JP4561285B2 - Ball hopper - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to, for example, a ball dispensing device for dispensing a winning ball or a lending ball of a pachinko gaming machine, and a ball hopper provided with an alignment passage provided in the preceding stage, and more specifically, a plurality of balls in a stacked state at a short distance It relates to a ball hopper that can flow smoothly.

  Conventionally, a flow-down passage having a gradient of about 5 to 10 ° has been constructed as a passage through which balls stored in a storage tank flow down to a ball dispensing device on the downstream side. In addition, on the bottom surface of this type of flow-down passage, there is provided a flow-down groove for removing foreign matter such as a long hole or a groove that is opened so that the foreign matter falls from the passage. Further, foreign matter such as dust, metal powder, or mixed dust adhering to the balls flowing down from the storage tank is prevented from remaining in the passage and obstructing the subsequent balls (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  However, when such a ditch is constructed, a ball that flows along the bottom surface of the descent passage receives resistance when passing through the downstream edge of the descent groove, and a phenomenon in which smooth flow until then is prevented. appear.

As a result, the supply of the ball becomes discontinuous, not be ball and stably supplied to the subsequent ball dispenser. For this reason, there is a problem in that the ball supply timing and the sprocket feed claw feed timing are deviated, resulting in the ball being fed idle or being clogged with the sprocket feed claw. In particular, when speeding up the dispensing of the ball dispensing device, it has been a problem in achieving stable high-speed supply.

Utility Kaihei 1-167286

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a ball hopper capable of stably flowing down balls when the balls are aligned and flowed down.

The present invention is provided on the back side of the board surface of the game table, has a storage space for storing a large number of balls in a stacked state, and a tank portion having a narrowing passage gradually narrowed toward the inclined downstream side; A storage tank provided on the same inclined surface with a concave alignment passage connected to the downstream side of the tank portion via the narrowing passage, and connected to the downstream side of the storage tank via the alignment passage. that a ball hopper that includes a ball dispenser, the bottom surface of the alignment path, and a width which incorporated slightly sink the spherical balls rolling on the bottom surface, and a long open along the inclined direction A long groove to be guided to flow down is formed, and a ball hopper is formed with a ball floating portion formed by narrowing the width of the groove at the downstream end of the long groove.

  According to the present invention, when the ball guided to the alignment passage corresponds to the long groove, the spherical central portion on the bottom surface side of the ball corresponding to the long groove enters between the grooves and slightly sinks. The ball flows down while being slightly submerged in the long groove, and the ball bottom flows while being guided by two dotted lines in contact with both corners parallel to both sides of the groove. For this reason, the ball does not flow down in an unstable state by moving to the left and right within the passage, with the flow direction specified in the groove direction.

  Also, by providing a ball floating part on the downstream side of the long groove, the ball that has passed through here will gradually float from the groove as it goes downstream as the groove width narrows. It flows down like this.

In this way, when the ball passes through the ball floating portion, the ball itself tends to float up and move in a direction slightly upward obliquely upward from the inclination angle of the diagonally downward direction of the bottom of the passage. At this time, since the ball moves against its own weight, when the ball passes through the ball floating portion, the flow down pressure applied to the ball is reduced to flow down at a constant flow speed. For this reason, on the downstream side of the alignment passage, it is possible to reduce the ball pressure and to secure a stable flow with no space between the balls. As a result, clogging due to ball pressure can be eliminated and smooth ball delivery to the downstream side can be achieved. In other words, since the ball dispensing device is connected to the downstream side, it is possible to supply the ball dispensing device to the downstream ball dispensing device without leaving a gap between the balls, and the timing of supplying the balls and the feeding timing of the sprocket feed claws are not shifted. Therefore, there is no idle feed of the balls, and no clogging occurs between the supplied balls and the sprocket feed claws, so there is no clogging of the balls, which is particularly suitable for speeding up the dispensing of the ball dispensing device. . Moreover, since the regular and stable supply of balls can be realized, the control of the ball dispensing device can be simplified.

  Furthermore, the ball pressure can be adjusted by arbitrarily changing the ball inclination angle depending on the groove width and the aperture angle of the ball floating portion. For this reason, it is possible to adjust the lifting angle of the ball according to the specifications of the gaming machine such as the payout speed, and it corresponds to a wide range of gaming machine specifications such as a gaming machine with a fast flow of balls and a gaming machine with a slow flow of balls. Can be made. Further, when adjusting the ball pressure, since the ball pressure in the alignment passage can be adjusted using two setting conditions of setting the width of the long groove and setting the throttle angle, there is an advantage that the degree of adjustment is high.

Since the storage tank and the ball dispensing device are integrated by configuring the ball hopper that connects the storage tank configured as described above and the ball dispensing device, this ball hopper is used as a single part of the gaming machine. It can be easily installed on the back side of the panel. Furthermore, if a ball hopper is incorporated into a gaming machine, a gaming machine having a reliable and stable ball dispensing performance can be constructed.

In another configuration of the present invention, it is provided on the back side of the board surface of the game machine, has a storage space for storing a large number of balls in a stacked state, and includes a narrowing passage gradually narrowed toward the inclined downstream side. A storage tank provided on the same inclined surface with a tank portion and a concave alignment passage connected to the downstream side of the tank portion via the narrowing passage, and the alignment passage on the downstream side of the storage tank A ball hopper provided with a ball dispensing device connected through a long groove that is long open along a slanting direction between the bottom surface of the alignment passage and one side surface adjacent to the bottom surface to guide the flow down In addition, it is possible to form a ball floating portion which is a downstream end portion of the long groove and has a tapered groove on the bottom surface.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide the long groove that opens along the passage direction between the lower end and the bottom surface of the side wall of the concave passage, and it is possible to form the long groove by opening an arbitrary position in the width direction. In particular, in this case, it is possible to provide a groove having a wide opening for removing foreign substances, and this can be provided as an exclusion port.

