JPH0543617B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides, for example, a game machine row in which a plurality of pachinko machines as game machines are horizontally arranged side by side, and a banknote is placed in the game machine row. A plurality of bill insertion machines are provided that can accept from the front side and send out to the back side of the gaming machine row, and the banknotes sent out from each of the bill insertion machines are received at the back side of the gaming machine row and are conveyed along the gaming machine row. The present invention relates to a gaming machine that is provided with a conveyance mechanism to efficiently collect banknotes received in a banknote insertion machine.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional gaming equipment, automatic ball lending machines that operate when coins are inserted are installed between pachinko machines on the back side of a row of gaming machines, and the coins dropped from the automatic ball lending machines are caught and ejected into the gaming machines. There are machines that are equipped with a transport device that places and transports coins at one end of the row so that the coins inserted into the automatic ball lending machine can be efficiently collected (for example, Utility Model No. 52-160482, Utility Model No. 160482, 52
-Refer to Publication No. 146375), in a gaming facility where a banknote input machine such as an automatic ball lending machine that is activated by the insertion of banknotes is installed between the game machines to form a row of game machines, the banknotes are larger than the coins. Because they are thin, lightweight, and flexible, they are difficult to handle like coins. Therefore, each banknote insertion machine is equipped with a safe (stacker), and the banknotes accepted at each banknote insertion machine are It is common practice to store the received banknotes in a safe provided in the banknote insertion machine (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 53-3399).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, according to the conventional gaming equipment in which a row of game machines is constructed by installing bill insertion machines operated by the insertion of banknotes between the game machines, when collecting the banknotes inserted into each bill insertion machine, the collection A person must move to the front of each bill insertion machine one by one to collect the banknotes in the safe, so that the banknotes inserted into each banknote insertion machine can be efficiently collected even if only for a series of gaming machine rows. Not only is this not possible, but when the safe becomes full while the game machine is in operation, it may be necessary to go between the players to collect it, and it also lacks consideration for the players.

Therefore, in the same way as the conventional gaming equipment in which automatic ball lending machines that operate by inserting coins are installed between pachinko machines to form a row of pachinko machines, bills accepted from the front side of the row of pachinko machines are placed between the rows of pachinko machines. A banknote insertion machine that feeds out from the back is installed between the game machines to form a row of game machines,
A conveyance device is installed on the back side of this row of gaming machines to transport the banknotes sent out from each bill insertion machine to a collection position at one end of the row of gaming machines, so that the banknotes are efficiently collected without getting in the way of players. However, in this case, the bills sent out from each bill insertion machine are simply allowed to fall under their own weight in an irregular posture onto the conveyance surface of a loading and conveying device such as a conveyor, just like coins. However, if the banknotes are simply loaded and transported to the collection position at one end of the gaming machine row, the transport may become uncertain, such as the banknotes being stagnated during transport. In order to ensure that the banknotes can be reliably received on the carrying surface, it is necessary to install a large carrying device whose carrying surface is sufficiently wide compared to the dimensions of the transported banknotes, and it is necessary to secure a large space for the installation of the carrying device. Therefore, there is a risk that the installation space for the game machine will be reduced accordingly.

Furthermore, if the banknotes are simply placed and transported, there is a risk that fraudulent acts such as removal of the transported banknotes may occur.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above circumstances, and makes it possible to effectively utilize the characteristics of banknotes to efficiently collect banknotes inserted into a banknote insertion machine without interfering with players. To provide a game equipment which does not require a large installation space and can surely prevent fraudulent acts such as removing transported banknotes while ensuring ease of maintenance and inspection work for a transport mechanism.

[Means to solve the problem]

The characteristic configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object is as follows: A. A banknote is received from the front side of the game machine row in a vertical position in a game machine row formed by horizontally arranging a plurality of game machines side by side, and a plurality of banknote insertion machines that can be fed out are provided on the back side of the game machine row, and B. The banknotes sent out from each of the banknote insertion machines are received on the back side of the game machine row so that the paper surface thereof is along the conveyance direction. A game equipment provided with a transport mechanism for transporting along the row of game machines in a vertical position, wherein: C: the transport mechanism is housed inside a transport case, and the transport case includes a lid body for opening and closing the transport case; D. A sensor for detecting opening/closing of the lid, and a display section for displaying the opening/closing state of the lid on the outside of the row of gaming machines based on the detection result by the sensor. Amusement facilities.

