US3399297A

US3399297A - Printing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3399297A
Application number: US338411A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert L Miller
Original assignee: Brunswick Corp
Current assignee: Brunswick Corp
Priority date: 1964-01-17
Filing date: 1964-01-17
Publication date: 1968-08-27
Anticipated expiration: 1985-08-27

Description

Aug. 27, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 17, 1964 INVENTOR 6 Robert L. Miller ATTORNEY g- 1968 R. L. MILLER PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 15 Filed Jan. 1'7, 1964 NS mQwmQZDI JOKPZOQ EOFOE INVENTOR Robert L. Miller ATTQRNEY mm E Aug. 27, 1968 R. L. MILLER PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 17, 1954 r 6 8 e 4 4 l 2 O H N R ll E il E o G M 9| G M W M T m mm H A NT NT 8 U U. b

0 0 o C E C "w R Em EA MR A M i 7 Y A 0| F 8 all M S B 2 2g 6 8%? a z a z 9 O! 4 a a M I 2 .V L H R M H x M m R C z 0 R R C O T T 1 A U 5 T T v A U %WW 2; M Em C 2 R M C R T w 8 2 2 2 United States Patent 3,399,297 PRINTING APPARATUS Robert L. Miller, Olmsted Falls, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Brunswick Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 338,411 11 Claims. (Cl. 235-92) This invention relates to printing apparatus in which printing characters are spaced around the periphery of type wheels, and more particularly to printing apparatus wherein type wheels are controlled so as to position selected printing characters on their peripheries in position to print in response to electrical intelligence in binary code form.

In one aspect, and in accordance with one object thereof, the present invention provides means for controlling type wheels in a printing mechanism by means of an elec tron optical system wherein a plurality of light sources, energized in coded sequence, are utilized in combination with a unique decoding mechanism for the purpose of stopping the type wheels at preselected positions preparatory to printing.

In accordance with the foregoing object of the invention, there is provided for each type wheel a disc which is coaxial with the type wheel and rotatable therewith as a unit. The disc is formed from material which will permit light to pass therethrough. On one side of the disc are a plurality of stationary light sources spaced along the radius of the disc and arranged to direct light beams against that one side of the disc. On the other side of the disc is a photocell positioned opposite the light sources and adapted to conduct an electrical current whenever light from any one or more of the sources falls thereon. By dividing the disc into sectors, one sector for each printing character on the periphery of the type wheel, and by having all but one of the sectors divided into one or more ring sectors which are opaque and radially aligned with one or more of the light sources, light will fall upon the photocell to cause it to conduct as the disc and type wheel rotate until that sector having opaque ring sectors aligned with all energized light sources reaches the location of the light sources and photocell to block all light therefrom. At this point, the absence of conduction through the photocell is utilized to stop the disc and type wheel preparatory to a printing operation.

It will be appreciated from the following description that various combinations of energized lamps can be coded to various combinations of opaque ring sectors to stop the type wheel at a preselected position preparatory to printing. Preferably, the light sources are energized in accordance with binary notation, the first lamp, when energized, being representative of the binary hit one; the second lamp being representative of the bit two; the third lamp being representative of the bit four; the fourth lamp being representative of the bit eight; and so on. In this manner, the number of light sources required is materially reduced over a decimal system where a separate light source would be required for each printing character on the periphery of the type wheel.

As another object, the invention provides means for printing the ball results and scores in a bowling game utilizing printing mechanism of the type described above, and also employing solid-state electrical circuit elements, such as transistors, to convert pulsed electrical intelligence representing fallen pins on a bowling alley pin deck into steady-state binary code signals which are utilized to energize the light sources in the aforementioned printing apparatus.

In accordance with this latter aspect of the invention, provision is made for utilizing a minimum number of logic circuit units such as OR circuits, AND circuits, flip-flops and the like. At the same time, the use of solid-state circuit elements eliminates the maintenance problems inherently present in circuitry utilizing mechanical stepping switches, relays, and the like.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic, partially broken-away and cross-sectional view of the mechanical portion of the printing apparatus of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along line II-II showing, in elevation, a binary decoding wheel adapted for use in printing ball results and scores in a bowling game;

FIGS. 3A and 3B, when placed end-to-end, comprise a detailed schematic circuit diagram of the control system for the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as applied to a system for automatically printing ball results and scores in a bowling game;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of one type of printing ap paratus with which the present invention may be used;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the manner in which the printing or type wheels shown in FIG. 4 are moved in quadrature; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram of a system for controlling positioning of the type wheels of FIG. 5 in accordance With the principles of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, the printing apparatus shown includes three

type wheels

10, 12 and 14 having printing type 16 spaced around their outer peripheries. Since the invention will be described in connection with a system for automatically printing ball results and scores in a bowling game, it will be assumed that the type wheel 10 is utilized to print first ball results and that the type wheel 12 is utilized to print second ball results in score boxes provided on a conventional bowling game score sheet, schematically illustrated at 18. The type wheels 10-14 can also be used in the manner hereinafter described to print bowling game scores with the wheel 10 being used to print units, the wheel 12 being used to print tens and the wheel 14 being used to print hundreds. It will, of course, be appreciated that if it is desired to print a team total on a bowling game score sheet, a fourth type wheel may be employed to print thousands.

The type wheel 10 is secured to a central shaft 20 having its outer end supported in a bearing block 22 and supported along its length by additional bearings, not shown. Secured to the shaft 20, at the end opposite the type wheel 10, is a nylon or the like gear 24, the gear being secured to the shaft by means of a set screw 26. The gear 24, in turn, meshes with gear 28 which is slideably received on a main drive shaft 30, the main drive shaft 30' being driven by means of an electric motor, schematically illustrated at 32. On 'one side of the gear 28 is a bushing 34 which is secured to the drive shaft 30 so as to rotate therewith. This bushing is in abutment with one side or face of the gear 28 as shown. On the other side of the gear 28 is a second bushing 36 secured to the drive shaft 30; while between the bushing 36 and gear 28 is a leaf spring 38 which serves to urge the left face of the gear into snu-g abutting relationship with the bushing 34. It Will be ap preciated that the assembly just described comprises a slip clutch arrangement wherein the leaf spring 38 Will normally urge the gear 28 into frictional engagement with the bushing 34 so as to rotate with the shaft 30. When, however, a braking force of sufficient magnitude is applied to the gear 28 it will stop and slide on the drive shaft 30, which continues to rotate.

