WO1987002858A1

WO1987002858A1 - Video-game apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1987002858A1
Application number: PCT/IT1985/000042
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mario Procacci
Original assignee: Mario Procacci
Priority date: 1985-10-31
Filing date: 1985-10-31
Publication date: 1987-05-07
Also published as: EP0245239A1

Abstract

A video-game apparatus which comprises an autonomous framework (100) inserted in a cabinet and totally withdrawn therefrom, said cabinet and said framework being coupled together by means of a purposedly made lowest frame of said cabinet and each of the lowest longitudinal member of said framework, the latter being guided along rails of which both longitudinal members (36) of said cabinet lowest frame are provided by a pair of small wheels (40) of which both longitudinals of said framework lowest frame are provided. Further, a pair of half rods slidable one in a sense and the other contrarywise within a transverse (50) of said framework similarly to the central half rods of a window; which rods penetrate each a plate of which the inner side wall of said cabinet is provided. The kinescope of said apparatus is tiltable in a vertical plane symmetrical to said framework and is also manually rotatable through a 90o angle. The purpose of such rotation is for utilizing the image originating from the apparatus which image, being rectangular can be larger in one of the two directions than in the other. The means for controlling the kinescope are attached to the tiltable frame of the kinescope from which the control signals reach the kinescope without following it in its rotation in order that the kinescope electronic controls do not move when the kinescope is rotated.

Description

VIDEO-GAME APPARATUS

The object of this invention is an apparatus for video-games wherein a kinoscope along with all the assemblies related to the video-game operation are collect¬ ed in a cabinet and mounted on metal framework which can be easily and totally introduced and extracted into and out of said cabinet.

In the conventional video-games,all the operating elements,such as the kinescope,the electronic controlling elements of the same,the card feed,etc.are mounted within the inside of the cabinet on frames or racks which are all connected to the cabinet inner walls,thus any maintenance or inspection operation implies access into the cabinet inside.The conventional apparatus it is not easy to change the attitude or trino of the kinescope when the game card is changed or when the local light conditions,such as the light reflex or reverberation,prevent from having a corrected sight of the kinescope subject.

Also some solutions as lastly proposed whereby some drawers or shelves are provided as card-holders slidable along guides attached to the inner sides of the cabin¬ et,while making it easy to replace the same do not solve the problem of access to the kinescope and to the related controls .

An object of this invention is therefore to eliminate the above drawbacks by making a video-game apparatus wherein the mounting means of the video-game operating assemblies is no more singly attached to the cabinet or slidable on fixed guides but is simultaneously and totally removable along with the operating assemblies for an easier control and maintenance.

A further purpose of this invention is to provide a kinescope which is attached on said rotatable mounting in such a way that the kinescope screen can be disposed in vertical and horizontal attitude and trimmed with respect to the observer without any need for mechanical controls.

According to this invention all the above objects have been achieved by mounting the kinescope and the related assemblies on a metal framework provided with more than one shelf which framework can be easily extracted from the cabinet - towards the observer.Such feature makes obviously unnecessary to access to the cabinet inner space through the lateral sides or through the back side of the cabinet. More specifically a cabinet is provided according to this invention on which the lateral and the back side of the cabinet are mounted on a base frame,a metal parallel- epipedal section iron framework being fitted into said cabinet the framework lowest lateral beams being slidable along the inner lowest beams of the cabinet,a kinescope support being tiltable mounted on said parallelepipedal framework which is adapted for converting the kinescope attitude from the horizontal to the vertical.

The front of the metal framework has a wall with a coin slot as usual.

According to another feature of the invention, a device is provided for blocking said framework within the cabinet so that said front wall and the related coin slot cannot be tampered with. Further features and advantages of this invention will become more clear from the following description with reference to the attached drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention will be illustrated by way of example.

In the drawings :

Fig.l illustrates in a prospective view the video- game apparatus of the invention from the outside thereof;

Fig.2 shows the video-game apparatus of Fig.l in a prospective view with the inner framework partially withdrawn and the coin slot door partially open;

Fig.3 shows a perspective view of the apparatus inner framework provided with the lower frame of the cabinet into which it is inserted;

Fig.4 shows a perspective view of the kinescope supporting frame on which the kinescope is rotatably supported and of the legs by which said supporting frame is inclinated;

Fig.5 shows the cabinet lowest supporting frame with related wheels;

Fig.6 shows a partial perspective view of the apparatus inner framework with the transverse half rods by which said framework is coupled to the outer cabinet.

