JPH09225120A - Grinding tower game machine management unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve carrying efficiency and to prevent the reduction of frictional resistance with pachinko balls by forming a ball carrying part by a carrying belt and a carrying guide plate, connecting a ball grinding part at the lower part and fitting a driving part for turning the carrying belt upwards and a belt cleaning part. SOLUTION: In this grinding tower 20 diposed inside a pachinko island, the ball carrying part 30 is erected upwards from the upper part of a base 21 and out balls sent to a ball sending port 20A are carried upwards and supplied from a ball exit 20B to an upper tank. The ball carrying part 30 is composed by forming a ball carrying space by an endless carrying belt spread between a lower pulley 33 and an upper pulley 34 and the carrying guide plate 32. A cushion material such as a sponge or the like is interposed between the carrying guide plate 32 and an exterior plate. The carrying belt is turned upwards by a carrying belt driving part 40 and the stains of the belt are cleaned by a carrying belt cleaning part 60. The belt cleaning part 60 is formed by a cleaning roller rotated in a direction opposite to the carrying belt.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a polishing tower provided in a gaming machine management unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a polishing tower 100, as shown in the side view of FIG. 11, a conveying space is formed on a base 101 by a conveying guide plate 102 and a conveying belt 103, and the conveying belt 103 is moved in the direction of arrow A → B. Ball feed port 1 by rotating to
The pachinko balls (out balls) sent from 04 to the transfer space are sent upward (vertically) using the frictional force generated between the pachinko balls and the transfer belt 103, and are supplied to the upper tank (not shown) from the ball outlet 105. A lid plate 106 is provided on the front surface for maintenance management of the inside of the transfer space.

The rotation driving mechanism of the conveyor belt 103 is
The motor 107 includes a pulley, a driven pulley, and a V-belt 108 stretched between the pulleys. The rotation of the motor 107 is transmitted to the driven pulley via the V-belt 108, and the rotation of the driven pulley causes the conveyor belt 103 to move in the direction indicated by the arrow. A → B
It is rotating to.

[0004]

In the construction of such a polishing tower, the pachinko balls from the ball feeding port are sandwiched between the conveyor belt and the conveyor guide plate, and due to the so-called frictional force generated between the conveyor belt and the pachinko balls. Since it is transported upward (vertically),
The alignment state is disturbed and the transfer becomes meandering, which lowers the transfer efficiency.

Moreover, the pachinko balls sent from the ball feeding port are those carried into the pachinko island from each pachinko machine, or those put in by a customer from a ball counter (out balls). The dirt adhering to the surface adheres to the conveyor belt during the transportation in the polishing tower and reduces the frictional resistance with the pachinko balls, which also causes a reduction in the transportation efficiency.

Further, due to the temperature difference between the game hall and the pachinko island, dew condensation water adheres to the surface of the pachinko ball, which is not a height that adversely affects the transportation path on the island and causes rusting of the pachinko ball.

[0007]

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the polishing tower as described above, and is provided in a gaming machine management unit body, and pachinko balls are provided via a conveyor belt. In a polishing tower that conveys and polishes upwards,
The polishing tower has a ball transporting section in which a ball transporting space is formed by the transporting belt and a transporting guide plate, and a transporting guide plate below the ball transporting section, and a lid body that is openably and closably attached to the opening. A polishing tower in a gaming machine management unit body, comprising: a ball polishing unit, a transport belt driving unit that rotates the transport belt upward, and a transport belt cleaning unit that cleans a transport surface. Is.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway explanatory view of a so-called pachinko island 1, a gaming machine management unit incorporating a polishing tower of the present invention. In this pachinko island 1, when a plurality of gaming machines, that is, pachinko machines 10 are arranged side by side to form a gaming machine row, two rows of gaming machines are arranged back to back, and a polishing tower according to the present invention is arranged substantially in the center thereof. Further, a ball counter 18 is arranged at the end of the island.

A plurality of ball storage tanks, that is, an upper tank 11, a J tank 12, and a F tank are provided in the pachinko island 1 having such a structure.
A tank 13 and an R tank 14 are arranged, and each tank 11-
14 and each pachinko machine 10 are connected via a replenishment tow 15, an island rail 16, an outrail 17, and a polishing tower 20 described later, so that pachinko balls can be circulated and replenished.