With reference again to the gear 24 it has a plurality of detents 40 projecting outwardly from its right face as viewed in FIG. 1. Any one of these detents is adapted to be engaged by a lever 42 which can be pulled into engagement with the right face of the gear by actuation of a solenoid 44.

With this arrangement, it will be appreciated that upon rotation of the drive shaft 30, and assuming that the lever 42 is not in engagement with any of the detents 40, the gear 28 will rotate gear 24, shaft 20 and type wheel 10. When, however, the lever 42 is forced into engagement with the right face of the gear 24 upon actuation of solenoid '44, the lever will engage one of the detents 40 to stop gear 24, shaft 20 and type wheel 10. This, of course, will also stop gear 28; however the shaft 30 may continue rotation with the bushing 34 sliding on the left face of gear 28.

With reference, now, to type wheel 12 it is connected through a tubular shaft 46 to a second nylon gear 48 which is identical to the gear 24 just described and arranged to mesh with gear 50 on shaft 30', this latter gear also comprising part of a slip clutch arrangement identical to that of gear 28. Gear 48 is also provided with a lever 52 and solenoid 54 which may be selectively actuated to engage any one of a plurality of detents 56 on the right face of the gear 48. Finally, the type wheel 14 is connected through a second tubular shaft 58, which is coaxial with

shafts

20 and 46, to a third nylon gear 60 also identical to the gear 24 and having a plurality of detents 62 on its right face. The gear 60- meshes with gear 64 on drive shaft 30, this latter gear also comprising part of a slip clutch arrangement which operates in the same manner as

elements

28, 34, 36 and 38. The gear '60 and type wheel 14 may be stopped while the shaft 30 continues rotation by actuation of a third solenoid 66 adapted to force a lever 68 into engagement with the right face of gear 60.

As will hereinafter be explained, the detents 40 on gear 24, for example, are positioned such that when any detent is engaged by the lever 42, the type wheel will stop with a printing character 1-6 at top dead center, preparatory to a printing operation. The same is true of the detents 56and 62 on

gears

48 and 60, respectively. That is, they are circumferentially spaced so as to stop the

type wheel

12 or 14 with an associated one of their printing characters 16 at top dead center.

The manner in which the impression of the printing characters 16 is transferred to the score sheet 18 is not described herein in detail. However, a suitable means for accomplishing this may, for example, be that shown in copending application Ser. No. 166,633, filed Jan. 16, 1962, or copending application Ser. No. 305,591, filed Aug. 30, 1963, both applications being assigned to the assignee of the present application. In those applications, it will be seen that the entire printing assembly including wheels Ill-14 may be moved upwardly with the printing character at the top of any wheel engaging the sheet 18 which is provided on its other side with a transparent back-up plate 19. Suitable inking means are provided for wheels 10-14 and the sheet 18 is translucent such that the printed characters may be viewed through transparent plate 19.

Reverting again to the gear 24, secured to its hub portion is a disc 70'. 'Radially spaced along one side of the disc at the zero or top dead center location are five small light sources or lamps A1, A2, A4, A8 and AZ. These lamps are such as to direct beams of light against a photocell element 7-2 positioned on the side of the disc 70 directly opposite the lamps Al-AZ. The photocell 72 will conduct an electric current whenever one or more of the light sources from lamps A1-AZ is directed thereon. In other words, the photocell 72 will not conduct only when all of the lamps A1-AZ are deenergized or their light beams are blocked from the field of view of the photocell.

The lamps Al-A8, the disc and the photocell 72 comprise a means for controlling the type wheel 10 so as to position a preselected printing character 16 at the top dead center position preparatory to printing. The manner in which this is accomplished may best be understood by reference to FIG. 2 showing the face of the disc 70. Be.- fore proceeding with the description of disc 70, however, it should be explained that electrical intelligence inbinary code form is utilized to control the lamps A1-A8. In this respect, the lamp A1, when energized, rep-resents the binary bit one; the lamp A2, when energized, represents the binary hit two; the lamp A4, when energized, represents the binary bit four; and the lamp A8, when energized, represents the binary bit eight. As will be understood, the number of lamps may be extended to suit requirements, in which case the next lamp would represent the binary bit sixteen; the next would represent the binary bit thirty-two, and so on. The lamp AZ does not represent in this case a binary bit, but is used to stop the printing wheel at the top dead center position shown in FIG. 2 at the completion of a printing operation. The manner in which this is accomplished will hereinafter be described.

In accordance with the well-known binary system, if lamps A1 and A8, for example, are energized, this condition is representative of the decimal number 9; if lamps A4 and A2 are energized, this is representative of the decimal number 6; if lamps A1 and A2 are energized, this is representative of the decimal number 3; and so on.

With specific reference, now, to the disc 70 shown in FIG. 2, it will be noted that it is divided into a plurality of sectors numbered 1 through 0, X, (o) and F, however the spare sector and the split sector (0) are not used on this particular disc. Each of the sectors, in turn, is subdivided into five

ring sectors

73, 74, 76, 78 and 80. The ring sector 73 is in the path of the light beam between lamp AZ and photocell 72; the ring sector 74 is in the path of the light beam between lamp A8 and photocell 72; the ring sector 76 is in the path of the light beam between lamp A4 and photocell 72; the ring sector 78 is in the path of the light beam between lamp A2 and photocell 72; and ring sector 80 is in the path of the light beam between lamp A1 and photocell 72.

