JP6867680B2 - Ball dirt removal device for game machines - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a ball dirt removing device for a game machine, and more particularly to a ball dirt removing device capable of reliably removing dirt from a game ball with a compact structure.

In an enclosed pachinko machine or the like that circulates a game ball, a ball dirt removing device is provided in the circulation path so that metal powder or the like adhering to the game ball does not accumulate. An example thereof is shown in Patent Document 1. Here, a long brush portion extending along the ball receiving gutter is provided, and the game ball passing through the ball receiving gutter is cleaned of the game ball by the brush portion. I'm removing it.

JP-A-2004-81584

However, in the above-mentioned conventional ball stain prevention device, there is a problem that it cannot be installed compactly because it is necessary to secure a sufficient length of the brush portion in order to remove the stain more reliably.

Therefore, the present invention solves such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a ball stain removing device for a game machine capable of reliably removing stains on a game ball with a compact structure.

In order to achieve the above object, in the first invention, a spiral groove (32) is formed around the first shaft (3) rotatably supported in the casing (2), and the spiral groove (32) is formed. ) Is directed from one end to the other end of the first axis (3) in the axial direction by the spiral groove (32) as the game ball (B) is rotated around the first axis (3). Facing the spiral groove (32) around the transport member (L) rotatably supported in the casing (2) in parallel with the first shaft (3). The dirt removing protrusion (41) is spirally formed so as to be formed, and the dirt removing protrusion (41) is formed as the rotation around the second axis (4) is synchronized with the first axis (3) . A dirt removing member (M) that is constantly in contact with a game ball (B) conveyed in the spiral groove (32), and a protrusion (62) that is scraped off in a comb-like shape in the longitudinal direction of a long main body (61). Are formed at regular intervals so that the tips of adjacent scraping protrusions (62) are close to the spiral dirt removing protrusion (41) and sandwich it from both sides of the dirt removing protrusion (41). A scraper (6A, 6B) that is positioned and scrapes off the dirt of the dirt removing protrusion (41) that has migrated from the game ball (M) so as to wipe the dirt, and the casing (2) that scrapes off the dirt. ) A dirt discharge port (22, 23) for discharging to the outside is provided. Here, as an example of the "synchronization" method, the product of the spiral pitch of the spiral groove (32) and the rotation speed of the first axis (3) per predetermined time is the spiral pitch of the single dirt removing protrusion (41). It is to be the same as the product of the number of rotations per predetermined time of the second axis (4).

In the first invention, the game ball supplied into the spiral groove with the rotation of the first shaft is conveyed from one end to the other end in the axial direction of the first shaft, but in synchronization with the first shaft. Since the dirt removing protrusion spirally formed on the rotating second axis does not change its relative position with respect to the spiral groove while rotating, it always makes good contact with almost the same position on the surface of the moving game ball. The dirt adhering to this is removed. Since the dirt removing protrusions are spiral, the length in the axial direction of the second axis can be sufficiently shortened even if the length is sufficiently secured, and the ball dirt removing device is realized compactly. Helix.

The reference numerals in parentheses indicate the correspondence with the specific means described in the embodiments described later for reference.

As described above, according to the ball dirt removing device of the game machine of the present invention, dirt on the game ball can be reliably removed with a compact structure.

It is the schematic which looked at the enclosed pachinko machine from the back side. It is an overall perspective view of the ball dirt removing device in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view of the ball dirt removing device seen from the direction of the X arrow of FIG. It is an overall perspective view of the ball dirt removing device in the state which was rotated about 90 degrees around the axis in the direction of the Y arrow from the state shown in FIG. It is an end view of the ball dirt removing device seen from the direction of the Z arrow of FIG. It is a front view of the transport member and the dirt removal member in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

The embodiments described below are merely examples, and various design improvements made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention are also included in the scope of the present invention.

(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the enclosed pachinko gaming machine E as viewed from the back surface side. In FIG. 1, a game ball that has flowed down a game board E1 provided on the front side of a game machine is discharged into a ball circulation path E3 from a ball discharge port (out port) E2 or the like at the lower end. The ball circulation path E3 is provided with a ball dirt removing device 1 in the middle, which will be described in detail below, through which the ball circulation path E3 extends diagonally downward. The lower end of the ball circulation path E3 is connected to a ball lifting device E4 having a known structure extending vertically in the game machine E. The game ball is raised to the upper position of the game board E1 by the ball lifting device E4, and is launched into the upper area of the game board E1 by the ball launching device E5 provided here according to the handle operation of the player (upper part). Launch method).

