GB2030877A

GB2030877A - Target (e.g. dart) board combined with score indicating system

Info

Publication number: GB2030877A
Application number: GB7836426A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: VIRAGATE Ltd
Current assignee: VIRAGATE Ltd
Priority date: 1978-09-12
Filing date: 1978-09-12
Publication date: 1980-04-16
Also published as: GB2030877B

Abstract

A target, e.g. a dart board, comprises target sections 22 each comprising two electrically conductive layers spaced apart by a non-conductive layer. When a dart penetrates these three layers of a target section, it causes a current to flow between the upper and lower layers 23 and 24 of the target section, such current, via processing means, actuating a score display system. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to target boards This invention relates to target boards and is par ticularly although not exclusively applicable to dart boards. The invention provides a target board having a plurality of target sections into which missiles can be embedded, spacer elements between adjacent sections to space the sections apart and prevent a missile embedding in the target between two sec tions, each of the target sections comprising three superimposed layers all of which are formed from a material which is penetratable by a missile, a pair of said layers being formed from an electrically con ductive material and being spaced apart by an intermediate layer which is formed from an electri cally insulating material so that a missile formed from an electrically conductive material and embed ded in the section can form a conductive path between said pair of layers, a circuit means having individual connections to said pair of layers of each target section and means to which in accordance with current flow in each of the circuit means in response to embedding of missiles in the respective sections.

The following is a description of a specific embod iment of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a darts board incorporating a score indicating system in accor dance with the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of an end part of the board showing a control console for the score indi cating system; Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrat ing the construction of the board; Figures 4 and 5 illustrate details of the construction shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 is a blpck diagram of the indicating sys tem.

Referring firstly to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a darts board 10 embodied in a vacuum formed face 11 having a corkorotherabsorbentfac- ing around the board. At the upper end of the base 11 there is a module 12 which overhangs the front face of the base and which has, on its front face, four score indicating display units 13, 14, 15 and 16 which are protected against damage by mis-thrown darts.

One end of the module 12 is provided, as shown in Figure 2, with seven push buttons for selection of different scoring systems according to the game to be played each push button having an LED indicator for indicating which button is operative at any par ticulartime.

The underside of the module 12 is provided with a strip light (not shown) to illuminate the board and on the lower end of the base 11 is formed with a shelf 18 to catch darts which do not penetrate the board properly and which fall from the board.

Reference is now made to Figures 3 to 5 of the drawings which illustrate the construction of the board. The board comprises a deep walled grid indicated generally at 19 and equal in depth to the embeddable parts of the board which is greater in depth than any known manufactured dart tip the outline of the grid corresponds to the outline of the conventional wire grid of a dart board defining, between the walls thereof, the eighty-two scoring sections of the board. The grid is formed in upper and lower parts, the upper part 20 being formed in an electrically conductive metal and the lower part 21 being formed in a non-conductive plastics. The spaces within the grid each contain a target section four of which for one sector of the board are illustrated.

Each target comprises a pair of conductive layers 23, 24 with an insulating layer 25 sepa rating them. The upper layer 23 occupies the space in the upper part 20 of the grid and the lower 24 and insulating layer 25 occupy the space in the lower part 21 of the grid.

All three layers are formed from a closely set material reinforced with fibres in which darts can be repeatedly embedded and removed therefrom without break-up. Alternatively the layers may be formed from the traditional bristle material from which dart boards are made, the bristles being coated with an electrically conductive material such as a thermoplastic resin having conductive particles suspended therein.

The upper and lower conductive layers 23, 24 incorporate carbon or other electrically conductive material to render the layers electrically conductive.

Thus when the steel tip of a dart penetrates the three layers, an electrical circuit is made between the upper and lower layers as described later.

The upper layers of each target section are secured by means of inserting these sections from the back of the upper grids 20 such that they are retained therein by the tip 30 (see Figure 5). Below the lower part 21 of the grid there is a circular double-sided printed circuit board 26. The side of the board adjacent to the lower part of the grid has individual circuit sections printed thereon which are in contact with the respective lowermost layers 24 of the eighty-two target sections. Each printed circuit section extends through the board to the underside of the board for connection to a further circuit as described later. The printed circuit board and upper and lower grid parts 20 and 21 are secured together by plastics clips 27 spaced around the periphery of the grid one of which clips can be seen in Figure 4.

One end of the clip engages in a slot 28 in the board 26 and the other end of the clip engages in a slot 29 formed in the upper part 20 of the grid adjacent the upper edge thereof to hold the board and two grid parts together.

Figure 5 of the drawings shows a detail of part of the upper grid 20 and it will be seen that the upper edge of the grid is formed with a circular section bead 30 this serves to deflect a dart impacting on the edge of the grid into one or other of the target sections on either side of the grid. The diameter of the circular bead should preferably conform to International Darts Competition Specifications.

The operation of the score indicators will now be described with reference to Figure 6 of the drawings.

The game board is indicated at 10. One lead is connected from a source of electric current to the upper electrically conductive part 20 of the grid to energise the upper layers 23 of the target sections and the eighty-two individual sections on the printed circuit board connected to the eighty-two lower layers 24 of the target sections are connected through buffers indicated at 31 which act as impact detectors. The buffers 31 have one group of forty lines connected to the data selectors indicated at 32 and second group of twenty-two lines connected to the data selectors.

