US2520662A - Indicating device for bowling alleys having elevatable pin. receiving means - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 29, 1950 J. F. TIMBERLAKE 2,520,662

INDICATING DEVICE FOR BOWLING ALLEYS HAVING ELEVATABLE PIN RECEIVING MEANS Filed June 2, 1947 Patented Aug. 29, 1950 INDIGATING;BEVICE FOKBQWLING-ALLEXS; HAYINGn ELEVAIEABLE; BI N. REGEIYING' Jimmey ll; "liimherfake, Clifllofltesville Va. as

signer of one-balk to= Haynes lail Setfle (Shanlottesville, Va.

Kppl'icafi'on 1mm 2, lam-swarm; item- 15 This: invention relates t'm indicatbrs, and more particularlyto indiizators the use wan Bowling alleys t'o= inform the as 'tm which' pins have been Knocked? dowm and which remain standing.

' Because of the length of bewli'ng: all'eys itis often" difficult?" ferbewlers; and particularly ers=liaving impaired eyesight; to tell exactly whieh pins remain standing and whiehmins have fiallem It" is 1 pa-rt'iicul'arlj important that misinformation be clearly and readily availablewhema'pinsetting machine of the type described in my co -pending application, Serial- No; 72'02'7fi751il'ed J a'nuany '8; 194 i's=iir use:

I with the machineto=whicli r have-refernedi "it isusually'neeessary atter one ball lias beenbowled tb sweepall of the pins f-tomthe alley and reset the pinswhitalr were notknocked dbwn' By the ba lli resettihg'is controlled at tlie' bewler's end of the alley and a simple and clear incllcatbr fim' showing which pinsmust Be resett is-of censirlerable: convenience:

(Dne object" at? the? invention i's t'e pnevidean indicator fowuse' witl'r hpwling alleysflio indicate which pins: standing and whielrhave fallen;

Another object. of the invention is tb= pmviiie iiniicatcn of the=type referred ttr above for use with thepixr. setting machine disclosed? im my ahoveereferred-tm co p'endi'ng appllea'tiom A mnther: objectnofi theinyenti'omisztozprovide anw as describettabove which: is; simple and inex pensiveto mamifacturelamii in order, and which gives a clear indicatiomofitfle chine; descnibedz in: my erkin e-mentienedi cut-pendiing application;: and i Y EigsAlisa pamtlmdiagrammatimplamviewmttlie conductingzpiates and the'lnsulatingrbiocle shuwn iii-Big; 3i

Briefly stated, the inventions compnisesaa plus nalityof electrically-conducting; iplatesz. unnumiently founizr number; meuntedaimthe: flomxfofithe alley at) the set of each 1 of thebowlin pins: the plates at eazch pi'n. positiem is insulated themthe ether plates at that; pesiti'en and the plates are 'conneetecl inter electrical ciizcuit whiehis: arnanged; to energize'a-lighti im an indicating: boandi The lights: on: the indicating hoardi are arranged; nelative to]: eaclriotherrin': the same manner in. which. the? pins are: arranged when; inv their set; pnsitions: om the 'bpwling alley;

Each bowling pin has am electriball y'conducting plate: fastened"; to; itss lower; ends. sothat when" the pin: is in: its: setv positionaenz theaforementioned eonduntingplates' the: floor? of; the: alley"; the electrical: circuit, willlfbecompleted? 15mm; one: of thefloor plates: 'thnougli theebase: plate of the pin tmanothen of. thafloor-plateata causethe light cnmespending; to. that pin position. to.- be; enemgized-,, indicating, the: presence. ofi thev pininh its set positiomfi Whenever a pin. is: knoukeddawn; the: circuitto, the corresponding: light will be bmkenfland, the light will become deenergized, indicating. to.= the bowler. that the pin corresponding to that light is down.

