JPH07265520A - Ball delivery device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the high-speed delivery of balls by arranging the constitution such that this ball delivery device is equipped with a ratchet, which rotates interlocking with the rotary cam for allowing or inhibiting the fall by dead weight of a ball, and a rocking stopper, which has a start claw and a stop claw capable of engagement with the ratchet claw of the ratchet, and that the rocking stopper is driven by a solenoid. CONSTITUTION:When a solenoid 24 is turned on, the start claw 22 of a rocking stopper 21 breaks away from a racket claw 19, and by the dead weight of the balls 9 in a ball delivery path 5, a rotary cam 13, a large-diameter gear 15, a small-diameter gear 17, and a ratchet 18 are rotated in association. The solenoid 24 is turned off immediately before the stop claw 23 locks the ratchet claw 19 by the rotation of the ratchet 18. At this time, since the angle theta of aperture from the line connecting the stop claw 23 with the center of ratchet 18 to the next ratchet claw 19 is set to be larger than the angle of aperture from the line connecting the start claw 22 with the center of ratchet 18 to the next ratchet claw 19, the ratchet 18 has enough rotational angle, and the reliability on operation can be secured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball payout device which is used by being arranged in a payout ball payout part of a pachinko gaming machine or a ball rental payout part of a ball rental device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as the ball payout device of the above-mentioned example, for example, JP-A-4-256767 and JP-A-61-7.
There is a device described in Japanese Patent No. 6181. That is, the former ball payout device described in JP-A-4-256767 is
A part of the coaxial integral rotary sprocket is provided in the middle of each prize ball path of the row structure, and the movable iron piece of the solenoid is brought into contact with the convex portion of the sprocket on the opposite side of the prize ball path, and the solenoid When it is ON, the movable iron piece is separated from the convex part of the sprocket, and the sprocket is rotated by the weight of the pachinko balls, and the pachinko balls are paid out one by one from each prize ball path of the two-row structure. The movable iron piece is brought into contact with the convex portion of the sprocket again to stop the pachinko ball payout.

According to this conventional device, the pachinko balls can be paid out at high speed, but if the return of the movable iron piece is delayed for some reason, the sprocket is not stopped, so the pachinko balls are not prepared. There is a problem that high reliability of the apparatus cannot be ensured because a large amount of payout occurs due to a so-called drip state in which it is continuously discharged.

On the other hand, the latter ball payout device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-76181 is provided with a disk, a part of which is provided in the ball payout passage, and an arc surface and a recess are provided on the peripheral surface of the disk. While forming alternately, an escape wheel is provided coaxially with the above-mentioned disc, and the escape wheel is rotated by half a tooth by the pawls of the anchor member driven by the solenoid, and immediately before the ball is fitted into the recess of the disc. It is configured to stop at a position to prevent the ball from falling, then insert the ball into the concave portion of the disk to stand by, and then pay out the ball at the next half tooth rotation.

According to this conventional device, the construction of the escape wheel and the anchor member can prevent inadvertent continuous release of the pachinko balls, that is, so-called drifting, but on the other hand, by controlling the rotation of each half tooth of the escape wheel, one pachinko machine is operated. Since the pachinko balls are temporarily stopped before the balls are discharged, there is a problem that high-speed payout becomes difficult.

