JP3073804B2 - Medal dispenser - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to various game machines such as slot Thomas Shin, vending machines, such as currency exchange machine, related to medal dispensing machine for dispensing the coins and other medals from the medal dispensing port to an external It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a medal dispenser for pushing a medal up to a medal ejection outlet and ejecting the same, for example, USP451
A device as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8001 is known.
A medal dispensing machine disclosed in this publication has a medal sending device having a rotating plate for sending medal and sending a medal supplied from a hopper to a medal sending exit (an entrance portion of an elevator). A medal lifter (elevator) having a passage extending upward from a location corresponding to the medal, a medal throwout port is provided at the upper end of the medal lifter, and the medals are sequentially sent to the medal lifter by the medal sending device and pushed up to the medal throwout port. It is supposed to be.
An ejector mechanism is provided in the vicinity of the medal outlet at the upper end of the passage of the medal lifter so that medals can be ejected to an external medal tray or the like in an appropriate manner so as to repel medals.

In the ejector mechanism disclosed in the above publication, an elongated hole-shaped notch is provided in a back panel of a medal passage near a medal throw-out opening, and a shaft supporting a roller is inserted through the notch. The bracket holding this shaft is attached to the medal lifter via a hinge and is urged in a certain direction by a spring, so that when the medal passes therethrough, the shaft with the roller is pushed by the medal and the notch is formed. It is configured such that it temporarily moves outward within the range of the part, and a medal is popped out upon its return.

[0004]

According to the ejector mechanism of the conventional medal dispensing machine as described above, it is necessary to provide a notch in the back panel of the medal passage forming portion, and it is necessary to provide a notch for the back panel and the guide wall. In addition to the passage component, it is necessary to provide an ejector assembly, such as the shaft with a roller, a bracket, and a hinge, as a separate member, which increases the number of parts used and increases costs. Furthermore, since the notch is provided in the medal passage forming range, if the medal is burred or deformed, it may catch on the notch and cause the medal to be jammed.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention simplifies the mechanism for ejecting medals from the medal throw-out port, reduces the number of parts used, reduces costs, and allows medals to be ejected without jamming the medals. It is an object of the present invention to provide a medal dispenser that can be performed reliably and smoothly.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a medal sending device for sending medals taken in from a hopper one by one from a medal sending opening, and a medal passage extending upward. and Medarurifuta erected on a medal delivery device, in medal dispensing machine having a medal ejection port provided at the upper end of the Medarurifuta, upper
The medal slot opens sideways, and the medal passage
It bends near the top of the Dal Lifter and reaches the medal outlet
With the sea urchin formed, among the medal passage end portion on both sides of the guide walls for guiding the medal in the vicinity of the medal ejection port
And from the bent part of the medal passage to the medal throw-out
The part located on the side is swingable, and
Change the direction of the medal movement at the upper end and change the medal to the above medal
A guide surface curved on the lower side to face the outlet
The pivot shaft is positioned above the side of the guide surface with respect to the substrate.
And a biasing means for biasing the swingable guide wall in a direction approaching the fixed guide wall facing the swingable guide wall.

In this configuration, it is preferable that a rotatable guide roller is provided at the end of the fixed guide wall facing the swingable guide wall. Further, it is preferable that the guide roller is formed of a stepped roller whose diameter changes in a plurality of steps, and is attached to the substrate so as to be able to change the amount of protrusion.

[0008]

According to the above construction, when a medal moving in the medal passage of the medal lifter passes between the swingable guide wall and the fixed guide wall opposed thereto, the swingable guide wall is temporarily moved. After being pushed open by the medal, the center of the medal operates in the return direction as it passes through the movable guide wall, and at this time, the medal is ejected from the medal throw-out port by the force acting on the medal from the movable guide wall. Thus, an ejector action can be obtained with a simple structure utilizing the guide wall of the medal passage.

Further, if a rotatable guide roller is provided at the end of the fixed guide wall facing the swingable guide wall, the resistance to the movement and ejection of medals is reduced. Further, when the guide roller is a stepped roller having a diameter changing in a plurality of steps and is mounted on the substrate so as to be able to change the projection amount, a guide wall which can swing according to the diameter of the medal to be processed is provided. It is possible to adjust the facing distance with the guide roller.

[0010]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2 show an entire medal dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
And a medal lifter 2 erected on the medal sending device 1. In this embodiment, the medal sending device 1
A medal lifting device 3 is provided between the medal lifter 2 and the medal lifter 2. Further, a motor 4 and a driving force transmission mechanism for driving the medal sending device 1 and the medal push-up device 3, a hopper 5 located in front of the medal sending device 1 and storing a large number of medals M, etc. Provided. At the upper end of the medal lifter 2, a medal outlet 7 is provided.