In the replenishment of pachinko balls in the pachinko island 1 having the above structure, the amount of balls held in the ball storage tank per island is generally determined. First, the ball circulation supply system on the island will be described. When a player (customer) inserts a pachinko ball into the ball counter 18, the ball flows into the J tank 12.

At this time, the upper tank 11, the F tank 13,
If the R tank 14 is not full, the balls are flown to the outrail 17 via a ball lifter (not shown). Also, the balls that have been driven into the pachinko machine 10 together with these balls become so-called out balls and are conveyed upward through the polishing tower 20 to the upper tank 1.
1 is supplied.

The balls supplied to the upper tank 11 are supplied to the respective pachinko machines 10 via the supply tows 15. When a predetermined amount or more of balls are stored in the upper tank 11, the balls overflow and flow into the lower middle tank. Balls are stored in this order from the middle tank to the R tank 14 and the F tank 13. Thus, when the F and R tanks are full, the lifter of the J tank 12 is stopped and balls are stored in the J tank 12.

A polishing tower 2 provided in the pachinko island 1
0 is as shown in the side view (a) and the front view (b) of FIG.
The ball conveying unit 30 is formed from above the base 21 to the upper side. As described above, the out-balls are sent to the ball feeding port 20A and are conveyed upward (vertically) in the ball conveying unit 30 so that the ball outlet 20.
It reaches B and is supplied into the upper tank.

The ball transfer unit 30 is provided with a belt lower pulley 33 and a belt upper pulley 34 provided above and below the tower.
The ball transport space 35 formed by the transport guide plate 32 provided on the 6 side is the main configuration. And this transport guide plate 32
The cushioning member 37 made of sponge or the like is provided between the back side of the device, that is, the cushioning member 37 and the exterior plate 36, so that the cushioning function of the conveyed pachinko balls 70 is secured.

A conveyor belt drive unit 40 is provided as a mechanism for rotating the conveyor belt 31 upward. The conveyor belt drive unit 40 stretches a V belt 43 between a drive pulley 41 and a driven pulley 42 coaxially supported by the belt lower pulley 33 and rotates the motor 44 by rotating the drive pulley 41, the V belt 43, It is configured to be transmitted to the belt lower pulley 33 via the driven pulley 42.

As shown in FIG. 3, the conveyor belt 31 has a reinforcing thin steel wire 31a embedded therein, and a meandering prevention groove 31b on the back surface opposite to the conveyor surface 31c.
Are engraved in the longitudinal direction, and the groove 31b prevents the conveyor belt 31 from meandering between the belt lower pulley 33 and the belt upper pulley 34.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, which is an enlarged view of the main part thereof, a plurality of vertical grooves 31d are formed in the conveying surface 31c at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. This vertical groove 31d
The plurality of pachinko balls 70 sent from the ball feeding port 20A are controlled to move in the lateral direction on the conveying surface 31c of the conveying belt 31, that is, conveyed in an aligned state according to the vertical groove 31d, As a result, the meandering conveyance of the pachinko balls 70 themselves in the ball conveyance space 35 is eliminated, and the frictional force between the conveyance belt 31 and the pachinko balls 70 at the time of conveyance is increased, so that the conveyance efficiency can be improved.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which a plurality of vertical grooves 31d are provided in a space 1 equal to the diameter of the pachinko ball 70, and in FIG. 6 and FIG. An example is shown in which vertical grooves 31d are provided at intervals l substantially equal to the diameter of 70. A ball polishing unit 50 is formed below the ball transport unit 30 as shown in FIG.

The ball polishing section 50 is formed by a cover plate 51 that closes the opening by cutting out a part of the transfer guide plate 32 that forms the ball transfer space 35. The lid plate 51 is provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the opening by a mat 52 and a lock 53, which facilitates maintenance and inspection of the ball transport space 35.

As shown in FIG. 8, a polishing member 55 is attached to the inner surface side of the lid 51 via a magic tape 54. FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the polishing member 55, which has a laminated structure of a polishing cloth 55a and a rubber material 55b lining it as shown in the figure.

