JP4380191B2 - Ball passage restriction device and pachinko ball hopper - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pachinko ball hopper that pays out winning balls of a pachinko gaming machine or pays out balls of a ball rental apparatus, and more particularly, a pachinko ball that smoothly collapses a plurality of balls in a stacked state at a short distance. It relates to a ball hopper.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Hereinafter, a pachinko gaming machine will be described as an example.
In general, pachinko gaming machines as disclosed in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 use pachinko balls (hereinafter referred to as balls) as game media from the back side of the pachinko machine to the front side of the pachinko machine. Supplying balls. When supplying these balls, a storage tank (prize ball tank) for storing a large number of balls is installed at the upper back of the pachinko machine, and the storage tank is supplied with balls from a supply mechanism (not shown) above for storage. In this way, the balls that have been stored are dispensed downward. At the time of paying out the balls, the ball is arranged from the storage tank through a ball aligning device and led to a lower ball paying device (winning ball processing device). Dispensing to the upper or lower plate located at the lower front.
[0003]
In this way, the balls supplied from the upstream storage tank are guided to the downstream ball dispensing device via the ball aligning device, but the passage (樋) between them smoothly moves downstream without clogging the balls. It has a relatively gentle slope to move.
[0004]
In addition, the ball aligning device aligns the irregularly stored piles of balls in one or two rows and supplies them to the ball dispensing device, and therefore requires a long distance for the alignment passages. For this reason, when the storage tank, the ball aligning device, and the ball dispensing device are provided on the back side of the pachinko machine, a series of passages from the storage tank to the ball dispensing device becomes a folded passage such as an S shape or an L shape. End up.
[0005]
For this reason, each of the storage tank, the ball aligning device and the ball dispensing device must be arranged so as to be stacked in the height direction, and therefore the height dimension becomes large, and a lot of space on the back side of the game table. Had occupied.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-5-208064 [Patent Document 2]
JP-A-6-233865 [Patent Document 3]
JP-A-8-71212.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the technologies disclosed in the above three patent documents, in the processing order from the storage tank to the ball dispensing device, the balls flowing through the passage are aligned one by one in front of the downstream ball dispensing device, limiting the overlap of the balls. It is necessary to pass through.
[0008]
However, when the ball moves from the stacked state in which a large number of balls are piled up in the storage tank to the lower downstream side as it is, the ball pressure at the part that breaks this piled up ball increases, At the part where the balls overlap, the balls are crowded and easily clogged.
[0009]
Thus, raising the balls that flow down in a stacked state to one height at a short distance has many obstacles to solve the problem, and at present there is a limit to shortening the passage from the storage tank to the ball dispensing device. It was happening.
[0010]
Therefore, the present invention enables the balls to flow smoothly one by one at the short distance even when the passage length is shortened when the passage length from the storage tank to the ball dispensing device is shortened and the size is reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide a pachinko ball hopper with high crushing performance.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is a ball passage restriction device that breaks the overlap of balls that have flowed down in a laminated state on an inclined passage and restricts the broken balls to a passage height of one ball, and passes the inclined passage. An upper cantilever support shaft orthogonal to the passage direction is provided above, a tilting lever that allows the cantilever support shaft to rotate in the passage direction about the tilting fulcrum, and an end portion of the tilt lever and the stacked state A ball breaker roller that is in contact with the ball of the upper layer that has flowed down in the ball, and has a spherical surface that is substantially the same as the spherical surface of the ball. And a rotational drive means for rotationally driving .
[0012]
According to this invention, the roller outer peripheral surface of the crushing roller is in contact with the upper layer portion of the ball that has flowed down in the laminated state, and at this time, the ball is orthogonal to the moving direction of the ball that flows down substantially linearly along the inclined path. Since the roller rotates in the direction, the movement of the balls flowing down in the laminated state is dispersed and the ball breaking is effectively promoted, and a stable breaking force is obtained by the rotation of the roller. For this reason, the balls in the upper layer part are sequentially broken against the roller outer peripheral surface.
