JP2766614B2 - Prize ball discharge unit for pachinko machines - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prize ball discharging unit of a pachinko machine which is attached to a middle portion of a prize ball flow path and discharges a predetermined number of prize balls.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a pachinko machine, a prize ball tank for storing a large number of prize balls and a prize ball from the prize ball tank flow down in an aligned state on a mechanism panel provided on the back side of the game board. A prize ball flow path for guiding the prize ball to a prize ball discharge port, and further, a prize ball discharge device for discharging a predetermined number of prize balls down and discharging only when there is a prize in the middle of the prize ball flow path. Is provided.

In recent years, as a device for discharging a prize ball, a mechanism for controlling the discharge of a prize ball or a prize ball has been provided in a case as shown in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-129176. A unit that incorporates a sensor and the like for counting is provided. As shown in FIG. 7, the prize ball discharge unit has a ball passage 1 which extends in the up-down direction and has a ball passage 1 which constitutes a part of the prize ball flow path. The ratchet wheel 3 is rotatably provided, and a stopper 4 and a solenoid 5 for permitting and prohibiting rotation of the ratchet wheel 3 are provided.
Further, a proximity sensor 7 for counting the number of prize balls 6 passing through the ball passage 1 is provided downstream of the ratchet wheel 3 of the ball passage 1.

[0004] In normal operation (when the solenoid 5 is turned off), the stopper 4 locks the left end side of the ratchet wheel 3 by the force of the spring 8 to inhibit its rotation. This prevents the prize ball 6 from flowing down. Then, when a winning is detected, the solenoid 5 is energized by a control device (not shown) to suck the stopper 4 against the spring force, the engagement of the ratchet wheel 3 is released, and the rotation is allowed. Then, prize ball 6 is claw wheel 3
When the proximity sensor 7 detects that a predetermined number of prize balls 6 have been discharged, the solenoid 5 is turned off again and the prize balls 6 are discharged. Is stopped.

[0005]

By the way, in a pachinko machine, for example, at the end of a product inspection, the prize balls 6 stored in the prize ball tank and the prize ball flow path are all removed from the pachinko machine. Taking is done. In this case, an extraction port (not shown) is provided in the upstream portion of the prize ball flow path, and a lever (not shown) for switching the flow of the prize ball to the extraction port side is provided, and this lever is operated. Thereby, the prize ball 6 stored in the prize ball tank can be extracted.

[0006] However, the prize ball 6 still remains between the extraction port and the ball passage 1 (claw wheel 3) only by the extraction operation by the lever operation. The remaining prize balls 6 can flow down the prize ball flow path by making the ratchet wheel 3 rotatable.
By operating a flow path switching member (not shown) provided in the downstream part of the prize ball flow path, the ball can be extracted through the ball extraction path.

However, in the above-described conventional prize ball discharging unit, the ratchet wheel 3 is not rotatable unless the solenoid 5 is energized. For this reason,
In order to remove the prize ball 6, the solenoid 5 must be energized. However, the control device has a circuit configuration that energizes the solenoid 5 only when a prize is detected by the prize ball detection sensor. It is necessary to separately provide an energizing circuit for energizing the solenoid 5 at the time of extraction, and this complicates the electrical configuration and increases the cost. Further, when the prize ball 6 is removed, the pachinko machine may be already disconnected from the power supply, and the work of connecting to the power supply must be performed only to energize the solenoid 5. He was also inferior in sex.

Therefore, for example, it is conceivable that an operator performs an operation of forcibly displacing the stopper 4 by using a tool such as a pin to make the ratchet wheel 3 freely rotatable and to remove the prize ball 6. However, the entire prize ball discharge unit is Case 2.
Therefore, the operation of inserting a pin into the stopper 4 and operating the stopper has been extremely troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a prize ball discharge device for a pachinko machine which can easily perform a prize ball extraction operation and can reduce the configuration for the prize ball at a low cost. In providing units.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems] pachinko machine prize balls discharge unit of the present invention includes a case having a ball passage constituting a part of prize balls passage, it is set vignetting energization control in this case
Prize controlling the discharge of prize balls from the ball passage
A ball discharge control mechanism, a ball hole provided in a wall portion forming the ball passage and communicating the ball passage with a withdrawal passage outside the case, and a ball discharge hole provided so as to be operable from the outside of the case. By closing the ball hole and forming a part of the wall of the ball passage and being operated, the ball hole is retreated from the ball hole, the ball hole is opened, and the prize ball is discharged to the extraction passage.
And an opening and closing member.
(Invention of claim 1) . In this case, the prize ball discharge control mechanism
A part of which is provided so as to protrude into the spherical passage for rotation.
A claw wheel for allowing the prize balls to flow down one by one;
And a drive mechanism for controlling rotation and stop of the ratchet wheel.
(The invention of claim 2).

