JP6460027B2 - Ball payout device, ball payout control system and game machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a ball payout device, a ball payout control system, and a game machine provided in a game machine.

  In general, pachinko gaming machines supply balls from the back side to the front side of the pachinko gaming machine using pachinko balls (hereinafter referred to as “balls”) as game media. When supplying this ball, a storage tank (premium 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 a ball from the upper supply mechanism and stored, The stored ball is paid out downward. At the time of paying out the balls, the ball is guided to the lower ball paying device (winning ball processing device) through the ball aligning passage for aligning the balls from the storage tank and the ball passage. It pays out to the upper plate or lower plate located at the lower front of the gaming machine.

  Based on the payout signal of the pachinko machine, the configuration of the above-mentioned ball payout device is that the sprocket is rotated through the motor and gear connection to pay out the ball, and the released ball is counted by the downstream counting sensor. A method of managing and controlling the number of payouts is common.

  In this ball dispensing device, there is a problem that the sprocket stops due to a foreign object or a ball being caught, and the game cannot be performed during that time. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a configuration for eliminating a clogged ball when it occurs. Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration for removing foreign matter that has entered the ball passage.

  Specifically, in Patent Document 1, in a ball dispensing device having a sprocket that rotates based on the driving of a motor, when the motor is driven, the passage of the ball is detected even if the dispensing time required for ball dispensing has elapsed. It is disclosed that the motor generates vibration when not. In Patent Document 2, an opening for maintenance is provided in at least a part of the wall surface of the ball passage of the ball dispensing device, and maintenance is performed by the mounting surface on the gaming machine side when the ball dispensing device is assembled to the mounting surface on the gaming machine side. A gaming machine configured to close an opening for use is disclosed.

JP 2005-143893 A JP 2004-57328 A JP 2007-6989 A

  However, in the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2, the lock (stop of the rotation of the sprocket) can be eliminated by eliminating the clogging of the ball in the ball passage. However, the sprocket (ball feed portion) is engaged by the engagement of the gear with the motor. In the case of a gaming machine having a mechanism for transmitting driving force, there is a problem that the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot be applied as they are. Moreover, the technique of patent document 3 does not remove a foreign material actively.

  Specifically, in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that foreign matter that is shallowly caught in the gear due to vibration of the motor may be eliminated, but foreign matter that is deeply caught in the gear cannot be completely eliminated. There's a problem. In Patent Document 2, the gear may be accessible from the maintenance opening, but since only a part of the sprocket is exposed to the ball passage, cleaning is difficult. In addition, the ball payout device must be removed from the gaming machine each time cleaning is performed, and there is a problem in that the engaging means for assembling on the gaming machine side is deteriorated or broken.

  In addition, there is a problem in that it is illegal to disassemble the gaming machine in the market when removing clogging / malfunction due to foreign matter contamination, and it is impossible to remove foreign matter that accompanies disassembly. If disassembly / device replacement is performed later, it will take a lot of time, and during this time, the gaming machine cannot be operated, and there is a problem that a disadvantage occurs on the store side.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a ball payout device, a ball payout control system, and a game that can easily eliminate the stop (lock) of the rotation of the ball feeding portion. It is to realize the machine.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a ball payout device of the present invention is a ball payout device for a gaming machine that pays out a game ball in a ball passage through which a game ball flows down, a ball feeding unit that sends out a game ball, In order to transmit the driving force generated from the driving source to the ball feeding portion, the first gear engaged with the driving gear of the driving source, the non-engaged state with respect to the gear, and the engaged state And a lock release unit that can be switched.

  According to the above configuration, when the ball feeding portion is stopped by the foreign object biting in the first gear, the lock can be released by rotating the first gear by rotating the lock release portion. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a ball dispensing device that can easily eliminate the stop of the rotation of the ball feeding unit.

  Further, in the ball dispensing device of the present invention, the lock release portion can be configured to intermittently engage with the first gear.