As will be seen, lamp AZ is energized whenever all other lamps A1-A8 are deenergized. Conversely, during a printing cycle when one or more of the lamps A1-A8 are energized, the lamp AZ is deenergized. The major portion of the disc 70 is transparent except for the blackened ring sectors shown in FIG. 2, which are opaque. Thus, whenever one of these opaque ring sectors reaches the top dead center position it will block light between its associated lam-p A1-A8 and the photocell 72. Remembering that the photocell 72 will conduct whenever light from any one of the lamps Al-AS is directed thereon, it can be seen that by providing a pattern of opaque ring sectors which matches the energized lamps, light from the lamps will be blocked from the photocell 72 whenever that particular combination of opaque ring sectors reaches the top dead center position which matches the corresponding combination of energized lamps A7-A8. As will hereinafter be seen, the absence of conduction in the photocell 72 can then be used to deenergize the solenoid 44, thereby stopping the type wheel 10 such that the printing character corresponding to the binary code established by the lamps Al-AS is stopped at top dead center. Let us assume, for example, that the electrical intelligence fed to lamps A1-A8 indicates that a 3 should be printed by the type wheel 10. Under these circumstances, the lamps A1 and A2 will be energized. As will hereinafter be explained, the system is such that the gear 28 will rotate the gear 40 through a maximum of about 720 or two complete revolutions. Furthermore, the gear and disc 70 always rotate in the direction of arrow 82 shown in FIG. 2. In order for the system to operate properly, the direction of rotation always must be that indicated by the arrow 82, and the lamps A1-A8 must not be energized until the angular position of disc 70 is that shown in FIG. 2 with the number 1 position just to the right of top dead center. Accordingly, the lamp AZ is provided which becomes energized initially in the printing cycle before lamps Al-A8 become energized. Energization of lamp AZ causes energization of solenoid 44; whereupon the lever 42 will release gear 24 and disc 70 which rotate in the direction of arrow 82 until opaque area 71 is reached. At this point, the photocell 72 will deenergize solenoid 44 to stop the disc and printing wheel at the top dead center position. Lamp AZ remains energized until motor 32 has rotated through a sufficient number of revolutions to rotate gear 24 through a minimum of at least one revolution. This will bring disc 70 to the top dead center position regardless of its angular position during the preceding printing operation.

Let us assume, for example, that the number 1 was printed during the preceding printing operation and that lamps A1 and A2 are to be energized during the next printing operation, indicating that the printing character representing the numeral 3 should be positioned at top dead center on printing wheel preparatory to the succeeding printing operation. Under these circumstances, lamp AZ will be energized and disc 70 will rotate in the direction of arrow 82 until opaque area 71 is reached, whereupon solenoid 44 will become deenergized to stop the disc. Thereafter, lamps A1 and A2 become energized to again energize solenoid 44, and the disc 70 continues to rotate. As the number 1 sector on disc 70 passes between the lamps and photocell, only the ring sector 80 in front of lamp A1 is opaque, meaning that light from lamp A2 will still shine on the photocell 72. When the second sector passes the lamps, ring sector 78 in front of lamp A2 will block its light from the photocell 72; however ring sector 80 in sector 2 is transparent so that light from lamp A1 still shines on the photocell 72. When, however, the third sector is reached, both

ring sectors

78 and 80 are opaque; and since only lamps A1 and A2 are energized, all light will be blocked from the photocell 72. This act-uates circuitry in a manner hereinafter described to deenergize the solenoid 44 and stop the type wheel 10 at the number 3 position. When the gear 24 stops, the gear 28 also stops; however the shaft 30 continues to rotate through an amount sufficient to effect two complete revolutions of gear 24 with the gear 28 sliding on the shaft.

The operation of the

gears

48 and 60 is the same as that just described, the gear 48 being provided with five lamps B1, B2, B4, B8 and BZ and a photocell 88 on the side of a disc 90 which is similar to the disc 70 just described. Finally, the gear 60 is provided with five lamps C1, C2, C3, C4 and CZ on one side of a disc 92. On the other side of the disc 92 is a photocell 94 which serves the same purpose as the photocell 72 just described.

Reverting again to FIG.2, since it is assumed that the type wheels 10-14 are utilized to print ball results and scores in a bowling game, the first nine and thirteenth sectors are representative of the numerals 1-0, the tenth sector is representative of a strike indicated by the symbol (X), the eleventh sector is representative of a spare indicated by the symbol the twelfth sector represents a blow indicated by the symbol the fourteenth sector represents a split indicated by the symbol (0), and the fifteenth sector represents a foul indicated by the symbol (F). The disc 90 for the second type wheel 12 will be the same as that shown in FIG. 2. However, whereas the spare sector need not be used for the first ball wheel 10, it is used for the second ball wheel 12 and bonus ball wheel 14 for a spare indication U). The strike (X) indication is still needed on the disc 90 since a strike can occur on the second ball in the tenth frame of a game. Finally, the third disc 92 utilizes only the 1, 2, 3, (X), (0), U) and (F) sectors since it is utilized only to print hundreds in a score printing operation and since the maximum achievable score in a bowling game is three hundred. Of course, if it is desired to print a team total, the sectors representative of 4-0 will have to be added to disc 92 along with a fourth disc and type wheel to print thousands.

If an energized lamp is indicated in binary notation by a l and a deenergized lamp by a 0," the printer code will be as follows:

1 Blank (no character printed, all lamps deenergized).

s lit.

Furthermore, from a consideration of the disc shown in FIG. 2, it can be seen that light will always shine on its associated photocell until the sector is reached, corresponding to the energized lamps, assuming that the cycle is alway initiated from the starting position shown in FIG. 2 with lamp AZ extinguished and with the disc rotating in the direction of arrow 82. This is not necessarily true, however, if the lamps are energized when the disc starts rotating at some position other than that shown in FIG. 2. It is for this reason that the disc is always brought to the position shown in FIG. 2 before the lamps A1-A8 are energized by energizing lamp AZ to rotate the disc to top dead center where the opaque area 71 blocks its light from the photocell. It also explains why the rotation of shaft 30 must be such as to rotate the discs through almost two complete revolutions. That is, the discs, gears and printing wheels remain in their previously established positions following a printing operation. Let us assume that a number 1 was printed by the second ball wheel 12 in the previous cycle and that the energization of lamps B1-B8 on the next cycle indicates that a foul mark (F) should be printed. It will then take almost one complete revolution for the disc to reach top dead center and almost another complete revolution for the disc to reach the foul (F).

Referring now to FIG. 3, the manner in which pinfall may be electrically computed and converted to binary form for utilization by the printing apparatus will now be described. However, before considering the specific circuits of the invention, it would be well to consider the binary number system in general. This system uses the radix 2 rather than 10 as in the conventional decimal system. Therefore, it has only two coeflicients, namely, 0 and 1.

