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Patent Searching and Data


Title:
ROULETTE WHEELS
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2006/097702
Kind Code:
A3
Abstract:
A roulette wheel (1) has a central, rotatably-mounted disc (15) with conical surface (12) that is coupled via friction wheels (20) to rotate about a common axis with, but in the opposite sense to, the peripheral ring (13) having numbered ball-capture pockets (14), of a rotatably-mounted disc (16) . The surface (12) is textured with regular indentations and this together with the contra-rotation- of the disc (15) retards a ball which having been launched from a ring (7) of the bowl-housing (2) of the wheel (1), passes onto the surface (12) through the pocketed ring (13) before falling back into one of the pockets (14) . The ring (7) is releasable from the housing (2) for replacement, and a crown (23) at the top of a central spindle (11) of the wheel (1) is recessed to receive a ball (24) for testing against a magnet (25) in confirming absence of ferromagnetic material. A spirit-filled vial may be used in the crown (23) for levelling the wheel (1) .

Inventors:
BACCHI LORENZO (GB)
Application Number:
PCT/GB2006/000893
Publication Date:
February 01, 2007
Filing Date:
March 14, 2006
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
BACCHI LORENZO (GB)
International Classes:
A63F5/00; A63F5/04
Foreign References:
EP0691634A11996-01-10
US1474488A1923-11-20
US3633916A1972-01-11
US20010022429A12001-09-20
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
COLES, Graham, Frederick (24 Seeleys Road Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire HP9 1SZ, GB)
Download PDF:
Claims:

Claims :

1. A roulette wheel wherein a part of the wheel concentric with the rotatably-mounted ring of ball-capture pockets of the wheel is mounted for rotation about the same rotational axis as the ring, and wherein the ball-capture ring and said part are intercoupled for rotation one with the other at different angular velocities about their common rotational axis.

2. A roulette wheel according to Claim 1 wherein the intercoupling between the ring and said part is operative to rotate them one with the other in opposite senses about the common rotational axis.

3. A roulette wheel according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the intercoupling between the ring and said part is operative to rotate them one with the other with the same or different magnitudes of angular velocity about the common rotational axis.

4. A roulette wheel according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said part is an inner concentric part of the wheel onto which the launched roulette ball runs when, having fallen inwardly of the wheel, it passes through the ring of pockets .

5. A roulette wheel according to Claim 4 wherein the inner concentric part of the wheel is conically-inclined upwardly from the ring of ball-capture pockets .

6. A roulette wheel according to Claim 4 or Claim 5 wherein said inner concentric part of the wheel has a surface that is textured or interrupted in relief to retard the launched roulette ball when, having fallen inwardly of

the wheel, it passes through the ring of pockets onto said part.

7. A roulette wheel according to any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the intercoupling between the ring and said part is via frictionally-engaged wheels.

8. A roulette wheel according to any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein a crown of a central spindle of the wheel is recessed to receive a roulette ball, and incorporates a magnet for interacting magnetically with any ferromagnetic material included within the received ball.

9. A roulette wheel according to any one of Claims 1 to 8 having a bowl-housing that includes a ball track onto which the roulette ball is launched to fall onto the rotatably- mounted ring of ball-capture pockets, wherein the ball track is held releasably within the housing concentrically with the ring of ball-capture pockets .

10. A roulette wheel according to Claim 9 wherein the ball track is held captive within the housing under a selectively-releasable rim of the housing, release of the rim enabling the ball track to be removed from the housing for subsequent return or replacement.

11. A roulette wheel wherein the surface of an inner part of the wheel located concentrically within the rotatable ring of ball-capture pockets of the wheel, is textured or interrupted in relief to retard the launched roulette ball when, having fallen inwardly of the wheel through the ring of pockets, it runs onto and around the inner part of the wheel.

12. A roulette wheel according to Claim 11 wherein the inner part of the wheel is regularly textured throughout its circumference.

13. A roulette wheel according to Claim 11 or Claim 12 wherein the inner part of the wheel is textured with indentations .

Description:

Roulette Wheels

This invention relates to roulette wheels.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a form of roulette wheel that provides for a greater degree of chance during roulette-play.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a roulette wheel wherein a part of the wheel concentric with the rotatably-mounted ring of ball- capture pockets of the wheel is mounted for rotation about the same rotational axis as the ring, and wherein the ball-capture ring and said part are intercoupled for rotation one with the other at different angular velocities about their common rotational axis.

