JP3375485B2 - Prize ball discharge device for pachinko machines - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a prize ball discharging device for a pachinko machine, which discharges, when a prize ball is generated in a pachinko machine, an arbitrary number of prize balls predetermined according to the type of the prize ball. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a prize ball ejecting device for ejecting prize balls according to winning a prize is configured such that a front and rear of a prize ball case for storing a certain number of prize balls is alternately opened and closed by a blocking plate, or the prize ball case itself. The mainstream is that which ejects a predetermined number of prize balls by swinging the. In such a prize ball discharging device, it takes a long time to supply and discharge the prize balls to the prize ball case, or the number of discharged prize balls is regulated by the number of the prize ball cases accommodated. Therefore, in order to improve this, a prize ball discharging device for counting and discharging prize balls one by one has been proposed. For example, JP-A-61-76181 (hereinafter referred to as the first prior art) and JP-A-63-164977.
(Hereinafter referred to as "second prior art").

In the above-mentioned first prior art, a rotatable gear-shaped rotor is projected in the vertical prize ball discharge passage, and the falling prize balls are bite into the tooth bottom one by one so that the rotor is the prize ball. The rotation of the weight controls the discharge of the prize ball by engaging the tooth tips with the anchor member. In the second prior art, the rotor is forcibly driven by the motor via the worm gear to ensure stable operation. We are trying to improve the discharge speed of prize balls.

[0004]

However, according to the above-mentioned first prior art, since the ball pressure of the prize balls arranged in the prize ball discharge passage is always applied to the tooth tips and the engaging portions of the anchor members, it is not possible to start the rotor. There has been a problem that sudden stress and shock occur at the time of stoppage, and the life of parts and stability of operation are significantly impaired. On the other hand, in the second prior art, although some progress has been made in improving the stability of the operation and the discharge speed of the prize balls, similar to the first prior art, the sudden stress and impact generated at the time of starting and stopping the rotor are prevented. This is unavoidable, and there is a problem in that a large load is generated in the worm gear portion, which adversely affects the life of the parts, and a large driving force is required for the motor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is not only to set the number of discharged prize balls and discharge speed freely but also to improve the life and operation of parts. It is to provide a prize ball discharging device for a pachinko machine with high stability.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a prize ball discharging device is installed parallel to the prize ball discharging passage so that its teeth face the inside of the prize ball discharging passage. A spiral gear and a motor for driving the spiral gear, and the prize ball that has entered the bottom of the spiral gear when the motor is driven is moved toward the downstream side of the prize ball discharge passage. It is characterized by. By disposing a plurality of passages on the outer periphery of the spiral gear at equal intervals and dividingly controlling the rotation angle of the spiral gear, the discharge capacity can be further improved. Also,
By arranging the spiral gear at the end of the horizontal part of the prize ball discharge passage bent almost at a right angle, the life of the parts can be extended and the prize ball can be discharged smoothly.

[0007]

The operation of the prize ball discharging device constructed as described above will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the prize ball discharging device 1 rotates a spiral gear 2 and a spiral gear 2 which are arranged in parallel so as to face the prize ball discharging passage 5 through an opening 4 formed in the prize ball discharging passage 5. And a stepping motor 7 to be driven. Then, the prize balls P1 flowing down in a row in the prize ball discharge passage 5 enter the bottoms of the teeth as the spiral gear 2 rotates. In this state, the ball pressure of the prize balls P1 lined up in the prize ball discharge passage 5 is dispersed from each prize ball P1 contacting the tooth tip of the spiral gear 2 and transmitted to the spiral gear 2, and the spiral gear 2 is always used as the Stratus surface pressure. Acting on the bearing 3. Since this Strass surface pressure always acts continuously during the rotation of the spiral gear 2, sudden stress and shock are not generated at the time of starting and stopping the rotation of the spiral gear 2, and the life of the parts is prolonged. It greatly contributes to the improvement of operation stability. Moreover, abnormal wear does not occur at a specific part of the component. Furthermore, since an excessive load is not required for starting and stopping the rotation of the spiral gear 2, the motor can be used for a long period of time.

The spiral gear 2 is driven by a stepping motor 7 via a spur gear 6. The stepping motor 7 is rotationally driven by the output from the control circuit which receives the winning signal based on the winning generated during the game. When the spiral gear 2 rotates by one pitch, the prize ball P1 advances by one and is discharged to the downstream side of the prize ball discharge passage 5 as a prize ball P2. The control circuit counts the number of rotations of the stepping motor 7 by the detector 8 in order to discharge an arbitrary number of prize balls predetermined according to the type of winning as a prize, and the control circuit outputs to the stepping motor 7. Continue output.

