JPH04263882A - Game ball discharge device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always execute the pinball in a state that a game ball is stable and stands still in a prescribed position, and to always stabilize the discharge direction of the game ball to be constant, in the game ball discharge device for which a rotary solenoid is used. CONSTITUTION:The device is constituted of a spring 8 for allowing a hammer 2 to work force by elasticity so that the hammer 2 oscillates in the direction in which the tip part 21 of the hammer 2 goes away from a pinball position, and a rotary solenoid 10 for rotating a pinball shaft 1 for supporting axially the hammer 2, in order to energize the tip part 21 of the hammer 2 which reaches a pinball preparatory position in the rear of the pinball position by force of this spring 8, toward the pinball direction against the force of the spring 8 in reverse, and by output torque of the rotary solenoid 10, the tip part 21 of the hammer 2 is energized toward a game ball 7, thus the pinball is executed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a game ball firing device, and more specifically, a game ball firing device is used in a pachinko machine, a combination pachinko machine, a mahjong type pachinko machine, an adding type pachinko machine, etc., in which game balls are fired. The present invention relates to a game ball launching device used in a pinball game machine that plays a game based on the result of a game ball falling down a board surface.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art A game ball launching device has conventionally been used in a pinball game machine in which a game is played based on the result of a game ball being shot and the shot game ball falling down a board surface. Some conventional game ball launching devices use a rotary solenoid as a drive source for driving a mallet that hits game balls.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional game ball launching device using such a rotary solenoid. The conventional game ball launching device shown in FIG. 4 includes a ball shaft 1 rotatably attached to a front plate (not shown) to which a front glass plate or the like is attached via a bearing or the like within a certain angle range, and a position near the center of gravity of the ball shaft 1. A mallet 2 is supported by a ball shaft 1 so as to be swingable, and a game ball 7 waiting at a ball position at the bottom of a rail 6 having an end plate 61 at the bottom is shot. In order to make the game ball 7 shoot,
A coiled spring 3 provided at the tip 21 of the mallet 2, and a spring 8 provided at a position to pull the upper arm 22 of the mallet 2 in order to bias the tip 21 of the mallet 2 toward the game ball 7. In order to rotate the ball axis 1 within a certain angle range and move the tip 21 of the mallet 2 to the ball preparation position behind the ball position against the tension of the spring 8, the ball axis 1 is rotated at a constant angle. A rotary solenoid 10 that rotates within an angular range and a game ball 7
Rotary solenoid 1 to adjust the firing strength of
A stopper 90 for adjusting the strength is provided at a position where the rear end 23 of the hammer 2 swings due to the drive of the hammer 2, and a stopper 90 for adjusting the strength is provided at a position where the rear end 23 of the hammer 2 swings due to the drive of the bullet. It consists of a stopper 9 and the like.

The strength adjustment stopper 90 has a stopper shaft 9.
1, and a handle 92 is fixed to one end of the stopper shaft 91. The handle 92 is exposed in front of the front plate so that it can be operated from the outside.
By turning , the strength adjustment stopper 90 is configured to swing within a certain angle range. Next, the firing operation of this conventional game ball firing device will be explained.

[0005] Game balls 7 are supplied in advance from a game ball supply port (not shown) provided on the front plate, and are waiting at a bouncy ball position at the bottom of the rail 6. In this standby state, the mallet 2 is in contact with the stopper 9 due to the elastic force of the spring 8. Therefore, the coiled spring 3 provided at the tip 21 of the mallet 2 is pressed against the bottom of the rail 6. It is located at a position where it comes into contact with the game ball 7 waiting at the ball position. Therefore,
The game ball 7 is attached to the lowest end plate 6 of the rail 6 by the coiled spring 3.
It is locked in a slightly lifted state from 1.

When the rotary solenoid 10 is powered and driven by a signal from a control device (not shown), the ball shaft 1 is rotated by a certain angle. As a result, the mallet 2 starts to swing against the elastic force of the spring 8 and the return spring in the rotary solenoid 10, and the tip of the mallet 2
1 starts moving backwards. As a result, the tip 21 of the mallet 2
The coiled spring 3 separates from the game ball 7, and the game ball 7 descends on the rail 6 due to gravity and lightly collides with the end plate 61. Then, after repeating the collision several times, it settles at a position where it contacts the end plate 61 over time.

