Patent GB-190606922-A (GB)
Title: New or Improved Apparatus for Imitating the Game of Skittles by Means of Automata.
Inventor: EICHENBERGER OTTO
Filed: 1906-03-22
Granted: 1906-09-06
Abstract: 6922. Eichenberger, O. March 22. Games played with balls, model figures, and skittles; skittles; scoring and marking.-A game apparatus, which may be operated by coin-freed mechanism, is provided with automata, which are adapted to project a ball towards skittles, and to return the ball, respectively, means being provided for re-setting the skittles, and for registering the number of skittles knocked over, and the number of games played. As shown, a spring motor 69, Fig. 2, is used, but an electric motor may also be used for driving the apparatus. The figure A, which projects a ball 78, is actuated from a cam 73 on a shaft 37 driven by the motor. The cam 73 actuates, through levers and rods, the arms 92, 92<1> of the figure, which are acted on by springs 95, 96, in order to hold the ball 78 in position before projecting it. As the cam rotates, it causes the arms to swing forward, and then suddenly stop to project the ball. The figure A is mounted on a turntable 98, which can be rotated by an arm 99 in order to aim the ball. The ball is raised from the bottom of a shoot 84 into contact with the hands of the figure A by means of a piston 81, which is actuated from a cam 71 on the shaft 37. After the ball has been projected at the skittles, it is returned to its original position by means of an automaton C arranged at the end of the alley. This figure is actuated by cams 74, 75, 76 on the shaft 37 and suitable connexions, and is caused to stoop in order to catch the ball, which is guided by a groove, in its spring-controlled arms. The figure is then raised, and its upper part is moved forwards in order to place the ball in the shoot 84, after which the hands are moved downwards from the ball. A third automaton B is also caused, by means of similar mechanism driven from the shaft 37, to execute movements with its various members. The numbers of skittles knocked over are parmanently recorded by means of types which are depressed on to a roll of paper, which is wound around a drum 159, Fig. 2, from which it passes by means of rollers 160, 161 to an inclined roller 162, which changes its direction from horizontal to vertical, thence over a roller 157 and another inclined roller 163, and between rollers 164, 165 to a winding-up roller 166. The roller 166 is intermittently rotated by a cord 170 passing over a pulley 169 and a pulley 168 on the shaft of the roller 164, which is provided with a ratchet 167 intermittently rotated by a pawl actuated by a lever and cam on the shaft 37. The roller 165 is supported in slotted bearings, and is pressed against the roller 164 by means of springs, so that, as the paper is wound up by the roller 166, the cord 170 slips when the roller tends to wind up more paper than is fed by the rollers 164, 165. Nine rods 155 guided in a vertical frameare provided at their semicircular ends, Fig. 3, with printing - types representing numerals, each of which corresponds to a skittle. Each skittle knocked over actuates a bell-crank lever connected to a rod 149, Figs. 1 and 3, which, by means of a lever 150, shaft 151, and crank 151<1>, depresses a finger 156 on a rod 155, and depresses the corresponding type on to the paper. To ensure legible impressions, the ink receptacle 179, provided with an ink pad, is supported in the frame 154 by means of an axle 178, and the receptacle is turned through ninety degrees in order to press against the type, by means of a lever 182 attached to a rod 181, which is raised. when a lever 112<11> is actuated in order to re-set the pins. The lever 182 acts on a pin 180 attached to the receptacle. The pins are re set by means of a plate 117, which is depressed by means of a lever 112<11> actuated from a cam on the shaft 37. The plate 117 is connected to the skittles by means of springs and chains, which, when the plate 117 is in its raised position, allow the skittles to be knocked ovar. The apparatus may also be provided with an electrical device, Fig. 14, for indicating when all the skittles but one have been knocked over. Each skittle, except the central