JP5435426B2 - Game ball falling device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a game ball flow down device used for flowing a game ball from a predetermined ball set unit in a pachinko machine to a ball receiving unit located below the ball set unit.

  Conventionally, in a pachinko machine, when a game ball launched from a hitting ball launching unit wins a prize opening, a game ball is used to cause the prize ball to flow down from the upper tank to a ball tray or to remove the game ball from the pachinko machine. The game ball is caused to flow down from a predetermined ball gathering portion to a ball receiving portion located below the ball gathering portion, such as flowing down from the upper tank and discharging to the outside. In such a case, a spiral out bellows (see Patent Document 1) is used to alleviate the impact of the flowing game ball on the ball receiving portion, or a plurality of spaces are provided on the inner wall of the ball passage. By providing a protrusion (see Patent Document 2), the flow-down speed of the game ball is reduced.

  The out bellows described in Patent Document 1 is provided for lowering a game ball from a pachinko machine to a gathering bowl located below the pachinko machine. This out bellows turns the game ball along the spiral to reduce the flow velocity of the game ball and reduce the impact on the collective basket. The ball removal passage described in Patent Document 2 is a passage that communicates with a winning ball collecting heel that collects winning balls that enter a winning opening at the top and communicates with a ball tank provided at the top of the pachinko machine. It is comprised, and the protrusion part is provided in the left-right alternate position on the inner wall of the ball passage. For this reason, the game ball is decelerated by alternately colliding with the left and right protrusions and flowing down in a zigzag manner.

JP 2003-117207 A JP 2001-293194 A

  However, since the out bellows described in Patent Document 1 is composed of a coil spring made of spring steel with poor dimensional accuracy, it is difficult to incorporate in a pachinko machine configured by combining high-precision resin parts. There is. The out bellows is easily worn by contact with the game ball, and iron powder is generated by the wear. And there also exists a problem that the iron powder which arises by wear spread | diffuses and it oxidizes and causes a contamination. Moreover, in the invention described in Patent Document 2, since the game balls collide intensively with the protrusions, there is a problem that the protrusions are worn out after a relatively short time and their effectiveness is lost.

  The present invention has been made in order to address the above-described problems. The object of the present invention is to make it easy to assemble a pachinko machine, without causing contamination, and to play a game ball from a predetermined ball assembly portion to a ball receiving portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide a game ball flow down device that can flow down smoothly. In the description of each constituent element of the present invention below, the reference numerals of corresponding portions of the embodiment are shown in parentheses in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. The present invention should not be construed as being limited to the configurations of the corresponding portions indicated by the reference numerals of the forms.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the structural feature of the gaming ball flow down device according to the present invention is that the game is performed from the ball assembly portion (20) of the pachinko machine to the ball receiving portion (30) located below the ball assembly portion. In the game ball flow down device (10) used to flow down the balls (A, A1), a speed reducer (11) made of a resin material in which a spiral flow down passage (13a) for flowing down the game balls is formed. And a surface (13b) on which the game ball that flows down while receiving the centrifugal force in the downflow passage contacts at two points is provided on the outer peripheral side of the inner wall surface that forms the downflow passage in the speed reducer.

  The gaming ball flow down device according to the present invention comprises a speed reducer for allowing a game ball to flow down from a ball assembly portion to a ball receiving portion below and is made of a resin material, and a flow down passage provided inside the speed reducer is spiral. Is formed. For this reason, the speed reducer can be configured with a high-precision molded product, and can be easily assembled to a pachinko machine, and the speed reducer is worn by contact with a game ball and generates dust that causes contamination. Will not occur. Further, since the game ball flows down along the spiral shape of the flow-down passage, the game ball flows down smoothly, and the flow-down speed is reduced to prevent wear of the ball receiving portion. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the generation of noise due to impact.

  Moreover, the part which contacts the game ball in the inner wall surface which forms a flow-down channel | path is comprised by the surface which contacts a game ball at two points. For this reason, when the game ball flows down the flow-down passage by appropriately setting the shape of the surface so that the distance between the two contact portions between the game ball and the surface with which the game ball contacts is an arbitrary length It is possible to set the flow speed of the air to an arbitrary speed. That is, the flow speed of the game ball is increased by forming the surface so that the distance between the two contact portions is narrow, and the game is achieved by forming the surface so that the distance between the two contact portions is widened. The flow velocity of the sphere slows down. For this reason, depending on the location where the speed reducer is arranged, the configuration of the ball receiving portion, etc., a speed reducer that reduces the distance between the two contact parts is used, or the distance between the two contact parts becomes wider. A pachinko machine can be provided with a game ball flow down device equipped with a speed reduction rod capable of allowing a game ball to flow down at a suitable speed by using a speed reduction rod.

