachinko sphere becomes fast. Therefore, an appropriate pitch is set in consideration of the speed of the pachinko ball B to be paid out.

  In the flow pipe 1, a plurality of dust discharge ports 9 are arranged in a row along both the attachment pieces 3 and 3 and along the spiral protrusion 8 for each of the half cylinders 2 and 2. The dust discharge ports 9 arranged along one attachment piece 3 and the dust discharge ports 9 arranged along the other attachment piece 3 are provided so as to be stepped. These dust discharge ports 9 are for discharging the dust accumulated in the pipe passage 7 of the distribution pipe 1. In this way, the pachinko ball B flows down while rotating along the spiral protrusion 8, and any dust discharge port 9 is provided along the spiral protrusion 8, so that it is difficult for dust to collect in the pipe passage 7, Not only is the inside of the tube 1 clean, but also dirt on the pachinko sphere B can be reduced.

  The pachinko sphere B flowing down in the pipe passage 7 of the flow channel pipe 1 flows under the control of the pitch of the spiral ridge 8, so that it is difficult to form a gap between the upper and lower pachinko balls B, B, and the inside of the pipe passage 7 The flow speed of the pachinko sphere B that flows down is substantially constant. Accordingly, the pachinko ball B is smoothly supplied to the ball dispensing device 108 and is stabilized, and there is no possibility that the ball dispensing device 108 may cause the ball to be bitten. Further, the circulation pipe 1 of the ball circulation basket 107 not only stands upright, but the inner diameter of the circulation pipe 1 is only slightly larger than the outer diameter of the pachinko ball B, so that the ball circulation basket 7 takes a wide space. Absent. Therefore, the installation space for the ball distribution basket 107 is small.

  Furthermore, the spherical circulation rod 107 is formed with the circulation pipe 1 in a cylindrical shape and is divided into two along the central axis thereof. The structure is simple, and the structure is simple and can be manufactured easily.

  Next, the ball dispensing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a perspective view of a ball dispensing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view thereof, FIG. 3 is an enlarged central longitudinal sectional view thereof, and FIGS. 4 (A) to 4 (D) are front views of the ball dispensing apparatus. FIG. 5A is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the ball receiving member, and FIG. 5B is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the operating state of the ball receiving member. The ball dispensing device 108 is formed from a hollow rectangular parallelepiped case body 10 made of a synthetic resin material. The case body 10 is substantially vertically cut at the center and divided into left and right parts. The case body 10 includes a right half 10a on the right side when viewed from the front and a left half 10b on the left side when viewed from the front. The Then, by combining the right half 10a and the left half 10b, a ball passage 11 is formed which is provided in the vertical direction on the front side of the center and has a ball inlet 12a at the upper end and a ball outlet 12b at the lower end. ing.

  The spherical passage 11 has an upper half 11a that is straight and a lower half 11b that is slightly bent forward. A sphere detector 13 is disposed at the upper end of the sphere passage 11, and a cavity 14 is formed below the sphere passage 11 and behind the sphere passage 11. A ball receiving member 15 that faces the ball passage 11 and rotates freely in a vertical plane is disposed in the hollow portion 14. The ball receiving member 15 is integrally provided with a rotating disk 15b orthogonal to the central axis of the shaft tube portion 15a on the front side of the shaft tube portion 15a. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the front surface of the rotating disk 15b is divided into six equal parts by a plurality of normal lines h extending radially from the rotation center O1, and each of the rotation centers along the outer peripheral edge of every other region. Ball receiving pieces 16a to 16c serving as ball receiving portions curved in an arc shape centering on O1 are provided to project forward. The interval w between the ball receiving pieces 16a to 16c is set in a range in which the pachinko ball B can pass.

  A stepping motor 17 as an electric actuator is disposed on the rear surface of the case body 10, and a shaft tube portion 15 a of the ball receiving member 15 is fitted and fixed to the front end side of the horizontal drive shaft 18. Thereby, the ball receiving member 15 rotates with the rotation of the stepping motor 17. In this case, the ball receiving member 15 rotates at a rotation angle of 60 degrees when necessary.

