JPH0525518B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a distribution path for distributing pachinko balls to a large number of pachinko machines arranged in a row, and a collection system for collecting pachinko balls discharged from each of the pachinko machines. A pachinko island in which a path, and a pachinko ball storage tank that stores a large amount of pachinko balls in a space constituted by the distribution path and the collection path, and that drains the stored pachinko balls to the collection path. This invention relates to a pachinko ball lifting device installed in a.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a pachinko ball lifting device for lifting pachinko balls from a collection path at the bottom of the pachinko island to a distribution path at the top of the pachinko island is arranged on a pachinko island where a large number of pachinko machines are arranged horizontally. ing. As shown in FIG. 7, the conventional lifting device A has a conveyor belt D, which is an endless belt made of leather, between an upper roller B disposed at the upper part and a lower roller C disposed at the lower part. It has been handed down. A driven pulley H is integrally fixed to the rotating shaft of the lower roller C, and the driven pulley H is connected to the drive pulley (not shown) fixed to the motor shaft of the drive motor F via the V-belt G. connected. Therefore, the lifting device A rotates the lower roller C by transmitting the rotational force of the drive motor F through the V-belt G, thereby rotating one conveyor belt D. When the conveyor belt D rotates, the pachinko balls supplied from the recovery path I are raised by the frictional force between the conveyor belt D and the pachinko balls, and are transported to the distribution path J. At this time, since a polishing cloth storage cover E containing a built-in polishing cloth is provided at a position facing the conveyor belt D, the pachinko balls are polished at the same time as the pachinko balls are raised.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In recent years, there has been a system in which prize balls are exchanged at the end of a pachinko island. Some machines are equipped with a pachinko ball storage tank for storing balls, but in this pachinko ball storage tank, the balls that are once pushed up to the distribution path by the above-mentioned lifting device A are branched and dropped. was.
For this reason, if a large amount of balls ejected from prize exchanges and pachinko machines are released onto the pachinko island at once, the above-mentioned lifting device A cannot quickly process the balls, and the collection path is overflowing with pachinko balls, which eventually leads to the pachinko There was a problem that the balls could reach the bottom of the machine and adversely affect the operation of the pachinko machine, or the balls could become jammed in the recovery path.

In addition, if the conveyor belt D breaks due to long-term use, the above-mentioned lifting device A will not immediately lift the pachinko balls, so the pachinko balls will accumulate in the collection path in a relatively short period of time. In addition to causing the above-mentioned problems, there was also the problem that further business operations could not be conducted.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned problems. Even if a large amount of discharged balls are discharged into the collection path at once, they can be quickly transported, and even if the conveyor belt is broken, it can be carried out quickly. To provide a pachinko ball lifting device that can continue operating for a certain period of time.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the pachinko ball lifting device according to the present invention has the following features: The conveyor belts are arranged overlappingly in the front and back direction, one conveyor belt lifts the pachinko balls in the collection path to the distribution path, and the other conveyor belt conveys the pachinko balls in the recovery path. This device is characterized in that the pachinko balls are transported to a pachinko ball storage tank.

Further, among the above configurations, the pachinko ball storage tank is arranged in the lower internal space of the pachinko island,
The above object is achieved by driving the overlapping conveyor belts by the lower roller having a built-in drive source, and by forming the other conveyor belt to be shorter and wider than the one conveyor belt. This can be achieved more reliably.

[Function] Pachinko balls accumulated in the collection path are transferred to the distribution path,
Alternatively, since the balls are transported to a pachinko ball storage tank, the transport process can be performed quickly and the load on each conveyor belt can be reduced. In addition, even if the conveyor belt that lifts the balls to the distribution path breaks, the conveyor belt that lifts the balls to the pachinko ball storage tank is still operating, so pachinko balls will not overflow into the collection path and the specified number of balls will not be overflowing. Business operations can continue within the specified time (the time until the pachinko ball storage tank is full).

