JPH0417073B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a so-called automatic mahjong device that can automatically stir the tiles, align them in a predetermined direction, and install them at a predetermined location on a table. It is something.

[Prior art]

In general, an automatic mahjong machine mainly consists of a tile dropping opening provided on a tabletop, a platform that stirs the tiles dropped from the opening, and a platform that picks up tiles in a predetermined orientation from the platform and transfers them to a tile alignment table. It consists of a tile transfer means and a means for transferring the completed tile castle wall on the tile arrangement table to a predetermined location on the table.

Conventionally, as an automatic mahjong device like this,
There was one described in Publication No. 55-23628,
In this automatic mahjong device, a rotating disk with an inclined rotation axis is rotated, and tiles are brought to the outer periphery of the rotating disk by centrifugal force. A tile with the display surface facing downward is attracted to a suction ring that rotates at the same circumferential speed as the tile, using magnetic force (the suction ring and the tile have built-in magnets), and the tile that is attracted to this suction ring is placed at a different location. The tiles were separated and placed side by side with the display side facing down to form four sets of tile walls.

However, in the automatic mahjong machine described above, centrifugal force acts on the tiles attracted to the suction ring, so it is difficult to rotate the rotating disk and the suction ring at high speed, and moreover, the tiles are not transferred from the rotating disk to the suction ring. Because the handover takes place only in one place, it takes time to form the tile wall, and as a result, it is difficult to win the game immediately after the opening of the game, or to lose the 9th 9th tile (at the beginning of the tile distribution or at the first tsumo).
In the event that the nine types of old head tiles and character tiles collide, resulting in a no-win match), it becomes impossible to immediately start the next competition, and the interest of the competitors is lost.

In order to eliminate such drawbacks, the inventors
He invented an automatic mahjong machine described in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-176824 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 60-68886 (see Figures 8 and 9).

In the automatic mahjong machine shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, tiles with built-in magnets 01, which are stirred by a tile stirring arm 03 on a base board 02 and pushed toward the periphery of the base board 02, are transferred to four sets of belt conveyor systems. The display surface (the surface on which the characters and figures are carved) faces downward and extends in the longitudinal direction by the magnetic force of the magnet 06 attached to the surface of the inclined conveyance means 04. Only the tiles 01 in the advancing direction are picked up and conveyed to the four tile alignment areas 07 above.

The tiles 01 that have reached the entrance 08 of the tile alignment area 07 are pushed one by one into the tile alignment area 07 by a pushing member 09 that reciprocates along the longitudinal direction of the tile alignment area 07, and are pushed up and down. When 17 tiles 01 are arranged in two rows, the knocking member 010 is swung toward the conveyance means 04, and the excess tiles 01 are deflected from the conveyance means 04 by the scraping member 010 and slide down the inclined guide surface 011. The tiles are then returned onto the table 02 and pushed by the tile stirring arm 03 to the entrance 05 of another conveying means.

[Problem to be solved]

However, since the surplus tiles 01 slide down on the inclined guide surface 011 sideways, the tiles 01 with the display surface facing down end up being rotated by 90° or 180°, and the tiles 01 are rotated by 90° or 180°, and the tiles 01 are rotated by 90° or 180°. When the tiles are pushed and transported to the board 02 again as unqualified tiles,
may be returned to. Also, the inclined guide surface 011
The tile 01 that has been returned onto the base plate 02 by sliding down the base plate 02 may not be immediately pushed into the next conveying means entrance portion 05 adjacent thereto, but may be stirred and pushed over the base plate 02 for more than half a rotation.

Therefore, when the predetermined number of tiles have been lined up in the three tile alignment areas 07, but the supply of tiles to the remaining tile alignment area 07 has not been completed, the flow is connected to this remaining tile alignment area 07. There is a low probability that the tiles will be sent to the conveyance means entrance part 05 in a timely manner with the display surface facing downward, and the four conveyance means 04 are sufficient to achieve the intended purpose of shortening the tile castle wall forming time. I couldn't achieve it.