For example, the number 3 may be written in binary form as follows:

3:011 which is shorthand for:

Similarly, the

numbers

4 and 5 may be written in binary form as follows:

which is shorthand for:

It can be seen that any binary number may be represented by an appropriate combination of the two binary coeflicients, 0 and 1, although it requires fewer of these two binary coefficients in appropriate combination to represent a given magnitude than it does to represent the same magnitude using decimal coefiicients. The following table illustrates the binary representation of the numbers 1 through 10 wherein each variable or bit X varies between and 1 only as described above:

TABLE I.REPRESENTATI ON OF BINARY NUMBERS X3 X4 X2 X 0 0 U 1 0 0 1 O 0 0 1 1 O 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 O O O 1 0 0 1 1 O 1 0 In addition to being representative of numbers, the binary bits may also represent other notation. Since, in the bowling game, it is necessary to indicate strikes, spares, blows and fouls, these may be arbitrarily indicated in binary form as follows:

Strike (X) 1 0 1 0 Blow 1 0 Spare 101 1 Foul (F) 1 1 1 1 Split (0) 1 1 1 0 This, of course, corresponds with the code given above for the discs.

With specific reference now to FIGS. 3A and 3B the pins remaining standing after each ball is delivered in a bowling game may be detected by means of a standing pin detector, generally indicated at 9 6, which may be of the general type shown in copending application Ser. No. 221,701, filed Sept. 7, 1962 and assigned to the assignee of the present application. The output of the standing pin detector is a series of pulses in digital form representaiive of the number of pins which remain standing after each ball is delivered in a game. Suppose, for example, that six pins remain standing after the delivery of a ball. Under these circumstances, the pinfall detector will produce six output pulses which pass through a computer control circuit 98 to a lead 100.

The circuitry shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B includes a total frame counter 102 and a ball results counter 104, each consisting of a plurality of flip-flop units connected in cascade. Thus, the total frame counter comprises four flip-flops T1, T2, T4 and T8; while the ball results counter comprises four flip-flops R1, R2, R3 and R4. As is well known to those skilled in the art, each of the flip-flops comprises a circuit having two states of stable equilibrium, The circuit remains in one of its two states of equilibrium until an external pulse is applied which reverses these stable states of equilibrium.

As in all digital control systems, the various circuit elements are controlled by either ON" or OFF signals which are positive and negative signals, respectively, Furthermore, it will be assumed that an ON or a positive signal is represented by 0 in the binary notation given above and that an OFF or negative signal is represented by a 1. Thus, if an AND circuit in the system of FIGS. 3A and 3B is marked +A, it means that ON or 0 signals must appear on all of its input leads before an output ON or 0 signal will be produced. Similarly, an AND circuit marked A means that OFF or 1 signals will have to be on all of its input leads before an output OFF or 1 signal is produced.

The problem of converting standing pin count to fallen pin count can be represented by the following equations:

pins, first ball; and

FP ='SP SP where FP is fallen pins, second ball, and SP is stand ing pins, second ball. These equations are solved in the ball results counter 104; while the factor SP is stored in counter 102 after the delivery of the first ball. As will be seen, the standing pin count, first ball (SP is first stored in the total frame counter 102 and thereafter transferred to the counterf 104 preparatory to the determination of fallen pins, second ball (FP Furthermore, the total frame counter 102 serves to produce a number of pulses in digital form equal to the total number of fallen pins in any frame, these pulses appearing on lead 106.

Each of the

counters

102 and 104 is provided with four output leads, those for counter 102 being indicated by the numerals 102-1, 102-2, 1024 and 102-8. ON or 0 signals on these leads indicate the

binary bits

1, 2, 4 and 8, respectively. In a somewhat similar manner, the counter 104 is provided with four output leads identified by the numerals 1041, 104-2, 104-4 and 104-8. In this case, however, OFF or 1 signals indicate the

binary bits

1, 2, 4 and 8, respectively.

By the addition of AND circuit 108, the counter 102 becomes a binary decimal counter. That is, it will count up to ten and then be reset to 0 rather than counting to sixteen as would be the case if the counter consisted solely of four flip-flop units connected in cascade. This is accomplished by connecting leads 1028 and 102-2 to the input of AND circuit 108 together with lead 110 at the output of OR circuit 112. ON pulses representing standing standing pins will pass through the OR circuit and be fed to the flip-flops Tl-TS. When ten such pulses are fed to the counter 102, ON signals will appear on leads 1022 and 102-8 while OFF signals will appear on leads 102-1 and 102-4. In accordance with the binary notation given above, this means that the counter has counted ten pulses. 0n the tenth pulse, lead 110 has an an ON signal thereon which enables the AND circuit 108 to produce an output ON signal on lead 109. This resets flip-flops T2 and T8 so that all OFF signals appear on leads 102-2 to 102-8 and the counter counts from one.

Connected to leads 102-1 and 102-8 is a second AND circuit 114. This AND circuit, being connected to the leads 1021 and 102-8 representing 1 and 8 is enabled after nine pulses are counted by the counter 102. When a pulse thereafter appears on lead 116 connected to the output of a ten-pulse generator 118, a pulse will pass through AND circuit 114 to reverse the stable states of a flip-flop unit 120. The flip-flop unit 120 is also connected to a lead 122 which is energized by the computer control circuit 98 only after the second ball standing pin detection operation is completed. The pulse on lead 122 actuates the flip-flop to enable :an AND circuit 124 and also activates the ten-pulse generator 118 to apply ten pulses to lead 116 which is also connected to AND circuit 124. The manner in which the circuitry is utilized to determine the total number of fallen pins in a frame will hereinafter be described.

With reference, now, to the ball results counter 104 it is preset to ten by a pulse on lead 128 which passes through OR circuit 129 and produces OFF or 1 signals on leads 104-2 and 1048. The pulse on lead 128 appears at the beginning of each frame in the game. The pulses on lead 100 due to standing pins are also applied to the counter 104. In applying the pulses due to standing pins to counter 104, it effectively counts down from ten by an amount equal to the number of standing pins. For the case assumed where six standing pins remain standing, the counter 104 will count down 6, meaning that it will now store four with lead 104-4 energized by an OFF or 1 signal. In accordance with the binary representation given above, the signals on leads 104-1 to 1048 are representative of 0100 or 4" and, in effect, the counter 104 has solved the equation:

FP 10-SP given above to determine the first ball fallen pin count.