[0013]
In particular, since the outer peripheral surface of the ball crushing roller has substantially the same circular arc surface so as to correspond to the spherical surface of the ball, when the roller comes into contact with the ball, the circular arc surface of the roller makes surface contact instead of point contact. Therefore, the contact area with the spherical surface is increased, and the slip between the crushing roller and the ball is reduced. For this reason, it becomes easy to transmit the breaking force with respect to each ball. Furthermore, the crushing roller can be transmitted to the ball from the roller side by connecting the crushing roller to a rotation driving mechanism and rotating the crushing roller at a constant speed.
[0014]
The arc surface of the crushing roller may be provided in an annular shape in the circumferential direction of the outer peripheral surface, or a plurality of arc surfaces may be equally divided in the circumferential direction.
[0015]
In the inclined passage, the flow speed of the ball is determined by the inclination angle. For this reason, in order to adjust the flow speed of the ball, it is also possible to adjust the inclination angle slightly different in the middle of the passage. For example, on the upstream side where the balls flow down in a stacked state, the inclination angle is made slightly smaller to gently flow down to suppress clogging, and the inclination angle is made slightly larger on the downstream side where the one-by-one quick dispensing process is performed. It can be set to flow quickly.
[0016]
As another embodiment of the present invention, when the crushing roller is subjected to excessive ball pressure from the upstream side and the tilting lever is retracted, the tilting lever is restricted from rotating, and the crushing roller reduces the ball pressure. The tilting lever is provided with elastic corresponding means that elastically supports against the retreating direction in which the tilting lever is retracted .
[0017]
In this case, since the crushing roller moves elastically, the roller outer peripheral surface can be brought into contact with the ball according to the ball pressure at that time. As a result, it is possible to perform crushing that avoids blocking the movement of the ball that causes clogging.
[0018]
Further, the elastic support means is configured to be elastically displaced when it retreats greatly due to excessive ball pressure. When the elastic support means exceeds a certain region, the elastic force of the elastic support means is applied.
[0019]
As another form of this invention, the upstream of the said crushing roller is provided with the receiving means which receives the ball | bowl of the upper layer part which flowed down in the said lamination | stacking state, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
[0020]
In this case, by using the receiving means and the crushing roller together, the flow of the upper layer part of the balls in the stacked state on the upstream side can be blocked by the receiving means, so that only the balls of the lower layer can flow down. After that, the number of balls to the downstream side can be reduced and supplied. Thereby, since the ball pressure to the downstream side can be reduced, the crushing with the crushing roller can be facilitated.
[0021]
As another form of the present invention, on the downstream side of the crushing roller, an anti-overlap cover that restricts the overlap of balls between the bottom surface of the inclined passage and the upper facing surface thereof is provided above the inclined passage. It is characterized by.
[0022]
In this case, by using both the crushing roller and the anti-overlapping cover, the ball that has passed through the crushing roller will move upward as the apex of the ball raised by the anti-overlapping cover is guided even if it rises from the bottom of the passage. Be regulated. For this reason, the balls do not float up and can be made to flow down while being aligned.
[0023]
In another invention, a storage tank that stores a large number of balls on the upstream side of the pachinko machine, and an alignment unit that guides and aligns the balls stored in the storage tank to the downstream side while rolling on the inclined passage by its own weight. A pachinko ball hopper that dispenses a predetermined number of balls arranged in the alignment unit, the ball passing device provided in the front stage of the ball dispensing device. It is characterized by.
[0024]
Here, the storage tank has a concave shape that allows storage of a large number of balls used in pachinko machines, and supplies balls downward little by little using the weight of the balls. It is.
[0025]
The alignment unit is connected to the downstream side of the storage tank, and the balls supplied from the storage tank are aligned in one or a plurality of rows so that the balls are aligned and flowed down so that the balls can be stably supplied to the downstream ball dispensing device. Is.
[0026]
The ball dispensing device is connected to the downstream side of the aligning unit, and dispenses balls guided in alignment therewith to the downstream receiving tray by the number designated by the rotation of the sprocket.
[0027]
In this case, it is possible to construct a pachinko ball hopper with a good ball flow that incorporates a ball passage restriction device with excellent clogging avoidance performance. Further, the direction of the passage can be shortened by the arrangement of the ball passage restriction device, and as a result, the pachinko ball hopper can be miniaturized.
[0028]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[0029]
FIG. 1 shows a pachinko ball hopper 11 mounted on the upper back side of a pachinko machine 11A of a pachinko machine. As shown in FIG. 2, the pachinko ball hopper 11 is formed by integrating an upstream storage tank 12 and a downstream ball dispensing device 13, which are arranged on the base end side of a large storage tank 12 installed horizontally. The small ball dispenser 13 is connected to the single unit.
