JPH044912B2 - - 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 tiles, change them in a predetermined direction, align them, set them at a predetermined location on a table, etc. This invention relates to a tile return structure for returning tiles whose display surfaces face in various directions so that the display surfaces face downward or upward.

[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, a means for transferring the completed tile wall on the tile arrangement table to a predetermined location on the table, etc.

Japanese Patent Application No. 57-47362 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-26058) relating to the present inventor's invention discloses an automatic mahjong device equipped with such means; The tiles with built-in magnets, which have been stirred on the platform and pushed toward the periphery of the platform, are brought to the entrance of the inclined conveyance means of the belt conveyor type,
Due to the magnetic force of the magnet built into the inclined conveyance means,
Only the tiles whose display surface faces downward and whose longitudinal direction is the traveling direction are attracted and conveyed to the upper tile alignment area. The tiles arrive at the entrance of the inclined conveyance means in various states. In other words, something that advances in the longitudinal or lateral direction while lying down with the display surface or back facing downwards, or one that advances in the longitudinal or lateral direction while standing with one of the four sides perpendicular to the display surface facing downwards. There are various things that can progress. Therefore, a protruding guide is provided on the base plate side of the inlet of the inclined conveying means, and the tiles advancing in the lateral direction are turned when they hit this protruding guide and change the direction of movement to the longitudinal direction. A tile return member is provided above the entrance and crosses the entrance, and the tile return member is used to knock over tiles that have been advancing with their sides facing down, so that the longitudinal direction is the direction of travel. Only tiles with display faces facing downward or upward are placed on the inclined transport means, and tiles with display faces facing upward are caused to fall to the side by the repulsive force of the magnet and the sideward inclination of the transport means. .

[Problem to be solved]

However, with the above-mentioned tile return member, among the tiles that advance in a standing state, tiles whose advancing direction is perpendicular to the display surface fall down as desired, but tiles whose advancing direction is parallel to the display surface fall down as desired. There was a fear that the tiles would not be turned downward or upward, and that they would pass through the tile return member with their longitudinal sides facing downward, or that they would get stuck in the tile return member and obstruct the progress of subsequent tiles. When this situation occurs, it takes time to shape the wall, and as a result,
In the case of a win immediately after the start of the game or nine stacked nine tiles (a situation where nine old head tiles and letter tiles match at the beginning of the tile distribution or in the first hand, resulting in a no-win match), the next competition must be started immediately. It becomes impossible to do so, and the interest of the competitors is lost.

[Means and actions for solving the problem]

The present invention relates to an improvement of the tile return structure of an automatic mahjong machine that overcomes such difficulties, and uses rectangular parallelepiped tiles whose thickness, which is the dimension between the tile display surface and the back surface thereof, is smaller than the width and length, a pedestal located below a tile drop opening on a tabletop, on which tiles containing a magnet or magnetic material are placed; a tile stirring arm that rotates along the top surface of the pedestal and pushes the tiles toward the periphery of the pedestal; An automatic mahjong machine comprising: a tile alignment area provided above the platform; and a conveying means for sucking tiles on the platform and conveying them to the tile alignment area, At least a part of the section includes a substantially vertical peripheral wall portion provided on the base plate along the rotation path of the outer end of the tile stirring arm, and an upper surface of the base plate adjacent to the peripheral wall portion of the tile stirring arm. It is characterized by a V-shaped groove in cross section that is formed so that it gradually approaches the peripheral wall portion and becomes shallower in the direction of travel.

The tiles used in the automatic mahjong device of the present invention are rectangular parallelepipeds in which the thickness, which is the dimension between the tile display surface and the back surface, is smaller than the width and length. , the center of gravity is higher and unstable compared to a state where the tile display surface is along the horizontal direction.

Further, in the present invention, a substantially perpendicular peripheral wall portion is provided in at least a part of the peripheral portion of the base plate along the rotation path of the outer end of the tile stirring arm, and the upper surface of the base plate portion adjacent to the peripheral wall portion is provided with a peripheral wall portion that is substantially perpendicular to the rotation path of the outer end of the tile stirring arm. Since the V-shaped groove in cross section is formed so that it gradually approaches the peripheral wall portion and becomes shallower in the direction of movement of the arm,
While the tiles, whose tile display surfaces face in various directions, are moved and stirred by the tile agitation arm along the circumferential direction of the platform on the platform, the ridge corner of the tile is moved into the V-shaped cross section. However, if the tile display surface is along the horizontal plane and the edge of the tile falls into the V-shaped groove, the center of gravity of the tile will be lower than when the tile display surface is vertical. Since the tile is stable, it moves along the V-shaped groove in cross section and approaches the peripheral wall portion, and the ridge corner that is closer to the peripheral wall portion than the ridge corner that has fallen into the V-shaped groove in cross section touches the peripheral wall portion. Even if the tiles touch and are pushed toward the center of the platform, they do not rotate and the cross section V
Even after passing through the character-shaped groove, the tile display surface remains along the horizontal plane.

