JPH0222757Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a hot puff feeder for coins. More specifically, it is installed inside a gaming machine such as an electric slot machine, and a set number of coins (referring to coin-like coins such as medals and coins; the same shall apply hereinafter) are placed outside to be returned to the player as a prize. It relates to a hopper feeder used for discharging.

[Prior Art] A conventional hopper feeder will be explained based on FIG. 16. This hopper feeder has a plate 51 arranged at an angle of about 60 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane.
A drive shaft 53 that passes through the plate 51 and is rotatably provided with respect to the frame 52, and a disk-shaped feed disk 54 that is fixed to the front end of the drive shaft 53. There is.

A hopper 55 is attached to the plate 51 so as to surround the feed disk 54, and a bottom surface 56 of the hopper 55 is inclined so that the feed disk 54 side is downward.

The lower edge 56a of the bottom portion 56 is concave in an arc shape when viewed from the direction of arrow A, and the lower edge 56a and the outer peripheral frame 60 are smoothly continuous with a spherical curved surface 61. As a result, an arc-shaped groove portion 57 is formed between the feed disk 54 and the hopper 55, so that the coin C slides on the bottom surface portion 56.
falls into the groove 57 and is stored in an inclined state leaning against the hopper side as shown by reference numeral C1.

In addition, as a conventional hotspa feeder,
There is one shown in No. 54-70594. As shown in Figures 3 and 4 of this publication, this hopper feeder has a movable tongue attached to the bottom of the bottom of the hopper, and is configured so that the distance between the tongue and the feed disk can be adjusted to be long or short. are doing. In this hopper feeder, a coin that has slipped from the hopper enters the groove between the tongue and the feed disk, but the coin only falls at an angle toward the hopper.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] The conventional hotspa feeders all have the following problems:
When the coin C sliding on the bottom of the hopper falls into the groove, it enters in an inclined state leaning against the hopper side, but this inclined state itself is stable, and the next coin is piled on top of it. Therefore, it will remain in that state until the end.

This interferes with the agitation of the coins within the hopper and the smooth engagement of the coins with the feed disk, resulting in discontinuity in which 2 to 3 coins are fed from the hopper feeder, then a short pause, and then several more coins. , there is a problem that it takes more time than necessary to send out the coins of the hotspa feeder.

Due to the above-mentioned circumstances, in the conventional hopper feeder, the coin feeding efficiency, that is, the ratio of coins buried in the coin engaging portion of the feed disk, is suppressed to a level of about 72%, and the coin feeding efficiency is kept at a level of about 72%. The amount is only about 2.9 seconds to send 15 coins (rotation speed of feed disk is 42r, pm, number of engaging parts of feed disk is 10).
Coin outer diameter 25mm, thickness 1.6mm and weight 5
g).

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems and improve the coin feeding efficiency of the hopper feeder.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a hopper feeder that includes a feed disk that is rotatably driven around an axis that is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, and a feed disk that rotates downward toward a portion slightly above the lower end of the feed disk. The hopper is provided with a bottom part that extends at an angle and a peripheral frame that fits with the outer peripheral edge of the feed disk, and the coin falling into the groove formed between the bottom part and the feed disk is placed on the hopper side. A support portion for supporting the coin from above is disposed substantially vertically above the fitting portion of the outer peripheral frame and the feed disk, and the support portion is provided at a height to support the vicinity of the upper end of the coin, and A structural feature is that the tip is located closer to the feed disk than vertically above the fitting portion by more than half the thickness of the coin.

[Function] In the present invention, a coin sliding on the bottom of the hopper falls into the groove when it extends into the groove from the lower edge of the bottom by more than half of its width. At this time, the tip of the coin is guided by the surface of the feed disk and falls to the fitting part between the feed disk and the outer frame. At this time, the surface of the coin on the hopper side is supported by the tip of the support part, but since the tip of the support part is located on the feed disk side by more than half the thickness of the coin than vertically above the fitting part, the coin does not lean on the Hotupa side, but falls on the Feed Disk side.

Therefore, if there is an empty space in the engaging portion of the feed disk where no coins have been fitted yet, that empty area is immediately filled with coins that are about to fall toward the feed disk.

In this way, the coin feeder is operated with less empty space, so the feeding efficiency is improved.

Furthermore, since the same coins do not stay in the groove one by one, the coins in the hopper are sufficiently agitated.

[Example] Next, the hot puff feeder of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the hopper feeder of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the hopper feeder of the invention, and Fig. 3 is a line taken along the line X-X in Fig. 1.
4 is a front view of the hopper shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the hopper and feed disk related to the present invention, and FIGS. 6 to 10 are respective support parts related to the present invention. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of essential parts showing another embodiment of the hopper feeder of the present invention, and FIG.
-Y-line enlarged sectional view, FIGS. 13 and 14 are main part sectional views showing an embodiment of the engaging part according to the present invention, and FIG. 15 is a main part sectional view showing another embodiment of the hopper according to the present invention. FIG.