  In this case as well, a ball lifting portion that is narrowed down can be provided at the downstream end of the long groove, and the ball pressure that rises and flows down similarly can be reduced. Since the ball guided to the long groove is in line contact with the opening edges of the bottom and bottom surfaces of the side wall at two points, the ball flows down stably while being guided by the long groove. Particularly, since the groove can be opened with a large width, the foreign matter removal performance can be improved and more foreign matters can be removed.

  In another configuration of the present invention, the long groove may be configured by opening the bottom surface of the inclined passage for the purpose of dropping foreign matter.

According to the present invention, since the long groove can be used as an exclusion port that is opened for removing foreign matter, not only the alignment guide action when the ball is flowing, but also foreign matters such as dust and metal powder adhering to the ball correspond to the long groove. Sometimes, it can be eliminated by dropping below the space between the grooves. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the foreign matter from remaining in the alignment passage and hindering the following balls. In particular, the long groove can also serve as a removal port for removing foreign matter, and a pressure reducing structure during ball flow can be efficiently provided at a short distance in the alignment passage .

In another configuration of the invention, the ball overlap limiting member break the overlap of upper ball flowing down in a stacked state, characterized by comprising that oppositely arranged upwardly corresponding to the ball lift portion of the alignment passage.

According to this invention, since the ball floating portion can reduce the ball pressure, occurrence of clogging due to excessive ball pressure from the upstream storage tank can be reduced. In particular, if the ball floating portion and the ball breaking mechanism are arranged in a pair, the cause of clogging can be most effectively eliminated by the ball pressure reducing effect by the ball floating portion and the ball breaking effect by the ball breaking action .

  According to the present invention, the balls guided to the alignment passages are caused to rise and fall and pass, so that excessive ball pressure from the upstream side can be reduced and the balls can be aligned and flowed smoothly without interruption. For this reason, the reliable channel | path which eliminated clogging can be ensured.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the following drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the back side of a gaming table 11 of a pachinko gaming machine. A ball hopper 12 is arranged on the upper side of the gaming table 11 on the back side, and a large display device, a control unit, etc. are provided in the center of the back side of the board. A substrate portion 13 is disposed. Further, a replenishment chute (not shown) is provided above the ball hopper 12 so as to face the upper opening, and the ball hopper 12 is replenished with balls via the replenishment chute. Also, a payout passage 14 is connected to the lower side of the ball hopper 12, and the balls are paid out to a tray located at the lower front of the game table 11 through the payout passage 14.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the ball hopper 12 integrally connects a storage tank 15 installed in a horizontal shape and a ball dispensing device 16 installed in a vertical shape in an inverted L shape. And the upper end part of the ball dispensing apparatus 16 is connected to the downstream end part of the horizontally long storage tank 15, and the compact single-piece | unit structure which united both is taken.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the ball hopper 12 has the storage tank 15 at the most upstream position, and the top plate 17, the ball crushing mechanism 18, the ball passage restriction mechanism 19, and the ball payout on the downstream side thereof. The device 16 is connected in this order. Further, a vertically long connecting frame 20 is attached to the mounting surface side of the gaming table 11 corresponding to the ball paying device 16, and the ball hopper 12 is fixedly installed on the back side of the gaming table 11 through the connecting frame 20.

Next, the above-described components 15 to 20 that construct the ball hopper 12 will be described in order.
First, as shown in FIG. 5, the storage tank 15 has a tapered concave shape with an open upper surface, and this wide portion is a tank portion 15a. A ball is replenished from the replenishment chute, and a large number of balls are stored here. The ball P stored in the tank portion 15a is rolled by its own weight and guided from the upstream side to the downstream side.

  From the bottom surface of the tank portion 15a in the storage tank 15 installed on the upstream side to the bottom surface for delivering the balls to the downstream side, the long same inclined passage L that moves straightly with a gentle inclination in substantially the same inclination direction (see FIG. 4). Provided. For this reason, the ball rolls gently from the upstream side to the downstream side by its own weight.

  In this case, an alignment passage 21 is formed on the downstream side of the storage tank 15 in order to smoothly pass the balls P from the upstream side to the downstream side. The alignment passage 21 is configured by integrally projecting an elongated alignment passage at the downstream end portion of the storage tank 15.

Next, the alignment passage 21 will be specifically described.
The left and right walls of the tip end are tapered at the tip end on the downstream side of the storage tank 15 so that the balls P stored in the stacked state stored in the storage tank 15 are arranged little by little. The narrowed and narrow passage extends long forward, and this extended portion is provided in the alignment passage 21.

  This alignment passage 21 comprises two passages 23, 24 of two rows of long concave left passages 23 and right passages 24 arranged side by side with left and right side wall surfaces 31, 32 and a partition plate 22 therebetween. Yes.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the bottoms of both passages 23 and 24 have left and right removal ports 25 and 26 that are opened in the form of elongated grooves along the passages, respectively, for removing foreign matter.
The exclusion ports 25 and 26 are formed by penetrating long grooves that are elongated in the passage direction at the center in the width direction of the passages 23 and 24, and further, at the downstream end of the long grooves, As shown in FIG. 7, ball lifting portions 27 and 28 are formed by narrowing the groove width toward the downstream side.

  In this case, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the grooves of the exclusion ports 25 and 26 have grooves enough to slightly sink the spherical central portion that is the bottom surface of the ball P guided here. . As a result, the bottom surface of the ball P is guided while slightly sinking into the exclusion ports 25 and 26, and the bottom surface of the ball P is in contact with two corners parallel to both sides of the groove where the exclusion ports 25 and 26 are opened, and is stable. Then the ball can flow down. Assuming that the bottom surface of the passage does not have the exclusion ports 25 and 26, the ball P is a spherical surface, so it comes into one-point contact and moves to the left and right within the width of the passages 23 and 24 and flows down in an unstable manner. .

  As shown in FIG. 10, the ball floating portions 27 and 28 have the tip portions of the exclusion ports 25 and 26 narrowed to an acute triangle shape from the interval of the groove width. As shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, the ball P that has slightly submerged as the diameter of the ball gradually flows down as if it rises from the groove as it goes downstream.