[0011]

According to the above means, in the normal sphere communication path
The ball hole formed in is closed by the opening and closing member,
At this time, the power supply control to the prize ball discharge control mechanism is not performed.
As a result, the prize balls flow down the ball path one by one. When the closing member is operated, it becomes spherical loophole is opened closing member is retracted from the sphere loophole, which at, winning balls housed in the upper stream of the sphere passage,
It is discharged from the ball hole to the extraction passage outside the case.

Therefore, in order to remove the prize ball stored in the ball passage, an extremely simple operation of operating the opening / closing member from the outside of the case is sufficient. Also, in this case,
Since there is no need to operate the drive mechanism, the extraction operation can be performed even when the power supply is disconnected from the power supply. Furthermore, at the time of extraction, prize balls are discharged to the extraction passage,
It is not necessary to switch the flow path in the downstream part of the prize ball flow path.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 6 shows the back of a pachinko machine. Here, a mechanical board (main set) 12 is provided on the pachinko machine main body 11 so as to cover the back of a game board (not shown). In this mechanism panel 12,
A prize ball detection mechanism 14 for detecting a prize ball 13 won on the game board, a prize ball discharge mechanism 16 for discharging a prize ball 15 in accordance with a prize, a control device (not shown), and the like are provided.

The winning ball detection mechanism 14 is provided at a collecting gutter 17 provided on the mechanism board 12 so as to communicate with the back surface of the game board, and at an end (right end in the figure) of the collecting gutter 17. Winning ball detecting unit 18 and the like. The gathering gutter 17 is configured such that the winning balls 13 flow down and are collected, and the winning balls 13 are guided toward the winning ball detecting unit 18 in an aligned state.

Although not shown in detail, the prize ball detecting unit 18 has an introduction path and a discharge path of the prize ball 13 in the case, and detects the prize ball 13 introduced into the introduction path. It has a ball detection sensor, a feed mechanism including a solenoid or the like that discharges the detected winning balls 13 one by one toward a discharge path, and the like. Thus, a winning ball is detected by the winning ball detection sensor, and a detection signal thereof is input to the control device. The winning balls 13 ejected from the ejection path of the winning ball detecting unit 18 are supplied to an ejection port 19 provided in the mechanism panel 12.
From the main body 11.

On the other hand, the prize ball discharging mechanism 16 is configured as follows. That is, a prize ball tank 2 for storing a large number of prize balls 15 (only some of which are shown) is provided above the mechanism panel 12.
0, and extends rightward continuously from the lower left end in the drawing of the prize ball tank 20.
In the figure, an upper winning ball flow path 21 extending downward in the shape of a "ku" on the right side is provided.

At a substantially central portion on the right side of the mechanical panel 12, as will be described in detail later, the prize ball discharge unit 22 having a substantially rectangular box shape as a whole is provided with the upper prize ball flow path 21.
Is provided so as to be continuous with the lower part of the. Further, a lower prize ball flow path 23 is provided below the prize ball discharge unit 22 so as to extend downward. The lower end of the lower prize ball flow path 23 is connected to the pachinko machine main body 1 through a prize ball discharge port 23a.
1 is connected to a ball tray (not shown) provided on the front surface.

The prize ball discharge unit 22 has a ball passage 24 connecting the upper prize ball flow path 21 and the lower prize ball flow path 23.
Are provided so as to extend in the vertical direction. Thus, the upper winning ball channel 21, the ball channel 24 and the lower winning ball channel 2
3, the prize ball flow path is formed. The prize ball 15 in the prize ball tank 20 flows down the upper prize ball flow path 21 in an aligned state to reach the prize ball discharge unit 22, and passes from the prize ball discharge unit 22 through the lower prize ball flow path 23 to obtain the prize ball. Outlet 2
The ball is discharged from 2a to the ball tray. At this time, as described later, in the prize ball discharge unit 22, the flow (discharge) of the prize ball 15 is controlled by the prize ball discharge control mechanism . Although not shown, the mechanism panel 12
When the ball saucer overflows, the prize ball 15
Is provided continuously to the lower winning ball flow path 23.

The mechanism board 12 is provided with an extraction passage 25 extending downward from a bent portion at the right end of the upper winning ball flow path 21 and communicating with the discharge port 19. At the right end of the flow path 21, a flow path changing member 26 for switching the flow path of the prize ball 15 to the extraction path 25 by an operator's operation is provided.

