US2463197A - Golf game - Google Patents

Description

March 1, 1949. J. PAUP 2,463,197

GOLF GAME Filed April 11, 1946 4 sheets-sheet 1 J. PAUPA March 1, 1949.

GOLF GAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 11, 1946 J. PAUPA GOLF GAME March 1, 1949.

Filed April 11, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 /7 Pay D iiar flqy.

March 1, 1949. J. PAUPA 2,463,197

7 GOLF GAME Filed April 11, 1946 v 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Mar. 1, 1949 UNITED STATES' PATENT OFFICE GOLF GAME Joseph Paupa, Chicago, Ill. Application April 11, 1946, Serial No. 661,402

3 Claims. (01. 273-87) This invention pertains to amusement apparatus of the bagatelle class and has as its principal object the provision of a golf game including a play field or fairway having a plurality of holes to receive a ball, and a manikin operable mechanically to strike and project balls toward and into said holes in a realistic manner as in the game of golf. 1

A more particular object is the provision of a manikin simulating a golfing figure and which is adjustable relative to a ball tee for the purpose of selecting a desired group of ball holes toward which a ball is to be directed.

Still another object is the provision of an especially contrived golf club swung by the manikin for lofting balls realistically toward the holes or out pockets.

Miniature or simulated mechanical golf games are known in the art, including those in which a manikin swings a club to project a ball onto one or another form of play field; such games are also known in which the manikin is adjustable in one or another manner for purposes of varying the direction of the shot, and no claim of invention is made broadly to these features, the present invention being directed more particularly to a particular construction of club and means for effecting its manipulation in the hands of the manikin for selectively lofting a ball in flight toward a selected hole orgroup of holes with a degree of accuracy which enables the player of the game to score by exercise of skill.

Viewed from another aspect, it is an object of the inventionto provide a game of skill in the nature of a simulated golf gamehaving a playing field in which there are a plurality of ballreceiving holes arranged in groups, a manikin adjustable laterally of the general direction of flight oi a ball toward said holes, and having a ball-projecting club provided with an especially shaped head which will cause a struck ball to loft in flight toward one or another group of said holes, in accordance with the lateral adjustment of the manikin, the force of the blow struck by said club being under control of the player of the game so that a particular ball hole may be selected as the objective and a ball lodged therein by skillful manipulation of the manikin on the part of the player.

Other objects and aspects of novelty relate to details of construction and operation of the embodiment ofthe game described hereinafter in viewof the annexeddrawings, in which:

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective of that part of the game which mounts the manikin;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the club head;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the club head or the striking face thereof;

Fig. 4 is a view of the club head opposite to that shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the game cabinet with a sidewall portion cut away;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the playfield detailing in section the ball scoring means; i

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the forward part of the game with parts shown in section to Show the ball scoring means;

Fig. 8 is a vertical section through the forward part of the game cabinet showing the ball feeding mechanism and parts of the manikin operating means.

Referring to Fig. 5, the game includes a cabinet it in which is situated a platform ll supporting a laterally slidable member l2 upon which is mounted a figure or manikin l3 simulating a golfer holding a club I4.

A playing field I5 is pitched downwardly toward the platform H, and is provided with a plurality of ball holes or outpockets it each having a hood I! open toward the manikin.

Ball scoring means I8, to be described in detail, is situated near a lower corner of the playfield, and includes a ball seat corresponding to each ball hole; balls which have been successfully lodged in a ball hole on the field will gravitate onto a corresponding seat in the scoring means,so that the score may be tallied by inspection of the balls on the seats in scoring means 18.

Referring still to Fig. 5, turning of knob 20 will cause a ball to be elevated or teed in front of the club by mechanism to be described; and the manikin carrying member I2 may be moved back and forth, laterally of the cabinet, by corresponding movement of theadjusting lever 2 l, therebeing an indicating pointer 22 correlated to member 12 so that the lateral adjustment of the manikin may be pre-selected to propel the ball, when struck, toward a desired group of holes, as will appear more fully hereinafter.

