Patent GB-190822775-A (GB)
Title: Improved Time and Money Check for use in Playing Billiards.
Inventor: GRATRIX JOHN
Filed: 1908-10-27
Granted: 1909-08-05
Abstract: 22,775. Gratrix, J. Oct. 27. Time checks for games.-Relates to a time check for billiards &c. which on the insertion of a coin registers the payment, releases the balls, turns on the lights over the table, and controls a clock for checking the time, and on expiry of the period allowed for play shuts off the lights and rings a bell. A coin is inserted in a slot and falls between projecting pins 16, 16<a>, Fig. 4, on the inner face of two parallel disks and rests on a pin 19 projecting from one of the disks. When this disk is rotated by a handle 21, the coin forces the other disk to rotate and with it two eccentrics 28, 29, Fig. 1. The eccentric 28 operates a money recorder 4, and by means of a lever arm 36, a pawl 36a, and a ratchet-wheel 37, advances the hands of a clock 2 by a predetermined amount. The hands of the clock are retained in their advanced position by a pivoted lever 37<b> which is connected to the lightcontrolling lever 8<a>. The eccentric 29 lifts the lever 8<a> and closes the switch 8 which controls the lights over the table, the lever being held up against a spring 40 by a pin projecting from the vibrating arm 46 of an electric bell 3. The eccentric-29 also rotates a toothed quadrant 10 to the extent of one tooth for each coin inserted, a spring 39 tending to restore the quadrant to its zero position and a pawl 68 holding it in its advanced position. A pawl 47 on the quadrant makes contact with a projection 48 on a pivoted lever 49 and releases a swing-door 50 which allows the balls to roll through an aperture 13<a> into a tray on the front of the box. The money receiver 5, Fig. 6, into which the coins drop, is divided into two compartments 5<a>, 5<b> and has a glazed front through which the coins are exhibited until the balls are replaced in the casing. When one compartment is full, a projection 53 on the quadrant engages a pin 54 of a movable shutter 54<a> in the coin shoot and diverts the coins into the other compartment. The spindle of the clock has a disk 57, Fig. 8, fixed at its end, and a projection 56 on this disk engages a projection 60 on a disk carrying the minute hand and drives it. The hands are insulated from the rest of the clock mechanism and the projections 56, 60 when held in contact by a spring 57<a> close one branch of the circuit of the bell 3. The hands are set ahead on the insertion of a coin and, when the time indicated by the hands arrives, the projections close the bell circuit, thereby indicating that the time allowed for play has expired. The vibration of the bell arm 46 releases the lever 8<a> which is drawn down by the spring 40 and opens the switch 8 thus extinguishing the light ever the table. The bell continues to ring until the balls have been replaced in the box or more coins have been inserted. When replaced in the box through an aperture 13, Fig. 1, the balls run down a conveyer 6 into a tilting tray 7 which tilts under the weight of the balls and opens a switch 66 which breaks the bell circuit and at the same time withdraws the pawl 68 from the quadrant 10 allowing the quadrant to return to its zero position. The return of the quadrant opens a door 69, Fig. 6, in the bottom of the money receiver 5 and allows the coins to fall into a till 9, Fig. 1. A disk 74 is set to indicate through a glazed aperture 75 the number of players who have engaged the table, and is locked in position by a pivoted lever 77 actuated by the quadrant 10 when a coin is inserted. The lever is connected to the clock by a rod 80, and by means of a lever 82 limits the movement of the arm 36 so that the movement of the hands of the clock is varied according to the number of players engaging the table. The balls in their passage along the conveyer 6 close a switch 83, 84, so that, if the balls are replaced before the time indicated, the bell rings and the lights are extinguished. Gas may be used to illuminate the table, any well-known ignition device being operated by the lever 8<a>.