[Means and effects for solving the problem]

The present invention relates to an improvement of an automatic mahjong machine that overcomes such difficulties, and includes a tile stirring and sending means for stirring tiles that have fallen from a tile dropping opening on a table and sending them out to the surrounding area, and a tile stirring and sending means for stirring tiles that have fallen from a tile dropping opening on a table and sending them out to the surrounding area. Of the tiles sent out by the plurality of tile alignment areas disposed above and the tile agitation/sending means, only the tiles with the longitudinal direction of the tiles oriented in the transport direction and the display surface facing downward are transported. and the same number of inclined conveyance means as the number of tiles supplied to the tile alignment area, which sequentially feed tiles in the width direction of each tile alignment area, and when the number of tiles supplied to the tile alignment area reaches a predetermined number, a number of tile deflecting means equal to the number of said tile aligning areas for changing the direction of the tiles supplied from the conveying means to said tile aligning area and deflecting them to the side; and a longitudinal length of the tiles deflected by said tile deflecting means. and a sliding chute for guiding the tiles downhill to the entrance of the adjacent inclined conveying means on the forwarding side, with the direction facing the conveying direction of the adjacent inclined conveying means on the forwarding side,
The purpose is to provide an automatic mahjong device in which the time from when tiles are dropped and thrown into an opening to when the formation of a tile castle wall is completed is short.

In the present invention, a plurality of tile alignment areas are disposed above a tile agitation and delivery means that agitates tiles that have fallen from a tile drop opening on a table and sends them out to the peripheral side, and the tiles are sent out by the tile agitation and delivery means. Among the tiles, the slanted conveying means conveys only the tiles whose longitudinal direction is oriented in the conveying direction and whose display surface is facing downward, and feeds them into the respective tile aligning areas in the width direction of the tiles. Since the number of tiles is the same as that of the area, by driving the tile stirring and sending means and the inclined conveying means, the agitated tiles are sent to the entrance of the inclined conveying means,
Only the tiles with the longitudinal direction of the tiles oriented in the conveying direction and the display surface facing downward are conveyed to the tile alignment area by the inclined conveyance means, and are sequentially fed into the tile alignment area in the width direction of the tiles to form a tile castle wall. can be formed.

Further, in the present invention, when the number of tiles supplied to the tile alignment area reaches a predetermined number, the tile deflection device changes the direction of the tiles supplied to the tile alignment area from the inclined conveying means and deflects them to the side. and a tile deflecting means for guiding the tiles deflected by the tile deflecting means down the longitudinal direction toward the conveying direction of the adjacent inclined conveying means on the forwarding side to the entrance of the adjacent inclined conveying means on the forwarding side. Because of the provision of a downhill chute, among the plurality of tile alignment areas, in the tile alignment area where the number of tiles supplied reaches a predetermined number earlier than in the other tile alignment areas, the tiles attached to the tile alignment area are The deflecting means operates, and the tiles that are about to be sent into the tile alignment area are deflected by the tile deflecting means and sent into the downhill chute,
The longitudinal direction of the tile is guided down to the entrance of the adjacent inclined conveying means on the delivery side in the conveying direction of the adjacent inclined conveying means, and is immediately conveyed and fed into the adjacent tile alignment area by the adjacent inclined conveying means. .

Therefore, according to the present invention, in the tile alignment area where the number of tiles supplied has not reached a predetermined number, not only the tiles sent out by the tile stirring and sending means but also the tile alignment area where the tile castle wall has already been completed are stored. Since it is possible to supply tiles with the display surface facing down using the inclined conveyance means attached to the section, the display surface can be placed face down and the longitudinal direction of the tiles can be supplied to the unfinished tile alignment area of the tile castle wall. The tiles that have reached the formation of the tile castle wall are supplied one after another in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tiles, and the front tile castle wall can be rapidly completed within a short time.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 7 will be described below.

The automatic mahjong machine of this embodiment has a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped casing 1 and a top plate 2 that covers the upper opening of the casing 1 so as to be openable and closable. There is.