On the other hand, as the swinging of the mallet 2 due to the rotation of the ball shaft 1 progresses, the tip 21 of the mallet 2 reaches the ball preparation position behind the game ball 7. This ball preparation position is a position where the tip 21 of the mallet 2 can secure enough potential energy to hit the game ball 7, but as will be described later, the firing strength of the game ball 7 is This bullet preparation position can be changed in order to change the ball.

When the tip 21 of the mallet 2 reaches this bullet preparation position, the power supply to the rotary solenoid 10 is stopped by a signal from a control device (not shown), and the spring 8 and the return spring in the rotary solenoid 10 are turned off. The force causes the tip 21 of the mallet 2 to be rapidly urged toward the game ball 7. Then, the coiled spring 3 provided at the tip 21 of the mallet 2 instantly contacts the game ball 7, causing the game ball 7 to bounce. As a result, the game ball 7 rises vigorously along the rail 6, and the game ball 7 is launched onto a board (not shown). The upper arm portion 22 of the mallet 2 that bounces instantly contacts the stopper 9 and stops swinging.

[0009] Then, the next game ball 7 is supplied from the game ball supply port to the lowest ball position of the rail 6, and the same firing operation is repeated. In the firing operation of the conventional game ball firing device, the firing strength of the game ball 7 is changed by turning the handle 92. As aforementioned,
When the handle 92 is turned, the strength adjustment stopper 90 can be swung through the stopper shaft 91, so the rotational position of the handle 92 is adjusted and the mallet 2 hits the strength adjustment stopper 90. Tip 2 of mallet 2 when touching
The firing strength of the game ball 7 is adjusted by adjusting the position 1, that is, the bullet preparation position.

In addition, in the conventional game ball launching device using the rotary solenoid described above, the rotary solenoid 10 is used to move the tip 21 of the mallet 2 from the ball position to the ball preparation position, Hammer 2 in the bullet preparation position
After the tip 21 of the rotary solenoid 10 is located
By stopping the power supply to the ball, the ball is fired. Therefore,
The permanent position of the tip 21 of the mallet 2, that is, the standby position of the tip 21 of the mallet 2 when no ball action is being performed, is the ball position where the game ball 7 waits. In other words, in one firing cycle, the time when the tip 21 of the mallet 2 is located at the ball position where the game ball 7 is waiting is long, and the time when it is relatively away from the ball position is short. ing.

[0011]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] As mentioned above, since the game ball launcher plays a game depending on the falling state of the launched game balls, the direction of the launch of the game balls by the launcher is always constant. It is a necessary condition that it be stable. In the firing operation of the above-mentioned conventional game ball launcher, in order to always keep the game ball in a constant and stable firing direction, when the coiled spring at the tip of the mallet bounces the game ball, the game ball must be at a certain position. It is necessary to remain stable and stationary.

[0012] Here, since the game ball repeatedly collides lightly with the end plate of the rail due to the retreat of the coiled spring when it is launched, in order to stably stand still at the position where it contacts the end plate, it is necessary to
A certain amount of time is required. However, as mentioned above, in the conventional game ball launching device, the time when the tip of the mallet is away from the ball position is short, so the tip of the mallet is separated from the game ball waiting at the ball position. There was a problem in that not enough time elapsed between when the game ball was hit again and the position of the game ball when it was hit could not be kept constant and stable.

[0013] The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and is a game ball launcher using a rotary solenoid, in which the game ball always bounces while remaining stable and stationary at a certain position. The purpose is to make it possible to always keep the firing direction of game balls constant and stable.

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the game ball launching device of the present invention includes a ball shaft attached to a front plate, a ball shaft pivotably supported by the ball shaft in a swingable state, A mallet having a tip that comes into contact with a game ball waiting at a ball position, a spring that applies an elastic force to the mallet so that the mallet swings in a direction in which the tip of the mallet moves away from the ball position, and this spring. In order to urge the tip of the mallet, which has reached the bullet preparation position behind the bullet position due to force, toward the bullet position against the force of the spring, a bullet pivoting the mallet is used. It consists of a rotary solenoid that rotates the shaft.

[0015]

[Embodiments] Examples of the invention of the present application will be described below. Figure 1
1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. The game ball launching device of the embodiment shown in FIG. A mallet 2 has a tip 21 that can come into contact with a game ball 7 waiting at the lowest ball position of the rail 6 having an end plate 61 at the bottom, and a mallet 2 with the tip 21 facing away from the ball position. A spring 8 that pulls the rear end 23 of the mallet 2 so that the mallet 2 swings, a rotary solenoid 10 that rotates the ball shaft 1, and a control device 19 that can change the power supply time of the rotary solenoid 10. It is composed of.