In addition, in the prize ball discharging device 1 including the spiral gear 2 and the stepping motor 7, a plurality of prize ball discharging passages 5 are arranged on the outer periphery of one spiral gear 2 so that the discharge capacity thereof is significantly improved. Can be improved. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, two rows of passages 5 are provided around one spiral gear 2 at symmetrical positions with respect to an axis.
In the case where the prize ball discharge passages 5 having a and 5b are arranged in parallel, the prize balls P3 and P4 that flow down the two rows of prize ball discharge passages 5a and 5b, respectively, in a row, are sequentially arranged as the spiral gear 2 rotates. Invades the bottom of the tooth. When the spiral gear 2 is rotated by the stepping motor (not shown) by the output of the control circuit in the same manner as described above, the prize balls P3 and P4 are provided on the downstream side every time the spiral gear 2 rotates by 1/2 pitch. The prize balls P5 are alternately discharged as prize balls P5 into the one award ball discharge passage 5c. That is, in this case, if the rotation speed of the spiral gear 2 is the same as in the case of FIG. 1, the discharging capacity is doubled. Similarly, when the prize ball discharge passage is divided into three or more N passages and the N passages are arranged in parallel so as to surround one spiral gear, the discharge capacity becomes N times. .

As described above, since the prize ball discharging device 1 according to the present invention does not depend on the weight of the prize ball for discharging the prize ball, the discharging speed can be set arbitrarily.
Even if the prize ball discharging device is installed in the horizontal direction of the prize ball discharging passage, there is no problem in terms of function. Rather, the prize ball discharge passage is composed of an upstream discharge passage portion that is inclined in a substantially horizontal direction and a downstream discharge passage portion that is connected in a direction substantially orthogonal to the end portion of the upstream discharge passage portion. By arranging the ball at the end of the upstream discharge passage, the ball pressure received on the tooth tip can be weakened, so that the load on each component constituting the prize ball discharging device can be reduced and the discharge can be performed by the spiral gear. The finished prize ball can be smoothly and quickly dropped by the vertical downstream prize ball discharge passage.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments in which the superiority of the present invention is fully utilized will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 3
FIG. 4 is a rear view of a pachinko machine to which the prize ball discharging device 1 according to the embodiment is applied, and FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a detailed structure of the prize ball discharging device 1 according to the embodiment. In the figure, a rectangular mechanical plate 18 is arranged on the back surface of the pachinko machine 10. The mechanism plate 18 is provided with various mechanisms for processing winning balls generated in the game and paying out a predetermined number of winning balls based on the winning balls.

A prize ball tank 11 for storing a large amount of prize balls is provided above the mechanism plate 18, and the prize balls flowing out from the prize ball tank 11 are aligned below the prize ball tank 11. An upstream prize ball discharge passage 12 (hereinafter referred to as an upstream discharge passage 12) to be made to flow down is provided so as to be inclined in a substantially horizontal direction. In the upstream discharge passage 12, prize balls are arranged in two rows and flow down, as described later. Further, a downstream prize ball discharge passage 13 (hereinafter, referred to as a downstream discharge passage 13) provided in a vertical direction is connected to a terminal end portion of the upstream discharge passage 12 and the upstream discharge passage 12 is provided.
The prize ball discharging device 1 according to the embodiment is installed at the end of the.

The downstream discharge passage 13 is, as shown in FIG.
Extending downward along one side (right side) of the mechanism plate 18,
The lower part is bent again toward the center. An upper plate communication port 14 communicating with an upper plate (not shown) provided on the front surface of the pachinko machine 1 is formed in the lower upstream portion of the downstream discharge passage 13, and the front surface of the pachinko machine 1 is formed at the lower end of the downstream discharge passage 13. Is formed with a lower plate communication port 15 that communicates with a lower plate (not shown) provided in the. Therefore, the prize balls discharged by the prize ball discharging device 1 are
3 flow down, first preferentially guided to the upper plate communication port 14 and discharged to the upper plate, and then, when the upper plate communication port 14 is filled with the prize balls, the overflowing prize balls are lowered. It is guided to the plate communication port 15 and discharged from the lower plate. In addition, in the downstream discharge passage 13 on the upstream side of the upper plate communication port 14, the ball drop passage 1
7 is connected, and by switching the switching lever 16 when a ball drop operation is performed, the prize ball flowing down the downstream discharge passage 13 is guided to the ball drop passage 17.

