JPH0744745A - Coin discharge device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arrange coins in a hopper almost horizontally without excessively throbbing, to smoothly insert the coins into a rotor and to prevent the occurrence of dead hitting. CONSTITUTION:The rotor 6 having a coin receiving hole 17 in the direction of circumference is provided in a circular recessed part 5 arranged at the bottom W of the hopper 2 so that it can be rotated. The surface of the rotor 6 is formed by a plane which actually does not have projections. A coin arrangement tool 4 whose one end is supported by the hopper 2 and which consists of a linear elastic material crossing the circular locus of the coin receiving hole 17 in parallel to the rotor 6 at a position lower than a height which separates the diameter of the coin from the upper surface of the rotor 6 is provided in the hopper 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is a coin payout which allows coins to be aligned substantially horizontally without excessive movement, which facilitates insertion of coins into a rotor and prevents occurrence of runaway and the like. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a gaming machine such as a money changing machine, a vending machine, and a slot machine, a coin payout device is used to collect coins such as coins and medals and to pay out a necessary number of coins. Is used.

Conventionally, such a coin payout device has been
For example, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a rotor D is used to take out a large number of coins C stored in the hopper A one by one from the coin payout opening B. This rotor D is
It has a disc shape that is rotatably supported in a circular recess E provided at the bottom of the hopper A, and a coin receiving hole G is vertically formed around the rotation center thereof.

Therefore, the lowest coin among the coins accommodated in the coin receiving hole G is accompanied by the rotation of the rotor.
The coins are ejected one by one from the coin payout opening B, and the number of coins and the payout are accurately performed.

In such an apparatus, in order to smoothly introduce coins, which are accommodated in the hopper A and overlap each other in various postures and angles, into the coin receiving hole G, for example, a protrusion J is formed on the upper surface of the rotor D. To stir the coin to improve its fluidity, or to receive the substantially vertical spring shaft I extending to the rotor from the popper A, and further improve the stirring effect by its vibration, and The attitude of the abutting coins is corrected almost horizontally.

[0006]

However, in the conventional one having such a protrusion, the coin C is inadvertently floated up or tilted during agitation, and a lot of useless movement is caused, and the coin C is inserted into the coin receiving hole G. Was insufficiently introduced. Also, since the main part of the spring shaft body I extends substantially vertically, the spring shaft body I becomes a great resistance against the flow of the coin regardless of the posture of the coin, and the horizontal alignment effect on the coin (correction effect of the posture of the coin is obtained. ) Was insufficient. Furthermore, in the conventional device,
When the remaining amount of coins in the hopper A decreases, the coins C standing upright on the rotor tend to lean toward the inner peripheral wall surface SE of the circular concave portion E and remain there. It hindered the measurement and payout of the number of sheets.

Further, according to the present invention, the upper surface of the rotor is formed to be substantially flat without any projection, and a coin aligner made of a linear elastic material having at least one end supported in the hopper is provided in parallel with the rotor. Another object of the present invention is to provide a coin payout device that can solve the above problems.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a coin payout device of the present invention comprises a substrate having a circular recess formed on the upper surface of a hopper arranged at the bottom of a hopper into which coins are inserted, and the circular recess. A disc-shaped rotor that rotates inside, and a coin receiving hole that accommodates the coin in the rotor and slides the coin at the bottom on the bottom surface of the circular recess by vertically penetrating the coin in the circumferential direction. A coin pay-out device provided in parallel with each other, wherein the substrate has a passage through which an inlet provided on an inner peripheral wall surface of the circular recess is connected to an outlet on an outer periphery of the substrate and through which the lowest coin can pass, the upper surface of the rotor Is a flat surface having substantially no protrusion, and at least one end of the hopper is supported by the hopper, and the upper surface of the rotor is located on the annular locus of the coin receiving hole that moves with the rotation of the rotor. It is provided a coin alignment tool comprising a linear elastic material extending parallel to the position a and the rotor lower than the height separating the diameter of al the coin.