one, makes an electric connexion between springs b, c when floored, and a circuit is completed to an electro-magnet, which operates a prize-delivery mechanism, when all the springs b, c are in contact. The driving-mechanism of the shaft 37 comprises a spring barrel 69, and a crank 1 for winding up the spring by revolving it from the right-hand horizontal position I, Fig. 1, throughhalfarevolutionto the position II, and back again, the motor spring being tensioned to a certain extent before this operation. The crank 1 is fixed to a hub 3 of segments 4, 4<1> freely mounted on a shaft 5, which is provided with a ratchet 6, and to which the spring is fixed. As the crank 1 is rotated, a pawl 8 on the segment 4<1> rotates the ratchet 6, which is engaged by a pawl 7 fixed to a plate 8. The segment 4 is engaged by a pawl 13 during the winding of the spring, and is released, when the spring is wound, by a pin 10 which moves a.bar 11, engaging the pawl, by means of a pin 12, When the crank is returned to its position, the pawl is released from the pin 12. The driving- gear of the motor is normally prevented from rotating by means of a bell-crank lever 20 on a shaft 21, which engages a recess in a wheel 22 geared to a wheel 49 on the shaft 37, and also by means of the arm 23<1> of a bell-crank lever, which engages a pin 24 on a disk 25<1> on a wormshaft 26 geared to the spring barrel. When the crank 1 reaches the position If, a pin 15 on the segment 4<1> actuates a lever 16 and the shaft 17. on which the bell-crank lever 18<11> is fixed, and so the wheel 22 is freed from the lever 20, which is moved by the lever 18". One arm of the lever 18<11> is engaged by a pawl 19. The lever arm 23<1> prevents the motor from driving until the crank returns to the right-hand horizontal position I, but then the pin 15 acts upon the lever 23<1> and frees the shaft 26. The shaft 20 is connected by means of a forked lever 32 to a pointed lever 33, which is caused to engage the segment 4<1> and to engage a recess 35 in it when the lever has returned. This prevents the crank from moving during the movement of the motor. The lever 33 is released from the recess 35, when the motor has run down, by means of a projection 36 on the wheel 22, which, by means of the pawl 19, actuates the bell-crank lever 18<11>, and moves the shafts 17, 21 in directions opposite to those in which they moved at first. The lever 32 is thus returned, and stops the disk 25<1> by means of a stop 32<1> which engages the stop 24. The shaft 26 is provided with a looselymounted fly-wheel 25, which, by means of a spring 26<1>, engages the disk 25<1> and rotates with it. When the apparatus is to be coin-freed, the segment 4<1> is prevented from rotating, until a coin is inserted, by means of a shoulder 43 on a spring-controlled lever arm 39', which abuts the notch 35 of the segment. When a coin is passed down the shoot 42, it is stopped by a projection 41<1> on a lever 41 pivoted to the lever 39'. On rotation of the segment 4<1>, a surface 44 on the segment presses on the coin and depresses the lever 39<1>, so that the segment can be rotated. On further rotation of the segment the lever 41 is depressed, thus allowing the coin to fall through a slot in the lever 391 down a shoot 46 to a cash-box 47. When the apparatus is not to be coin-freed, the lever 39<1> is moved clear of the segment 4<1> by means of a lever 61, Fig. 4, connected to the bolt 57 of an ordinary lock, which when moved to the right by a key 185, moves the arm 39<1> upwards. The bolt 57 also moves a shaft 53, which is in gear with the shaft 17, and causes a clutch 56 on the shaft to engage a worm 54 or a worm 55. These worms operate counting-wheels 63, 64, adapted to register respectively the number of times the apparatus is used with and without the coin-freed mechanism. The shaft 53 is geared to the shaft 17, so that the shaft 53 is rotated at each actuation of the driving- motor. Each worm 54, 55 engages a wheel having 100 teeth fixed to a counting-wheel, which by means of a fixed pointer registers numbers up to 100, and also engages a wheel having 101 teeth and provided with a pointer 67, which, owing to the differential movement of the two wheels, registers hundreds and thousands up to 10,000.