JP2600343Y2 - Coin lifter - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for transporting coins such as coins and medals, and more particularly to a lifter having a function of lifting from the bottom up and transferring it to a predetermined transport path or a tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art
At the amusement arcade, a system to supply prize medals to game machines
In systems that supply medals to medal vending machines and medal collection systems, lifters are used to lift medals from the bottom up.

As such a lifter, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 52-84031 and 52-94251 have been proposed. As shown in FIG. 5, a horizontal transport surface for coins such as coins and medals is used. A coin-introducing portion 111 extending in the direction and a rising portion 113 which rises the introducing portion 111 upward from the middle thereof, and further has a return portion 115 for connecting the rising portion 113 to the introducing portion 111 again. 1 conveyor belt 110, a contact portion 121 disposed on the conveying surface side of the first conveyor belt 110 and in contact with the introduction portion 111 and the rising portion 113, and the return portion 1.
15, a medal discharge unit 123 that escapes in a lateral direction away from the first conveyor belt 110, and a descending unit 12 that connects the medal discharge unit 123 to the contact unit 121 again.
5 and a second conveyor belt 120 having the first and second conveyor belts 120. The medals M supplied to the introduction section 111 of the first conveyor belt 110 are sent to a contact portion between the two conveyor belts, and are sandwiched between the two conveyor belts. After lifting to
Medal discharge section 123 of the second conveyor belt 120
The lifter, which was delivered to and discharged, was put to practical use.
This lifter could lift the medals M smoothly if the medals M were sequentially inserted one by one. However, if a large number of medals rush into the entrance A at the contact portion of both conveyors at once, the medals are sandwiched between the two conveyors with the medals overlapping, and the lifter with a large amount of medals exceeding the limit stops. was there.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to prevent such medals from overlapping, a device for sequentially introducing medals one by one has been attached to the medal introduction portion to the lifter. However, mounting this device requires an extra space, and further requires control for moving the device, resulting in an increase in the size of the device and a reduction in medal transport efficiency.

On the other hand, in a conveyor (not a lifter) for collecting coins from a vending machine for medals, as a method for preventing coins from overlapping, rollers and belts are arranged at a predetermined distance above the conveyor surface, and these are placed. There are known devices for separating coins that have been overlapped by reversing them (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 52-134395, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 54-31869).
issue). However, even if this technology is applied to the lifter,
If the amount of medals is large, the medals form a mountain and block the above-mentioned entrance A in FIG. 5, and as a result, the medals do not flow or a large amount of medals temporarily enter the entrance A and become stuck. And it was not a solution.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent a conveyor from stopping even when a large amount of coins are supplied at once in a lifter for coins such as coins and medals.

[0007]

The coin lifter according to the present invention comprises two endless belts which rotate while keeping their conveying surfaces in contact with each other over at least a predetermined area having a rising portion. The transfer surface extends substantially horizontally or obliquely further upstream than the contact portion to form a coin introduction portion, and coins such as coins and medals are placed on the coin introduction portion and transported to the contact portion. The coins are pinched by the contact portion and the coins are lifted at a predetermined distance above the coin introduction portion in a coin lifter configured to convey the coins to an upper discharge position. A third endless belt that is rotated at a transfer speed equal to or higher than the transfer speed of the two endless belts in a direction in which coins placed on the introduction unit are pushed back to the transfer source side is provided,
The third endless belt is moved forward near the coin introduction portion.
A first roller disposed on the transfer source side and the first roller;
Between the second roller and a position located almost vertically upward
By bridging the, characterized in that launched over a predetermined distance the transport origin end of the endless belt of said third substantially vertically upward.

[0008]

According to the coin lifter of the present invention, when a large amount of coins are supplied while being overlapped on the coin introduction surface,
The coins on the upper side are broken by the front and bottom portions of the third endless belt, and are pushed back toward the transport source. In particular, at the portion of the third endless belt that is raised substantially in the vertical direction, the overlapping coins are pushed upward, and even if the coins are piled up, they can be broken well. In addition, if the introduction part of coins is formed as an inclined surface where the transportation source is lowered, the coins can be more easily returned.

Here, if there is no rising portion on the upstream side of the third endless belt, the pile of coins formed when a large amount of coins are supplied cannot be broken, and the pile is hindered by this pile. After all, biting coins,
Or, the mountain remains in the form of closing the entrance, and coins do not enter under the third endless belt,
There is a possibility that the transfer may be impossible.