In addition, if the conveyor belt used to transport pachinko balls to the pachinko ball storage tank is made short and wide, the above-mentioned rapid processing can be further facilitated, and the durability of the conveyor belt can be increased, and the distribution route can be shortened and widened. Since the conveyor belt can be used for a longer period of time than the conveyor belt that lifts the conveyor belt to the distribution path, it is possible to more reliably handle the case where the conveyor belt that lifts the conveyor belt to the distribution path breaks.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the structure of a pachinko island to which the lifting device according to the embodiment is applied will be explained with reference to FIG. 2. In the figure, a large number of pachinko machines 2 are arranged horizontally on a pachinko island 1, and the pachinko machines 2
A distribution path 3 for distributing pachinko balls to each pachinko machine 2 is provided above the pachinko machine 2 so as to be inclined toward the end. Further, below the pachinko machine 2, a collection path 4 is provided at an angle so that the pachinko balls discharged from each pachinko machine 2 are collected on one side (in the case of the illustrated embodiment, the center of the pachinko island 1). It is being Furthermore, a prize exchanger 5 is installed at the end of the pachinko island 1 (both ends in the illustrated embodiment) for exchanging prize balls won by players with prizes (cards with the type of prize written on them). Players can now throw in the prize balls they have won. The thrown pachinko balls flow down the recovery path 4 and reach a lifting device 10, which will be described later.

Further, in the internal space of the pachinko island 1, a pachinko ball storage tank 6 for storing a large amount (tens of thousands to 100,000) of pachinko balls is arranged. This pachinko ball storage tank 6 may be placed at any position within the space within the pachinko island 1, but it is preferably placed at a position corresponding to the end of the collection path 4 as in the illustrated embodiment. . In addition, the storage capacity of the pachinko ball storage tank 6 is designed so that, in principle, the total number of pachinko balls owned by the game parlor can be equally divided by the number of pachinko islands. Therefore, in the case of the illustrated embodiment, the number of pachinko balls stored in both the left and right pachinko ball storage tanks is divided equally, but in an average game hall, the number of balls is approximately 100,000. Become. Furthermore, the pachinko ball storage tank 6 stores pachinko balls transported by a transport belt 12, which will be described later.
The stored pachinko balls are configured to flow out to the recovery path 4 when the number of remaining pachinko balls in the recovery path 4 becomes small. That is, when there are many pachinko balls flowing down the collection path 4,
Pachinko balls flowing down the recovery path 4 are supplied with priority to the lifting device 10, which will be described later, and as the remaining pachinko balls at the downstream end of the recovery path 4 decrease, the pachinko balls stored in the pachinko ball storage tank 6 are gradually removed. It is designed to flow out and be sent to a transport station.

On the other hand, in the center of the pachinko island 1, a lifting device 10, which is the main part of this embodiment, is erected. The structure of this lifting device 10 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 to 6. Inside the lifting device 10, two conveyor belts 11 and 12 of different lengths
are provided overlappingly in the front and rear direction. That is, the long conveyor belt 11 has an upper roller 14 arranged at the upper part and a lower roller 1 arranged at the lower part.
3, a short conveyor belt 12
The upper roller 15 and the lower roller 13 are arranged at an upper part lower than the upper roller 14.
It is passed between. Further, the short conveyor belt 12 is formed wider than the long conveyor belt 11, and in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. The conveyor belt 1
1, three rows of pachinko balls are transported. By setting in this way, the durability of the short conveyor belt 12 is increased, the load on the long conveyor belt 11 is reduced, and the service life of both conveyor belts 11 and 12 is increased. ing. Thus, the long conveyor belt 11 described above transports the pachinko balls collected in the collection path 4 to the distribution path 3, and the short conveyor belt 2 transports the pachinko balls collected in the collection path 4. Pachinko balls are transported to the pachinko ball storage tank 6.

The lifting device 0 also has polishing cloth storage covers 16 and 17 on one side thereof (the surface facing the surface on which the conveyor belts 11 and 12 move upward) for storing polishing cloths for polishing pachinko balls. is attached so that it can be opened and closed freely. This polishing cloth storage cover 16,
Although not shown, a plurality of semicircular grooves 17 are formed so that the pachinko balls are housed in a line, and a polishing cloth is housed in these grooves, and the pachinko balls are rubbed to perform the ball polishing process. In addition, the polishing cloth
The abrasive cloth is arranged upward in a roll shape, and the tip thereof passes through the abrasive cloth storage covers 16 and 17 and is wound downward, so that a predetermined period of time (for example, business hours of one day) has elapsed. As a result, the dirty part is wound up and the clean part is transferred to conveyor belt 1.
1 and 12, so that ball polishing is always performed accurately. For this reason,
When all the polishing cloths have been used, they must be replaced with new ones, but this replacement work is done by pulling out the lifting device 10 from the pachinko island 1 and then opening the polishing cloth storage covers 16 and 17. and do it. Note that the abrasive cloth corresponding to the short conveyor belt 2 is formed wide as a matter of course, and the abrasive cloth corresponding to the long conveyor belt 11 is formed small in width. The belt 12 lifts a large number of pachinko balls, and the polishing cloth gets dirty relatively easily, whereas the long conveyor belt 11 lifts a relatively small number of pachinko balls, so the polishing cloth gets dirty. becomes less. Therefore, it is expected that replacing the short conveyor belt 12 will be complicated, so when installing the lifting device 10 on the pachinko island 1, it should be arranged so that the short belt 12 is on the front side. It's better to do so.

