JPH04300571A - Hit ball hitting device for pinball machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the hit ball hitting device of a pinball machine by which a ball can be hit out exactly to an aimed position on the surface of a game board, and also, a hit ball which is hit out always reaches the surface of the game board and does not return. CONSTITUTION:The hit ball hitting device 20 consisting of a rotation driving part 22 for rotating and moving a hit ball one by one piece and a control part 33 for moving by interlocking with an operating handle 10 operated by a player, and also, extruding the hit ball moved by the rotation driving part 22 to the front is constituted so as to face a hitting area 6 formed on one side of the upper end part of a game board 4. According to this constitution, the hit ball can be hit out exactly to an aimed position without being affected by other member at all, and also, the hit ball which is hit out does not return to the inside of the hitting area 6 again but drops down along the surface of the game board 4.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball firing device for a pachinko machine that shoots balls onto a game board.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a ball launcher that launches a ball onto a game board surface is generally installed on one side of the bottom of a pachinko machine.
The ball fired by the ball launcher is guided by the launch rail and the guide rail and reaches the game board surface. For this reason, it is necessary to have a configuration in which the distance from the ball launch point to the game board surface is long and the ball launcher can exert a large launch driving force, and the guidance section of the ball becomes long, which increases the uneven flight of the ball and increases accuracy. The drawbacks were that the ball could not be guided to the desired position and foul balls were more likely to occur.

[0003] In order to overcome these drawbacks, it has been proposed that the ball launcher be located at the central side of the game board to shorten the ball guidance section. The device was structured so that even though the guidance section was shortened, the ball was still launched onto the game board along the short guidance rail.

As a result, friction occurs between the fired ball and the guide rail, albeit in a limited area, resulting in uneven flight of the ball, and the ball collides with an obstacle nail on the game board, causing the ball to miss its launch position. There was a drawback that it would return to 2 and hit twice. The present invention was created in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to make it possible to accurately hit a ball to a desired position on the game board surface, and to ensure that the hit ball always reaches the game board surface and returns. An object of the present invention is to provide a ball launching device for a pachinko machine that does not require any type of ball launcher.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a batted ball firing device that launches a batted ball onto a game board surface, and the batted ball firing device includes a firing motor and a rotationally driven device driven by the firing motor. and a rotary drive unit consisting of a rotary body that rotationally moves balls one by one, a support stand that moves along an upper part of the rotary body in conjunction with an operation handle operated by a player, and a rotary drive unit that rotates the balls one by one; a movable member that is elastically supported and that pushes out balls moved by the rotary body by a firing roller provided at the tip thereof, and is formed on one side of the upper end of the game board surface It is characterized by being placed facing the firing area.

[0006]

[Operation] The ball moved by the rotating body of the rotation drive unit is
When it passes through a movable member that is elastically supported by a support stand located above the movable member, it is ejected in the tangential direction of the rotating body at the ejection position by a ejecting roller provided at the tip of the movable member. The shot ball flies directly into the game board surface from the launch area formed on one side of the upper end of the game board surface, so it is not affected by any other parts and can be hit accurately to the desired position, and the game Even if it collides with an obstacle nail planted on the board surface, it will not return to the firing area,
A situation where two balls are hit does not occur.

[0007]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of a pachinko machine 1 to which a ball launcher 20 according to an embodiment is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 9. In the figure, a pachinko machine 1 has a frame-shaped front frame 2, and a glass door 3 is provided in the window opening of the front frame 2.
is provided so that it can be opened and closed freely. As is well known, a glass plate is set in the glass door 3, and a game board 4 located at the rear.
can be seen through. On the surface of the game board 4,
A partition rail 5 is planted in a substantially circular shape, and the partition rail 5
The inside area surrounded by is configured as a gaming area, where various winning holes, winning devices, etc. are arranged. Further, a partition rail 5 corresponding to one side of the upper end of the game board 4 is cut to form a firing area 6. A ball launcher 20, which constitutes the main part of this embodiment, is provided so as to face this launch area 6. In addition, the game area divided by the partition rail 5 is larger than the conventional one because there is no guide rail to guide the batted ball, and the game board surface is used widely to allow for a different game development than the conventional one. It is possible to create a promising configuration.

