JPH04316190A - Expanded tank of replenishing type medal delivering mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the medal holding capacity of a medal delivering mechanism and, at the same time, to allow an excessive amount of medals to smoothly overflow the mechanism. CONSTITUTION:The main body 11 of this tank is mounted on the hopper 22 of a medal delivering mechanism 20 and communicated with the hopper 22 through an opening 11a provided through the bottom section of the main body 11. Medals falling down into a receiving chute 11b through a throw-in chute are held in the main body 11 and, when the amount of the medals becomes excessive, the medals slip down along an overflow chute 11d and overflow the main body 11 to the outside through an overflow hole 11c.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] This invention is incorporated into a gaming machine such as a slot machine or a vending machine (hereinafter referred to as a slot machine, etc.) in which coins or medals (hereinafter simply referred to as medals) are inserted and used. The present invention relates to an expansion tank for a refillable medal dispensing mechanism for expanding the medal storage capacity of the dispensing mechanism.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Slot machines and the like generally use a refillable medal payout mechanism to pay out medals.

The refillable medal dispensing mechanism is used for dispensing winning medals in gaming machines, change dispensing in vending machines, etc., and includes a hopper for storing medals and a hopper for dispensing a predetermined number of medals based on an external signal. It is assembled integrally with the ejection mechanism (for example,
Publication No. 086). A large amount of medals are stored in the hopper in advance and used for dispensing, but the medals inserted by the user are also automatically thrown into the hopper.
The advantage is that you don't have to replenish the medals as often because they are replenished.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to this prior art, the hopper and the dispensing mechanism are integrally constructed, so if it is attempted to increase the medal storage capacity of the hopper, the whole becomes large and heavy. There was a problem in that it was extremely inconvenient to incorporate into a machine. In particular, in gaming machines, the number of medals that are put out is generally about a fraction of the number of medals that are put in, so the medal storage capacity must be especially large, and the hopper is Considering the situation when the medal is full, it is essential to have a mechanism to smoothly overflow the overflowing medals (
(the above publication).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the problems and actual circumstances of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a tank body that can be mounted on a hopper of a medal dispensing mechanism, and to form an overflow hole with an overflow chute in the tank body. By doing so, the storage capacity of medals can be expanded arbitrarily.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to an additional tank for a replenishable medal dispensing mechanism that can smoothly overflow overflowing medals.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The structure of the present invention to achieve the above object has an open top, an opening communicating with a medal dispensing mechanism at the bottom, and a structure that can be mounted on a hopper of the medal dispensing mechanism. A tank body, a drawer-shaped replenishment chute that is attached to the top of the tank body so as to be movable back and forth, a receiving chute that is fixed to the top of the front side of the tank body and receives medals that fall from above through the input chute, and a tank. Its gist is that it consists of an overflow hole that is opened in the side surface of the main body at a position lower than the receiving chute, and an overflow chute that rises obliquely from the lower edge of the overflow hole.

[0007] The overflow hole may be provided at the rear side of the tank body, and may be a stepped hole that is higher on the front side and lower on the rear side.

[0008]

[Function] With this configuration, the tank body has a drawer-shaped replenishment chute at the top, so when replenishing medals, the replenishment chute can be pulled out to the front to speed up the replenishment work. It can be made simple and easy. Further, since the overflow hole is provided with an overflow chute and is opened at a lower position than the receiving chute, it is possible to smoothly overflow the overflowing medals. Note that by mounting the tank body on the hopper of the medal dispensing mechanism, the medal storage capacity of the medal dispensing mechanism can be arbitrarily increased.

When an overflow hole is provided at the rear side of the tank body, when the medals that are thrown into the tank body through the receiving chute and accumulate on the front side of the tank body exceed a certain level, the excess medals are deposited on the rear side. It collapses, slides down the overflow chute, and can easily overflow to the outside through the overflow hole. At this time, since the overflow hole is an uneven hole, even if medals were to stay on the overflow chute, the subsequent medals would not pass through the overflow chute and would flow to the front side of the overflow hole. Direct overflow is possible via the upper part.