That is, these conventional devices have a problem that it is impossible to achieve both high reliability of the device and high-speed payout of balls.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a ball dispensing device capable of achieving both high speed dispensing of balls and high reliability of the device.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present invention provides a ball payout device capable of achieving both high-speed payout of balls and high reliability of the device by setting the duty ratio of ON and OFF for the solenoid. To aim.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the object of the second aspect of the invention, the rocking is performed by setting the gear ratio of the gear coaxial with the rotary cam and the gear coaxial with the ratchet. It is an object of the present invention to provide a ball payout device that can reduce the electromagnetic force of a solenoid that drives a stopper and reduce the size of the solenoid.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention, in addition to the object of the invention of claim 3, a gear coaxial with the rotary cam is arranged outside the ball payout passage, so that An object of the present invention is to provide a ball payout device capable of preventing the adhesion of dust and maintaining a smooth ball payout operation.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rotary cam, a part of which is provided in the ball payout passage to allow and prohibit the ball from falling by its own weight. The rotary cam rotates in conjunction with the rotary cam. A ratchet, a swing stopper having a start claw and a stop claw that can be engaged with and disengaged from the ratchet claw of the ratchet, and a solenoid that drives the swing stopper,
A line connecting the stop pawl and the ratchet center that separate from the ratchet when the solenoid is OFF, and a line that connects the start pawl and the ratchet center that separate from the ratchet when the solenoid is ON, for the first opening angle to the next ratchet pawl. The second opening angle up to the next ratchet pawl is set to a small value, and the start pawl is released from the engagement with the ratchet pawl before the stop pawl engages with the next ratchet pawl. It is a ball payout device provided with a control means for returning.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, the ON time to the solenoid by the control means is such that the starting pawl releases the engagement with the ratchet pawl. The ball payout device is characterized in that the duty ratio is set to be continued from the point of time when the stop claw is brought into contact with the ratchet claw immediately before.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the structure of the second aspect of the invention, a large diameter gear provided coaxially with the rotary cam and a coaxial ratchet are provided. It is a ball payout device which is always meshed with a small diameter gear. The invention according to claim 4 of the present invention is, in addition to the configuration of the invention according to claim 3, a ball payout device in which the large-diameter gear is arranged outside a ball payout passage.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the solenoid is switched from OFF to ON, the starting pawl of the swing stopper disengages from the ratchet pawl of the ratchet, and the rotation cam rotates in the payout direction by the weight of the ball. The ratchet rotates in conjunction with, but as described above, with respect to the line that connects the starting pawl and the ratchet center that separate from the ratchet when the solenoid is ON, and the second opening angle θ2 (see FIG. 3) to the next ratchet pawl. The first line up to the next ratchet pawl and the line connecting the stop pawl that separates from the ratchet when the solenoid is OFF (in other words, the stop pawl that swings to the position where the next ratchet pawl should be locked when the solenoid is ON) and the ratchet center Open angle θ1
(See FIG. 2) is set to a large value (θ1> θ2), so that a sufficient rotation angle of this ratchet can be secured, and the above-mentioned control means causes the starting pawl to engage the ratchet pawl by turning on the solenoid. After canceling the match,
Before the stop pawl engages with the next ratchet pawl, the solenoid is turned off to move the start pawl back, thus preventing the stop pawl from stopping the ratchet while the ratchet is rotating. The ratchet pawl stops when it hits the starting pawl at the solenoid OFF return position.

On the other hand, when the solenoid fails to return due to some reason and the solenoid is kept on unnecessarily, the stop pawl stops the ratchet rotation.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
The control means described above is an O of a duty-controlled solenoid.
The N time is continued from the time when the starting pawl releases the engagement with the ratchet pawl to the time just before the stop pawl comes into contact with the ratchet pawl, and immediately before the contact, the solenoid is turned on and then OF is turned off.
Switch to F.

According to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention,
Since the gear provided coaxially with the rotary cam rotated by the weight of the ball is made large and the gear coaxially provided with the ratchet which is always meshed with this large diameter gear is made small, the torque for the small diameter gear is small.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention,
Since the large-diameter gear described above is arranged outside the ball-discharging passage, the large-diameter gear can be separated from the ball-discharging passage through which balls used in a relatively dusty atmosphere stand by and pass.

[0019]

As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention, one is provided by both of the above-mentioned angle setting (θ1> θ2) and the ON / OFF timing of the solenoid by the control means. Since the ratchet is prevented from being stopped by the above-mentioned stop pawl during the ball discharging operation (while the ratchet is rotating), the ball can be discharged at high speed.