In the device shnwm in Eig. 1, the. nnmena-L I 5 indicates. a. triangularly, shaped. indicating board having, its front face made oi opaque material. 111 positions; cnrrespondihg to the. set'positibns 01' thelpins the al1ey,lare.numer-a1's. |.B- running from. 1' to I! made. of translucent material. Mountedtieliihdltl'ie indicating board at the. posi'- ti'on pf each. of? the numerals It" are ten electric lighttbulbs,,one of'wl'lich is shown'at ILj l'n'tlie floor I13 of 'tli'e'alley at the? setpositibn ofea'ch o'f'the pins are a pliiralityof electrically conducting plates l9, 20', '21" amf 22; l'n-Eig; 1 these plates are fimrin' number'and are segment shaped ,1butiitshoulbl be understood: that: other numbers. and shapes of conducting, plates can be used long as'th'ey'serve the desired purpose, as'will be explained presently:

Plates I9 throughZZ are separatedi'fi'om each other by'insulatihg'material 23 which may either the wondof'the ailey'itselfior' maybe a different type'of insulatinn'yasforinstance a' plastle material' whiclr eouldbe poured -into holes in the all'ey surfaee in ilniclcpnditi'on. Two offth'e' op"- pesitelypos'itioned plates HI and 2! are connected by means of" wiree- 2 w-tmeneterminal of a* source or electrical energy-"'25; --ti ieother terminal of source 25 being g'rouncled Theother two onposit'ely d'i'spesed plates 2 5i and 22 are-connected liwmeansof wire w to one end of the filament of one 01 the bulbsjlfl while tlieotlier 'endof tlie filament is grounded Itwill he apparent tiiet bulfi lfl mraylde energized by electrically cennecting any two adjacent plates of the group of plates I9 through 22.

The electrical connection between plates l9 through 22 is accomplished by means of a conducting plate 28 (Fig. 2) attached to the bottom of bowling pin 29 so that when the .pin is in its set positioncentered on plates 9"through 22, the plate 28 will connect plates I9 through 22 in suc a manner as to energize bulb Although not shown in the drawing, the upwardly projecting pins commonly, used to, center'f grounded light bulb 65 of an indicator board 55 as in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1.

A base plate 6| which supports guide tube 43, and to which the guide tube is attached, is connected to one terminal of a source of electrical energy- 62, .the other. ;terminal .of which is grounded? The;connections could, of'course, be varied by placing electrical energy source 62 be- 3 tween bulb 65 and ground or in the connection 51 thebowling pins at their set positions may be positioned to extend upwardly above the'surface of the alley between plates I9 through2-2- into opening 30 in the base of the bowling pin. V

Plates l9 through 22 are, of course, positioned with their upper surfaces flush with the surface of the bowling alley so that the pins are maintained upright in the usual manner. r 7

Figures 3 and 4 show the adaptation of this invention to use with the bowling pin setting machine described inmy above-referenced co-pending. patent application. In the machine described inthat application, the surface 40 of the bowling alley. isprovided with a circular opening 4| at the set position of each pin, and a pin receiver gen- .erally denoted by the numeral 42 is arranged so as to move upwardly through each opening 4| to re- 7 ceive a pin froman'overhead device which need 1 not be described herein.

' r Thepin receiver'42 comprises a stationary inner guide tube 43- which terminates at its upper end a short distance below the: alley surface 40; and about which is slidably positioned a shorter'outer 44 is mounted about the upper end of-tube 44- and is attachedthereto. in any convenient manner as by welding. A block 46 of insulatingmaterial 'fits within sleeve 45 and is normally positioned with block 46 rests.

1 WhenJouter tube 44 and sleeve 45 areelevated above the surface of the alley by means'which are gdescribed in jmy; co-pending application, the 'shoulder formed by the upper end of tube 44 picks up theblock 46 during the upward movement so that when the pin receiver comprising tube 44 and sleeve 45 reaches its elevated pin receiving position, the upper surface 41 of block '46 is spaced substantially below the upper end of sleeve 45 and constitutes the bottom of a cup shaped pin re,- ceiving opening in' sleeve 45.

