Wico Corporation

Home Safe Corp.

Albin Peters

Max Wiczer

Zeilik Fainzilberg

A pinball machine construction having a horizontally hinged security door which includes a top control panel which also clamps the glass cover over the playing field. A variable ball delivery system is remotely actuated and variable to deliver the balls to the playing field. Side wall flippers and half bumpers can be included which are mounted adjacent any wall on the playing field. The controls for the pinball machine can be mounted on top of the top control panel for easy access.

Pinball machine construction

A mechanically-operated object-engaging member for a game is pivotally mounted on a shaft to which is fixedly secured a drive cam disposed in camming engagement with one end of a third-class lever. A spring on the cam biases it and the lever to a normal rest condition, the lever having a magnetic portion which is attracted to a permanent magnet for magnetically holding the lever in the rest condition. A manually-operated actuator linkage applies a force to the lever to break the magnetic attraction and drive the lever away from the magnet to operate the cam and object-engaging member. A separate bias element may urge the actuator linkage to a normal rest condition. The object-engaging member can be mounted on a playfield board and confined to a predetermined oscillating movement relative to the playfield board.

Mechanically actuated object-propelling apparatus

A pinball game includes a playfield board on which is mounted a plurality of drop target assemblies, each including a target member movable through an opening in the playfield board between a playing condition projecting above the playfield board and a retracted condition withdrawn beneath the playfield board, each target member being spring biased to its retracted condition and solenoid-actuated to its playing condition where it is latched in place. A programmable computer controls the sequence in which the target members are moved to their playing conditions. A manually controllable rotating shooter mechanism can be aimed to propel pinballs toward the raised target members. A display indicates the status of each target assembly.

Pinball game with randomly operable drop targets

A kicker apparatus for a pin ball game including a playfield board on which a ball rolls for engagement with an actuator member in a kicking region, comprises a frame which mounts a kicker member in a track for sliding reciprocating movement in response to actuation of a drive means by engagement of the ball with the actuator member, for driving a kicking surface on the kicker member into engagement with the ball to propel it from the kicking region. The kicking surface is a substantially flat, planar surface elongated in a direction transverse to the kicker member path.

Wide face horizontally movable kicker for pin ball game

A kicker apparatus for a slingshot bumper assembly in a pin ball game including a playfield board on which a ball rolls for engagement with a resilient impact band to actuate a drive solenoid, includes a frame which mounts the solenoid with its plunger axis perpendicular to the playfield board and which pivotally supports a drive crank having one end connected to the solenoid plunger and the other end projecting above the playfield board. A kicker member is loosely fitted over the upper end of the crank and has guide feet respectively slidably received in a pair of track channels in the frame for reciprocating movement along a path parallel to the playfield board in response to the pivotal movement of the crank for engagement with the impact band to impart a propelling force to the ball in a direction substantially parallel to the playfield board.

Horizontally movable kicker for pin ball game

A rotatable kicker apparatus includes a frame adapted to be mounted in an aperture in the playfield board of a pinball game for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the playfield board. The frame carries a drive solenoid which connects through crank arm linkage to a kicker member which is disposed for sliding reciprocating movement in a track in the frame parallel to the playfield board. Spaced-apart metal contact plates in the solenoid circuit are disposed on the frame to be bridged by a rolling pinball for actuating the kicker solenoid. The frame is mounted on a rotating shaft which is rotatably driven by an associated electric motor to vary the kicking direction. A control circuit includes control switches for respectively rotating the frame in opposite directions from a neutral rest position, the frame automatically returning to the rest position upon release of the switch.

Rotatable kicker for pinball game

A post construction comprises a post body having an externally threaded stud embedded therein and projecting axially from one end thereof for threaded engagement with the playfield board of a pinball game. A hex surface on the post body facilitates driving the stud into the playfield board. In one embodiment an annular guard flange protects the playfield board during the mounting operation and in another the hex surface is offset a slight distance from the post body end to prevent engagement with the playfield board. In one embodiment an annular recess is provided in the post body around the stud to accommodate whiskers of playfield board material ejected during the threaded mounting to accommodate flush seating on the playfield board. Two circumferential grooves in the outer surface of the post body respectively receive rubber bands for interconnecting a plurality of the post constructions, the grooves being so positioned that the two bands are spaced apart a distance less than the diameters thereof.

Post construction for pinball game

A target member in a drop target assembly of a pinball game has a cam surface formed on the rear surface thereof and adapted for camming engagement with the assembly frame when the target member is deflected by a pinball and unlatched from its raised condition for positively driving the target member downwardly to prevent its rebound to its latched condition.

Drop target with cam means

The rollover switch apparatus includes a one-piece plastic base, a switch attached thereto and a one-piece plastic actuator having an arm pivotally attached to the base and means engaged by the rolling pinball to move the actuator from its rest position to an actuating position.

Rollover switch apparatus

A pin ball game includes a ball receptacle which has associated therewith a rotary oscillating shooter for propelling the ball from the receptacle and along the playfield board in the direction of a predetermined axis which oscillates with the shooter. When the ball drops into the receptacle it actuates a drive motor for oscillating the shooter and enables a manually-operated trigger switch. When the shooter axis is pointing in the desired direction, the user manually operates the trigger switch to actuate the shooter, which in turn operates to stop the shooter oscillation and disable the trigger switch.

Pin ball game with oscillating shooter

A spinning target assembly for a pinball game includes a molded one-piece frame having a base adapted to be secured to the underside of the playfield board and two spaced-apart upright posts which project through complementary openings in the playfield board and extend a predetermined distance thereabove. A spinner is rotatably mounted between the posts and includes a shaft having an offset central portion which is encapsulated in a molded plastic target. One end of the shaft has secured thereto a cam received in a recess in the top of one post for camming engagement with a connecting rod which extends downwardly through a longitudinal bore in the one post for actuation of the contacts of a switch mounted on the base, and the other end of the shaft is rotatably received in a radial bore in the other post. A cap is removably latched to the top of the one post to retain in place the cam and the associated end of the shaft.

Growing community of inventors

Chicago, IL, United States of America

Albin Peters