Light chamber for door for gaming machine

A belly door for a gaming machine includes a frame for receiving a sheet of artwork and a light reflective chamber having an open face which is located behind the frame when in a closed position. Clamping means are provided for clamping the artwork between the frame and the chamber. A recess extends along one edge of the chamber including sockets for receiving a fluorescent light tube when the chamber is in the closed position. A diffuser panel is disposed in the chamber behind the artwork located so as to be edge lit by the fluorescent light tube. The reverse face of the panel, which in use, faces the rear wall of the chamber defines a series of white opaque dots which in use, diffuse and direct the light in a forward direction perpendicular to the plane of the panel. The size of the dots in the panel increases with the distance of the dots from the fluorescent light tube. This arrangement ensures that the light panel produces a very evenly balanced lighting of the artwork.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Phase application of PCT/AU00/01369 filed on Nov. 8, 2000, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and claims the benefit of the Australian application PQ 3989 filed November 11, 1999, and is related to and filed concurrently with application Ser. No. 10/130,172, which is a National Phase Application of PCT. Application no. PCT/00/01371.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to gaming machines also referred to as slot machines, fruit machines or poker machines and in particular, it relates to a light chamber assembly for such as a gaming machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A typical upright gaming machine comprises a cabinet and a main door which swings open on hinges to allow access to the interior of the cabinet. The main door may extend almost the entire length of the cabinet from its top to its bottom. In the middle of the door, there is usually a shelf area on which a number of control buttons are located for use by a player. Often, a bill acceptor is disposed beneath the shelf and a slot is provided in the shelf area allowing players to feed notes into the bill acceptor. It is common to have a door attached to the main door beneath the shelf, which is commonly referred to as a “belly door”. The belly door allows access to the interior of the lower part of the gaming machine without the need to open the main door. Also “artwork” for the machine is usually displayed in the belly door. The artwork for the belly door usually comprises a sheet of optical quality acrylic material on which a design identifying the game is screen printed. The artwork may be edge lit by a fluorescent tube which is usually mounted in an assembly fixed to one vertical edge of the artwork.

Some designs include a horizontally oriented tube. One problem which arises is that the bill acceptor depends down from the shelf behind the belly door and this prevents a horizontally mounted fluorescent light tube from extending from one horizontal end of the artwork to the other horizontal end. Because it is not possible to light the artwork between the artwork and the bill acceptor, there is typically a shadow behind the artwork where the bill acceptor is positioned.

In some gaming machines, two fluorescent light tubes are provided, one mounted in a horizontal orientation behind the artwork and one mounted in a vertical orientation behind the artwork. However, this still produces uneven lighting and in particular, produces “hot spots” which are more backlit than other areas of the artwork.

The vertically mounted fluorescent tube mounted to the edge of the artwork discussed above, provides more even lighting. The tube is enclosed in a chamber having a C shaped cross-section which pivots about a mounting fitted along one edge of the artwork. The fluorescent light is positioned close to one edge of the belly door. It is a difficult and fiddly process to pivot the chamber, disconnect and remove the fluorescent light and replace it with another tube. Typically, it can take an engineer 15 minutes to change the artwork and fluorescent light tube.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a belly door assembly for a gaming machine comprising:a frame for receiving a sheet of artwork or the like;a light reflective chamber having an open face which is hinged to and positionable behind the frame in a closed position;means for clamping the artwork between the frame and the chamber;socket means for mounting an elongate light means on the frame adjacent one edge of the frame;a recess extending along an edge of the chamber adapted to receive an elongate light means mounted in the socket means when the chamber is closed behind the frame; anda diffuser panel disposed in the chamber behind the frame arranged to be edge lit by an elongate light means when such an elongate light means is mounted in the socket means.

In a preferred embodiment, a diffuser panel is disposed in the chamber behind the artwork located so as to be edge lit by the fluorescent light tube. The panel may have a first (front) face and a second (reverse) face. The reverse face of the panel, which in use, faces the rear wall of the chamber, may define a series of white opaque dots which in use, diffuse and direct the light in a forward direction perpendicular to the plane of the panel. Preferably, the size of the dots in the panel increases with the distance of the dots from the fluorescent light tube. This arrangement ensures that the light panel produces a very evenly balanced lighting. The fluorescent light tube is preferably 7 mm diameter.

The panel may be supported by a series of ribs projecting from the rear wall of the light reflective chamber.

The clamping means may comprise rotatable locking means defining wedge or cam surfaces co-operating with lugs defined on the frame.

It is preferred that the artwork is clamped between two gently curved surfaces defined by the frame and the chamber respectively.

The chamber is preferably hinged to the frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings.FIG. 1shows a main door10for a gaming machine. The basic door10is shown before trim and other components are fitted. The door has an aperture12located below a shelf14on which control buttons are located on the finished door. The aperture is openable and closeable by a door known as a “belly door” (not shown inFIG. 1). The components of the belly door are shown inFIGS. 2 to 6. The belly door is mounted to the main door on two upstanding hinge pins16,18disposed on one side of the aperture12of the door.