The OFF or 1 signal on lead 104-4 passes through OR circuit -4 to AND circuit AA-4. Also connected to the AND circuit AA-4 is a lead 130 which is connected to the computer control circuit 98 and has an OFF or 1 signal thereon during the first ball cycle and printing sequence. The signal on lead 130 may be produced in various ways, one of which is shown in copending application Ser. No. 175,865, filed Feb. 9, 1962. Alternatively, it may be produced by an automatic pin-spotter which operates in accordance with a first ball or second ball cycle. Accordingly, two OFF signals appear at the inputs to AND circuit AA4 to enable energization of lamp A4. Following this procedure, the computer control circuit 98 energizes the motor 32 (FIG. 3B) through lead 133 and the motor control circuit 134 to rotate the drive shaft 30 shown in FIG. 1. At the same time, initial energization of motor 32 will cause, through the motor control circuit 134 and leads 135, energization of lamps AZ, BZ and CZ. As the motor continues to rotate, each of the

discs

70, 90 and 92 will rotate to their top dead center positions. After a sufficient number of revolutions of the motor 32 to rotate each of the

gears

24, 48 and 60 through one complete revolution, the

photocells

72, 88 and 94 will deenergize the

solenoids

44, 54 and 66 through

amplifiers

142, 152 and 164, respectively. At this point, the lamps AZ, BZ and CZ are deenergized through leads 135; and

the remaining lamps are enabled or adapted to be energized through lead 137.

In the example given above where two OFF signals appear at the inputs to AND circuits AA-4 to enable energization of lamp A4, lamp A4 will be energized after the disc 70 is positioned at the top dead center position, thereby energizing the solenoid 44, whereupon the disc 70 continues to rotate in the direction of arrow 82. When the disc 70 reaches the fourth sector where the light from A4 is blocked from the photocell 72, the amplifier 142 will be actuated to deenergize the solenoid 44, thereby stopping the disc 70, gear 24, and the type wheel 10 with the printing character 4 at the top dead center position preparatory to printing.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that if, on the other hand, six pins are knocked down with the first ball in a frame rather than four given in the above example, leads 104-2 and 104-4 will be energized, lamps A2 and A4 will be energized and the photocell 72 will conduct until the sixth sector is reached, whereupon the solenoid 44 will be deenergized to stop the type wheel 10 with the number 6 printing character at top dead center preparatory to printing.

After the first ball results printing operation has been completed in the manner described above but before the second ball detecting operation, a pulse appears on lead 146 (FIG. 3A) and resets the flip-flops Rl-R8 of counter 104 to 0. This pulse on lead 146 is also applied through a delay network 148 to AND circuits ATl, AT2, AT4 and AT8, thereby enabling these circuits. Remembering that six pulses due to standing pins were counted by counter 102 and that leads 102-4 and 102-2 have ON signals thereon, these signals will be applied through AND circuits AT2 and AT4 to flip-flops R2 and R4, thereby causing these flip-flops to produce OFF signals on leads 1042 and 104-4, representing the six standing pins remaining after the delivery of the first ball. In effect, this operation transfers the standing pin count from counter 102 to counter 104.

Now, upon the delivery of the second ball, the standing pin detector will produce a number of pulses equal to the number of pins which remain standing after the delivery of the second ball. Let us assume that in the case given two additional pins were knocked down with the second ball, meaning that four pins remain standing. Before the second ball detecting cycle, a pulse appears on lead 126 to reset counter 102 whereby it begins counting from zero. This pulse can also be produced with the apparatus shown in the aforesaid copending application Ser. No. 175,865

or by an automatic pin-spotter after it has completed a first ball cycle and before the second ball cycle. However, the pulse will not appear if a foul occurs upon the delivery of the second ball, indicating that the second ball pinfall should not be counted. The four pulses due to the standing pins remaining after the second ball are now stored in counter 102. At the same time, the four pulses due to standing pins are applied through lead to counter 104 which again counts down; however in this case it counts down from six rather than ten due to the fact that it was preset to 6 by transferring the first ball standing pin count from counter 102 to counter 104. Thus, since the four pulses are delivered on lead 100 due to the standing pins after the second ball, the counter 102 counts down to two, meaning that lead 104-2 has an OFF signal thereon. This, then, indicates that two pins were knocked down with the second ball and solves the equation:

given above. The OFF signal on lead 104-2 passes through OR circuit O2 to AND circuits AA-2 and BA2. During the second ball cycle, however, the OFF signal on lead 130 becomes an ON signal which disables AND circuits AA1 to AA-8 while enabling the AND circuits BA-l to BA-S through inverter 148. Consequently, lamp B2 will now be energized. At the completion of this operation, a pulse again appears on lead 133 to initiate rotation of the motor 32. The disc for the second gear 48 will now rotate until its second sector reaches the position of photocell 88 at which time the enabling signal will be removed from the amplifier 152 and the solenoid 54 will be deenergized to stop the type wheel 12 at the position where the number two printing character is at top dead center preparatory to the printing of a second ball result.

Since the counter 102 was reset to 0 before the second ball scanning operation, it has four pulses stored therein since there are four standing pins remaining. After the standing pins remaining after the second ball are detected, or after no pins are detected after a strike with the first ball, a pulse appears on lead 122 to reverse the stable states of multivibrator and enable the AND circuit 124. At the same time, the pulse on lead 122 energizes the ten-pulse generator 118 which proceeds to produce ten pulses on lead 116. These ten pulses pass through the OR circuit 112 and are counted in counter 102 which already has four pulses stored therein. At the same time, as long as AND circuit 124 is enabled, the pulses from pulse generator 118 will pass therethrough to lead 106 where they are counted in a player total counter comprising a units decade counter 128, tens decade counter and hundreds decade counter 132.

For the case assumed where four pulses are stored in counter 102 due to the fact that four pins remain standing and six pins were knocked down in the frame, the first five pulses will advance through counter 102. Upon reaching the fifth pulse, the AND circuit 114 will be enabled since the count of the counter is now 9. Up to this point, five pulses have passed through AND circuit 124 to lead 106. Upon the delivery of the sixth pulse on lead 116, which also passes through AND circuit 124 to lead 106, a pulse appears at the output of AND circuit 114 to switch the stable states of the multivibrator 120, thereby disabling the AND circuit 124. Consequently, the remaining four pulses from the tenpulse generator 118 do not pass through AND circuit 124. The result is that six pulses appear on lead 106, equal to the total number of pins knocked down in the frame.

As was mentioned above, these pulses on lead 106 representing total fallen pin count are passed to the counters 128-132. Actually, there is a total counter for each player in a game, only one of such counters being shown herein for purposes of simplicity. The unit counter 128 has four leads 156 representing the

binary bits

1, 2, 4 and 8; the tens counter also has four output leads 158 representing the

binary bits

1, 2, 4 and 8, but the hundreds decade 132 has only two output leads 160 representing the

binary bits

1 and 2. The reason for this is that in the particular embodiment shown herein, the maximum score achievable by any one player is 300. Of course, if a team totalizer is employed, it will be necessary to provide four outputs from the hundreds decade 132 as well as a thousands decade.