Further, when the solenoid fails to recover due to some reason and the solenoid continues to be turned on unnecessarily, the ratchet is stopped by the stop claw described above, so that a large amount of payout due to the so-called ball pouring state is performed. Prevent
The reliability of the device can be ensured. That is, there is an effect that both high-speed payout of balls and high reliability of the apparatus can be achieved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, there is an effect that both high speed payout of balls and high reliability of the device can be achieved by setting the above-mentioned duty ratio of ON and OFF for the solenoid. is there.

According to the invention of claim 3 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 2, since the torque for the small diameter gear is small as described above, the solenoid for driving the swing stopper that engages and disengages with the ratchet coaxial with the small diameter gear. The electromagnetic force can be reduced, and as a result, the solenoid can be made smaller and lighter.

According to the invention of claim 4 of the present invention,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 3, by disposing the large-diameter gear outside the ball payout passage, the large-diameter gear can be isolated from the ball payout passage. There is an effect that dust can be prevented from adhering to and the smooth ball payout operation can be maintained.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The drawing shows a ball payout device, and in FIG. 1, a first ball detection switch 1 connected to a winning opening for paying, for example, 5 prize balls of a pachinko gaming machine, and a payout for paying, for example, 10 prize balls of a pachinko gaming machine. The second ball detection switch 2 connected to the mouth is provided, these ball detection switches 1 and 2 are connected to the payout control circuit 3, and the ball detection signals from the above-mentioned ball detection switches 1 and 2 are received to perform the above-mentioned operation. The payout control circuit 3 outputs a pulse to the drive unit 4.

A ball payout passage 5 penetrating in the vertical direction is formed inside the drive unit 4 (however, shown systematically in FIG. 1), and an upstream portion of the ball payout passage 5 is opposed to the ball payout passage 5. A sensor 8 composed of a transmissive photo interrupter including a light emitting section 6 and a light receiving section 7 (see FIG. 2) is provided, and the sensor 8 is configured to detect the presence or absence of a pachinko ball 9.

By the way, the above-mentioned drive unit 4 is constructed as shown in FIGS. That is, a drive unit housing 10 made of synthetic resin is provided, the above-mentioned ball payout passage 5 is formed through the inside of one side of the housing 10, and a part of a passage wall 11 constituting the ball payout passage 5 is cut out, A notch 12 is provided, and a part of the rotary cam 13 is provided from the notch 12 toward the inside of the ball payout passage 5.

The rotating cam 13 described above has a beading portion 13a on the outer periphery.
Is a cam in which arcuate concave portions 13b are formed at equal intervals, and the rotary cam 13 is attached to the shaft 14 projectingly fixed to the housing 10 so as to rotate integrally with the large-diameter gear 15. The pachinko balls 9 are allowed and prohibited from falling by their own weight. The large-diameter gear 15 provided on the coaxial 14 with the rotary cam 13 is arranged outside the ball payout passage 5.

Further, a small-diameter gear 17 and a ratchet 18 are attached to the ratchet shaft 16 projectingly fixed to the housing 10 so as to rotate integrally. Here, the above-mentioned small-diameter gear 17 is always meshed with the above-mentioned large-diameter gear 15, while a plurality of circumferentially equidistant (in this embodiment, 90-degree equidistant) outer peripheral portions of the ratchet 18 are provided with a plurality of gears. The ratchet claw 19 is integrally formed.

Further, a swing stopper 21 is swingably disposed on the support shaft 20 projectingly fixed to the housing 10 and a starting pawl 22 is provided below the swing stopper 21.
The stop claws 23 are integrally formed on the upper part of the ratchet 22, and the claws 22 and 23 can be engaged with and disengaged from the ratchet claw 19 of the ratchet 18 described above.

The swing stopper 21 is a solenoid 24.
The movable iron piece 25 of FIG. That is, the lower free end of the movable iron piece 25 is inserted into the recess 21a formed in the upper part of the swing stopper 21, and a return spring constituted by a tension spring is provided between the upper free end of the movable iron piece 25 and the fixed member 26. When the solenoid 24 shown in FIG. 2 is turned off, the swing stopper 21 is swung counterclockwise in the drawing through the movable iron piece 25 by the spring force of the return spring 27 when the solenoid 24 shown in FIG. ON
Occasionally, the movable iron piece 25 is attracted by an electromagnetic force against the spring force of the return spring 27, and the swing stopper 21 is configured to swing clockwise in the drawing.