[0010] In the present invention, the third endless belt is configured to be pushed up while raising the coins upward by raising the transfer source side of the third endless belt substantially vertically upward. Can be broken, and as a result, a state in which the sheet cannot be conveyed does not occur. As described above, the present invention does not employ the third endless belt for mere alignment, but employs a configuration in which the transportation end side of the third endless belt is raised substantially vertically upward over a predetermined distance. By doing so, it is possible to operate such that no inconvenience occurs even if coins are supplied in piles.

Further, according to the present invention, the transport speed of the third endless belt is made higher than the transport speed of the other two endless belts. According to the experiment of the present inventor, when the transport speed is the same or slow, when coins are solidified and the coins are supplied, the pile of coins may not be able to be collapsed well. As a result of confirming that the problem can be solved, the configuration is adopted.

Note that the third endless belt needs to be disposed upwardly at least by a distance exceeding the thickness of one coin.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a medal collecting / supplying device of a gaming machine incorporating a medal lifter to which the present invention is applied will be described below. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the embodiment. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the lifter portion.

The system of the embodiment is provided at the end of an island 5 where a number of slot machines 1 and medal vending machines 3 are arranged, and medals collected from a lower portion of the slot machine 1 are upwardly moved by a first lifter 7. The medal polisher 9 lifts and sends the polished medals to the second lifter 11, further lifts the medals to the top of the island 5, transfers the medals to the medal distribution system 13, and transfers the slot machine 1 and It is configured to supply each of the medal vending machines 3. Arrows in FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate the moving paths of medals from the medal collection to the supply. Note that medals are also input from the medal counter 15 to the polishing machine 9 and polished.

Since the first lifter 7 and the second lifter 11 have substantially the same configuration, the second lifter 11
(Hereinafter, only the lifter will be described) with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, the lifter includes a first conveyor belt 20, a second conveyor belt 30 disposed on the transport surface side thereof, and a third conveyor belt 40 disposed by a hopper HP. It is composed of The hopper HP has an open bottom surface HP1 and a front surface HP2.

The first conveyor belt 20 includes a hopper HP
The medal introduction part 21 extending in the lateral direction so as to close the opening of the bottom surface HP1, the rising part 23 which rises the medal introduction part 21 upward from the middle, and the rising part 23 is again attached to the medal introduction part 21. An endless belt is formed from the continuous return portion 25. Note that the medal introduction unit 21
The transfer source side is inclined so as to be lower. This angle of inclination is about 10 degrees with respect to the horizontal as shown in FIG. Further, the first conveyor belt 20 is formed of a material having a large coefficient of friction.

The second conveyor belt 30 is an endless belt that rotates with the first conveyor belt 20 and a conveying surface in contact with each other over a predetermined range, sandwiches medals at the contact portion, and conveys the medal upward. is there. The second conveyor belt 30 includes a contact portion 31 that contacts the medal introduction portion 21 and the rising portion 23, and a medal discharge portion that is separated from the first conveyor belt 20 and escapes laterally before reaching the return portion 25. 33, and a descending section 35 that connects the medal discharge section 33 to the contact section 31 again. The second conveyor belt 30 is formed of a material having a smaller coefficient of friction than the first conveyor belt 20. This is to smooth the medal conveyance in the curved portions B and C by sliding as needed.

The third conveyor belt 40 has a bottom 41 disposed above the medal introduction section 21 of the first conveyor belt 20 at a predetermined distance from the medal introduction section 21, and a first conveyor belt 40 further near the bottom 41 . Roller 47 and first roller 47
Between the second roller 48 disposed substantially vertically above the
A front portion 43 which is passed and extends a predetermined distance substantially vertically upward,
The front part 43 is composed of a rear part 45 which is continued to the bottom part 41 again. The distance h1 between the bottom 41 and the medal introduction portion 21 on the medal entry side is sufficiently smaller than the diameter of the medal M. On the other hand, the distance h2 between the bottom 41 and the medal introduction unit 21 on the medal exit side is a distance exceeding the thickness of at least one of the medals M (for example, the thickness of two to three medals). 2
The reason why they may be separated by a distance of up to about three sheets is that the overlapping of these degrees does not hinder the conveyance of the first and second conveyor belts. Rather, keeping the distance of about two to three sheets contributes to smooth processing without difficulty in the medal alignment operation by the third endless belt. Thus, the bottom portion 41 is arranged such that the distance from the medal introduction portion 21 becomes narrower as it goes deeper as a whole. Further, the third conveyor belt 40 is formed of a material having a large friction coefficient similarly to the first conveyor belt 20.