  More specifically, the ball receiving member 15 is opposed to the ball passage 11 with its rotational surface facing the front side. Then, the rotating disk 15b of the ball receiving member 15 is slightly rearwardly displaced from the ball path 11, and the ball receiving pieces 16a to 16c positioned at the upper ends are formed on both sides of the ball path 11 along with the rotation of the rotating disk 15b. It is possible to intervene in the ball passage 11 via the parts 19 and 19. For example, when the first ball receiving piece 16a is positioned at the upper end of the rotating disk 15b, the second ball receiving piece 16b and the third ball receiving piece 16c are located below the outer side of the ball passage 11 in the counterclockwise direction. It is located on both sides. When the first ball receiving piece 16a is located in the upper half portion 11a of the ball passage 11, the distance between the tip and the inner peripheral surface of the ball passage 11 facing the tip is shorter than the diameter of the pachinko ball B and less than the radius. Long dimensions are set.

  Therefore, when the pachinko ball B flowing into the ball passage 11 is received by the first ball receiving piece 16a, the tip position F of the ball receiving piece 16a passes through the ball center O2 of the pachinko ball B and moves the ball receiving member 15 It is shifted backward from the spherical center O2 in a plane perpendicular to the rotational direction. Further, the direction of the ball pressure applied to the ball receiving member 15 by the pachinko ball B and the rotation direction of the ball receiving member 15 are orthogonal to each other in the plane, and the ball pressure is applied to the ball receiving member 15. Does not work in the direction that can rotate. Therefore, the ball receiving member 15 does not rotate unnecessarily due to the ball pressure of the pachinko ball B. In other words, no force is generated to rotate the ball receiving member 15 by the ball pressure of the pachinko ball B.

  A proximity switch is used for the sphere detector 13, and a position that is 7.4 mm below the reference surface with respect to the upper surface 13 a of the sphere detector 13 is in a sphere detection state, as shown by an imaginary line in FIG. The position a is a position b where the sphere is undetected by a position 2.7 mm lower than the position a so that the positions a and b of the pachinko sphere B can be detected together with the detection of the pachinko sphere B. It has become. A range from the position a to the position b corresponds to a sphere detection range. That is, the ball detector 13 can detect the pachinko ball B and the origin of the ball receiving member 15 together.

  A screw insertion hole 20 and a screw hole 21 are provided at necessary portions of the right and left halves 10 a and 10 b in the case body 10, and the right and left halves 10 a and 10 b are combined with each other through the screw insertion holes 20. By screwing the screws 22 into the holes 21, the right and left halves 10a and 10b are combined. Similarly, the stepping motor 17 is also provided with screw insertion holes 20 and 20 on both sides of the front surface, and screw holes 21 and 21 corresponding to these on the right and left halves 10a and 10b. Then, the stepping motor 17 is attached by screwing the screw 22 into each screw hole 21 via each screw insertion hole 20.

  Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 (a), when the stepping motor 17 is stopped, the first ball receiving piece 16a of the ball receiving member 15 is positioned at the upper end of the rotating disk 15b and the ball passage. 11 is located. In this state, pachinko balls B that continuously flow down along the spiral ridges 8 in the flow pipe 1 that is the ball flow basket 107 flow into the ball passage 11, but from the ball inlet 12a. One of the earliest pachinko balls B1 enters the ball passage 11 and is received at the tip of the first ball receiving piece 16a. At this time, the earliest pachinko ball B1 is received by the tip of the ball receiving piece 16a while leaning against the inner peripheral surface 23a of the detection hole 23 of the ball detector 13 located in the upper half 11a of the ball passage 11.

  In this state, for example, when a winning ball is generated and a payout command for a predetermined amount of the pachinko ball B is issued as a winning ball, the stepping motor 17 is driven as shown in FIG. Rotate 60 degrees in the direction of the arrow in the figure (b). As a result, the earliest pachinko ball B1 that has been received until then loses its support and falls by its own weight from the interval w between the first and second ball receiving pieces 16a, 16b. At the same time, the subsequent second pachinko ball B2 enters the ball passage 11 and enters the ball detector 13. Accordingly, the second pachinko sphere B2 is detected by the sphere detector 13, and the second pachinko sphere B2 flows down to a position where the sphere is detected and a position b where the sphere is not detected. Detected and falls naturally as it is. In this way, a predetermined amount of pachinko sphere B is paid out while the pachinko sphere B passing through the sphere detector 13 is detected.