  In addition, the surface with which the game ball comes into contact with the inner wall surface on the side where the game ball that flows down while receiving the centrifugal force in the downflow passage, that is, the inner wall surface on the outer peripheral side of the downflow passage, It can be formed by forming a pair of protrusions extending at the same interval. Furthermore, the speed reducer can be formed in various shapes, for example, a columnar shape, a quadrangular prism shape, a cylindrical shape, a cylindrical shape in which a tubular body is spiraled, or the like. And what is necessary is just to form the spiral flow-down channel | path and the surface where a game ball contacts at two points inside the deceleration rod formed in each shape.

  Another feature of the game ball dropping device according to the present invention is that the cross-sectional shape of the surface where the game ball contacts at two points is formed in a horizontal V shape. According to this, the surface on which the game ball contacts at two points can be configured with a simple shape.

  In addition, another structural feature of the gaming ball flow down device according to the present invention is that the ball assembly portion is an upper tank (20) disposed on the upper side of the pachinko machine, and the ball receiving portion is on the lower side of the speed reducer. The game ball which is the ball tray (30) arranged in the lane and flows down the speed reducer is the prize ball (A1). According to this, when a plurality of prize balls flow down sequentially from the upper tank to the ball tray, the ball tray is prevented from receiving a strong impact by the prize balls, and a large impact sound is prevented from being generated. The present invention is particularly effective when the upper tank is at a high position and the height between the ball release position and the ball tray is high. The prize ball is a game ball sent from the upper tank to the ball tray when the game ball launched from the hitting ball launching unit enters the winning opening.

  Further, another structural feature of the gaming ball flow down device according to the present invention is that the speed reducer is formed in a cylindrical shape as a whole, and is further provided on the inner peripheral side of the speed reducer. A tubular ball extraction rod (15) made of a resin material in which a discharge passage (15a) for releasing the game ball to the outside of the pachinko machine is formed, and a game ball in the upper tank are switched between a speed reduction rod and a ball extraction rod. And a switching device (18) to be supplied.

  According to this, since the space formed on the inner peripheral side of the speed reducer can be used effectively, it is not necessary to provide a separate space for installing the ball punch. Further, by connecting the upper tank and the ball puller by switching the switching device, the game ball can be quickly released to the outside of the pachinko machine when it becomes necessary to take out the game ball from the pachinko machine. In this case, a ball assembly basket for collecting game balls is installed below the lower end portion of the ball extraction basket, or a container for containing game balls is separately arranged. In addition, the speed reducer according to the present invention can be configured by a spiral tube body, or can be configured by forming a spiral flow-down passage inside a cylindrical body.

  In addition, another structural feature of the game ball flow down device according to the present invention is a spiral linear shape that guides the game ball to flow down while turning on the inner wall surface forming the discharge passage in the ball pulling out. The guide part (15b) is formed. According to this, even when taking out the game ball from the pachinko machine, it is possible to reduce the flow-down speed of the game ball and prevent damage to the ball assembly basket and the container with which the game ball collides. In addition, the linear guide part which concerns on this invention can be comprised by a groove part and a protrusion.

