Patent GB-451055-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to machines for game playing
IPC: A63D13/00
Filed: 1935-03-11
Abstract: 451,055. Token-freed game apparatus. SPIELER, W. B., 26, Summit Avenue, Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A. March 11, 1935, No. 7562. [Class 27] Tivoli billiards and like games.- A token-operated game apparatus comprises a playing surface over which rolling elements such as balls are projected in playing the game, the surface having portions towards which the player tries to project the balls, and guard means automatically operable if the apparatus is improperly tilted, such guard means comprising control mechanism which prevents operation of a reward or dispensing mechanism that is normally rendered operable by a ball received by one of said portions. The game comprises a pin board 10, Fig. 2, having slots 13 and scoring openings 14, balls being projected along an alley 17 past a spring 19 over the board by a spring-controlled plunger 35 actuated by a handle 37. Balls received in the slots 13 and certain openings 14 are retained therein by a slidable panel 40, Fig. 5, disposed beneath the board 10. In certain other groups of openings 14, the balls engage extensions 90 from mercury switches 93 carried by the panel 40, these extensions together with hoods 92 depending from the board 10 retaining the balls. The balls tilt the switches to close a circuit between leads 75, Fig. 12, and when all the switches of a group of openings (these switches being in series), are tilted, a solenoid S is energized to actuate mechanism for delivering playing discs to the player as a reward. To start the game, the player inserts a playing disc, consisting of a token with notch in it, into a corresponding opening 52, in a slide 51, Fig. 3, which is pushed in, the token releasing usual mechanism which normally locks the slide. The slide actuates a spring-pressed bar 57 to move the panel 40 towards the back of the machine, and to open momentarily through a contact 61, a switch A, Figs. 3 and 12. When the panel 40 is moved in, it releases the balls, which drop through to a chamber formed by a bottom wall 30 and roll to the front right-hand end of the machine to be delivered again for play by a swinging lifter 31, 32 actuated by a knob 29, Fig. 3. Switches C, if open, are closed and on the return of the panel 40 the switches 93 return to their normal open position. A conditioning switch 73, Fig. 12, is also momentarily closed by a lug 180 on the panel. The game is now played and, if the player tilts the machine to try and make the ball go into an opening 14, this causes one or other of four mercury switches 111 to close the circuit. of its leads and energize a magnet M, the switches 111 having a slight inclination from the horizontal in each of four different directions. The magnet M tilts a master switch 100 in series with the group of switches 93, thereby opening the circuit to these switches and closing the circuit of a warning light T which illuminates a glass panel bearing the word " Tilted." The dispensing solenoids S accordingly cannot be actuated, but the remaining balls can be played without rendering the dispensing mechanism effective, since the master switch 100 is retained in tilted position by a catch 114. When the slider 51 is actuated after inserting another token, the switch 73 is momentarily closed to energize a magnet R and release the catch 114. If, before the catch 114 is released, the whole apparatus is tilted, to bring the switch 100 to its normal inclination, a further switch 116 is tilted and breaks the circuit. The momentary opening of the switch A prevents the dispensing mechanism from being operated by jiggling the slider 51. Prize-delivery mechanism.-The playing discs fall from the slider 51 in its inner position to a hopper 120, Fig. 7, containing a starwheel which is rotated stepwise at each actuation of the slider by a pawl-and-ratchet drive 119, the end 124 of the pawl-bearing arm being engaged by a pin 118 on the bar 57. The discs are fed by the star-wheel through holes in the bottom of the hopper and shoots 125 to deep radial recesses in wheels 130. The core of a solenoid S, when this is energized, rotates stepwise through a one-way clutch the corresponding wheel 130, thus moving a recess past a guard 135 and allowing its contents to fall through a shoot 136 to a delivery drawer. The wheel 130 is normally locked by a catch 150 engaging a notched wheel 151, but this catch is released by the energization of a magnet N at the same time as the solenoid S. A spring-pressed lever 154 positions the wheel 130 at each movement. When the solenoid plunger is at the end of its movement, it closes a switch B to complete the circuit to a magnet D. The armature 65 of this magnet releases switch C to open the circuit of the group of switches 93 that have been closed by receiving balls, and thereby prevents the wheel 130 from being moved through more than one step. A modified disc-dispensing mechanism is described in which manually actuated plungers rotate an horizontal disc-dispensing wheel disposed below a single tube receiving discs from the slider 51.