However, if the edge of the tile whose tile display surface is along the vertical plane falls into the V-shaped cross-sectional groove, the center of gravity of the tile becomes higher than when the tile display surface is horizontal and becomes unstable. Therefore, when the ridge corner near the peripheral wall is pushed toward the center of the base plate by movement along the V-shaped groove, the tile rotates toward the center of the base plate.
The tile display surface is oriented along the horizontal plane.

In this way, in the present invention, the tiles being stirred on the table by the tile stirring arm are kept in a stable state by the peripheral wall portion and the V-shaped groove, that is, in a state where the tile display surface is along the horizontal plane. Since the player moves to the state, the required return of tiles can be carried out reliably.

In addition, in the present invention, the tiles can be turned over while they are being stirred on the platform, so the tiles can be continuously transported to the tile alignment area without being temporarily interrupted. The time required to place the tiles can be drastically shortened, which can arouse the interest of the players.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since the tiles are returned while the tiles are being stirred by the tile stirring arm, no moving parts are required for the tile return mechanism, and the structure can be significantly simplified, resulting in significant cost reductions and increased durability. You can improve your performance.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an automatic mahjong apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the inside of the automatic mahjong apparatus with the front panel removed. This automatic mahjong machine has a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped casing 1 and a top board 2 which covers the upper opening of the casing 1 so as to be openable and closable, and the game is played on the top board 2. A tile drop opening 3 that can be opened and closed is provided in the center of the front board 2. Each time the game ends, open this opening 3 as shown in the figure and drop the tiles 4 on the front board 2 onto the base board. It is designed to fall on top of 5.

Further, the base plate 5 includes a fixed disc part ₅₁ for receiving the tiles 4 that have fallen from the opening 3, and a fixed disc part ₅₁ .
The surface of _the fixed disc part ₅₁ is covered with an elastic member E to prevent the tiles 4 from being damaged when they are dropped and to suppress impact noise. desirable. However, in order to prevent the tiles 4 from becoming difficult to move, avoid increasing the friction on the surface too much.

Further, a rotating shaft 7 driven by a motor 6 is provided approximately at the center of the fixed disk portion ₅₁ , and four tile stirring arms 8 are attached to this rotating shaft 7. The tiles 4 are stirred by rotating in the direction of the arrow a in _FIG . As shown in FIG. 2, the tile stirring arm 8 includes a portion 8 ₁ extending approximately radially from the rotation shaft 7, and a portion 8 ₂ bent at its tip and extending in the opposite direction to the rotation direction a. , and a portion 8 ₂ further bent in the radial direction at the tip of the circumferential portion 8 ₂ . The tiles 4 deposited on the fixed disk part 5 ₁ of the base plate 5 are moved by this tile stirring arm 8
At this time, the tiles that are in contact with the radial portion 8 ₁ of the arm 8 should have their longitudinal direction aligned with the radial portion 8 ₁ and the display surface facing downward, due to the stability condition of the tile. Or, there are many tiles that are laid down facing up, and such tiles are tile 4 shown in Figure 2.
₁ , rotate at the tip of the radial portion 8 ₁ ,
Along the circumferential portion 8 ₂ , it reaches the entrance portion 10 of the conveying means 9 in a lying state with the longitudinal direction as the forward direction. Of course, not all of the tiles that reach the entrance section 10 are in the above state, and there are also tiles in other states.

Furthermore, the conveying means 9 has a belt conveyor structure, as shown in FIG. It consists of an endless belt 14, and on the surface of the belt 14 there are many permanent magnets 15 whose magnetic poles are alternately changed along its longitudinal direction (however, among the many permanent magnets 15 there are blocks of the same size made of synthetic resin). (Two pieces are inserted to prevent tiles from clogging.)
The permanent magnet 15 is tapered toward the tile conveying surface 15 ₁ (see FIG. 3), and the width of the belt 14 is approximately equal to or less than the width of the tile 4. It's getting a little narrow. On the other hand, each tile 4 has a display surface 4a as shown in FIG.
A magnetic material, for example, an iron piece 30 is buried near the surface (on which characters and figures are carved). Since the tiles 4 are conveyed across two adjacent permanent magnets 15 as shown in FIG.
From the S pole of one permanent magnet 15 to the iron piece 30 inside the tile 4
A line of magnetic force is generated that passes through the magnetic field and reaches the N pole of the other permanent magnet 15, and therefore, only the tiles with the display surface 4a facing downward are attracted to the tile conveying surface ₁₅₁ by this magnetic action. Also shown at 30 are the magnetic poles N, S induced by the permanent magnet 15).