In addition, a tile drop opening 3 that can be opened and closed is provided in the center of the front board 2, and this opening 3 is opened as shown in Fig. 2 each time there is a win or a no-win situation. Then, the tiles 4 on the front board 2 are dropped onto the base board 10.

As shown in FIG. 6, the tiles 4 are
An iron plate 9 is buried adjacent to the display surface 5, and the display surface 5 is preferentially attracted by the magnetic force of a permanent magnet 26, which will be described later.

Further, the base plate 10 includes a fixing plate part 11 that receives the tiles 4 that have fallen from the opening, and a fixing plate part 11 that receives the tiles 4 that have fallen from the opening.
and a wall portion 12 surrounding the fixing plate portion 11.
The surface of the tiles 4 is coated with an elastic cushioning material 13 for preventing damage to the tiles 4 and suppressing the impact when the tiles 4 are subjected to a fall impact. However, in order to prevent the movement of the tiles 4 from being obstructed, it is better to avoid using elastic cushioning materials with large friction on the surface.

Furthermore, a motor 12 is provided approximately at the center of the fixed plate portion 11.
A rotating shaft 15 is provided, which is driven by a rotary shaft 15, and four tile stirring arms 16 are integrally attached to the upper end of the rotating shaft 15. It rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 to agitate the tiles 4 and send them to the conveying means 21.

Furthermore, the tile stirring arm 16 has a rectangular center portion 17 that fits into the rotating shaft 15, and a stirring portion oriented substantially in the radial direction so that the side lines of the stirring portion 18 coincide with the extension lines of each side of the rectangular center portion 17. a portion 18, a circumferential portion 19 that is bent in the opposite direction to the rotational direction A at its tip and extends in the circumferential direction, and a portion that is further bent in the same direction as the stirring portion 18 at the tip of the circumferential portion 19. 20 and more.

Further, the conveying means 21 has a belt conveyor structure as shown in FIG.
3. Lower pulley 24 and these pulleys 22, 2
3 and 24, and a permanent magnet 26 (however,
Two blocks of the same size made of synthetic resin are interposed between a large number of permanent magnets 26 to prevent tiles from clogging), and a drive mechanism (not shown). The magnet 26 is tapered toward the tile mounting surface, and the width of the belt 25 is approximately equal to or slightly narrower than the width of the tile 4.

Furthermore, a tile dropping member 29 is fixed at a proper position on a portion of the base plate wall 12 along the endless belt 25, and the tile dropping member 29 has a part slightly overhanging the wall 12 above the endless belt 25. A lower guide surface 30 and a large upper guide surface 31 are formed, and the permanent magnet 26 of the conveyance means 21
Among the tiles 4 placed on top and conveyed, only the tiles 4 whose display surface 5 faces down and whose longitudinal direction coincides with the conveying direction contact the lower guide surface 30 and are moved from the endless belt 25 to the side. Even if the tile 4 is pushed out, the iron plate 9 in the tile 4 approaches the permanent magnet 26 of the endless belt 25 and the magnetic force is large, so the endless belt 25
It is designed to be transported upward without falling off.

Furthermore, a tile alignment section 32 is disposed close to and parallel to the outside of the conveyance means 21, and the outlet section 28 of the conveyance means 21 is connected to the entrance section 33 of the tile alignment section 32 in the direction perpendicular thereto. A stopper 3 is provided at the entrance 33 of the tile alignment area.
7 is provided, a sensor 38 is attached to the stopper 37, and a pushing means 3 is provided adjacent to the stopper 37.
9 is provided so as to be able to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the tile alignment area 32, and when the tile 4 is sent to the tile alignment area entrance 33 by the conveying means 21 and comes into contact with the stopper 37, a detection signal from the sensor 38 is output. As a result, the pushing means 39 makes one reciprocation and the tiles 4 are pushed into the tile alignment area 32 one after another.