  Further, in the ball dispensing device of the present invention, the lock release portion includes a second gear, and the second gear has teeth including a tapered surface intersecting with the axial direction, and the tapered surface is It is inclined with respect to the rotation direction so that the width of the teeth becomes narrower in the rotation direction of the second gear.

  According to the above configuration, the foreign matter mixed in the first gear can be scraped out by the tapered surface and excluded from the first gear.

  In the ball dispensing device of the present invention, a discharge hole for discharging the foreign matter excluded from the first gear by the tapered surface is formed at a position facing the tapered surface in the housing of the ball dispensing device. ing.

  According to the said structure, the foreign material picked up from the 1st gear can be conveyed to a discharge hole, and can be discharged | emitted from the discharge hole outside the apparatus.

  In addition, the ball dispensing device of the present invention has a tool fitting portion that can be rotated by a tool from the outside of the housing of the ball dispensing device.

  According to the above configuration, the lock release unit can be manually rotated using a screwdriver or the like.

  The ball payout control system according to the present invention is a ball payout control system including the ball payout device and a payout control unit that controls the ball payout device, wherein the payout control unit includes the ball feed unit due to an abnormality. And an error detection unit that displays an error on the display unit based on the detection result.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to notify the user that an abnormality has occurred in the rotation of the ball feeding unit and to prompt the user to eliminate it.

  The gaming machine of the present invention includes the ball payout device.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to provide a gaming machine that can easily eliminate the stop of the rotation of the ball feeding portion.

  The present invention has an effect that the stop of the rotation of the ball feeding portion can be easily eliminated.

It is the perspective view which showed the game machine of this embodiment. It is the figure which showed the back side of the gaming machine of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the external appearance of the ball dispensing apparatus in this embodiment. It is the figure which showed the internal structure of the ball dispensing apparatus. It is an external view which shows an example of an idler gear. It is a figure for demonstrating meshing | engagement of a driven gear and an idler gear seen from the front side of the gaming machine. It is a functional block diagram which shows an example of the function of a payout control part.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a gaming machine according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the gaming machine 100 includes a gaming area 101, a handle 102, an upper plate 103, a lower plate 104, and the like. The game area 101 is an area where a game ball (game medium) launched by the handle 102 moves. The handle 102 is a device for performing a game ball launch operation. When the user holds the handle 102 in a twisted state, the game ball is continuously fired and launched into the game area 101.

  The upper plate 103 stores game balls acquired in the game or the game balls lent by the ball lending operation, and the lower plate 104 stores game balls overflowing from the upper plate 103. That is, when a game ball wins a winning opening (not shown) provided in the game area 101, the number of gaming balls set according to the winning opening is paid out to the upper plate 103 or the lower plate 104.

  2A and 2B are views showing the back side of the gaming machine of the present embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a storage tank 105, a ball alignment passage 106, a vertical ball passage 107, a ball dispensing device 108, and a substrate unit 109 are installed on the back of the gaming machine 100. Yes.

  The storage tank 105 is provided on the upper side of the gaming machine 100, and is a storage unit that temporarily stores game balls supplied to the gaming machine 100 from a supply chute (not shown) on the gaming island. The ball alignment passage 106 is a passage through which game balls are aligned and flowed. The upstream side is connected to the storage tank 105, and the downstream side is connected to the vertical ball passage 107. The vertical ball passage 107 is a passage through which a game ball falls from above to below (in the direction of gravity), and the upstream side is connected to the ball alignment passage 106 and the downstream side is connected to the ball dispensing device 108. That is, the game balls supplied to the gaming machine 100 from the replenishment chute on the game island are supplied to the ball dispensing device 108 via the storage tank 105, the ball alignment passage 106, and the vertical ball passage 107 in this order.

  Upon receiving a payout signal (a signal for giving out a predetermined number of game balls) from the payout control unit (see FIG. 7) 200, the ball payout device 108 receives a predetermined number of game balls (the upper plate 103 or the lower plate). It is a device for discharging (dispensing) to the pan 104).