[0030]
As shown in FIG. 3, the above-described storage tank 12 has a tapered concave shape whose upper surface is opened, and balls are replenished from a replenishment mechanism (not shown) above the upper surface opening portion. The ball is allowed to be stored. The balls stored in the storage tank 12 are configured to roll by their own weight and to be guided from the upstream side to the ball dispensing device 13 on the downstream side.
[0031]
In this case, an alignment passage 14 is formed in the front stage of the ball dispensing device 13 in order to smoothly pass the balls from the upstream side to the downstream side. As shown in FIG. 4, the alignment passage 14 is formed integrally with the storage tank 12, and is provided with a long and narrow alignment passage 14 protruding from the tip of the storage tank 12.
[0032]
By the way, from the tank bottom surface in the upstream storage tank 12 to the bottom surface from which the balls of the ball dispensing device 13 on the downstream side are dispensed, there is provided a long identical inclined passage L that is gently inclined in the same inclination direction and goes straight.
[0033]
The same inclined passage L is connected by setting the bottom surface of each passage for rolling and passing the balls in the order of the storage tank 12, the alignment passage 14, and the ball dispensing device 13 to a gentle inclination angle in the same inclination direction. It is a passage. For this reason, the ball rolls gently from the upstream side to the downstream side by its own weight. Further, in this case, since the passages go straight in the same inclination direction, there is no drop or direction change at the time of ball flow, and the flow goes down by a smooth straight movement suitable for ball flow.
[0034]
In this case, if the inclination angle is small, since the inclination is loose, the rolling speed of the ball becomes slow, and the supply of the ball to the downstream side tends to be delayed. On the other hand, if the inclination angle is large, the inclination becomes steep and the load caused by the gravity of the balls flowing down tends to become excessive. For example, the inclination angle is set to a gentle inclination angle of about 5 to 8 degrees. It is suitable to move. For this reason, the balls that roll here flow stably with less speed difference.
[0035]
In particular, since the same inclined passage L is a passage that goes straight diagonally downward, it extends longer in the horizontal direction than in the vertical (height) direction. For this reason, the occupied area of a height direction is few, and it becomes a channel | path which shortened the length of the height direction.
[0036]
As for the three elements that are arranged in the order of the storage tank 12, the alignment passage 14, and the ball dispensing device 13, the horizontal of an integrated object that is held in the horizontal direction in an integrated manner in the passage direction. A payout unit 16 is provided.
[0037]
The holding plate 15 of the horizontal paying unit 16 has a horizontally long and flat plate shape shorter than the width of the pachinko machine 11A. The storage tank 12 and the ball paying device 13 are provided with an alignment passage 14 on one side of the holding plate 15. Are attached to the upper part on the back side of the pachinko machine, and both sides of the holding plate 15 are effectively used as attachment surfaces. Further, in this case, since the attachment is made through one holding plate 15, the number of parts is reduced, and the attachment is simplified. Furthermore, as seen from the back side of the pachinko machine 11A, the storage tank 12 and part of the ball dispensing device 13 are exposed on the back side of the holding plate 15. Therefore, these three elements are subject to maintenance and inspection by personnel. It becomes easy.
[0038]
Further, since the three elements of the storage tank 12, the alignment passage 14, and the ball dispensing device 13 can be handled as a single horizontal dispensing unit 16 that is connected in series in a horizontally long shape, the assembly work to the pachinko machine is possible. Becomes easier.
[0039]
Furthermore, since the horizontal payout unit 16 has the same gentle sloping passage L that is long in the lateral direction, the overall length is long in the lateral direction and becomes a rectangular parallelepiped, and the height direction of the passage L is shortened. it can. For this reason, it can be incorporated into the upper position on the back side of the vertical pachinko machine in a horizontally long manner. For this reason, a large mounting space for other components can be secured below the horizontal dispensing unit 16 mounted on the back side of the pachinko machine. Further, by arranging the three elements in series, it is not necessary to bend or turn the passage like the S-shaped passage, and it can be provided linearly. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the overall path length and reduce the size.