The above-mentioned medal sending device 1 sends out the medals M supplied from the hopper 5 one by one. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. And a circular rotating member 11 positioned in front of the base 10.
The medal M sent out from the medal supply port 5a at the bottom of the base member 10 is thrown into the surface side of the base 10 through the space inside the rotating member 11. On the front side of the base 10, a guide wall 1 projecting stepwise in a certain range of the outer peripheral portion.
2 are provided, and a medal support surface 13 is formed on the inner peripheral side thereof as a medal moving passage. A medal stirring disk 14 that is driven by the motor 4 and rotates in a predetermined direction is attached to a portion inside the medal support surface 13 of the base 10. The medal stirring disk 14 stirs the medals M sent from the hopper 5 to prevent medal clogging.

The rotating member 11 is rotatably held by a plurality of rollers 15 disposed on the base 10, has a gear 11a on the outer periphery of a side portion, and has a driving gear 41 and a transmission gear 42 by a motor 4. , 43, 44 and the like. A medal feeding member 16 made of an elastic material such as rubber is fixed to the rotating member 11, and the medal feeding member 16 has a lip portion 16a protruding toward the medal support surface 13 of the base 10. . The lip portion 16a of the medal feeding member 16
Elastically comes into contact with the medals M on the medal support surface 13 and moves the medals M to the upper portion of the base 10 with the rotation of the rotating member 11. In the upper part of the base 10, a medal delivery port 18 is formed between the outer peripheral guide wall 12 and a guide wall 17 located on the inner peripheral side of the medal support surface 13.

On the other hand, the medal lifter 2 is formed of a vertically long plate-like member that is erected obliquely upward from the upper end of the base 10 of the medal sending device 1 and has guide walls 21 and 22 on both side edges thereof. There is a concave medal passage 20 with a constant width between them. The medal passage 20 extends linearly near the upper end of the medal lifter 2, bends laterally near the upper end, and reaches the medal outlet 7. Medal outlet 7
An ejector mechanism for assisting the ejection of the medals M from the medal ejection opening 7 is provided in the vicinity, which will be described later in detail. In the lower part of the medal lifter 2, there is a medal passage 2
A stop roller 23 with a built-in one-way clutch or the like for preventing a coin in 0 from returning (falling) is attached.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the medal push-up device 3 rotates in a fixed direction with a relay passage 30 connecting the medal sending port 18 of the medal sending device 1 and the medal passage 20 of the medal lifter 2. The relay passage 30 has a cutout hole 33 in an arc through which the medal push-up pin 32 is inserted.
The rotating disk 31 is rotatably held on the back side of the base 10, and includes a driving gear 41, transmission gears 42, 43, 43 ′,
It is driven by the motor 4 via the driven gear 31a, and a torque limiter (not shown) is provided between the gears 43 and 43 '.

A plurality of the above-mentioned medal push-up pins 32 are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the rotating disk 31, and are respectively inserted into insertion holes 34 of the rotating disk 31 so as to be protrudable and retractable with respect to the rotating disk 31. And the relay 35 is urged by the spring 35 in the protruding direction.
0, the passage 3 through the cutout hole 33
0, and after passing through the relay passage 30, the guide member 36
Is guided by the arc-shaped groove-shaped guide portion 37 formed on the back surface side of the device, and enters the retracted state. Then, the rotating disk 31 rotates in synchronization with the rotating member 11 of the medal sending device 1, and accordingly, the medal M sent from the medal sending device 1 is pushed up by the medal push-up pin 32, and the medal passage 20 of the medal lifter 2 is formed. It is configured to be sent to

FIG. 5 shows a medal outlet 7 at the upper end of the medal lifter 2 and an ejector mechanism. The medal outlet 7 is open to the side. As the ejector mechanism, one end of the guide wall 7 at the end of the medal passage 20 is used.
1 is supported on the substrate 24 of the medal lifter 2 so as to be able to swing around a swing shaft 72, and is swingable by a spring 73 as a biasing means (hereinafter referred to as a “movable guide” in the embodiment). (Referred to as “wall”) 71 in a direction approaching the fixed guide wall 22. That is,
The movable guide wall 71 is provided at a position following the end of the fixed guide wall 21 on one side of the medal passage 20, has a guide surface 71a on the lower side so as to guide the medal M to the medal ejection opening 7 side, and has an intermediate portion. Is pivotally mounted on a swing shaft 72, and a spring 73 is mounted between the upper end protruding portion of the movable guide wall 71 and the medal lifter 2. Further, a stopper 71b is provided on the movable guide wall 71 so as to protrude to the rear side through a notch 74 formed in the substrate 24 of the medal lifter 2, and the stopper 71b is cut at a basic position shown in FIG. The gap between the guide surface 71a of the movable guide wall 71 and the terminal end of the fixed guide wall 22 opposed thereto is set to be smaller than the diameter of the medal M at this time.

