JPH0584194B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a ball extraction device for a pachinko game machine, and more specifically, a pachinko ball is used as a game medium and a reward medium for winning a prize. This invention relates to a ball extraction device for extracting pachinko balls housed in a ball tray installed on the front of a gaming machine.

[Technical background]

As is well known, in a pachinko machine, which is one of the typical examples of this type of gaming machine, an upper ball tray and a lower ball tray are separately installed on the front of the machine, and the pachinko machine that is inserted into the upper ball tray is Balls (also referred to as game balls) are launched one by one onto the playing surface based on the collaboration between the batted ball firing operation and the ball feeding operation, and when the game ball enters each winning hole on the playing surface, as a reward medium, A fixed number of pachinko balls (also referred to as prize balls) are fed out from a prize ball feeding device on a mechanism panel on the back of the gaming machine. The prize balls are preferentially discharged as game balls from the first prize ball ejection path on the mechanism board to the upper ball tray and stored in sequence, and the first path is filled with prize balls. From then on, the prize balls are discharged from the second prize ball feeding route, which is branched from the first route, to the lower ball tray side through the discharge path inside the machine body, and are stored in sequence.

[Prior art]

In the above-mentioned pachinko machine, the upper ball tray and the lower ball tray, which have been commonly used in the past, have a ball extraction device built into them so that the player can take out the balls from the tray as necessary. That is, in the upper ball tray, a ball extraction passageway that communicates with the outlet side of the rectification path is formed inside the main body of the tray, which has a storage part for game balls and a rectification path for ball feeding formed with a series of slopes. An on-off valve member is incorporated in the communicating portion of both passages, and is connected to the on-off valve member on the front or upper side of the dish body, and is operated by the player's operation based on the movement mode or appearance mode. The parts are installed.

Therefore, in the normal state before ball extraction, the on-off valve member is held in the closed position with respect to the ball extraction passage, so that the game balls thrown or housed in the tray can be moved from the outlet of the rectification path to the upper ball tray. The balls are passed through the delivery path of the ball sending device set inside, and then, based on the ball feeding operation that is linked with the batted ball firing operation, the balls are sent one by one to the shooting site at the base end of the shooting rail and are ejected. On the other hand, in the case of ball extraction, the game ball in the tray is passed from the rectification path to the ball extraction passage while the on-off valve is held in the open position with respect to the ball extraction passage by operating the above-mentioned operating member, and then It can pass to the lower ball plate side via the inner discharge passage.

On the other hand, in the lower ball dish, an on-off valve member connected to an operating member is installed in the ball extraction port opened at the bottom of the storage portion of the main body of the dish, and the operating member cannot be operated in the normal ball storage state. While the on-off valve member is held open, the balls in the reservoir can be discharged diametrically downward from the ball outlet.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the conventional ball extraction device for the ball dish mentioned above,
If the operating member is operated, the opening/closing valve member is kept open and all the game balls can be discharged, but the operating member must be kept in the operating state until all the balls have been discharged. Therefore, if there are many balls,
In other words, if there are many balls, including the balls stored in the ball tray and the prize balls filling the prize ball discharge path communicating with the ball tray, it takes a long time to complete the ball extraction. In particular, when removing balls from the upper ball tray, not all the balls can be ejected at once, but the balls that are rectified in a single line in the rectifying channel are ejected as they are from the ball removing passage. The reality is that it takes a considerable amount of time to complete the process, and during this time the operating member must be kept in the operating state, which is troublesome for the player.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention provides a ball extractor that holds an open/close valve member for a ball extractor passage open with one simple ball extractor operation, and then automatically returns the open/close valve member to its original closed position after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can eliminate the trouble associated with extracting a ball, and also eliminate the effort required for a return operation after the completion of extracting a ball.

[Technology for solving problems]

The present invention opens and closes a ball extraction passage formed in the upper ball tray, etc. installed on the front of a gaming machine that uses pachinko balls as media for games and rewards, and is also connected to a rectifying path for ball feeding. an on-off valve member for operating the on-off valve member, a switching member including, for example, a lever, for switching the on-off valve member to open and close positions with respect to the ball extraction passage; and an operation that allows the player to operate the switching member from outside the ball tray. a biasing member such as a coil spring that can hold the on-off valve member in open and closed positions, a detection means such as a switch for detecting the open state of the on-off valve member, and detection means for detecting the on-off valve member. This ball removal device includes an electric return means such as an electromagnetic solenoid that is activated at a proper time based on a signal to return the on-off valve member to its original closed position.