Next, the prize ball discharging unit 2 according to the present embodiment.
2 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. The prize ball discharging unit 22 is configured by incorporating the following components in a plastic case 27. The case 27 has a substantially rectangular box shape that is thin in the front-rear direction as a whole, and is formed by, for example, screwing the main part of the case and the case lid that are divided into front and rear parts together.

At this time, the spherical passage 24 is formed in the case 27 along the right side in FIG. The ball passage 24 is provided to extend in the up-down direction while slightly bending diagonally to the left in the middle part.
Flow down vertically. The extraction passage 25 is located outside the right wall of the case 27.

In the space on the left side of the ball passage 24 in the case 27, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a ratchet wheel (sprocket) 28 and a drive mechanism for rotating and stopping the ratchet wheel 28 are provided. 29 will be provided , and
An output control mechanism is configured . In this case, the ratchet wheel 28 has, for example, eight ridges 28a projecting in the axial direction at an outer peripheral portion at equal intervals (45-degree intervals), and a curved concave portion 28b is formed between the ridges 28a. Shape.

The ratchet wheel 28 is fixed to the shaft 30, and both ends of the shaft 30 are rotatably supported by front and rear walls of the case 27. It is located just to the left of the passage 24 and is rotatably provided. At this time, since the ridge 28a located at the right end of the ratchet wheel 28 projects into the ball passage 24, as shown in FIG. 3, the prize ball 15 is prevented from flowing down. Also, from this state, the ratchet wheel 28 indicates the arrow A.
By rotating in the direction, the prize balls 15 are sent downward one by one while fitting into the respective recesses 28b.
Are allowed to flow down one by one. The ball passage 24 is bent toward the ratchet wheel 28 immediately above the ratchet wheel 28 so that the prize ball 15 can be smoothly fitted into the concave portion 28b.

On the other hand, a ratchet wheel 31 is provided on the left side of the ratchet wheel 28. The ratchet wheel 31 has four locking claws 31 a at an angle of 90 degrees on the outer peripheral portion, and when the ratchet wheel 31 is fixed to the shaft 32, both ends of the shaft 32 It is rotatably provided by being rotatably supported by a wall.

Further, a first gear 33 having a small diameter is fixed to the rear portion of the shaft 32 having the ratchet wheel 31, while the rear portion (the ball passage 24) of the shaft 30 having the ratchet wheel 28 is fixed. The second gear 34, which has a large diameter,
Are fixed, and the first and second gears 33 and 34 are in an engaged state. The first and second gears 3
The gear ratio of 3 and 34 is, for example, the ratchet wheel 31
Is set to rotate the ratchet wheel 28 by an angle of 45 degrees when is rotated by an angle of 90 degrees.

A ratchet pawl 35 is provided on the right side of the ratchet wheel 31 so as to be able to swing around a shaft 36.
An operating member 37 made of a metal plate for oscillating 5 and a solenoid 38 for operating the operating member 37 are provided. The actuating member 37 has an upper end portion swingably supported and a lower end portion connected to the ratchet claw 35. When the solenoid 38 is turned off, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 3 (lower end is located on the left side) due to the spring force, and when the solenoid 38 is energized, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. (Swings to the right).

Thus, the drive mechanism 29 is constituted, and the operation member 37 is operated by one power cutoff to the solenoid 38.
3, the ratchet pawl 35 swings in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3 and in the opposite direction, thereby rotating the ratchet wheel 31 in the direction of arrow C by 90 degrees. Due to the rotation of the ratchet wheel 31 at an angle of 90 degrees, the ratchet wheel 28 is rotated by an angle of 45 degrees in the direction of arrow A by the first and second gears 33 and 34, and
The prize balls 15 flow down.

In addition, a ball detection sensor 40, for example, a magnetic sensor, for detecting whether or not the prize ball 15 exists above the ball passage 24 is provided in an upper portion in the case 27. Have been. Further, a substrate 41 for performing signal processing of the ball detection sensor 40, energization of the solenoid 38, and the like is provided. Also, this substrate 4
1 is provided with a connector 42 for connection to the outside.

In the right wall of the case 27 shown in FIG. 1 and the like, a ball hole formed in a lower portion facing the ratchet wheel 28 to allow the ball passage 24 to communicate with the extraction passage 25. 43 are provided. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, in the lower right portion of the case 27, in detail, an outer wall 27 a of the case 27 and a ball passage 24 for forming a ball passage 24 at a position slightly inward therefrom are formed. Wall 24a
In other words, the ball hole 43 is provided over both walls, and the opening on the outer wall 27a side is smaller in the vertical direction.