In addition, a tile dropping member 16 is fixed at a suitable position on a portion of the wall portion 5 ₂ of the base plate 5 along the endless belt 14 , and a permanent magnet 15 is attached to the tile dropping member 16 .
A lower guide surface 17 slightly protruding from the wall portion ₅₂ and an upper guide surface 18 largely protruding are provided above. A slope 19 is provided on the fixed disk portion 5 ₁ side of the endless belt 14 and is inclined from the height of the endless belt 14 toward the fixed disk portion 5 ₁ . A guide protrusion 20 is provided in a protruding manner at the position.

Furthermore, the tiles 4 are sent in various states to the entrance portion 10 of the conveyance means 9 as described above, and the tiles 4 are sent to the entrance portion 10 of the conveying means 9, and the permanent magnet 15
Among these tiles, as shown in FIG. It is attracted to the surface of the magnet and is conveyed by the belt 14, and even if it comes into contact with the lower guide surface 17 on the way and is slightly displaced, it will not protrude from the permanent magnet 15. Also, even if the traveling direction is other than the longitudinal direction, if the display surface is facing downward, it will be attracted to the surface of the permanent magnet 15.
The guide protrusion 20 allows the material to be turned along the surface and transported in the longitudinal direction. However, the one with the back surface 4b (see FIG. 3) facing downward is not attracted to the surface of the permanent magnet 15, but is repelled to the side by the lower guide surface 17, and the inclined surface 1
9 to the lower fixed disk portion ₅₁ .
A tile standing with the side surface 4c (see FIG. 3) facing downward is repelled by the upper guide surface 18 and similarly slides down along the slope 19 onto the fixed disc portion ₅₁ .

In this way, only the tiles whose display surface faces downward and whose traveling direction is the longitudinal direction are sorted out and reach the upper end of the endless belt 14. A stopper 21 is provided at the upper end of the endless belt 14, and the tiles are When the stopper 21 is contacted, the pushing means 22 operates in response to a detection signal from a sensor attached to the stopper 21.
The tiles are pushed out one after another laterally into the tile alignment area 23.

The tile alignment area 23 has a groove shape 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 lined up). The depth of the groove is approximately equal to the thickness of two stacked tiles 4. The first 17 tiles 4 sent into the tile alignment area 23 enter the area 23 along the inclined bottom plate 24 (FIG. 1) provided near the entrance, and the alignment of these 17 tiles is completed. When the tilted bottom plate 24 is swung downward, the backs of the 17 tiles are at the same height, and the next tile sent in is stacked one after another on top of the previous 17 tiles. When the tile wall is completed in the tile arrangement area 23 in this manner, the tile wall is transferred to the elevator 25 by a batch extrusion device (not shown). The elevator 2
5 then rises, causing the tile castle wall to float through a long hole provided at a predetermined position in the game on the front board 2. thus,
The remaining three sets of tiles are completed one after another or simultaneously, and the other long holes on the table come out, completing preparations for the start of the game.

Furthermore, when the tile wall is completed in the tile alignment area 23, the gate members 26 provided on the conveying means 9 corresponding to the tile alignment area 23 are shown at the two corners on the upper left and lower right sides of FIG. Rotate the tiles as shown and place the subsequent correctly oriented tiles on the slideway 27.
direct to. This tile slides down the slideway 27 onto the permanent magnet 15 of the next conveying means 9 opposite its exit and is conveyed by the conveying means 9 to the next tile alignment area 23. When the tile castle wall is completed in this tile alignment area 23,
In the same way, the tiles are further sent to the next tile alignment area section 23, and in this way, the correctly oriented tiles that are once sorted are not dropped into the fixed disk section ₅₁ again, but are placed in any tile alignment area. Sent to area department 23, 4
Two tile castle walls are efficiently constructed.

As described above, the tile wall can be assembled quickly in this embodiment. However, in order to assemble the tile wall even more quickly, it is necessary to assemble tiles in incorrect orientations mixed in the tiles sent to the entrance section 10 of the conveying means 9. It is necessary to reduce the number of tiles as much as possible, and at least
At 0, it is desirable that all the tiles are in a state with the display surface 4a facing downward or upward.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the fixed disk portion 5 ₁
is provided with a unique tile return means so that the majority of the tiles are already lying on the fixed disc portion ₅₁ .

That is, in this embodiment, the slope 19
A circumferential wall portion 28 is provided along the peripheral edge of the fixed disk portion 5 ₁ and substantially perpendicular to the disk portion 5 ₁ at the lower portion of the fixed disk portion 5 ₁ , and adjacent to this circumferential wall portion 28 . A groove 29 is cut into the top. This groove 29
As shown in FIG. 2, is arranged so as to gradually approach the cutting peripheral wall portion 28 in the direction of rotation of the tile stirring arm 8 shown by arrow a, and the cross section is shown in FIG. 4. It has a V-shape, and the longitudinal section along the center line becomes gradually shallower in the direction of the arrow a, as shown in FIG. The tip of the tile stirring arm 8 approaches the peripheral wall portion 28 and rotates along it. A recess forming an extension of the surface of the fixed disk portion ₅₁ may be formed in the lower part of the peripheral wall portion 28, and the tip of the tile stirring arm 8 may pass through this recess.