Therefore, the tile alignment area 32 has a bottom plate whose width is approximately equal to the vertical length of the tiles 4 and whose length is approximately equal to the length of a normal tile castle wall (the length of 17 tiles 4 arranged in the tile width direction). 34, the length is equal to the bottom plate 34, and the top and bottom width is the same as that of the tile 4.
The side plate 36 is arranged inside the casing 1 from the bottom plate 34, and the side plate 36 has a thickness approximately equal to the thickness of two stacked tiles. are pushed into the area 32 along the sloped bottom plate 35 (see Fig. 2) near the entrance 33, and when the first row of these 17 tiles 4 is finished, the sloped bottom plate 35 swings downward. The back surfaces 6 of the 17 tiles 4 in the first stage are at the same height as the top surface of the conveyance means exit section 28, and the next tile 4 to be pushed is 1.
It is designed so that it can be stacked in two tiers on top of the 17th tile 4 in the tier.

When the wall of 34 tiles in two stages, upper and lower, is completed in the tile arrangement area 32, the bottom plate 34 is raised to the same height as the elevator 40, which is closer to the outside of the casing, by a collective lateral adjustment device (not shown). After the side plate 36 is moved toward the outside of the casing, the tile wall on the tile alignment area 32 is moved to the elevator 4.
0 is starting to be played. After that, another tile 4 is placed on the front board 2 and the tile is dropped from the opening 3 to the base board 10.
When the opening 3 is closed, the elevator 40 is raised and the wall of tiles is floated above the table 2.

Further, a gate member 41, which is a part of the tile deflecting means, is provided at the conveyance means outlet section 28 so as to be freely rotatable about a vertical axis.
Until 17×2=34 tiles 4 are pushed in, the gate member 41 is retracted from the conveyance path of the conveyance means 21, and then when 34 tiles 4 are pushed into the tile alignment area 32. , the gate member 41 protrudes into the conveyance path, and the tiles 4 conveyed by the conveyance means 21 are not supplied to the tile alignment area 32 but are deflected to the side.

Furthermore, a sliding chute 42 is formed along the platform wall 12 from the inside of the conveying means outlet 28 to the next conveying means inlet 27 located on the tile agitation direction A side, and the protruding gate member 41 The tile 4, which has been deflected to the side from the conveying means 21, slides down the chute 42 with its longitudinal direction aligned with the sliding direction of the chute 42, and then moves toward the next conveying means entrance 27. It is adapted to be immediately transported to the transport means 21.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the sliding chute 42, 43 and the exit portion 43 have a bottom surface 44 that is slightly inclined upward toward the center of the casing, so that the tiles 4 sliding down the chute 42 can be The liquid does not flow into the fixed plate part 11 but is guided directly to the next conveyance means entrance part 27.

Since the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 is constructed as described above, the tile wall is formed in the following order.

After the mahjong competition ends or becomes a no-win match, the tile dropping opening 3 is opened, the tiles 4 on the top board 2 are dropped from the opening 3 onto the base board 10, and the opening 3 is closed. As the motor 14 rotates, the conveying means 21 is driven, and the tiles 4 on the fixed plate part 11 are stirred by the rotation of the tile stirring arm 16, and the conveying means 21
is carried out to the entrance section 27 of.

At the conveyance means entrance section 27, the tiles 4 are attracted to the permanent magnets 26 of the endless belt 25 due to the magnetic force between the iron plate 9 inside the tiles 4 and the permanent magnets 26 attached to the endless belt 25, and are conveyed diagonally upward. Even if only the tiles 4 with their display surfaces 5 facing downward and whose longitudinal direction coincides with the transport direction are pushed out to the side by the tile drop member 29, they are sent to the transport means outlet 28 and the tiles 4 Those whose display surfaces 5 are raised upward, and those whose side surfaces 7 or end surfaces 8 are in contact with the permanent magnet 26 are pushed out laterally by the tile dropping member 29 and removed.

Furthermore, the tiles 4 that have reached the tile alignment area entrance 33 via the conveyance means outlet 28 are pushed one by one into the tile alignment area 32 by a pushing means 39 that reciprocates in response to a detection signal from a sensor 38. .