  When this lifts and passes, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 13, the ball itself tries to flow down in a direction P2 slightly upward and obliquely upward from the inclination angle of the obliquely downward inclination direction P1. At this time, since the ball P moves in the direction against its own weight, the ball falling pressure is reduced when passing through the ball lifting portions 27 and 28.

  Here, the inclination angle of both the passages 23 and 24 is set to an appropriate value determined in consideration of the rolling speed of the ball, the length of the passage, and the supply of the ball to the downstream side, for example, 9 °. When the widths of the long grooves opened as the exclusion ports 25 and 26 are set on the bottom surfaces of both the passages 23 and 24, they are set in correspondence with the ball floating portions 27 and 28 in the subsequent stage. For example, when a ball having a diameter of 11 mm is used, it is most suitable to set the width of the groove for sinking the ball by about 0.4 mm in consideration of the ball floating action. Generally, the inclination angle of the passage is formed at 5 to several tens of degrees, but when a gentle inclination angle, for example, 5 degrees is used as the inclination angle, the amount of sinking can be stabilized by making it less than 0.4 mm. Flow down.

  In this way, by providing the ball lifting portions 27 and 28 on the bottom surfaces of the downstream end portions of the passages 23 and 24, the ball pressure can be reduced at the downstream end portions of the passages 23 and 24. For this reason, the performance of avoiding clogging due to ball pressure is improved, and the ball can be smoothly delivered to the downstream side.

  Furthermore, since the ball floating portions 27 and 28 can reduce the ball pressure, it is possible to reduce problems such as the occurrence of clogging due to excessive ball pressure from the upstream storage tank 15. In particular, if a ball collapsing mechanism, which will be described later, is arranged opposite to the downstream side, the ball clogging effect by the ball collapsing action and the ball pressure reducing effect by the ball floating portions 27 and 28 are most effectively generated. The element can be eliminated.

  Further, depending on the groove width and the aperture angle of the ball lifting portions 27 and 28, the ball lifting inclination angle can be arbitrarily changed. For example, as shown in FIG. 14A, when the aperture angle is set to about 20 degrees, as shown in FIG. 14B, the rising inclination angle of the ball P can be changed upward by about 2 degrees. it can. Further, as shown in FIG. 15A, when the aperture angle is set to about 30 degrees, as shown in FIG. 15B, the rising inclination angle of the ball P is changed upward by about 3.1 degrees. be able to.

  For this reason, the ball lifting inclination angle can be adjusted according to the specifications of the gaming machine such as the payout speed. The smaller the aperture angle of the ball lifting portions 27, 28, the smaller the angle of the passages 23, 24. The ball can be depressurized with a gentle inclination angle. For this reason, it can be made to correspond to a wide range of gaming machine specifications such as a gaming machine with a fast ball flow and a gaming machine with a slow ball flow. Usually, the basic inclination angle of the inclined passage is required to be 4 degrees or more due to the rolling property of the ball, and therefore, it may be configured within the range of the basic inclination angle.

  As a means for reducing the ball pressure, it can also serve as the exclusion ports 25 and 26 for removing foreign matter, so that it is possible to efficiently provide a pressure reducing structure during ball flow. Further, since the adjustment can be performed under two setting conditions such as the groove width and the aperture angle of the exclusion ports 25 and 26, there is an advantage that the degree of adjustment is high.

  Therefore, even if foreign matter is mixed in the storage tank 16, when it moves to the alignment passage 21 on the downstream side, the foreign matter is dropped from the removal ports 25 and 26 and does not remain in the alignment passage 21, and is naturally removed. The For this reason, when the balls P are aligned and passed through the alignment passage 21, only the balls P are always allowed to pass to reliably prevent clogging due to foreign matters. Further, the ball P is guided by the outlets 25 and 26 and flows down, and the ball flow-down pressure is reduced by the ball floating portions 27 and 28 so that the ball P flows stably.

  In addition, as an exclusion port for removing foreign matter, as shown in FIGS. 16 to 18, the gap between the lower ends of the side walls 31, 32 of the concave passages 29, 30 parallel to the left and right and the bottom surfaces 33, 34 is provided. It is also possible to provide wide exclusion ports 35 and 36 each opened in the foreign material exclusion groove.

  Also in this case, the ball lifting portions 35a and 35b which are narrowed down at the downstream ends of the exclusion ports 35 and 36 are provided so as to reduce the ball pressure flowing down in the same manner. The ball P guided to the wide exclusion ports 35 and 36 flows down stably while being in contact with the opening edges of the lower ends of the side walls 31 and 32 and the bottom surfaces 33 and 34 at two points. In particular, since the width of the groove can be increased, the foreign matter removal performance can be improved and more foreign matters can be removed.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the connecting portion between the wide tank portion 15a and the narrow alignment passage 21 has a triangular narrowing passage 37 in which the side wall surfaces on both sides are gradually narrowed and connected. . The narrowed side wall surfaces of the narrowing passage 37 are formed by slightly shifting the left and right inclination start positions with respect to the passage direction. By slightly shifting the inclination start positions of these side wall surfaces 37a and 37b, the flow direction of the balls P in the tank portion 15a can be made to flow downstream while being dispersed without being concentrated at one central portion. it can.

Next, the top plate 17 will be described.
The top plate 17 has the top plate 17 (see FIG. 3) attached above the narrowing passage 37 in order to stabilize the flow of balls in the narrowing passage 37. The shape of the top plate 17 is the same as the narrowing shape of the narrowing passage 37, and is arranged so as to cover the upper surface of the narrowing passage 37.

  On the upstream surface side of the top plate 17, as shown in FIG. 19, a vertical receiving surface 38 orthogonal to the flow-down direction is provided. Accordingly, the upper layer portion of the ball P that overlaps and moves from the storage tank 15 is received, and the upper layer portion of the ball P in a piled state is prevented from flowing. For this reason, only the ball P of the lower layer part can be made to flow down, and after that, the number of balls can be reduced to an appropriate amount and supplied to the downstream side little by little. For this reason, the ball pressure to the downstream side can be reduced, and a smooth flow suitable for supplying the balls P from the storage tank 15 to the alignment passage 21 side can be secured.

