US2545644A - Botating disk game device - Google Patents

Description

March 20, 1951 A. c, BENTON ETAL 2,545,644

ROTATING DISK GAME DEVICE Filed May 26, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS BENTON A 7' TORNE).

JOHN E $GHM/D7; JR.

ALFRED March 20, 1951 A. c. BENTON ET AL 2,545,544

I ROTATING DISK GAME DEVICE Filed May 26, 1947 2 Sheets-Shet 2 IZi .r.

/6 INVEN R Q ALFRED c. BEN7Q0 go/1w E 50/144107, .m.

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 20, 1951 UNI ELS PATENT BQ-IAIING. DISK GAMEQEYICE Alfred G-.-.Bentonand J hn F. Schmidt, J12, San Erancisco, Calif.

wannlicatiun-Mayzfi, Seri l-N 750,594

hara ters ill be, d spla ed-fer ead nel n Q nne t on withe s; nmnber of. fier ntlsinds of game Int emesent. disclosur diceifaces are as the charac er d splayed onjthe spinnersthwsh headaptabi ity .Q QH QdBY Q toth disp ay .o the ch ra ters .wiiLreadily h understood'.

It is an. biee oi i h sIinventiQn to provid a gaming qe fith jkindi describ d h t mashinning and stopping mechanism Operating Continuously in a periodic manner so. that those en a n..p e same by. r fe ence. to the device need not'be concerned withits operation. Another object oftheinventiqn is to provide a device ofthis. kind in which the stopping position ofgthe spinnersjis so a'ffectedhy variqusiim determinate causes that any single reading 011 displayedcharacters cannot be foretoldbut will appear as entirelyby chance. Further andmore specific objects and' advantages ojf the invention and the Inanner'in which the objects are accomplished will become apparent upon an, under standing of the following specification wherei reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In-the drawings:

Fig. 1 is-a horizontal sectional view through adevice embodying the present invention and illustrating-wheposition of -the various parts thereof;

Fig. Z-isafront-elevation ofthe-d'evice partially 2 be of any suitable imaterialand shape. Within the ca in are .a pluralityofaligned spinners I?! supported. on a rotatable shaft I? disposed' in suitable bearingibrackets l3. A motor,*as shown at M, is employed for rotatingthe shaft -l'-2--and is connected thereto asby a beltindicated at I5, andiconventionar pulleys. The -mot-or isemployed for imparting rotation to-the shaft 112, which. in turn causes the spinners, to rotate freely in a manner and. through "mechanism presently to he described, When. thecircuitto the motor is broken the spinners continue to rotate but are broughttoastop each-by-one of a set of,electro-magnets, -illustrated*at L6. The spinners are preferablymade' of plastic' -or other non-magnetic material and" each is provided with a plurality of 'iron' bars I? embedded or otherwise carried at intervals-agreeing with *the number of character-bearing faces on; each spinner; Thus when the rna'gnetsnare energized each spinner is -brought to rest irra positions-cor" responding to that il1ust-rated-'in l=ig; with one of the iron bars adjacent the 'magne't'and with one face parallel to the front face of the casing H) and positioned to register witha-wind'ow 18 which exposes-the aligned-face of the spinner 'tOvieW-in the mannershown in' F-ig'. '2;

Instead of being directly connected' wit-h the shaft 12, each of the spinners H is freely ro-- tata-ble on the shaft and is driven thereby through-afiuidclutch, theconstruction of which is best shown in Figs. 5; 6 and-*7; InFig. 5 0118 of the spinners *H is shown-as mounted for free rotation on the shaft .IZand as-being of hol- 10w construction with a plurality of' spaced vanes '20 formed therein. Opposit-eto the 'spinner H and preferablyreceived byit is a drive member-"Ti secured to a shaft 1'2 for rotation therewith and; having a "plurality of spaced vanes 2-2, also shown in- Fig: 7; similar-to and arranged-inopposed relation to the vanes-20 0f the spinner Ii. Gonsequently; whentheshaft and. the driving members 2-! thereon are rotated-by the motor ll,-rotating motion is-transmitted' 'to-thespinners "through the-fluid, in this casea-ir, which occupie -the 'space between the vanes of the driving member' -N and the vanes of the-spinner. When the motor-isstoppeda-the shaft and driving-membersii tendf-to come to rest through inertia, but the spinners thernselves are free to rotate either faster or slower than-the shaft .andcan be broughti to 'astop entirely. independently of the shaft by 'the a'pplication of energy to the electro-mag-ne-ts "I 6. As the electro-magnets are energized; the tendencyof the spinners will be stop-in whatever position they'happen toassume-Withoneof their several iron elements 17- being: draw-n toward the corresponding;electr c-magnet I 6.

