Abstract:
An arcade game is disclosed having a modified three dimensional control of an acquisition device using three motors, pulleys, and belts that maneuver the acquisition device in three directions. Each belt is located in a pair of pulley wheels that have a “grooved section that allows the belt to slip when the motor reaches an end of its cycle, eliminating the need for switches and clutches.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     “Crane” type arcade games have been around for many years. A crane is supported in a housing and manipulated by a player to center the crane over a prize. The player then actuates a motor that lowers the crane and attempts to pick up the prize using the crane. If the player has successfully positioned the crane, the claw, vacuum, or other pick-up mechanism may acquire the prize and bring it to a retrieval bin where the player can collect the prize. The prior art is rife with such games, although advancements are continuously made due to the popularity of such games. 
     One aspect of the game that has not received much attention is the manner in which the crane is maneuvered over the playing field prior to lowering the pick-up device. In the past, a gear or worm drive system moved the crane on an X, Y and Z axes. Changes in the types of targets from plush animals and heavier prizes to tickets, cards, and other lighter targets reduced the need for a powerful gear or worm drive. Tickets, gift cards, post cards, or objects that are very light weight are easily moved and do not require a heavy duty drive system. In the vacuum crane games, prizes can be stacked in central locations so the crane rarely reaches a stall position. An example of a two pulley crane game is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,487 entitled Crane Game Claw Gauge, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference. 
     The aforementioned drive mechanism used a gear or a worm drive, and switches are used to stop or control the direction of the movement of the pick-up mechanism. The pick-up mechanism goes left/right (X), forward/back (Y), and up/down (Z) using motors, gears, and switches. At the end of each path there is an electrical or mechanical switch that causes the motors to stop or change directions. Since there are three motors, that results in at least six switches (one for each direction of travel), with two to three wires per switch. The electronic control system for the many wires, plugs, and connectors, all subject to wear and malfunction, results in high maintenance of the games. This mechanism is unduly complicated and a bad switch, or mal-adjusted one, can burn out a motor, as can defective or damaged wires, plugs, and connectors that results in a non-working game and loss of revenue to the operator. 
     The alternative is to use a clutch mechanism in place of the switches. The clutches are more reliable, but they are more complicated to build, incorporate more moving parts, and are more expensive than the switches. This added cost of the game is also a limiting factor on how small the game can be made, since the clutches are much larger and take up more space than the switches. An alternative to this system would benefit the art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a crane-type arcade game that uses an new belt drive system to move the pick-up device around the playing field. The term “pick-up device” can be a mechanical, claw, a vacuum, device, or any other mechanism to lift or capture a prize in an arcade game. The present invention utilizes a belt drive in place of switches or oversized and obtrusive clutches. The belt goes around a pulley and moves the pick-up device. The combination can be a “V” pulley and a round belt, a “V” pulley and a “V” belt, a flat pulley and a flat belt, or any variation that has enough drive friction to move the mechanism yet allow for slipping when the mechanism is stalled. The belt drive allows the carriage that carries the pick-up device to move forward and back, and left and right, and further controls the vertical movement of the pick-up device. When the carriage reaches the end of its track, the belt slips on the pulley to function in place of a clutch or switch. This has the advantage of fewer switches, plugs, and connectors, less wires and no expensive or bulky clutches. Aside from being simpler, the belt drive system costs about fifty percent less to make, resulting in a less expensive and more reliable game. Since the belt is flexible and/or elastic, should the belt loosen, it can be made tighter by simply pulling one end of the belt to shorten it. 
     These and other advantages of the present invention can best be understood with reference to the detailed description of the invention below along with the following figures. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an elevated, perspective view of an exemplary crane game; 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged, elevated perspective view of the belt drive system; 
         FIGS. 3-5  are side views of the motor assembly for raising and lowering the pick-up device; and 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of the belt drive system. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an arcade crane game, such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/838,980 entitled “Vacuum Crane Game,” by the present inventor, the contents of which are fully incorporated herein by reference. The game apparatus  10  includes a housing  12 , front panel  14 , and a playing area  18 . Housing  12  provides a support for the other components of the game apparatus. Housings can take a wide variety of forms; for example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , housing  12  may be of the stand-up variety in which a player stands in front of the game or sits on a stool when playing the game. In other embodiments, other types of housings may be provided. For example, a counter-top housing, including approximately the upper half of housing  12  shown in  FIG. 1 , can be used when the game apparatus  10  is desired to be placed on a table, counter top or other similar surface. 
     Front panel  14  includes a player control panel  16  that includes player controls  30 . Front panel  14  includes a coin deposit slot  20 , and a speaker  24  may also be provided on the housing  12 . Coin deposit slot  20  may be more generally thought of as a payment area, where the game can accept payment in the form of currency, coins, game tokens, bills, tickets, and the like. In some embodiments, other types of monetary input may also be provided using a magnetic card reader to read a card with a magnetic strip that holds game credit information, or a bank card such as a credit card, debit card, etc. A token deposited in coin deposit slot  20  (or other payment method) starts a game. Dispenser compartment  22  is used to provide access to the retrieval bin in the event of a successful attempt by the player. 
     Speaker(s)  24  can emit sounds based on game actions and other game states and is controlled by a game control system as described subsequently. The front panel  14  can also include other features if appropriate. Player control panel  16  allows a player to manipulate events in the game, and includes player controls  30  such as an actuation device such as a push button to initiate the movement of the extraction device. Alternatively, the position of the starting point for the extraction device in the two dimensional X-Y vertical plane can be controlled by a joystick  25 , roller ball, touchscreen, or other input device. Game action occurs in playing area  18 , where a vacuum extraction device is moved in the playing area  18  using the joystick  25  or other controller device. The extraction device  42  is moved horizontally by the player using the player controls and joystick  25  to a position over the playing field where the prizes/gift cards are located, and the skill involved is the precision with which the player can accurately control the placement or movement of the extraction device  42 . 