Further, in FIG. 1, a front plate 7 is fixed to the surface of the front frame 2 below the glass door 3. As shown in FIG. On the surface of the front plate 7, there is an upper tray 8 for storing prize balls ejected from a prize ball ejecting device (not shown) and game balls purchased by players and guiding them as batted balls, and an upper tray 8 for storing prize balls ejected from a prize ball ejecting device (not shown) and game balls purchased by players and guiding them as batted balls. A lower tray 9 for storing prize balls is provided. Also, the lower plate 9
On the side, there is an operation handle 10 for adjusting the firing force of the batted ball.
is provided. This operating handle 10 is rotated by the player as in the conventional case, and the handle motor switch 10a is turned on by this operation. The operation handle 10 also includes a ball launcher 20.
It is connected by a connecting wire 19 via two pulleys 18a and 18b to an adjustment section 33, which will be described later, so that the amount of rotation of the operating handle 10 is transmitted to the ball launcher 20.

By the way, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the batted balls stored in the upper tray 8 flow down the game ball guiding path 11 formed in the upper tray 8 in a line. A ball-cutting device 13 provided at the top separates the pieces one by one and flows them down. The ball cutting device 13 is composed of a ball cutting solenoid 14 and a ball cutting member 15 that swings around a support shaft 15a by the ball cutting solenoid 14.
A recess 16 is formed at the lower end of 5. Further, a ball sensor 12 is provided below the ball cutting member 15, and detects whether or not there are balls flowing down the game ball guiding path 11. Further, the balls that have passed through the ball cutting device 13 are discharged as out balls through a discharge passage 17 to the back side of the Pachinko machine 1.

[0010] To explain the operation of the ball cutting device 13 configured as described above, the first ball aligned in the game ball guiding path 11 comes into contact with the recess 16 of the ball cutting member 15 and stops. At this position, the ball sensor 12 detects the presence of a game ball as a hit ball (indicated by a solid line in FIG. 6). When the ball cutting solenoid 14 is turned on, the ball cutting member 15 swings to open the ball by moving it downstream while receiving the ball in the recess 16, and the released ball flows down the discharge passage 17. . At this time, the next ball is locked to the upstream end of the recess 16 and is prevented from flowing downward (as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6). And ball cutting solenoid 14
When the ball is turned off, the recess 16 is again in a state where it receives the next ball. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated to separate the balls one by one and make them flow down. As will be described in detail later, the ball cutting solenoid 14 is turned ON each time a batted ball is fired one by one by the batted ball firing device 20, and the ball cutting solenoid 14 is turned ON each time a batted ball is fired one by one by the batted ball firing device 20. and the balls stored in the upper tray 8 are exchanged.

On the other hand, a ball tank 60 is attached to the upper part of the back surface of the pachinko machine 1, and a ball guide gutter 61 extends from the ball tank 60 to the back surface of one side of the game board 4. A ball launcher 20 is provided at the downstream end of the ball. Therefore, the balls stored in the ball tank 60 are supplied to the batted ball firing device 20 as batted balls to be actually fired. Note that the ball tank 60 may also be used as a ball tank for storing prize balls, or may be configured separately.

Next, the structure of the ball launcher 20, which constitutes the main part of this embodiment, will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. The ball launcher 20 is provided integrally on a base 21 that is fixed to the back surface of the front frame 2 and to which the game board 4 is attached, and is composed of a rotation drive section 22 and an adjustment section 33.

The rotation drive unit 22 includes a firing motor 23 fixed to the back surface of the base 21 and a rotating body 2 located on the front side of the base 21 and fixed to a motor shaft 24 of the firing motor 23.
It consists of 5. The rotating body 25 has a substantially semicircular ball receiving recess 26 that is open on the side facing the base 21 and receives a ball. ) is a ball locking portion 27 that locks the ball. Further, a sensing portion 2 formed of a metal material, for example, is provided in the front flange portion at a position corresponding to approximately the center of the ball receiving recessed portion 26.
8 is attached.

Further, the rotating body 25 is housed within an arc-shaped surrounding frame 32 that projects from the base 21.
The upper part of the surrounding frame 32 bulges outward to form a ball standby section 29. A ball inlet 30 is provided in the base 21 at a position corresponding to the ball waiting section 29, and the ball guide gutter 61 is connected to the ball inlet 30. However, the batted ball guide gutter 61
When the rotating body 25 rotates and the ball receiving recess 26 matches the ball inlet 30, the hit ball located at the head of the ball enters the ball waiting section 29 and waits at that position. Furthermore, the rotating body 25
When the ball latching portion 27 rotates and the ball latching portion 27 comes to the ball waiting portion 29, the waiting ball moves while being latched to the ball latching portion 27. Further, the lower part of the surrounding frame 32 is formed into a rectangular hollow shape, and a motor fixed position sensor 31 operated by the sensing section 28 is housed therein.