It is the perspective view which showed the state which assembled | attached the game ball flow down apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention to the upper tank. It is the front view which showed the main body of the game ball flow down apparatus. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the main body of the game ball dropping device shown in FIG. 2 at an angle different from that of FIG. 3 by 90 degrees. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a game ball is caused to flow down to a main body of the game ball flow down device illustrated in FIG. 4. It is explanatory drawing which showed the spiral protrusion part of simultaneous ball extraction. It is explanatory drawing which showed the cut surface when the helical ridge part shown in FIG. 6 was cut | disconnected longitudinally. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a game ball is caused to flow down on the spiral protrusion portion illustrated in FIG. 7. It is explanatory drawing explaining the force which a game ball acts on the inner wall surface of a spiral reduction rod when a game ball flows down the flow-down path of a spiral reduction rod, (a) is an angle between both sides of a corridor wall surface being 90 degree | times. (B) shows the case where the angle between both sides of the corridor wall surface is 60 degrees.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the game ball flow-down device 10 according to the embodiment is assembled to an upper tank 20 arranged at the upper part of a pachinko machine (not shown). This game ball flow-down device 10 is incorporated in a pachinko machine, and the game balls A supplied from the upper tank 20 are sequentially flowed down and dropped to a predetermined ball receiving portion. The main body 10a of the game ball dropping device 10 is integrally formed by molding a hard resin material, for example, polycarbonate (PC) or ABS resin. As shown in FIGS. A connecting opening for connecting the helical reduction rod 11 as the reduction rod, the simultaneous ball extraction rod 15 as the ball extraction rod according to the present invention, the upper end portion of the helical reduction rod 11 and the upper end portion of the simultaneous ball extraction rod 15. Part 16. A prize ball unit 17 is attached to the connection opening 16 of the main body 10a.

  The spiral speed reducer 11 is composed of an upper inlet portion 12 that is located at the upper portion and extends substantially vertically, a speed reduction portion 13 that is located at the center and formed in a spiral shape, and a lower outlet portion 14 that is located at the lower portion and extends substantially vertically. Has been. The upper inlet portion 12 is formed in a tubular shape in which the upper portion has a larger diameter than the lower portion, and the axial length is set to be approximately twice the outer diameter. The inner diameter of the lower portion of the upper inlet portion 12 is set to be slightly larger than the diameter (11 mm) of the game ball A so that the game ball A can be passed with a margin. The inner diameter of the upper portion of the upper inlet portion 12 is the game ball A. The diameter is set to about 1.5 times the diameter. For this reason, even if the game ball A enters the upper portion of the upper entrance portion 12 from above, the game ball A is moved in the lateral direction by the inner wall surface of the upper entrance portion 12 until reaching the lower portion of the upper entrance portion 12. The movement is gradually regulated, and it falls without any side shake.

  The speed reduction part 13 is composed of a tubular body formed in a spiral shape so as to form a cylindrical body as a whole, and extends downward from the upper side while rotating clockwise from the upper side when viewed from above. ing. A flow-down passage 13 a through which the game ball A flows down is formed inside the speed reduction portion 13. The inner diameter of the flow-down passage 13a is set to be substantially the same as the inner diameter of the lower portion of the upper inlet portion 12, but a portion protruding outward is formed on the outer peripheral side of the flow-down passage 13a. That is, a corridor wall surface 13b having a horizontal V-shaped cross-section with a concave portion that the game ball A cannot contact is formed on the outer peripheral side portion of the inner wall surface that forms the flow-down passage 13a. On both side surfaces of the corridor wall surface 13b, a surface where the game balls according to the present invention come into contact at two points is formed.

  For this reason, when the game ball A falls from the upper entrance 12 into the speed reduction unit 13, the game ball A is initially positioned below the downflow passage 13a as shown in FIG. It flows down while contacting the corridor floor surface 13c on the inner wall surface of the flow-down passage 13a at one point. As the game ball A flows down, the flow velocity increases and centrifugal force is generated, and the game ball A is positioned on the outer peripheral side of the flow passage 13a. As a result, the game ball A comes into contact with the gallery wall surface 13b side portion of the inner wall surface of the flow-down passage 13a. In this case, the game ball A cannot come into contact with the concave back side portion of the corridor wall surface 13b, and the circular portion of the inner wall surface of the flow-down passage 13a (the inner peripheral side portion of the speed reduction portion 13) and the corridor wall surface 13b. One boundary portion or a portion of the corridor wall surface 13b located near the boundary portion (hereinafter referred to as a contact portion 13d) is contacted.

  The corridor wall surface 13b is formed such that the distance between the pair of contact portions 13d between the game ball A and the corridor wall surface 13b is an arbitrary length. By changing the distance between the pair of contact portions 13d, that is, the width between the two contact portions of the game ball A with the inner wall surface of the flow-down passage 13a, the angle between the straight lines connecting the center of the game ball A and each contact portion. As a result, the flow velocity of the game ball A flowing down in the flow passage 13a also changes. As will be described in detail later, the smaller the width between the two contact portions 13d, the faster the flow velocity of the game ball A, and the larger the width between the two contact portions 13d, the slower the flow velocity of the game ball A. Further, the lower outlet portion 14 is formed in a tubular shape extending substantially straight downward from the lower end portion of the speed reducing portion 13, and both the inner diameter and the outer diameter are substantially the same as the lower portion of the upper inlet portion 12.