     At the bottom of the playing area  18  is a cylindrical column or silo  50 , but the game can include multiple such silos. Each silo  50  includes an enclosure formed by a continuous wall that defines a target area, and houses a stack of gift cards  51 . The target area formed by the circular silo wall is dimensioned so as to be slightly larger than the largest dimension (e.g., a diameter) of the extraction device  42 . Thus, only by precisely hovering the extraction device  42  over the silo&#39;s target area can the player successfully lower the extraction device into the silo  50  to collect a gift card  51 . Another version referenced in U.S. Pat. No. 8,070,167 to the present inventor, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, is a simple switch at the bottom of the silo that designates a winning attempt and signals the result. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the slipping belt drive system that moves the extraction device  42  over the playing field. The extraction device  42  must be moved in three directions to permit the extraction device to be located over a target and then lowered to acquire the target. The belt drive system uses three motors and three belt drive systems to control the movement of the extraction device  42 , where the player controls are electrically connected to the motors that govern the movements of the game. The electrical wires that connect the motors to the circuit board are omitted for brevity to better emphasize the components of the invention. 
     L-shaped platform  100  is mounted to the housing  14  along a first playing field side wall  105  onto which electric motor  110  is mounted. Motor  110  is has an output shaft that includes a pulley wheel  115  onto which a belt  120  is secured. The belt extends across the platform  100  to a second pulley wheel  125  and then to a block  130 . The other end of the belt  120  is also connected to the block  130  at the opposite side. The block  130  is mounted on a rod  135  that spans the platform  100  so that the block can move from one end of the playing field to the other along the rod  135 . As the motor&#39;s shaft rotates, the belt  120  moves the block  130  from one side of the platform  100  to the other and back. When the block  130  gets to the end of the platform, the belt slips in the groove of the pulley similar to a clutch, but without the space needed for the clutch or the complication of a clutch. 
     The platform  100  includes a stabilizer bar  140  that includes a round follower  145  in contact with the wall  105  to balance the block and its associated components from tipping over or unduly torqueing the platform  100 . A signal from the player controls is sent to a controller (not shown) that relays a signal to the motor  110  to rotate in a first or second direction, which in turn drives the belt in the forward or backward direction. The movement of the belt  120  displaces the block  130  along the rod  135  over the playing field&#39;s front to back direction as shown in arrow  150 . Thus, a first direction of the acquisition device  42  is controlled by this motor subsystem. 
     Mounted to the block  130  is a second platform  200  extending perpendicular to platform  100 . Platform  200  carries a second electric motor  210  having a drive shaft that is connected to a pulley wheel  215 , where a second belt  220  is located. The second belt  220  extends across the second platform  200  to a pulley  225  and then to a block  230 . Rotation of the motor  210  causes the belt  220  to rotate about the pulley and cause the block  230  to move across the platform in the right to left and back to right direction, as shown in arrow  250 . The block  230  may be supported on a roller (not shown) to allow the block  230  to move easily across the platform  200 . A signal from the player controls is sent to the controller that relays a signal to the motor  210  to rotate in a first or second direction, which in turn drives the belt  220  in the left and right directions. The movement of the belt  220  displaces the block  230  along the platform  200  across the playing field one side to the other as shown in arrow  250 . Thus, a second direction of the acquisition device  42  is controlled by this second motor subsystem. 
     The block  230  is connected to a bracket  300  that supports the acquisition device  42 . The bracket moves along platform  200  with the block  230  and carries a third electrical motor  310 , which has a drive shaft connected to a pulley wheel  315 . The bracket  300  has a second pulley  325  mounted below the first pulley wheel  315 , and is connected by a belt  320 . Pulley wheel  325  has a groove for receiving the belt  320 . A cable  340  is connected to pulley  315 , and the opposite end of the cable  340  is connected to the acquisition device  42 . Rotation of the motor  310 &#39;s drive shaft unspools the cable  340  over two spindles  342 ,  344  to lower the acquisition device  42  to the bottom of the playing field (see  FIGS. 3-5 ). There is one switch needed to signal the limit that the motor can lower the pick-up device. The reason for this is that there is nothing to cause the belt to slip and the motor would continue to re-wrap the pick-up device. When this switch closes the up-down (A) motor reverses and the pick-up device rises until the belt slips. Rotation of the motor in the opposition direction winds the cable around the pulley  315  and draws the acquisition device upward. Thus, depending upon the direction of rotation of the motor&#39;s drive shaft, the acquisition device  42  is lowered or raised to select a prize as part of the game&#39;s challenge. 
     The use of the pulley and conforming slipping belt allows the belt to slip when the motor drives each respective block to the end of the track, eliminating the need for a clutch or other switch. This dramatically lowers the cost and the space requirements, allowing the game to be made smaller. This, in turn, allows the game to service more markets by reducing the footprint that the game requires, and also reduces the overall cost of the game while increasing the reliability since there are fewer parts to wear out or malfunction. If the belt is connected to its respective block in manner that allows the belt to be adjusted, such as an adjustable clamp, buckle, or tie, then any slack in the belt can be eliminated by simply pulling on the belt to shorted the length between the motor and the block connection. This also allows quick and efficient maintenance of the system with little or no additional hardware or spare parts. 
     The foregoing description is not intended to be limiting, but rather an example of the present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that there are many alterations and substitutions to the just-described embodiments, and the present invention is intended to encompass all such substitutions and alterations. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be determined by the words of the appended claims using their ordinary meanings, in light of descriptions and depictions herein.