[0017] In addition to such an ejector mechanism,
A projection stopping mechanism including a solenoid 75 indicated by a broken line in FIG. 5A may be provided. The ejection stopping mechanism is configured such that the plunger 75a of the solenoid 75 attached to the substrate 23 is connected to the stopper 71b via the connecting portion 76 on the rear side of the medal lifter 2, so that the solenoid 75 responds to a control signal. Is turned on, the movable guide wall 71 is kept in the basic state described above to prevent its swing.

The operation of the medal dispenser of this embodiment will be described below.

The medal M supplied from the hopper 5 to the medal sending device 1 is sent to the medal sending port 18 with the rotation of the rotating member 11, further moves to the relay passage 30, and the rotating disk 31 of the medal push-up device 3 Is pushed up by the medal push-up pin 32 and sent to the medal passage 20 of the medal lifter 2. The medals M in the medal passage 20 are pushed by the following medals M and rise.

Then, the medal that has reached the vicinity of the medal outlet 18 is repelled from the medal outlet 18 by the swing of the movable guide wall 71. This operation will be described with reference to FIG. 5. When a medal M moving by receiving a pushing force from the medal pushing device 3 passes between the movable guide wall 71 and the fixed guide wall 22 opposed thereto, FIG.
As shown in (b), the movable guide wall 71 is
It is pushed open by the medal M against the urging force of No. 3. Then, when the center of the medal M passes through the movable guide wall 71, the movable guide wall 71 is moved by the force of the spring 73 while the tip of the movable guide wall 71 contacts the peripheral surface of the medal M as shown in FIG. It operates in the closing direction (returning direction to the basic position). At this time, the medal M is repelled from the medal throw-out port 7 by the force acting on the medal M from the movable guide wall 71.

In the case where a projection stopping mechanism including the solenoid 75 and the like is provided, if the swing of the movable guide wall 71 is prevented by the operation of the solenoid 75, the passage of the medal M is prevented at this position. Is done. When the ejection of the medal M is temporarily stopped by the ejection stop mechanism while the motor 4 is being driven, the medal M is provided between the gears 43 and 43 'in the driving force transmission system. The transmission of the driving force is cut off by the torque limiter and the medal push-up device 3 stops, and in the medal sending device 1, the medal feeding member 16 slips with respect to the medal M.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the ejector mechanism at the upper end of the medal lifter 1 in the medal dispenser of the present invention. In this embodiment, a rotatable guide roller 77 is provided at a terminal position of the fixed guide wall 22 facing the movable guide wall 71.

Also in this embodiment, when the medal M passes between the movable guide wall 71 and the guide roller 77, the medal M is swung so that the movable guide wall 71 is once pushed open and then returned. The operation of being ejected from the medal outlet 7 is the same as that of the basic embodiment. However, when the guide roller 77 rotates as the medal M passes,
Resistance decreases. Accordingly, the action of flipping out the medals M is promoted, and the load on the medal pushing device and the like is reduced.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show another embodiment of the ejector mechanism. In this embodiment, the movable guide wall 71
A guide roller 80 provided on the terminal end side of the fixed guide wall 22 opposing the substrate 24 is a stepped roller and can change the amount of protrusion with respect to the substrate 24. In other words, the guide roller 80 is formed, for example, on the substrate 24 in a state in which the diameter is sequentially changed to a plurality of stages (three stages in the figure) with the tip end having the smallest diameter and being pivotally mounted on the roller shaft 81. And protrudes toward the surface of the substrate through the through hole 82. The roller shaft 81 is inserted into the shaft insertion hole 84 of the bracket 83 fixed to the back surface of the substrate 24, and between the bracket 83 and the guide roller 80 around the roller shaft 81 and between the bracket 83 and the end member. The roller shaft 81 and the end member 85 are attached to the bracket 83 by bolts 87 with a plurality of ring-shaped spacers 86 interposed therebetween.
At the time of this mounting, by selecting the distribution of the spacers 86, for example, in the state shown in FIG. 8, the first-stage portion of the guide roller 80 protrudes toward the front surface side of the substrate 24, and the spacers 86 are arranged in a certain number (for example, one piece). ), The second-stage portion of the guide roller 80 protrudes toward the surface side of the substrate 24. If the spacer 86 is further distributed between the bracket and the guide roller, the third portion of the guide roller 80 becomes larger. The configuration is such that the step portion protrudes toward the front surface side of the substrate 24.

According to this embodiment, the medal M to be processed is
Is large, the first-stage portion of the guide roller 80 is mounted so as to protrude toward the front surface side of the substrate 24, so that the facing distance between the movable guide wall 71 and the guide roller 80 becomes relatively large, and the processing is performed. When the diameter of the medal M becomes small, the movable roller 71 and the guide roller 80 face each other by attaching the second or third stage of the guide roller 80 so as to protrude toward the surface of the substrate 24. The spacing is reduced. Therefore, even if the diameter of the medal M to be processed changes, the swing amount of the movable guide wall 71 and the force applied to the medal M due to the swing are appropriately adjusted by adjusting the opposing interval accordingly, and the stable medal is obtained. An ejection action is obtained.