Further, an adjustment roller 18 that comes into contact with the conveyor belts 11 and 12 is arranged near the upper part of the lower roller 13. Since the adjustment roller 18 always presses the conveyor belts 11 and 12 inward by a spring (not shown), the conveyor belts 11 and 12
12 maintains a tense state. Then, the conveyor belts 11, 12 and the polishing cloth storage covers 16, 1
7 and conveyor belt 1 while holding the pachinko balls between them.
The pachinko ball is lifted and moved upward by the friction force of 1.12.

Incidentally, a drive mechanism that applies rotational force to the conveyor belts 11 and 12 is built into the lower roller 13. Here, the structure of the lower roller 13 will be explained with reference to the sectional view of FIG. 5. The lower roller 13 is a so-called motor pulley, and a drive pulley 20 is rotatably supported on a support shaft 19. . Further, a stator case 21 is fixed inside the support shaft 19, and the stator case 21 is fixed to the inside of the support shaft 19.
A stator 22 having a coil wire wound around the outer periphery of the stator 22 is fixed. On the other hand, a rotor shaft 24 is rotatably supported in the center of the stator case 21, and a rotor 23 wound with a coil wire is disposed around the rotor shaft 24 so as to face the stator 22. . That is, a normal drive motor is disposed within the drive pulley 20, and when energized, the rotor 23 rotates. A pinion gear 25a is formed at one end of the rotor shaft 24, and a gear gear 25b is engaged with the pinion gear 25a. Gear gear 25b
is rotatably supported by the stator case 1, and a pinion gear 25c is formed at the tip of the rotating shaft. The pinion gear 25c is adapted to engage with an internal gear 25d formed inside one side of the drive pulley 20.

Since the lower roller 13 (motor pulley) has the above-mentioned configuration, when energized, the stator 2
2 and the rotor 23, the rotor shaft 24
rotates, and this rotation is transmitted to the drive pulley 20 via the pinion gear 25a, gear gear 25b, pinion gear 25c, and internal gear 25d, causing the drive pulley 20 to rotate. Therefore, the conveyor belts 11 and 12 are wound around the outer periphery of the drive pulley 20 to rotate. The support shaft 19 of the lower roller 13 is fixedly supported by a support member 29, as shown in FIG.
Since it is necessary to replace 1 and 12, the support member 29 and the support shaft 19 are configured to be detachably fixed. Note that the lower roller 13 shown in FIG.
Although shown as being divided, they are actually indivisible.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in the direction of rotational entry of the lower roller 13, an alignment gutter 26 connected to the collection path 4 is arranged, and a bent gutter 27 is arranged continuously to the alignment gutter 26. At the tip of the bent gutter 27,
The lower ends of the polishing cloth storage covers 16 and 17 are connected. These alignment gutter 26 and bent gutter 27 have storage grooves 28 formed so as to be continuous with the plurality of grooves formed on the front surfaces of the polishing cloth storage covers 16 and 17, and pachinko balls are aligned along these storage grooves 28. (See Figure 6). A return gutter 30 is connected to the upper end of the lifting belt 2, and this return gutter 30 is connected to the pachinko ball storage tank 6.

The configuration of the lifting device 10 according to the embodiment has been described above, but according to this lifting device 10,
Under normal business conditions, the pachinko balls gathered on the circuit path 4 are transported between the two conveyor belts 1.
1 and 12 to the distribution path 3 and the pachinko ball storage tank 6, respectively. Although this lifting capacity is somewhat related to the width of the conveyor belts 11 and 12, it can be changed more by the number of storage grooves 28 formed in the alignment gutter 26 and the bending gutter 27. By adjusting these numbers, the lifting capacity of each of the conveyor belts 11 and 12 can be freely adjusted. Further, the pachinko balls lifted by the conveyor belt 2 are stored in a pachinko ball storage tank 6, and when the remaining amount in the recovery path 4 becomes small, the stored balls are discharged to the recovery path 4 again. It is transported by conveyor belts 11 and 12.