After the first and second ball results have been printed in the manner described above, a pulse appears on lead 162 to enable AND circuits 163 which are connected to the outputs of

leads

156, 158 and 160. Here, again, the pulse on lead 162 can be derived from an automatic pin-spotter or from apparatus shown in the aforesaid copending application Ser. No. 175,865. Thus, the binary signals from units decade 128 serve to energize selected ones of the lamps A1-A8; the binary outputs from the tens decade 130 serve to energize selected ones of the lamps Bl-B8; the binary outputs from the hundreds decade 132 serve to energize selected ones of the lamps C1 and C2. When an enabling signal appears on lead 162, a pulse again appears on lead 133 to initiate a score printing cycle. The score printing operation is the same as that described above in connection with the results printing cycles except that all three sets of lamps and all three

photocells

72, 88 and 94 are utilized. In this case, the solenoid 66 is controlled by an amplifier 164. Let us assume, for example, that in the eighth frame of a game the players accumulated score is 165. Under these circumstances, the lamps A1 and A4 will be energized; lamps B2 and B4 will be energized, and the lamp C1 will be energized, thereby stopping the type wheel 10 at 5, the type wheel 12 at 6 and the type wheel 14 at 1. At the completion of the game, a pulse is applied from the computer control circuit 98 through lead 169 to the

counters

128, 130 and 132 to reset them to zero, preparatory to the next game.

The manner in which strike, spare, blow and foul indications are printed will now be explained. If a strike occurs it will, of course, occur upon the delivery of a first ball in a frame, except in the last or tenth frame where it can occur on the first, second or bonus ball, or all three of these. Furthermore, if a strike occurs, the counter 104 will not count down from ten, meaning that OFF signals will appear on the leads 104-2 and 104-8. By providing on each

disc

70, 90 or 92 the sector beyond the numbers 1 through 9 marked (X) where the 2 and 8 sectors are opaque (FIG. 2), the type wheel 10 will stop at this position where it is provided with an (X) on its periphery which is printed on the score sheet.

If a blow occurs on either the first or second ball of a frame, it means that no pins have been knocked down upon the delivery of that ball, with the result that the counter 104 will count down from either ten, or the standing pin count, second ball, to zero. The result is that ON signals will now appear on all leads 104-1 through 104-8. These ON signals are applied through AND circuit 172 which, through inverter 178, applies OFF signals to OR circuits O-4 and O-8. Thus, the appropriate disc will stop at the sector marked in FIG. 2 where the 4 and 8 ring sectors are opaque. This sector is aligned with a printing character on the appropriate printing wheel.

If a spare should occur it will, of course, occur during the delivery of a second ball. It will be remembered that after the first ball results are printed and the second ball is rolled, the counter 104 is reset to zero, and the first ball standing pin count is transferred to counter 104 from counter 102. If the second ball rolled achieves a spare, no standing pins are counted; and, therefore, a number equal to the first ball standing pin count is registered in counter 104. This could be correctly printed at this time as the second ball fallen pin count, except that when a spare occurs it is desired to print the spare mark in place of this number. In order to accomplish this it is necessary, by some other means, to detect the spare. Since the counter 102 is cleared to zero at the start of the second ball pin scan, it is still atzero at the end of the pin scan in the case of a spare where all pins are knocked down with the second ball. In order to detect this condition, an AND circuit 142 is connected to all of the output leads 1021 to 1028 and will produce an output on lead 152 when the count of counter 102 is zero. The output on lead 152 is applied to an AND circuit 164 along with the signal on lead indicating a second ball cycle and the signal on lead 133 which occurs at the beginning of a printing operation. Thus, the AND circuit 164 will produce an output signal which is applied through OR circuit 129 to reset the counter 104 to ten when no standing pins are counted by the counter 102; when the bowler is in a second ball scoring cycle; and when the printing cycle begins.

Now that the counter 104 has been reset to ten, the

leads 1048 and 104-2 will have OFF signals thereon.

These signals are applied to AND circuit 171 together with an OFF signal at the output of inverter 148, which occurs only during a second ball cycle, to apply an OFF signal to OR circuit O-l. Thus, OR circuits 0-8, 04 and O-l will now be enabled to produce OFF signals corresponding to the code shown for the spare sector shown in FIG. 2.

If a foul occurs, the computer control circuit 98 produces an OFF signal on lead which passes through OR circuits O-1, O-2, O4 and O-S to the lamps A1, A2, A4 and A8 or B1, B2, B4 and B8, depending upon whether the player is in a first 'ball or second ball cycle. The signal on lead 170 may be produced by any of the well-known foul detectors including a light beam and photocell arrangement wherein the light beam is interrupted when the foot of the bowler passes over the foul line. Provided on each

disc

70 and 90 is the sector marked (F), FIG. 2, in which the 1, 2, 4 and 8 sectors are opaque. Consequently, the printing character indicative of a foul (F) is aligned with this particular sector whereby the printing wheel will stop at this position when a foul occurs.

The foregoing procedure will occur during the first nine frames in a game. However, as is well known, the bowler may be entitled in the tenth frame of the game to a third or bonus ball. When this condition occurs, a signal appears on lead to enable the AND circuits CA-l to CA-8, the outputs of which are connected to lamps C1-C8, respectively. The manner in which the signal is produced on lead 180 may be understood by reference to the aforesaid copending application Ser. No. 175,865; however other and different ways may be utilized for this purpose if desired. As was mentioned above, the third disc 92 must have the 1, 2 and 3 sectors thereon together with all of the sectors indicating marks. In all cases, whenever none of the photocells are energized, the disc and its associated gear and printing wheel will stop at the blank position where it prints nothing on the score sheet.

If it is desired to print an indication of a split (0), a pushbutton 168 associated with the motor control circuit 134 of FIG. 3B is depressed. This causes the motor 32 to rotate through a sufiicient number of revolutions to rotate each of the

gears

24, 48 and 60 through two complete revolutions. At the same time, depression of pushbutton 168 causes energization of lead 180 and also lead 136. That is, OFF signals are applied to both of the

leads

180 and 136. It will be noted that the lead 136 is connected to the OR circuits O-2, O-4 and O-8. Therefore, OFF signals will be applied to AND circuits CA-Z, CA-4 and CA-8. These OFF signals, together with the OFF signal on lead 180, energize lamps C-Z, C-4 and C8. Consequently, the disc 92 will stop at the sector marked shown in FIG. 2, and will print the split indication (0) adjacent the second ball results box.