[Effect]

According to the ball extraction device of the present invention, when the player himself/herself operates the operating member in the opening direction from the outside of the ball tray, the on-off valve member is moved in the opening direction in accordance with the switching operation of the switching member and is biased. is held in an open position relative to the ball extraction passage using a member;
Under this condition, the balls in the tray can be ejected from the ball removal channel. Then, based on the detection signal of the detection means activated at the time of the change to the open state, the electric return means is activated after a predetermined time has elapsed, so that the movable member of the means returns the opening/closing valve member to its original closed position. The ball is automatically returned to close the ball extraction passage again, and the normal ball feeding state is set.

〔Example〕

Prior to describing a preferred embodiment of the ball extracting device according to the present invention, a pachinko machine P schematically shown in FIGS.
To summarize, a glass door 3 and a base plate 4 are both attached to the front surface of a front frame 2, which is attached to the outer frame 1 so as to be detachable and openable. A ball plate 5 is attached. A lower ball plate 7 is attached to the front surface of a base plate 6 which also serves as a mounting plate and is attached to the front surface of the front frame 2 below the base plate 4. Reference numeral 8 denotes an electric batted ball firing device, which is activated by operating the operating section 8A. Reference numeral 9 indicates a game board that is detachably set inside the front frame 2.

The above-mentioned upper and lower ball trays 5 and 7 are both shaped without balls, and in the upper ball tray 5, a storage portion 11 for game balls and a rectifying channel 12 for feeding balls are formed in a tray body 10 formed with a series of slopes. and an exterior body 13 that covers and reinforces the outer surface of the dish body 10 are integrally connected to each other, and a storage portion 11 is formed on the front left side of the base 4 for prize balls. The outlet 12 of the aligned flow path 12 is connected to the outlet 14 .
A is communicated with a delivery path in a ball feeding device F detachably set on the back side of the base plate 4 through an outlet 15 for game balls formed on the front right side of the base plate 4. In addition, the lower ball tray 7 is constructed by integrally joining together a tray body 16 in which a prize ball storage portion 17 is formed and an exterior body 18 that covers and reinforces the outer surface of this tray body 16. , and the storage portion 17 is communicated with a prize ball outlet 19 opened in the center of the support plate 6. Note that ball extraction ports 20 are opened in the bottom plate of the storage section 17 and the bottom plate of the exterior body 18, and are opened and closed by an on-off valve member 21 operated by the player.

On the other hand, a mechanism board M is installed on the back of the front frame 2 so as to be detachable and openable, and this mechanism board M has discharge channels 22 and 23 for out balls and winning balls generated on the game board 9. A ball processing device 24 that discharges winning balls one by one at predetermined time intervals, and a ball processing device 24 that discharges winning balls one by one at predetermined time intervals, and a fixed number of winning balls for each winning ball in relation to each ball processing operation of this device 24. A prize ball discharging device 25 is provided separately, and below the prize ball dispensing device 25, a first prize ball discharging path 26 is provided which discharges prize balls preferentially to the upper ball tray 5 side. Then, this discharge path 26 branches out from the middle and the prize ball is sent to the lower ball tray 7.
A second prize ball ejection path 27 is formed to eject the ball to the side. 28 is a ball storage section for pachinko balls for prize balls. Note that the exit 26a of the first prize ball ejection path 26 is
It communicates with the discharge port 14 on the side of the upper ball tray 5 (see FIG. 6), and also communicates with the outlet 27a of the second prize ball discharge path 27.
is fixed to the back surface of the front frame 2 and communicates with a container 29 that communicates with the outlet 19 on the lower spherical plate 7 side (see FIG. 9).

In the pachinko machine described above, the ball extracting device of this example is installed in the upper ball tray 5, and in summary, it opens and closes the ball extracting passage 31 in the tray body 10 as schematically shown in FIG. An opening/closing valve member 35, a switching member 37 that can be operated to open and close the valve member 35 with respect to the ball removal passage 31, and an operating member 45 that can operate the switching member 37 from outside the upper ball plate 5. , a biasing member 42 that can bias the opening/closing valve member 35 in each direction of opening and closing, and a detection means 50 that detects the open state of the opening valve member 35;
It is comprised of an electric return means 52 which is activated at an appropriate time based on the detection signal of the detection means 50 to automatically return the on-off valve member 35 to its original closed position.

