Patent ID: 7591732

Claim:
An electromechanical pin setter wherein a deck assembly holds pins in deck chutes and reciprocates vertically to spot and re-spot pins on a pin setting location on a bowling lane, a rake mechanism removes pins from the bowling lane, a pit conveyor moves pins and a bowling ball toward a pin elevator, the pin elevator in a pit area lifts pins to a cross conveyor, the cross conveyor delivers pins to a turret, the turret distributes pins to the deck chutes, a ball elevator to lift the bowling ball to a ball return track, the electromechanical pin setter comprising: a hydraulic drive component comprising a fluid drive cylinder, hydraulic drive component operated by a source of pressurized fluid through an electrically controlled valve, to control an operation of at least one of the deck assembly, the rake mechanism, and the ball elevator, through a linear motion of the fluid drive cylinder; and a controller individually controlling and sequencing operations of the electrically controlled valve to control operations of the hydraulic drive component wherein said ball elevator comprises: a plurality of linkages connected in series; a ball lift arm disposed at one end of a first one of said plurality of linkages; said hydraulic drive component comprises the drive cylinder including a base and an extendable shaft, wherein said base is attached to said frame and the extendable shaft is attached to a first end of a second one of said plurality of linkages; wherein a second end of said second one of said plurality of linkages is attached to a midpoint of a third one of said plurality of linkages; wherein a first end of said third one of said plurality of linkages is attached to the first one of said plurality of linkages, on which the ball lift arm is disposed; and wherein an extension of said extendable shaft causes said ball lift arm to rotate about an axle and move a bowling ball through an arc motion to a guide track.