Device for preventing improper operation of a slot machine

In a slot machine having a coin slot which is intended to receive a coin or a facimile thereof of certain parameters and having a coin track of a bottom wall and spaced apart side walls arranged in said machine to receive said coin in the entrance end thereof when dropped from said coin slot and to direct said coin along said bottom wall in an upright rolling attitude between said side walls to drop from the exit end thereof and against a switch which then operates to condition said machine for a subsequent gaming operation, an improved coin track assembly for said machine mountable in substitution of said described coin track and having substantially identical side and bottom walls, a slot in the end of the bottom wall of said assembly toward the exit end of said assembly, said slot being open into the exit end of said assembly and having one side thereof contiguous to one of the side walls of said assembly with the edge of the bottom wall of the assembly on the other side of said slot being angled from said slot toward the other of the side walls and the exit end of said assembly, whereby any tension on the trailing string of a coin with a trailing string attached wherein the coin has dropped from the exit end of said assembly will cause said string to enter said slot, said slot having a width less than the thickness parameter of a coin intended for said machine, an elongated leaf spring member secured in said assembly in a substantially upright position between the side walls thereof and longitudinally thereof from the entrance end to the exit end thereof, said leaf spring curved in a longitudinal direction and positioned to direct a coin dropped from said coin slot into said entrance end of said assembly longitudinally of said assembly and over said slot in the end of said bottom wall, a switch mounted on said assembly, said switch having an armature positioned beneath said slot to be engaged by said string when said string is tensioned and in said slot to operate said switch.

In a slot machine having a coin slot which is intended to receive a coin or facimile thereof of certain parameters and having a coin track of a bottom wall and spaced apart side walls arranged in said machine to receive said coin in the entrance end thereof when dropped from said coin slot and to direct said coin along said bottom wall in an upright rolling attitude to drop from the exit end thereof and against a switch which then operates to condition said machine for a subsequent gaming operation, the method for detecting an imitation of said coin which differs substantially in the parameters of thickness or surface light reflectivity and for preventing said conditioning of said machine for a subsequent gaming operation in response to detecting said imitation comprising the steps of:

• making said coin track to provide a surface within said coin track between the side walls thereof guiding a coin received in the entrance end thereof substantially against and along one side wall of said coin track,
• detecting through said one side wall a light reflectivity of the opposed surface of said coin substantially different from the light reflectivity of said provided surface,
• preventing said conditioning of said machine for a subsequent gaming operation upon detecting said light reflectivity of the opposed surface of said coin substantially different from the light reflectivity of said provided surface,
• making a slot of a width less than the thickness parameter of a coin intended for said machine in the bottom wall of said coin track between said provided surface and said one side wall whereby an imitation of said coin with a thickness parameter less than the thickness parameter of a coin intended for said machine is guided by said provided surface to at least partially enter said provided slot,
• detecting any entrance of an imitation of said coin into said provided slot, and
• preventing said conditioning of said machine for a subsequent gaming operation upon detecting any entrance of an imitation of said coin into said provided slot.