  Further, by providing the top plate 17, even if the balls P supplied to the storage tank 15 jump vigorously and reach the alignment passage 21, they are blocked by the top plate 17 and do not jump in. Absent.

  Further, on the lower surface of the top plate 17, as shown in FIG. 20, a hemispherical protrusion having a size equivalent to the ball P in order to prevent the balls flowing down from the upstream side from concentrating on the narrowing passage 37. 39 is projected downward.

  Two hemispherical protrusions 39 are projected in correspondence with each of the two passages 23 and 24 arranged in parallel downward, and the inclination start positions of the left and right side wall surfaces 37a and 37b of the narrowing passage 37 are made different. For this reason, the upstream projecting position and the downstream projecting position are arranged separately according to these.

  The hemispherical protrusion 39 has a hemispherical shape so that the spherical surfaces come into contact with each other at the time of contact with the ball P and can freely move in any direction avoiding the center in the width direction of the passages 23 and 24. It is possible to promote dispersion of balls and enhance a smooth flow-down action. In addition, it is suitable that a smooth movement of the ball is obtained by using a spherical surface having substantially the same curvature as the ball, or a spherical surface having a curvature slightly larger than the curvature of the ball because the direction change angle of the ball can be widened. The protruding shape is not limited to a hemispherical surface, and may be a shape such as a semi-elliptical curved surface that approximates this.

  For this reason, as shown in FIG. 21, the balls P flowing down from the upstream storage tank 15 are dispersed to the left and right to break down the concentration of the balls and reduce the ball pressure from the upstream side to facilitate alignment. ing. Further, the balls P once dispersed by the hemispherical protrusion 39 gather again on the downstream side and flow down. Further, by making the hemispherical protrusion 39 face the upper side of the narrowing passage 37, it is easy to collect the balls P that are narrowed down from the left and right sides of the narrowing passage 37 to the central portion of the passage by guiding the upper and lower sides and the left and right of the passage. .

  In order to clarify the effectiveness of the hemispherical projection 39, a comparison is made between the case where the hemispherical projection 39 is present and the case where the hemispherical projection 39 is not present. In order to facilitate the alignment of the balls, the height between the alignment passage 21 and the top plate 17 is lowered to reduce the amount of flow of the balls to some extent. However, if the flow rate is reduced too much, the ball pressure increases and the narrowing passage 37 may clog the ball. On the contrary, if the space between the alignment passage 21 and the top plate 17 is increased, the amount of flowing down increases, and the alignment passage 21 on the downstream side becomes difficult to align.

  In addition, instead of the hemispherical protrusion 39, for example, as shown in FIG. 22, when a rectangular protrusion 40 formed of a flat surface is protruded, the balls P can be dispersed left and right, but gather again on the downstream side. At this time, the balls come into contact with the side surface portions of the rectangular protrusions 40 and the movement of the balls is hindered, making it difficult to collect the balls and consequently preventing the alignment.

  Thus, the protrusion shape of the hemispherical protrusion 39 that protrudes from above toward the space portion of the narrowing passage 37 promotes the dispersion of individual balls by protruding spherical protrusions without a flat portion. This is to avoid clogging. Although the hemispherical protrusion 39 is shown as being disposed corresponding to one passage, a plurality of hemispherical protrusions 39 may be disposed corresponding to one passage.

Next, the crushing mechanism 18 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 23, the ball breaking mechanism 18 includes a set of three pivot support blocks 41a, 41b, 41c that are overlapped in the width direction on the downstream side of the alignment passage 21, and are continuously provided. A pair of left and right ball crushing levers 43 of the same shape are suspended in parallel on shaft support pins 42 installed between the shaft support blocks 41a to 41c, and the ball breaker levers 43 are moved in the passage direction with the shaft support pins 42 as tilting fulcrums. The pendulum is allowed to rotate.

  As shown in FIG. 24, the crushing lever 43 is entirely made of resin, and is opposed to the upstream side in which a heavy metal body 43a is embedded in the downstream end portion and the shaft support hole 43b is suspended at one end. The lower surface is provided as a crushing contact surface that is further inclined in two stages. Among these, the first inclined surface 43c that is steeply inclined is formed on the upstream side in the inclination direction, and the second inclined surface 43d that is gently inclined is formed on the downstream side in the subsequent inclination direction.

  FIG. 25 shows a mounting state in which only the lower surface side of the crushing lever 43 protrudes below the shaft support blocks 41a to 41c, and the crushing levers 43 correspond to the two rows 23 and 24 of the alignment passage 21 one by one. They are suspended.

  On the lower surface of the shaft support blocks 41a to 41c located further in front of the crushing lever 43, a front crushing inclined surface 44 is provided which is located above the alignment passage 21 and preliminarily performs crushing in the height direction. Yes.

  The forward sloping inclined surface 44 has a guide function that guides the flow down to the height of two half balls alternately with respect to the passage direction of the alignment passage 21 and crushes the upper surface in advance in front of the ball collapsing lever 43. . For this reason, it has the inclination angle which becomes the height of two balls so that the height direction may flow down in a regular staggered arrangement as the balls roll downstream. In this way, the height direction is staggered in a staggered manner and is regulated so as not to overlap two or more heights. Moreover, not only the height direction is set to two rows but also the width direction is set to the two passages 23, 24, thereby eliminating the shortage of supply of balls from the upstream side.

  Of the inclined surfaces formed on the lower surface of the ball collapse lever 43 positioned immediately after the front collapsed inclined surface 44, the first inclined surface 43c is inclined forward when the ball collapse lever 43 is rotated to the uppermost position. The ball 44 is rotated upward so as to have the same inclination angle as the inclination angle of the surface 44, and the balls guided here are regulated to flow down in a regular staggered arrangement. In the second inclined surface 43d, when the crushing lever 43 is rotated to the lowermost position (when the ball is not in contact), the lowermost surface of the second inclined surface 43d is at a height of one and a half balls. The crushing force is set so that the upper layer balls are reliably brought into contact with each other and arranged in a staggered manner. Further, due to the suspension support action of the ball breaker lever 43, both inclined surfaces 43c and 43d of the lever 43 are configured in such a shape that a load is easily applied downward due to the weight of the metal body 43a.

