BE1019435A3 - ROTATING PLATE FOR AUTOMATIC ROULETTE AND ROULETTE DEVICE COMPRISING SUCH A TRAY. - Google Patents

Abstract

Turntable (4) for a substantially circular caster, arranged to rotate about an axis of rotation (19), comprising a central zone (20) from which extend outwardly a series of walls ( 6), defining between them, a series of cavities (5), said walls (6) each having at least one connection (17) with said central zone (20), located in a radial plane P with respect to said axis of rotation (19) of said turntable (4) and a free end (18), characterized in that each wall (6) has between the free end (18) and said connector (17), a series of n sections of which at least a section has a direction different from said radial plane, n being greater than or equal to 1.

Description

"ROTARY TRAY FOR AUTOMATIC ROULETTE AND ROULETTE DEVICE COMPRISING A

TEL PLATEAU

The present invention relates to a turntable for a substantially circular wheel, arranged to rotate about an axis of rotation, comprising a central zone from which extend outwards a series of walls, defining between they, a series of cavities, said walls each having at least one connection with said central zone, located in a radial plane with respect to said axis of rotation of said turntable and a free end,

Such roulette turntables are known in a current roulette device found in casinos. The most known roulette is the so-called "French" casino roulette which comprises a turntable as described above placed in a hollow center of a substantially cylindrical play zone. The turntable in the so-called French roulette has 37 boxes numbered from 0 to 36. A croupier manages all phases of play. It operates with a reel, the rotating circular plate located in the hollow center of the cylinder forming the roulette device itself and also launches a ball along the inner wall of this cylinder-shaped cylinder in the opposite direction to that of the mobile circular plate, announcing "make your games". When the ball decelerates, it announces "nothing goes more" and little by little the ball falls in one of the boxes of this plateau whose walls are perpendicular to the circumference of the mobile circular plate.

The player, for his part, puts his bets on the appropriate carpet, between the ads "make your games" and "nothing goes". If the ball stops in a box set by the player, the player wins 36 times his bet. Other smaller winnings can also be earned depending on the type of combination bet.

Since a few decades this same type of roulette is manufactured as an automatic game machine. It is no longer a dealer who manages the game but the electronic system of the device. The game rules always remain more or less the same as those stated above.

Unfortunately, in this type of automatic device, the walls between which the cavities (or cells) are defined are perpendicular to the circumference of the movable circular plate, that is to say in a radial plane passing through said connection between said walls and the central area of the turntable, as in conventional French-style roulette devices.

Two major problems related to the structure of these mobile trays reside in the fact that this type of device requires the presence of an additional mechanism for propelling the ball and a mechanism for recovering the ball having finished its course in a cavity towards said device for propelling the ball. These two mechanisms represent complex mechanisms at the level of their manufacture and at the level of the electronic management of the latter. In addition, generally, when the ball goes from one mechanism to another, it disappears from the field of view of the user and causes on the one hand questions as to how it is propelled.

The invention intends to solve the aforementioned problems by providing a turntable for roulette which eliminates the ball recovery mechanism and greatly simplifies the propulsion mechanism of the latter.

To this end, the invention provides a turntable as mentioned at the beginning, characterized in that each wall has between the free end and said connection, a series of n sections of which at least one section has a different direction of said radial plane. , n being greater than or equal to 1.

By the terms "turntable" in the sense of the present invention is meant as much a substantially planar plate in a simplified embodiment than a volume element. The turntable according to the invention therefore comprises a central zone, for example, starting from the axis of rotation, a dome centered on the axis of rotation around which the walls extend like the vanes of a paddle wheel. .

In a preferred embodiment, the lower surface of said turntable continues under the fins (thereby forming a circumferential platform whose upper surface is the lower surface of said cavities).

By the terms "connection" is meant a point of contact between the walls and the central zone, a contact segment or even a contact surface or that the walls are in contact with the central zone via at least one part or element intermediate, provided that the space between the wall and said central zone is less than the diameter of the ball.

In a variant according to the invention, the lower surface of said cavities is formed by a substantially cylindrical play area in the form of cups.