On the other hand, the adjustment section 33, which is the other component of the ball launcher 20, is a support that moves along a movement groove 34 formed in an arc shape in the base 21, which is located above the rotating body 25. A base 36 and a biasing spring 40 attached to the support base 36.
The movable member 38 is elastically supported by the movable member 38. To explain in more detail, the support stand 36 is the base stand 21
It is an elliptical plate located on the front side of the plate, and two pins 37 and 43 that pass through the moving groove 34 are protruded from the back side of the plate, and clamping plates 41 and 42 (see FIG. 4) are fixed to the rear end. As a result, it is movably attached to the movement groove 34. Further, the pin 37 located at the rear protrudes further rearward than the holding plate 41, and a coil spring 37 is attached to the protrusion.
5 is locked at one end. Also, coil spring 3
The other end of 5 is locked to a locking pin 44 that is located in front of the support stand 36 and protrudes from the back surface of the base 21 . Therefore, the support stand 36 is always urged forward by the urging force of the coil spring 35.

One end of a connecting wire 19 connected to the operating handle 10 is locked to the rear end of the support base 36 . Therefore, the support base 36 moves from the front to the rear against the urging force of the coil spring 35 in proportion to the amount of rotation of the operating handle 10. Further, the pin 37 is
A movable member 38 is provided on the pin 37 and also protrudes toward the front.
The rear end is rotatably supported. Therefore, the pin 37 constitutes a support shaft 37 of the movable member 38. As shown in FIG. 2, the movable member 38 is swingable about a support shaft 37 at its rear end, and has a synthetic resin firing roller 39 rotatably attached to its tip. Furthermore, the firing roller 39 is always urged downward by the urging force of the urging spring 40 provided around the support shaft 37.

By the way, the relationship between the movable member 38 having the above-mentioned ejection roller 39 and the ball receiving recess 26 of the rotating body 25 is as follows. That is, no matter where the support base 36 is located from the front to the rear, the distance between the ball holder recess 26 and the rear end of the movable member 38 is larger than the diameter of the pachinko ball, and the distance between the ball holder recess 26 and the movable member 38 is larger than the diameter of the pachinko ball. The distance between the tip of the member 38 and the firing roller 39 is designed to be smaller than the diameter of the ball. The distance between the ball receiver recess 26 and the ejection roller 39 varies depending on the position of the support base 36 within a range smaller than the diameter of the ball. In other words, the moving groove 34 is designed such that the distance between the ball receiving recess 26 and the firing roller 39 is smaller when the support base 36 is at the rear than when it is at the front.

[0018]The ball that has moved while being stopped by the ball locking portion 27 of the rotating body 25 comes into contact with the firing roller 39 and pushes up the movable member 38 against the biasing force of the biasing spring 40. Immediately after the ball passes, the firing roller 39 presses the rear surface of the ball due to the restoring force of the biasing spring 40 and pushes the ball in the tangential direction of the rotating body 25 at that time. This causes the ball to be hit.

Furthermore, the position at which the ball is pushed out by the firing roller 39 naturally depends on the position of the support base 36,
That is, although it varies depending on the amount of rotation of the operation handle 10, in a position where the operation handle 10 is slightly rotated, the support base 36 is positioned forward as shown in FIG. Since the ball is facing the right direction, the ball hit by the rotating body 25 and the firing roller 39 will be hit to the left side of the game board 4. Also, at this time, the ball receiver recess 2
Since the distance between the ball 6 and the firing roller 39 is only slightly smaller than the diameter of the ball, its firing force is also small. On the other hand, as the amount of rotation of the operating handle 10 increases,
The support base 36 moves backward against the biasing force of the coil spring 35, and as the movable member 38 gradually becomes oriented horizontally with respect to the firing area 6, the ball is launched as shown in FIG. The direction can be horizontal. At this time, since the distance between the ball receiving recess 26 and the firing roller 39 is also much smaller than the diameter of the ball, the firing force is also increased, making it possible to fly the ball far in the horizontal direction of the playing area of the game board 4. can.

