JPH0444556B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a ball firing device used in pinball game machines such as pachinko machines and smart balls.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art A ball firing device used in a pinball game machine, such as a recent electric pachinko machine, uses a solenoid to drive a plunger, thereby firing a ball. Such a ball firing device is provided with a ball hitting power adjusting device so that the ball can be fired with the ball hitting power desired by the player. In a conventional ball firing device in which the plunger is driven by a solenoid, the current applied to the coil of the solenoid is adjusted in order to adjust the hitting force.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with the above-mentioned ball batting force adjustment device,
As the coil is used continuously for a long time, the coil generates heat and the electrical resistance changes, causing the current to change accordingly. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to maintain a constant batting force, the current changes over time, making it difficult to maintain a constant batting force. Further, even if the current is adjusted to adjust the ball hitting force, the current change due to the heat generation is superimposed on the current, making it difficult to adjust the ball hitting force as intended by the player.

These drawbacks can be solved by attaching one end of a coil spring to a ball-launching mallet and using the restoring force of the coil spring to launch the ball-launching mallet, as described in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 58-182778. The solution was to create a structure that drives the coil spring in the same direction, and connect a wire to the other end of the coil spring, and change the biasing force of the coil spring itself by pulling or returning the wire depending on the amount of rotation of the operating handle. can do. In this way, by adjusting the biasing force of the spring itself applied to the ball mallet via the mechanical interlocking mechanism, a stable ball hitting force adjustment function can be obtained with a relatively simple structure.

However, the ball hitting force adjusting device described in the above publication uses a swingably pivoted lever as a ball mallet, and has a structure in which the biasing force of a coil spring is applied when swinging in one direction. It is not possible to match the biasing force of the coil spring and the direction of its adjustment with the direction of movement of the coil spring, and wires must be routed in order to adjust the biasing force of the coil spring in conjunction with the operating handle. It cannot be made into a unit as a ball launcher. Therefore,
During assembly, each component must be assembled onto the game board one by one, which not only poses problems in terms of workability, but also requires a large amount of installation space.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a ball launching device that can stably adjust the ball hitting force, is compactly integrated into a unit, and has improved assembly workability. With the goal.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a rod-shaped ball mallet that reciprocates linearly within a cylindrical body and shoots out a ball with its tip during a backward movement; a first arm protruding from an opening formed along the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical body, and a spring holder that is housed in the cylindrical body so as to spirally surround the ball mallet, and has one end fixed to the ball mallet. a coil spring that is connected to a spring stopper that urges the ball mallet in the backward motion direction that is the direction in which the ball is launched, and whose other end is connected to a spring stopper that is movably fitted into the cylinder; , a second arm protruding from an opening formed in the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical body; the second arm is engaged with the second arm, and the spring stopper is engaged with the second arm in conjunction with the operation of the operating member for launching the ball. an adjusting member that adjusts the position of the other end of the coil spring, and the first arm are pressed to move the ball mallet a certain stroke in the forward direction to store energy in the coil spring. a drive member that releases the pressure on the first arm after the movement and moves the ball mallet back by the stored force of a coil spring; and a drive member that operates in response to the operation of the operating member to move the first arm. A ball firing device is constructed from an electromagnetic driving means for moving the driving member between a pressing position and a position where the pressing is released.

[Effect]

Depending on the amount of operation of the operating member for launching the ball, a spring stop that determines the rear end position of the coil spring moves within the cylinder along the movement direction of the ball mallet, thereby adjusting the biasing force of the coil spring. The ball mallet and the coil spring are housed in the cylinder, and the first and second arms necessary for reciprocating the ball mallet and adjusting the biasing force of the coil spring protrude outside the cylinder through an opening formed in the cylinder. Therefore, the basic components including the ball mallet and the coil spring can be assembled into a compact cylindrical unit part.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

In FIG. 3, which schematically shows a pachinko machine using the present invention, a handle 2 is provided at the lower front of the pachinko machine 1. A ball firing device 3 is connected to the handle 2, and the firing force of the pachinko balls P fired onto the board of the pachinko machine 1 can be adjusted in accordance with the amount of rotational operation of the handle 2.

In FIG. 1, which shows a schematic configuration of the ball firing device 3 viewed from the back side of the pachinko machine 1, a ball mallet 5 having a ball abutting portion 4 is housed and held in a cylinder 6 so as to be able to reciprocate. has been done. Further, a spring 7 is disposed at the rear of the ball mallet 5, and this spring 7 is inserted between a spring receiver 8 and a spring stop 9 that are integrated with the ball mallet 5.

In order to push down the ball mallet 5 against the biasing force of the spring 7, an arm 10 having a cam receiving portion 10a and a cam 12 fixed to the shaft of a drive motor 11 are provided. It becomes a driving member for operating the mallet 5. The cam 12 is
As shown in FIG. 2 when FIG. 1 is viewed from the direction of arrow B, the arm 10 is provided with three protrusions 12a, which allow the arm 10 to be moved along the chain line 10 in the direction opposite to the firing direction.
It can be pushed down to the position indicated by 0. A stopper 13 is provided to stop the ball mallet 5 at a predetermined position when it has moved in the firing direction, and a ball body 14 that comes into contact with the stopper 13 is attached to the ball mallet 5. On the other hand, an arm 15 having a lever receiving portion 15a is attached to the spring stop 9 in order to adjust the biasing force of the spring 7.

