GB2156565A - Reel assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A reel assembly for a fruit machine has a reel (28) rotatably mounted on a support structure (2). The reel has symbol-bearing zones around its periphery. During play the reel (28) is rotated and then brought to rest at random with one of the symbol-bearing zones in precise alignment with a win line and this randomly selected symbol-bearing zone is back-illuminated. Back illumination is achieved with an illumination unit (4) and this is positionally adjustable circumferentially relative to the reel so that it can be pre-aligned with the win line. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Reel assembly This invention relates to a reel assembly for a fruit machine or similar coin-operated entertainment machine.

A common form of fruit machine has a reel assembly with several (usually three or four) symbol-bearing reels rotatably mounted (e.g.

via stepper motors) on a supporting structure.

The assembly is installed within a housing of the machine behind an inspection window. In use, the reels are rotated and then brought to rest after different respective random periods of time thereby to display through the window on one or more win lines a selected combination of the symbols on the peripheries of the reels.

It is known to highlight the displayed symbols by back-illumination with an illumination unit mounted within each reel on the supporting structure. However, problems can arise with regard to ensuring that the back illumination coincides accurately with the location of the win line especially in the case where standardised modular reel assemblies are used with different machine housings having differently positioned inspection windows.

An object of the present invention is to overcome or at least minimise such problems.

According to the invention therefore there is provided a reel assembly for a fruit machine or the like comprising a supporting structure, at least one reel having symbol-bearing zones around the periphery thereof, said reel being mounted on said structure so that it can be rotated and arrested to display at least one selected said symbol-bearing zone at a fixed position relative to said structure, an illumination unit mounted on said structure to provide back illumination for said selected symbolbearing zone, and means for pre-aligning the unit with said fixed position by adjustment of the positioning thereof circumferentially relative to the reel.

With this arrangement it will be understood that differences in the location of the said fixed position at which the selected symbolbearing zone is displayed, such as may arise between different fruit machine housings in which the assembly is to be installed, can be readily accommodated.

In order to to effect the said pre-alignment, the unit may be mounted on an arcuate track on the supporting structure, an appropriate arrangement being provided to permit movement of the unit to, and then locking in, a desired position along the track. In a preferred embodiment the unit and the track have teeth which can be separated to permit movement and clamped into engagement with each other (e.g. with a screw) to effect locking thereof.

The unit may have a projecting pointer thereon which is movable with the unit along a fixed scale.

The unit may include a single source of illumination or multiple sources of illumination respectively for highlighting selected symbolbearing zones at different said fixed positions.

Most preferably there are three sources of illumination.

Also, the assembly may have multiple reels (e.g. three or four) each with a respective said pre-adjustable back illumination unit.

The assembly may incorporate a stepper motor for drivably rotating the or each reel in conventional manner.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of part of a reel assembly according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view on line ll-ll of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line Ill-Ill of Fig. 2.

The drawings show a modular reel assembly to be installed in the housing of a fruit machine behind an inspection window 1.

The housing (not shown) in conventional manner comprises a large, free-standing closed box structure having transparent glass panels at the front which are covered with printed matter of a translucent or translucent and opaque nature. The printed matter comprises decorative matter, background and border matter, instructions, win tables and the like. The aforesaid inspection window 1 is defined by an area of one transparent panel not covered by printed matter.

The reel assembly comprises a plurality (usually three or four) side-by-side interconnected reel units, only one of which is shown and described hereinafter. The reel unit comprises a rigid moulded plastics support in the form of a shaped plate. A stepper motor (not shown) is fixed to the plate and a reel (not shown) is mounted on the motor so as to be rotatable about an axis indicated at 3 in Fig.

1. An electrical plug (not shown) is fixed to an edge of the plate 2 for connection to electrical control circuitry of the fruit machine. The stepper motor is connected to this plug.

In conventional manner, the reel comprises a drum-shaped structure having a cylindrical strip-shaped body fixed via a suitable framework to a central hub which is mounted on the stepper motor. Such body, framework and hub are formed in one piece from plastics material. A flexible plastics strip fits around and in contact with the outer surface of the reel body. The strip is formed from a thin translucent material and is printed with symbols (e.g. fruit) at regular intervals (say at 20 positions) along its outer surface. The reel body is also formed from translucent material.

On the support 2, within the confines of the reel there is mounted a back illumination unit 4. This unit comprises an arcuate plastics housing 5 having three open-topped compartments 6, 7, 8 disposed circumferentially side by-side. The compartments are of like dimension and spacing to the symbol-bearing zones on the striip around the reel. Each compartment has a bottom wall 9 with a central aperture 10 and is bounded on four sides with side walls 11. Electrical lamps (not shown) fit respectively in the compartments 6-8 and are mounted within the apertures 1 0. The lamps are connected electrically to the aforementioned plug on the support structure.

