GB1411046A - Automaitc bowling alley - Google Patents

Abstract

1411046 Bowling alleys J J LEIDL 18 Sept 1973 [20 Oct 1972] 43834/73 Heading A6D Bowling pins 2, Fig 1, at the end of a bowling lane B, are all pulled up by individual cords 4 into the housing of a mechanism M when at least one pin has been knocked down, the pins 2 which have not been knocked down then being lowered back to stand once more in the target area. Each cord 4 is provided with a friction grip detent D, Figs 3, 4, which holds the cord with its bowling pin 2 raised above the target, and with a tension sensor T in the form of a pivoted pawl 64 turned when the cord tightens as its pin is knocked over. As soon as the tension sensor T is actuated a dentent E is released from the associated friction grip detent D. Immediate movement of the friction grip detent D to grip its cord 4 is prevented by a stop S having a bar 88 contacting the detent. Tripping of the tension sensor T and the detent E turns a closed frame 68 about its pivots 74, 76 and operates a valve 82. Compressed air, &c. is thus admitted to two servos 28, energised to move a bar 26 away from the friction gripper D. One end 27 of the cord 4 is fixed, and the cord passes over a pulley carried by the bar 26: the knockeddown bowling pin 2, together with all the other pins, is accordingly raised. As the bar 26, &c. moves back, it is withdrawn from the end of a spring-biassed rod 86, so that a cam 84 engages an end 78 of the frame 68 which is turned on its pivots 74, 76, allowing one side 70 of the frame to raise the tension sensor T clear of the cord 4. When the bar 26 reaches the end of its travel, it engages an abutment 102 on a rod 98 controlling the stop S: the bar 88 is withdrawn from the friction grip detent D, which pivots to its engaged position D", Fig 4, so that a friction member 42 which it carries grips the cord 4 against a counter 24. The bar 26 engages a control 38, Fig 3, at the end of its travel, which reverses the servos 28. The bar 26 then returns, lowering the pins 2 which have not been knocked over back onto the target area of the bowling lane. If all the friction grip detents D have been actuated, corresponding to all the bowling pins 2 being knocked down, a friction gripper sensor bar 104, Fig 3, is lowered, a valve 114 is opened, and compressed air, &c. is admitted to a servo 116 which raises an abutment 130 on a control rod 122 into the path of the lifting bar 26. Engagement of the abutment 130 by the bar 26 acts to pull the rod 122 and thus pivot a lever 46 fast with an arm 44 extending beneath all the friction grippers D. The arm 44 is raised by pivoting of its lever 46, so that all the friction grippers D are in turn pivoted to their disengaged positions, freeing all the cords 4. As the lifting bar 26 returns to its starting position, all the bowling pins 2 are lowered to the target position. The mechanism M, &c. may be pivoted on a fixed frame, Fig 11 (not shown), so that it can be raised for servicing.