Further, the swing stopper 2 is provided on the inner wall of the other side of the housing 10 when the solenoid is OFF (see FIG. 2).
The first stopper member 28 for ensuring a predetermined engagement state between the starting claw 22 and the ratchet 19 claw in FIG. 1 and the stop claw 23 and the ratchet 18 in the swing stopper 21 when the solenoid is ON (see FIG. 3). The second stopper member 29 for properly maintaining the relationship is integrally formed.

Further, on the side of the solenoid 24 facing the movable iron piece 25, when the solenoid is ON (see FIG.
The stopper piece 30 for ensuring the proper posture of the movable iron piece 25 in FIG. Moreover, in this embodiment, the relative relationship between the ratchet 18 and the swing stopper 21 is set as follows.

That is, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the solenoid is turned on for the first opening angle θ1 to the line connecting the stop pawl 23 that separates from the ratchet 18 and the ratchet center during the FF and the next ratchet pawl 19.
The second opening angle θ2 from the line connecting the starting pawl 22 and the ratchet center, which sometimes separate from the ratchet 18, to the next ratchet pawl 19 is set to be small (θ2 <θ1).

In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the ON time to the solenoid 24 by the above-mentioned payout control circuit 3 as the control means is the above-mentioned stop pawl from the time t1 when the starting pawl 22 disengages from the ratchet 19. 23 is ratchet claw 1
The duty ratio is set to continue until the time point t2 immediately before the contact with No. 9.

The operation of the ball payout device thus constructed is as follows.
Details will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
In addition, this flowchart is a prize ball, 5 or 10
It is a flow chart when a pachinko ball enters the payout opening for individual payout.

In the first step S1, the payout control circuit 3 determines whether or not there is a pachinko ball 9 in the ball payout passage 5 based on the signal from the sensor 8, and if YES is determined, the process proceeds to the next second step S2. To do. In the above-described second step S2, the payout control circuit 3 applies the pulse having the duty ratio shown in FIG. 4 to the solenoid 24 of the drive unit 4, and pays out and discharges one pachinko ball 9 per pulse.

That is, as shown in FIG.
When 4 is OFF, the starting pawl 22 engages with the ratchet pawl 19 to move the ratchet 18, small diameter gear 17, large diameter gear 1
5. The rotation of the rotary cam 13 is blocked, and the payout of the pachinko balls 9 in the ball payout passage 5 is stopped at the ball cutting portion 13a of the rotary cam 13 described above.

When the solenoid 24 is turned on from this solenoid 24 off state, the starting pawl 2 is moved as shown in FIG.
2 separates from the ratchet pawl 19, so the ball payout passage 5
Rotating cam 13 and large-diameter gear 1 due to the weight of pachinko balls 9
5, the small diameter gear 17, and the ratchet 18 rotate in the directions of the arrows in FIG.

Since the ON time of the solenoid 24 is set to the duty ratio shown in FIG. 4, the ratchet 18 is rotated after the starting pawl 22 is separated from the ratchet pawl 19 as shown by a virtual line β in FIG. The solenoid 24 is turned off immediately before the stop claw 23 enters the state of FIG. 3 in which the next ratchet claw 19 is locked by (counterclockwise rotation in the drawing).
Therefore, when the solenoid 24 is turned off, the swing stopper 21 returns to the solid line state in FIG. Therefore, the above-mentioned starting pawl 22 engages the next ratchet pawl 19 with respect to the first ratchet pawl 19, so that the ratchet 18 rotates under the condition where the ratchet pawls 19 and 19 are not stopped during rotation. One pachinko ball 9 is paid out and emitted per pulse.

Next, in a third step S3, the payout control circuit 3
Determines whether the number of paid-out balls has reached a predetermined number. If the number has not reached the predetermined number, the process returns to the first step S1 to repeat the above operation, while if the number has reached the predetermined number, the payout is performed. The process ends.