0010

[Embodiment] An embodiment will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

The additional tank of the refillable medal dispensing mechanism is a tank body 1 mounted on the hopper 22 of the medal dispensing mechanism 20.
1 and a drawer-shaped replenishment chute 12 attached to the tank body 11 (FIGS. 1 and 2).

[0012] The medal payout mechanism 20 includes a base frame 2
A hopper 22, a rotary plate 23, and a motor 24 are assembled on the top of the motor.

The hopper 22 is an open-top container into which a large number of medals (not shown) are randomly thrown, and the rotary plate 23 is pivoted obliquely inside the hopper 22. The rotary plate 23 forms a slope that reaches the bottom of the hopper 22 via a partition plate 22a, and is connected to the motor 24 via gears 24b and 24a.

[0014] On the surface of the rotating plate 23, there are many protrusions 23a.
, 23a, . . . are arranged in a circular row, and a convex portion 23b is formed in the shape of a disk at the center thereof. Therefore, when the rotary plate 23 is rotated by the motor 24, the medals in the hopper 22 are moved to the protrusions 23a, 23a... and the protrusions 23.
The medals can be scooped up one by one by fitting between the holes 25 and 25, and the medals scooped up in this way can be individually discharged through the discharge hole 25 and discharged to the outside. However, the discharge hole 25 is connected to the guide member 25a extending to the upper surface of the rotary plate 23 and the base frame 2.
1 and the cover plate 25b, and a hole is formed in the side surface of the hopper 22 at the lower front of the tank body 11.

The tank body 11 is open at the top and has an opening 11a at the bottom that communicates with the hopper 22 of the medal payout mechanism 20, and is formed into a hopper shape as a whole (FIGS. 1, 2, Figure 3).

A receiving chute 11b is obliquely fixed to the upper part of the front side of the tank body 11.
An overflow hole 11c is formed at the rear of the side surface of 1. The overflow hole 11c is the receiving chute 11b.
The hole is opened at a lower position, and its shape is a stepped hole that is higher on the front side and lower on the rear side. An overflow chute 1 is provided in the overflow hole 11c.
1d is attached, and the overflow chute 11d is fixed so as to rise obliquely from the lower end edge of the overflow hole 11c. One side of the overflow chute 11d is in contact with the rear wall of the tank body 11, and the other side is formed diagonally so that the width gradually becomes narrower from the bottom to the top.

In the upper part of the tank body 11, in the front and back direction,
A pair of rails 11e, 11e are provided.

The replenishment chute 12 is formed into a frame shape as a whole, has a handle 12a on the front side, and has handles 12a on both sides of the lower part.
Legs 12b, 12b are provided in a protruding manner. Legs 12b, 12b
fits into the rails 11e, 11e of the tank body 11,
It can slide within the rails 11e, 11e, and therefore, the replenishment chute 12 as a whole is attached to the tank body 11 so as to be freely movable back and forth.

The replenishment chute 12 is provided with a guide plate 12c that extends backward and a top plate 12d, and a space is formed between the guide plate 12c and the top plate 12d that communicates with each other vertically.

A chute ST for inserting medals from a medal selector (not shown) is arranged above the receiving chute 11b. However, it is assumed that the medal selector determines the authenticity of the medals inserted by the user and discharges only genuine medals to the input chute ST.

When replenishing the medal dispensing mechanism 20 with medals, the replenishment chute 12 is pulled forward (as indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3). As a result, the replenishment chute 12 can be made to protrude to the front of the tank body 11, so even if other mechanical parts including the medal selector are assembled above the tank body 11, there is no room for the medal selector to be assembled. Replenishment work is extremely easy. The medals are not only sent to the hopper 22 of the medal payout mechanism 20 but also to the tank body 1.
1, the medals can be stored to the extent that they do not overflow from the overflow hole 11c, so the overall medal storage capacity can be significantly increased compared to the case where only the medal dispensing mechanism 20 is used.