As the polishing cloth 55a, approximately 50% of electrostatic yarn is used.
It consists of a brush of absorbent polyester woven to some extent. In addition, the cut-and-loop weave and the backing effect of the rubber material 55b prevent the brush from falling off and improve the durability.

Since the polishing member 55 having the above-described structure is exposed to the ball transport space 35 side, the entire surface of the pachinko ball 70 transported is pressed against the polishing cloth 55a, and as a result, dirt on the ball surface is removed. Also, if there is condensed water, it will be absorbed by the absorptivity of the polishing cloth 55a, and the static electricity charged on the ball itself will also be removed.

In addition, by attaching a band plate heater 56 to the back surface of the polishing member 55, it is possible to accelerate the drying of the polishing cloth 55a itself which has absorbed the condensed water. Since the polishing member 55 is attached to the lid body 51 with the magic tape 54 as shown in FIG. 8, the attachment / detachment is facilitated, and the maintenance / inspection and replacement work of the polishing member 55 are facilitated.

In the polishing tower 20 described above, in addition to the above structure, the conveyor belt cleaning section 60 shown in FIG. 2 is formed. In the structure of the cleaning unit 60, as shown in FIG. 10, a cleaning roller 63 is rotatably supported on a rotating shaft 62 mounted via a bracket 61. And the cleaning roller 6
3 itself is synchronized with the rotation of the motor 44 and the conveyor belt 31
It rotates in the opposite direction to.

On the surface of the cleaning roller 63, for example, polyester yarn is planted to form a brush shape, and the brush of the polyester yarn is brought into pressure contact with the conveying surface 31c of the conveying belt 31, and the conveying belt 31 is rotated as described above. Since the cleaning roller 63 is rotated in the opposite direction, the wear of the cleaning roller 63 is small, and the dirt on the conveying surface 31c is efficiently removed. Therefore, it is possible to maintain a clean transfer surface 31c for a long period in the polishing and transfer operation of the pachinko balls 70.

[0026]

According to the polishing tower of the present invention, the circulation belt allows the pachinko balls to be circulated and supplied smoothly and efficiently, and the polishing member constituting the ball polishing section has high durability.
The condensed water and static electricity of the pachinko balls are absorbed by this, and the heating of the heater also eliminates the wetting of the polishing member by the condensed water.

In addition, since the transport surface of the transport belt is always kept clean by the transport belt cleaning member, the transport operation for a long period can be sufficiently performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway explanatory view of a pachinko island.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a polishing tower.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a conveyor belt.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of another conveyor belt.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a lid having a ball polishing section.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a polishing member.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a conveyor belt cleaning unit.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a conventional polishing tower.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pachinko Island 10 Pachinko Stand 20 Polishing Tower 30 Ball Conveying Section 31 Conveying Belt 31d Vertical Groove 32 Conveying Guide Plate 35 Ball Conveying Space 40 Conveying Belt Driving Section 50 Ball Polishing Section 51 Cover Plate 55 Polishing Member 56 Heater 60 Conveying Belt Cleaning Section 63 Cleaning roller

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A polishing tower provided inside a gaming machine management unit for carrying and polishing pachinko balls upward via a carrying belt, wherein the grinding tower forms a ball carrying space by the carrying belt and a carrying guide plate. A ball transport unit, a ball polishing unit including a lid body that opens a transport guide plate below the ball transport unit and is openably and closably attached to the opening, and a transport belt drive that rotates the transport belt upward. A polishing tower in the gaming machine management unit body, comprising: a cleaning belt and a cleaning belt for cleaning the transportation surface by bringing a cleaning roller into contact with the transportation surface of the transportation belt. 2. The polishing tower according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor belt forming the ball conveyor has a plurality of vertical grooves formed in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor surface. Polishing tower. 3. The polishing tower according to claim 1, wherein a polishing member having a water absorbing property is detachably attached to an inner surface side of the lid plate forming the ball polishing portion. Polishing tower in the management unit. 4. The polishing tower according to claim 3, wherein a heater is provided on a back surface of the polishing member, the polishing tower in the gaming machine management unit body. 5. The polishing tower according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning roller of the conveyor belt cleaning unit rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the conveyor belt.