Patent GB-995431-A (GB)
Title: Automatic roulette wheel
Inventor: DOLMAN HENRY JAMES
IPC: A63F5/04
Filed: 1961-10-12
Abstract: 995,431. Chance apparatus. BRECKNELL, DOLMAN & ROGERS Ltd. Oct. 10, 1962 [Oct. 12, 1961], No. 36714/61. Heading A6H. [Also in Division G4] An installation for playing the game of Roulette comprises a Roulette wheel controlled to stop and start automatically, and coin-freed units for use by the players to select one of a number of prearranged betting combinations and to condition the installation accordingly so that prize money is automatically paid to the winning player. The Roulette wheel comprises a notched turntable 17 rotated intermittently from a continuously driven shaft 1 above an apertured bowl 40, the arrangement being such that a ball C spun by the wheel may enter any of the notches 17A, pass through the base of the bowl 40, and enter one of a series of switching units 61 ranged beneath the bowl, in registration with the notches. On leaving the switching unit, the ball gravitates towards the centre of base 44 from whence it is automatically raised to the turntable by means of a plunger 47 operating in the tubular support 18 of the turntable. To this end, the lower part of the plunger comprises a rack 47A co-operating with a toothed wheel 50 rotated intermittently from the shaft 1 to depress or raise the plunger 47. The shaft 1 also serves to operate intermittently a latching device mounted on the flange 16A for braking the turntable when the drive thereto is interrupted, and for then oscillating the turntable slightly to prevent the ball from coming to rest adjacent notches 17A. Each selector 80 comprises firstly a selector switch 7 consisting of a knob and pointer (not shown) rotatable about spindle 108 above a disc 110 marked with the combinations between which the player must choose,' the setting of the switch causing a projection 112, on a disc 111 fixed to the knob, to close a pair of contacts mounted beneath the unit and included in circuits to switches mounted in switching units 61 beneath the corresponding notches of the Roulette wheel. Each unit further comprises a coin-free device X consisting of a notched disc 82, which is freed to rotate relative to the ring 85 by the insertion of a coin or counter Z into one of its notches 81 during a stationary period of the turntable 17, or during a prearranged time before the turntable is arrested, and subsequent rotation of the disc 85 by a player causes displacement of a cam roller 90 to operate a switch 95 (not shown) which is also included in the above circuits to switching units 61. The coins or counters Z are collected in a hopper 99 below the device X. In order to prevent cheating, the devices X and Y are automatically locked after the player has set the selector Y, by levers 114 and 124, respectively, the levers being mounted on a shaft 127 which is moved as the result of a cam on the shaft 1 closing a switch to activate a first solenoid. The cycle of operations then provides for the turntable to be spun from the shaft 1, and as it stops, the ball C enters one of the switching units 61, contacting and closing the switches contained therein and in the event of one of the switches so closed in the unit corresponding to any of the numbers and/or colours contained in the betting combination selected by the player, the circuit through the switch 95 and selector unit Y is completed to energize a second solenoid and actuate an arm 103 (not shown) mounted on the unit 80 for discharging coins from the hopper 99. At this stage, a cam on the shaft 1 closes a switch in a circuit to a third solenoid to open the switch 95 and deenergize the unit 80, bringing the installation into readiness for the next cycle of operations.