When the hopper 22 and the tank body 11 are sufficiently filled with medals, the replenishment chute 12 is pushed rearward to open the lower part of the input chute ST (solid line in FIG. 3), and the machine is ready for use.

When the user inserts a medal, the medal is inserted into the tank body 11 via a medal selector and an input chute ST (not shown). However, in addition to determining the authenticity of the medals, the medal selector also counts the number of genuine medals, and uses the counting results as basic information for determining the subsequent operation of the machine.

[0024] In this way, the medal is attached to the tank body 11.
When the amount of medals is too large, the medals overflow into an external auxiliary tank (not shown) through the overflow hole 11c and are discharged.

Since the medals thrown in via the throwing chute ST fall onto the receiving chute 11b, now
The medals from the receiving chute 11b are transferred to the tank body 11.
If the size and shape of the receiving chute 11b, etc. are determined so that the receiving chute 11b, etc. falls at the center or slightly forward of the center,
The medals in the tank body 11 are stored in a pile starting from the front of the tank body 11 (curves A and B in FIG. 3).

[0026] Therefore, the height of the pile of medals is
As shown by curve A, when the extra medals reach the lower part of the overflow hole 11c, they slide down the upper surface of the overflow chute 11d and can smoothly overflow to the outside. At this time, if the medals stay on the overflow chute 11d for some reason, the height of the medals becomes higher (curve B in the figure), but if the height of the medals exceeds the upper part of the overflow hole 11c, , the medals can overflow directly to the outside from the overflow hole 11c without passing through the overflow chute 11d. Therefore, the height of the medal does not exceed curve B at the maximum.

In the above description, the overflow hole 11
The formation position and shape of c can be arbitrarily changed as long as it is on the side surface of the tank body 11. For example, the overflow hole 11c may be provided at the front side of the tank body 11 or at the center, and its shape may be different from a stepped hole.
It can be a simple square or rectangle.

[0028]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, by providing an overflow hole with an overflow chute in the tank body that can be mounted on the medal dispensing mechanism, the tank body communicates with the hopper of the medal dispensing mechanism. As a result, the overall medal storage capacity can be increased arbitrarily, and excess medals can smoothly overflow from the overflow hole, so the medal dispensing mechanism itself is small and compact. That's all,
It has an excellent effect of being extremely convenient when incorporated into a slot machine or the like.

Furthermore, since the tank body is equipped with a drawer-type replenishment chute, replenishment of medals can be done extremely easily by pulling out the replenishment chute forward, leaving plenty of room for medal replenishment. Since it is not necessary to prepare a space above, there is also the practical effect that the design margin of the entire machine can be greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

[Figure 1] Entire exploded perspective view

[Figure 2] Explanatory cross-sectional view corresponding to the X-X line in Figure 1

[Figure 3
] A sectional explanatory diagram of the main part corresponding to the Y-Y line arrow in Figure 1

[Explanation of symbols]

ST…Insertion shoot 11...Tank body 11a...opening 11b...Acceptance chute 11c...Overflow hole 11d...Overflow shoot 12... Replenishment chute 20...Medal payout mechanism 22...Hopper

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: A tank body having an open top and an opening communicating with a medal dispensing mechanism at the bottom, which can be mounted on a hopper of the medal dispensing mechanism, and a drawer attached to the top of the tank body so as to be movable back and forth. A shaped refill chute,
a receiving chute fixed to the upper front side of the tank body to receive medals falling from above through an input chute; an overflow hole opened in a side surface of the tank body at a position lower than the receiving chute; and the overflow hole. An additional tank for a refillable medal dispensing mechanism consisting of an overflow chute that rises diagonally from the lower edge of the hole. 2. The expansion tank for a refillable medal dispensing mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the overflow hole is provided at the rear side of the tank body, and is a stepped hole that is higher on the front side and lower on the rear side.