As can be seen, the turntable according to the invention therefore comprises on the periphery, walls delimiting cavities or huts which are no longer perpendicular to the circumference of the rotating circular plate, but of curved or inclined or angular shape or other, but which have at least one non-perpendicular section to the circumference of the movable circular plate. In this way, the recovery mechanism of the ball housed in the cavity between two walls is no longer necessary since a simple acceleration of the rotation of the turntable is sufficient to drive the ball and restart. The ball is then guided along one of the walls of the cavity in which it is located and is driven into the substantially cylindrical shaped bowl play area. This simplified propulsion mechanism is then also the ball recovery mechanism is involves only a motor for conferring on the turntable according to the invention, an acceleration for driving the ball out of the cavity and in the area substantially cylindrical cup-shaped play structure. In addition, another advantage of the turntable according to the invention lies in the fact that the walls accelerate by the acceleration of the circular plate rotating the ball fluidly towards its circular path along the inner wall of the bowl-shaped cylinder which is not the case if the ball is ejected in such a way out of a box whose walls are perpendicular to the circumference of the moving circular plate.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, n is> 1 and said free end of each wall of said series of walls is offset from said radial plane in the direction of rotation of said plate.

In a variant according to the invention, n is> 1 and wherein said free end of each wall of said series of walls is offset from said radial plane in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said plate.

By the terms "said free end of each wall of said series of walls is offset from said radial plane in the direction of rotation of said plate" in the sense of the present invention, it is meant that if the turntable is arranged to rotate in the clockwise direction, with respect to the radial plane, the free end is to the right of said radial plane passing through said connection for an observer placed in the center of said plate. Conversely, if the turntable is arranged to rotate counterclockwise with respect to the radial plane, the free end is to the left of said radial plane passing through said fitting for a observer placed in the center of said plateau.

By the terms "said free end of each wall of said series of walls is offset from said radial plane in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said plate" in the sense of the present invention, it is understood that if the turntable is arranged to enter rotation in the direction of clockwise, relative to the radial plane, the free end is to the left of said radial plane passing through said connection for an observer placed in the center of said plate. Conversely, if the turntable is arranged to rotate in the counterclockwise direction relative to the radial plane, the free end is to the right of said radial plane passing through said fitting for a observer placed in the center of said plateau.

As previously mentioned, at least one portion of said walls is rectilinear or curved or a combination thereof. Therefore, the walls can be rectilinear, curved or each have n sections interconnected by n - 1 intermediate points. Regardless of the shape of the walls, provided that the guide avoids a sudden impact of the ball on the inner wall of the cup-shaped cylinder which causes wear and disrupts the circular motion on the play area of the ball.

Advantageously, said cavity series comprises 32,37 or 38 cavities, formed between 32, 37 or 38 walls, respectively.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the ratio between the diameter of said central zone of said plate and said length of said walls is between 2 and 5. In this way, the guide of the ball by the walls of the turntable according to the invention is optimal and the circular race along the inner wall of the bowl-shaped cylinder of the game area is not disturbed by various impacts.

The height of the walls of the boxes of the present invention is also higher than those of the walls of the conventional casters both manual and automatic to allow a good ejection without sudden crash of the ball against the inner wall of the bowl-shaped cylinder

Advantageously, in the turntable according to the invention, said free ends of each wall have, in a horizontal plane, a point inscribed in an outer circle whose diameter is greater than the diameter of said central zone.

In a particular embodiment of the tray according to the invention, the outer circle is connected to said central zone by a circumferential platform whose upper surface is the lower surface of said cavities.

Other embodiments of the rotary plater according to the invention are mentioned in the appended claims.

The present invention also relates to an automatic roulette type game device comprising a substantially cylindrical play area in the form of a bowl comprising: a substantially cylindrical inner wall, a turntable according to the invention, placed in a hollow center of said game zone, and - a motor, arranged to drive said rotating plate in rotation about an axis of rotation.

Advantageously, the game device according to the invention further comprises a detection means arranged to detect in which cavity a ball is housed.

In an embodiment according to the invention, each cavity has a lower face on which a ball may be when it is housed in one of said cavities, defined by a circumferential platform of said turntable connected to said central zone of the latter. this.

In a variant according to the invention, wherein each cavity has a lower face on which a ball may be when it is housed in one of said cavities, defined by an upper face of the game area.

Other embodiments of the eju device, particularly automatic roulette according to the invention are mentioned in the appended claims.

Other features, details and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description given below, without limitation and with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

Figure 1 is a turntable according to the state of the art.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an automatic roulette device according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the automatic roulette device according to the invention along line A-A in FIG. 4.

Figure 4 is a top view of the automatic roulette device according to the invention.

Figure 5 shows schematic views of the various embodiments of the turntable according to the invention.

In the figures, identical or similar elements bear the same references.

