Patent GB-958782-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to coin-operated machines
IPC: G07F17/32
Filed: 1960-06-25
Abstract: 958,782. Chance apparatus. J. W. LOVETT. June 14, 1961 [June 25, 1960], No. 22352/60. Heading A6H. [Also in Division G4] An electrically-operated amusement machine for operating a game continuously on a given cycle divided into a running period and a payout period comprises means determining the time cycle and its division, means for effecting the cyclic recurrence of a sequence of different events for perception by a player during the running period, means to select substantially at random one of the events and to cause its occurrence to the exclusion of the others during the pay-out period, means including a coin acceptance unit for receiving wagers from a player as to the event which will be selected to occur during a subsequent pay-out period, and means including a pay-out unit associated with the coin acceptance unit for paying out to a successful player. As described, the machine has positions for eight players and the events for perception by the players consist of successively illuminated lamps 8, Fig. 2. The lamps at each station are blue, yellow, green and red and similarly coloured lamps are connected together so as to be lit simultaneously at each station by a distributer 80, Figs. 8 and 11, driven by an electric motor 37. The motor also rotates a number of cams 40, one of which 40(2) actuates a microswitch 72 to divide the cycle of the machine into the running and payout periods. A shelf 6 at each playing position has four coin slots 11, each slot being associated with an indicator lamp 12 which is lit when a coin is inserted in its slot to indicate the colour the player has selected will be lit during the pay-out period. A coin inserted in a slot closes a contact 46, Fig. 5, actuating a relay 48 controlling the circuit to a further relay 35 which is operated by a microswitch 72 actuated by the cam 40(3), 40(4), 40(5) or 40(6) associated with the colour selected by the machine if the colour selected by the player is correct and eject coins from a pay-out unit 18 to a tray 13. The number of times the relay 35 is actuated, and hence the number of coins ejected, is determined by the number of rises on the cams, cam 40(3) associated with the blue lamps having six rises, cam 40(4) associated with the yellow lamps having three rises, and cams 40(5) and 40(6) associated with the green and red lamps having two rises. At the end of a paying-out period, a further cam 40(1) operates a microswitch 72 to reset the lamps 12 and relays 48 in the coinacceptance units. The motor 37 driving the cams 40 is also connected by reduction gearing 38 to a shaft 76, Figs. 8 and 11, driving the selector mechanism 39. The shaft rotates a magnetic clutch 93 which, when energized during the running periods, drives a plate 91 secured to a carrier 85 having brushes 86, 87 co-operating with a plurality of contacts 79 arranged in groups connected to the relays controlling the lighting of the lamps 8. To increase the random effect of the selection, the ener gization of the clutch during the running period is intermittent, the circuit to the clutch being continuously made and broken by an interrupter consisting of a switch actuated by a ball engaging a squared portion of the shaft 76. The carrier 85 carries pins 90 any one or adjacent pair of which is engaged at the end of the running period, after the clutch 93 is deenergized, by a pivoted lever 98 operated by a solenoid 102, the carrier being stopped in any one of thirty positions, the circuit to the distributer 80 being disconnected, the lamps 8 of the colour connected to the contact 79 engaged by one or or other of the brushes 86, 87 lit, and a contact-closed in a circuit containing a microswitch which is operated by the cam 40 associated with the selected colour. If, at any one of the playing positions, a coin has been inserted in the slot of the colour selected by the mechanism, the contact 47 associated with that slot having been actuated by the coin to energize its relay 48, the microswitoh operated by the cam associated with a selected colour actuates the relay 35 of the paying-out unit 18 that playing position. Each coin acceptance unit consists of four shoots formed by flanged members 41, Fig. 5, the flanges being of small depth so that small coins fall from the shoots. Each shoot has a slot 43 which co-operates with a double-nosed cam 44 shaped to detect the presence of a washer inserted in the machine in place of a coin. During the paying-out period, a relay 51 is energized to move a latching bar 52 into engagement with the double-nosed cams which are held to prevent the acceptance of coins during that period, a coin inserted into a slot being held by the cam until the next running period. If two coins are inserted in a slot, the cam ensures that only one coin is accepted for each running period.