  FIG. 26A shows a standby state of the crushing lever 43, and when the crushing lever 43 is in a non-contact standby state with the ball P, the front end surface of the lever 43 facing the upstream side is front-disintegrated and the inclined surface 44 is formed. It rests against the locking piece 45 corresponding to the downstream end surface.

  FIG. 26 (B) shows an initial contact state of the crushing lever 43, and the first upper layer ball and the lower layer ball among the upper layer ball and the lower layer ball that have been sent in a staggered manner in the alignment passage 21 at the height of two balls. The inclined surface 43c comes into contact and gives flow resistance. Thereby, the ball pressure of the upper layer ball applied from the upstream storage tank 15 is reduced.

  FIG. 26C shows an initial crushing state, where the starting end side of the second inclined surface 43d is in point contact with the top of the upper layer ball and the ball crushing lever 43 is pushed up, and the load of the crushing lever 43 is applied to the upper layer ball. Gives the crushing action.

  Further, when the ball rolls downstream, as shown in FIG. 26 (D), the end side of the second inclined surface 43d comes into point contact with the ball P and the ball breaking lever 43 is pushed up most. At this time, due to the downward load acting on the crushing lever 43, the crushing action of breaking the ball overlap and reducing the ball pressure applied from the upstream side is obtained. Thereby, the balls P can be arranged in a staggered pattern in the height direction as the alignment passage 21 rolls from upstream to downstream.

  The balls that have been crushed by the crushing lever 43 curve downward from the inclined direction of the same inclined passage L and move to the curved guide portion 46 that guides the descent in a staggered arrangement. Below each curved guide portion 46, each ball flow lower opening 47 for taking out one ball for each passage is opened, and each ball P is discharged from each of the left and right passages 23, 24 from each ball flow lower opening 47. . The ball P descending from the ball flow lower port 47 is supplied to the ball dispensing device 16 connected below.

  Here, an example is shown in which the entire ball breaker lever 43 is made of resin and a heavy metal body 43a is embedded in the downstream end thereof, but a ball breaker lever made entirely of metal may be used. Well, both are configured to balance the load concentrated on the downstream side.

Next, the ball passage restriction mechanism 19 will be described.
The ball passage restricting mechanism 19 is attached to the connecting frame 20 (see FIG. 3), and the arm support shaft 48 protrudes horizontally from the vertical surface of the connecting frame 20, and the ball passing restricting arm 49 and the ball are projected onto the arm support shaft 48. The passage regulating spring 50 is inserted and pivotally supported.

  The ball passage restriction spring 50 uses a coil spring, one end of which is hooked and locked on a ball passage restriction arm 49, and the other end is hooked and locked on a protrusion 51 provided on the connecting frame 20 side. A shaft support hole that opens at the top of the passage restricting arm 49 is inserted into the arm support shaft 48, and its shaft end is fixed with a screw 52. As a result, the ball passage restriction arm 49 is urged to freely rotate in the direction of closing the ball flow lower opening 47 by receiving the urging force of the ball passage restriction spring 50.

  The ball passage restricting arm 49 is provided in an L shape, and as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, the upper portion of the L shape is pivotally supported by the arm support shaft 48. The lower end bent piece 49a is provided so as to be openable and closable by advancing and retreating between an open position for opening the ball flow lower opening 47 and a closed position for closing.

  In the normal state in which the ball dispensing device 16 is attached to the connecting frame 20, the opening / closing operation of the ball passage restricting arm 49 is as shown in FIG. 29, and the end surface of the upper locking projection 53 that protrudes from the upper surface of the ball dispensing device 16. The lower locking projection 54 protruding from the lower surface of the ball passage restricting arm 49 is locked and urged, and as shown in FIG. The mouth 47 is open. For this reason, the ball guided by descending from the ball flow lower opening 47 is allowed to flow down to the ball dispensing device 16 below.

  On the other hand, when the ball is stopped, the ball is stopped in conjunction with the removal of the ball dispensing device 16. That is, when the ball dispensing device 16 is removed, the lower locking projection 54 of the ball passage restriction arm 49 that is locked to the upper locking projection 53 of the ball dispensing device 16 resists the urging force of the ball passage restriction spring 50. The ball passage restriction arm 49 receives the urging force of the ball passage restriction spring 50 and is pushed in the closing direction, and the lower bent portion 49 a closes the ball flow lower opening 47. As a result, the boundary between the storage tank 15 and the ball dispensing device 16 is partitioned, and the ball is immediately stopped from flowing down from the storage tank 15.

  In this way, in conjunction with attaching and detaching the ball dispensing device 16, it is possible to naturally switch between dispensing and dispensing regulation. Normally, the ball passage restriction mechanism 19 is opened to allow the ball to pass from the storage tank 15 to the ball dispensing device 16 below, and the ball is allowed to wait in a dispensing permitted state. For example, when the ball dispensing device 16 is removed from the back side of the game table 11 for maintenance or clogging, the ball can be stopped in conjunction with the removal operation. For this reason, there is no fear of ball leakage at the connecting portion between the storage tank 15 and the ball dispensing device 16.

  In particular, when the ball dispensing device 16 is removed for maintenance, a ball stopper is required. In that case, it is not necessary to newly construct a ball passing restriction mechanism for clerk operation, and the switching operation is automated. This saves you the trouble of operating staff.

  FIGS. 31 to 34 show an attaching / detaching mechanism 55 of the ball dispensing device 16 that is attached to and detached from the connecting frame 20, and the ball dispensing device 16 has a casing 56 formed integrally on the outer peripheral surface. As shown in FIGS. 31 and 32, there are elastic engagement pieces 57 each having a notched part of the wall surface to give elasticity, and a downward U-shaped attachment protrusion 58 at the lower part. The upper and lower left and right sides of the connecting frame 20 have fixed engagement portions 59 at positions corresponding to the elastic engagement pieces 57 of the ball dispensing device 16, and the lower portions of the ball dispensing device 16 A mounting recess 60 is provided at a position corresponding to the mounting protrusion 58.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 33, a part of the wall surface is cut out at the upper part of the connecting frame 20 to provide elasticity, and elastic locking pieces 61 are provided at the left and right positions. Thus, when the ball dispensing device 16 is attached to the connection frame 20, first, the attachment piece 58 is hooked on the attachment recess 60 of the connection frame 20, and the elastic engagement piece 57 of the ball dispensing device 16 and the fixed engagement between the connection frame 20 are engaged. By engaging the portion 59, the ball dispensing device 16 can be fixed to the connecting frame 20.