As can be seen in Figure 1, the wheels of the state of the art comprise a play area 1 comprising a cup-shaped cylindrical portion 8 surrounded by an inner wall 10. The game area 1 is provided with a plate 4 rotating substantially circular. The turntable is arranged to rotate about a central axis of rotation. The turntable according to the invention comprises a central zone from which extend outwards a series of walls 6 perpendicular to the circumference of the central zone. The walls define between them a series of cavities 5, said walls each having at least one connector 17 with said central zone, located in a radial plane with respect to said axis of rotation of said turntable and a free end 18. The cavities are designated advantageously by numbered and colored labels 7.

This example of automatic roulette therefore has walls 6 perpendicular to the circumference of the rotating circular plate 4 in the center thereof.

This automatic wheel has a motorized device (not shown) which makes it possible to rotate a mobile circular plate 4. The mobile circular plate 4 is located in the hollow center of a bowl-shaped cylinder 8. The propulsion of the ball is often done by a device (not shown) located at the periphery of the cup-shaped cylinder along the path 9. The recovery is generally done by a device (not shown) located under the movable circular plate 4.

An embodiment of the device of the present invention integrated in a non-limiting example of the game for the present application is described below and with the help of Figure 2.

The automatic roulette equipped with the turntable according to the present invention is a game installed in a piece of furniture 3 which comprises a wheel 1 and one or more game mats 2. While the rotating circular plate 4 is idling on an axis 12 with a ball 11 located in one of the boxes 5 numbered and colored for example with the help of labels 7 where it stopped at the previous game, the player defines, after the announcement "make your games", his bets on his carpet of 2. During betting, the ball 11 is ejected from the box where it was by a motorized device 13 (Figure 3) under the rotating circular plate 4 and is projected along the inner wall 10 of the cylinder-shaped bowl 8. After the announcement "nothing goes" the ball decelerates and finishes its race in one of the boxes 5 of the rotating circular plate 4 which had slowed its rotation previously.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the ferrous metal ball 11 housed in one of the cells 5 is detected when it is positioned by the rotation of the rotating circular plate 4 above an inductive detection device 14 located under the tray 4 and thus provides the result of the game via display devices (not shown). The detection of the position of the boxes of the rotating circular plate 4 is carried out by a small tab 15 fixed thereunder and which passes through an optical detection device 16 at each turn of the plate 4.

As can be clearly understood from FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the tray according to the invention is arranged to rotate about an axis of rotation 19 and comprises a central zone 20 (for example in the form of a dome) from which extend outwards a series of walls 6 defining between them a series of cavities 5. The walls 6 each have at least one connector 17 with said central zone 20 situated in a radial plane P relative to said axis of rotation 19 of said turntable 4 and a free end 18. According to the invention, the free end 18 of each wall 6 of said series of walls 6 is offset from said radial plane P in the direction of the direction of rotation said platen represented by an arrow in FIG. 4. In the case of this type of automatic wheels, the ball 11 rotates in the same direction as the turntable 4 and follows the race represented by the dotted line 9.

As already mentioned above, said free end 18 of each wall 6 of said series of walls 6 is offset from said radial plane P in the direction of rotation of said plate. This means that if the turntable 4 is arranged to rotate counterclockwise (see FIG. 4), with respect to the radial plane P, the free end 18 is to the left of the said radial plane P passing through said connector 17 for an observer placed in the center 19 of said plate4. On the other hand, if the turntable 4 is arranged to rotate clockwise with respect to the radial plane P, the free end 18 is to the right of said radial plane P passing through said connector 17 for an observer placed in the center 19 of said plate 4. The walls 6, in the form of fins, are not perpendicular to the circumference of the rotating circular plate 4. The shape of the walls 6 of the present invention allows during acceleration the movable circular plate 4 an ejection of the ball 11 without violent shock to the inner wall 10 of the cup-shaped cylinder 8 and reach as fast as possible its circular path 9 fluid. In the present example, the walls 6 of the boxes 5 which are curved and therefore not perpendicular to the mobile circular plate 4 are made of polyethylene.

As can be seen in FIG. 5, each wall 6 has between the free end 18 and said connector 17 a series of n sections whose at least one section has a direction different from said radial plane P, where n is greater than or equal to 1.

In FIG. 5A, the wall 6 comprises two sections x and y whose first section has a direction different from that of the radial plane. The free end is in this case shifted to the right of the radial plane P in the direction of the direction of rotation (clockwise) indicated by the arrow in Figure 5A.