-I-n--orderto .cause the electric -motor- -to start and stop periodically, and also-to eifectenengization of the magnets l5 each time the circuit to the motor is broken, an automatic alternating switch mechanism is provided. This switch comprises a pair of mercury tube switches, one for the motor, illustrated at 24, and one for the electro-magnets, illustrated at 25. Both of the switches 24 and 25 are carried on a rocker 7 arm 26 adapted to oscillate about a supporting shaft 21. At one end the rocker arm, as best shown in Fig. 4, is connected by a link 28 with a thermosensitive element, such, for example, as an expansible tube shown at 29 adapted to expand upon being heated and to contract upon being cooled. The opposite end of this element is connected as by a link 39 with a stationary post 3! through an adjustable fitting 32. A heating element or lamp 33 is disposed closely adjacent the expansible element 29 and upon being energized will cause the element to expand to rock the mercury switches in one direction. As the mercury switches are oppositely disposed, causing them to rock in one direction, they will energize the heating lamp 33 and the electro-magnets it to hold the spinners at rest. With the heating lamp 33 energized, the expansible element 29 will expand causing the switches to rock in the opposite direction, thus tie-energizing the lamp and the electro-magnets and closing the opposite switch to energize the motor.

The motor 2 carries a fan blade 35 for the purpose of causing a stream of air to flow toward and over the expansible element 29 so that while the motor is in operation the element is being cooled and will contract to again reverse the positions of the switches 2d and 25. Cas ing I9 is, as shown in Fig. 1, preferably perforated as at 36 and 37 in opposite walls to provide for the free flow of air under influence of the fan blade 35. With this arrangement, as long as energy i supplied to the main circult of the device the switches 2 and 25 will continuously and periodically reverse their positions so that the spinners are first caused to spin and then to stop, each with one of its character-bearing faces in alignment with its corresponding window it in front of the casing.

It is also desirable to provide lamps, indicated at 38, adjacent the windows it for illuminating the exposed faces of the spinners. A main switch is shown at-39 as operable from the exterior of the casing for breaking the main circuit when desired, and switches 59 are provided, one for each of the spinners, in order to es tablish constant energization of any one of the magnets l6, and in this manner to disable its associated spinner. By manipulation of the switches 39 any desired number of the spinners may be operated at once for playing different type of games. A rheostat it is also included in circuit with the heating lamp 33 so that the temperature of the same may be varied in order to accelerate or reduce the speed of the alternate operations controlled by the expansi-ble element 29.

A wiring diagram illustrating the manner in which the several electrically actuated parts of the device are included in an electric circuit is shown in Fig. 8. In this figure the main switch 39 is illustrated as controllingthe entire cir-- cuit, and the illuminatin lamps 98 are shown as disposed in parallel in this circuit. The motor M with its fan 35 is controlled by the mercury switch 25, and in the wiring diagram this switch is illustrated as tilted toward its open position. The other mercury switch 25, being tilted in the same direction, is closed and completes a circuit to the heater lamp 33, which circuit also includes therheostat 41. With all of the selecting switches 49 closed as illustrated in Fig. 8, the magnets it are all energized only when the switch 25 is in its closed position. However, each of the switches 48 may be thrown to an opposite position completing an uninterrupted circuit to any desired one or more of the magnets It, thus maintaining the desired magnets energized to hold their associated spinners against rotation when the motor I l rotates the shaft l2.

Because of the fact that thespinners are driven through a fluid clutch with air as a fluid, the rate at which they spin and the particular position that each occupies may vary greatly from time to time. Furthermore, because of the fact that the starting and stopping switches 24 and 25 are positioned through a thermo-sensitive device, the timing of the starting and stopping will be slightly variable depending upon the tempera,- ture of the room, the direction of any draft that will vary the temperature adjacent the device, and other intermediate variable factors. Consequently, each time the device starts and stops the spinners will come to rest in different positions, or at least in positions that cannot be foretold with any degree of accuracy. When the main switch 39 is closed, the device will operate continuously, alternately starting and stopping at frequent intervals, say periods of 20 or 30 seconds, so thatobservers engaged in a game-may without any manipulation of the device take readings of the exposed characters as often as they desire and apply the readings to the play of any game in which they are engaged.

We claim:

A game device comprising a plurality of spinners mounted for rotation on a common shaft and having peripherally arranged character bearing faces, a motor for rotating the shaft, a fluid drive connection between the shaft and each spinner, spaced members of magnetic material carried by each spinner, an e1ectro-rnagnet adjacent each spinner for stopping it by attraction of one of said members, and means for alternately energizing the motor and the electromagnets, said means comprising a motor switch and a magnet switch, a thermo-sensitive element connected with the switches for closing one switch when the element is subjected to high temperature and the other switch when the element is subjected to low temperature, a heater adjacent the thermo-sensitive element and in circuit with the electro-magnets, and a cooling fan actuated by the motor and positioned to direct a cooling draft over the thermo-sensitive element.

ALFRED C. BENTON. JOHN F. SCHMIDT, JR.

REFERENCES GI'IED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Le Gorre Mar. 6, 1934

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