In FIG. 1, the front plate (not shown) is usually
The ball shaft 1 is vertically arranged, and the ball shaft 1 is mounted perpendicularly to this front plate via a bearing or the like. That is, the ball shaft 1 is rotatable on a horizontal axis of rotation. As shown in FIG. 1, the mallet 2 has an elongated shape, and the ball axis 1
is fixed at one end. In addition, the tip 21 of this mallet 2
A coiled spring 3 is attached to the game ball 7, which bounces the game ball 7 by swinging the mallet 2 as described later.

One end of a spring 8 is attached to the rear end 23 of the mallet 2. This spring 8 is
It extends to the side of the game ball 7, and the other end is fixed by a fixture 81 provided on the front plate. This spring 8
is attached in such a way that the rear end 23 of the mallet 2 is always pulled. Therefore, a spring 8 is attached to the mallet 2 so that the tip 21 of the mallet 2 swings away from the ball position.
force is always at work.

The spring 8 also allows the tip 21 of the mallet 2 to stop at a predetermined ball preparation position when the tip 21 of the mallet 2 swings in a direction away from the ball position.
Bullet preparation position stopper 9 that the upper arm 22 of the mallet 2 comes into contact with
3 is provided. This bullet preparation position stopper 93
Unlike the strength adjustment stopper 90 in the conventional game ball firing device shown in FIG. 3, the stopper 90 is fixed to a front plate (not shown) and does not move. This is because the ball strength is adjusted in this embodiment by adjusting the power supply time to the rotary solenoid 10, which is performed by the control device 19.

The control device 19 includes a handle 191 that is exposed in front of the front plate so that the player can operate it, a variable resistor 192 that is operated by operating the handle 191, and a variable resistor 192 that is operated by operating the handle 191. The control circuit 193 controls the power supply time to the rotary solenoid 10 according to the resistance value of the rotary solenoid 10. On the other hand, a first gear 121 is fixed to the ball shaft 1, and a second gear 122 that meshes with the first gear 121 is connected to the output shaft of the rotary solenoid 10. Therefore,
The rotation of the rotary solenoid 10 is changed in speed and the ball axis 1
It is intended to be transmitted to That is, the gear ratios of the gears 121 and 122 are set according to the output torque and rotational speed of the rotary solenoid 10 so as to achieve a predetermined acceleration or deceleration. The direction of rotation of the rotary solenoid 10 when it is driven is opposite to that of the conventional game ball launching device.
The tip 21 of the mallet 2 is moved from the bullet preparation position to the bullet position.

Incidentally, after the rotary solenoid 10 is driven and the tip 21 of the mallet 2 moves vigorously from the ball preparation position to the ball position and hits the game ball 7, the upper arm 22 of the mallet 2 A post-ball stopper 9 that comes into contact with the hammer 2 to stop the movement of the mallet 2 is fixed to a front plate (not shown). Next, Figure 2
The operation of the game ball launching device of this embodiment will be explained using the following.

[0021] The game ball 7 is one that is continuously fired in large numbers, for example, 100 shots per minute, and therefore,
The operation performed by the game ball firing device also repeats the same operation. For convenience of explanation, once one firing operation is completed, the next game ball 7 is supplied from the game ball supply port provided on the front plate to the ball position at the bottom of the rail 6 and is waiting. A state in which the upper arm portion 22 of the mallet 2 is in contact with the bullet preparation position stopper 93 and the tip portion 21 is waiting at the bullet preparation position will be described as an initial state. This initial state is assumed to be a state on the verge of reaching reference time t=0 in the timing chart of FIG. In this state, power supply to the rotary solenoid 10 is stopped.

First, at time t=0, the control device 19
A drive signal is sent to the rotary solenoid 10 from
The rotary solenoid 10 starts rotating, and this rotation is transmitted to the ball shaft 1 by gears 121 and 122. As a result, the mallet 2 starts swinging against the elastic force of the spring 8. At t=t1, a drive stop signal for the rotary solenoid 10 is sent from the control circuit 19, and power supply to the stator made of an electromagnet in the rotary solenoid 10 is stopped.