In FIG. 5B, the wall 6 comprises at least one section which has a direction different from that of the radial plane P. In this case, the free end is shifted towards the right of the radial plane P in the direction of the direction of rotation (direction clockwise) indicated by the arrow in Figure 5B

In FIG. 5C, the wall 6 comprises two sections x and y whose first section and the second section both have a direction different from that of the radial plane P. In this case, the free end is shifted to the right of the radial plane P in the direction of rotation (clockwise) indicated by the arrow in Figure 5C.

In FIG. 5D, the wall 6 comprises a single section which has a direction different from that of the radial plane P. The free end is in this case shifted to the right of the radial plane P in the direction of the direction of rotation (direction of the clockwise) indicated by the arrow in Figure 5D.

In FIG. 5E, the wall 6 comprises two sections x and y, the first section and the second section of which both have a direction different from that of the radial plane P. In this case, the free end is shifted to the right of the radial plane P in the direction of rotation (clockwise) indicated by the arrow in Figure 5E.

In FIG. 5F, the wall 6 comprises at least one curved section which has a direction different from that of the radial plane. The free end is in this case shifted to the right of the radial plane P in the direction of the direction of rotation (clockwise) indicated by the arrow in Figure 5F.

It is understood that the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described above and that many modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. For example, the number of cavities has been exemplified by 32, 37 or 38, but it is understood that any number of cavities greater than 2 is applicable in the device according to the invention. In addition, in the form of the walls, a number of variants are possible and they can be combined. For example, the walls may comprise a rectilinear perpendicular section, and an inclined or curved section, the walls must not all be identical, it may for example have in a preferred embodiment, one wall out of two which is curved and a wall in two which is of form comprising two sections.

Similarly, the turntable according to the invention has been described in the context of a roulette device, but it is understood that it could also be applied in other derivative device using such a turntable.

Claims (14)

A rotary table (4) for a substantially circular wheel, arranged to rotate about an axis of rotation (19), comprising a central zone (20) from which outwardly a series of walls (6), defining between them, a series of cavities (5), said walls (6) each having at least one connection (17) with said central zone (20), situated in a radial plane P with respect to said axis of rotation (19) of said turntable (4) and a free end (18), characterized in that each wall (6) has between the free end (18) and said connection (17), a series of n sections of which at least one section has a different direction of said radial plane, n being greater than or equal to 1. The turntable (4) according to claim 1, wherein n is> 1 and wherein said free end (18) of each wall (6) of said series of walls (6) is offset from said radial plane P in the direction the direction of rotation of said plate. The turntable (4) according to claim 1, wherein n is> 1 and wherein said free end (18) of each wall (6) of said series of walls (6) is offset from said radial plane P in the direction inverse of the direction of rotation of said plate. The turntable (4) according to claim 1, wherein n is> 1 and wherein said free end (18) of each wall (6) of said series of walls (6) is aligned with said radial plane P. 5. turntable (4) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least a portion of said walls (6) is rectilinear. 6. turntable (4) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein at least a portion of said walls (6) is curved. A turntable (4) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said series of recesses (5) comprises 32,37 or 38 cavities (5), formed between 32, 37 or 38 walls (6), respectively. The turntable (4) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the ratio of the diameter of said central zone (20) of said plate (4) to said length of said walls (6) is between 2 and 5. 9. turntable (4) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said free ends (18) of each wall (6) have, in a horizontal plane, a point inscribed in an outer circle whose diameter is greater than diameter of said central zone (20). The turntable (4) according to claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the outer circle is connected to said central zone (20) by a circumferential platform whose upper surface is the lower surface of said cavities (5). Automatic roulette device, comprising a substantially cylindrical cup-shaped play zone (2) comprising: a substantially cylindrical inner wall (10); a rotary plate (4) according to any one of the claims; 1 to 9, placed in a recessed center of said play zone (2), and - a motor, arranged to drive said turntable (4) in rotation about an axis of rotation. 12. Device according to claim 11, further comprising a detection means (14) arranged to detect in which cavity a ball is housed. 13. Device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein each cavity has an inner face on which a ball (11) can be when it is housed in one of said cavities (5), defined by an upper face of the zone of game (2). 14. Device according to claim 11 or 12, wherein each cavity (5) has a lower face on which a ball (11) can be when it is housed in one of said cavities (5), defined by a circumferential platform said turntable (4) connected to said central area thereof.