This application is a National Phase application of PCT/AU00/01369 filed on Nov. 8, 2000, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and claims the benefit of the Australian application PQ 3989 filed November 11, 1999, and is related to and filed concurrently with application Ser. No. 10/130,172, which is a National Phase Application of PCT. Application no. PCT/00/01371.
This invention relates to gaming machines also referred to as slot machines, fruit machines or poker machines and in particular, it relates to a light chamber assembly for such as a gaming machine.
A typical upright gaming machine comprises a cabinet and a main door which swings open on hinges to allow access to the interior of the cabinet. The main door may extend almost the entire length of the cabinet from its top to its bottom. In the middle of the door, there is usually a shelf area on which a number of control buttons are located for use by a player. Often, a bill acceptor is disposed beneath the shelf and a slot is provided in the shelf area allowing players to feed notes into the bill acceptor. It is common to have a door attached to the main door beneath the shelf, which is commonly referred to as a “belly door”. The belly door allows access to the interior of the lower part of the gaming machine without the need to open the main door. Also “artwork” for the machine is usually displayed in the belly door. The artwork for the belly door usually comprises a sheet of optical quality acrylic material on which a design identifying the game is screen printed. The artwork may be edge lit by a fluorescent tube which is usually mounted in an assembly fixed to one vertical edge of the artwork.
Some designs include a horizontally oriented tube. One problem which arises is that the bill acceptor depends down from the shelf behind the belly door and this prevents a horizontally mounted fluorescent light tube from extending from one horizontal end of the artwork to the other horizontal end. Because it is not possible to light the artwork between the artwork and the bill acceptor, there is typically a shadow behind the artwork where the bill acceptor is positioned.
In some gaming machines, two fluorescent light tubes are provided, one mounted in a horizontal orientation behind the artwork and one mounted in a vertical orientation behind the artwork. However, this still produces uneven lighting and in particular, produces “hot spots” which are more backlit than other areas of the artwork.
The vertically mounted fluorescent tube mounted to the edge of the artwork discussed above, provides more even lighting. The tube is enclosed in a chamber having a C shaped cross-section which pivots about a mounting fitted along one edge of the artwork. The fluorescent light is positioned close to one edge of the belly door. It is a difficult and fiddly process to pivot the chamber, disconnect and remove the fluorescent light and replace it with another tube. Typically, it can take an engineer 15 minutes to change the artwork and fluorescent light tube.
It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the above mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.
Thus, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a belly door assembly for a gaming machine comprising:
In a preferred embodiment, a diffuser panel is disposed in the chamber behind the artwork located so as to be edge lit by the fluorescent light tube. The panel may have a first (front) face and a second (reverse) face. The reverse face of the panel, which in use, faces the rear wall of the chamber, may define a series of white opaque dots which in use, diffuse and direct the light in a forward direction perpendicular to the plane of the panel. Preferably, the size of the dots in the panel increases with the distance of the dots from the fluorescent light tube. This arrangement ensures that the light panel produces a very evenly balanced lighting. The fluorescent light tube is preferably 7 mm diameter.
The panel may be supported by a series of ribs projecting from the rear wall of the light reflective chamber.
The clamping means may comprise rotatable locking means defining wedge or cam surfaces co-operating with lugs defined on the frame.
It is preferred that the artwork is clamped between two gently curved surfaces defined by the frame and the chamber respectively.
The chamber is preferably hinged to the frame.
The invention will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:—
a is an enlarged view of a hinge component;
Referring to the drawings.
The belly door includes two main components, a light chamber 20 shown in
Each side member 26, 28 defines an edge wall 34, 36, behind which two spaced projections 38 are provided which are oriented generally parallel to the edge wall but are spaced apart from the edge wall by a gap of typically about 5 to 10 mm. The gap should be wider than the thickness of a sheet of artwork so that the edges of the artwork which is to be displayed in the frame can fit between the projections and the edge walls. Thus in use, artwork 33, can be dropped into the door frame from above with the edges of the art work being loosely retained (until clamped, as is explained below) between the projections 38 and the edge walls.
Also shown in
The belly door frame is hinged to the main door in conjunction with the light chamber on the hinge pins 16, 18 in a manner which will be described in more detail below.
Also provided on one side member 28 of the frame is a pair of spaced lugs 39.
The light chamber 20 is best seen in
A diffuser panel 70 illustrated in
The diffuser panel is made of optical quality acrylic and has a series of opaque white dots screen printed onto the rear face of the panel. The dots 72 at the top 70B of the panel have a greater diameter than those at the bottom 70A of the panel. Typically, the smaller dots have a diameter of about 0.3 mm, and are well spaced apart with the size gradually increasing up the panel and the spacing decreasing to the relatively largest dots 72 having a diameter of about 0.5 mm. The panel is 8 mm thick.
With reference to
The chamber is locked in position to the reverse side of the belly door frame by means of a pair of rotatable locking cam means 100 which are mounted on bosses 102 formed on the reverse side of the chamber. Each locking means defines a wedge or cam surface 104 which co-operates with the lugs 39 defined on the side frame of the belly door to gradually compress the artwork as it is turned. This has the effect of pushing the light chamber against the rear of the front face of the frame. The art work is held securely between the chamber and the door frame and is gripped and curved between the curved walls of the frame and the projections of the chamber.
The design of the door frame has a number of significant advantages. The principal advantage is that it is much easier to access the components of the belly door which need changing, in particular, the art work, which is changed whenever the game played on the gaming machine is changed. It is also a relatively simple matter to access and change the fluorescent light as only one light is required and it conveniently located at the base of the frame of the belly door frame.
The use of a thinner fluorescent tube allows the chamber in the belly door to be relatively thin and it can thus extend in front of the bill acceptor avoiding the shadow problem associated with the bill acceptor in existing gaming machines.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PQ3989 | Nov 1999 | AU | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/AU00/01369 | 11/8/2000 | WO | 00 | 12/3/2002 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO01/34262 | 5/17/2001 | WO | A |
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4070779 | Gilmour | Jan 1978 | A |
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5546687 | Iorfida | Aug 1996 | A |
6210013 | Bousfield | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6568821 | Page et al. | May 2003 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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438768 | Jul 1991 | EP |
561329 | Sep 1993 | EP |
2030750 | Apr 1980 | GB |