The intercoupling between the ring and said part may be operative to rotate them in opposite senses with different magnitudes of angular velocity about the common rotational axis. Alternatively, it may be operative to rotate them in the same sense, with different magnitudes of angular velocity about that axis.

The said part of the roulette wheel may be an inner concentric part of the wheel onto which the launched roulette ball runs when, having fallen inwardly of the wheel, it passes through the ring of pockets. This part of the wheel may be conically-inclined upwardly from the ring of ball-capture pockets, and in addition or otherwise, may have a surface that is textured or interrupted in relief to retard the launched roulette ball when it passes through the ring of pockets onto that part. In the latter respect, the retardation of the ball provided by the texturing or interruptions in relief of

the inner part of the wheel, makes the eventual capture of the ball within any specific pocket, or limited series of pockets, less predictable by reducing the likelihood of number repetitions, repeated scatter patterns and neighbouring of the ball during successive operations of the wheel .

A crown of a central spindle of the roulette wheel may be recessed to receive a roulette ball, and may incorporate a magnet for interacting magnetically with any ferromagnetic material included within the received ball. An authentic roulette-ball contains no ferromagnetic material so the provision of the magnet in the crown of the spindle provides a ready way in which authenticity of a ball can be checked before it is brought into use. If the ball is authentic there will be no magnetic interaction with it when it is placed in, or removed from, the recess. Moreover, it provides a simple way in which a ball that is returned to the roulette table after having spun accidentally from it, can be given a primary check on its integrity in the normal course of play.

The roulette wheel of the invention may have a bowl- housing that includes a ball track onto which the roulette ball is launched to fall onto the rotatably- mounted ring of ball-capture pockets, and which is held releasably within the housing concentrically with the ring of ball-capture pockets. In these circumstances, the ball track may be held captive within the housing under a selectively-releasable rim of the housing, release of the rim enabling the ball track to be removed from the housing for subsequent return or replacement.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a roulette wheel wherein the surface of an inner part of the wheel located concentrically within the rotatable ring of ball-capture pockets of the wheel, is

textured or interrupted in relief to retard the launched roulette ball when, having fallen inwardly of the wheel through the ring of pockets, it runs onto and around the inner part of the wheel.

The inner part of the roulette wheel according to this aspect of the invention, may take the conventional conical form, and may be regularly (uniformly) or irregularly textured throughout its circumference, or may be provided with interruptions in relief at regular or irregular intervals around its circumference.

As indicated above, the retardation of the ball resulting from the texturing or interruptions in relief of the inner part of the wheel, has the purpose of making the eventual capture of the ball within any specific pocket or limited series of pockets less predictable.

A roulette wheel in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the roulette wheel in accordance with the invention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation of the roulette wheel of Figure 1, to an enlarged scale.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the roulette wheel 1 has a bowl-housing 2 that is formed by an open-topped, circular base 3 and a ring 4 that fits as a concentric rim to the open top of the base 3. The ring 4 has an inwardly- projecting lip 5 and is secured to the base 3 by a releasable fastening 6 for holding a concentric, grooved ring 7 to the base 3 trapped under the lip 5. The ring 7 provides the stationary, peripheral track used for initial launch of the roulette-ball to run round the

housing 2 and fall onto the wheel 1. By releasing the fastening 6, the launch ring 7 can be readily removed from the base 3 for replacement when worn.

The wheel 1 is located centrally of the bowl-housing 2 within a stationary, arcuate surface 8 that is downwardly inclined for feeding the launched ball from the ring 7 onto the wheel 1, and is superficially of conventional form. In this latter respect, it is rotatably-mounted on a cylindrical column 9 that is upstanding from the centre of the base 3, and has a central boss 10 with upstanding spindle 11 together with a conical surface 12 and an outer, peripheral ring 13 with individually-numbered pockets 14 distributed in ordered sequence round its circumference. However, the conical surface 12 in this instance is textured with small indentations as illustrated, and, moreover, rather than being integral with the numbered ring 13, is part of a disc-member 15 that is separate from a disc-member 16 which has the ring 13 at its periphery.

The disc-member 15, which incorporates the boss 10 and is of frusto-conical form to provide the conical surface 12, is pivoted for rotation on a spindle 17 that extends in axial alignment upwardly from the column 9. On the other hand, the disc-member 16 is rotatably-mounted on the column 9 beneath the disc-member 15 with just the ring 13 of numbered pockets 14 projecting circumferentially outwards beyond the member 15. The two disc-members 15 and 16, although independently mounted for rotation, accordingly have a common rotational axis centred on the column 9.

