JPH065688U - Ball counting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The structure is simplified and the flow of balls can be stopped by automatic operation even during ball counting. [Structure] A counting unit 6 is provided at a ball discharge port 7 of a hopper 4 that receives a ball 3 which is a magnetic material, the balls 3 are aligned and passed in a plurality of rows and detected by a detection unit 9, and calculation is performed by the detection signal. In the ball counter 1 for displaying the number of balls on the display unit 10, an electromagnet shutter 8 is provided in the vicinity of the ball discharge port 7 of the hopper 4 and the counting unit 6, and the electromagnet shutter 8 is turned on and off when necessary. , Stop and pass the ball 3.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a ball counting machine such as a pachinko ball.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 As shown in FIG. 6, a conventional ball counter 1b is connected to a hopper b that receives a pachinko ball a, a slide plate type shutter d provided in a ball discharge port c below the hopper b, and a ball discharge port c. The ball a is arranged in a plurality of rows and is gradually narrowed from the base end side near the ball discharge port c to the tip side with respect to the bottom plate having an inclination of a predetermined angle. Counting unit e to be passed, detection unit f for detecting each ball a passing through each row of this counting unit e, and calculation for displaying the number of balls passing through counting unit e based on the signal of this detection unit f A display unit is provided, and downstream of the ball counter 1b, various equipments such as a lifter for carrying the ball a upwards and a polishing device for removing dirt and the like from the ball a are installed. .

When a customer inserts a pachinko ball a into the hopper b of the ball counter 1b, the bottom plate of the hopper b is inclined toward the ball discharge port c, so the ball a is discharged from the ball discharge port. The balls a are rolled toward c, fall into the counting unit e from the ball discharge port c, and are divided by the side plates and the bottom plate to pass the balls a one by one. To align. Since the plurality of passages are inclined and gradually narrowed, the balls a arranged in a plurality of rows pass through the rolling detection portion f one by one. The detection part f has a lamp g which is a light emitting part and an optical sensor h which is a light receiving part. When the ball a passes the detection part f and blocks the light of the lamp g, the optical sensor h takes out as a pulse signal, The number of pulse signals for each passage is added for the number of passages to count the number of balls a, which is displayed on the calculation display unit. After that, the clerk presses the slide plate type shutter d to close the ball discharge port c. This is because before the number of balls displayed on the calculation display unit is set to 0, another customer throws the ball a into the ball counter 1b, and the number of balls of the previous customer and the subsequent customer becomes unknown. This is to prevent this from happening.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the above-mentioned conventional ball counter 1b, the balls a are collected from the wide ball inlet of the hopper b to the narrow ball outlet c by utilizing gravity, and the balls a are further distributed to a plurality of passages of the counting unit e. Since the ball a is counted in the process of dividing and passing through a plurality of passages, another customer throws the ball a into the hopper b or the ball a If an abnormality occurs during counting, the ball a is still flowing, so it is difficult to hit the ball a and close it with the slide plate shutter d. Further, the provision of the slide type shutter itself complicates the structure of the ball counting machine 1b, and additionally requires a space.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the flow of balls can be stopped even while counting balls, and while the structure itself is simple, automatic operation can be performed. An object is to provide a ball counting machine.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Invention]

 In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the ball counter of the present invention is provided with a hopper that accepts magnetic particles and temporarily retains them, collects them in a ball discharge port at the bottom, and connects them to the ball discharge port of the hopper. A counting unit for aligning and passing balls in a plurality of rows, a detector for detecting each ball passing through each row of the counting unit, and a number of balls passing through the counting unit based on a signal from the detector is displayed. In the ball counter including the calculation display section, an electromagnet shutter is provided in the vicinity of the ball discharge port of the hopper and the counting unit.