By more or less brisk turning of knob 23, the torso portion of the manikin is caused to swing, carrying with it the club H, the special head portion, MA of which strikes the previously teed ball and lofts the latter out toward the playfield and holes 16. Balls that enter the holes l6 are returned to their respective seats in scoring means l8, while other played balls roll back into trough 24 for return to the ball elevating or teeing mechanism. A heavy plate glass top covers the game cabinet.

Referring now to more detailed aspects of the game, the means for delivering or teeing balls in playing position will be dscribed, beginning with Fig. 6, wherein there is shown in section a portion of the playfield I5. Assuming that a ball has been directed into the hole I6, such ball would fall upon an under floor I5A pitched toward the score means It, the under floor being spaced below the playfield I5 by a board |5B in which are a plurality of channel cut-outs |5C each leading from one of the holes I 6 to a particular ball score seat |8A, for example, and the played ball would then rest in view upon a supporting bail bar 30, pivoted at 3| to rock from the normal, ball-supporting, position to the ball-releasing 'position' shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6, in which position the'ball shown will be free to drop onto guide 32 and roll into the return trough 33 when a pivoted gate bail'34 rocks upwardly into the dotted line position concurrently with the supporting bail 30, the gate bail being pivoted at 35 and having a crank arm 36 linked by rod 31 with the supportingbail so that the two bails move together. Releasing actionof said bails is effected by inward movement of a release rod 38 (see also Figs. 5 and 8), and when the scoring balls are thusly released they roll into trough 33 and line up therein in the manner of the balls B in Fig. 8, said balls tending to gravitate toward the right and into an elevator tube 39. v A ball-elevating plunger 40 moves upwardly and downwardly in tube 39, the lower end of the plunger being disposed at the end of an arm 4|, pivoted at 42. A spring 43 has its lower end anchored to a pin 44 on arm 4| and normally pulls the latter and hence the elevating plunger into upper position.

Also turning on pivot 42 is a short lever arm 45 (see Fig. 7 also) which is fast on the shaft extension 42A from knob 20, such that by turning the. latter anticlockwise, lever arm 45 is caused to bear down upon a pin 46 on plunger arm 4| and rock the latter downwardly until the top or tee portion 40A of the elevating plunger is below thelevel of ball B (Fig. 8), and the ball may roll Ziato the elevating tube and onto plunger portion Spring-43 restores the depressed elevating arm 4| ,but this restorative action is slowed up by a conventional dashpot 4'! having a piston connecting rod 48 attached to pin 44 on elevating arm 4|. When the elevating plunger is restored to fully raised position, the ball will be teed-up in the path of motion of the club head |4A.

Lateral adjustment of the manikin is effected by oscillation of lever 2| (Figs. 5 and '7), the latter being pivoted at 5|], Fig. '7, and having an inner'end pivotally connected, as at 5|, to an extension 52 of the mounting member |2 on which the manikin rests, there being a connecting rod 53 attached, at its left-hand end to a further extension 54 of the manikin supporting structure, and at its right-hand end to pointer 22, so that the latter oscillates to various indicating positions or settings dependently upon the adjustment of the manikin carrier l2 responsive to movements of the lever 2|.

It will be observed in Figs; 5 and 7 that there are three groups of indicating characters or numbers relative to which the pointer 22 moves, and thesecharacters are arranged in radially exten= sive groups of three; for example, in the righthand group appear the indicating numbers or characters 1, 2, and 5, and it will be found upon inspection of the numbering of the hoods l! in Fig. 5 that these numbers correspond to the relative positioning of the ball holes having the numbers 1, 2, and 5," on their respective hoods. The remaining two groups of indicating characters or numbers likewise designate the correspondingly grouped numbers of the two remaining groups of ball holes.

Thus, it appears that the ball holes are arranged in groups aligned longitudinally or lengthwise of the playfield in the general directions of flight of the propelled ball. By adjusting the manikin in a lateral sense, as by operation of adjusting lever 2|, so that the pointer 22 coincides with one of the three groups of ball hole designations or numbers, the player may select one or another of the ball hole groups for his objective, and by regulating the force of the blow struck by the club head |4A, the loft of the played ball maybe calculated to carry the ball into one of the three ball holes included in the selected group. I

Operation of the manikin to effect a swinging of the club is accomplished by turning the knob 23, Fig. 5, with effort calculated to loft the ball toward a selected hole.