An overall perspective view of the ball dirt removing device 1 is shown in FIG. Further, FIG. 3 shows a front view of the ball dirt removing device 1 as viewed from the direction of the X arrow in FIG. Further, FIG. 4 shows an overall perspective view of the ball dirt removing device 1 in a state of being rotated about 90 degrees around the axis in the direction of the Y arrow from the state shown in FIG.

The ball dirt removing device 1 includes a frame-shaped casing 2, and has a square tubular inlet-side connection connected to the upstream side of the ball circulation path E3 (FIG. 1) at one end (upper end of each drawing) of the casing 2. Along with the protrusion of the portion 11, a square tubular outlet-side connecting portion 12 connected to the downstream side of the ball circulation path E3 is projected on the other end side surface of the casing 2. In addition to this, the arrangement posture of the ball dirt removing device 1 can be arranged horizontally, vertically, etc., and is not limited to this embodiment.

In the casing 2, a first shaft 3 forming a transport member L and a second shaft 4 forming a dirt removing member M are erected between both ends in parallel with each other. Both shafts 3 and 4 are connected to a drive motor 51 provided at the other end of the casing 2 by a gear mechanism described later, and are synchronously rotated in opposite directions.

The blades 31 are spirally formed around the first shaft 3 in the axial direction, and a spiral groove (spiral groove) 32 having a predetermined width is formed between the spiral blades 31.

In the present embodiment, in the structure of the first shaft 3, blade bodies 34, 35, 36 made of hard resin are fitted on the outer circumference of the metal shaft body 33 having a missing circular cross section (see FIG. 5) directly connected to the drive motor 51. It is disguised. The blades 34 to 36 are divided into three in the axial direction of the first shaft 3, and the tubular body is fitted to the metal shaft 33, and the spiral blade 31 is integrally formed on the outer circumference of the tubular body. Has been done. The tubular bodies of the blades 34 to 36 are mounted on the metal shaft 33 so that the semicircular regions of the opposite ends are cut out and the stepped surfaces 37 are in contact with each other in the circumferential direction. Is being transmitted efficiently. Further, the stepped surface 37 of each of the blades 34 to 36 has a stepped downward step shape in which the one located on the lower side of FIG. 3 is lower than the one located on the upper side, whereby the stepped surface 37 is formed from the upper side to the lower side, which will be described later. The game balls are transported smoothly.

The materials of the blades 34 to 36 may be different, such as an abrasion resistant resin or an antistatic resin, depending on the installation position. The blades 34 to 36 may not be fitted to the metal shaft 33, but may be insert-molded integrally with the metal shaft 33.

The second shaft 4 has a smaller diameter than the first shaft 3, and although it is not specified, for example, it can be configured by twisting two wires. Then, one side edge of the band-shaped hairy fiber is sandwiched between the two wires to form a brush-like spiral dirt removing protrusion 41 extending in the axial direction around the second shaft 4. The structure of the dirt removing protrusion 41 is not limited to this, and various materials such as cloth, paper, sponge, ceramic, soft foamed resin, rubber, and string are used as long as the spiral shape can be maintained. It is possible. At this time, it goes without saying that the structure of the second axis 4 is not limited to the above.

In the present embodiment, the spiral pitch of the spiral blade 31 of the first shaft 3 and the spiral pitch of the dirt removing protrusion 41 of the second shaft 4 are made the same, and the tip of the dirt removing protrusion 41 is placed between the spiral blades 31. It is made to enter the formed spiral groove 32. In the present embodiment, the spiral direction of the spiral blade 31 and the spiral direction of the dirt removing protrusion 41 are opposite directions. It is not always necessary for the tip of the dirt removing protrusion 41 to enter the spiral groove 32, but it is better to allow the tip of the protrusion 41 to come into contact with the surface of the game ball B (FIG. 3) in the spiral groove 32. Can be guaranteed.