[0007]

[Action]

 According to the ball counter having the above-mentioned configuration, the balls thrown into the hopper gather toward the ball discharge port, drop from the ball discharge port to the counting unit, and the counting unit arranges the balls in a plurality of rows. Then, when the power is turned on to the electromagnet shutter, the flowing magnetic particles stick to the electromagnet shutter, so the flow of the balls stops instantly, and if the power to the electromagnet shutter is turned off, The ball flows again.

[0008]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ball counter of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of a main part of the ball counter, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a counting unit. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a ball counter, and the ball counter 1 comprises a counter main body 2 and a hopper 4 which is provided above the counter main body 2 and which can receive a ball 3 which is a magnetic material and temporarily retain it. , A counting unit 6 which is continuously provided under the hopper 4 and arranges and passes the balls 3 through a plurality of passages 5 formed in a plurality of rows, and an electromagnet provided in the vicinity of the ball discharge port 7 under the counting unit 6 and the hopper 4. The shutter 8 and the detector 9 for detecting each ball 3 passing through the passages 5 of each row of the counting unit 6 and the total number of balls 3 passing through the counting unit 6 based on the signal of this detector 9 are displayed. The calculation display unit 10 is a main component.

The counter main body 2 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, has a display panel 11 forming a part of the arithmetic display unit 10 on the upper surface, and has the other portion opened to mount the hopper 4. Further, a power switch 12 and a power cord (not shown) are attached to the back surface of the counter body 2, and a chute (not shown) for receiving the counted balls 3 is provided on the lower surface of the power switch 12. A pipe or the like is connected to transfer the ball 3 to a predetermined place.

The hopper 4 is in the shape of a quadrangular pyramid, the side plates 4a ... Have a gentle slope, the bottom is opened to form the ball discharge port 7 as described above, and the received ball 3 is discharged. It is collected at the outlet 7 and dropped into the counting unit 6. The capacity of the hopper 4 is set to, for example, a capacity equal to or larger than the maximum capacity of one pack in which the balls 3 put out by the customer on the pachinko machine are put.

The counting unit 6 has a side wall bar 14 that is long and slanted from the partition plate 13 side at the base end to the tip side to serve as a side wall, and a bottom wall bar that is shortened to serve as a bottom wall. 15 are alternately arranged, and the side wall bars 14 and 14 and the bottom wall bar 15 form passages 5 in which twelve balls 3 just pass and come out in 12 rows. The height dimension of these passages 5 gradually narrows from the base end side to the tip end side, and only one ball 3 can pass in the vicinity of the tip exit 16 so as to guide this. A top plate 17 is stretched over the top end of the side wall bar 14.

The electromagnet shutter 8 is made by winding a copper wire around an iron core, and the mounting position thereof is the bottom of the counting unit 6 located immediately below the ball discharge port 7 of the hopper 4. The mounting position of the electromagnet shutter 8 is not limited to the above-mentioned position, and may be the periphery of the ball discharge outlet 7 or the periphery of the counting unit 6 located upstream of the detection unit 9. Further, in this embodiment, since the passages 5 of the counting unit 6 have 12 rows, the electromagnetic shutter 8 sucks all the balls 3 passing through the passages 5 of these 12 rows and stops the flow of the balls 3. The condition is that it is a thing.

The detection unit 9 is provided with a lamp 19 and an optical sensor 20 for receiving light from the lamp 19 at each of the passages 5 of the counting unit 6, that is, at the tip outlets 18 for 12 rows. It will be installed. The optical sensor 20 takes out a pulse signal each time the light emitted from the lamp 19 is blocked by the ball 3 emitted from the tip exit 18, and transmits the pulse signal to the arithmetic display unit 10.

The calculation display unit 10 adds the pulse signals extracted from the light from the lamp 19 provided for each passage 5 each time the optical sensor 20 is blocked by the ball 3 coming out from the tip exit 18, and further adds each pulse signal to each passage. The total number of balls 3 is calculated by adding the numbers of additions of 5. The total amount of balls 3 after this calculation is immediately displayed on the display panel 11 which is one of the constituent elements of the calculation display unit 10.

