A Coin-freed Game-playing Apparatus.
Year: 1893

page_text: .::....
Date of Application, 5th Apr., 1893
Complete Specification. Left, 5th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 5th Apr., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Coin-freed Game-playing Apparatus.
I, GRAYDON POORE, of 47, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to games of the kind in which a series of pivoted arms or
levers carrying knockers or pushers is employed for enabling two or more players
to push a ball, disc or block into one of a series of holes or recesses forming goals.
The object of my present invention is to provide means whereby such a game
can only be played upon the introduction of a coin, token or the like. I sometimes
accomplish this by providing that as the ball, disc or block enters the goal the
action of pressing it in actuates a lock which engages one or more of the arms or
levers.
The coin freed mechanism is sometimes arranged so that when the disc or
the like passes through the goal it will fall down an aperture and into a locked
receptacle and will only be recovered by the insertion of a coin which will allow
the said receptacle to open. This receptacle is so arranged that until it is again
closed and locked a second disc cannot be obtainable. The goal itself may form
the receptacle from which the disc cannot be extracted until the insertion of
a coin.
I can arrange that this ball, disc, or the like entering the goal may be made to
act in such a manner that one, two or any number of games can be played before
the machine is locked, for instance, I can arrange, in conjunction with one or more
of the pivotted levers, discs and ratchet wheels adapted to be unlocked by the
introduction of the coin, token, or the like and then to be moved from time to time
by the entrance of the lisc or the like into the goal until the predetermined
number of games has been played.
"
11000
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Coin-freed Game-playing Apparatus.
-I, GRAYDON POORE, of 47, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates to game-playing apparatus of the kind described in
the Specification of Letters Patent No. 13454 of 1892 in which a series of pivotted
arms or levers carrying knockers or pushers is employed for enabling two or more
players to push a ball, disc or block into one of a series of holes or recesses forming
goals.
The object of my present invention is to provide means whereby such a game
can only be played upon the introduction of a coin, token or the like and I
accomplish this by providing that as the ball, disc or block enters the goal the
action of pressing it in actuates a lock which engages one or more of the arms or
levers so as to lock the apparatus until a coin is introduced.
.

page_text: og drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a plan of the game-playing apparatus having locking mechanism
applied thereto according to my invention; and,
Figure 2 is a section of the same on the line 2-2, Figure 1:
Figure 3 is a sectional plan; and,
Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4, Figure 1:
Figure 5 is a view of part of the coin releasing-mechanism; and,
Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6, Figure 5:
Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6 but shewing the parts in a different
position:
Figures 8 and 9 are an elevation and plan of part of the coin releasing mechanism
detached:
Figure 10 is a section on the line 10-10, Figure 6:
Figure 11 is a view of a part of the mechanism shewn in Figures 6 and 7, but in
a different position:
Figure 12 is a perspective view of a modified form of apparatus with certain
parts removed :
Figures 13 and 14 show in sectional elevation another modification.
Figures 5 to 11 are drawn to a larger scale than Figures 1 to 4.
a is the table of the apparatus, and 6 the projecting flange or fence enclosing a
space e forming the course which, as shewn, has two recesses or bays d, d forming
goals. e, e are the levers by means of which the persons playing the game
endeavour to push, say, a disc, such as f, into one or the other of the recesses d, d,
each of the said levers at one end being provided with a stud g forming a pusher
and at the other end with a handle h.
i, i are the links to which the levers e, e are pivotted, the said links themselves
being secured to spindles or studs j,j. The parts hereinbefore indicated are the
same as those described in the Specification above referred to and form no part of
my invention.
