Roulette ball launching system
AssigneeBally Gaming, Inc.
InventorsHaven A. Mercer, Troy D. Nelson, James P. Helgesen, Paul K. Scheper, Jamal Hani Kotifani, Georg Fekete
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed are an apparatus, a system, and method for automatically launching roulette balls into a ball track of a roulette wheel.
Claims20
A ball launching device comprising:
- a driver configured to impart rotary motion;
- a rotor connected for rotation to the driver;
- a ball cup assembly mounted to the rotor, the ball cup assembly including a first cup wall, and a second cup wall, the first and second cup walls being spaced apart from each other;
- and
- the rotor and the ball cup assembly being positioned inside a roulette wheel bowl proximal a circumferential ball track;
- wherein the driver rotates the rotor to a launch angle with a roulette ball captured between the first and second cup walls, and a launch actuator causes at least one of the first and second cup walls to move away from the other cup wall to release the roulette ball from the ball cup assembly into the ball track when the rotor is at the launch angle.
A ball launching system configured to launch a roulette ball into a roulette wheel ball rack, the system comprising:
- a support stand;
- a rotor mounted on the support stand and rotated about a rotor axis, the support stand positioning the rotor inside a perimeter of the ball track;
- a ball cup assembly fixed to the rotor distal the rotor axis, the ball cup assembly including a first cup wall and second cup wall spaced oppositely apart from each other, the ball cup assembly having a retain mode during which the roulette ball is captured between at least the first and second cup walls, the ball cup assembly having a release mode during which at least one of the first and second cup watts moves to release the roulette ball;
- a ball loader delivering the roulette ball to the ball cup assembly when the rotor is positioned at a loading angle;
- a driver configured to impart rotary motion to the rotor, the driver rotating the rotor to a launch angle with the roulette ball captured in the ball cup assembly and the ball cup assembly in the retain mode;
- and
- a launch actuator causing the ball cup assembly to switch from the retain mode to the launch mode to release the roulette ball into the ball track when the rotor is at the launch angle.
A method of conducting a roulette game with a ball launching system, the ball launching system being mounted proximal a roulette wheel, the ball launching system including a rotor rotating substantially parallel to a plane of a roulette wheel ball track and a ball cup fixed to the rotor, the method comprising:
- spinning the roulette wheel;
- receiving a player input at a signal button to activate the ball launching system;
- in response to receiving a signal from the signal button, rotating, via a driver configured to impart rotary motion, the rotor to a designated launch angle;
- in response to the rotor being at the launch angle, trigger a launch of a roulette ball captured between first and second cup walls of the ball cup, wherein triggering the launch causes at least one of the first and second cup walls to move away from the other cup wall and release the ball into the roulette wheel ball track.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.