The structures of the medal sending device 1 and the medal push-up device 3 in the medal dispenser are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the medal M is moved to the medal lifter 2 and the medal M in the medal lifter 2 is pushed up. Anything that can be added is acceptable. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the medal sending device 1 and the medal push-up device 3 use the medal sending device 1 and the medal pushing device 3 in order to reduce the load applied to the medal M sending device and to smoothly move the medal M to the medal lifter 2.
Although the transfer of the medals M to the medal sending-out port 18 and the pushing of the medals M ahead thereof are performed in a shared manner, the medal pushing device 3 is omitted, and the pushing force for the medals M in the medal lifter 2 is also sent out. It may be provided by the device 1.

[0027]

[Effect of the Invention] medal dispensing machine according to claim 1, in the vicinity of medal ejection port of Medarurifuta upper end, medals through
Of the part from the bend of the road to the lateral medal
A swingable guide wall is provided on the upper side, and this swingable
The guide wall changes the medal movement direction at the upper end of the medal passage
Curved so that the medals go to the medal outlet above
On the lower side, and the upper side of this guide surface
By being provided with a biasing means for biasing the swingable guide wall in a direction approaching the fixed guide wall facing the swingable guide wall, When the medal passes through this part, the medal is ejected from the medal throw-out port as the swingable guide wall swings . Therefore, despite the simple structure utilizing the guide wall at the end of the medal passage ,
An effect of guiding the dull to the medal throwing port in the horizontal direction and an effect of the ejector can be provided, so that the number of parts to be used can be reduced and the cost can be reduced as compared with the conventional one. Further, since there is no notch in the medal passage forming area unlike the conventional case, even if the medal is burred or deformed, the medal is not jammed, and the medal can be reliably and reliably ejected. Can be.

Further, if a rotatable guide roller is provided at the end position of the fixed guide wall facing the swingable guide wall, the resistance to the movement of the medals is reduced. Therefore, the medal pop-out function can be enhanced, and the load applied to the medal sending device and the like can be reduced.

Further, if the guide roller is formed of a stepped roller having a diameter changing in a plurality of steps and is attached to the substrate so as to be able to change the amount of projection, the processing is performed. The opposing interval between the swingable guide wall and the guide roller can be adjusted according to the diameter of the medal, and a stable medal throwing operation can be performed even when the diameter of the medal changes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an entire medal dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the entire medal dispensing machine.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the medal dispensing machine including a medal sending device and a medal pushing device.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a portion including a medal sending device and a medal push-up device with a rotating member removed.

FIG. 5A is an enlarged front view of a main part showing a basic state of an ejector mechanism provided near a medal throw-out opening. (B) is an enlarged front view of a main part of the mechanism showing a state where a movable guide wall is pushed open. (C) is an enlarged front view of a main part showing a state when the movable guide wall in the mechanism flips medals.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view of a main part showing another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view of a main part showing still another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 medal sending device 2 medal lifter 7 medal throw-out 20 medal passage 21, 22 fixed guide wall 71 movable guide wall 72 swing shaft 73 spring 77, 80 guide roller

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI B65G 47/82 B65G 47/82 E 47/88 47/88 B 65/42 65/42 B

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A medal sending device for sending medals taken in from a hopper one by one from a medal sending opening, a medal lifter having a medal passage extending upward and standing on the medal sending device, and an upper end of the medal lifter. In the medal dispensing machine provided with the medal ejection port provided in the section, the medal ejection port is opened sideways, and the medal passage is
Bend near the upper end of the medal lifter to reach the medal outlet
While it is formed so as, among the medal passage end portion on both sides of the guide walls for guiding the medal in the vicinity of the medal dispensing port, from the bent portion of the medal passage
The part located above the medal throwing port can swing
Is a, the pivotable guide wall is the upper end of the medal passage
Change the direction of the medal movement and transfer the medal to the above medal exit
It has a guide surface curved so as to face it on the lower side,
At a position above the side of the guide surface, the swinging shaft
A medal dispensing machine characterized by being provided with a biasing means which is pivotally supported and biases the swingable guide wall in a direction approaching a fixed guide wall opposed thereto. 2. The medal dispensing machine according to claim 1, wherein a rotatable guide roller is provided at a terminal position of the fixed guide wall facing the swingable guide wall. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the guide roller located at the end of the fixed-side guide wall comprises a stepped roller having a diameter changing in a plurality of steps, and is attached to the substrate so as to be able to change the amount of protrusion. The medal dispenser according to claim 2.