US834714A - Game apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

I T of the standards at the rear end of the alley.

This invention relates to a new and useful 1 v To all whom it may concern:

PATENT orrion. v

- 'EiJGENE FAHL. or sr. Iiot ns, MISSOURI.

GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed September 25, 1905. Serial No. 280,041.

Patented Oct. 30, 1906.

Be it known that I, EUGENE zen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new FAHL, a citil shown in Fig. 1. The forward end of the stationary section 7 is upwardly inclined, so as to deliver the balls into a home trough 8, elevated above the level of the horizontal and useful Improvement in Game Apparatus, I portion 1 of the alley, so as to place the balls of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had .to the accompanying drawings, forming part 4 of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a detail view of, my improved I game app aratus. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the ball-troughat the rearv end of the alley, and Fig. 3 is a detail viewof one improvement in game apparatus of-the class commonly known-as cocked hat, in which three pins areset up on an alley and the player rolls the ball along the alley with the object of knocking down the pins.

Heretofore it has been the general practice to have a boy at the rear end of the alley, who after a player .had rolled his allotted number of balls, usually three, would reset the pins and place the balls in the return trough leading to the front-end of the alley.

It is the object of my present invention to provide means for resettingthe 'pins which may be knocked down or'displaced by a player and contemporaneously with the operation of such resetting mechanism to also return .the balls to the forward end, of the alley; It is obvious, however, that-the resetting mechanism may be operated iridependently of the ball-restoring mechanism. With these objects in view the invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts, all as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims; 1

In the drawings, 1 indicates the alley, which may be of usual form, at the back of which is an end wall provided with a buffer or cushion 2. In front of this buffer andbeyond the horizontal portion of the alley 1 is a laterally-inclined floor portion 3, constituting the ball-trough for discharging the balls through an opening in oneof the side walls 4 into a trough-section 5. This trough-section is provided with a rear end wall 6 and is inclined upwardly at its forward end and hinged to a stationary trough-section 7, secured to the side of the alley 1 and whose rear end is preferably upwardly inclined, as

within convenient reach of the player. The free end of, the hinged trough-section 5 has a cable9 connected thereto passing over apulley l0 and extending forwardly to the front end of the alley, where it passes over another pulley 11, and thence downwardly to within convenient reach of the'player. After the balls have been rolled by a player and col lected into the trough-section 5 the player pulls down on the forward end of cable 9 and elevates the trough-section 5 so as to start the balls forwardly, impetus being gathered when the balls roll down the inclined portion at the rear end of the fixed portion of the trough, such impetus being arrested by the inclined portion at the forward end of the trough leading up to the home trough 8, so that when the balls are delivered into the home trough they, have been deprived of their momentum sufficientlyto roll slowly into the home trough.

From the above it will be seen that the mechanism for returning the balls could be operated 'inde endently of the mechanism for resetting tie pins; but in the construction, shown in the drawings I have shown the two mechanisms as being. connected, so that the act of restoring the balls also resets the pins, and vice versa.

I 12 indicates. pins which are designed to be set in osition at the corners of an imaginary triang e at the rear end of the horizontal portion 1 of the alley. Each of these pins is provided with a flexible cable 13, and each cable is preferably provided with a weight 14 for the purpose of taking up slack on one side of said weight andplacing said slack 0n the other side or below said wei ht. Cables 13 pass over pulleys 15, carrie by some suit able support or arranged in the ceiling of the alley-way, said cables passing forwardly and over pul eys 16 and downwardly, preferably through guides 17, arranged on an upright board 18, the back of which may be used for tally pur oses. Each of the cables 13is provided wit a ring 19 at its forward end, which ring coacts with the guide 1.7 and limits the movement of the cable under the'influence of the slack take-up Weights 14.

20 indicates a channel-iron in the form of an inverted-U-shaped frame secured to the -the pins down.

side walls 4, the vertical legs of which form oontinuations of verticalgrooves 21 in the inner faces of the side walls 4. In these grooves operates a frame consistingiof-vertical guide members 22, connected by upper and lower cross-pieces 23, which cross-pieces 23 carry, respectively, a stop-board 24 and a positioning-board 25. The positionin board 25 is provided with openm s su' ciently large to receive the upperen s of the pins 12. Through these openings and through ialin'ing but smaller openings inthe stop board 24 pass the cables 13. Guaccount of the smaller openings in thestopboard,such openings being of such size as to permit only the tree passage of-the cables '13, the slack in -the cables below the weights 14E will usually be located above-the stop-board.

26 indicates a cable connected to the crosspiece 23 and passing upwardly throughan o enin in the connecting eross piece of the manne iron, and (thence over a pulley '27,

forwardly andover the pulley 28, and down 'wardly t'0..-a lever 29, pivotally conneetedto the upright 18. The pivotal point ofthisle ver-is located some distance from the upright 18, so -that when the lever is turned down the pointof connection of-cable 26 therewith and the sideof the pulley 28 over which said 'ca- Y ble passesare past the position o'f-dead-cen- 5 t-erwvithrespect to 'the pivotal point-of the lever 29, and thus the lever when do Tossed will'be held insuch position without t e employment of any special fastening device for such pur ose.

29 carriesa lugion wich is a pin '30.