As shown in Fig. 8, the torso portion of the manikin is free to rotate as at |3A, and is provided with a pivot pin 60 linked at 6| to a rod 62 extending from beneath the carrier member |2 upwardly through the body of the manikin.

In Fig. 7, the rod 62 is seen to connect to a crank arm 63 in turn connecting at 64 with links 65, 66, and 61, and the latter link is connected by a rod 68 with the end 69 (Fig. 8 also) of a form of bell crank pivoted at 10, Fig. 8, said crank having an extension 1| linked by rod 12 to the arm 13 of. another bell crank fast on shaft '14 with knob 23. Thus, oscillation of knob 23 transmits corresponding movement through the linkage 73, 12, II, 69, 68 (Fig. 8) and linkage 61, 66, 65, 63 (Fig. 7) to shaft rod 62 (Fig. 8) which swings the torso portion of the manikin, and since the club |4is rigidly held by the arms |3B of the figure, the golf club will be swung in simulation of the driving movement of a real golf club. v

Should the ball be struck an insufficient blow, itwould roll oil the tee end 40A of the elevator (Fig. 1) and gravitate into a ball exit overlying the floor'portion 32 of the ball return structure for gravitation into thetrough 33 when the gate bail 34 (Fig. 6) is nextraised. Balls struck out onto the fairway or playfield IE, but which fail to enter any ball hole |6,-will gravitate back into the trough portion 24 for gravitation into the return trough when gate bail 34 is next raised.

As has been emphasized heretofore, there are known in the prior art various types of simu lated golf games and the like in which a ball is propelled relative to scoring means'or holes by a-club or the like in the hands of a manikin. The success of the present game resides in the fact that it is contrived to} afiord real exercise of skill on the part of the operator or player in directing theballat a desired objective or hole on the playfield, and this in turnis the result of the arrangement of the ball-holes-|6 in longitudinal groups, that is in serial alignment along more orless parallel paths'oi flight of the projectile or ball, and in provldin'gfor lateral adjust ment ofthe manikin-relative to said paths of flight, and further in the especial shape of the club head IA.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3, and 4, it will be seen that the club head MA partakes of the shape of a deformed cone having an apex portion MB attached to the club shaft, and a base portion MC confronting the platform suface ll. Since only the forward surface of the club head is utilized in striking the ball, the deformed cone may be cut in half, as by a plane passed yertically through the apex or slightly to one side of the latter, in parallelism with the shaft of the club Hi; this is visualized best in Fig. 4, wherein it will be observed that the interior of the club head is partially hollowed out, :as at MD, to lighten the head, this of course being an optional structure, as is the use of only one-half of the deformed cone for the club head.

The principal striking surface of the club lies below the dash-dot line X-Y of Figs. 3 and 4, for example, and this portion of the club head conforms substantially to the shape of an oblique cone, as will be particularly apparent from inspection of Figs. 1 and 4. The base portion of the cone may be, and, in the embodiment shown, is a circle, and the plane of this base portion desirably should lie approximately parallel with the supporting plane of the teed ball when the club head is in position behind the ball in readiness to strike the latter, as in Fig. 1, the movement of the club head from this ready position being arcuate, as when the manikin drives the ball from the tee. By reason of the inclined, conical, nature of the striking surface of the club, mainly, and the arcuate rise of the club head as the ball is struck off the tee, secondarily, a positive loft is given to the ball so long as the striking force is adequate. A mere touching of the ball by the club head may cause the ball simply to roll off the tee and into the exit opening 80.

Since the apex portion of the conical head is offset or displaced from a vertical axis through the central part of the base, and the cone is an oblique one, it will be appreciated that the slope of the striking surface of the club head which contacts the ball may be varied by lateral shifting of the club, the degree of loft may be selectively varied. Inspection of the enlarged view of Fig. 1 should make this clearly apparent.

Moreover, lateral shifting of the club as aforesaid tends to shift the point of impact of the head with the ball in a horizontal sense, that is to say, along a curved path around the club head, which curved path is more or less in parallelism with the plane of the base when the club head is in ready position, as in Fig. 1, and the effect of this is to change the direction of flight of the struck ball toward one or the other of the rows of longitudinally aligned ball holes IS.