Reference numeral 21 in FIG. 1 is a printer for printing out the counted number of balls. Next, the operating state of the ball counter 1 having the above configuration will be described. First, the power switch of the ball counting machine 1 is turned on and other acceptance conditions are checked. If there is no problem, the acceptance preparation is completed. Next, since the capacity of the hopper 4 is sufficiently larger than the capacity of the ball 3 for one packet containing the balls 3 discharged from a game machine such as a pachinko machine, the balls 3 will not overflow from the hopper 4. The side plates 4a having a gentle inclination gather at the ball discharge port 7 at the center and drop from the ball discharge port 7 into the passages 5 of the counting unit 6. The dropped balls 3 are regulated by the side wall bars 14 ... And enter each passage 5. At this time, two balls 3 are deeply overlapped on the base end side of each passage 5, but the balls 3 are formed by the inclination of the bottom wall bars 15 and the top plate 17 that gradually narrows the height dimension of the passage 5. Are aligned by passage 5. The balls 3 arranged in each passage 5 are discharged from the tip outlet 16 one by one. Therefore, the light emitted from the lamp 19 of the detection unit 9 illuminates the tip exit 16 of the passage 5, is blocked by the balls 3 one by one, and does not reach the optical sensor 20. Send to 10.

In the calculation display unit 10, the pulse signals transmitted to the passage 5 are added and the addition numbers of the passages 5 are sequentially added to calculate the total amount of the balls 3, and the result is displayed on the display panel 11. .

Here, for example, when even one lamp 19 of the detection unit 9 provided at the tip exit 16 of the passage 5 is burnt out, the ball counting of the balls 3 passing through the passage 5 is not performed. As a result, the number of balls 3 displayed on the calculation display unit 10 is not enough. In this case, when the lamp burnout is detected and the power source is connected to the electromagnet shutter 8, the electromagnet shutter 8 has magnetism immediately, sucks the passing ball 3, and stops the flow of the ball 3. After that, if the lamp 19 that has run out is replaced and the power of the electromagnet shutter 8 is turned off, the counting of the balls 3 is restarted and a substantially accurate ball counting is performed.

4 and 5 show another embodiment of the present invention. The difference between this ball counter 1a and the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 is that the passage 5 is opposite with the partition plate 13 as a boundary. The number of passages is increased in each direction, and two electromagnet shutters 8 are provided with the partition plate 13 as a boundary. The other structure and operation are the same as those of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and therefore, reference numerals are attached to the drawings and the description thereof is omitted.

[0019]

[Effect of device]

 As described above in detail, according to the ball counter of the present invention, the balls thrown into the hopper gather toward the ball discharge port and drop from the ball discharge port to the counting unit, where the balls are collected by this counting unit. They pass through one by one in multiple rows, but when the power is turned on to the electromagnet shutter, the balls, which are flowing magnetic substances, stick to the electromagnet shutter, so the flow of the balls stops instantly and the If you turn off the power, the balls will flow again.

Therefore, the counting can be stopped instantaneously even during the counting of the balls, and the counting can be stopped automatically when an abnormality occurs. Further, since the conventional shutter mechanism is not required, the structure is simple. It has many advantages such as not taking up space.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ball counter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the main part of the ball counter of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a counting unit

FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1, showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view similar to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1a, 1b Ball counter 3, a ball 4, b hopper 5 Passage 6, e Counting unit 7, c Ball discharge port 8 Electromagnetic shutter 9, f Detection unit 10 Calculation display unit

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A hopper that receives and temporarily retains magnetic balls and collects them at a lower ball discharge port, and a counting unit that is provided so as to be connected to the ball discharge port of the hopper and that aligns and passes the balls in a plurality of rows. In a ball counter comprising a detection unit for detecting each ball passing through each row of the counting unit, and a calculation display unit for displaying the number of balls passing through the counting unit based on a signal from the detection unit, A ball counter, wherein an electromagnet shutter is provided in the vicinity of the ball discharge port of the hopper and the counting unit.