In summary, the first opening angle θ1 and the second opening angle θ
2 is set to θ1> θ2, and the solenoid 24 is turned on and off by the payout control circuit 3 as a control means.
Since the duty ratio of the FF (see FIG. 4) is set as described above, the ratchet 18 is stopped by the stop claw 23 described above during the discharging operation of one pachinko ball 9 (while the ratchet 18 is rotating).
Can be prevented from stopping. As a result, the pachinko balls 9 can be paid out at high speed.

In the case where the solenoid 24 fails to return due to some reason and the solenoid 24 continues to be turned on unnecessarily, the stop pawl 23 stops the ratchet 18 from rotating. It is possible to prevent a large amount of payout due to the state of the balls pouring out, and to secure the reliability of the device. Therefore, there is an effect that both high-speed payout of the pachinko balls 9 and high reliability of the device can be achieved.

In addition, the gear 15 provided coaxially with the rotating cam 13 rotated by the weight of the pachinko balls 9 is enlarged,
Since the ratchet 18 that is always engaged with the large-diameter gear 15 and the coaxial gear 17 are small, the torque for the small-diameter gear 17 is small, and the ratchet 1 coaxial with the small-diameter gear 17 is small.
It is possible to reduce the electromagnetic force of the solenoid 24 that drives the swing stopper 21 that is engaged with and disengaged from the solenoid 8. As a result, it is possible to reduce the size and weight of the solenoid 24.

Further, since the large-diameter gear 15 is arranged outside the ball payout passage 5 and the large-diameter gear 15 is isolated from the ball payout passage 5, dust is not attached to the large-diameter gear 15. There is an effect that it is possible to prevent and maintain a smooth ball payout operation.

In the correspondence between the configuration of the present invention and the above-described embodiment, the control means of the present invention corresponds to the payout control circuit 3 of the embodiment, and hereinafter, the balls also correspond to the pachinko balls 9. The present invention is not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments.

For example, it goes without saying that the above configuration may be applied to a ball payout device in a ball rental device of a pachinko gaming machine.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a ball payout device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the internal structure of the drive unit in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view for explaining the operation of the drive unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a duty ratio with respect to a solenoid.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a ball payout process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 ... Payout control circuit 5 ... Ball payout passage 9 ... Pachinko ball 13 ... Rotating cam 15 ... Large diameter gear 17 ... Small diameter gear 18 ... Ratchet 19 ... Ratchet pawl 21 ... Swing stopper 22 ... Starting pawl 23 ... Stopping pawl 24 ... Solenoid θ1 ... First opening angle θ2 ... Second opening angle

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Kumagai, 10 Odoron-cho, Hanazono Tadodo-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A rotary cam partially provided in the ball payout passage to allow and prohibit the ball from falling due to its own weight, a ratchet that rotates in conjunction with the rotary cam, and a starting pawl that can be engaged with and disengaged from the ratchet pawl of the ratchet. And a swing stopper having a stop claw and a solenoid for driving the swing stopper, and a first opening angle up to a line connecting the stop claw and the ratchet center that separates from the ratchet when the solenoid is OFF and the next ratchet claw. On the other hand, the second opening angle up to the next ratchet pawl and the line connecting the starting pawl separated from the ratchet and the ratchet center when the solenoid is turned on is set to a small value, and the starting pawl engages the ratchet pawl. After releasing, the ball payout device provided with a control means for returning the starting pawl before the stop pawl engages with the next ratchet pawl. 2. O to the solenoid by the control means
The N time is set to a duty ratio that continues from a time point when the start claw is disengaged from the ratchet claw to a time point immediately before the stop claw comes into contact with the ratchet claw.
Ball dispenser described 3. The ball payout device according to claim 2, wherein a large-diameter gear provided coaxially with the rotary cam and a small-diameter gear coaxially provided with the ratchet are constantly meshed with each other. 4. The ball payout device according to claim 3, wherein the large-diameter gear is arranged outside the ball payout passage.