In fig.3 the apparatus of this invention is illustrated in skeleton form. It comprises a metal framework or mount of substantially parallelepipedal shape which is inserted into an homologans hollow structure or cabinet which is mounted on a frame provided with two wheels at the lowest corners of said cabinet at the sides opposite to the observer.

More specifically the apparatus of this invention comprises four vertical struts 2,4,6,8 disposed at the four corners of a substantially square parallelepipedon 100 comprising a lower frame 43 formed by two side longitudinal section irons 42,42' by a front 44 and a Back 44' traverse and by an upper frame 46 comprising two side longitudinal section irons 48, 48' and a front traverse 50 slightly drawn back with respect to the observer; which frame 46 is lacking of the back traverse. The front traverse 50 which has the shape of a window center strut and the operating mechaning thereof will be discussed hereinafter.

The front face of said parallelepipedon 100 that is the face thereof confronting the observer is strengthened by a traverse 12 at about one third of the strut 2 and 4 heights.

A similar traverse connects the back struts 6 and 8 together.

From frame 46 struts 6 and 8 project slightly upwards where they terminate with a T square section iron extending away from the observer for rigidly supporting frame 14 of a glass panel through which the kinescope is observed.

At the position where the top of each strut 2 and 4 bend away from the observer for supporting frame 14 near the lower traverse of the same, a pair of rods 16, 16a is set on a hinge pin 26 which rods for a first length 16' extends near to the observer and then extends orthogonally 16' ' to the first length and then orthogonally 16 ' ' ' to length 16 ' ' to reach near the vertical of struts 6 and 8.

A traverse 18 connects section irons 16, 16a together and forms with them a frame inside of which a rotatable ring 20 is located. Ring 20 is engaged with frame made of sections 16, 16a, 18 and of an additional fourth section 22 wich connects sections 16, 16a -

Specifically the three sections 16, 16a and 22 slidably engage ^'ring 20 while the bracket of which section iron 18 is provided at the mid position thereof tangential- ly to ring 20 is attached to section iron 18 by means of a screw and permits to ring 20 to rotate only through 90 deg for the purpose of disposing the kinescope either with the largest dimension in the transverse direction or in the vertical direction this being dependent on the dimensions of the image originating from the game card.

Four rods 28 extend upwards from ring 20 which are disposed at constant angles around the ring their purpose being for supporting the cathode-ray tube or kinescope.

The kinescope electronic control assembly is mounted on a shelf which is not attached to the rotating ring this being made to the purpose of maintaining free access to the kinescope controls from the front of said framework also when the kinescope is rotated.The shelf (not shown) is attached to a pair of inverted bridges 60,60' fastened to rods 16.

As mentioned above, section irons 16, lθa can rotate each about pin 26 and with them the related frame can also rotate whereby the kinescope supporting frame 24 can be approached or moved away from the light frame which supports the vision glass.

In order to adjust the angle between frame 24 and frame 14, the section irons 16, 16a at about 1/3 of the distance from section iron 18 carry each a hinge pin 29 on which a pair of legs 30 are rotatable which extend towards a pair of toothings 32 of which each of the two struts 6 and 8 are provided.

The lower ends of legs 30 at about said toothings 32 are connected to one another by a rod 34 which mokes the movements of the two rods simultaneous. As shown in the figures the toothings 32 can have three different positions but their number can be larger or smaller.

According to an important feature of this invention the light section iron framework above described is introduced and withdrawn from a cabinet 200 of which the side walls rest on the lateral longitudinals 36,36' of a substantially square frame 38 and terminate each at its end opposite to the observer with a wheel 40 thus the cabinet when operating rests on the floor only through the two wheels 40 and through a transverse section iron 47 which rest on the floor near the observer and for moving it, with the related inner frame, the cabinet front must be lifted.

Along of each longitudinal of the cabinet at the inner side thereof a rail is provided along which the lover longitudinal section irons 42, 42' of said structure 100 are slidingly received.