The obliquity of the club head therefore gives loft to the ball and also determines the direction of flight in accordance with the lateral adjustment of said club head, as by shifting the manikin. The force of the blow struck, under skillful control of the player, determines the range of the flight, whether near or far, for the direction chosen.

The numbering of the ball holes for score purposes is arbitrary, but once determined for a particular game, the corresponding scheme of numbering is applied to the indicia characters on the indicator means 22, as previously described.

In the prior art, club heads with more or less slanted striking faces have been used, but so far as" now knowmsuch prior arrangements do not and cannot give the vselective range ofskillfol direction of a struck .ball possible with the club headof this invention, nor are such prior arrangements capable of imparting controllable loft and direction components to the flight of'the struck ball.

For the foregoing reasons, any adjustment of the figurine or manikin, and any selective grouping of ball holes or objectives, prior games of this class, do not andv cannothave thesignificance of the lateral-shift adjustment of the manikin in the present disclosure, nor that of the grouping of the holes or objectives in. a lineal sense along the ball trajectories, .as in the present game.

If desired, the present game may be coin-controlled, in accordance with well-known practices in the art. To this end there is provided a lock arm 90, Fig. 8, normally pressing against an end portion MA of the ball elevating arm, under urgence of a spring 9|, such that when the arm 4|, and hence its end MA is fully lowered, looking arm tends to pivot in cleats 92 to position its vertical portion in front of end MA, thereby preventing or blocking upward return of the elevating arm 4| until the arm 90 is withdrawn, manually, or under control of a conventional coin slide (not shown), Where a coin slide or the like is employed, the ball releasing rod 38 may be linked therewith, along with the control arm 90, so that the game will be freed for play responsive to manipulation of the coin slide, that is, the balls will be released from the score pockets and at the same time the blocking arm 90 will be withdrawn. Since coin control of the game does not per se constitute part of the invention, such optional means is not described in detail beyond the suggestions noted above.

Having thus described my invention for purposes of disclosure in Letters Patent of the United States, what I claim as my invention is:

1. In a golf game of the class described and which includes means for teeing a ball and a club swingable to strike said ball, improvements comprising the following, namely: a club head substantially in the form of an oblique cone in the region of its striking surface, and means for adjusting the position of said club such that said head may be shifted in a sense lateral to the general direction of flight of the ball when struck, whereby to selectively shift the point of impact of said club head with the teed ball to different positions on the conical striking surface for the purpose of changing the direction of flight of the struck ball and the loft thereof.

2. In a mechanical golf game of known type and which includes a playfield having a plurality of ball holes therein, known means for teeing a ball before said playfield, a known type of manikin operable to swing a club for propelling the teed ball, improvements comprising the following, namely: alignment of said ball holes in groups extending linearly along any of several paths of flight of the propelled ball; means for adjusting the position of the manikin laterally of said paths of flight to position the club selectively relative to the teed ball; and a club head on said club and having a ball-impacting surface partaking approximately of the contour of an oblique cone, whereby the struck ball may be positively lofted and the direction of flight thereof selectively directed toward a desired group of said holes dependently upon the lateral position adjustment of the manikin, as aforesaid.

3. A ball game of :the class described comprising ball teeing means, a playing field before said teeing means andincludin'g ballholes arranged thereon so that there are a plurality of such holes in approximately'linear alignment in the generally intended direction of flight ofa ball from saidteeing. means onto said field and a plurality of groups of linearly aligned holes as aforesaid, a shiftable member adjacent said teeing means and movable back and forth in a direction approximately transverse of the direction of ball flight and linear alignment aforesaid, a movable club holder on said shiftable member, a ball-striking club held by said holder and having a striking head portion of the approximate contour of an oblique cone movable by actuation of said holder to strikea teed ball, means for actuating said holder to strike a ball, means for shift- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,420,946 Rodwell June 27, 1922 1,511,479 Kelly et a1 Oct. 14, 1924 1,636,117 Arden July 19, 1927 1,803,134 Renn Apr. 28, 1931 1,903,133 Polak Mar. 28, 1933

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