[0009]

[Operation] Since the coin aligner extends parallel to the rotor,
The resistance to horizontal coins is extremely smaller than the resistance to coins in other postures during rotational flow, and therefore these coins collide with coins that have an incorrect posture / angle and are stacked in the hopper. Can be effectively aligned horizontally. Moreover, since the coins are arranged at a position lower than the height separating the diameter of the coin from the upper surface of the rotor, they collide with the coins standing on the rotor and make them fall, thereby preventing the coins from remaining in the device.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3, the coin payout device 1 is a coin C
The hopper 2 is provided with a substrate 3 arranged on the bottom W of the hopper 2 into which the hopper 2 is charged, and a disc-shaped rotor 6 rotating in a circular recess 5 formed in the upper surface of the substrate 3. A coin aligner 4 is provided.

In this example, the substrate 3 is formed of a frame plate 7 on which the motor M with decelerator for driving the rotor is mounted, and a rotor receiver 9 integrally fixed to the upper surface thereof. The rotor receiver 9 is composed of a cylindrical flange rising from the frame plate 7, and the substrate 3 has a bottomed concave recessed portion H surrounded by the rotor receiver 9 and the frame 7 on the upper surface thereof.

A hopper 2 is attached to the rotor receiver 9, and the hopper 2 receives a large number of inserted coins C and accommodates a large amount of internal volume at the lower end of a container-shaped main portion 2A. A cylindrical joint portion 2B is provided which is connected to the recess H by fitting with the upper end of the rotor receiver 9. Therefore, in this example, the recessed portion H and the joint portion 2B which are connected to each other form the circular recessed portion 5. Further, a fitting groove portion 2B which fits with a locking portion 9A protruding at the upper end of the rotor receiver 9 is provided at the lower end of the joint portion 2B.
1 and the inner peripheral wall surface S2 at the lower end of the joint portion 2B is kept inward in the radial direction from the inner peripheral wall surface S1 of the recess H to prevent the rotor 6 from coming off. ing. The inner peripheral wall surface S of the circular recess 5 is formed by the inner peripheral wall surfaces S2 and S1.

Further, the rotor receiver 9 has a passage 10 for passing coins which leads from an inlet 10A provided on the circumferential wall surface S1 of the circular recess 5 to an outlet 10B on the outer periphery of the substrate 3. This passage 10 is, in this example, Is formed on the upper surface of the frame plate 7. In addition, the inlet 10A is formed by a cutout portion which is formed by cutting a part of the lower end of the rotor receiver 9 so that one coin can pass therethrough. A separator 11 that ensures the discharge of the is provided.

An electric motor M with a speed reducer is fixed to the lower surface of the frame plate 7 via a spacer 12 and the like, and the upper end of the output shaft M1 is inserted through a central hole provided in the substrate 3 to form the circular recess 5 It projects inward and concentrically with the circular recess 5. A rotor 6 that rotates concentrically in the circular recess 5 is attached to the protruding end of the output shaft M1.

The rotor 6 has a diameter larger than the inner peripheral wall surface S2 of the joint portion 2B and has a disc shape interposed between the step K and the bottom surface 5S of the circular recess 5 and has an upper surface thereof. It is formed of a flat surface having substantially no protrusion.

In this embodiment, the rotor 6 is made of a rigid material such as a metal plate, for example, a reinforcing metal layer 6A, and a synthetic resin material or the like. 6B, and the synthetic resin layer 6B is preferably formed of a bearing material having a low friction coefficient, and is detachably attached to the metal layer 6A so that it can be replaced at the time of abrasion.

The rotor 6 is provided with a plurality of, in the present example, five coin receiving holes 17 penetrating vertically and arranged in parallel in a circumferential direction around the rotation center at an equal angular pitch. By penetrating the rotor 6 in the vertical direction, the coin 17 receives the coins C inserted from the hopper 2 from the opening above the coins and stores the coins in the holes while stacking the coins C0. , Can be slid on the bottom surface 5S of the circular recess 5.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a guide path 19 for guiding the sliding lowermost coin C0 to the outside in the radial direction is provided on the lower surface of the rotor 6, and the coin is centered around the rotation center of the rotor. A circular groove 20 connecting the receiving holes 17 and extending in the circumferential direction is provided. It should be noted that, in FIG. 4 in which the rotor 6 is viewed from the lower surface, a guide pattern 19 is provided with a check pattern and a circular groove 20 is provided with a dot pattern for the sake of convenience.

