Patent GB-190808658-A (GB)
Title: Coin Controlled Game Table Covers.
Inventor: STIVERS JAKE MANFRED
Filed: 1908-04-21
Granted: 1909-02-04
Abstract: 8658. Stivers, J. M. April 21. Time-checks for games. -Billiard and like tables are provided with a cover, and at any convenient part of the room a cabinet is placed containing m e - chanism operated by the insertion of a coin for controlling the mechanism for covering and uncovering the table and for determining the time that it shall remain uncovered. The cloth or like cover is secured to one end of the table and wound on a roller 134, Fig. 10, which rotates on a spindle 136 fixed in standards 133 working in grooves 131, the roller being connected to the spindle by a helical spring. The standards are traversed to roll up and unroll the cloth by cables 139, 140, which work in the grooves 131 and pass over pulleys 141, 142 to two pulleys 144 which are mounted on a screw spindle 145, Fig. 13 ; one of the pulleys is fixed to the spindle, while the other is connected thereto by means of a helical spring 152, the two pulleys being geared together by a ratchet connexion 150,151 so that any slack of the cable is immediately taken up. A reversible motor 230 controlled by a switch 162 drives the pulleys 144. The cabinet 20, Fig. 2, contains two coin shoots 26, 27 and a timing-disk 54 driven by a reversible motor 203 controlled by a switch 91. The switch 91 being in the position shown in Fig. 2, the circuit of the motor 203 is closed by a coin inserted in either of the shoots bridging a gap in the circuit, the motor effecting the quick return movement of the disk 54 through a rapidly rotating pinion 69 of a train 80 and gear 66, 64 on a pivoted lever 67. Simultaneously the return movement of a sliding bar 46 is effected through a lever 60 and rod 61. The return movement continues until an arm 110 on the disk 54, by engaging a shoulder 111, depresses a sliding bar 104, thereby raising the switch block 91 through a spring-controlled lever 96 to break the circuit of the "cabinet" motor 203 and close the circuit of the " table " motor 230, the switch 162 being in the position shown in Fig. 13. The screw spindle 145 is then rotated until the cloth is wound up and the table uncovered whereupon the lower shoulder 172 of a nut 171, which traverses the screw spindle, shifts the contact block 162 by engaging a pivoted spring-controlled lever 164, thereby breaking the circuit of the " table" motor and again completing the circuit through the " cabinet " motor. The return movement of the disk 54 and bar 46 then continues until a stop 50, Fig. 2, on the bar engages a roller 45 on a spindle 38, which also carries an arm 40 acting in conjunction with the prepayment coin. The movement of the disk 54 still continuing, a sector 63 on the lever 60 rotates a disk 57 concentric with the former disk, and the disk 57 moves a spring- controlled crank arm 58 to the other side of the dead-centre, the crank arm in its,passaga rotating a third disk 56 by engaging a pin 177. This movement of the disk 57 rocks the lever 67, throwing the gear 66 into engagement with a slow pinion 70 of the train 80, whereupon the " slow " time movement of the disk 54 and the bar 46 commences in the reverse direction. The "time" movement of the bar 46 continues until an adjustable screw 53 engages the side 25 of the cabinet, whereupon, the motion of the disk 54 still continuing, the crank arm 58 and lever 67 are returned to the position shown in Fig. 2, the gear 66 again engaging the pinion 69 and permitting the return movement of the bar and the time disk to commence. Immediately prior to this movement, if no coin be present, the arm 110 on the time disk by engaging the shoulder 109 of the sliding bar 104 shifts the switch block 91, thereby breaking the circuit of the cabinet motor and completing the circuit of the table motor ; the latter unrolls the cloth, again covering up the table, and finally shifts the switch block 162, Fig. 13, to break its own circuit. The presence of a coin however causes the bridging of a gap in the circuit of an electro-magnet 207, Fig. 2, which becomes energized when a spring-controlled bell-crank 123 on the disk 54 closes the contacts 208, 210, so that a rod 113 connected to the armature 118 by entering a notch 112 in the contact block prevents the contact-block from being moved by the engagement of the arm 110 and the shoulder 109, thereby permitting the use of the table for a further period.