The present invention has the configurations A to D described above, and the following effects are obtained from the configurations.

[Effect]

a) With the above configurations A and B, it is possible to efficiently collect the banknotes sent out from each banknote insertion machine without any effort and without disturbing the players by transporting them along the rows of game machines. However, b. Since the game machine row is equipped with a bill insertion machine that can accept banknotes in a vertical position from the front side of the game machine row and feed them to the back side of the game machine row, for example, it is possible to insert banknotes with the paper surface in the horizontal direction. Compared to the case where the banknotes are accepted from the front side of the game machine row in an orientation along the line and sent out to the back side of the game machine row, the bill insertion machine can be made thinner and the installation space can be reduced. Since the banknotes received are received and conveyed along the corresponding gaming machine row in a vertical position with the paper surface along the transport direction, the transport speed is lower than, for example, when the sent-out banknotes are placed and transported with the paper surface parallel to the horizontal direction. The installation space for the mechanism can also be reduced, and the installation space for the game machine can be increased by the reduction in the installation space for the bill insertion machine and the transport mechanism.

c With the configuration of C above, it is possible to prevent fraudulent acts such as removing the transported banknotes, and it is also possible to easily perform maintenance and inspection of the transport mechanism by opening and closing the lid.

d Since the transport machine is installed on the back side of the row of gaming machines, it is not possible to check the open/closed state of the lid provided on the transport case from the front side of the row of gaming machines. If the lid is left closed, there is a risk of fraudulent acts such as removing the transported banknotes, but with configuration D above, the open/closed state of the lid can be easily checked from outside the row of gaming machines. If you forget to close the lid, you can close it immediately.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Due to the effect of a above, the banknotes inserted into the banknote insertion machine can be efficiently collected without interfering with the player,
Moreover, due to the effect of b, a large space is not required for installing the banknote insertion machine and the conveyance mechanism.
In addition to ensuring a wide installation space for the gaming machine, the effect of c above not only allows easy maintenance and inspection of the transport mechanism, but also synergistically with the effect of d above, ensures that fraudulent acts such as removing the transported banknotes are prevented. It can be prevented.

〔Example〕

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of pachinko machines A as an example of game machines are arranged in a row, and are located every other pachinko machine between adjacent pachinko machines A. The banknote a, which is an example of a thin plate-like body configured in a rectangular shape or a shape close to the rectangular shape, can be received from the front part in an up-down position with the back side along the up-down direction, and can be sent out to the back part, respectively. Two rows of pachinko machines are arranged back-to-back with a small distance between them, and banknotes a are sent out from each of the banknote insertion machines B.
A pachinko gaming facility is constructed by providing a bill conveying device that conveys ... between the machine rows to a storage section C provided at one end of the machine rows.

The banknote insertion machine B has a function of accepting, sending out and transferring banknotes a, and identifying whether the banknotes a are good or bad, and a function of automatically transporting defective banknotes a to the receiving port b.

The banknote conveyance device includes the banknote insertion machine B in the conveyance direction.
The clamping and conveying mechanism 2 is provided with banknote receiving sections 3 at multiple locations spaced apart from each other by a juxtaposition interval of .
is arranged between the rows of machines in a state corresponding to the loading machine B.

