JPH0438857Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a pinball game machine, such as a pachinko game machine or a metal game machine, in which the game is played by bouncing balls. The present invention relates to a pinball game machine equipped with a ball supply device for guiding balls to a ball firing position.

[Prior Art] Among this type of pinball game machines, one that has been generally known is one shown in FIG. 10, for example. FIG. 10 shows a front view of the lower half of a pachinko game machine as an example of a pinball game machine, and is depicted with the front panel 1 open.

A conventional hit ball supply device 2 is fixed to the lower right of a game board 3 and includes a ball supply passage 4, a ball supply swinging member 5, which is an example of a ball feeding member, and an engagement lever 6. The upstream end of the ball supply passage 4 is located so as to be connected to the terminal end of the ball waiting trough 8 via the ball hitting outlet 7 formed in the front plate 1. Therefore, pachinko ball 9 is
The ball rolls downstream along the slope of the ball standby gutter 8 and flows from the terminal end of the ball standby gutter 8 to the upstream end of the ball supply passage 4 via the ball outlet 7.

At the downstream end of the ball supply passage 4, a ball supply swinging member 5 is provided.
is provided. The swinging member 5 is swingable about a fulcrum 10, and as shown in the figure, a weight 11 is attached to the right end, and a longitudinal hole 12 is attached to the left end.
is engaged with one end of an L-shaped engagement lever 6. The engagement lever 6 is operated in conjunction with the ball-hitting operation of a ball-striking rod (not shown), so that the ball supply swinging member 5 is swung.

At this time, a protrusion 13 formed at a predetermined position of the ball supply swinging member 5 is located at the downstream end of the ball supply passage 4 and moves up and down.
Due to the vertical movement of the pachinko balls at the downstream end of the ball supply path 4, one by one the balls are moved to the ball launch rail (not shown).
The ball was configured to be sent to the ball launch position. Since the hit ball supply device 2 is generally disposed on the back side of the opaque front plate, the hit balls that have entered the hit ball outlet are no longer visible to the player.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, in this type of conventional pinball game machine, there is no ball supply for horizontally feeding the hit balls that have entered the hit ball supply device from the hit ball outlet to the ball feeding member. Since the ball supply passage is provided, there is a drawback that the ball supply device becomes larger by the length of the ball supply passage. In addition, in the conventional system, after the ball is moved laterally on the ball supply path, it receives the feeding action of the ball feeding member, and the ball that has not yet received the feeding action of the ball feeding member is lateral. There was an inconvenience in that the balls were likely to get stuck during the travel path. In particular, as mentioned above, the ball supply device is generally arranged on the back side of the front plate, so even if the ball stops, it cannot be seen from the player's side. This has resulted in the inconvenience that the player feels irritated due to the occurrence of a state in which he is unable to hit the ball due to an unknown cause. Moreover, in order to resolve the stuck balls, the employees of the gaming parlor must carry out the prescribed recovery work, which has the disadvantage that the players cannot play during this time, further increasing their frustration.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention reduces the size of the batted ball supply device and minimizes the number of balls stuck that cause players to feel particularly irritated, that is, the balls that enter the batted ball supply device from the batted ball outlet. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a pinball game machine that can play the game.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A pinball game machine according to the present invention includes: a prize ball discharge port and a hit ball outlet provided on the front plate; a prize ball discharged from the prize ball discharge port;
a batted ball supply tray provided with a batted ball waiting gutter that guides the prize ball as a batted ball to the batted ball outlet; and a batted ball supply tray provided between the batted ball outlet and a batted ball ejection position that fires the batted ball, and which is provided from the batted ball outlet a ball feeding device equipped with a ball feeding member that feeds the balls one by one to the ball firing position side, the ball feeding device including the ball feeding member in front of the ball outlet, A ball discharge port for discharging the ball sent by the ball feeding action of the ball feeding member toward the ball firing position is formed at a position near a side portion of the ball feeding member. Features.

[Function] According to the present invention, the prize balls discharged from the prize ball discharge port are guided as batted balls to the batted ball outlet provided on the front plate by the batted ball waiting trough. The balls from the ball outlet are fed one by one to the ball firing position by the ball feeding member. Since the ball feeding member is provided in front of the ball exit, the ball entering from the ball exit receives the ball feeding action of the ball feeding member without moving in the left and right direction. .