On the other hand, if the pachinko balls from the prize exchanger 5 or the balls discharged from each pachinko machine 2 are concentrated on the collection path 4 in a short period of time, the pachinko balls from the collection path 4 are Pachinko balls are quickly transported by the belts 11 and 12, and in particular, the wide transport belt 12 has a large lifting capacity to send them to the pachinko ball storage tank 6, so that the end of the collection path 4 is not overflowing with pachinko balls. It is processed smoothly.
Therefore, clogging of balls does not occur in the recovery path 4.

Furthermore, even if the conveyor belt 11 that transports the distribution route 3 is damaged during operation due to long-term use, the pachinko balls collected in the recovery route 4 can be stored by the other conveyor belt 12. Since the pachinko balls are transported to the tank 6, the recovery path 4 is not overflowed with pachinko balls, so that business operations can be continued. However, in this case, the time that can continue is the time until the pachinko balls are stored in the pachinko ball storage tank 6, but the pachinko ball storage tank 6 is designed to be able to store a considerable amount of pachinko balls. Therefore, the duration can be secured to some extent. Note that if the conveyor belt 11 breaks, pachinko balls will not be supplied to the distribution path 4; however, in recent game halls, pachinko balls from other pachinko islands are supplied to the distribution path 4 through inter-island equal circulation processing. It is becoming more and more common. Therefore, the above-mentioned business operations will continue without any hindrance.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the motor pulley is shown as a device that drives the conveyor belts 11 and 12, but of course they may be driven by a normal drive motor as in the past, but By using a motor pulley, the structure of the drive mechanism of the lifting device 10 becomes simple, and the work of replacing the conveyor belts 11 and 12 can be performed extremely simply and easily. Furthermore, by using a motor pulley, the width of the motor pulley can be used to the maximum extent possible in the limited space of a pachinko island. It also has the advantage that the abilities can be set freely.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, the pachinko ball lifting device according to the present invention lifts the pachinko balls by means of a conveyor belt that is stretched around rollers arranged at the upper and lower parts. The conveyor belts are arranged to overlap in the front and back direction, one conveyor belt lifts the pachinko balls in the collection path to the distribution path, and the other conveyor belt transports the pachinko balls in the recovery path. Since the configuration is such that the pachinko balls are transported to the pachinko ball storage tank, the pachinko balls collected in the recovery path can be transported quickly and smoothly.
Pachinko balls do not overflow from the collection path or jam the balls. In addition, even if the conveyor belt that transports the distribution route breaks during operation, the pachinko balls collected in the collection route are transported to the pachinko ball storage tank by the other conveyor belt, so the balls can be recovered. Since pachinko balls do not overflow from the route, business operations can be continued for a predetermined time.

Further, by forming the conveyor belt for transporting the balls to the pachinko ball storage tank to be short and wide, the above-mentioned effects can be more reliably achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the relationship between the lifting device, the distribution path, the collection path, and the pachinko ball storage tank, Figure 2 is a side view showing the entire pachinko island where the lifting device is installed, and Figure 3 is a perspective view of the lifting device, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the lifting device to accommodate two conveyor belts, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the lower roller (motor pulley), and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the lifting device. , a front view of the lower roller portion, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional lifting device. 1... Pachinko island, 2... Pachinko machine, 3...
Distribution path, 4... Recovery path, 6... Pachinko ball storage tank, 10... Lifting device, 11, 12... Conveyance belt, 13... Lower roller (motor pulley),
14, 15... Upper roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A distribution path that distributes pachinko balls to a large number of pachinko machines arranged in a row, a collection path that collects pachinko balls discharged from each of the pachinko machines, and the distribution path and the collection path. A pachinko ball transporting device installed on a pachinko island, comprising: a pachinko ball storage tank that stores a large amount of pachinko balls in a space configured therein and discharges the stored pachinko balls to the collection path; The lifting device is configured to lift the pachinko balls by means of a conveyor belt that is stretched around rollers disposed at the upper and lower parts, and the conveyor belts are provided redundantly in the front and rear direction. , one conveyor belt transports the pachinko balls in the collection path to the distribution path, and the other transport belt transports the pachinko balls in the collection path to the pachinko ball storage tank. Pachinko ball lifting device. 2. The pachinko ball storage tank is arranged in a lower internal space of the pachinko island, and the overlapping conveyor belts are driven by the lower roller having a built-in drive source, and the other conveyor belt is driven by the one conveyor belt. The pachinko ball lifting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device is shorter and wider than a belt.