The basic configuration of the hopper feeder F shown in FIG. 1 is almost the same as a conventional hopper feeder (for example, the hopper feeder shown in FIG. 16).

That is, the frame 1 has a plate 2 inclined at a certain angle θ ₁ with respect to a horizontal plane, and a driving means 3 consisting of a motor and a speed reducer is attached to the back side of the plate 2. A shaft 4 of the drive means 3 passes through the plate 2, and a feed disk 5 is fixed to the tip of the shaft 4. Pins 6 are implanted on the surface 5a of the feed disk 5 at approximately equal intervals, and together with a stepped portion 7 provided at the center of the feed disk 5, form a coin engaging portion.

A hopper 8 is further fixed to the front surface of the plate 2 so as to surround the front surface of the feed disk 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hopper 8 consists of a partially cut-out annular outer frame 9 and a container-shaped receiving part 10 that is integrally connected in front of the frame 9. The receiving part 10 is a flat part. It consists of a bottom part 11 and side wall parts 12 rising from both sides and the front end of the bottom part 11, respectively. The inner surface 9a of the outer peripheral frame 9 guides the outer periphery of the coin fed by the feed disk 5, and consists of a tapered portion 9b and a straight portion 9c.

The bottom part 11 of the hopper 8 connects the hopper 8 to the plate 2.
It is inclined so as to be approximately perpendicular to the feed disk 5, that is, to be inclined at an angle θ ₂ with respect to the horizontal plane, as shown in FIG. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the bottom surface portion 11 is inclined so that the upstream side of the feed disk 5 (the left side in FIG. 4) is lower. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 2 and 4, a groove 14 is formed in the tapered portion 9b continuing from the bottom surface portion 11 at the lower end of the feed disk 5 when the hopper 8 is attached to the frame 1. A spherical curved portion 15 is provided for this purpose.

In the hopper feeder F shown in FIG. 1, the hopper 8 is provided with an extension portion 17 extending from the lower edge magnet 16 of the bottom surface portion 11. The end edge 17a of the extension part 17 constitutes a support part for supporting the upper end of the coin on the hopper side. The length of the extension part 17 is
Various choices can be made depending on the size of the coin used, but it must be of a size that allows the coin sliding on the bottom surface 11 to be guided so that it falls toward the feed disk 5 when it falls into the groove 14.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper surface 5a of the feed disk and the inner surface 9a of the outer peripheral frame of the hopper
If the line P intersects with the line P, it is preferable that the line P extends to the center R of the coin C in the thickness direction, or to some extent in front of it, when the coin C is held perpendicularly on the line P.

Further, the depth h of the curved portion 15 is preferably shallower than the outer diameter b of the coin C. Groove 14
Even if the coin C falling inward is leaning against the edge 17a of the extension part 17, there is an advantage that the coin C sliding next on the bottom part 11 will cause it to fall toward the feed disk 5 side.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the line P is curved as part of an ellipse when viewed from above, but if the end edge 17a of the extension part 17 is straight, the conditions shown in FIG. 5 are met at least in the center. It is sufficient if it is satisfied.

More preferably, the above conditions are satisfied from the upstream side (left side in FIG. 4) to the central part.
That is, the distance between the edge 17a and the feed disk 5 is small on the upstream side, and the distance is slightly larger on the downstream side (right side in FIG. 4). In this case, there is also an effect that the large number of coins C flowing from the upstream side to the downstream side are less likely to become clogged on the downstream side.

The shape of the support part for supporting the coin from the hopper side may be, for example, a plate-shaped extension part 17 simply extended from the bottom part 11 as shown in FIG. 6, or a curved shape as shown in FIG. A guard 17b is formed to prevent the coin from falling into the portion 15, or a guard 17c is provided extending to the lower end as shown in FIG. It is sufficient if it protrudes so that C can be tilted toward the feed disk 5 side.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, a projection 17d may be formed inside the curved portion 15 as a support portion,
Various modifications can be made depending on the size of the coin, such as providing an extension part 17e that curves and continues from the bottom part 11 as shown in Figure 0.

The support portion may be formed integrally with the hopper 8, or may be formed separately by sheet metal processing or the like and attached.