  Further, when the ball dispensing device 16 is fixed to the connection frame 20 by the elastic locking piece 61 at the upper part of the connecting frame 20, the elastic locking piece 61 is pressed against the back surface of the ball dispensing device 16 by an elastic force. , And can be fixed in a state free of rattling.

  Conversely, when removing the ball dispensing device 16 from the connecting frame 20, as shown in FIG. 34, the elastic engagement pieces 57 provided on the left and right side surfaces of the ball dispensing device 16 are pressed inward with fingers. The mounting piece 58 is detached from the mounting recess 60 and can be easily removed by pulling it down to release the engagement and then pulling the ball dispensing device 16 upward.

  Since the ball dispensing device 16 can be attached and detached with one touch in this way, when performing maintenance such as maintenance and inspection, the ball dispensing device 16 can be easily removed from the game table 11 for maintenance work.

  The connection frame 20 serves as a connection member for constructing the ball hopper 12 by integrally connecting both the storage tank 15 and the ball dispensing device 16, and the ball hopper 12 is connected via the connection frame 20. It has the role of being attached integrally to the back side of the board surface of the game table.

Next, the ball dispensing device 16 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 35 to 37, the ball dispensing device 16 includes a sprocket 62, a drive motor M, a ball presence / absence detection sensor S <b> 1, a ball counting sensor S <b> 2, and a rotational position detection for confirming the rotational position of the sprocket 62. The sensor S3, a casing 56 incorporating them, a side cover 63 thereof, a fixing plate 64 serving also as a flow-down passage between the casing 56 and the side cover 63, and an auxiliary cover 65 located outside the casing 56 Composed.

  The casing 56 has a role as a support wall 56A that supports each component of the ball dispensing device 16 and a role as a passage wall 56B that forms a ball passage inside. Of these, standby passages 73a and 73b are provided in the upper portion of the passage formed by the passage wall 56B, and an annular passage 77 is provided in the lower portion, and these passages 73a, 73b and 77 are arranged in communication with each other vertically. ing.

  Then, the upper end openings of the standby passages 73a and 73b are opened as ball supply ports 76, and the lower end openings are connected as an inlet portion that opens directly above the lower annular passage 77 as an annular communication port 77c. On the other hand, the annular passage 77 has an annular communication port 77c that opens right above as an inlet, and a ball outlet 78 that opens at the center of the lower end.

  The sprocket 62 described above has a cylindrical body, and in the axial direction of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body, feed claws 66 for dividing and feeding balls one by one on both sides are equally arranged in the circumferential direction. There are two consecutive feeding sections. Further, the feed claws 66 of the two feed parts arranged in parallel are formed so as to be shifted by a half pitch.

  In the annular direction of the inner peripheral surface of the sprocket 62, a slit 67 for detecting the rotational position, which is divided into equal parts, is provided. Further, on both sides of the sprocket 62, cylindrical shafts 62a and 62b projecting outward from the axial center portion thereof are projected, and bearing bushes 68 and 69 are fitted to the cylindrical shafts 62a and 62b, respectively. In this state, one is inserted into the shaft support hole 63a of the side cover 63, and the other is inserted into the shaft support hole 56a of the casing 56 to support the sprocket 62 rotatably. A driven pulley 72 for transmitting power from the drive pulley 70 connected to the main shaft of the drive motor M to the sprocket 62 via the drive belt 71 is disposed outside the casing 56. The sprocket 62 is rotated by connecting the driven pulley 72 and the sprocket 62 together.

  Further, an auxiliary cover 65 that covers the entire drive pulley 70, the drive belt 71, and the driven pulley 72 as the drive transmission member is disposed outside the casing 56.

  Exhaust ports 56b and 56c opened for removing foreign substances from a standby passage and an annular passage, which will be described later, are provided on the upper vertical side surface and the lower circumferential side surface of the outer surface of the casing 56, respectively. By providing these exclusion ports 56b and 56c, foreign matters fall from the exclusion ports 56b and 56c and are eliminated.

  On the other hand, on the inner side surface of the casing 56, a fixing plate 64 for forming a longitudinal passage parallel to the drive motor M and both sides, and a side cover 63 supporting a sprocket 62 at a position opposite to the inner side surface thereof. Covered with and connected. Further, foreign matter exclusion ports 63b and 63c are also opened in the upper vertical direction and the lower circumferential direction of the outer side surface of the side cover 63.

  At the center of the casing 56, there is a hollow portion 56d that is opened in a square shape for interposing a drive motor. The drive motor M is pivotally supported in the hollow portion 56d in a transverse state so that the drive motor M is connected to the casing 56 and the side surface. The casing 56 and the drive motor M are overlapped in the axial direction by being accommodated between the cover 63. Thereby, the axial direction (width direction) of the ball dispensing device 16 is shortened to reduce the thickness. Similarly, the ball motor 16 and the sprocket 62 are divided into upper and lower positions and housed in the same casing 56, whereby the ball dispensing device 16 is made thinner.

  Between the inner side surface above the casing 56 and the upper facing surface of the fixing plate 64 facing the casing 56, and between the inner side surface above the side cover 63 and the upper facing surface of the fixing plate 64 facing the side cover 63. Standby passages 73a and 73b that connect the upper ball supply port 76 to the lower annular passage 77 in parallel are configured.