[Embodiments of the invention] Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a pachinko game machine which is an example of the pinball game machine of this invention. In the figure, 2
1 is the front frame. 23 is a metal frame attached to the front frame,
22 is a glass door attached to the metal frame 23 so as to be openable and closable, 1 is a front plate provided on the metal frame 23 so as to be openable and closable, 28 is a prize ball outlet for paying out prize balls based on winning balls, and 25 is a prize ball outlet. A batted ball supply tray that stores prize balls from the prize ball outlet 28; 26 is a surplus ball receiving tray that stores surplus prize balls when the batted ball supply tray 25 is full;
7 is an operation handle for adjusting the hitting force, and 3 is a game board.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the pachinko game machine 20 shown in FIG. 4. In the figure, 29 is an outer frame.
The outer frame 29 is provided behind the front frame 21 (see FIG. 4), and the front frame 21 is attached to the front frame 21 so as to be openable and closable. Reference numeral 30 denotes a mechanism board, which is provided with a mechanism section and others for ejecting a predetermined number of pachinko balls as prize balls in response to winning of pachinko balls. 31 is a ball hitting motor. The ball hitting motor 31 is connected to an operating handle 27 (FIG. 4), and is rotationally driven by operating the operating handle 27. The ball-striking motor 31 rotates the ball-striking rod 32 about the spindle 33 to perform a ball-striking operation. Note that the upper end of the ball hitting rod 32 is partially hidden.

The member designated by the reference numeral 34 and provided in connection with the batting rod 32 is a longitudinal member that forms part of one embodiment of the invention. The elongated member 34 performs a simple harmonic motion in an up-and-down motion in conjunction with the ball-hitting motion of the ball-hitting rod 32.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of this invention, and is a perspective view depicting the vicinity of the ball hitting rod 32 of the pachinko game machine 20 shown in FIG. In Figure 1,
In order to clearly explain one embodiment of this invention, parts not related to the batted ball supply device are omitted from the drawing.

2 and 3 are sectional views taken along the line - in FIG. 1, and are diagrams for explaining the operation of the ball supply device.

Next, referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a description will be given of a ball supply device according to an embodiment of this invention.

The ball feeding device 100 includes a longitudinal member 34 and a ball feeding member 35. In this embodiment, the ball feeding member 35 is composed of a supporting member 36 and a rotating member 37. The support member 36 includes a pair of protruding pieces 36
1, and the rotating member 37 is rotatably held between the protruding pieces 361 by a support shaft 362.

The elongated member 34 is inserted into the cylindrical body 38 and has its upper and lower ends received therefrom. That is, the longitudinal member 34 is held by the cylindrical body 38 so as to be vertically movable.
The lower part 341 of the elongated member 34 has a substantially square cross section perpendicular to the length direction, and a roller 342 is attached to the lower end thereof. The peripheral surface of this roller 342 is arranged so as to come into contact with the ball-striking direction side surface 321 of the ball-striking rod 32 .

The upper part 343 of the longitudinal member 34 is connected to the lower part 341
Its wall thickness is thinner than that of . This is to make it easier to bend as shown in the figure.
That is, the upper part 343 of the elongated member 34 is curved in a substantially horizontal direction, and further curved so that its tip 344 faces vertically upward. This tip 344 comes into contact with the rotating member 37.

A cylindrical body 38 that supports the longitudinal member 34 and a batting rod 32
The ball hitting motor 31 is arranged on a mounting panel 39 and is attached to the back side of the front frame 21 via the mounting panel 39. Therefore, the relative positional relationship between the ball-striking motor 31, the ball-striking rod 32, and the longitudinal member 34 is always fixed, and the ball-striking motor 31
The batting rod 32 and the batting rod 32 driven by
This has the advantage that the drive mechanism for the longitudinal member 34 driven by the longitudinal member 34 is less likely to go out of order.

A ball feeding member 35 composed of a supporting member 36 and a rotating member 37 is attached to the back side of the front plate 1. As mentioned above, the batted ball supply tray 25 (see FIG. 4) is attached to the front surface side of the front plate 1, and the ball flows from the batted ball supply tray 25 to the batted ball waiting gutter. The terminal end of the ball waiting trough is guided to the ball outlet 7 formed in the front plate 1, as described in the prior art section.