As shown in FIG. 5, a gear 52 constituting the gear mechanism 5 is mounted around the first shaft 3 rotationally driven by the drive motor 51, and the gear 52 mounted on the second shaft 4 is a gear 53. Is in mesh with. Note that FIG. 5 is an end view of the ball dirt removing device 1 as viewed from the direction of the Z arrow in FIG. Both gears 51 and 52 have the same number of teeth in this embodiment, so that the first shaft 3 and the second shaft 4 are rotated in opposite directions at the same rotation speed in synchronization with each other. In this way, if the spiral directions of the spiral blade 31 and the dirt removing protrusion 41 are opposite to each other, the drive mechanism 5 needs to be rotated in the opposite directions in order to move them in the same direction. It can be simply configured with two gears 52 and 53.

In addition, in order to reliably guarantee the relative rotation positions of the first shaft 3 and the second shaft 4, that is, the relative positions of the spiral groove 32 and the tip of the dirt removing protrusion 41 that has entered the spiral groove 32 at the time of assembly, the teeth of the gear 52. The groove is widened at one place in the circumferential direction (reference numeral 521), while the tooth profile of the gear 53 is widened at one place in the circumferential direction (reference numeral 531). The wide tooth profile 531 of the above is engaged.

Scraping tools 6A and 6B are provided on the front side and the back side of the casing 2 so as to sandwich the spiral dirt removing protrusion 41 from the front and back, respectively. The scraping tools 6A and 6B are long main bodies 61 extending parallel to each of the axes 3 and 4, and a large number of scraping protrusions 62 (FIG. 2) formed in a comb-teeth shape in the longitudinal direction at regular intervals, and are adjacent to each other. The tip of the scraping protrusion 62 is located close to each dirt removing protrusion 41 so as to sandwich the scraping protrusion 62. The tip surface of the scraping protrusion 62 of the scraping tool 6A and the side surface of the scraping protrusion 62 of the scraping tool 6B also serve as a guide wall for the game ball transport portion (ball flow path) described later. In the present embodiment, the scraping tools 6A and 6B have both ends of the main body 61 fixed to the casing 2 with screws, so that they can be easily removed for maintenance such as cleaning. If the scraping tools 6A and 6B can be removed with the ball dirt removing device 1 attached to the game machine, maintenance becomes easier. Of course, the scraping tools 6A and 6B may be integrally molded with the casing 2.

When the ball dirt removing device 1 having such a structure removes the dirt on the game ball B, the drive motor 51 is started to rotate the first shaft 3 in the clockwise direction in FIG. Along with this, the second axis 4 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5 at the same rotation speed in synchronization with the first axis 3. Along with the rotation of the first shaft 3, the game ball B supplied into the spiral groove 32 around the first shaft 3 via the inlet side connecting portion 11 of the casing 2 is a pair of left and right parallel rails constituting the game ball transport portion. As the spiral groove 32 moves on the shape projection 21 (FIG. 3) (from the upper side to the lower side in FIG. 3 in the present embodiment), the spiral groove 32 is conveyed to the lower outlet side connecting portion 12 (FIG. 2). Since the game ball B is moved on the protrusion 21, it is prevented that the ball pressure is directly applied to the inner wall of the casing 2, and the proper transport of the game ball B is guaranteed. In addition, since the game ball B does not come into contact with dust or the like accumulated on the inner wall of the casing 2, unnecessary dirt is prevented from adhering to the game ball B.

Here, a plurality of dirt discharge ports 22 are provided at regular intervals on the side wall of the casing 2 that faces downward when actually installed (see FIG. 1) between the left and right protrusions 21 extending in parallel. .. In this case, the protrusions 21 may be formed in the shape of a single straight rail that supports the center of the game ball B instead of the parallel rails, and a plurality of dirt discharge ports 22 may be provided on both sides of the protrusions 21 along the rails.

With respect to the game ball B conveyed by the spiral groove 32, the dirt removing protrusion 41 provided around the second shaft 4 that rotates in the opposite direction in synchronization with the first shaft 3 is formed in a spiral shape in the opposite direction. Therefore, the relative position with respect to the spiral groove 32 (hence, the spiral blade 31) does not change when the tip of the ball turns, so that it always satisfactorily contacts and adheres to the substantially same position on the surface of the moving game ball B. Remove the dirt that has been removed. At this time, if the contact position with the game ball B is slightly shifted from the center thereof, the game ball B to be transported is moved in various directions (for example, the transport direction) due to the acting force at the time of contact of the dirt removing protrusion 41. Since it can be rotated, various surfaces of the game ball B can be opposed to the dirt removing protrusion 41, and dirt can be easily removed. Further, if a material having a small frictional resistance is selected as the material of the dirt removing protrusion 41, the load on the drive motor 51 can be reduced.