It is important to note that the coupling between said structure 100 and the side walls of the cabinet 200 comprises the following: a) The side longitudinals 42, 42' of the lower frame 43 of the structure 100 slide along the inside of the longitudinals 36 and 36' which along with the traverse 37 and the back traverse 37' make up the frame 38 which is the base of cabinet 200. In fact longitudinals 42, 42' of structure 100 slide along two respective guides provided along the inner side of each section iron 36, 36' which guides are slightly uprisen at the respective ends towards the observer. Thus frame 100 or sliding structure must be uplifted for being totally withdrawn from said guides in such a way that the small wheels of which each rear end of longitudinals 42, 42' is provided must be lifted for skipping said prominence. Said small wheels when the related framework is totally withdrawn from the cabinet are useful for moving the same on the floor together with a pair of other wheels 62,62' of which said framework is provided.

In other terms according to an important feature of this invention frame 100 can be totally separated from the cabinet 200 where it is usually enclosed. b) A pair of plates 52, 52' are attached each to on inner wall of the cabinet not far from the front face thereof and are respectively engaged by two half rods which start from a handle 54 of which a traverse 50 is provided which connect struts 2 and 4 of said structure 100 together. By actuating handle 54 the two half rods project and withdraw like the center rods of window, but horizont¬ ally instead of vertically, which rods engage and disengage the plate of which each inside lateral wall of the cabinet is provided. It is to be noted that said plates when said metal structure 100 is inserted into the cabinet will engage each a small double wall bracket which is attached each to one of the section irons 48,48'; which brackets are crossed by said half when these are actuated by handle 54, said plate 52 being thus inserted between the walls of said bracket.

Handle 54 can be operated only by authorized persons in as much as it can be actuated only after opening the front small window 56 on the front wall 58 of said framework.

Claims

1. A video-game apparatus to be enjoied by one or more observers characterized by the fact of comprising a cabinet and a light metal framework adapted for supporting the kinescope and all the assemblies related to the video-game, the kinescope control being included, which framework is totally withdrawable from said cabinet for being inspected and maintained and subsequently for being inserted and rigidly locked within the same cabinet.

2. A video-game apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that said kinescope which is mounted on said framework is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the kinescope screen at the center thereof.

3. A video-game apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inclination of the kinescope central axis in the vertical plane of symmetry of the apparatus can be varied.

4. A video-game apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said framework (100) is nearly parallelepipedal and is formed by four struts (2,4,6,8) by a lower frame (43) and an upper frame (46), the plane comprising the pair of front struts (2,4) of said framework being faced towards the observer when the framework is inserted into said cabinet; the front pair of struts being higher than the second one and supporting at its top a light stationary frame (14) by which a glass is surrounded through which the kinescope is seen by the observer; two pins being fastened at both sides of said light frame around which a supporting frame can be rotated which carries said kinescope while a pair of legs (30) at each side of said supporting frame extend to engage each a toothing which is attached to the lower length of said back strut.

5. A video-game apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and 4, wherein said cabinet is mounted on a cabinet lower frame, characterized by the fact that it comprises a pair of longitudinal parallel section irons which support the cabinet sides and are each provided with a guide along which a pair of wheels of the side lower longitudinals (42,42') of said framework are engaged when this is introduced home into the cabinet while the same wheels are disengaged from the same guides through an uprising movement when said framework is uplifted to withdraw it from said cabinet.

6. A video-game apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and 5 wherein a pair of symmetrical plates (52,52') are attached to the inner sides of the walls of said cabinet, through which plates the ends of a pair of horizontal half rods penetrate which are actuated by a handle (54); which rods extend and retract out and into a traverse (50) which is disposed between the longitudinals of said upper frame (46) which plates when the framework is inserted within said cabinet will engage corresponding small double walled brackets which are attached each to one of said upper frame laterals section irons (48,48') which brackets are crossed by said half rods when those are actuated by said handle each plate being thus inserted between the walls of each bracket by means of said handle.

7. Video-game apparatus as claimed in claims 2 and 4, wherein said kinescope supporting frame is formed by four section irons of which three are provided each with guiding brackets while a fourth section iron of the square has an adjustable bracket, a ring (20) being mounted among said irons which can rotate through 90 deg but it can be blocked at the ends of said angle; said ring being thus rotatable through a right angle; four rods (28) being attached to said ring which extend upwards nearly perpendicular to said ring and at the same distance from one another; a second ring being mounted on top of them for supporting the cathode tube or kinescope.

8. A video-game apparatus as claimed in claims 1 and 4 characterized by the fact that said kinescope electronic control assembly is mounted on a shelf attached to a pair of brackets (60,60') fastened to a kinescope supporting frame (16,18).