The belly door includes two main components, a light chamber20shown inFIGS. 4 and 5and an outer frame22which is shown inFIGS. 2 and 3. The frame comprises a base member24, two side members26,28and a top member30. As is best seen inFIG. 3, a curved wall32extends along the front of the base member. A similar wall (not shown) depends downwardly from the top member of the frame. When viewed from the front of the belly door, the walls are convex and they define the upper and lower edges of a frame for receiving artwork33(refer toFIG. 7) which locates behind the walls.

Each side member26,28defines an edge wall34,36, behind which two spaced projections38are provided which are oriented generally parallel to the edge wall but are spaced apart from the edge wall by a gap of typically about 5 to 10 mm. The gap should be wider than the thickness of a sheet of artwork so that the edges of the artwork which is to be displayed in the frame can fit between the projections and the edge walls. Thus in use, artwork33, can be dropped into the door frame from above with the edges of the art work being loosely retained (until clamped, as is explained below) between the projections38and the edge walls.

Also shown inFIG. 3, are two mounts40, onto which an elongate light means in the form of a fluorescent light tube41and a socket assembly41afor mounting the light (not shown inFIG. 3, refer toFIG. 7) is mounted using screws. The fluorescent light has a diameter of about 7 mm.

The belly door frame is hinged to the main door in conjunction with the light chamber on the hinge pins16,18in a manner which will be described in more detail below.FIG. 3shows two outer sleeves42which in use, mount on the hinge pins16,18. The outer sleeves42are generally part annular in shape. These, comprise an outer hinge sleeve44and inner hinge sleeve46with a gap there between for receiving the hinge pins as is described below. The outer sleeve element44is taller than the inner sleeve element46.

Also provided on one side member28of the frame is a pair of spaced lugs39.

The light chamber20is best seen inFIGS. 4 and 5. The light chamber is preferably made from a white coloured plastics material. The light chamber has a generally planar rear wall48with side walls50,52and a top wall54. The front edge56of the top wall is convex and curved to match the curved wall at the top of the frame20. At the base of the chamber, an elongate channel or recess59, best seen inFIG. 5, is defined. The channel extends the entire length of the base of the chamber and is sized and configured to receive the fluorescent light tube41and socket assembly41awhich is mounted to the frame20. A projecting clamp element58is disposed above the channel and, as best seen inFIG. 4, curves outwardly matching the curve of the wall32at the base of the frame20. The protruding clamp element, does not extend back as far as the rear wall48of the chamber but rather is mounted on a series of five projecting ribs60which space the wall element from the rear wall48.

A diffuser panel70illustrated inFIG. 6, locates in the chamber against the rear wall.

The diffuser panel is made of optical quality acrylic and has a series of opaque white dots screen printed onto the rear face of the panel. The dots72at the top70B of the panel have a greater diameter than those at the bottom70A of the panel. Typically, the smaller dots have a diameter of about 0.3 mm, and are well spaced apart with the size gradually increasing up the panel and the spacing decreasing to the relatively largest dots72having a diameter of about 0.5 mm. The panel is 8 mm thick.FIG. 6is stylised and does not represent the actual dimensions of the panel or dots. When the bottom edge70A of the panel is lit by the fluorescent light, light travels up the panel and is diffused and reflected forwards by the series of white dots to provide a very even diffuse light source from the panel which takes account of the gradual reduction in the amount of light transmitted up the panel from the tube. Consequently, any art work held in the door frame in front of the panel is evenly lit.

With reference toFIG. 5, two hinge elements80extend away from one side wall52of the chamber on arms82. The hinge elements are shown enlarged inFIG. 5a. Each element has a part annular cross section comprising a first upper portion86having a diameter which steps down at a shoulder85to a lower portion84having a slightly narrower diameter. The walls of the hinge element are arcuate and extend around an angle of approximately 270° defining a gap between the free ends of the hinge element. The hinge element locates within the sleeve elements provided in the frame, with the shoulder85resting on the top of the inner sleeve element46. This allows the light chamber22to rotate about the hinge axis A relative to the frame20. When the door frame and chamber are swung about to a particular relative orientation, gaps in the outer sleeves42and the hinge elements80align and in this orientation, the chamber and frame can be mounted onto the hinge pins defined on the main door. Thus, the main door, the frame and the chamber may all rotate relative to each other about the same hinge axis A.

The chamber is locked in position to the reverse side of the belly door frame by means of a pair of rotatable locking cam means100which are mounted on bosses102formed on the reverse side of the chamber. Each locking means defines a wedge or cam surface104which co-operates with the lugs39defined on the side frame of the belly door to gradually compress the artwork as it is turned. This has the effect of pushing the light chamber against the rear of the front face of the frame. The art work is held securely between the chamber and the door frame and is gripped and curved between the curved walls of the frame and the projections of the chamber.

The design of the door frame has a number of significant advantages. The principal advantage is that it is much easier to access the components of the belly door which need changing, in particular, the art work, which is changed whenever the game played on the gaming machine is changed. It is also a relatively simple matter to access and change the fluorescent light as only one light is required and it conveniently located at the base of the frame of the belly door frame.

The use of a thinner fluorescent tube allows the chamber in the belly door to be relatively thin and it can thus extend in front of the bill acceptor avoiding the shadow problem associated with the bill acceptor in existing gaming machines.