  The simultaneous ball punch 15 is formed of a tubular body extending straight, and is formed integrally with the spiral reduction rod 11 on the inner peripheral side of the spiral reduction rod 11. In addition, a discharge passage 15a through which the game ball A can flow down is formed inside the simultaneous ball removal shaft 15, and the linear guide portion according to the present invention is formed on the inner wall surface forming the discharge passage 15a. A spiral protrusion 15b is formed. As shown in FIG. 6 (only the ridge 15b of the ball 15 is shown), the ridge 15b is downward while rotating counterclockwise from the upper side when viewed from above. It extends. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the cross-sectional shape of the ridge 15b is formed in a triangle in which one of the sides is located on the outer peripheral side and one of the apexes is located on the inner peripheral side, and the apex on the inner peripheral side has a radius It is formed in a small semicircular shape.

  The diameter of the top (inner peripheral edge) of the ridge 15b in plan view is set to be slightly larger than the diameter of the game ball A, and the inner diameter of the main ball punch 15 (the maximum diameter of the discharge passage 15a) is The size is set such that the sphere A can pass through the discharge passage 15a with a margin. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 8, when the game ball A is inserted into the protrusion 15b from above the protrusion 15b of the simultaneous ball removal 15, the game ball A collides with the upper part of the protrusion 15b. Then, it flows down while turning along the extending direction of the ridge 15b by centrifugal force. Thereby, the flow-down speed of the game ball A is reduced.

  The connection opening 16 is formed in a rectangular frame shape in plan view, and the upper end portion of the spiral reduction rod 11 and the upper end portion of the simultaneous ball extraction rod 15 arranged side by side are connected to the lower portion. Further, insertion holes 16b for inserting screws 16a are formed on the front and back surfaces of the connection opening 16, respectively. Then, the lower end portion of the prize ball unit 17 is inserted into the connection opening 16, and the prize ball unit 17 is fixed to the connection opening 16 by being screwed into a screw 16a that passes through each insertion hole 16b. Yes.

  The winning ball unit 17 includes a ball intake port portion 17a located on the upper side, a unit main body 17b located on the lower side of the ball intake port portion 17a, and a ball distribution passage portion 17c located on the lower side of the unit main body 17b. It consists of and. The ball intake port portion 17a is configured by a substantially L-shaped cylinder, and sends the game ball A supplied to the upper opening 17d through the inside to the unit main body 17b. The unit main body 17b constitutes a switching device according to the present invention, and also has a function as a ball counting / dispensing device for counting the number of game balls A passing through the prize ball unit 17.

  That is, the unit main body 17b is provided with a rotating portion 18 including a rotor having a plurality of recesses formed on the peripheral surface, a stepping motor for rotating the rotor, and a ball counting sensor 18a. One game ball A can enter each of the plurality of recesses of the rotor, and the game balls A sent from the ball intake port portion 17a as the rotor rotates enter the recesses of the rotor one by one. After passing through the main body 17b, it is sent to the ball distribution passage portion 17c. The rotor can be rotated in one direction or both directions by changing the rotation direction of the stepping motor. When the rotor rotates in one direction, the game ball A passing through the unit body 17b via the rotor is distributed to the ball. It falls to the side where the upper end opening of the spiral reduction rod 11 in the passage portion 17c is located. At that time, the ball counting sensor 18a detects the number of game balls A passing through the unit main body 17b via the rotor.

  Further, when the rotor rotates in the other direction, the game ball A passing through the unit main body 17b falls to the side where the upper end opening of the simultaneous ball pullout 15 is located in the ball distribution passage portion 17c. The ball distribution passage portion 17c is configured by dividing the inside of a cylindrical body having a rectangular cross section into two by a partition wall extending vertically, and two passages are provided inside. One of the two passages formed in the ball distribution passage portion 17c is a passage that causes the game ball A falling from the lower portion of the rotor to drop into the upper end opening of the spiral reduction rod 11 when the rotor rotates in one direction. Yes, the other of the two passages is a passage that causes the game ball A falling from the lower portion of the rotor to drop into the upper end opening of the simultaneous ball removal rod 15 when the rotor rotates in the other direction.