That is, the ball removal passage 31 is connected to the plate main body 1.
The inlet 31a at the upper end communicates below the outlet 12a of the rectifying path 12, and the outlet 31b at the lower end communicates with the base plate 4.
It communicates with a ball extraction port 32 formed at the lower center of the. However, the ball extraction port 32 is a socket 3 located on the back side of the base plate 4 as illustrated in FIG.
3 and a guide path 34 located on the back side of the front frame 2 to communicate with the container 29 midway. On the other hand, the on-off valve member 35
It is housed horizontally in a horizontally elongated moving chamber 36 formed between the ball removal passage 31 and the ball removal passage 31, and in normal conditions (before the ball removal), the front end (left end in FIG. 5) of the The valve portion 35a extends between the outlet 12a of the rectifying passage 12 and the inlet 31a of the bulb removal passage 31, and constitutes a bottom plate of the outlet 13a. Note that an inclined surface for guiding the game ball toward the ball feeding device F side is formed on the upper surface of the valve portion 35a.

In the switching member 37, the opening/closing valve member 35 is connected by a connecting rod 40 to a lever 38 whose lower end is pivotally mounted 39 and supported so as to be tiltable within a predetermined angle range at the front surface of the approximately central portion of the dish body 10. lever 3 by using the biasing member 42.
8 is set so as to be biased in the left-right direction with the neutral tilt position (vertical position in FIG. 4) as the dead center, and is normally held at the right-side tilted position in the figure. Note that 41 is a stopper for the lever 38. The above-mentioned biasing member 42 has a coil spring whose upper and lower ends are fixed to a pin 43 fixed to the dish body 10 below the pivot point 39 of the lever 38 and a pin 44 fixed to the upper end of the lever 38. The lever 38 is biased from the neutral tilting position toward the left and right tilting positions.

On the other hand, the operating member 45 is moved by the player's fingertip operation when removing the ball, and is moved in the horizontal direction with respect to the horizontally long moving chamber 46 formed at the lower center of the exterior body 13 of the upper ball tray 5. It is assembled so as to be movable, and a U-shaped engagement opening 47 formed at its upper end engages with a pin 4 at the upper end of the switching lever 38.
4, and a knob 45 formed on the front surface.
a is exposed from the moving chamber 46 to the front surface of the exterior body 14. Incidentally, the operating member 45 is held at the right position in FIG. 4 in the normal state.

The detection means 50 is a switch attached to the front surface of the central part of the dish main body 11, and is configured to detect (turn ON) when the operation piece 51 is pushed at the opening side moving portion of the operation member 45. is set to . Further, the electric return means 52 is connected to the on-off valve member 3.
The solenoid is an electromagnetic solenoid installed at the opening side moving portion of the solenoid 5, and is set to become energized and movable after a predetermined time based on the detection signal of the detection means 50, and is biased by a spring 54 when movable. A rod 53 extends to the left in FIG. 5 to return the on-off valve member 35, which is in the open position, to its original closed position. In addition, both of the above means 5
0 and 52 are connected to a common control board (not shown) including a timer circuit (time limit circuit).

In the ball extracting device of this example configured as described above, the on-off valve member 35 is in the ball extracting passage 31 in the pre-operation state in which the operating member 45 exposed on the front surface of the upper ball plate 5 is located on the right side in the figure. The entrance 31a is held in a closed position. Therefore, the game balls thrown into or housed in the upper ball tray 5 are arranged in the rectifying channel 12 from the storage part 11 and are sent from the outlet 12b to the base plate 4.
It passes through the outlet into the inner ball feeding device F and is held at the ball feeding standby position. From then on, the ball feeding device F continues the ball feeding operation in connection with the ball hitting operation of the ball firing device 8, and accordingly, the ball feeding device F
The game balls inside are sent one by one to the launch site at the base end of the launch rail R, and are sent to the game board 10 by the ball launch device 8.
will be launched.

On the other hand, when the player wishes to pull out a game ball from the upper ball tray 5, the operating member 45 is pushed to the front left side with a fingertip operation. As a result, as can be seen from FIG. 4, as the operating member 45 moves, the lever 38 of the switching member 37 is tilted from the closed position on the right side to the open position on the left side. On the other hand, the biasing member 42 is neutral (dead center) in the direction of application of the biasing force when the lever 38 is located at the tilting center (vertical position shown), and when the lever 38 is displaced leftward from the tilting center. The lever 38 can be pulled and biased in the same direction and held in the open position. According to the tilting displacement of the lever 38, the connecting rod 40 is pulled to the left in FIG. The outlet 12a of the rectifying path 12 is kept open.