The dirt that has been removed from the game ball B and transferred to the dirt removing protrusion 41 side is removed by the scraping protrusions 62 of the scraping tools 6A and 6B located on both sides of the dirt removing protrusion 41 in the vicinity of the dirt removing protrusion 41. It is scraped off so as to be wiped from the casing 2, and is discharged to the outside of the casing 2 from the dirt discharge ports 22 and 23 (FIG. 3) separately opened in the area directly below this. In this way, dirt is quickly discharged without diffusing in the casing 2. In addition, when removing dirt by wiping it from the dirt removing protrusion 41 by the scraping protrusion 62, static electricity may be generated and the dirt may be adsorbed by this. Therefore, in order to avoid this, the second shaft 4 is used. It is preferable to take measures such as grounding or providing a grounded metal plate on the game ball transport portion where the game ball flows down.

According to the present embodiment, with respect to the game ball B which is linearly conveyed along with the movement of the spiral groove 32 along the first axis 3, it turns around the second axis 4 which rotates in synchronization with the first axis 3. Since the new portion of the spiral tip of the dirt removing protrusion 41 always moves and contacts the surface of the game ball B at a constant speed, the dirt adhering to the surface of the game ball B is efficiently removed. In addition, since the dirt removing protrusion 41 has a spiral shape, the axial length of the second shaft 4 can be sufficiently shortened even if the tip length is sufficiently secured, and the ball dirt removing device. 1 can be realized compactly.

(Second Embodiment)
As shown in FIG. 6, the spiral direction of the spiral blade of the first axis and the spiral direction of the dirt removing protrusion of the second axis may be the same. In this case, the first axis and the second axis are synchronized with each other. An intermediate gear is provided between the gears 52 and 53 shown in FIG. 5 so as to rotate in the same direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the spiral pitch of the dirt removing protrusion 41 is made smaller than that of the spiral blade 31 (1/2 in the present embodiment), and a plurality of spiral grooves 32 of the first shaft 3 are provided. In the embodiment, the two) dirt removing protrusions 41 may face each other. In this case, in order to synchronize the movements of the spiral groove 32 and the dirt removing protrusion 41, the rotation speed of the second shaft 4 is the inverse of the spiral pitch of that of the first shaft 3 (twice in this embodiment). Just make it bigger. In this way, since the plurality of dirt removing protrusions 41 come into contact with the surface of the game ball B in the spiral groove 32, dirt on the surface of the game ball can be removed more efficiently.

(Other embodiments)
In the second embodiment, the pitch of the single spiral blade 31 is reduced so that the plurality of dirt removing protrusions 41 face each spiral groove 32, but a plurality of dirt removing protrusions are formed at the same pitch. These may face each spiral groove. In this case, the rotation speed of the second axis may be the same as that of the first axis.
The ball dirt removing device 1 can also be unitized in combination with the ball lifting device E4 (FIG. 1).

1 ... dirt removing device, 2 ... casing, 3 ... first shaft, 32 ... spiral groove, 4 ... second shaft, 41 ... dirt removing protrusion, 5 ... gear mechanism, 6A, 6B ... scraping tool, B ... game Sphere, L ... Conveying member, M ... Dirt removing member.

Claims (1)

A spiral groove is formed around the first shaft rotatably supported in the casing, and the game ball supplied into the spiral groove is caused by the spiral groove as the game ball rotates around the first shaft. A transport member that transports from one end to the other end in the axial direction of one axis and a second axis that is rotatably supported in the casing in parallel with the first axis so as to face the spiral groove. helically soil removal protrusion is formed, the soil removal protrusion in accordance with the rotation of the second axis that is synchronized with the first shaft is contacted at all times to the game ball that is carrying the helical groove A dirt removing member and a comb-shaped scraping protrusion are formed at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction of the long main body, and the tip of the adjacent scraping protrusion is close to the spiral dirt removing protrusion to obtain the dirt. A scraper that is positioned so as to sandwich the removal protrusion from both sides and scrapes off the dirt on the dirt removal protrusion that has migrated from the game ball, and the scraped dirt to the outside of the casing. A ball dirt removing device for a game machine equipped with a dirt discharge port for discharging.

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