In the hopper feeder shown in FIG. 11, an edge member 18 for smoothly guiding the coin pushed by the pin 6 outward is provided so as to be in sliding contact with the surface 5a of the feed disk 5 and the stepped portion 7. It is being Furthermore, in order to prevent the coin C passing over the edge member 18 from dancing, the arm 19 is rotatably provided with respect to the frame 1 and is biased by a spring or the like in the direction of the arrow Q. It has a roller 20 rotatably attached to the tip of the arm 19.

As shown in detail in FIG.
A V groove 21 is formed to press the outer peripheral edge of the coin C from both the front and back sides, and one edge 22 is sunk into a step 23 formed one step lower on the outer peripheral edge of the feed disk 5. It is being

As mentioned above, when the stepped portion 23 is formed on the outer periphery of the feed disk 5, the coin C falling into the groove 14 between the hopper 8 and the feed disk 5 becomes more inclined and slides more easily. The problem is that it becomes difficult to remove.

In order to solve this problem, a first
A linear protrusion 2 that fits into a stepped portion 23 as shown in Fig. 3
4 or a step 24a shown in FIG. 14 is preferably provided. Linear protrusion 24 and stepped portion 2
The engaging portions such as 4a may be arranged so as to face the step portion 23 with a slight gap therebetween, or may be made to slide into contact with each other when formed from synthetic resin or the like.

When there is a large space 25 between the downstream side wall 12 of the hopper 8 and the feed disk 5 as shown in FIG. Sometimes I get used to it. In this case, there is a problem that the stirring action of the coins C in the hopper 8 and the coin feeding action due to the rotation of the feed disk 5 are obstructed.

In order to solve this problem, it is recommended that the spherical curved portion 15 at the lower end of the hopper 8 shown in FIG. 4 be gradually deformed into an L-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 13 toward the downstream side. preferable. In FIG. 13, the outer circumferential frame 9 of the hopper 8 substantially fits with the outer circumferential edge of the feed disk 5, and the first portion 9d is provided substantially at right angles to the feed disk 5.
and a second portion 9e extending radially inward from the front end of the first portion 9d substantially parallel to the feed disk 5, and the side wall portion 12 of the hopper 8 is attached to the inner peripheral edge of the second portion 9e. It continues approximately perpendicularly to the disk 5.

Further, when the coin C enters between the outer peripheral frame 9 and the feed disk 5, the dimensions l 1 and _l of the first portion 9d and the second portion 9e are adjusted so that the coin C becomes almost parallel to the feed disk 5. ₂ is preferably about 1/2 of the outer diameter b of the coin C.

When the hopper 8 shown in FIG.
Preferably, it is in the range H of time.

[Effects of the invention] The hot puff feeder of the present invention can eliminate the clogging and accumulation of coins in conventional hot puff feeders. As a result, the engagement rate (feeding efficiency) between the engaging part and the coin has been significantly improved from 72% in the conventional model to 84% under the same conditions. Traditional 2.9
seconds, it has been shortened to 2.5 seconds.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the hopper feeder of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the hopper feeder of the invention, and Fig. 3 is a line taken along the line X-X in Fig. 1.
4 is a front view of the hopper shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the hopper and feed disk related to the present invention, and FIGS. 6 to 10 are respective support parts related to the present invention. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of essential parts showing another embodiment of the hopper feeder of the present invention, and FIG.
-Y line sectional view, FIGS. 13 and 14 are sectional views of main parts showing an embodiment of the engaging part according to the present invention, and FIG. 15 is a main part showing another embodiment of the hopper according to the present invention. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional hopper feeder. Main symbols in the drawing: F: hopper feeder, 3: driving means, 5: feed disk, 8: hopper, 1
1: Bottom part, 17: Extension part, 23: Step part, 24:
linear protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A feed disk that is rotationally driven around an axis that is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, and a bottom surface that extends downwardly from the lower end of the feed disk toward a portion slightly above the feed disk. and a hopper having an outer peripheral frame that fits with the outer peripheral edge of the feed disk, and a support portion for supporting a coin falling into the groove formed between the bottom surface portion and the feed disk from the hopper side. is arranged substantially vertically above the fitting portion of the outer peripheral frame and the feed disk, and the support portion is provided at a height to support the vicinity of the upper end of the coin, and the tip thereof is located at the fitting portion of the coin. A hotpuff feeder for coins that is located on the side of the feed disk that is more than half the thickness of the coin than vertically above. 2. The hopper feeder according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the groove is shallower than the width of the coin, and the supporting portion is a lower edge of the bottom portion. 3. The hot puff feeder according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the groove is deeper than the width of the coin, and the support part is a guard extending vertically downward from the lower edge of the bottom part. 4. A utility model registration request wherein the feed disk has a lowered step along its outer periphery, and an engaging portion that fits into the step is provided on the inner periphery of the outer peripheral frame. Hotupfida as described in Range 1.