According to my invention for retaining the apparatus normally locked and
releasing it upon the introduction of a coin, token or the like I fix to the lower end
of one of the studs ; which moves with the link i and extends through the table a,
a lever having a segmental rack m, as shewn in Figures 2, 3 and 4. The said
segmental rack m has engaging with it a pawl a carried in a bracket n' fixed to
the underside of the table a, the said pawl by engaging with the rack preventing
the connected link and also the levere carried thereby from being moved when the
latter has its pusher in one corner of the course, as shewn in Figure 1. This
pawl n is disengaged from the teeth of the rack m through the medium of a
spring-rod o having at one end an inclined surface designed, when the rod is pushed
in the proper direction, to bear against a projection p on the underside of the
pawl n and to lift the said pawl, the other end of the said rod o being acted upon
by what I term a cam-wheel q, that is to say, a wheel having a series of cam-
projections upon its periphery. The shaft g' carrying the cam-wheel is supported
in hangers q, q on the underside of the table and bas also fixed to it a discr
having upon it pins the number of which corresponds with the number of the
cam-projections of the cam-wheel 9, as shewn most clearly in Figures 6 and 7. In
connection with the pins of the disc is a pawl s pivotted at ' to a lever &
mounted on a pin t' carried by brackets t, 2. This lever t, which is shewn most
clearly in Figures 8 and 9, has connected to it a push-rod t extending outside the
casing surrounding the mechanism in such a manner that when it is pushed
inwardly, for instance, to the position indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 7,
the pawls will be moved to engage with one of the pins on the disc r. The said
lever is also provided at its upper part with the extension t having formed in it
a.slot to into which coins can be inserted through a slit in the table a when the
said slot to is beneath the slit to, as shewn in Figure 6, that being its normal position.
Immediately beneath the slot to, when the lever t is in its normal position, and

page_text: mounted in suitable bearings in brackets u, u is a shaft u¹ having on one side of it
a projection u for a purpose hereinafter described and on one end of it a pawl u³
designed to engage with teeth u, u upon the lever t. is a flange or projecting
rib formed upon the lever and serving when the pawl us is lifted out of engage-
ment with the teeth ut on the lever to pass beneath a pin us on the said pawl so
as to hold the said pawl out of engagement with the teeth u*.
is a spring secured at one end to the levert and at the other end to the
casing enclosing the mechanism, the said spring serving after the said levert has
been moved by the push-rod to return the same to its normal position.
wo, wo are two levers pivotted at w', w¹ beneath the table a and each provided
at one end with an inclined surface projecting above the surface of the table in
the recesses d, d, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3, the other ends being jointed at w³.
a, are bridge-pieces placed over the entrances to the recesses d, d and above the
said projecting ends w³, w³, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
One of the said levers w
carries an arm w to which is pivotted a weighted pawl engaging with the oam-
wheel g so that if, during the playing of a game the disc be moved into a goal
and consequently into contact with either of the projecting ends w³, wo of the
levers wo, w, the said projecting end will be depressed and the pawl w will impart
a certain amount of movement to the said cam-wheel, the bridge-pieces, a
preventing the disc ƒ from rising which it has the tendency to do by reason of its
contact with the inclined projecting end w³ of the lever to be depressed.
The operation of the coin releasing mechanism hereinbefore described is as
follows:-
Assume the mechanism to be locked, that is to say, with the pawl n in engage-
ment with the teeth of the segmental rack m and the other parts of the mechanism
in the position shewn in Figure 6. Upon the required coin being inserted through
the slit into the slot of the levert the said coin will drop and be supported
on the adjacent edges of the brackets u, u as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 10,
so that its lower part will be in front of the projection upon the shaft u', as
shewn in Figure 6. If now the push-rod 3 is moved inwardly to move the lever t
to the position shewn in full lines in Figure 7, the movement of the coin, owing
to its engagement with the projection u upon the shaft will cause the partial
rotation of the said shaft, whereby the pawl u will be lifted out of engagement
with the teeth u¹ of the said lever t, the flange or rib u upon the said lever being
at the same time brought beneath the pin u on the pawl and supporting the
same until the lever reaches the position shewn in dotted lines in Figure 7, in
which position the hooked end of the pawls is in the position also indicated by
the dotted lines in Figure 7 behind one of the pins so that on the return
movement of the said lever under the action of the spring a the said pawls will
rotate the disc r and with it the cam-wheel g to the position shewn in Figure 11.