As an alternative to the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 wherein

discs

70, 90 and 92 are utilized apart from the

gears

24, 48 and 60, the gears themselves may be constructed of transparent material having sectors thereon divided into opaque ring sectors as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, the lamps A1-A8 will be on one side of the gear 24; whereas the photocell 72 will be on the other side.

Discs such as that" shown in FIG. 2 can be used not only for the actual printing operation, but also for the purpose of positioning the printing wheels over the proper player line and frame preparatory to a printing operation. One type of printing apparatus with which the present invention may be used is shown in FIG. 4 wherein the type wheels 196 are mounted on a cantilever arm 198 comprising the three

coaxial shafts

20, 46 and 58 shown in FIG. 1. Cantilever printing apparatus of this type is the subject of copending application Ser. No. 305,591, filed Aug. 30, 1963, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. The printing apparatus per se is housed within a console 200 with the cantilever arm 198 projecting outwardly through an elongated slot 202. In this particular case, two

score sheets

204 and 206 are arranged in sideby-side relationship on top of a table 208. The score sheet 204, for example, would be that provided for one team in league play; whereas the score sheet 206 would be provided for the other team.

The manner in which the type wheels 196 are positioned over a particular player line and frame is shown in FIG. 5. Essentially, the apparatus comprises a first carriage 210 mounted on wheels 212 for reciprocating movement along tracks or guideways 214. The carriage 210 is actuated by means of a screw drive 216 driven by motor 218. Carried on the carriage 210 is a second carriage 220 mounted on wheels 222 for movement on tracks 224 at right angles to the movement of carriage 210. In other words, the two

carriages

210 and 220 move in quadrature with the car- 'riage 210 moving along the player lines of the

score sheets

204 and 206 and the carriage 220 moving along the successive frame boxes. The carriage 220 is driven by means of a screw drive 226 connected to a motor 228.

With reference now to FIG. 6, connected to the shaft of motor 218 through gear reducer 230 is a disc 232 similar to the disc 70 shown in FIG. 2. In a similar manner, the motor 228 has connected thereto through gear reducer .234 a second disc 236 which is also similar to the disc 70 shown in FIG. 2. On one side of the disc 232 are four lamps 238 while on the other side is a photocell 240. In a similar manner, four lamps 242 are on one side of the disc 236 while a photocell 244 is on the other side. Each group of

lamps

238 and 242 is connected to a first frame counting and storage circuit 246 for one team in league play and also to a second circuit 248 for a second team. Provided on each of the

circuits

246 and 248 are player switches A-l to 13-1 and A-2 to E-2 for the first and second teams, respectively. The system is such that when a bowler prepares to bowl his associated switch will be closed. This may be accomplished by means of a manually-operated pushbutton or automatically when each player picks his bowling ball out of an assigned storage pocket. Alternatively, the switches may be closed in sequence in an arrangement such as that shown in the Millman et al. Patent 2,590,444. In any case, when a bowler prepares to bowl his associated switch will be closed. Closure of this switch is then utilized to energize a number of the lamps 238 defining a code which will stop the motor 218 through motor control circuit 250 when the player line is reached on the

proper score sheet

204 or 206 corresponding to the code defined by the energized lamps. At the same time, when the players pushbutton is depressed, the lamps 242 will be energized in accordance with a code to stop the motor 228 through motor control circuit 252 at the frame corresponding to the frame information stored in

circuit

246 or 248.

Although the invention has been shown in connection with certain specific embodiments, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in form and arrangement of parts may be made to suit requirements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In apparatus of the type in which a rotatable member may be rotated to a predetermined angular position and stopped, the combination of a disc member coaxial with said rotatable member and rotatable therewith as a unit, a plurality of stationary light sources spaced along the radius of said disc member on one side thereof and arranged to direct light beams against one side of the disc member, a photocell positioned on the other side of the disc member opposite said light sources and adapted to conduct an electrical current whenever light from one or more of said sources falls thereon, said disc member being divided into separated and discrete arcuate sectors, all but one of said sectors having one or more ring sectors therein which are opaque and radially aligned with one or more of said light sources, means for energizing one or more of said light sources while simultaneously rotating the rotatable member and disc member until that sector having opaque ring sectors aligned with all energized light sources reaches the location of the light sources and photocell to block all light from the photocell, and means responsive solely to decreased current flow through the photocell with no light thereon for stopping the disc member and rotatable member.

2. In printing apparatus of the type in which a printing wheel having printing type on its periphery may be rotated to a predetermined angular position and stopped with a selected one of the type on its periphery adjacent sheet material or the like which is to be printed; the combination of a disc member coaxial with said printing wheel and rotatable therewith as a unit, said disc member being formed from material which will permit light to pass therethrough, a plurality of stationary light sources spaced along the radius of said disc member on one side thereof and arranged to direct light beams against said one side of the disc member, a photocell positioned on the other side of the disc member opposite said light sources and adapted to conduct an electrical current whenever light from one or more of said sources falls thereon, said disc member being divided into separated and discrete arcuate sectors, one sector for each printing type on the periphery of the printing wheel, all but one of said sectors having one or more ring sectors therein which are opaque and radially aligned with one or more of said light sources, means for energizing one or more of said light sources while simultaneously rotating the printing wheel and disc member until that sector having opaque ring sectors aligned with all energized light sources reaches the location of the light sources and photocell to block all light from the photocell, and means responsive solely to decreased current flow through the photocell with no light thereon for stopping the disc member and printing wheel.

