Premier Technology, Inc.

Other

General Instrument Corporation

Bally Manufacturing Corporation

Peter J Hanchar

Raymond C Tanzer

Irwin J Grabel

Harry J Hanchar

An apparatus comprising a geothermal cell and recovery system comprising a heat exchange zone located in the earth and separated from the earth by an impermeable barrier. A housing containing a fluid pump and compressor is submersed in heat exchange zone and a fluid conduit return assembly is positioned in the bottom section of the heat exchange zone. A fluid discharge assembly receives fluid from the pump and is positioned in the top section of the heat exchange zone. An underground heat pipe extends through the heat exchange zone. Back-fill material is positioned around the underground heat pipe and the housing heat pump is connected to said underground heat pipe.

Geothermal cell and recovery system

A pinball elevator has an inclined conveyor belt tensioned between two pulleys and driven by an electric motor. The belt is perforated with a series of spaced circular apertures for receiving the pinball. Preferably, the apertures have a diameter of about 80% of the diameter of the pinball. A lower one of the pulleys is rotatably mounted beneath the playfield of the pinball machine, and an upper one of the pulleys is rotatably mounted above the playfield. The ball is received by the belt at an entrance location, and is ejected from the belt at an exit location. The ball passes above and over the upper pulley when being conveyed by the belt from the entrance location to the exit location. The upper pulley has a concave central region to prevent the pinball from being prematurely ejected from the belt by the upper pulley. At the entrance location, the pinball sits on the belt and abuts against a wall of the playfield. At the exit location, the ball is tangent to the belt around the upper pulley and is tangent to a supporting surface of an elevated exit ramp.

Pinball machine having a conveyor belt ball lift

A pinball machine has a plurality of ball-deflecting components mounted to a playfield section. The playfield section is selectively translated in response to player input, so that the ball is deflected by the ball-deflecting components to locations selected by the player. The translation of the playfield section, for example, is responsive to the conventional push-button switches that are operated by the player for activating flippers, and in this case the push-buttons activate respective solenoids for translating the playfield section in two different directions. The playfield section, however, could be translated in different directions along two or three orthogonal axes in response to a more complex player-input device such as a joy-stick. In a specific embodiment, the ball-deflecting components define different sloping lanes on the playfield section, and the player operates the flipper push-button switches to translate the playfield section from side-to-side in order to bump the ball from one lane to another. A microcomputer is responsive to ball-sensing switches on the playfield section, and awards the player for lane changes.

Pinball machine having an interactive playfield

A gate and target assembly is raised from a first position, wherein a target is positioned in a channel on a playfield to interfere with passage of a ball through the channel, to a second position, wherein the target is positioned above the channel so as not to interfere with passage of the ball through the channel. In a preferred construction, a plurality of targets are pivotally mounted between two opposed upright brackets that extend from the playfield and define opposite sides of the channel, and the targets are moved from the first position to the second position by energizing a solenoid that is linked to a swinging crank pin of the assembly. Moreover, the assembly is covered by the simulated head of an animal, such as a hippopotamus, and the simulated animal head pivots up and down with the targets. A timer circuit, for example, keeps the simulated animal head up and the channel open for a predetermined period of time beginning when any one of the targets is struck. The assembly therefore provides a novel game feature to attract player interest.

Pivoting gate and target assembly for a pinball machine

A base for an indicator lamp such as an LED includes a housing having a receptacle for the lamp. A male dovetail projects from a first side of the housing. A female dovetail channel is provided in a second side of the housing opposite the first side. The male and female dovetails have complementary dimensions. A plurality of the housings can be assembled into a lamp display by interlocking the male dovetail projection of one housing with the female dovetail channel of an adjacent housing. Additional male and female dovetail components can be provided on other sides of the housing to enable a plurality of housings to be assembled in various configurations. Channels provided in the rear wall of the housing accommodate wire leads from the indicator lamp mounted in the housing.

Indicator lamp assembly

An alternate target configuration is disclosed for a pinball game apparatus or the like, where two adjacent targets are mounted within a frame on the underside of the apparatus playfield, each adapted to move through a playfield opening between an exposed position above the playfield and a hidden position below the playfield. A linkage including an elongated member medially pivoted to the frame in the fashion of a seesaw is connected at its opposite ends to the respective targets, preferably when one target is exposed and the other target is hidden. The linkage is effective to shift both targets simultaneously from one alternate target position to another alternate target position where the other target is exposed and the one target is hidden. A spring toggles the seesaw linkage resiliently to the extreme limit of travel in each alternate target position. A motor overrides the spring toggle through an alternately reversed ratchet type connection to shift the seesaw linkage and reverse the positions of the targets. The motor is activated responsive to the exposed target being hit by the ball, and appropriate scoring apparatus is then energized.

Growing community of inventors

Chicago, IL, United States of America

Peter J Hanchar