At the same time that the lever t reaches its extreme position in one direction,
as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 7, the pin of the pawl drops off
the flange so that on the return of the said lever the teeth a slip past the
pawl us but engage therewith in case any attempt is made to again push the lever
forwards. When during the forward movement of the levert the coin moves off
the projection u² it drops into the casing enclosing the mechanism.
The result of rotating the disc r to the position shewn in Figure 11 is that the
cam-wheel acts with one of its cam-projections against the rod o also as shewn
in Figure 11, whereby the said rod is moved to lift the pawl n which thereby
leaves the hitherto locked linki and levere tree to be moved. The players now
commence to operate the levers e, e and continue to do so until the disc is forced
into one of the recesses or goals d, d beneath the bridge-piece thereof..
Immediately, however, the said disc reaches such a position it causes the
depression of the end w² of the lever w beneath it, whereby the said levers ware
moved in such a manner that the pawi w (which previously occupied the position
shewn in Figure 11) is moved downwardly so that it acts against one of the cam-
projections of the cam-wheel q and rotates the same sufficiently for the rod o

page_text: under the action of its spring to move so that its end is in contact with the lower
part of the cam-wheel, as shewn in Figures 2, 6 and 7, whereby the pawl-n again
engages with the segmental rack m and locks the link i and levere connected to
the said rack, so that the apparatus cannot be again used until another coin is
introduced.
Instead of arranging the locking mechanism as hereinbefore described so that
the locking is effected by pressing the disc into one of the goals I sometimes
arrange the apparatus so that when the disc or the like enters the goal it will fall
-down an aperture and into a locked receptacle and will only be recovered by the
insertion of a coin which will allow the said receptacle to open. This arrangement
is shown in Figure 12 in which it will be observed the table a is supported
upon a standard having arms y, y which are made hollow so as to form passages
from the goals d, d to the receptacle or drawer y'. This drawer is normally
locked but is adapted to be unlocked upon the insertion of a coin in the same
manner as the drawer described in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 2033
of 1883 or in any other suitable manner. y² indicates the box into. which the
-coins fall.
I can arrange that the disc, or the like, entering the goal may be made to act
in such a manner that one, two or any number of games can be played. before the
machine is locked, for instance, I can modify the arrangement of the cam-wheel
in the manner shewn in Figure 13. In this figure it will be noticed that the said
wheel has only two cam-projections upon its periphery and the disc r has also two
pins corresponding with the number of cams. The pawl w engages with the
teeth of a ratchet wheel z instead of with the cam-projections. With this con-
struction the ratchet wheel z will be moved a distance of one tooth for each game
played, the number of games which can be played for a single coin being
-determined by the number of teeth necessary to cause the movement of the cam-
-wheel from the position shewn in Figure 14 (which is the position of the parts
after the rod t has been operated) to that shewn in Figure 13 which represents
the position of the parts when the rod o is released. As shewn in the drawings a
movement of the wheel a distance of five teeth is necessary to rotate the cam-
wheel the required distance, therefore allowing of five games being played.
2
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1'declare that what I
-claim is :-
1. The combination with game-playing apparatus of the kind indicated of means
whereby as the disc or the like enters one of the goals it will operate a lever
-connected with locking-mechanism, substantially as, and for the purpose, described.
2. In a cofn-freed game-playing apparatus of the kind herein described the use
of a rack or racks for locking one of the levers of the apparatus by engaging
with a fixed pawl and arranged and operating substantially as, and for the purpose
-described.
3. The combination with game-playing apparatus of the kind indicated of means
whereby after the disc or the like has been goaled it cannot be removed from the
goal until the latter is opened by the insertion of a coin or the like, substantially
. as described.
4. The combination with game-playing apparatus wherein two or more levers
jointed to pivotted links are employed, means for Jocking one of the said levers
and releasing it upon the introduction of a coin, token or the like, substantially as
-described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.