  The upper tank 20 is provided in the upper part of the pachinko machine, and stores the game balls A supplied from a replenishment basket (not shown) installed in the upper part of an island facility composed of a plurality of pachinko machines. The upper tank 20 is formed in a square box shape with a shallow depth, and the upper tank 20 and the ball intake port 17a are provided at the corner of the right front portion (right front portion in the state of FIG. 1). A lower collar 21 that connects the upper opening 17d is provided. The game balls A stored in the upper tank 20 are sequentially sent to the prize ball unit 17 through the lower basket 21. Then, when the game ball A passes the prize ball unit 17, game balls A corresponding to the number of game balls A that have passed through are sent from the upper tank 20 to the prize ball unit 17. The game ball A sent from the prize ball unit 17 to the spiral speed reducer 11 falls from the lower end portion of the lower outlet portion 14 to the ball tray 30 in a state where the flow speed is reduced by the spiral speed reducer 11.

  In addition, the game ball A sent from the prize ball unit 17 to the ball ball 15 is sent from the lower end of the ball ball 15 to the outside of the pachinko machine with the flow velocity reduced by the ball ball 15. It is released and falls onto a ball assembly cage (not shown) installed at the bottom of the island facility. In this case, the flow velocity of the game ball A flowing down in the simultaneous ball removal rod 15 is faster than the flow velocity of the game ball A flowing down in the spiral deceleration rod 11. Note that the game ball A that has fallen into the ball assembly cage is sent to a supply cage at the upper part of the island facility by a lifting device as necessary. In addition, a winning ball that has been launched from the hitting ball launching unit during the game and entered the winning opening, or an out ball that has entered the out opening, falls into a ball assembly cage through another passage (not shown).

  In addition, the pachinko machine has a control unit equipped with a CPU that executes predetermined processing, a ROM that stores a program executed by the CPU, a RAM that temporarily stores data used for the processing of the CPU, and the like, A winning ball detecting sensor for detecting a winning ball entering the mouth is also provided. When the winning ball detection sensor detects the winning ball, the stepping motor of the rotating unit 18 is operated by the control of the CPU and the rotor rotates in one direction, so that the game ball A (the winning ball) of the upper tank 20 and the lower rod 21 A predetermined number, for example, 15 of A1) is passed through the prize ball unit 17 and sent to the ball tray 30.

  The pachinko machine also includes a switching operation unit that changes the rotation direction of the stepping motor of the rotating unit 18 so that the rotor rotates in the other direction. By operating this switching operation unit, the upper tank 20 Alternatively, the game ball A of the lower ball 21 can pass through the award ball unit 17 and the simultaneous ball removal ball 15 and fall into the ball assembly ball. This simultaneous ball removal is performed when the pachinko machine is replaced or when the use of the pachinko machine is stopped for a predetermined period due to repair or the like.

  When using a pachinko machine equipped with the game ball flow down device 10 configured as described above, a predetermined amount of game balls A are placed in the ball tray 30 and the game balls A are launched one by one from the hitting ball launching unit. To the game area of the game board. As a result, the game ball A enters the out area or the winning area of the game area. The out ball that has entered the out port and the winning ball that has entered the winning port pass through a predetermined passage and fall into the ball assembly cage. When the winning ball detection sensor detects the winning ball that has entered the winning opening, the rotor of the rotating unit 18 rotates in one direction by the operation of the stepping motor, and the gaming ball A of the upper tank 20 or the lower basket 21 is awarded the winning ball A1. Are passed through and sent to the ball receiving tray 30 through the spiral reduction rod 11. At this time, the prize ball A <b> 1 is sent to the ball tray 30 in a state where the flow-down speed is reduced by the spiral reduction rod 11.

  When the ball counting sensor 18a detects that 15 prize balls A1 have passed due to the rotation of the rotor, the operation of the stepping motor of the rotating unit 18 is stopped under the control of the CPU, and the rotor is also stopped. The game progresses while this is repeated. Further, when the use of the pachinko machine is stopped and the game balls A of the upper tank 20 and the lower basket 21 are taken out of the machine, the switching operation unit is operated to rotate the rotor of the rotating unit 18 in the other direction. As a result, the game balls A in the upper tank 20 and the lower basket 21 are passed through the winning ball unit 17 and the simultaneous ball removal box 15 and dropped into the ball assembly bowl. At this time, the game ball A is sent to the ball assembly cage in a state where the flow velocity is decelerated by flowing down while swung along the protrusion 15b of the simultaneous ball removal rod 15.