The housing 5 has an integral side extension 1 2 comprising a platform 13, upstanding webs 14 linking the platform with the adjacent side walls 11, an inturned lip 1 5 beneath the platform 1 3 at the edge thereof remote from the compartments 6-8, a pointer 1 6 depending beneath the lip 15, and a boss 17, also beneath the lip 15, fitted with a threaded insert 1 8 and aligned with a hole 1 9 in the platform 13.

The support 2 has a curved peripheral portion 20 which terminates in a transversely projecting arcuate rim 21 with a longitudinally extending slot 22 therein. The rim 21 is spaced from a flat arcuate surface 23 which is calibrated about a central zero position. A channel 24 is defined between the rim 21 and the flat surface 23.

The free edge 25 of the rim 21 and the internal bottom surface 26 of the inturned lip 1 5 are provided with cooperating teeth.

The housing 5 is mounted on the support 2 by insertion of the rim 21 into the gap defined beneath the platform 1 3 by the inturned lip 15, it being understood that this gap has the same arcuate curvature as the rim 21. After such insertion a screw 27 can be inserted through hole 1 9 in the platform 1 3 and through the slot 22 in the rim 21 into engagement with the threaded insert 1 8. Prior to tightening of the screw 27 the housing 5 can be moved to any desired position along the rim 21. Movement of the housing 5 is effected manually using finger grips 29 on the webs 14 using the pointer 1 6 and the scale 23 for guidance.The housing 5 can be locked in a selected position by moving the teeth on the edge 25 and the surface 26 into engagement with each other and then tightening the screw 27.

It will be seen that the three compartments 6-8 are closely spaced behind the body of the reel (as indicated at 28) and the arcuate structures (the housing 5, the rim 21, the scale 23) have a common centre of curvature at the axis 3 of rotation of the reel.

With the arrangement so far described, the three compartments 6-8 can be accurately aligned with the symbol-bearing zones behind the inspection window 1 of the fruit machine.

In this respect, during play of a game with the fruit machine, and after actuation thereof by insertion of one or more coins or tokens into a coin mechanism of the machine and operation of one or more player controls as appropriate, the reel is rotated and then brought to rest after a random period of time.

The reel has a predetermined number of stopping positions (equal to the number of symbols on the strip) as determined by the controlled operation of the stepper motor, and in each such position three symbols are displayed through the window 1 in precise registration with three predetermined "win lines" (i.e. a central line, an upper line and a lower line).

When the reel assembly is installed in the machine it is necessary to ensure that the positioning of the symbols on the reel in relation to the window 1 is such as to achieve the abovementioned precise registration. Thus the location of the assembly is carefully selected and it may also be necessary to effect siight circumferential adjustment of the symbols, as for example by adjustment of the positioning of the symbol-bearing strip on the outer surface of the reel body, and by virtue of the above-described adjustment of the circumferential positioning of the housing 5 it can be ensured that the compartments 6-8 are in precise registration with the ultimate adjusted stopping positions of the symbols on the reel.

Such adjustment may be necessary to allow for variations in tolerances in manufacture and assembly of fruit machines and also to enable the same modular reel assembly to be used with differently constructed housings of different fruit machine models. In the latter respect it is to be understood that different machine models may have windows located at different positions or angles.

The lamps in the compartments 6-8 when actuated highlight the symbols displayed through the inspection window 1 by back illumination through the reel body and the symbol-bearing strip. The lamps may be actuated to illuminate one, two or three of the displayed symbols as desired.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above embodiments which are described by way of example only.

Claims (7)

1. A reel assembly for a fruit machine or the like comprising a supporting structure, at least one reel having symbol-bearing zones around the periphery thereof, said reel being mounted on said structure so that it can be rotated and arrested to display at least one selected said symbol-bearing zone at a fixed position relative to said structure, an illumination unit mounted on said structure to provide back illumination for said selected symbolbearing zone, and means for pre-aligning the unit with said fixed position by adjustment of the positioning thereof circumferentially relative to the reel.

2. A reel assembly according to claim 1, wherein the unit is mounted on an arcuate track on the supporting structure and an arrangement is provided to permit movement of the unit to and then locking thereof in a desired position along the track.

3. A reel assembly according to claim 2, wherein the unit and the track have teeth which can be separated to permit movement and which can be clamped into engagement with each other to effect locking thereof.

4. A reel assembly according to claim 3, wherein a screw is provided for clamping the unit and the track into engagement with each other.

5. A reel assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the unit has a projecting pointer thereon which is movable with the unit along a fixed scale.

6. A reel assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the unit includes multiple sources of illumination respectively for highlighting selected symbol-bearing zones at different said fixed positions.

7. A reel assembly according to claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.