The clamping and transporting mechanism 2 clamps the banknote a from the wall thickness direction in a vertical position along the transporting direction, and moves the banknote a along a straight path having a length corresponding to the juxtaposed spacing of the receiving sections 3. A plurality of transportable transport units 2A are connected to adjacent transport units 2A, 2A...
Each transport unit 2A is arranged in parallel in the transport direction in such a manner that banknotes a can be transferred therebetween, and the receiving section 3 is provided at the intermediate portion of each transport unit 2A in the transport direction.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 9, the conveyance unit 2A is approximately U-shaped and has an upwardly open U-shape, and has a central portion in the longitudinal direction of each opposing plate for receiving banknotes a from the left and right outside.
In the transport case 4, which has receiving openings 4A and 4A' capable of receiving the same, in cooperation with a group of a plurality of rollers 5 in the transport direction, which are installed opposite to the transport action section of the transport case 4,
Through the cooperation of the upper side conveyor belt 6 which accepts the banknotes a from the upper side conveyor unit 2A, pinches and conveys them to near the center, and a plurality of rollers 5' in the conveyance direction attached to the conveyance action section, The banknotes a are received from the upper side conveyor belt 6 and both receiving openings 4A, 4A' and transferred to the lower side conveyor unit 2A (accommodating section C in the conveyor unit 2A at the end of conveyance).
A lower side conveyor belt 6' is provided to grip and convey the belt to a position where it can be delivered, and in cooperation with a group of rollers 7, 7', which are installed opposite to the conveyance action section, the feeding machines B on both the left and right sides are It is constructed by attaching transfer conveyor belts 8, 8' to the conveyance case 4, which receives the sent banknotes a from B, and pinches and conveys them to the conveyance start end by the lower side conveyor belt 6'. The upper conveyor belt 6, the lower conveyor belt 6', and a plurality of rollers 5 disposed opposite to these conveyor belts 6, 6'...
It is collectively referred to as a conveying mechanism D that grips and conveys the material from its thickness direction.

The upper conveyor belt 6 uses a pulley 9B located at the conveyor end of the group of pulleys 9 for rotationally guiding the conveyor acting portion of the upper conveyor belt 6, and the lower conveyor belt 6' has the following: The pulley 9A' which is located at the starting end of the conveyance of the pulley 9' which rotationally guides the conveyance action part of the group is used as a driving pulley, and the roller 5 which corresponds to the lower conveyance belt 6'... Of these, the roller 5A' located at the start end of the conveyance is a drive roller, and of the transfer conveyance belts 8, 8', the conveyor belt 6,
One of the belts 8 located on the same side as 6' is a pulley 10 that rotationally guides it, and a pulley 10A at the end of the conveyance that is located concentrically with the drive pulley 9A' on the lower conveyor belt 6'. The drive pulley is the drive pulley, and the other transfer conveyor belt 8'
Among the pulleys 10' for rotationally guiding the roller, the pulley 10A' at the conveyance end, which is located coaxially with the drive roller 5A, is used as the drive pulley.

Each of the drive pulleys 9B, 9A', 1
0A, 10B' and drive roller 5A' are synchronously driven by one electric motor 11. Specifically, drive pulleys 9B, 9A' of both conveyor belts 6, 6' are driven synchronously by one electric motor 11. pulley shaft 9b,
9a' to the output shaft 11a of the motor 11 and the gears G ₁ , G ₂ ,
The drive roller _5A ' is configured to be driven by interlocking the roller shaft 5a' with the lower drive pulley shaft 9a' via gears _G4 and _G5 . The drive pulley 10A of one transfer conveyor belt 8 is connected to the lower drive pulley shaft 9' via a friction plate 12, so that a load above a certain level is applied to it. When the driving pulley 1 of the other transfer conveyor belt 8'
0A' is configured to be driven in such a manner that the drive pulley shaft 5a' is interlocked with the drive pulley shaft 5a' through a friction plate 12' so that the drive is released when a load of a certain level or more is applied to the drive pulley shaft 5a'.

rollers 5 corresponding to the conveyor belts 6, 6';
5... group is one guide 1 of the pair of guides 13, 14, 13', 14' that prevents the held banknote a from falling down.
3, 13', and the guide 13,
It is configured to release the clamping by swinging around the fulcrums R and R' of 13'. the conveyor belt 6,
The rollers 9, 9'... group corresponding to the rollers 6' are supported by the other guides 14, 14', and the conveyor belts 6, 6' are in a state where the rollers 9, 9'... are released from the grip. It is configured so that it can be pulled out upwards.