3. In apparatus for converting standing pin count in a bowling game to fallen pin count in accordance with the equations:

FP1= and FF 2:19P 1-SP 2 where FP represents fallen pins after the first ball, FP represents fallen pins after the second ball, SP represents standing pins after the first ball, and SP represents standing pins after the second ball; the combination of means for producing electrical quantities in binary code form representative of SP and SP respectively, a device responsive to the electrical quantity representative of SP for electrically subtracting said quantity from ten to obtain an electrical quantity in binary code form representative of FP and a second device responsive to the electrical quantities representative of SP and SP for subtracting the quantity representative of SP from that representative of SP to obtain an electrical quantity in binary code form representative of FP 4. In apparatus for converting standing pin count in a bowling game to fallen pin count in accordance with the equations:

FP =10SP and FP2=SP1 SP2 where FP represents fallen pins after the first ball, FP represents fallen pins after the second ball, SP represents standing pins after the first ball, and SP represents standing pins after the second ball; the combination of means for producing electrical quantities in binary code form representative of SP and SP respectively, a device responsive to the electrical quantity representative of SP for electrically subtracting said quantity from ten to obtain an electrical quantity in binary code form representative of FP a second device responsive to the electrical quantities representative of SP and SP for subtracting the quantity representative of SP from that representative of SP to obtain an electrical quantity in binary code form representative of FP and printing apparatus operable in response to the electrical quantities in binary code form representative of FP and FP for printing indications of the pinfall achieved with the first and second balls of a bowling game frame.

5. In apparatus for converting standing pin count in a bowling game to fallen pin count in accordance with the equations:

FP 10SP and FP =SP SP where FP represents fallen pins after the first ball, FP represents fallen pins after the second ball, SP represents standing pins after the first ball, and SP represents standing pins after the second ball; the combination of means for producing numbers of pulses equal to the number of standing pins after the first and second ball deliveries in a bowling game, a first counting device preset to ten and adapted to receive pulses equal to SP whereby said pulses equal to SP are subtracted from ten to derive steadystate signals in binary form indicative of FP a second counting device preset to zero upon the delivery of a first ball in a bowling game frame and adapted to count pulses equal to SP means operable after the first ball delivery in a bowling game frame but before the second ball delivery for resetting said first counting device to zero and for transferring the number of pulses in binary form equal to SP counted by the second counter to said first counter, and means for thereafter subtracting pulses equal to SP from the previously-stored pulses equal to SP in the first counter to derive steady-state signals in binary form indicative of FP 6. The combination of claim 5 wherein the counting device and said second counting means are formed from transistor flip-flop units connected in cascade.

7. The combination of claim 5 wherein pulses equal to SP are counted by the second counter after it is reset to zero at the completion of a first ball delivery, and including means for subtracting said pulses equal to SP counted by the second counter from ten after the second ball delivery to obtain a number of pulses equal to the total pinfall achieved with the first and second balls of a frame.

8. The combination of claim 5 wherein pulses equal to SP are counted by the second counter after it is reset to zero at the completion of a first ball delivery, including means for subtracting said pulses equal to SP counted by the second counter from ten after the second ball de- 16 livery to obtain a number of pulses equal to the total pinfall achieved with the first and second balls of a frame, and a total pin counter for counting the pulses equal in number to the total pinfall for each frame.

9. In apparatus of the type in which a rotatable member may be rotated to a predetermined angular position and stopped, the combination of means for actuating a device for stopping the rotatable member at said predetermined angular position, comprising a disc member connected to said rotatable member so as to rotate therewith, light source means on one side of the disc member, photocell means on the other side of the disc member directly opposite said light source means, said disc member being divided into separated and discrete arcuate sector divided into opaque and light-transmitting portions such that the current through the photocell means will be varied when a selected one of said sectors passes between the light source means and photocell means, and means responsive to a variation in current through the photocell means for actuating said device for stopping the rotatable member.

10. In apparatus for converting standing pin count in a bowling game to fallen pin count and for printing first and second fallen pin count on a score sheet, the combination of means for producing electrical quantities in binary code form representative of the number of standing pins remaining after delivery of the first ballin a bowling game and the number of standing pins remaining after the delivery of a second ball in a bowling game respectively, a device responsive to the electrical quantityrepresentative of standing pins after delivery of the first ball for electrically subtracting said quantity from ten to obtain an electrical quantity in binary code form representative of the number of fallen pins after the delivery of the first ball, a second device responsive to the electrical quantities representative of the number of standing pins after the first ball and the number of standing pins after the second ball for subtracting the quantity representative of the number of standing pins after the second ball from that representative of the number of standing pins after the first ball to obtain an electrical quantity in binary code form representative of the number of fallen pins after delivery of the second ball, and printing apparatus operable in response to the electrical quantities in binary code formrepresentative of the number of fallen pins after delivery of the first ball and the number of fallen pins after delivery of the second ball for printing indications of the pinfall achieved with the first and second balls of a bowling game frame, said printing apparatus including a printing wheel having printing type on its periphery and adapted to be rotated in successive steps to predetermined angular positions and stopped with selected ones of the type on its periphery indicative of the number of fallen pins after delivery of the first ball and the number of fallen pins after delivery of the second ball adjacent sheet material or the like which is to be printed, a plurality of stationary light sources which are energized by said electrical quantities representative of the number of fallen pins after the first ball and the number of fallen pins after the second ball, a photocell responsive to light from said light sources and adapted to conduct an electrical current whenever light from any one or more of said sources falls thereon, means connected to said printing wheel for interrupting the path of light from said light sources to the photocell at the predetermined angular positions of the printing wheel where the printing characters indicative of the number of fallen pins after the first ball and the number of fallen pins after the second ball are adjacent the sheet material which is to be printed, and means responsive to decreased current flow through the photocell with no light thereon for stopping the printing wheel.

11. Apparatus for automatically computing bowling results and for providing a cumulative running record of each game as it is played, said results being computed from the output of a standing pin sensing means which provides a plurality of electric pulses on a single line in- 1 7 dicative of the number of standing pins remaining after delivery of a ball in a bowling game, which comprises a first input means for receiving a signal indicating that a first or second ball in a frame has been rolled; a second input means for receiving a signal indicating that a player has committed a foul, an electronic switching means including a counting means for accumulating the pulses at the output of said Standing pin sensing means, said switching means further including means responsive to the signals at said first and second input means upon the rolling of a ball and to the non-occurrence of a foul, respectively, and responsive to said counting means for deriving from said accumulated pulses a number of pulses representing the fallen pin count, means for computing from said derived pulses a correct running cumulative score for the player rolling said ball for each frame including the recog- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,058,005 10/1962 Hurvtz 340-347 X 3,158,090 11/1964 Wasserman 340347 X 3,295,849 1/1967 Miller 23522 X MAYNARD R. WILBUR, Primary Examiner.

G. J. MAIER, Assistant Examiner.