  As shown in FIG. 38, the standby passages 73a and 73b are formed by connecting an upstream direction change passage 74 and a downstream ball flow lowering pressure limiting passage 75 vertically. First, the direction changing passage 74 has a ball supply port 76 that opens in parallel with the upper portion of the casing 56, and this ball supply port 76 is connected correspondingly below the ball flow lower port 47 of the alignment passage 21. When the direction of the connected parallel passages is changed, the configuration can be simply configured by twisting only the other longitudinal passage in the side-by-side position by 90 degrees with respect to one longitudinal passage arranged in parallel in the front and rear directions. Thereby, both the vertical passages are aligned by changing the direction from the vertically aligned position to the horizontally aligned position. Then, the balls that have flowed down to the front and rear two rows below the ball supply port 76 are changed in direction to the left and right rows. By providing the direction changing passage 74, it is possible to align the annular passage 77, which will be described later, in the same parallel direction, so that the directions of both passages can correspond to the direction suitable for space saving.

  The downstream ball flow lowering pressure restricting passage 75 forms a small curved passage that reduces the ball pressure caused by the flow of the ball by a wave-shaped step, obliquely below the direction changing passage 74. Thereby, when the ball that has flowed down from the upstream side passes through the ball flow lowering pressure limiting passage 75, the ball that passes through the wave-shaped curved portion of the ball flow lowering pressure limiting passage 75 passes while undergoing a slight change of direction. On the basis of this, the ball flows down with a ball pressure suitable for the flow down. As a result, the ball pressure suitable for dispensing is adjusted and supplied to the annular passage 77 continuing below the rear stage.

  Further, the passage lengths of the standby passages 73a and 73b have passage lengths for storing and waiting for a preset number of payouts in the longitudinal and oblique passages. For this reason, since the number of balls collected in advance can be stored and waited in the standby passage, the balls supplied to the annular passage 77 at the time of ball delivery are not interrupted, and the collected number of withdrawals can be supplied immediately. For this reason, the supply of balls can be stably promoted.

  Below the standby passages 73a and 73b, a two-passage annular passage 77 connected in the same parallel direction is formed. The annular passage 77 is a passage space between the annular opposing surfaces formed between the inner peripheral surface below the casing 56 and the outer peripheral surface of the sprocket 62, and the balls guided here are fed one by one by the feed claws 66. An annular passage that rotates forwardly or reversely is configured.

  Of the annular passage 77, as shown in FIG. 39, the right half circumference is used as a ball dispensing passage 77a, and as shown in FIG. 40, the left half circumference is used as a ball removal passage 77b.

  Since the balls P guided to the annular passage 77 are fed one by one with the rotation of the sprocket 62, the supplied balls P are continuously discharged without interruption.

  A ball presence / absence detection sensor S1 using a contact switch for detecting the passage of a ball is disposed in the ball supply port 76 at the entrance opening on the upper surfaces of the standby passages 73a and 73b, and the ball dispensing device 16 is supplied with the ball. Is detected. Further, a ball counting sensor S2 using a proximity sensor is disposed at a ball outlet 78 which is an outlet opening as a terminal portion of the ball outlet passage 77a on the lower center surface of the lower annular passage 77. , The ball counting sensor S2 detects and counts the balls that have been paid out.

  Further, a rotational position detection sensor S3 for detecting the slit 67 on the sprocket 62 is provided on the outer surface of the side cover 63 so as to face inward from the side opening 79 opened below the side cover 63. It is arranged via. This rotational position detection sensor S3 detects the rotational position of the sprocket 62 from the number of detections of the slit 67 that rotates integrally with the sprocket 62.

  The ball removal passage 77b is provided with a ball removal opening 81 that opens almost directly from a side position of the annular passage 77 on the side of the ball removal passage 77b, and the clerk collects the balls P stored in the storage tank 15. It is used when collecting as. In this case, since the ball dispensing passage 77a and the ball removal passage 77b can be provided integrally, an independent new space dedicated to the ball removal passage is unnecessary.

  By the way, by providing the opening position of the ball paying outlet 78 at the center of the lower portion of the annular passage 77, the balls P that are rotationally fed by receiving the rotational force of the sprocket 62 from above are transported by a half circumference in the circumferential direction. Since the final starting force is transmitted from the uppermost part of 77 to the lowermost part to be dispensed, the balls can be dispensed at a high speed by rotating the sprocket 62 at a high speed.

  Further, by rotating the sprocket 62 forward and backward, it is possible to easily perform a payout operation associated with one rotation direction and a ball removal operation associated with the other rotation direction. Further, since the ball counting sensor S2 is arranged at the ball paying outlet 78, it can be detected at a fast timing.

  Further, the presence / absence of the supplied ball can be detected by disposing the ball presence / absence detection sensor S1 at the ball supply port 76 at the entrance of the upper standby passages 73a and 73b. For this reason, when it is detected that there is no ball, it can be detected that a ball has run out or a ball has become clogged, and empty capture can be prevented. Therefore, at this time, it is possible to regulate the ball supply operation and the dispensing. By providing both the sensors S1 and S2, it is possible to more accurately manage the current flow of balls in the ball dispensing device 16 from both detection signals for supplying and dispensing the balls. In the figure, 82 is a relay board, and 83 is a bearing bush of a driven pulley.

  In this way, in order to realize a high speed of ball dispensing, the supply to dispensing is provided in two flow paths to eliminate the shortage of supply of balls from above, and further by providing standby passages 73a and 73b, the annular passage 77 It is possible to wait immediately so that the necessary number of balls can be supplied immediately after being paid out. Therefore, when the ball is paid out, it is possible to wait in a state where a ball pressure suitable for high-speed supply is applied in the vertical standby passage instead of a gentle inclined passage. Supply can be made to the annular passage 77 without running out of balls, and supply balls corresponding to speeding up can be taken.

  Furthermore, when the sprocket 62 is disposed on the back side of the board surface of the game table, the radial direction of the sprocket 62 that requires a relatively large arrangement space is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the board surface, and the thickness direction is arranged in a direction parallel to the board surface. Therefore, the arrangement space in the width direction can be reduced. As a result, it becomes possible to provide a large other member such as a symbol display device disposed on the back side of the board surface of the game table. In particular, when shortening the ball dispensing apparatus in the width direction, the ball can be reduced in thickness by shortening the passage width of two parallel balls.