The transfer conveyor belts 8, 8' and the corresponding rollers 7, 7'... group refer to the pulleys 10,
10'... Conveyance guides 15, 15' that support the group and rollers 7, 7'... Conveyance guides 16, 16' that support the group are conveyed so as to be swingable around the drive pulley axes X and X', respectively. Spring 17, 17' is attached to the case 4 and swings and biases the pulley-side conveyance guides 15, 15' toward the roller-side conveyance guides 16, 16', and the fixed position of the attachment to the conveyance case 4 is changed to the conveyance direction. By doing so, links 18 and 18' are provided to hold the roller side conveyance guides 16 and 16' in any swinging posture against the biasing force of the springs 17 and 17', and the drive pulley axis X, By swinging around X', the conveyance starting end can be changed in position in the left-right direction with respect to the conveyance case 4, that is, with respect to the conveyance end.

The transport case 4 has an upper opening 4K.
A lid K for closing the is removably provided,
This lid body K includes a first lid 20 that can be attached to the transport case 4 via a fixture 19 to close a portion of the upper opening 4K that corresponds to the receiving section 3.
and second lids 21, 21 that can be attached to the transport case 4 via the fixture 19 to close the remaining opening.
It is composed of.

Fixtures 19 for the second lids 21, 21...
Lid open detection switches SW and SW are provided as sensors that come into contact with the sensor to detect and activate (OFF) when the lid is operated to the fixed position, and the display is activated based on the detection signal of these lid open detection switches SW... A monitoring monitor 24 is provided as a display section for displaying the information, and a fixture 19 for the second lids 21, 21 is provided.
The monitoring monitor 24 is operated to display the lid open state by a controller 23, which will be described later, to which a signal from a lid open detection switch SW, which is turned on by releasing the fixing operation, is input.

The conveying unit 2A is configured to transport banknotes a near the starting ends of conveyance by the two conveyor belts 6, 6'.
sensors S ₁ and S ₂ that detect the passage of
It is equipped with lamps 22, 22 that are turned on when S ₁ and S ₂ are turned on.

23 is a controller using a microcomputer, 24 is a monitoring monitor, and the controller 23
has the functions [1] to [8] listed below.

[1] When the banknote a is inserted into the input machine B, the transport unit 2 receives the banknote a from the input machine B.
A and the lower transport unit 2 connected to it
A function that drives A.

[2] Among the sensors S ₁ and S ₂ , the upper sensor
S ₁ [Hereinafter, this will be referred to as the first sensor, and the lower sensor S ₂ will be referred to as the second sensor. ] A function of driving the lower conveyance unit 2A connected to the conveyance unit 2A to which the first sensor _S1 is attached by detecting the leading edge of the banknote.

[3] After the second sensor S ₂ detects the end of the banknote, the set time [from the second sensor S ₂ position to the lower side transport unit 2
When the time required for transporting the banknotes to the first sensor _S1 position of A plus the margin time] has elapsed,
A function to stop driving the transport unit _2A equipped with the second sensor S2.

[4] If the first sensor S ₁ of the downstream conveyance unit 2A does not detect the beginning of a bill even after the set time has elapsed after the second sensor S ₂ detects the end of the bill, the second sensor S ₂ detects the beginning of the bill. A function that determines that a blockage has occurred in the conveyance to the sensor _S1 and stops driving the conveyance unit 2A provided with the first sensor _S1 and the conveyance unit 2A located above it.

[5] Even if the set time [the time required for conveyance from the first sensor S ₁ position to the second sensor S ₂ position plus the margin time] has elapsed after the first sensor S ₁ detects the end of the banknote, , if the second sensor S ₂ does not detect the leading edge of the bill, the first sensor S ₁ to the second sensor S ₂
It is determined that a blockage has occurred in the conveyance, and the conveyance unit 2 equipped with the first and second sensors S ₁ and S ₂
A function to stop the drive of transport unit A and the transport unit 2A located above it.