An opening / closing member 44 made of, for example, plastic is provided in the ball hole 43 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction, and always biases the opening / closing member 44 toward the front side of the case 27. A leaf spring 45 (only shown in FIG. 4) is provided. The opening / closing member 44 has an opening / closing plate portion 44a for opening and closing the ball hole 43, and a pressing operation portion 44c integrated with a lower portion of the opening / closing plate portion 44a via a narrow connecting portion 44b. It is configured.

The opening / closing plate portion 44a has a plate shape having a length corresponding to the opening of the wall portion 24a on the ball passage 24 side of the ball hole 43, and is disposed inside the outer wall 27a of the case 27. . The opening / closing plate portion 44a is normally positioned so as to close the ball hole 43 by the spring force of the leaf spring 45, as shown in FIGS. At this time, as shown in FIG.
And a part of the wall portion 24a is positioned as shown in FIG. Further, as described later, when the pressing operation portion 44c is pressed and slid to the rear side, the pressing operation portion 44c is retracted from the ball hole 43 to the back side to open the ball hole 43 as shown in FIG. It has become. 1 and 3
As shown in FIG.
It is slidably fitted in a concave groove formed between the wall 7a and the wall 24a, and is guided in the front-rear direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, the pressing operation portion 44c has a plate-like shape extending obliquely upward to the left and inclined, and has a guide hole 2 formed in the front surface of the case 27.
7b (see FIG. 5) so as to protrude toward the front side. The pressing operation portion 44c is pressed by an operator from the outside of the case 27, and thereby the back, that is, the ball passage 2
4 is drawn in.

As a result, the opening / closing member 44 is
As shown in FIG. 5, normally, the pressing operation portion 44c projects to the front surface of the case 27 by the spring force of the leaf spring 45, and the opening / closing plate portion 44a forms a part of the wall portion 24a. The hole 43 is closed (this is called a closed position). Then, the pressing operation portion 44c is a leaf spring 45.
1 and 2, the opening / closing plate portion 44a is retracted to the rear, and the ball hole 43 is retracted, as shown in FIGS.
Is released (this is referred to as an open position), and the pressing operation portion 44c enters the ball passage 24 and
The prize ball 15 inside is prevented from falling down as it is, and the prize ball 15 is guided to the right side, that is, the ball hole 43 side by the inclination of the upper surface.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
As described above, the prize ball 1 stored in the prize ball tank 20
5 sequentially flows down the upper winning ball flow path 21 in an aligned state to reach the ball passage 24 of the winning ball discharging unit 22. In a normal state, the solenoid 38 is in a cut-off state, and as shown in FIG. 3, the ratchet wheel 28 is stopped and its ridge 28a prevents the prize ball 15 from flowing down in the ball passage 24. At this time, the opening / closing member 44 is in the closed position,
3 is closed.

When a game is started and there is a prize on the game board, as described above, the prize ball detection sensor of the prize ball detection mechanism 14 detects a prize, and a signal thereof is input to the control device. The control device receives the signal and, on condition that the ball detection sensor 40 detects the winning ball 15 in the ball passage 24, a predetermined number of times (for example, 1
3 times). Thereby, the angle 4 of the ratchet wheel 28
The discharge of one prize ball 15 by rotation of 5 degrees is continuously repeated, for example, 13 times, so that each time one prize is won, 1 prize ball 15 is discharged.
Three prize balls 15 are discharged from the prize ball discharge unit 22, and the prize balls 15 flow down the lower prize ball flow path 23 and are discharged to the ball tray.

In the pachinko machine, for example, at the end of the product inspection, the prize ball 15 stored in the prize ball tank 20 and the prize ball flow path is extracted from the main body 11. . In this case, the operator changes the flow path changing member 26.
By operating, the prize ball 15 located upstream from the right end of the upper prize ball flow path 21 can be extracted from the discharge port 19 through the extraction passage 25. However, the prize ball 15 still remains in the lower portion of the upper prize ball flow path 21 and in the ball passage 24 of the prize ball discharge unit 22 (upstream from the ratchet wheel 28) only by this extracting operation.

Therefore, in order to remove the prize ball 15 remaining in this portion, the operator must use the case 27 of the prize ball discharge unit 22.
The pressing operation portion 44c of the opening / closing member 44 projecting from
The pushing operation is performed against the spring force of the leaf spring 45. Then
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the opening / closing member 44 moves to the open position, the ball hole 43 is opened, and the pressing operation portion 44 c projects into the ball passage 24 so that the stopper and the ball hole are removed. The function of guiding to 43 is performed.