As a result, all the game balls in the tray flow from the outlet 12a of the rectifying path 12 through the ball removal path 31, and from then on
As can be understood from the figure, the ball extraction port 32 of the base plate 4,
The container 29 is passed through the receptacle 33 and the guide path 34 and is discharged from the discharge port 19 of the support plate 6 to the lower spherical plate 7 side. At this time, if the first prize ball discharge path 26 in the mechanism board M is also filled with prize balls, the prize balls, including the prize balls, are passed through the upper ball tray 5 to the ball extraction path 31 in the same manner as described above. From there, it is discharged to the lower ball plate 7 side.

After that, the on-off valve member 35 is automatically returned to its original closed position. That is, the operating member 4
5, the detection piece 51 of the detection means 50 is pushed, and after a set time has elapsed from the detection point (ON), the electric return means 52 is held in a state where it can be energized, and when activated, the rod is 53 to the front (to the left in FIG. 5) and push back the on-off valve member 35 at the open end position. As a result, the valve member 35
is moved back against the biasing force of the biasing member 42 acting on the switching member 37 side, and the valve portion 3 is moved back.
5a extends below the outlet 12a of the rectifying path 12 to close the outlet 12a. Following the movement and return of the valve member 35, the connecting rod 40 of the switching member 37 is pulled to the right in FIG. 4, and the lever 38 is returned to the closed position via the tilting neutral position.
Thereafter, by receiving the biasing force of the biasing member 42 and being held at the same position, the on-off valve member 35 is biased and held in the original closed position. At this time, the operating member 45 is also moved back to the closed position.

The above-mentioned detection means 50 is operated once each time the operating member 45 is moved to the open side position to be in the detection (ON) state, and is turned to the OFF state when the member 45 is returned to the closed side position. The detection signal is input to the timer circuit (time limit circuit) from the input circuit in the control board. On the other hand, the power return means 52 is held in the energized movable state once after the set time elapses, that is, after the time up set by the timer path, and the rod 53 is once extended.
After being demagnetized, the rod 53 is returned to its original state using a spring 54. Therefore, since the operation time of the means 52 is always short, premature aging due to thermal damage is eliminated. By the way, regarding the above set time, all the balls including the full game balls in the upper ball tray 5 and the full prize balls in the first prize ball ejection path 26 of the mechanism board M are removed from the ball removal passage 31 as described above. It is assumed that the time required to finish discharging the balls out of the ball tray 5 is taken into account in advance and the time is set to be appropriately longer (for example, 3 to 5 minutes) than the required discharge time.

In addition to removing all the balls in the upper ball tray 5 as described above, when partially removing the balls, the operation member 45 is operated to the open position to open the on-off valve member 35, and the upper ball tray is removed. After the required number of game balls in 5 have been ejected, the player himself returns the operating member 45 to the original pre-operation position at a necessary time. As a result, as in the case described above, as the switching member 37 moves back, the on-off valve member 37 returns to its original closed position and is held there. At this time, when the operating member 45 is operated on the open side, the detection means 50 is activated once, and the electric return means 52 is energized and excited after the set time based on the detection input signal, and the rod 5 is activated.
Although the ball 3 is extended, this return operation is essentially an idle operation and does not affect or hinder the ball extraction operation in any way.

In particular, in the ball extracting device of this example, on the premise that the operating portion 8A of the batted ball firing device 8 of the pachinko machine is operated with the right hand by the player, the operating portion, that is, the operating member 45 is operated with the left hand by the player.
is located on the left side of the center of the upper ball tray 5, so even during a game, the player can quickly and easily remove the ball by operating the left hand side without being restricted to the ball firing operation, and can concentrate on playing the game.