The ball feeding member 35 is attached so as to cover the ball hitting outlet 7. Pachinko balls 9 rolling from the ball outlet 7 enter the box-shaped support member 36 body and are received by the upper surface of the rotating member 37. When this rotating member 37 is rotated upward, the pachinko balls 9 received on its upper surface flow down inside the box-shaped support member 36 as shown by arrow A.
The ball is guided from a ball outlet 363, which is an example of a ball discharge port, to a ball launch position 41 formed at the downstream end of the launch rail 40. The guide shelf 364 formed inside the support member 36 is for guiding the pachinko balls 9 as described above.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. When the operation handle is operated and a ball-hitting operation is started, the motor 31 starts rotating, and the ball-striking rod 32 reciprocates in the direction of arrow B-C at a constant speed via a drive mechanism (not shown). be done. At this time, when the batting rod 32 is rotated in the direction of arrow B, the batting rod 3
2 pushes up the rear end of the longitudinal member 34. At this time, since the roller 342 of the longitudinal member 34 is in contact with the ball-striking side surface 321 of the ball-striking rod 32, no large frictional force is exerted between the two, and the longitudinal member 34 is smoothly pushed up.

When the longitudinal member 34 is pushed up, the rotating member 37 that abuts the tip 344 rotates upward about the support shaft 362. For this reason, the rotating member 37
The pachinko balls 9 that have been received on the upper surface of the ball are guided by the guide shelf 364, move in the direction of arrow A, and roll from the ball outlet 363 to the ball firing position 41.

Then, the batting rod 32 is instantaneously rotated in the direction of arrow C, and the pachinko balls at the ball firing position 41 are hit by the batting rod 32, guided to the firing rail 40, and guided to the game board 3 (the fourth (see figure).

When the ball hitting rod 32 is rotated in the direction of arrow C as described above, the longitudinal member 34 moves downward under its own weight accordingly. Therefore, the distal end 3 of the longitudinal member 34
The rotating member 37 supported by the rotary member 44 also rotates downward under its own weight, resulting in the state shown in FIG. Therefore, the pachinko balls 9 roll into the ball feeding member 35 from the terminal end of the ball waiting channel through the ball outlet 7 and are supported on the upper surface of the rotating member 37. Note that the upper surface of the rotating member 37 may be inclined in the rolling direction so that the pachinko balls 9 placed thereon can easily roll when the rotating member 37 is rotated upward.

In this embodiment, the upper portion 343 of the longitudinal member 34
An engaging protrusion 345 is formed on. This engaging protrusion 345 is adapted to engage with the wire-shaped actuating member 42. The tip of the actuating member 42 is bent into an acute angle so that it can easily engage with the lower part of the engaging protrusion 345. Wire-shaped actuating member 42
The other end is connected to a pachinko ball fullness detection plate (not shown). When the pachinko ball tray 26 is filled with pachinko balls, the actuating member 42 moves as indicated by the arrow D.
The distal end of the actuating member 42 engages with the engagement mark 345, and the operation of the longitudinal member 34 is stopped. Therefore, the ball feeding operation is not performed in that state. In this case, by moving the pachinko balls that have filled the excess ball tray 26 to another location, the engagement between the actuating member 42 and the engagement protrusion 345 is released, and the ball supply operation is started.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative view showing another embodiment of the ball feeding member 35. 7 and 8 are side views of a ball feeding device according to an embodiment of this invention using the ball feeding member 35 shown in FIG. 6, and correspond to FIGS. 2 and 3. It is depicted.

Next, this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 8. A feature of this embodiment is that the ball feeding member 35 is composed of a supporting member 36' and a sliding member 37'.

That is, protrusions 371 are formed on both side surfaces of the sliding member 37'. In addition, the support member 3
A concave rail 365 that engages with the projection 371 is formed at 6'. Therefore, both sides of the sliding member 37' are supported by the supporting member 36' so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. Note that the concave rail 36 formed on the support member 36'
5, the lower end of the concave rail 365 has no concave shape to prevent the sliding member 37' from coming off the support member 36' when the front plate 1 is opened.