[6] Even after the set time [the time required for transportation from the feeding machine B to the second sensor _S2 position plus the margin time] has elapsed after the banknote a is delivered to the feeding machine B, the second sensor is not activated. If S ₂ does not detect the beginning of the bill,
It is determined that a blockage has occurred in the conveyance from the input machine B to the second sensor _S2 , and the drive of the conveyance unit 2A that receives the bill a from the input machine B and the conveyance unit 2A located above it is stopped. function.

[7] A function that activates the monitoring monitor 24 to display a clogging state when the clogging is determined as described above.

[Another Embodiment] As shown in FIG. 11, a banknote passage detection sensor S is provided in a state to detect a banknote a at the center of transport by the lower transport belt 6' in each transport unit 2A, and the upper sensor The presence or absence of clogging is detected based on whether the detection delay time of the downstream side sensor S with respect to S is outside or within the set time, and when it is detected, the clogging occurs in the transport unit 2A and the transport unit 2A located above it...
... is configured to stop driving.

As shown in FIG. 12, the bill passing sensor S
is arranged to detect the banknote a at the center of the transport by the upper transport belt 6 in each transport unit 2A..., and the detection delay time of the lower sensor S with respect to the upper sensor S is outside or within the set time. The system is configured to detect the presence or absence of clogging, and to stop the driving of the clogging conveying unit 2A and the conveying units 2A located above it when the presence is detected.

As shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, a plurality of banknote passage detection sensors S detect the banknote a at least near the transport start and end ends of both transport belts 6 and 6' of each transport unit 2A. The presence or absence of clogging is detected based on whether the detection delay time of the lower side sensor S with respect to the upper side sensor S is outside or within the set time. It is configured to stop the driving of the transport unit 2A... located there.

As shown in FIG. 14, a banknote passage detection sensor S is provided in a state to detect a banknote a near the transport start end of the lower transport belt 6' of each transport unit 2A... The presence or absence of clogging is detected based on whether the detection delay time of S is outside or within the set time, and when it is detected, the drive of the clogging transport unit S and the transport unit 2A located above it is stopped. Configure as appropriate.

The configuration is such that clogging is detected based on the load applied to the motor 11.

The conveyor belts 6, 6' are configured to have slips to detect clogging.

Regardless of whether banknote a is sent out from the input machine 6, the motor 1 of each unit 2A is always activated.
1... is configured to drive.

This is implemented by providing a manual switch that can drive the front part of the motor 11 of each unit 2A with priority over the feeding machine 6 and the sensors S ₁ , S ₂ .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 10 show an embodiment of the gaming equipment according to the present invention, FIGS. 1 and 2 are a front view and a cross-sectional plan view of the pachinko gaming equipment, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the main part, and FIG. 4 and 5 are enlarged cross-sectional plan views of the main parts, Fig. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts, Fig. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional side view of the main parts, and Figs. 8 and 9 show the operation. FIG. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts and is a transmission system diagram. Figures 11, 12, 13 A, B, 1
FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of main parts showing different embodiments. 4...Transportation case, 24...Display unit, A...Game machine, a...Banknote, B...Banknote insertion machine, D...Transportation mechanism, K...Lid, SW...Sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A banknote A can be received in a vertical position from the front side of the game machine row in a vertical position in a game machine row formed by arranging a plurality of game machines A in parallel in the horizontal direction, and can be delivered to the back side of the game machine row. A plurality of bill inserting machines B are provided on the back side of the gaming machine row, and the banknotes a are received from each of the bill inserting machines B and are placed along the gaming machine row in a vertical position with the paper surface along the conveyance direction. The gaming equipment is provided with a conveyance mechanism D for conveyance, and the conveyance mechanism D is installed inside a conveyance case 4, and the conveyance case 4 is provided with a lid K for opening and closing the conveyance case 4. , a sensor SW that detects the opening/closing of the lid K, and a display section 2 that displays the open/closed state of the lid K on the outside of the row of gaming machines based on the detection result by the sensor SW.
A gaming facility equipped with 4.