  Next, the force received from the inner wall surface of the flow-down passage 13a when the prize ball A1 flows down in the speed reduction portion 13 of the spiral reduction rod 11 while rotating will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9A shows a case where the angle between the wall surfaces on both sides of the horizontal V shape forming the corridor wall surface 13b is 90 degrees, and FIG. 9B shows the horizontal V shape forming the corridor wall surface 13b. The case where the angle between the wall surfaces on both sides is 60 degrees is shown. Further, L in FIGS. 9A and 9B indicates the axis of the prize ball A1 during rotation, and the arrow indicates the rotation direction of the prize ball A1. F in FIGS. 9A and 9B indicates the centrifugal force acting on the prize ball A1, and F / 2 indicates that the prize ball A1 is brought into contact with each contact portion 13d by the centrifugal force F acting on the prize ball A1. The force in the same direction as the centrifugal force F acting on is shown.

  W0 in FIG. 9A and W1 in FIG. 9B indicate the forces in the direction perpendicular to the corridor wall surface 13b on which the prize ball A1 acts on the contact portion 13d. In this case, the friction received by the prize ball A1 shown in FIG. 9A from the one contact portion 13d is W0 × friction coefficient μ, and the prize ball A1 shown in FIG. 9B is drawn from the one contact portion 13d. The received friction is W1 × friction coefficient μ. Further, as is apparent from FIGS. 9A and 9B, W1 is larger than W0.

  That is, the smaller the angle between the side walls of the horizontal V-shape forming the corridor wall surface 13b, in other words, the greater the distance between the two contact portions 13d, the greater the friction that the prize ball A1 receives from the contact portion 13d. Accordingly, the flow speed when the prize ball A1 flows through the speed reduction unit 13 is reduced. Therefore, by appropriately setting the interval between the pair of contact portions 13d, the flow speed when the prize ball A1 flows through the speed reduction section 13 can be set to an arbitrary speed.

  As described above, in the gaming ball flow down device 10 according to the present embodiment, the helical speed reduction rod 11 for flowing down the gaming ball A from the upper tank 20 to the lower ball tray 30 is made of a resin material, and the spiral. A flow-down passage 13a provided inside the speed reduction rod 11 is formed in a spiral shape. For this reason, the helical reduction rod 11 can be formed of a high-precision molded product, and can be easily assembled inside the pachinko machine, and the helical reduction rod 11 is worn by contact with the game ball A, causing contamination. No dust is generated. Further, since the game ball A flows down along the spiral shape of the flow-down passage 13a, the game ball A flows down smoothly, and the flow-down speed is reduced, so that the ball tray 30 can be prevented from being worn. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent the generation of noise due to impact.

  In addition, a portion of the inner wall surface of the spiral speed reducer 11 that contacts the game ball A is configured by a corridor wall surface 13b that contacts the game ball A at two points. Then, by appropriately setting the shape of the corridor wall surface 13b so that the distance between the pair of contact portions 13d contacting the game ball A on the corridor wall surface 13b becomes an arbitrary length, the game ball A flows down the flow-down passage 13a. It is possible to set the flow down speed to an arbitrary speed. Therefore, the pachinko machine can be provided with the game ball flow down device 10 provided with the spiral reduction rod 11 that can flow down the game ball A at a suitable speed. Moreover, since the simultaneous ball extraction rod 15 for releasing the game ball A of the upper tank 20 to the outside of the pachinko machine is arranged on the inner peripheral side of the spiral reduction rod 11, the spiral reduction rod 11 has an inner peripheral side. The formed space can be used effectively. Accordingly, it is not necessary to provide a separate space for installing the simultaneous ball removal box 15.

  In addition, a rotating unit 18 having a rotor and a stepping motor is provided above the spiral reduction rod 11 and the simultaneous ball removal rod 15, and the rotation direction of the rotor is set to one direction so that the game ball A is spirally reduced. 11, and the rotation direction of the rotor is changed to the other direction, so that the game ball A can be put in the simultaneous ball removal box 15. For this reason, the passage can be easily switched, and when the game ball A needs to be taken out from the upper tank 20, the game ball A can be quickly released to the outside of the pachinko machine. Furthermore, since the spiral protrusion 15b is formed on the inner wall surface of the simultaneous ball removal box 15, the game ball A flowing down in the simultaneous ball removal box 15 flows down while turning. According to this, even when the game ball A is taken out from the pachinko machine, it is possible to reduce the flow-down speed of the game ball A and prevent damage to the ball assembly cage with which the game ball A collides.