Next, the ball payout processing operation in the thus configured ball hopper 12 will be described.
In the storage tank 15 of the ball hopper 12 installed at the upper part on the back side of the board surface of the game table 11, a large number of balls are stored in a state waiting for payout. From this standby state, when a ball payout signal is input from a main control unit (not shown) that controls the entire pachinko gaming machine and the drive motor M and the sprocket 62 are driven to rotate forward (rotate in a clockwise direction), Based on this driving, the balls in the storage tank 15 are supplied to flow down, the balls roll by their own weight, flow down through the alignment passage 21, and reach the ball flow lower port 47. During this time, the balls are aligned in two rows and guided to the ball dispensing device 16 on the downstream side.

  In the ball dispensing device 16, the supplied ball P is forwardly transferred to the dispensing passage 77 a side of the annular passage 77 by the forward transfer operation of the sprocket 62. As a result, the balls are continuously lowered and the determined number of balls is paid out. And the paid-out ball P is paid out to the upper plate on the front side of the game table.

  Next, when many balls P existing in the ball hopper 12 are removed, when a ball removal signal is input from the main control unit and the drive motor M is driven in reverse, the annular passage 77 of the ball dispensing device 16 The ball P supplied in advance from the storage tank 15 is reversely fed to the ball removal passage 77b side by the reverse feed operation of the sprocket 62. Thereafter, the ball removal passage 77b is lowered and guided from a ball collection recovery passage (not shown) connected downward to a ball collection passage (not shown) connected to the back side of the board surface of the game table.

  In the correspondence between the present invention and the above-described embodiment, the present invention can be applied based on the technical idea described in the claims, and is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

The principal part rear view which shows the board surface back side of the game stand provided with the ball hopper. The external appearance perspective view which shows a ball hopper. The exploded perspective view of a ball hopper. The perspective view which shows the flow-down state of the ball of a ball hopper. The external appearance perspective view which shows a storage tank. The top view which shows a storage tank. The principal part enlarged plan view which shows the ball flow down state of an alignment channel | path. The principal part expansion longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the ball flow down state of an alignment channel | path. The principal part enlarged side view which shows the ball flow down state of an alignment channel | path. The principal part enlarged plan view which shows the ball floating state of the alignment path. The principal part expansion longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the ball floating state of an alignment channel | path. The principal part expanded side view which shows the ball floating state of an alignment channel | path. The principal part expansion explanatory drawing which shows the ball floating principle. Explanatory drawing which shows an example of a ball floating condition. Explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the ball lifting condition. The principal part enlarged plan view which shows the flow-down state of another ball floating part. The principal part expansion longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the flow-down state of the other ball floating part. The principal part expanded side view which shows the flow-down state of the other ball floating part. The principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view of the ball hopper which shows the ball receiving state of a top plate. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the storage tank which shows the ball dispersion | distribution state in a ball | bowl narrowing part. FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 20. The longitudinal cross-sectional view of the storage tank which shows the unsuitable ball dispersion | distribution structure in a ball narrowing part. The principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the use condition of a crushing mechanism. The external appearance perspective view of a crushing lever. The external appearance perspective view of a crushing mechanism. Explanatory drawing which shows the crushing state of a crushing mechanism. The principal part perspective view which shows the ball passage regulation state of a ball passage regulation mechanism. The principal part perspective view which looked at the ball passage regulation state of the ball passage regulation mechanism from the lower part. The principal part expansion perspective view which shows the upper part of a ball delivery apparatus. The expansion perspective view which shows the ball passage permission state of a ball passage control mechanism. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the attachment / detachment mechanism of the ball delivery apparatus. FIG. 32 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 31. FIG. 32 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 31. The perspective view which shows the removal state of a ball delivery apparatus. The external appearance perspective view of a ball dispensing apparatus. The exploded perspective view seen from the front side of the ball dispensing device. The exploded perspective view seen from the back side of the ball dispensing device. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the channel | path structure of a ball delivery apparatus. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the ball dispensing operation state of the ball dispensing apparatus. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the ball removal operation state of the ball dispensing apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Game stand 12 ... Ball hopper 15 ... Storage tank 15a ... Tank part 16 ... Ball dispensing device 18 ... Ball breaking mechanism 21 ... Alignment passage 25, 26, 35, 36 ... Exclusion port 27, 28, 35a, 36a ... Ball floating Part 31, 32 ... Side wall 37 ... Narrowing passage

Claims (4)

A tank part provided on the back side of the board surface of the game machine, having a storage space for storing a large number of balls in a stacked state, and having a narrowing passage gradually narrowed toward the inclined downstream side thereof; A storage tank provided on the same inclined surface with a concave alignment passage connected to the downstream side via the narrowing passage;
A ball hopper comprising a ball dispensing device connected to the downstream side of the storage tank via the alignment passage,
On the bottom surface of the alignment passage, a long groove is formed that has a width that slightly sinks the spherical surface of the ball that rolls on the bottom surface, and is long open along the inclined direction to guide the flow down.
At the downstream end of this long groove, a ball floating portion with a narrowed groove width was formed.
Ball hopper. A tank part provided on the back side of the board surface of the game machine, having a storage space for storing a large number of balls in a stacked state, and having a narrowing passage gradually narrowed toward the inclined downstream side thereof; A storage tank provided on the same inclined surface with a concave alignment passage connected to the downstream side via the narrowing passage;
A ball hopper comprising a ball dispensing device connected to the downstream side of the storage tank via the alignment passage,
Forming a long groove that opens and extends along the inclined direction between the bottom surface of the alignment passage and one side surface adjacent to the bottom surface, and guides the flow down;
At the downstream end of this long groove, a ball floating portion is formed by narrowing the groove on the bottom surface.
Ball hopper. The ball hopper according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the long groove is formed by opening a bottom surface of the alignment passage so as to drop a foreign substance . A ball overlap limiting member that breaks the overlap of the upper layer balls that flow down in a stacked state is provided facing the upper part of the alignment passage corresponding to the ball floating portion.
The ball hopper according to claim 1, 2 or 3.

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