' When the pin receiver 42 is again lowered to its normal position as shown in Fig. 3, block 46 is halted in its downward movement by the upper end of guide tube 43 and. remains in its normal position with its surface 41 flushwithithe surface 40 of the alley. l

T .As adapted for use with the present invention,

block 45 .is provided on its upper surface with four segment'shaped conducting plates 50, 5|, 5 2 and T53, each of which is insulated 'from'the other tube44; A sleeve 450i greater diameter than tube its upper'surface 41 flush with the surface 40' of f the alley by the contact of its bottom surface'with the upper end'of inner guide tube 43 upon which between bulb 65 and plates 5|, 53.

ltwill'now be apparent that plates 50 and 52 each pin receiver is connected to the corresponding bulb 65 of the indicator board 66. Ihe '0peration of this embodiment of the invention is the same as in the embodiment shown in Fig; 1 the appropriate light bulb 65 being. energized only when abowling pinas shown in Fig. 2 is standing in its set position.

If desired, block 46 could be of conducting material and two plates similar to plates 50-53 could be positioned in-the upper surface of the block and insulated from the block. These two plates could be attached to wire 5?, the remainder ofthe block serving as a ground connection. :Theindicator board 5 or 56 may be positioned either at the bowlers endof the alley or at the other end of the alley in an elevated clearly visible-position: When used with the pin setting machine to which I have referred, the indicator board is conveniently attached to the front end of the mechanism vwhich is positioned above the set positions of the pins, and facing toward the bowlelt' 1 I 1 s In the pin setting ;machine described in my co-pending application, there-is'describ-ed a control panel having a plurality of switches, one for each' of the ten pin setting positions, and arranged in the same relative positionson the panel as thepinsare arranged on thealley. The electricindicator bulbs of the present invention could conveniently be located adjacent the corresponding-switches on the control panel so that the-bowler by moving the switches adjacent the lighted-bulbs could reset the pins corresponding to those bulbs to prepare for the bowling of the nextball; V r

Only very simple embodiments of the invention and. the electrical circuits thereof are shown.;herein, as they are presented only for illustrative purposes. I realize fully that the invention is susceptible of numerous embodiments .and I-;do.:not wish to limit my invention to the embodiments shown and described herein. It is my intention to cover all embodimentsof the 'inventionfalling within the inventive concept as defined by. the appended claims.

L'InJa bowling alley having a plurality of elevatable pin receiving means one of which is located at the set positionof each pin, and utilizing pins having electrically conducting bottom portions, each of said pin receiving means in- ;cluding an electrically conducting support, a "block normally. resting on the support with the upper surface of the block flush with the-.alley surface, and means for raising said block to a pin receiving position above the'alley surface and out of. contact withsaid support', the 'ar-' iangement comprising a switch combined with each of said receiving means and including switch contacts located within the said block of each pin receiving means so as to be electrically connected by a bowling pin sitting in its set position, insulation in the block separating said contacts from each other, an electrically conducting element mounted on the underside of each block for contactin the corresponding support, a connection in each block between at least one of its switch contacts and the conducting element of that block, a first circuit connection to at least one other of said switch contacts in each block, and a second circuit connection to each of said supports, whereby the presence of a bowling pin on a block connects the two circuit connections for said block only when the block is in its normal position flush with the alley surface.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, said supports being hollow, and said first connections passing downwardly through said supports.

JOURNEY F. TIMBERLAKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 599,352 Becker May 5, 1896 651,601. Canter June 12, 1900 779,999 Haberl Jan. 10, 1905 1,911,436 Cone May 30, 1933 1,994,411 Thomas Mar. 12, 1935 2,009,266 James July 23, 1935 2,237,208 Abate Apr. 1, 1941 2,388,708 Bates Nov. 13, 1945

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