A central, cup-shape hub 18 of the disc-member 16 is mounted for rotation about the column 9 on a bearing 19, and is engaged frictionally on its inside by two or more idler wheels 20 that are carried by a plate 21 fixed to

the column 9. The plate 21 extends at right angles to the column 9, and each idler wheel 20 is pivoted to the plate 21 with its rotational axis parallel to the column 9 and in frictional engagement with the outside of a cylindrical sleeve 22 that extends downwardly from the boss 10. Accordingly, when the ring 13 is spun from the pockets 14 to begin play, the rotation of the hub 18 with the ring 13 causes the idler wheels 20 to rotate and turn the sleeve 22 and therefore the disc-member 15 with it. Since the drive via the wheels 20 is from the inside of the hub 18 to the outside of the sleeve 22 there is only a single reversal of sense in the overall intercoupling so the direction of rotation of the disc-member 15 is opposite to that of the pockets 14 of the ring 13.

Accordingly, after the ball (launched in the opposite direction to the rotation of the ring 13) leaves the launch ring 7 and has run round the surface 8 down onto the rotating, numbered ring 13 of the wheel 1, it is briefly carried round by the rotating ring 13 before leaving it under sustained momentum to run onto the contra-rotating surface 12 of the disc-member 15 and then fall back for capture in a pocket 14 of the ring 13. More especially, with clockwise turning of the ring 13, the conical surface 12 turns anti-clockwise, so the ball in its path to capture in a pocket 14 after launch in the anti-clockwise direction, is subjected to the conventional retardation brought about by entering the clockwise-rotating wheel 1, but, with the present wheel 1, is also subjected to the cumulative effect of transition onto the conical surface 12 rotating anticlockwise, and then back again onto the clockwise- rotating ring 13.

In a corresponding manner, with anti-clockwise turning of the ring 13, the conical surface 12 turns clockwise, so the ball in reaching capture in a pocket 14 after launch

in the clockwise direction, is retarded by entering the anti-clockwise rotating wheel 1, and then subjected to the cumulative effect of transition onto the clockwise- rotating surface 12 and back again onto the ring 13 rotating anti-clockwise. The added effect, by enhancing variation between each spin of the wheel 1 and the next, increases the degree of chance in the game and reduces the likelihood of number repetitions, repeated scatter patterns and neighbouring of the ball.

The wheel 1 has the added feature that the top of the crown 23 of the spindle 11 is recessed to receive a ball 24, and that a magnet 25 is incorporated in the crown 23, for use in detecting whether the ball contains ferromagnetic material (magnetised or otherwise) . An authentic roulette-ball contains no ferromagnetic material so the provision of the magnet 25 provides a ready way in which authenticity of the ball 24 can be checked before it is brought into use. If the ball is authentic there will be no magnetic interaction with it when it is placed in, or removed from, the recess.

With the wheel 1 as described above, the disc-member 16 carrying the numbered pockets 14 turns in the opposite direction to that of the spindle 11. Thus, in those circumstances in which rotation of the ring 13 is initiated by spinning the crown 23 (for example, using radial arms, not shown, attached to it), the convention for rotating the pockets 14 in an opposite direction to the direction of launch of the ball, requires the crown 23 to be spun in the same direction as launch of the ball. This clearly can be avoided if desired, through modification of the wheel construction simply by coupling the spindle 11 directly to the disc-member 16, and having the disc-member 15 driven via idler wheels or some other mechanism for reversing the sense of rotation.

The speeds of contra-rotation of the disc-members 15 and 16 may be the same as one another or different; that is to say, in the example given above the angular velocities of the disc-members 15 and 16 although of opposite sense, may be the same or differ from one another in magnitude. Clearly, with modification of the intercoupling between them, their angular velocities may be arranged to be of the same sense, but in these circumstances the magnitudes are to be different to ensure relative movement between them otherwise the outcome will be comparable with that achieved with a conventional roulette wheel.

The texturing of the conical surface 12 of the discmember 15 may take various forms and is not limited to the regular indentation shown. Moreover, the surface 12 may instead, or in addition, include λ pimple' projections, or projections corresponding to the conventional projections 26 provided on the surface 8 (Figure 1), or may be otherwise interrupted in relief.

As a modification of the wheel 1 described above the cylindrical magnet 25 may be replaced by a cylindrical, spirit-filled vial which contains an air bubble and which is visible from above the crown 23 for use in checking that the wheel 1 is level.