[0040]
Further, a ball dispensing port 17 from the horizontal dispensing unit 16 is provided on one end surface of the ball dispensing device 13 of the unit 16 located on the end side of the passage so that the ball is dispensed obliquely downward from the dispensing port 17. It is composed. For this reason, the side space of the unit can be fully utilized. The ball drop passage 18 (see FIG. 1) is connected to the ball, and the ball dispensed therefrom is dispensed to a tray (not shown) on the front surface of the pachinko machine below.
[0041]
A tank switch SW1 and a ball presence / absence switch SW2 are disposed on the bottom surface of the storage tank 12 located on the upstream side of the above-described same inclined passage L, and the accommodation state of the balls in the tank 12 is detected. .
[0042]
At the tip of the storage tank 12 on the downstream side, the left and right walls of the tip are squeezed into a C- shaped taper so that the piled balls stored in the tank 12 are aligned little by little. The narrow and narrow passage extends long forward, and this extended portion is provided in the alignment passage 14.
[0043]
The alignment passage 14 constitutes passages 14a and 14b having two rows of concave grooves with the left and right wall surfaces and the partition plate therebetween.
[0044]
In this case, the bottom of the alignment passage 14 is provided with an exclusion port 14c that is opened in a lattice shape to exclude foreign matter. By providing this exclusion port 14c, even if foreign matter is mixed in the storage tank, the foreign matter will drop from the exclusion port 14c and be removed when it moves to the alignment passage 14 on the downstream side. For this reason, it is possible to avoid clogging due to foreign matter mixing by always passing only the balls P.
[0045]
The balls guided irregularly here are aligned in two rows by the alignment passage 14 having the above-mentioned two rows of passages 14a and 14b and a ball crushing roller 19 which will be described later.
[0046]
The above-described ball crushing roller 19 is provided as an aligning portion 20 that aligns the ball by breaking the ball overlap above the alignment passage 14. The aligning portion 20 allows the upper cantilever support shaft 21 orthogonal to the passage direction to rotate about the tilting fulcrum in the passage direction, and supports a freely rolling crushing roller 19 below the shaft 21. By providing this crushing roller 19, it is possible to suppress overload by breaking the overlap of balls when delivering the balls from the storage tank 12 to the ball dispensing device 13 via the downstream alignment passage 14. A flow guide function suitable for ball delivery is obtained.
[0047]
Then, the aligned balls are guided in two rows to the ball dispensing device 13 located on the downstream side thereof. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the tip end portion 14 d of the alignment passage 14 extends to the position of the ball dispensing device 13, and the upstream storage tank 12 and the downstream ball dispensing device 13 pass through the alignment passage 14. Are connected by the same inclined passage L linearly. Further, the ball dispensing device 13 is provided so as to be detachable from the horizontal dispensing unit 16 to facilitate maintenance and inspection inside the ball dispensing device 13.
[0048]
The above-described storage tank 12 is configured to guide a large number of stored balls P by their own weight and guide them to the downstream ball flow lower port 12a. The width direction of the side faces toward the lower ball flow port 12a. C-shaped apertures that are gradually narrowed down are provided.
[0049]
Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a top plate 22 is provided in the upper part on the downstream side of the storage tank 12. The top plate 22 can be constituted by a flat plate having a length that covers the alignment passage 14 and the upper surface of the ball dispensing device 13. At the upstream end of the top plate 22, a receiving piece that corresponds to the downstream side of the storage tank 12 and faces the upper layer of the ball P that overlaps and moves from above the storage tank (FIG. 2). (Ref.) 23 is suspended.
[0050]
By providing this receiving piece 23, the flow of the upper layer part of the ball P in a piled state is prevented. For this reason, only the balls of the lower layer can be made to flow down, and thereafter, the number of balls can be sufficiently reduced and supplied to the downstream side. Thereby, the ball pressure to the downstream side can be reduced, and a smooth flow suitable for supplying the balls P from the storage tank 12 to the alignment passage 14 side can be secured.
[0051]
In addition, since the top plate 22 is provided, the balls P supplied to the storage tank 12 jump up vigorously and reach the alignment passage 14 or the ball dispensing device 13 by being blocked by the top plate 22 so that they do not jump. And there is no risk of inducing malfunctions.
[0052]
Next, the ball dispensing device 13 that performs a ball dispensing operation will be described.