The guide path 19 is a guide groove extending from the opening below each coin receiving hole 17 to the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 6, and has a width exceeding the diameter of the coin C and a depth exceeding the thickness of the coin C. With this, the lowest coin C0 is guided radially outward from the lower opening through the guide path 19 by the centrifugal force of the rotor rotation. In this example, guideway 1
The side edge e1 on the rear side in the rotational direction of the side edges sandwiching 9 is located radially outward from a tangent line L that descends from the rotation center O to the coin receiving hole 17 and a position P1 near a contact point P between the coin receiving hole 17. It is formed by an arc that curves in a convex arc shape toward the rear in the rotational direction.

Therefore, when the rotor rotates, the lowermost coin C0 in the guide path 19 is urged and pushed outward by a stronger force in the radial direction because the side edge e1 forms the arc. As shown in FIG. 5, the coin C0 slides along the inner peripheral wall surface S1 and ejects the coin C0 to the entrance 10A every time the guide path 19 and the entrance 10A coincide with each other.

In the present invention, the hopper 2 is provided with the coin aligning tool 4. The coin aligner 4 is made of a linear elastic material such as a piano wire, and has the coin receiving hole 1
While extending on an annular locus Y1 of 7, at least one end, in this example, both ends, is supported by the wall portion of the hopper 2.

In this embodiment, the coin aligning tool 4 passes through a pair of support holes 29 provided in the joint 2B of the hopper 2 and is substantially parallel to the rotor 6 between the support holes 29 and the annular locus Y1. A linear main shaft portion 4A extending across the main shaft portion 4A is provided, and a fixed locking portion 4B for preventing the slipping out of the support hole 29 is formed at one end of the main shaft portion 4A, for example, by bending the main shaft portion 4A. Along with the other end of the main shaft portion 4A, a detachable locking portion (not shown) using, for example, a stop ring is provided. Also, the aligning tool 4 includes a rotor 6
Is arranged at a position of a height h2 lower than the height separating the diameter of the coin C from the upper surface of the.

As described above, the coin aligning tool 4 includes the rotor 6
Since it extends in parallel with, the resistance against the rotational movement of horizontal coins is extremely small. Therefore, coins that have an incorrect posture / angle and are stacked in the popper 2 can collide with each other and align them horizontally. . Moreover, since it is a long body that traverses the circular locus Y1, the chance of the aforesaid collision is greatly increased, and a great alignment effect is exhibited. Further, even when the remaining amount of coins in the popper 2 decreases, the coins that stand up on the rotor 6 collide with each other to cause them to fall over, and the coins are paid out reliably and with a small number of blank hits.

Further, since the coin aligning tool 4 is made of a linear elastic material having both ends supported, it has a high proof strength against an abutting against a coin and prevents deformation and damage. Moreover, the fixing to the hopper 2 is convenient, the mounting accuracy can be greatly improved, and the reliability of the above effects can be enhanced.

As the coin aligning tool 4, one end may be firmly fixed to the wall portion of the hopper 2 by using a fixing fitting such as a screw fitting, and the other end may be a free end on the rotor 6 and may be interrupted. . In this case, the aligning tool 4 traverses the annular locus Y1 toward the direction of the rotation center, and the protruding length from the hopper wall portion is at least 1/3 of the diameter of the rotor 6.
The above is preferable.

On the inner peripheral wall surface S of the circular recess 5, a notched recess 21 is provided at a position above the upper surface of the rotor 6.