The prize ball discharging device 1 according to the embodiment as described above.
In the pachinko machine 10 to which is applied, since the mechanism for ejecting the prize balls can be compactly arranged at the upper part, the right side, and the center of the lower part of the mechanism plate 18,
The effective use range on the back surface of the game board can be set to an extremely large use range A1 as compared with the conventional use range A2.
In the game board used in recent pachinko machines, in order to boost the interest of the game, many of the prize winning devices project rearward as the size and complexity of the prize winning device increase. Therefore, the effective use range on the back of the game board is increased. It is desirable that the size is as large as possible, and the degree of freedom in designing the game board is increased accordingly.
Therefore, the increase in the effective use range of the back surface of the game board obtained by this embodiment increases the degree of freedom in the design of the game board, which in turn brings an immeasurable advantage in improving the playability of the pachinko machine. You can

By the way, as shown in FIG. 4, the prize ball discharging device 1 installed at the terminal end of the upstream discharge passage 12 is
The spiral gear 2 is arranged at the center of the end portion of the upstream discharge passage 12 having the rows of passages 12a and 12b, and the stepping motor 7 for rotationally driving the spiral gear 2 is mounted on the extension line of the upstream discharge passage 12. ing. Then, the prize balls flowing down the passages 12a and 12b enter the bottom of the tooth by the rotation of the spiral gear 2 based on the output from the control circuit and move to the downstream side. Then, while being counted by the control circuit, it is pushed out to the drop opening 19 which is a connecting portion of the upstream discharge passage 12 and the downstream discharge passage 13, and the prize balls are alternately discharged to the downstream discharge passage 13 from the respective passages 12a and 12b.

In the present embodiment, the prize ball discharging device 1 is formed of two rows of upstream discharge passages 1 formed by being inclined substantially horizontally.
Since it is installed at the end of 2, the ball pressure of the prize ball applied to the bearing 3 via the spiral gear 2 is significantly reduced as compared with the vertical installation, so that the spiral gear 2 does not require a large driving force. In other words, in the present embodiment, the stepping motor 7 directly connected to the spiral gear 2 may be a small one, and this also allows the spiral gear 2 to be sufficiently drive-controlled. In addition to the above effects, in the present embodiment, the prize balls that have been discharged by the spiral gear 2 can be smoothly and quickly dropped into the vertical downstream prize ball discharge passage 13.

[0017]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the spiral gears are arranged in parallel so that the tips of the spiral gears face in the prize ball discharge passages in which the prize balls flow down in a row. It is possible to freely set the number of discharged prize balls and discharge speed according to the type of prize, and to avoid the influence of the ball pressure of prize balls arranged in the prize ball discharge passage. The life and stability of operation can be improved. Further, by disposing a plurality of passages on the outer circumference of the spiral gear at equal intervals and dividingly controlling the rotation angle of the spiral gear, the discharge capacity can be further improved. Further, by disposing the spiral gear at the end of the horizontal portion of the prize ball discharge passage bent at a substantially right angle, it is possible to prolong the life of the parts and smoothly discharge the prize ball.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a prize ball discharging device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing another configuration of the prize ball discharging device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of a pachinko machine to which the prize ball discharging device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the prize ball discharging device applied to FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 prize ball discharge device 2 spiral gears 3 bearings 5 prize ball discharge passage 7 Stepping motor 10 Pachinko machines 11 prize ball tank 12 Upstream discharge passage (upstream discharge passage) 13 Downstream discharge passage (downstream discharge passage) 18 Mechanical plate 19 Drop mouth

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A63F 7/02

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. The prize balls flowing out of the prize ball tank are arranged in a line.
Prize balls placed in line to flow down
In the discharge device , the tooth of the prize ball discharge device faces the prize ball discharge passage.
Spiral teeth installed parallel to the prize ball discharge passage
It consists of a car and a motor that drives the spiral gear, and penetrates into the root of the spiral gear when the motor is driven.
The prize balls are moved toward the downstream side of the prize ball discharge passage.
Ball discharge for pachinko machines characterized by
apparatus. 2. The prize balls are arranged in a line in the prize ball discharge passage.
And has a plurality of passages that flow down,
The plurality of passages centered on the spiral gear
The device according to claim 1, characterized in that they are arranged at an equal angle on the outer circumference.
Prize ball discharging device for the pachinko machine. 3. The prize ball discharge passage is inclined in a substantially horizontal direction.
The upstream exhaust passage portion and the end portion of the upstream exhaust passage portion
Such as a downstream discharge passage that is connected in a direction substantially orthogonal to
And the spiral gear of the upstream discharge passage portion.
It arrange | positioned at the terminal part, Claim 1 or Claim characterized by the above-mentioned.
The prize ball discharging device of the pachinko machine described in 2.