When a total of 34 tiles 4 (17 tiles above and below) are pushed into the tile alignment area 32, the gate member 41 is projected into the conveyance path of the conveyance means 21 (see FIG. 5), and the tiles 4 are conveyed by the conveyance means 21. The tiles 4 are turned at right angles and guided into the downhill chute 42, within which they slide down to reach the entrance 27 of the next conveying means 21 adjacent thereto. This conveyance means 2
In 1, the tiles 4 sent out by the tile stirring arm 16 and the tiles 4 that slid down the above-mentioned downhill chute 42 are conveyed together, and the tiles 4 that slid down the downhill chute 42 are laid down with the display surface 5 facing downward. Since the longitudinal direction matches the conveyance direction, the tiles are not removed by the tile dropping member 29 as proper tiles suitable for being sent to the tile alignment area section 32, and in this conveyance means 21, the tiles are arranged at a high conveyance density. It is pushed into the section 32.

For this reason, in a state where two or one of the four tile alignment area units 32 has not completed supplying the 34 tiles 4, the conveyance means 2 which has completed conveyance
The tile 4 that became the proper tile in step 1 is transferred to the next conveyance means 21
Since the appropriate tiles are immediately sent to the player, the time it takes to complete the four-tile castle wall is greatly shortened.

Furthermore, since it is only necessary to select an appropriate shape for the gate member 41 and attach the sliding chute 42, the structure is simple and the cost is low.

In the embodiment described above, the permanent magnet 26 was attached to the endless belt 25 as an inclined conveying means, but a large number of small holes were provided in the endless belt 25, and the endless belt 25
It may be a negative pressure type conveying means configured to suck air only from the upper layer of the container.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal plan view illustrating an embodiment of an automatic mahjong device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof.
3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. The figure is a cross-sectional view of the conveying means, FIG. 7 is a perspective view with a tile dropping member, FIG. 8 is a plan view of a conventional automatic mahjong machine, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of the main part. 1... Casing, 2... Front panel, 3... Tile drop opening, 4... Tile, 5... Display surface, 6... Back side,
7...Side surface, 8...End face, 9...Iron plate, 10...
Base plate, 11...Fixing plate part, 12...Wall part, 13...
... Elastic cushioning material, 14 ... Motor, 15 ... Rotating shaft, 16 ... Tile stirring arm, 17 ... Rectangular center, 18 ... Stirring part, 19 ... Circumference part, 20
... Extrusion part, 21 ... Conveying means, 22, 23
...Upper pulley, 24...Lower pulley, 25...
Endless belt, 26...Permanent magnet, 27...Transporting means inlet section, 28...Transporting means outlet section, 29...Tile dropping member, 30...Upper guide section, 31...Lower guide section, 32...Tile Alignment area section, 33...Tile alignment area entrance, 34...Bottom plate, 35...Slanted bottom plate, 3
6... Side plate, 37... Stopper, 38... Sensor, 39... Pushing means, 40... Elevator,
41... Gate member, 42... Downhill chute, 4
3... Downhill chute exit section, 44... Bottom surface.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tile agitation and delivery means that stirs the tiles that have fallen from the tile drop opening on the table and sends them out to the surrounding area, a plurality of tile alignment areas arranged above the tile agitation and delivery means, and the tile agitation and delivery device. Among the tiles sent out by the means, only the tiles whose longitudinal direction is oriented in the transport direction and whose display surface is facing down are transported and sequentially sent to each of the tile alignment areas in the width direction of the tiles. When the number of tiles supplied to the tile alignment area reaches a predetermined number, the tilted conveyance means has the same number as the tile alignment area, and when the number of tiles supplied to the tile alignment area reaches a predetermined number, the direction of the tiles supplied from the inclined conveyance means to the tile alignment area is changed. A number of tile deflecting means equal to the number of the tile alignment area portions for deflecting the tiles to the side, and a longitudinal direction of the tiles deflected by the tile deflecting means are directed toward the conveying direction of the adjacent inclined conveying means on the sending side. an automatic mahjong apparatus comprising: a sliding chute 42 for guiding the player downhill to the entrance of the adjacent inclined conveyance means on the sending side;