Since the peripheral wall portion 28 and the groove 29 are arranged in the above-mentioned relationship, for example, the chain line 4' in a of FIG.
A tile that has been pushed into the groove 29 in a standing state with its longitudinal side surface 4c facing downward falls into this groove 29 and becomes inclined as shown by the solid line 4 in the figure. And in this state groove 2
However, since the groove 29 gradually approaches the peripheral wall portion 28 as described above, as the tile 4 advances, the peripheral wall portion 28 moves along the tile 4 as shown in FIGS. It comes into contact with the outermost end of and gradually pushes this part toward the fixed disc part ₅₁ . As a result, the tile 4 rotates using the top 29' of the groove 29 as a fulcrum, and the display surface 4 is rotated as shown in FIG. 6d.
It will be in a state where a is facing downward or upward.

Figure 7 shows a tile 4 that has been pushed into the groove 29 while standing with its short side 4c' facing downward.
An example of this behavior is shown below. In this case, depending on the length and angle of the slope of the groove, the tile 4 may roll onto the slope 29 1 on the opposite side of the groove 29 as shown by the solid line 4, and due to inertia, the tile ₄ may roll onto the slope 29 ₁ on the opposite side of the groove 29. It stops with the display surface 4a facing downward or upward as shown by the dotted line 4'' at the top.The tiles remaining in the groove 29 are removed by the peripheral wall portion 28 in the same manner as in the case of FIG. The outermost end is pushed and it ends up in a 4'' state.

The groove 29 is arranged in the direction of movement of the tile stirring arm 8.
Since the disk portion ₅₁ extends obliquely from the center side to the outer circumferential side, most of the tiles 4 fall into the groove 29 from the outer circumferential side, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

In this embodiment, such a groove 29 and peripheral wall portion 28 are used.
are provided at four locations, as shown in _FIG . Since the tiles are placed facing upward, there are almost no tiles that are pushed by the tile agitating arm 8 to the entrance section 10 of the conveying means 9 and are standing with their sides facing down. The number of tiles removed on 9 is reduced, the efficiency of tile arrangement is increased, and the time required to complete the tile castle wall is shortened. Further, there is no need to provide a tile return means for knocking down the standing tiles at the entrance portion 10, and troubles such as tile jamming caused by such a tile return means are eliminated.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment in which the cross-sectional shape of the groove 29 is gradually changed in the advancing direction, and the tile 4 is pushed by the peripheral wall portion 28 and gradually rotates from a to c as in the case of FIG. 6. However, at this time, the tiles 4 are also rotated by the grooves 29 themselves.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an automatic mahjong device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same device with the front panel removed, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a conveyance means and tiles placed on it. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the groove, Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, Figs. 6 and 7 are drawings for explaining the functions of the groove and the surrounding wall portion, and Fig. 8 is an explanation of another embodiment. It is a diagram. 1...Casing, 2...Top plate, 3...Tile drop opening, 4...Tile, 5...Base board, 6...Motor,
7...Rotating shaft, 8...Tile stirring arm, 9...Transporting means, 10...Inlet section, 11, 12...Upper pulley, 13...Lower pulley, 14...Endless belt,
15...Permanent magnet, 16...Tile dropping member, 17...
... lower guide surface, 18 ... upper guide surface, 19 ... slope, 20 ... guide projection, 21 ... stopper, 22
...Extrusion means, 23...Tile alignment area section, 24...
... Sloped bottom plate, 25 ... Elevator, 26 ... Gate member, 27 ... Slideway, 28 ... Peripheral wall portion, 2
9... Groove, 30... Iron piece.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Using a rectangular parallelepiped tile whose thickness, which is the dimension between the tile display surface and its back surface, is smaller than the width and length,
a pedestal located below a tile drop opening on a tabletop, on which tiles containing a magnet or magnetic material are placed; a tile stirring arm that rotates along the top surface of the pedestal and pushes the tiles toward the periphery of the pedestal; An automatic mahjong machine comprising: a tile alignment area provided above the platform; and a conveying means for sucking tiles on the platform and conveying them to the tile alignment area, At least a part of the section includes a substantially vertical peripheral wall portion provided on the base plate along the rotation path of the outer end of the tile stirring arm, and an upper surface of the base plate adjacent to the peripheral wall portion of the tile stirring arm. A tile return structure for an automatic mahjong machine, characterized in that it consists of a V-shaped groove in cross section that is formed so that it gradually approaches the peripheral wall portion and becomes shallower in the advancing direction.