  The board portion 109 is disposed next to the vertical ball passage 107 and on the back side of the board surface of the game area 101. The board unit 109 includes a large display device (see FIG. 7) 101a that displays an effect image, a main control unit that controls the gaming machine 100, and the like. The payout control unit 200 is configured inside the main control unit.

  3A to 3C are diagrams showing an example of the appearance of the housing of the gaming machine in the present embodiment. 3 (a) shows the housing viewed from the front side of the gaming machine 100, FIG. 3 (b) shows the housing viewed from the side of the gaming machine 100, and FIG. 3 (c) shows the gaming The housing | casing seen from the back side of the apparatus 100 is shown. A long hole 11 for foreign matter is formed in the housing 10A, and a hole 13 for accessing an idler gear 70 described later is formed in the housing 10B. Details of these holes 11 and 13 will be described later.

  FIGS. 4A and 4B are views showing the internal structure of the ball dispensing device. 4A shows the internal structure from the front side of the gaming machine, and FIG. 3B shows the internal structure from the back side of the gaming machine. As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), the ball dispensing device 108 includes a housing 10A, 10B, a shaft 20, a stepping motor (drive source) 30, a drive gear 31, a ball removal lever 40, a ball removal device. A guide 50, a sprocket (ball feed unit, first gear) 60, an idler gear (lock release unit, second gear, intermittent gear) 70, and a counting sensor (counting detection unit) 80 are provided.

  Guidance paths 12 for guiding the game balls supplied from the vertical ball passage 107 to the sprocket 60 are formed in the housings 10A and 10B. The shaft 20 is fixed to the housing 10 </ b> B and functions as a rotation shaft of the sprocket 60. The stepping motor 30 is a drive source that rotates by a pulse wave based on a payout signal sent from the payout control unit 200.

  The ball removal guide 50 is a mechanism that opens and closes in response to the vertical movement of the ball removal lever 40. The ball removal guide 50 functions as a wall portion of the guide path 12 in the closed state, and guides (guides) the game balls of the guide path 12 to the sprocket 60 ) In the open state, the game balls of the guide path 12 are guided to the ball extraction path 12b without being guided to the sprocket 60, and the game balls accumulated in the guide path 12 are played through the ball extraction path 12b. Can be discharged outside.

  The sprocket 60 is a rotating member that is pivotally supported by the shaft 20 and is rotated by the rotational drive of the stepping motor 30, and sends out the game ball to the discharge port 12 a of the guide path 12. Specifically, the sprocket 60 includes a driven gear (first gear) 61 that meshes with the driving gear 31 of the stepping motor 30 disposed in the circumferential direction around the shaft 20, and the driven gear 61 is rotated by the rotation of the driving gear 31. The sprocket 60 is rotated by being driven to rotate. In addition, the sprocket 60 is formed on the back side of the gaming machine 100 with a ball feeding portion 63 having four concave portions 63a to 63d along the outer periphery, and has been transported from the upstream side of the guide path 12. Is rotated in a state of being fitted in the recesses 63a to 63d, thereby sending the game balls one by one to the discharge port 12a of the guide path 12.

  The counting sensor 80 is a sensor that counts game balls sent to the discharge port 12 a by the sprocket 60, and transmits the detection result to the payout control unit 200.

  The idler gear 70 is an intermittent gear that is disposed around the driven gear 61 and intermittently engages with the driven gear 61, and is rotatably fitted between the housing A and the housing portion 15 of the housing 10B. The idler gear 70 is used when a foreign object is caught in the drive system (the drive gear 31 and the driven gear 61) by being manually rotated by the user. Specifically, foreign matter such as wood chips and pellets used for cleaning the wooden frame installed may flow into the guide path 12 of the housings 10A and 10B, and is used as a countermeasure for removing the foreign matter.