The first, second, and third conveyor belts 20, 30, and 40 are rotated as shown by arrows in FIGS. That is, the first conveyor belt 20 is rotated clockwise, the second conveyor belt 30 is rotated counterclockwise, and the third conveyor belt 40 is rotated clockwise. For this reason, the second conveyor belt 30 can convey the medals M in cooperation with the first conveyor belt 20, but the third conveyor belt 40 pushes the medals M back against the first conveyor belt 20. Acts in the direction. The transport speed of the third conveyor belt 40 is set faster than the transport speed of the first conveyor belt 20.

With the above configuration, a large number of medals M are supplied to the hopper HP as shown in FIG. 3, and a large number of medals are overlapped with the first conveyor belt 20 and the third medal.
If it is supplied between the conveyor belts 40 of
The bottom 41 of the conveyor belt 40 pushes the upper medal backward by the frictional force of the belt surface, and breaks the medal block. As a result, the medal is prevented from being supplied to the entrance A to the portion where the first and second conveyor belts are in contact with the medal overlapping. Here, as shown in the figure, even if a large amount of medals accumulate on the entrance sides of the first and third conveyor belts, the medals in this portion are not indicated by arrows X in the third conveyor belt 40 as shown in the figure. It is lifted at the front part 43 and sent back far. Therefore, it is possible to break the medal pile on the entry side. In this embodiment, the front part 4 of the third conveyor belt 40 is used.
Since a portion that rises in the vertical direction by a predetermined distance is provided as No. 3, the mountain of medals is not broken and does not fall into such a state. Also, as a result of breaking the medal pile,
It is also possible to avoid a situation in which the supply of medals becomes impossible due to the medals on the mountain being disturbed.

In the present embodiment, the function of breaking the hill is favorably exhibited by the inclination provided at the medal introduction portion 21 of the first conveyor belt 20. In other words, the medal easily returns to the left side in the figure by this inclination,
When the medals stand near the entrance D to the bottom 41 of the third conveyor belt 40, the medals are likely to roll toward the transport source, and are difficult to close, so that the mountain is easily collapsed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified into various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0023]

[Effect of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
In a lifter for coins such as coins and medals, even if a large amount of coins are supplied at one time, the conveyor does not stop and the coins can be lifted smoothly from bottom to top. As a result, a device for inserting coins one by one becomes unnecessary, which is effective in making the device compact. In addition, there is also an advantage that a failure due to the biting of coins is eliminated and an efficient coin transport operation can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment system.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a lifter portion of the embodiment system.

FIG. 3 is a detailed structural view of a lifter as an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a detailed structural view of a lifter as an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a detailed structural view of a conventional lifter.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Slot machine, 3. Medal vending machine, 5.
..Island, 7 ... First lifter, 9 ... Medal polishing machine, 11 ... Second lifter, 13 ... Medal distribution system, 15 ... Medal counter, 20 ... No. 1 conveyor belt, 21 ... medal introduction section, 23
.. Ascending section, 25... Return section, 30... Second conveyor belt, 31... Contact section, 33... Medal discharge section, 35. Conveyor belt of 41, bottom part, 43 ... front part, 45 ... rear part, A, D ... entrance, B, C ... curved part, HP ...
-Hopper, M ... medal.

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An endless belt that rotates while keeping its transport surfaces in contact with each other over a predetermined range having at least a rising portion, and the transport surface of one of the endless belts is substantially further upstream than the contact portion. Extending horizontally or obliquely as a coin introduction section, coins such as coins and medals are placed on the coin introduction section, transported to the contact section, and pinched at the contact section, In a coin lifter configured to convey coins to an upper discharge position, a coin placed on the coin introduction section is separated from the coin introduction section by a predetermined distance, and the coins placed on the coin introduction section are conveyed to the transport source side. A third endless belt that is rotated at a speed equal to or higher than the speed of conveyance by the two endless belts in a direction to push back the third endless belt is disposed near the coin introduction section.
A first roller disposed on the transfer source side and the first roller;
Between the second roller and a position located almost vertically upward
A By bridging, lifter coin class, characterized in that the transport origin end of the endless belt of the third launched over substantially vertically upward a predetermined distance.