The ball dispensing device 13 has a feeding portion 24 and a detecting portion 25 in this order along the same inclined passage L following the alignment passage 14 on the downstream side of the storage tank 12.
[0053]
The above-mentioned feeding portion 24 has a sprocket 26 provided on the upper surface of the terminal end portion of the same inclined passage L, and the balls guided between the sprocket 26 and the same inclined passage L are discharged continuously one by one in the rotational direction. Is.
[0054]
Further, the balls guided between the above-described sprocket 26 and the same inclined passage L below it are fed one by one as the sprocket 26 rotates. For this reason, the plurality of balls continuously supplied are continuously dispensed without interruption. The sprocket 26 rotates in response to outputs from a drive motor and a drive mechanism (not shown).
[0055]
The detection unit 25 described above is configured, for example, by arranging a proximity sensor near the terminal position of the same inclined passage L as the counting sensor S that counts the balls that have been paid out. When the balls are paid out through the same inclined passage L, the counting sensor S counts the balls immediately after the passing through.
[0056]
By the way, the above-described crushing roller 19 has a crushing function capable of shortening the length of the passage from the upstream storage tank 12 to the downstream ball dispensing device 13. The crushing function will be described next.
[0057]
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, a tilt lever 27 is pivotally supported on the upper cantilever support shaft 21, and a crushing roller 19 is attached to the lower end portion of the tilt lever 27. Since the crushing roller 19 is supported by the cantilever support shaft 21 so as to tilt freely in the passage direction, the crushing roller 19 can be retracted by retreating from the crushing position on the same inclined passage L in the passage direction. When excessive ball pressure is temporarily applied to the crushing roller 19 from the upstream side, the crushing roller 19 is temporarily retracted in conjunction with this. Movement to avoid clogging can be obtained.
[0058]
The height position at which the crushing roller 19 crushes is opposed to the crushing position of a height that makes rotational contact with the upper layer balls that have flowed down in a stacked state. Thereby, the roller outer peripheral surface of the crushing roller comes into contact with the upper layer portion of the ball that has flowed down in the stacked state, and at this time, the ball is orthogonal to the moving direction of the ball that flows down substantially linearly along the same inclined path L. Since the roller rotates in the direction, the movement of the balls flowing down in the laminated state is dispersed and the balls are effectively broken.
[0059]
In addition, two or more balls pass at a height interval that allows passage space allowing passage of one ball between the opposing surfaces of the roller lower surface of the ball crushing roller 19 and the bottom surface of the inclined passage facing downwardly. Set to a height interval to limit. For this reason, in the alignment channel | path 14, since the passage space for one ball is formed, it can restrict | limit and pass a ball one by one from this.
[0060]
Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the ball breaking roller 19 has a sprocket shape in which a circular arc surface 28 substantially the same as the spherical surface of the ball is formed in a concave shape on the outer peripheral surface of the roller. Since this circular arc surface 28 has a concave shape so as to correspond to the spherical surface of the ball, the circular arc surface 28 is not a point contact but a surface contact when contacting the ball P, so that the contact area with the ball is small. The slippage between the ball crushing roller 19 and the ball P is reduced. For this reason, it becomes easy to transmit the breaking force with respect to each ball. Further, the size of the roller is set such that several arc surfaces 28 can be formed on the outer peripheral surface. The crushing roller 19 has its roller shaft 19a connected to a rotation drive mechanism and is driven to rotate at a constant speed. And when rotationally driven, it is possible to transmit the breaking force to the ball from the roller side.
[0061]
Further, in order to increase the anti-slip action with the ball, the outer peripheral surface of the ball breaking roller 19 is formed of an elastic body 29 such as urethane rubber. Thereby, the elastic body 29 respond | corresponds elastically when it contacts with the ball | bowl P, adhesiveness with a ball | bowl increases, and the stable contact effect without a slip is obtained.
[0062]
Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the tilting lever 27 integral with the ball collapse roller 19 is provided with an elastic corresponding piece 27 a that branches off and projects on the downstream surface side corresponding to the retracting direction of the ball collapse roller 19. At the rear of the elastic corresponding piece 27a, an upstream end portion of the overlap prevention cover 30 described later is provided.