The ball launcher 20 described above is controlled by a control circuit 50 shown in FIG. That is, the control circuit 50 includes the ball sensor 12 and the motor fixed position sensor 3.
1. The signal from the handle motor switch 10a is inputted via the input circuits 51 to 53, and the control circuit 50
From there, the ball cutting solenoid 14 and the firing motor 23 are connected via a solenoid drive circuit 54 and a motor drive circuit 55.
A drive signal is sent to each.

The control operation of the control circuit 50 described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 8. First, in step 100, the process proceeds to step 110 on the condition that the handle motor switch 10a is turned on. However, step 1
When it is determined in step 10 that the ball sensor 12 is ON, it is determined in step 120 whether the motor fixed position sensor 31 is ON, and the motor fixed position sensor 3
1 is ON, the motor drive circuit 55 is driven (step 130). This causes the firing motor 2
3 rotates to rotate the rotating body 25, and the movable member 38 cooperates with the firing roller 39 to fire the ball. When the rotating body 25 rotates once and the sensing section 28 turns on the motor fixed position sensor 31 again (step 140), the solenoid drive circuit 54 is driven (step 150). This causes the ball cutting solenoid 1 to
4 is turned on and one game ball is captured in exchange for the shot ball. Below, the handle motor switch 10a is set to O.
The operations from step 110 to step 150 are repeated on the condition that the process is N.

As described above, the ball launcher 20 in this embodiment allows the player to fire the launch area 6 formed on one side of the upper end of the game board 4 simply by rotating the operating handle 10.
The ball flies directly into the 4th side of the game board. By adjusting the amount of rotation of the operating handle 10, the adjusting section 33 of the ball firing device 20 can be moved to fire the ball in a desired direction as shown in FIG. The shot ball is
Since it is launched directly from the firing area 6 onto the 4th surface of the game board, it is not affected by any other parts and can be launched accurately to the targeted position, and it also avoids colliding with obstacle nails set on the 4th surface of the game board. Even if the ball does not return to the launch area 6,
A situation where two balls are hit does not occur.

[0023] In the above-mentioned embodiment, the ball guiding gutter 6
1 to the ball inlet 30 (so-called dripping), a ball feeding device is provided just before the ball inlet 30 and the ball is fed one by one in conjunction with the rotation of the firing motor 23. It is also possible to send the ball to the ball inlet 30.

[0024]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, in the present invention, there is provided a rotary drive unit consisting of a firing motor and a rotating body which is rotationally driven by the firing motor and rotates one ball at a time, and a game machine. A support base that moves along the upper part of the rotary body in conjunction with an operating handle operated by a person, and a firing roller that is elastically supported by the support base and provided at the tip thereof, and is moved by the rotary body. The ball firing device, which is composed of an adjusting section consisting of a movable member that pushes out a ball, and a ball firing device, is arranged so as to face a firing area formed on one side of the upper end of the game board, so that the ball that is hit will reach the upper end of the game board. Since it jumps directly into the game board surface from the firing area formed on one side, it is not affected by any other parts and can be fired accurately to the targeted position, and it also collides with obstacle nails planted on the game board surface. Even when the ball is hit, it does not return to the firing range, and a situation where the ball is hit twice does not occur.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a pachinko machine to which a ball launcher according to the present embodiment is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ball launcher according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the ball launcher portion.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the ball launcher portion.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing the ball firing device in a state in which the ball is being moved.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a portion of the ball cutting device for game balls that are captured in exchange for the hit ball.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control circuit that controls driving of the batted ball launcher.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow diagram showing an overview of operations controlled by a control circuit.

FIG. 9 is a top front view of the pachinko machine showing the trajectory of a ball fired by a ball launcher.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Pachinko machine 4 Game board 6 Launch area 10 Operation handle 20 Ball launcher 22 Rotation drive part 23 Launch motor 25 Rotating body 33 Adjustment part 36 Support stand 38 Movable member 39 Launch roller 40 Biasing spring

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ball launcher that launches a ball onto a game board surface, the ball launcher comprising a rotation drive unit comprising a launch motor and a rotating body that is rotationally driven by the launch motor and rotates balls one by one. , a support table that moves along the upper part of the rotary body in conjunction with an operation handle operated by a player, and a firing roller that is elastically supported by the support base and provided at the tip thereof; a ball ejecting part for a pachinko machine, comprising: an adjusting part consisting of a movable member that pushes out a moving ball; Device.