Modification Examples Regarding the ball extraction device to which the present invention is applied, not only the above-mentioned embodiment techniques but also other techniques are recommended. For example, the opening/closing valve member 35 may be able to open and close freely including the movement of the upper spherical plate 5 in the front and rear directions.
Further, the switching member 37 may be directly connected to the on-off valve member 35. Further, the operating member 45 may be of a tilting lever type, and the biasing member 42 is placed on the side of the operating member 45.
You may also hang it. The detection means 50 may be installed at a location corresponding to any one of the on-off valve member 35, the switching member 37, and the operating member 45. Note that the opening/closing valve member 35 may be provided with a suitable biasing means other than the biasing member 42 to further facilitate opening and closing of the valve member 35. Further, the operating timing and conditions for the detection means 50 and the electric return means 52 may be selected as appropriate. Of course, the ball extraction device according to the present invention can also be incorporated into the lower ball tray side of gaming machines other than pachinko machines.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As can be understood from the above embodiments, the ball extraction device of the present invention is installed in a ball tray installed in the front of a gaming machine that uses pachinko balls.
By simply moving the operating member operated from outside the ball tray in the opening direction, the pachinko balls in the ball tray can be ejected while the on-off valve member is held in the open position. This eliminates the inconvenience of having to keep operating and holding the operating member in the open/closed state. After the ball extraction operation, even if the operating member and the opening/closing valve member are left in the open position, the detection means and electric return means are used to open and close the valve at the required setting point after the completion of the ball extraction. Since the valve member is automatically returned to its original closed position and held in that position, it is possible to eliminate the trouble and trouble of returning the on-off valve member after the ball has been removed, and it also eliminates the problem of forgetting to return the on-off valve member. Such concerns can be eliminated before they occur.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 1 and 2 are front and rear views schematically showing a pachinko machine, and FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the main components of the ball extraction device of this embodiment. 4 and 5 are partially cutaway front and rear views of the upper ball tray in which the ball extraction device of this example is implemented, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway view of the upper ball tray and the inside of the pachinko machine. The schematic plan view, FIGS. 7 and 8 are side sectional views taken along lines - and - in FIG. FIG. P...Pachinko machine, 4...Base, 5...Upper ball plate, 10...Plate body, 11...Reservoir, 12...
Rectification path, 14...Discharge port, 15...Outlet port, F...
... Ball feeding device, R ... Launching rail, M ... Mechanism panel, 26 ... First prize ball discharge path, 27 ... Second prize ball discharge path, 29 ... Container, 31 ... Ball removal passage, 3
2...Ball extraction port, 33...Socket, 34...Guideway, 35...Opening/closing valve member, 37...Switching member,
38...Lever, 40...Connection rod, 42...Biasing member, 45...Operation member, 50...Detection means, 52
...Electric return means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A rectifying passage for game balls formed inside a ball tray mainly for game balls installed on the front of the machine body, and a rectifying passage formed inside the ball tray and communicating with the rectifying passage. At the same time, there is a ball extraction passageway that communicates with the ball tray side for the prize ball main body installed on the front of the aircraft, and an on-off valve member that is movably installed in a communication area between the rectification passage and the ball extraction passageway so that it can be opened and closed. and a switching member for switching the on-off valve member between a normal closed position for the ball removal passage and an open position for removing the ball;
an operating member capable of shifting the switching member by a player's operation from outside the ball dish; a biasing member for biasing and holding the on-off valve member in open and closed positions; and an on-off valve member. A detection means for detecting the open state of the valve, and an electric return means for returning the opening/closing valve member to the original closed position by being activated at an appropriate time based on the detection by the detection means. A ball extraction device for a pachinko game machine. 2. The switching member includes a movable piece supported so as to be movable in the left and right directions with respect to a moving neutral point, and a connecting rod connected between one end of the movable piece and one end of the opening/closing valve member. On the other hand, the operating member is installed so as to be movable in the left-right direction of the spherical dish, one end of which is exposed to the outside of the spherical dish, and the other end of which is appropriately connected to a part of the switching member. The biasing member is movable;
A spring connected between the spherical plate and the switching member, which is set so as to be able to directly bias and hold the switching member toward each left and right movement end position with respect to the neutral point of movement. A ball extracting device for a pachinko-type game machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. The detection means is a switch that detects that any of the on-off valve member, the switching member, or the operating member has been moved to an open transition side portion,
It is set to be able to generate a detection signal at the time of detection, and on the other hand, the electric return means is an electromagnetic solenoid that is energized and activated at an appropriately set time based on the detection signal of the detection means, and is movable when activated. The ball extraction device for a pachinko game machine according to claim 1, wherein the ball extraction device is configured to once extend the member and return the on-off valve member to its original closed position.