[0063]
When the ball crushing roller 19 is retracted by receiving excessive ball pressure from the upstream side, the elastic corresponding piece 27a is received by the overlap prevention cover 30, and the ball crushing roller 19 is retracted by the elastic force at this time. Resists elastic against the direction. In this way, the ball breaking roller 19 integral with the elastic corresponding piece 27a and the tilting lever 27 can move in an elastic manner. For this reason, it is possible to avoid crushing by avoiding the movement of the ball that causes clogging. Further, the elastic corresponding piece 27a is configured to be elastically displaced when greatly retreated upon receiving a ball pressure. When the elastic corresponding piece 27a exceeds a certain region at this time, the elasticity of the elastic corresponding piece 27a is configured to act.
[0064]
Further, the elastic corresponding piece 27a is made of, for example, a synthetic resin material capable of giving an elastic force, and is the same member as the tilting lever 27 serving as a branching source, and thus can be configured without using a new elastic member. For this reason, the number of parts is small.
[0065]
Further, on the downstream side of the crushing roller 19, a flat plate-shaped anti-overlap cover 30 that restricts the overlap of balls between the bottom surface of the same inclined passage L and the upper facing surface is provided above the same inclined passage L. Has been established. This overlap prevention cover 30 is a reverse-shaped flat plate provided along a height interval that allows one ball to pass above the same inclined passage L. By this anti-overlap cover 30, the alignment just before the sprocket 26 is completed.
[0066]
By using the overlap prevention cover 30 and the crushing roller 19 together, even if the ball P that has passed through the position of the crushing roller 19 is slightly lifted, the top of the raised ball is guided by the overlap prevention cover 30. Will be restricted. For this reason, the balls do not float up and can be made to flow down while being aligned.
[0067]
The upstream end portion of the overlap prevention cover 30 is opposed to the stopper surface 30a that receives the elastic corresponding piece 27a. In the drawing, reference numeral 31 denotes a ball stopper stopper piece, which is tilted to an upward movement retracting position and a downward movement stopper position to open or stop the flow of balls.
[0068]
The ball payout processing operation in the pachinko ball hopper 11 thus configured will be described below.
[0069]
In the storage tank 12 of the pachinko ball hopper 11 installed at the upper part on the back side of the pachinko machine 11A, a large number of balls are stored in a waiting state.
[0070]
From this standby state, when a ball payout signal is input from the main control unit that controls the entire pachinko gaming machine and the drive motor is driven, the upstream storage tank 12 is driven by the ball P Is guided from a high position to a low position on the downstream side by its own weight.
[0071]
On the downstream side of the storage tank 12, the ball of the upper layer portion in the storage tank 12 is received by the receiving piece 23, the flow of the upper layer portion is limited, and only the ball P of the lower layer portion is allowed to pass. Thereafter, the balls P flow down through the same inclined passage L and reach the alignment passage 14. Here, the irregularly stacked balls are arranged one by one in order.
[0072]
As shown in FIG. 11 (A), the aligning operation for aligning to one height corresponds to the ball breaking roller 19 receiving the overlapping balls that have flowed down in a stacked state. At this time, the crushing position of the crushing roller 19 corresponds to the overlapping ball at the second height position from the bottom of the passage, and restricts the passage of the overlapping ball corresponding to this height position.
[0073]
At this time, the outer peripheral surface of the ball crushing roller 19 has an arc surface 28 that can take a wide contact area with the ball, an elastic body 29 that enhances adhesion with the ball, and excessive balls. Since there is a tilting mechanism that allows retraction with respect to the pressure, a contact action without slipping is obtained between the contact surfaces of the ball breaking roller 19 and the ball P. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 11 (B), two balls overlap each other from the height position to the position of one height, and the ball P is raised by one long contact between the upper and lower portions where the ball breaking roller 19 rotates. Guide the crumbling to drop it.
[0074]
For this reason, the balls in the stacked state are individually broken by receiving the rotational force of the ball breaking roller 19, and flow down in a single line as shown in FIG. 11 (C).
[0075]
Thereafter, the movement is restricted by the overlap prevention cover 30 so that the balls do not float from the same inclined passage L, and are guided to the ball dispensing device 13 on the downstream side in a state where the balls are completely aligned one by one.