  Then, the paid-out pachinko sphere B reaches a specified amount, and the last pachinko sphere B passes through the sphere detector 13. Thereafter, the pachinko sphere B is out of the specified amount, but the earliest pachinko sphere Bn out of the pachinko sphere B outside the specified amount enters the sphere detector 13 as shown in FIG. At this time, the pachinko sphere Bn is detected at a position a where the sphere is detected and a position b where the sphere is not detected, and the stepping motor 17 is operated between them, as shown in FIG. The member 15 further rotates 60 degrees in the clockwise direction. Thereby, the second ball receiving piece 16b comes to the highest position and receives the first pachinko ball Bn outside the specified amount.

  In the present invention, the ball receiving member 15 is rotated by the stepping motor 17. However, the structure is changed, the ball receiving member is moved back and forth using a solenoid, and the ball receiving member is reciprocated in a horizontal plane. You may make it catch a pachinko ball by.

  In this way, the pachinko ball B flowing into the ball passage 11 is naturally dropped while being detected and discharged. Since a predetermined amount of pachinko balls B are naturally dropped and discharged, a high-speed payout that is convenient for paying out many pachinko balls B at a time is possible. For example, according to the ball dispensing device 108 of the present invention, 1000 to 1500 pachinko balls B can be dispensed per minute.

  5B, when the earliest pachinko ball Bn of the pachinko balls B out of the specified amount is received by the ball receiving pieces 16a to 16c of the ball receiving member 15, as shown by the solid line, the received tip position F deviates from the spherical center O2 of the pachinko sphere Bn in a plane that passes through the spherical center O2 of the pachinko sphere Bn and is orthogonal to the rotational direction of the ball receiving member 15. For this reason, the ball receiving pieces 16a to 16c always come into contact with each other at a lower position shifted from the ball center O2 of the pachinko sphere Bn in the vertical direction and receive the pachinko sphere Bn. Therefore, so-called ball biting in which the pachinko ball Bn is sandwiched between the ball receiving pieces 16 a to 16 c of the ball receiving member 15 and the inner peripheral surface of the ball passage 11 is prevented.

  Further, the direction of the ball pressure of the pachinko sphere Bn applied to the ball receiving member 15 and the direction of rotation of the ball receiving member 15 pass through the ball center O2 of the pachinko sphere Bn and are in a plane perpendicular to the rotation direction of the ball receiving member 15. Since they are orthogonal to each other, even if a ball pressure from the pachinko ball Bn is applied to the ball receiving member 15, no force is generated to rotate the ball receiving member 15. For this reason, the malfunction of paying out the pachinko sphere B more than the specified amount by the ball pressure is eliminated, and the pachinko sphere B is easily managed in the hall.

  Furthermore, the ball dispensing device 108 has as few components as the case main body 10, the ball detector 13, the ball receiving member 15, and the stepping motor 17 which are divided into two parts, and the assembly of the ball dispensing device 108 is simple. Not only that, but also the production costs can be reduced. Although the ball receiving pieces 16a to 16c are shown as the ball receiving portions, it is not limited to this.

11 Ball passage 13 Ball detector 15 Ball receiving member 17 Electric actuator (stepping motor)
108 ball dispensing device B game ball (pachinko ball)
B1 game ball (pachinko ball)
B2 game ball (pachinko ball)
Bn game ball (pachinko ball)
O1 center of rotation O2 center of sphere

Claims (1)

A ball path that is provided in the vertical direction and in which game balls flow down in a row;
A ball detector disposed in the ball passage and configured to detect a position in which a ball detection range of a passing game ball is set and in a ball detection state and a position in a ball non-detection state;
A predetermined amount of gaming balls that are arranged below the ball detector and are moved into the ball passage by the electric actuator and discharged when the gaming ball located between the ball detection state and the ball non-detection state is detected. A ball receiving member that intervenes between the last gaming ball of the first and the next gaming ball outside the prescribed amount, and receives the first gaming ball outside the prescribed amount,
When the first gaming ball outside the specified amount is received by the ball receiving member, the received position passes through the ball center of the gaming ball and is centered in a plane perpendicular to the moving direction of the ball receiving member. The direction of the ball pressure applied to the ball receiving member by the game ball and the moving direction of the ball receiving member are perpendicular to each other in the plane, and the specified amount of game ball is A ball dispenser for a game ball, wherein the ball dispenser is naturally dropped and dispensed without being received by a member.

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