  Further, the game ball dropping apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the helical reduction rod 11 and the simultaneous ball extraction rod 15 are integrally formed, but they may be assembled after being molded separately. In the above-described embodiment, the spiral speed reducer 11 is used to flow the game ball A from the upper tank 20 to the ball receiving tray 30, but this is used to flow the game ball A from the upper tank 20 to the ball collecting bowl. It can also be used as a ball punch for making the In this case, two spiral reduction rods 11 are arranged side by side, one for a passage through which a prize ball passes, and the other for discharge. Furthermore, the spiral speed reducer 11 can also be used to allow a winning ball or an out ball to flow down to the ball assembly cage.

  Further, the arrangement of the spiral speed reducer 11 can be changed as appropriate according to the structure of the pachinko machine, and is arranged between a predetermined ball assembly part of the pachinko machine and a ball receiving part located below the same. it can. In the above-described embodiment, the speed reduction gear is composed of the spiral speed reduction gear 11 made of a tubular body formed in a spiral shape, but the speed reduction gear is provided with a spiral flow-down passage in the wall portion of the cylindrical body. You may comprise. Further, the speed reduction rod may be formed in a columnar shape such as a cylindrical body or a quadrangular columnar body, and a spiral flow-down passage may be formed therein. In this case, the speed reducer and the ball puller are configured separately.

  Moreover, in embodiment mentioned above, although the surface which the game ball contacts in the speed reducer is provided by forming the corridor wall surface 13b whose cross-sectional shape is horizontal V shape in the inner peripheral surface of the spiral speed reducer 11, Instead, a pair of protrusions extending at the same interval may be provided on the inner peripheral surface of the helical reduction rod 11. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the linear guide portion provided on the inner wall surface of the simultaneous ball punch 15 is configured by the spiral protrusion 15b, but instead, the linear guide portion is formed by the spiral guide 15b. You may comprise by a groove part. Furthermore, the resin material constituting the main body 10a of the game ball dropping apparatus 10 is not limited to polycarbonate or ABS resin, and other resin materials may be used. In addition, the game ball falling device according to the present invention can be implemented by appropriately changing the configuration of other parts of the game ball flowing device within the technical scope of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Game ball falling apparatus, 11 ... Spiral speed reducing rod, 13a ... Flowing down passage, 13b ... Corridor wall surface, 15 ... Simultaneous ball extraction, 15a ... Release flow path, 15b ... Projection, 18 ... Rotating part, 20 ... Upper tank , 30 ... ball tray, A ... game ball, A1 ... prize ball.

Claims (5)

In a game ball flow down device used to flow a game ball from a ball collection unit of a pachinko machine to a ball receiving unit located below the ball collection unit,
A speed reducing rod made of a resin material having a spiral flow path for flowing down a game ball formed therein,
2. A game ball flow down device according to claim 1, wherein a surface that contacts game balls that flow down while receiving a centrifugal force in the flow down passage is provided at an outer peripheral side of an inner wall surface that forms the flow down passage in the speed reducer.   The game ball flow down device according to claim 1, wherein a cross-sectional shape of a surface where the game ball contacts at two points is formed in a horizontal V shape. The ball assembly is an upper tank disposed on the upper side of the pachinko machine,
3. The game ball flow down device according to claim 1, wherein the ball receiving portion is a ball receiving tray disposed on a lower side of the speed reducer, and the game ball flowing down the speed reducer is a prize ball. The speed reducer is formed in a cylindrical shape as a whole, and further provided on the inner peripheral side of the speed reducer, and a discharge passage for discharging the game ball of the upper tank to the outside of the pachinko machine is formed inside. A tubular ball punch made of a resin material,
The game ball flow down device according to claim 3, further comprising a switching device that switches and supplies the game ball in the upper tank to the speed reduction rod and the ball removal rod.   The game ball flow down device according to claim 4, wherein a spiral linear guide portion is formed on an inner wall surface forming a discharge passage in the ball extraction so that the game ball flows while turning.

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