  5A and 5B are external views showing an example of an idler gear. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the idler gear 70 has a screw hole (tool fitting portion) 72 formed at the distal end portion in the insertion direction to the housing 10B. Therefore, the idler gear 70 can be rotated by turning the screw hole 72 with a screwdriver or the like. The other end of the idler gear 70 has four teeth 71 at a predetermined interval in the circumferential direction. Each of the four teeth 71 has a tapered surface 71a facing the inner surface of the housing 10A.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the taper surface 71a intersects the axial direction of the idler gear 70, and proceeds from the upstream side to the downstream side in the meshing direction with the driven gear 61 (rotational direction of the idler gear 70) ( That is, it is inclined with respect to the meshing direction with the driven gear 61 (coincident with the rotational direction of the idler gear 70) so that the width of the tooth 71 becomes narrower (in the rotational direction of the idler gear 70). Here, in the present embodiment, the tapered surface 71a is rotated clockwise (FIG. 4B or FIG. 5) when viewed from the back side of the gaming machine 100 as shown in FIG. 4A or FIG. 5A. When viewed from the front side of the gaming machine 100 as shown in (b), it is inclined toward the counterclockwise rotation direction.

  The material of the idler gear 70 may be a resin or a metal. When the material is resin, a taper shape is formed so that half of the teeth 71 mesh with the driven gear 61, and when the material is metal, 2/5 of the teeth 71 mesh with the driven gear 61. It is preferable to form a tapered shape. Further, the number and interval of the teeth 71 are not limited to the configuration of the present embodiment as long as the configuration does not engage the driven gear 61 during normal operation.

  Further, the idler gear 70 has been described as an example in which all of the teeth 71 have the tapered surface 71a, but at least one of the teeth 71 may have a tapered surface 71a. Further, the idler gear 70 may be formed by cutting away from the normal tooth before cutting so as to include the entire surface along the rotation direction, but a part of the surface along the rotation direction may be formed. The taper surface may be formed by cutting off.

  6 (a) and 6 (b) are diagrams for explaining the meshing of the driven gear and the idler gear as viewed from the front side of the gaming machine. When foreign matter is caught in the drive system and the rotation of the sprocket 60 is stopped (locked), the idler gear 70 is rotated clockwise as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (b) (counterclockwise in FIG. 4 (b)). The drive system can be unlocked by rotating the driven gear 61 by rotating the driven gear 61 around the periphery. Further, when the lock is released and the foreign matter caught in the driven gear 61 is picked up by the tapered surface 71a of the idler gear 70, the caught foreign matter can be eliminated.

  Here, with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, a long hole for foreign matter (foreign matter hole) 11 is formed in the housing 10 </ b> A at a portion corresponding to the place where the idler gear 70 is disposed. Yes. The foreign object long hole 11 is arranged in the vicinity of the position where the engagement between the idler gear 70 and the driven gear 61 ends along the direction in which the teeth 71 of the idler gear 70 are arranged.

  With this configuration, the foreign matter taken out by the idler gear 70 from the driven gear 61 is transported to the foreign matter long hole 11 while lifting the foreign matter between the tapered surface 71a and the inner surface of the housing 10A, from which the ball dispensing device 108 It can be discharged to the outside. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, a hole 13 for accessing the screw hole 72 of the idler gear 70 is formed in the housing 10B. With this configuration, since the screw hole 72 can be turned using a screwdriver, it is possible to easily release the lock and remove foreign matter without disassembling the ball dispensing device 108.

  Note that the means for rotating the idler gear 70 is not limited to the driver, and may be a hand or a socket wrench. That is, although the case where it is the screw hole 72 as a recessed part provided in the idler gear 70 was demonstrated to the example, the recessed part of various shapes is contained. Further, a convex portion may be provided instead of the concave portion.

  Next, a configuration for notifying the user when a foreign object is caught in the drive system will be described. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of functions of the payout control unit. As shown in FIG. 7, the payout control unit 200 includes an error detection unit 201 and a display control unit 202.

  The error detection unit 201 determines an error based on the detection result of the counting sensor 80. Specifically, when a foreign object is caught in the drive system, the drive system may not rotate due to the foreign object being caught, so that the game ball is not conveyed to the discharge port 12a. The error detection unit 201 counts the time with a timer after outputting the payout signal, and if the game ball is not detected by the counting sensor 80 within a predetermined time, it determines that there is an error and outputs an error display instruction to the display control unit 202.