In the present example, the notch recess 21 is the hopper 2 described above.
Is a substantially rectangular recess formed by cutting the inner peripheral wall surface S2 of the joint 2B up and down with a depth substantially equal to that of the step K. In this example, the bottom 21A of the notch recess 21 has The rotor receiver 9 is exposed on the same surface. Further, step portions 27A and 27B between the inner peripheral wall surface S2 and the inner wall surface S2 are formed on both sides of the bottom portion 21A. The notch recess 21 sets the upper edge height h1 from the upper surface of the rotor 6 to be larger than the radius of the coin C. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 9, when the standing coin CA standing on the upper surface of the rotor 6 moves along the inner peripheral wall surface S2, the stepped portion 27A on the rear side in the rotational direction of the notch recess 21 impacts the standing coin CA. The balance of the standing coin CA is lost and the coin is turned over. Further, the coin CB which has fallen is abutted against the step portion 27B on the front side and is repelled, travels on the upper surface of the rotor 6 and abuts on another coin in a repellent manner,
Stir the coins. As a result, the chance of entering the coin receiving hole 17 is greatly increased, and even when the remaining amount of coins in the hopper 2 is reduced, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of blank beating and the like. When the remaining coin amount is large, the stepped portions 27A and 27B impart horizontal impact and vibration to the coin to impart appropriate fluidity to correct the coin posture horizontally. It should be noted that such notched recesses 21 may be provided in two places, three places and a plurality of places.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the separator 11 arranged at the inlet 10A has an inlet 10A in this example.
It is composed of a pair of gate pieces 13A and 13B which are erected on both sides of. One of the gate pieces 13A standing upright on the front side in the rotation direction of the rotor 6 is a large-diameter fixed roller, and a part of the arc of the gate piece 13A extends beyond the inner peripheral wall surface S1 into the circular recess 5.
The gate piece 13A is, for example, the mounting bracket 1 on the lower surface of the substrate 3.
4 and penetrates the frame plate 7 and projects upward. Further, the gate piece 13B on the rear side is a small-diameter moving roller which stands upright outward from the circular recess 5 in the radial direction, and is horizontally rotated about a pivot point Q with the lower surface of the substrate 3. By attaching to the metal fitting 15, the front side gate piece 1
The distance from 3A moves so that the distance from the proximity position T1 that is smaller than the diameter of the coin to the separation position T2 that is greater than the diameter of the coin is close to each other. Similarly, the rear side gate piece 13B is inserted through the elongated hole 16 provided in the frame plate 7 and protrudes upward, and the gate piece 13B is provided between the mounting metal fitting 14 and the rotating metal fitting 15 on the near side. The biasing spring piece 18 bridges.

Therefore, the separator 11 grips the coin CO between the gates 13A and 13B at the proximity position T1 and then pushes the gates 13A and 13B outward in the radial direction by the arcuate side edge e1 of the rotor 6. The space between the coins CO is passed by pushing open the space, and then the passing coins CO can be repelled by the restoring force of the spring piece 18 and reliably discharged from the outlet 10B. In addition, by making the rear side gate piece 13B movable, the spring force of the spring piece 18 can be greatly reduced as compared with the case where the front side gate piece 13A can be moved, smoothing the coin flow, Prevent coin jamming at 10 and entrance 10A.

In the present embodiment, the rotating metal fitting 15 is provided with a rotating piece 15A that rotates integrally with the metal fitting 15, while the substrate 3 detects the rotation of the rotating piece 15A. Sensor 2 for detecting passage of coin CO by
2 is attached. The device 1 is provided with a stopper 23 that stops the rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor M with a speed reducer after detecting the required number of coins.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sensor 22 is a non-contact type optical sensor such as a light transmission type in this example.
The rotation of the rotating piece 15A is detected. As the sensor 22, for example, a light reflection type sensor may be used, and these sensors may be installed in the passage 10 to directly detect the coin CO without using the rotating piece 15A.

In this embodiment, the stopper 23 is engaged with a cam 24 fixed to the lower end of the output shaft of the electric motor M with a speed reducer and a locking piece 24A of the cam 24 to engage the output shaft. Locking lever 25 that prevents the rotation of the
5 and a release lever 26 for releasing the engagement with the locking piece 24A and permitting the rotation of the output shaft.

The circular groove 20 on the lower surface of the rotor 6 is an escape groove for avoiding a collision with a posture maintaining body 8 which will be described later, which is provided in the circular concave portion 5, and has a circular ring shape concentric with the rotor 6. The coin receiving hole 17 is connected. In this example, the circular groove 20 intersects with the coin receiving hole 17 at the same position as the position P1 or on the radially inner side of the position P1, thereby maintaining the effect of the guide path 19 outward in the radial direction. At the same time, the coin C is prevented from passing through the circular groove 20.