Even after the drive of the rotary solenoid 10 is stopped, the mallet 2 continues to swing due to inertia, and at t=t2, due to this inertia, the coiled spring 3 of the tip 21 of the mallet 2 is turned into a game ball waiting at the ball position. 7 and makes the game ball 7 bounce. As a result, the game ball 7 rises vigorously along the rail 6 and is launched onto a board (not shown). The upper arm 22 of the mallet 2 instantaneously contacts the post-ball stopper 9 and stops swinging.

When the mallet 2 comes into contact with the post-ball stopper 9 and stops swinging, the next moment it starts swinging in the opposite direction due to the elasticity of the spring 8, and the tip 21 of the mallet 2 ,
Leave the bullet position and head to the bullet preparation position. And t=
At t3, the rear end 23 of the mallet 2 comes into contact with the bullet preparation position stopper 93, and the swinging of the mallet 2 is stopped. In parallel with this, the next game ball 7 is supplied from the game ball supply port to the lowest ball position of the rail 6, enters the standby state, and returns to the above-mentioned initial state.

As is clear from the above description of the operation of the embodiment, the permanent position of the tip portion 21 of the mallet 2 in this embodiment is different from the conventional one, and is at the bullet preparation position away from the bullet position. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, in one firing cycle, the tip 21 of the mallet 2 is in contact with the upper arm 22 of the mallet 2 during most of the time, except for a short period of time when the game ball 7 is hit. is located at the bullet preparation position where it is in contact with the bullet preparation position stopper 93.

Therefore, the game ball 7 supplied from the game ball supply port provided on the front plate repeatedly lightly collides with the end plate 61, and the sufficient amount of time necessary for the game ball 7 to come into contact with the end plate 61 at the ball position and come to rest. After a period of time has passed, the coiled spring 3 of the tip 21 of the mallet 2 is able to hit the game ball 7. Therefore,
The firing direction of the hit game ball 7 is always constant and stable.

Further, in the embodiment, when the player desires to change the firing intensity, the player turns the handle 191 exposed in front of the front plate to change the resistance value of the variable resistor 192, and the control circuit 193 changes the resistance value of the variable resistor 192. To change the power supply time to the rotary solenoid 10. Next, using FIG. 3, a description will be given of changes in ball strength due to changes in the power supply time to the rotary solenoid 10. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of changes in bullet strength due to changes in power supply time to the rotary solenoid. The horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the change in the tip of the mallet from the bullet preparation position to the bullet position. Indicates spatial location. tS and tL each indicate the power supply time to the rotary solenoid 10, and tS < tL.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the power supply time to the rotary solenoid 10 is short as tS, the tip 21 of the mallet 2 continues to move due to inertia after the power supply to the rotary solenoid 10 is stopped. It takes a relatively long time to reach the ball position, and during this time the speed of the tip 21 of the mallet 2 when it reaches the ball position is relatively low because the drag force due to the elasticity of the spring 8 is acting. It will be slow. On the other hand, as in tL, the rotary solenoid 10
If the power supply time is long, the time required for the tip 21 of the mallet 2 to reach the ball position will be shortened due to inertia, so the speed drop from the time the power supply stops to the ball will be small, and the speed will be relatively fast. Pounce the game pay 7 at the speed. In other words, by changing the time during which the tip 21 of the mallet 2 moves due to inertia, the mallet 2
This is to change the strength of the ball played by the tip 21 of the ball.

In the above embodiment, when changing the number of shots per unit time, it is sufficient to change the period of the drive signal and return signal in the timing chart of FIG. 2 while synchronizing them.

[0030]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the configuration of the present invention, the permanent position of the tip of the mallet is the bullet preparation position which is away from the bullet ball position, so the game ball can be stably maintained at a constant position. The game ball can be bounced after a sufficient period of time has elapsed until it comes to rest, and therefore, it is possible to keep the shooting direction of the game ball constant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of the control device in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of changes in ball strength due to changes in power supply time to the rotary solenoid.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional game ball launching device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bullet axis 2. Hammer 21 Tip 8 Spring 10 Rotary solenoid 19 Control device

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A mallet having a ball shaft attached to a front plate, a tip that is rotatably supported by the ball shaft and comes into contact with a game ball waiting at a ball position, and a mallet. A spring that applies an elastic force to the mallet so that the tip swings away from the ball position, and the tip of the mallet that reaches the ball preparation position behind the ball position due to the force of this spring. and a rotary solenoid that rotates a ball shaft that supports a mallet in order to bias the ball toward the ball position against the force of the spring. .