"lhe operation of the device is as follows: Assuming that the pins are set and the-reset ira-me is :e'levated as shown in Fig. =1 and "the player rolls a ball, the -ba;l l --may strike one, pin and knock it :down or :may kno'ck-all-of i If one pin is s'truckand it is i desired tomemove the deadwood from the alley,the pulls itdown until the ring 19 is slippedover the pin 30. This will elevate the pin, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, sothat the upper end "of the 'pin is 'in the positioningboard, the upward movement of the pin bein-g stopped by the stop-board If another pin is knocked .down, it may also be elevated. If three'pins are knocked down, they are elevated by pulling down their proper cables and placing the rings on the forward ends of said cables over the pin 30. After the ins areraised,:as described, the lever '29 is li ted and n be'ngliftedermits the frame and the pins positioned in the frame to'descend until the pins rest on the alley, at which time the rings 1'9 will slip off of the pin 30, releasing the pins andenabl-ingthe lever 29 to be again depressed, so as to raise the reset'ting-i rame from the'p'ins. The parts-are so proportioned that whe'n the lever 29 is raised and I the However, if desired, a fastening-device could be employed. Lever playerselects the p-roper'cable and i pin 30. Weights 14 will of course cause the rings to slip from the pin, and then when the lever 29 is depressed the slack below the weights will be taken up above the stopboard.

Of course if only one pin has been knocked down it is only necessary to raise that pin into the frame for the purpose-of positioning it, when the lever can be manipulated and that pin properly positioned with respect to the others.

I have heretofore referred to the fact that while the ball-restoringmechanism. could be operated independently from the pin resetting mechanims the two mechanisms were intended to be operated simultaneously. This is effected by passing-the'cab'le 9 afterit extends down from the pulley 11 under a pulley 3 1 and connecting theendiof-said cable to lever 29. It will be observed that by this arrangement lever 29 when it -IS liited also lifts the lunged trough-section 5, and when said lever is depressed the trough-sec- .tion is returned torits normal osition. The section is thus made to part ycounterbalance the weight :of the resettmg-frame, :and consequently less power is required tooperate the lever 29.

1am aware that changes in the construction, arrangement, and -combination of the several parts of my device can be made .and substituted for those hereindescribed Without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having *thus described the invention, what :is claimed as new, and desired to be secured byLetter-s Patent, is

1. In a game :apparatus, the combination of pins, manually-operated means for selectng and positioning individual ins, .and a movabledevice cooperating (wit all of the pins and adapted to be woperated by the player for resetting the pins after they have i een positioned substantially-as described.

2. n a game apparatus, the combination of a plurality of pins, a movable perforated frame for-positioning the pins, and manuallyoperated means for raising individual pins into said-frame substantially as described.

3. In a game apparatus, the combination of pins, a positioning frame arranged above the pins, manually-operated means iorraising the pins into position in said frame, and means for lowering the frame and-pins substantially as described.

4. In a game apparatus, the combination,

ofpins, a positioning-frame, individual means for positioning the pins in said frame, and means for lowering the frame and pins onto the alloy, the pin -positioning means being connected to said last-named means by=a slip connection which is automatically disenthe frame is permitted to be elevated away from the pins; substantially as described.

5. In a game a paratus, the combination of pins, a vertica l -slidable frame provided with openings for receiving the different pins, and manually-operated cables connected with said pins and passing through said openings, to draw the pins into the openings; substantially as described.

6. In a game apparatus, the combination of pins, a vertically-slidable frame provided with openings, cables passing through said openings and connected to said pins, a man-' ually-operated lever, a connection between said lever and the frame, a device on said lever to which the pin-cables may be connected so that when said lever is actuated the frame and pins will move in unison; substan tially as described.

7. In a game apparatus, the combination of pins, a vertically-slidable frame for positioning said pins, cables connected to said pins, a lever for raising and lowering the frame, and a slip connection for the pin-cables with said lever whereby when the frame and pins are lowered the pin-cables are automatically released, permitting the frame to be raised, leaving the pins in their set positions; substantially as described;

8. In a game apparatus, the combination of a vertically-slidable frame having pin-positioning openings, manually-operated cables passing through said openings, pins connected to said cables, guiding devices for said cables located directly above the pins, and weights on said cables between said guiding devices and said frame for taking up the slack substantially as described.

9. In a game apparatus, the combination of a movable-frame, pins having manuallyoperated cables connected thereto, for raising the pins into position in saidframe, and means for moving the frame and pins so as to set the pins in proper position on the alley,

said means being adapted to be operated in p the reverse direction for restoring the frame to its normal position substantially as described.

10. In a game apparatus, the combination of a movable pin-resettingframe, a manuallyo erated lever for actuating said frame, a p urality of individuallyoperated cables adapted to be connected to said lever, anda ball-restoring mechanism adapted to be connected to said lever, so that whenever said lever is actuated the ball-restoring mechanism will be operated and said'pin-resetting mechanism simultaneously; substantially as described.

11. In a game apparatus, the combination of pin-resetting mechanism, a lever for operating the same, a ball-restoring mechanism connected to and operated by said lever, means for individually selecting and positioning the different pins to be reset and connecting said pins to said operating-lever, whereby when said lever is operated to reset the positioned pins on the alley the pins are automatically released when set, the movement of said lever also operatingthe ball-restoring device to return the balls to the front end of the alley; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 20th day of September, 1905.

EUGENE FAHL.

Witnesses:

F. R. CORNWALL, GEORGE BAKEWELL.

Images