[0076]
At this time, since the balls go straight down in the inclined direction L and flow down, the balls do not change direction, and the shortened linear distance from the upstream storage tank 12 to the downstream ball dispensing device 13 is reduced. It passes through and is paid out. Further, in the alignment passage 14 corresponding to the intermediate position of the same inclined passage L, the balls flow down in a state of being arranged in two rows in order for every paying out, and are guided to the ball paying device 13 from this.
[0077]
In the ball dispensing device 13, the balls P are individually and continuously fed along with the rotation of the sprocket 26, and a predetermined number of balls is dispensed under the control of the rotation driving / stopping of the sprocket 26. The dispensed balls are dispensed to the upper plate or the lower plate on the front side of the pachinko machine through the ball lowering passage 18.
[0078]
The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, but can be applied based on the technical idea described in the claims, and many embodiments can be obtained.
[0079]
【The invention's effect】
According to this invention, the roller outer peripheral surface of the crushing roller is in contact with the upper layer portion of the ball that has flowed down in the laminated state, and at this time, the ball is orthogonal to the moving direction of the ball that flows down substantially linearly along the inclined path. Since the roller rotates in the direction, the movement of the balls flowing down in the laminated state is dispersed and the ball breaking is effectively promoted, and a stable breaking force is obtained by the rotation of the roller. For this reason, the balls in the upper layer part are sequentially broken against the roller outer peripheral surface.
[0080]
In particular, since the outer peripheral surface of the ball crushing roller has a substantially circular arc surface corresponding to the irregularity of the spherical surface of the ball, the contact area with the spherical surface is increased, and the slip between the ball crushing roller and the ball is reduced. , Can improve the crushing performance. Furthermore, the crushing roller can be transmitted to the ball from the roller side by connecting the crushing roller to a rotation driving mechanism and rotating the crushing roller at a constant speed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a main part rear view of a pachinko machine equipped with a pachinko ball hopper.
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a pachinko ball hopper.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a pachinko ball hopper.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a storage tank.
FIG. 5 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a ball alignment state of the alignment passage.
FIG. 6 is a partially exploded perspective view showing a pachinko ball hopper.
FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part showing a ball payout state of a pachinko ball hopper.
FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part showing a usage state of a crushing roller.
FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view showing a roller portion of a crushing roller.
FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part showing a corresponding state of an elastic corresponding piece of a crushing roller.
FIG. 11 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part showing a crushing state of a crushing roller.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Pachinko ball hopper 12 ... Storage tank 13 ... Ball dispensing device 14 ... Alignment passage 19 ... Crushing roller L ... Same inclination passage L
P ... jade

Claims (5)

A ball passage restriction device that breaks the overlap of balls that have flowed down in a laminated state on an inclined passage and restricts the broken ball to the passage height of one ball,
An upper cantilever support shaft perpendicular to the passage direction is provided above the inclined passage,
A tilting lever that allows the cantilever support shaft to rotate in the direction of the passage around the tilting fulcrum;
At the end of the tilting lever and facing the crushing position where it comes into contact with the ball of the upper layer that has flowed down in the stacked state, the spherical surface of the ball and the substantially same circular arc surface are formed in a concave shape on the outer peripheral surface and rotated. A free crushing roller,
A ball passage restriction device provided with a rotation driving means for rotating the crushing roller . When the crushing roller receives excessive ball pressure from the upstream side and the tilting lever retracts, the rotation of the tilting lever is restricted, and the crushing roller receives the ball pressure and the tilting lever retracts. The ball passage restriction device according to claim 1 , wherein the tilting lever has an elastic means corresponding to elasticity against a backward direction . The ball passage restriction device according to claim 1 , further comprising a receiving means for receiving an upper layer ball that has flowed down in the stacked state on the upstream side of the crushing roller . The overlap prevention cover that restricts the overlap of balls between the bottom surface of the inclined passage and the upper facing surface is provided on the downstream side of the crushing roller so as to face the upper portion of the inclined passage . Ball passage restriction device. A storage tank that stores a large number of balls on the upstream side of the pachinko machine, an alignment unit that guides the balls stored in the storage tank to the downstream side while rolling on the inclined passage by its own weight, and the alignment unit A pachinko ball hopper equipped with a ball dispensing device that dispenses a predetermined number of balls arranged in
In front of the ball dispensing device,
Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4
Pachinko ball hopper with ball passage restriction device.

Images