The lower surface of the sliding member 37' is in contact with the distal end 344 of the longitudinal member 34, as in the embodiment described in FIGS. 1 to 3, and as in the embodiment described above, According to the vertical movement, the sliding member 3
7' is slid up and down. Then, by this vertical sliding, the pachinko ball is moved one
The balls are sent out one by one to the ball firing position.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in which the ball-striking operation stopping member when the pachinko balls are full, which is composed of the operating member 42 and the engagement protrusion 345, has a different configuration. . In FIG. 9, an opening/closing shutter 43 is provided at the ball striking outlet 7, and the opening/closing shutter 43 closes the striking ball outlet 7 to stop the pachinko ball supply operation. The opening/closing shutter 43 is an L-shaped interlocking member 44.
and a connecting pin 44 whose one end engages with the interlocking member 44. And the connecting pin 45
The other end is connected to a prize ball deficiency sensing plate (not shown) by a connecting rod 46. Therefore, the connecting rod 46 is pulled upward due to the lack of prize balls to be dispensed by the prize ball shortage sensing plate, and accordingly, the connecting pin 45 and the interlocking member 44 are rotated in the direction of the arrow E. The shutter 43 is moved and the ball exit 7 is closed.

In any of the embodiments described above, the longitudinal center axis of the longitudinal member 34 and the rotating member 37 or sliding member 3 that abuts the upper end of the longitudinal member 34
Since the central axes of the vertical movement or sliding direction of 7' are not arranged in the same straight line, the movement of the longitudinal member 34 driven by the ball striking rod 32 can be made more smoothly with respect to the rotating member 37 or the center axis of the sliding direction. It is transmitted to the sliding member 37'.

[Effects of the invention] As described above, this invention positions the ball feeding member in front of the ball exit and eliminates the ball supply path that transports the balls entering from the ball exit to the ball feeding member. Since the hit ball discharge port for releasing the hit balls sent by the ball feeding action of the ball feeding member toward the hit ball firing position side is formed near the side of the ball feeding member, the batted ball supply device can be The size can be reduced, which makes it possible to reduce weight and material costs, and when assembling the batted ball supply device, the object to be assembled is small, making it easier to handle and workability improved. Moreover, since the hit ball that enters from the hit ball exit receives the ball feeding action of the ball feeding member without moving in the left-right direction, the hit ball enters from the hitting ball exit and is lateral to the ball before being subjected to the ball feeding action. To provide a pinball game machine which can prevent balls from clogging on a travel path and reduce as much as possible the number of balls stuck that cause a player to feel particularly irritated, that is, the number of balls stuck when they enter a ball supply device from a ball outlet. I came to the conclusion.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the main part of this invention. 2 and 3 are side sectional views taken along the line - shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a front view showing a pachinko game machine which is an example of the pinball game machine of this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a rear view of the pachinko game machine shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is an illustrative view for explaining the ball feeding member 35 of another embodiment of this invention. 7 and 8 are side views of another embodiment of the ball feeding device of this invention using the ball feeding member shown in FIG. 6. 9th
The figure is a perspective view of an embodiment of this invention provided with a ball supply stop device. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the prior art of this invention. In the figure, 1 is a front plate, 3 is a game board, 7 is a ball exit, 9 is a pachinko ball, 20 is a pachinko game machine, 25 is a ball supply tray, 27 is an operating handle, 3
1 is a ball hitting motor, 32 is a ball hitting rod, 34 is a longitudinal member, 35 is a ball feeding member, 36 is a supporting member, 37 is a rotating member, 37' is a sliding member, 38 is a cylindrical body, 4
0 is a firing rail, 41 is a ball firing position, 42 is an operating member, 100 is a ball supply device, 361 is a projecting piece, 362 is a spindle, 363 is a ball outlet, 364 is a guide shelf, 365 is a concave rail, 342 is a ball outlet roller,
345 indicates an engaging protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A prize ball outlet and a hit ball outlet provided on the front panel, and storing the prize balls discharged from the prize ball outlet,
a batted ball supply tray provided with a batted ball waiting gutter that guides the prize ball as a batted ball to the batted ball outlet; and a batted ball supply tray provided between the batted ball outlet and a batted ball ejection position that fires the batted ball, and which is provided from the batted ball outlet a ball feeding device equipped with a ball feeding member that feeds the balls one by one to the ball firing position side, the ball feeding device including the ball feeding member in front of the ball outlet, A ball discharge port for discharging the ball sent by the ball feeding action of the ball feeding member toward the ball firing position is formed at a position near a lateral side of the ball feeding member. A pinball game machine.