An annular locus Y1 of the coin receiving hole 17 is formed on the bottom surface 5S of the circular recess 5 so as to face the entrance 10A.
A posture maintaining body 8 extending in the circumferential direction is arranged therein. In other words, the circular locus Y1 is a locus of movement of the coin receiving hole 17 that moves with the rotation of the rotor 6, as shown in FIGS. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the circular locus Y1 of the coin receiving hole 17 is displaced radially inward from the sliding locus Y2 of the lowermost coin CO sliding along the inner peripheral wall surface S1 to maintain the posture. The body 8 is provided inside the sliding locus Y2 in the radial direction and within the annular locus Y1.

The posture maintaining body 8 is formed of, for example, a metal wire which can be elastically deformed. In this example, as shown in FIGS.
A leg piece portion 8B which rises upward from the fixing portion 8A fixed to the lower surface of the frame plate 7 via a screw fitting 32 or the like is provided at the upper end of the leg piece portion 8B. A substantially horizontal body portion 8C that extends to the front side of the rotation in the circumferential direction in Y1 is provided. In this example, the body portion 8C has its entire length interposed in the annular locus Y1, and the height from the bottom surface 5S is substantially equal to the thickness of the coin C, and is preferably set to be slightly smaller than the thickness. In this example, the tip of the body portion 8C is bent downward beyond the bottom surface 5S. A folding-back portion may be additionally provided between the body portion 8C and the bottom surface 5S to prevent the coin C from being inserted by folding the tip of the body portion 8C in a U shape.

The frame plate 7 is provided with a hole 33 through which the tip of the body portion 8C of the posture maintaining body 8 can be depressed below the bottom surface 5S.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the posture maintaining body 8 is arranged such that the body portion 8C faces the inlet 10A and is disposed in the annular locus Y1 so that the body 8C is discharged to the passage 10 at the maximum. In cooperation with the lower coin C0, the coin C1 in the coin receiving hole 17 thereabove is supported substantially horizontally.
As shown in (4), it is possible to prevent the coin C1 from tilting with the counter-rotation side, that is, the rotation rear side, facing downward.

Even after the coin C0 is completely discharged, while the coin C1 on the coin C0 completely passes over the posture maintaining body 8, the posture maintaining body 8 is moved upward as shown in FIG. Since the coin C1 is supported with the rotating rear side facing upward, it is possible to prevent the coin from being caught between the rotor 6 and the bottom surface 5S. Further, when an external force is applied from above, the tip of the body portion 8C can elastically sink downward from the bottom surface 5S, so that the posture maintaining body 8 can be prevented from being deformed and damaged, and the bottom coin C0 can be smoothed. Enables smooth sliding.

[0039]

As described above, in the coin payout device of the present invention, since the upper surface of the rotor is a flat surface and the coin aligning tool is provided in the hopper, the coin can be smoothly introduced into the receiving hole and the coin Prevents coins from remaining in the device and pays coins accurately and efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view thereof.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a rotor and a stopper.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view illustrating the bottom surface of the rotor.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a flow of paying out coins.

FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining the action of the posture maintaining body.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I of FIG. 6 for explaining the action of the posture maintaining body.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a further operation of the posture maintaining body.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view for explaining the action of the cutout recess.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view illustrating a conventional technique.

FIG. 11 is a plan view illustrating a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Hopper 3 Substrate 4 Coin Alignment Tool 5 Circular Recess 5S Bottom 6 Rotor 10 Passage 10A Inlet 10B Outlet 17 Coin Receiving Hole C, CO Coin S, S1, S2 Inner Wall

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate having a circular recess formed in the bottom of a hopper into which coins are inserted and having an upper surface formed thereon, and a disc-shaped rotor rotating in the circular recess, wherein the rotor is provided with the coin. And a coin receiving hole that allows the bottom coin to slide on the bottom surface of the circular recess by penetrating vertically and is arranged in parallel in the circumferential direction, and an inlet provided on the inner peripheral wall surface of the circular recess in the substrate. A coin payout device provided with a passage through which the bottommost coin can pass from the outer periphery of the substrate to the exit, and the upper surface of the rotor is made substantially flat without any protrusion, and at least the hopper has at least this hopper. At a position lower than the height separating the diameter of the coin from the upper surface of the rotor and parallel to the rotor, on the annular locus of the coin receiving hole that is supported at one end and moves with the rotation of the rotor. Coin payout apparatus characterized in that a coin aligner consisting of building linear elastic material.