The data selectors are connected to an inputloutput port to give source, data and sequence information.

The input"output port is connected to a microprocessor 34 through a connection for MPU control logic. The latter is connected to a "random access" memory 35 which in turn is connected to a programmed "read only" memory 36. The input'output port, micro-processor, random access memory and programmed read only memory also have a separate interconnection designated MPU Data Buss and Bit Bi-Directional. A control unit embodying the push-button control 17 referred to earlier is connected to the input'output port and has controls providing the following: "Game Selector"; "Players Select"; "Last Score Cancel"; "Add or Subtract a Shot (e.g. misses etc)"; "Game Variance Select"; "Game Enable--e.g. coin operation"; and "Possible Features".

Finally the input'output port has a Multiflexed Display Buss having four branches each of which contains a display driver 37 and one of the display units 13 to 16 referred to earlier.

In use, when the steel end of a dart penetrates a target section, it makes a circuit between the upper and lower layers of the target section in which the dart has penetrated. This system computes the appropriate score and this is displayed according to the game being played in one of the four display units at the top of the board. If each player is entitled to three throws (in accordance with the game selected) the scores for three darts thrown are all attributed to one particular display unit and the system then automatically switches to the next display unit to display the results of the three throws by the next player.If a dart of a player fails to hit the board, or hits the board and does not embed itself in the board or a player for one reason or another does not need or does notthrow all three darts then one of the following three methods can be used to inform the micro processor to switch to the next display unit.

The first method is an electrically sensitive mat 3'x2'6" in area placed immediately below the Dart Board. When the player approaches the Dart Board to retrieve the darts that he has just thrown he must step on that sensitive area, weight immediately informs the micro processor that the man's darts have been thrown and the next score should be shown on the next display.

The second method is the use of photo electric cells surrounding the Dart Board in such a pattern that any object thicker than the thickest known dart will trigger the micro processor to change the next display. In this way when a player retrieves his darts the fact that his hand or his wrist is considerably thickerthan any known dart will set off this mechanism.

The third method is the use of a press button 'D' on the control unit. A further cancel button is available if a dart embeds itself in the board but for any reason the score needs to be cancelled.

Claims

1. A target board having a plurality of target sec- tions into which missiles can be embedded, spacer elements between adjacent sections to space the sections apart and prevent a missile embedding in the target between two sections, each of the target sections comprising three superimposed layers all of which are formed from a material which is penetratable by a missile, a pair of said layers being formed from an electrically conductive material and being spaced apart by an intermediate layer which is formed from an electrically insulating material so beinqspace.aparthy an intermediate layer which is formed from an electrically insulating material so that a missile formed from an electrically conductive material and embedded in the section can form a conductive path between said pair of layers, a circuit means having individual connections to said pair of layers of each target section and means to which the circuit means are connected to indicate a score in accordance with current flow in each of the circuit means in response to embedding of missiles in the respective sections.

2. A target board as claimed in claim 1 wherein the spacer elements between adjacent sections are formed by a grid having openings in which the target sections are located.

3. Atarget board as claimed in claim 2 wherein the grid is formed in two superimposed parts, one part being electrically conductive and the uppermost layers of the target sections being located in that part of the grid in electrical contact therewith, the other part of the grid being non-conductive and containing the remaining layers of each of the target sections, the circuit means for the target sections comprising a common connection to the electrically conductive part of the grid to energise electrically the uppermost layers of the target sections and individual connections to the respective lowermost layers of the target sections.

4. Atarget board as claimed in claim 3 wherein the lowermost layers of the target sections are connected to a printed circuit extending over the lowermost side of the target board.

5. Atarget board as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the indicating means includes a micro-processor which is programmable in accordance with the rules of one or more games to control the score indicated in accordance with the penetration of the target sections of the target by missiles and with the rules of the game.

6. Atarget board as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein means are provided for cancel ling a score should a missile fall from the target after initially embedding itself in the target and causing a score to be registered.

7. Atarget board as claimed in any of the preced ing claims in the form of a darts board, target sections being provided for each of the scoring areas of a darts board and the indicating means being arranged to indicate the appropriate scores for those areas.

8. Atarget board as claimed in claim 7 wherein the layers of each target section are formed from a closely set fibrous material capable of repeated penetration by darts and being capable of holding a dart after penetration but allowing the dart to be removed without break-up.

9. A darts board substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 11.12.79. Superseded claims 1,2 and 3.

1. A target board having a plurality of target sections into which missiles can be embedded, a grid in which the target sections are located to space the sections apart and to prevent a missile embedding in the target between two sections, each of the target sections comprising three superimposed layers all of which are formed from a material which is penetratable by a missile, a pair of said layers being formed from an electrically conductive material and being spaced apart by an intermediate layer which is formed from an electrically insulating material so that a missile formed from an electrically conductive material and embedded in the section can form a conductive path between said pair of layers, the grid being formed in two superimposed parts, one part being electrically conductive and the uppermost layers of the target sections being located in that part of the grid in electrical contact therewith, the other part of the grid being non-conductive and containing the remaining layers of each of the target sections, there being circuit means to the target sections comprising a common connection to the electrically conductive part of the grid to energise electrically the uppermost layers of the target sections, individual connections to the respective lowermost layers of the target sections and means to indicate a score in accordance with the current flow in each of the circuit means in response to embedding of missiles in the respective sections.