Thus, the prize ball 15 stored in the ball passage 24 upstream of the ratchet wheel 28 is discharged from the ball hole 43. The prize balls 15 discharged from the prize ball discharge unit 22 are also extracted from the discharge port 19 through the extraction passage 25. When the pressing force of the pressing operation portion 44c is released after all the prize balls 15 are removed, the opening / closing member 44 returns to the original closed position by the spring force of the leaf spring 45.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the case 27
The prize ball 15 accommodated in the ball passage 24 is simply displaced from the closed position to the open position.
Can be withdrawn from the ball hole 43. In this case, since it is only necessary to push the pressing operation portion 44c protruding to the outside of the case 27, the conventional operation in which the operator forcibly displaces the locking member 4 using a tool such as a pin is used. Unlike this, the operation of extracting the prize ball 15 can be performed extremely easily.

Then, since it is possible to perform the extraction without energizing the solenoid 38, the pachinko machine main body 11 is removed.
Can be removed even when the power supply is not connected to a power source, and a separate energizing circuit for the solenoid 38 is not required, so that the circuit configuration can be reduced in cost. In addition, at the time of extraction, the prize ball 15 is directly discharged to the extraction passage 25, so that the flow path switching member conventionally provided in the middle of the lower prize ball flow path 23 becomes unnecessary, and the configuration is simplified. In addition, even when the pressing operation unit 44c is operated by mistake in the pachinko hall, the advantage that the prize ball 15 is not discharged to the ball receiving side can be obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the opening / closing plate portion 44a and the pressing operation portion 44
Although the opening and closing member 44 is integrated with the opening and closing member c, it is also possible to configure them as separate members. Further, the opening and closing member 44 may be applied to, for example, a case where two or more rows of ball paths are provided. Various configurations such as those described in the conventional example can be adopted as the configuration, and the configuration can be appropriately changed and implemented without departing from the gist.

[0042]

As is apparent in the above description, according to the pachinko machine prize balls discharge unit of the present invention, communicates the sphere passage passage sampling case outside wall portion constituting the ball passage In addition to providing a ball hole, the opening and closing member that normally closes the ball hole and constitutes a part of the wall of the ball passage and retracts from the ball hole by operation to open the ball hole, Since it is provided so as to be operable from the outside, there is an excellent practical effect that the operation of extracting the prize ball can be easily performed and the configuration therefor can be reduced in cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and is a longitudinal sectional view of a prize ball discharging unit in an open position of an opening / closing member.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the opening / closing member in an open position.

FIG. 3 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 in a closed position of an opening / closing member.

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 in a closed position of an opening / closing member.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a prize ball discharging unit.

FIG. 6 is a partially longitudinal rear view of the pachinko machine.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a prize ball discharging unit showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the drawing, 11 is a pachinko machine main body, 12 is a mechanical board, 14 is a winning ball detecting mechanism, 15 is a winning ball, 16 is a winning ball discharging mechanism, 1
9 is an outlet, 20 is a prize ball tank, 21 is an upper prize ball flow path,
22 is a prize ball discharge unit, 23 is a lower prize ball flow path, 24 is a ball path, 24a is a wall, 25 is a removal path, 26 is a flow path changing member, 27 is a case, 27a is an outer wall, and 27b is a guide hole. , 28 is a ratchet wheel, 29 is a driving mechanism, 31 is a ratchet wheel, 33 is a first gear, 34 is a second gear, 35 is a ratchet pawl, 38 is a solenoid, 43 is a ball hole, 44
Is an opening / closing member, 44a is an opening / closing plate portion, 44c is a pressing operation portion,
45 denotes a leaf spring.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A part of a prize ball passage, which is inserted in a middle of a prize ball flow path for guiding a prize ball from a prize ball tank to a ball tray, and controls discharge of the prize ball. a case having a ball passage constituting, by being set vignetting energization control in this case
Prize ball discharge controller for controlling discharge of prize balls from the ball passage
Structure, a ball hole provided in a wall portion constituting the ball passage and communicating the ball passage with an extraction passage outside the case, and the ball hole provided normally and operable from outside the case. An opening / closing member that forms a part of the wall portion of the ball passage by closing the ball passage, retreats from the ball hole by being operated, opens the ball hole, and discharges the prize ball to the extraction passage. A prize ball discharge unit for a pachinko machine, comprising: 2. The prize ball discharge control mechanism according to claim 2 , wherein
The prize ball is provided so as to protrude into the passage so that
Claw wheel for flowing down one by one, and rotation and stop of this claw wheel
And a drive mechanism for controlling the
2. The prize ball discharge unit of the pachinko machine according to claim 1.
G.