The handle shaft 16 to which the handle 2 is fixed has a
A worm 16a is attached. This worm 16a is engaged with a wheel 17 rotatably supported by a base 20. wheel 17
An adjustment piece 18 is attached to the wheel shaft 17a to which the adjustment piece 18 is fixed.
is fixed. Therefore, by rotating the handle 2 in the direction of the arrow a, the adjustment piece 18
The free end side of is rotated toward the back side of the page. Then, the arm 15 and the adjustment piece 18
A lever 19 rotatably attached to the base 20 is disposed between the base 20 and the lever 19, which is used as an adjustment member that transmits the rotation of the adjustment piece 18 to the arm 15. As a result, the arm 15 is pushed by the lever 19 and is moved, for example, to the position indicated by the chain line 200. When the arm 15 moves in this way, the spring stopper 9 is pushed up in the firing direction, which causes the spring 7 to move upward.
The urging force of can be strengthened.

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation is as follows. First, when the handle 2 is slightly rotated, a power switch (not shown) is turned on, and the drive motor 11 rotates. As a result, the cam 12 is rotated in the direction of arrow e in FIG. When the cam 12 rotates, the protrusion 12a moves the arm 10 along the two-dot chain line 1 through the cam receiving portion 10a.
As a result, the ball mallet 5 also retreats while retaining the force of the spring 7. Furthermore, cam 12
When it rotates, the engagement between the protrusion 12a and the cam receiving part 10a is released, so the pinball mallet 5 is flipped rightward by the biasing force of the spring 7, and the pachinko ball fed into the cylinder body 6 is Launch P. Note that since the cam 12 is provided with three protrusions 12a, three pachinko balls can be launched during one rotation of the drive motor 11.

The strength of the ball hitting force is adjusted according to the amount of rotation of the handle 2. That is, when the handle 2 is rotated in the direction of the arrow a, the adjustment piece 18 is rotated in the direction of the arrow c in FIG. 2 via the worm 16 and the wheel 17. As a result, the lever 19 rotates in the direction of arrow d to push up the arm 15, and the spring stopper 9 is pushed up, for example, to the position shown by the chain line 200. As a result, the biasing force of the spring 7 becomes stronger than before the spring stopper 9 is pushed up, and a stronger ball hitting force can be obtained. The biasing force of the spring 7 changes depending on the amount of rotation of the handle 2, so
By operating the handle 2, the ball hitting force can be adjusted. As long as the handle 2 is held at a constant position, the biasing force of the spring 7 is kept constant, so the ball launch force will not change due to external factors.

The present invention has been described above according to the illustrated embodiment, but the arm 15 fixed to the spring stop 9 is made to protrude not only from the bottom side of the spring stop 9 but also from the top side. Handle 2
It is effective to smoothly adjust the movement of the spring stopper 9 if it is simultaneously pushed up by the rotation of the spring stopper 9. Furthermore, in order to move the ball mallet 5, it is also possible to use a solenoid instead of the drive motor 11.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a rod-shaped ball mallet is housed in a cylinder, and a coil spring for applying a biasing force to the ball mallet in the launch direction is installed in the cylinder. The coil spring is housed in a spiral manner, and the biasing force of the coil spring can be adjusted by moving the rear end position within the cylinder, so the direction of adjustment matches the direction of movement of the ball mallet, making it accurate and stable. It is possible to obtain the ability to adjust the batting force. In addition, a ball launcher and a coil spring, which are the basic components of the ball launcher, are housed in the cylindrical body, and a first arm is provided to pull back the ball mallet while accumulating the coil spring, and the biasing force of the coil spring can be adjusted. The second arm for the ball launcher is made to protrude from the opening formed in the cylindrical body, and the acting force from the operating member and the electromagnetic driving means is transmitted to the members inside the cylindrical body through these arms. When assembling it into the game board, the basic cylindrical unit parts can be assembled separately from the operating members and electromagnetic drive means, which greatly improves work efficiency and saves a lot of space for installation. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a pachinko ball launching device according to the present invention. Figure 2 is the first
It is an explanatory diagram of the operation when viewed from the direction of arrow B in the figure. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a pachinko machine using the present invention. 2... Handle, 3... Ball launcher, 5... Ball hammer, 7... Spring, 8... Spring receiver, 9... Spring stop, 10... Arm, 11... Drive motor, 1
2...Cam, 15...Arm, 18...Adjustment piece,
19... lever.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A rod-shaped ball mallet that reciprocates linearly within a cylindrical body and shoots out a ball with its tip when making a backward movement; A first arm protrudes from an opening formed along the cylindrical body, and is housed in the cylindrical body so as to spirally surround the bullet mallet, and is connected to a spring receiver whose one end is fixed to the bullet mallet. A coil spring that urges the ball mallet in the backward movement direction that is the direction in which the ball is launched, the other end of which is connected to a spring stop that is movably fitted into the cylinder; a second arm protruding from an opening formed in the longitudinal direction; and a second arm that engages with the second arm and moves the spring stopper along the ball mallet in conjunction with the operation of the operating member for launching the ball. the adjustment member for adjusting the position of the other end of the coil spring, and the first arm are pressed to move the bouncing mallet by a certain stroke in the forward direction to store energy in the coil spring; a drive member that releases the pressure on the first arm and moves the ball mallet back by the stored force of a coil spring; and a position that operates in response to the operation of the operating member and presses the first arm. A ball firing device comprising an electromagnetic drive means for moving the drive member between a position where the pressure is released and an electromagnetic drive means. 2. The electromagnetic driving means is a motor, and the driving member is fixed to the shaft of the motor, and has a shape such that when the motor rotates in one direction, the first arm is pressed by a certain stroke and then the pressure is released. The ball launcher according to claim 1, wherein the ball launcher is a cam. 3. The ball firing device according to claim 1, wherein the operating member comprises a rotatable handle, and the adjusting member is moved in accordance with the amount of rotation of the handle.