Rotary payout device for recreational machines

A rotary payout device for recreational machines comprises a cover, a disk and a casing. The cover and casing are held together by six springs in contact with the undersides of the screw heads and the cover, making the joint between casing and the cover flexible.

DESCRIPTION 
The present Patent refers to a rotary payout device specially designed for 
application in recreational machines. 
The invented device hereby claimed will be installed in the type of 
recreational machines which are made to function by inserting a coin and 
which contain a fairly complex mechanism which makes it possible when a 
coin is inserted to obtain various prizes according to the combination 
formed inside the machine. 
In machines of this type, the coins inserted drop into a container which 
acts as a store, and the described rotary payout device is designed to act 
as the bottom of the said container when it is installed, on which bottom 
the coins are deposited as they are fed into the machine by the successive 
players, the essential functions which the payout device constituting this 
invention must perform being the following: 
(a) Ensuring that the coins are deposited evenly without jamming. 
(b) Permitting release of the necessary number of coins according to the 
prize won. 
(c) Even if the accumulation of coins should result in a jam, providing the 
elements necessary for the jam to clear by itself without need of external 
action. 
To this end, the rotary payout device to which this invention refers will 
be actuated electrically by pulses emitted by the machine according to the 
combinations which result or in function of the set of prizes which the 
game that can be played with the machine offers. 
These pulses will cause the moving part of the payout device to function, 
for which purpose a motor with reduction gear will be necessary, plus a 
pulse counter relay which monitors the number of pulses delivered by the 
machine and ensures that the number of coins issuing from the payout 
device as the moving part turns is exactly the number desired. 
The payout device properly speaking consists of three essential parts: a 
cover, a disk and a casing. 
The cover and the casing are joined together and contain the disk. The 
cover and casing are held together by spring-loaded screws, which while 
securing them sufficiently allow a slight motion to occur whenever a 
chance jam of coins occurs whereby coins are retained between the casing 
and the cover, the force exerted by the coin as it is pushed by the ones 
following it being sufficient to lift the cover off the casing and allow 
the coin to drop, thus eliminating the difficulty. 
The basic element of the invention is the disk fitted inside the payout 
device. It is mounted on a shaft connecting it to the motor and reduction 
gear, and has around its edge a number os small pivots, which are spaced 
apart by a distance equal to the diameter of the coin being played. In 
addition, there are four holes in the disk more to the centre in relation 
to these pivots, in which holes are fitted other pivots much larger in 
size, one cylindrical and the rest tapered, whose function is to guide the 
coins and make them issue evenly. Assisting this function is a nut 
projecting from the centre of the disk, which will tend to guide the coins 
toward the edge of the disk. 
Mounted on the casing in front of the said disk is a small guide blade, 
which will catch the coins at the end of their travel over the disk and 
guide them toward the outside of the rotary payout device. 
Turning to the cover, this is generally circular in shape, which 
facilitates its mounting on the casing, and has an opening at the centre 
into which will be fitted the storage container for the coins. An area of 
the inner lateral surface of the cover is generously curved to provide 
further guidance for the coins so that they will issue in uniform order. 
From the foregoing description are apparent the basic features of the 
rotary payout device to which this invention refers, together with the 
advantages that installation thereof will contribute to recreational 
machines of this kind.

As can be seen from the said sheet of drawings, the payout device to which 
this invention refers consists of three basic elements, namely: the cover 
1, the disk 2 and the casing 3, with the cover and casing held together by 
six screws 4, each loaded by a spring 5. The screws pass through holes 6 
in the cover 1 and fit into blank holes 7 in the casing 3. This method of 
fastening and locking makes the joint between the two elements flexible. 
The cover 1 properly speaking is circular in shape and has an opening 8 at 
the centre corresponding to the machine's coin storage container, with an 
area 9 of its inner surface generously curved to help prevent the coins 
from jamming inside the payout device. 
The disk 2 has an inner concentric disk 10 around whose edge are a number 
of pivots 11 spaced evenly apart at a distance equal to the diameter of 
the coin used to operate these machines, with other holes 12 in areas 
close to the centre, in which are fitted projections 13 and 14 larger than 
the ones previously mentioned, some tapered and others cylindrical. At the 
centre of the disk, through which passes the shaft 15 connecting it with 
the motor and reduction gear, is a projection 16 which likewise helps to 
guide the coins toward the edge of the disk. The disk is precisely 
positioned and able to rotate inside the casing 3. On the casing is 
mounted a pulse counter relay 17 and a knife-like guide 18 which brushes 
the front face of the disk and guides the coins out through a slot 19 cut 
out between the casing 3 and the cover 1. 
The numbers used in the above description are employed to facilitate 
description of the operation of the payout device to which this invention 
refers. 
The coins which fall into the machine pile up on the disk 2. If the player 
obtains a combination for which the machine offers a prize, which can vary 
in amount, the machine so informs the payout device by electrical pulses 
whose number varies according to the amount of the prize. These pulses 
start a motor reduction gear and are monitored by the relay 17. 
When the motor reduction gear starts to run, it makes the shaft 15 turn, 
and with it the disk 2. Between the pivots 11 on the disk lie the coins, 
which rotate with the disk without jamming, due to the existence of the 
curve 9 of the cover 1 and to the separation of the coins made possible by 
the two different types of pivot 13 and 14 plus the projection 16 at the 
centre. 
Should a jam occur for any reason, and even if a coin is caught between the 
casing 3 and the cover 1, the mechanical flexibility between the two 
afforded by the springs 5 will allow the coin to drop and prevent jamming. 
After the coins have been completely ordered and guided by the disk, they 
encounter the guide blade 18, which forces them out. The disk will be 
obliged to advance a number of times equal to the number of coins to be 
given as prize; after it has allowed that number of coins to escape 
through 19, the relay 17 will stop the motor and reduction gear, and the 
payout device will stop running until a similar situation recurs. 
Any item which does not affect, alter, change or modify the essence of the 
rotary payout device as described will be variable for purposes of the 
present Patent.