  The error detection unit 201 monitors the output of the stepping motor 30. If the stepping motor 30 does not move for a predetermined time even if the payout signal is output, the error detection unit 201 determines that an error has occurred and stops driving the stepping motor 30. Then, an error display instruction is output to the display control unit 202.

  When an error display instruction is input from the error detection unit 201, the display control unit 202 displays an error on the large display device 101a or the like.

  As described above, the ball payout device 108 according to the present embodiment is a ball payout device for a gaming machine that pays out a game ball in the guide path 12 through which the game ball flows down. , A driven gear 61 that transmits the driving force generated from the driving source to the ball feeding portion 63, and an idler gear that is non-engaged with the driven gear 61 during normal operation of the ball dispensing device and can rotate the driven gear 61 when engaged. 70.

  According to this configuration, when the sprocket 60 is stopped due to the biting of a foreign object, the sprocket 60 can be rotated to release the lock by rotating the idler gear 70. Thereby, the game can be resumed immediately.

  In the ball dispensing device 108 in the present embodiment, the idler gear 70 is configured to have the teeth 71 having the tapered surface 71a formed in the clockwise rotation direction as the clockwise rotation direction. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. Not what you want. As a case where the idler gear is rotated counterclockwise, a configuration having teeth having a tapered surface in the counterclockwise rotation direction may be employed. In this case, the foreign object long hole 11a in the housing 10 on the front side is not changed in the vicinity of the position where the engagement between the idler gear 70 and the driven gear 61 ends, but the position is different from that in FIG. It is necessary to provide in.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the idler gear 70 is intermittently engaged with the driven gear 61 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, a normal gear (having a tapered surface 71a similar to the idler gear 70) having teeth formed on the entire circumference is engaged with the driven gear 61 close to each other in an abnormal state and switched to retract in a normal state. It may be a simple configuration.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope shown in the claims, and embodiments obtained by appropriately combining technical means disclosed in different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

100 gaming machine 10A, 10B case 11 long hole for foreign matter (discharge hole)
12 Guide path 30 Stepping motor (drive source)
60 Sprocket (ball feeder, first gear)
70 idler gear (lock release part, second gear, intermittent gear)
71a Tapered surface 72 Screw hole (tool fitting part)
80 Counting sensor (counting detector)
101a Large display device (display unit)
108 Ball Dispensing Device 200 Dispensing Control Unit 201 Error Detection Unit 202 Display Control Unit

Claims (6)

A ball payout device for a gaming machine that pays out game balls in a ball passage where game balls flow down,
A ball feeder for sending out game balls;
A first gear engaged with a driving gear of the driving source in order to transmit the driving force generated from the driving source to the ball feeding portion;
A lock release portion capable of switching between a non-engaged state and an engaged state with respect to the first gear ;
The lock release unit includes a second gear,
The second gear has teeth including a tapered surface intersecting the axial direction thereof,
The ball dispensing device in which the tapered surface is inclined with respect to the rotation direction so that the width of the teeth becomes narrower in the rotation direction of the second gear . It said second gear is a sphere dispensing device of claim 1 to the first gear is intermittent gear that match intermittently engaged. In the housing of the ball dispensing device, the position opposed to the tapered surface, according to claim 1 or 2 discharge hole that are formed for discharging the foreign matters removed from the first gear by the tapered surface Ball dispensing device. The lock releasing section is ball disbursement device according to the outside of the housing in any one of 請 Motomeko 1-3 that having a tool engaging portion rotatable operation by the tool of the ball dispensing device. The ball dispensing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 ,
A spherical dispensing control system and a dispensing control section for controlling the ball dispensing device,
The dispensing control unit detects the stop of the ball feed unit by the abnormality based on the detection result, ball disbursement control system Ru comprising an error detection unit to be displayed on the display unit that is an error. Yu technique machine Ru with a ball dispensing device according to any one of claims 1-4.

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