Air cushion games

Claim 2

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion and wherein said box has at least first and second gastight compartments, said air supply being connected to said first compartment, said playing surface having a target area over said second compartment where the playing pieces are to come to rest, and further including valve means between said first and second compartments which are manually operated to adjustably vary the gas pressure in said second compartment.

Claim 3

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said box is of elongated shape and provides an elongated playing surface and further including partitions in said box dividing the same in at least a central compartment and two end compartments, and further including means to adjustably maintain said end compartments at a gas pressure smaller than in said central compartment.

Claim 4

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said box is of elongated shape and provides an elongated playing surface and further including partitions in said box dividing the same in at least a central compartment and two end compartments, and further including means to adjustably maintain said end compartments at a gas pressure smaller than in said central compartment.

Claim 5

A game as claimed in claim 2, wherein said supply of compressed gas is connected to said central bOx compartments and said means to maintain said compartments at a smaller gas pressure, includes manually adjustable valve means between said central compartment and said two end compartments.

Claim 6

A game as claimed in claim 2, wherein said air supply is connected to said central compartment and said partitions have apertures to connect said central compartment to said end compartments and said last-named means include slide valve means for each partition to adjustably close and open said partition apertures, and an external manually controlled knob mounted on said box and linkage means connected to said knob and to said slide valves to open and close the same simultaneously.

Claim 7

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box include air bleeding openings in said box for discharging the air to the exterior and lever-operated flap valve means for adjustably opening and closing said bleeding openings.

Claim 8

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on air cushion, the area of the underface of each playing piece being a small fraction of the area of the playing surface, means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box during movement of said playing piece on said playing area, so as to adjust contact of said playing piece with said playing surface to adjustably change the coefficient of friction between said playing piece and said playing surface, and wherein said means to manually adjustably change the gas pressure in said box include air bleeding openings in said box for discharging the air to the exterior and lever-operated flap valve means for adjustably opening and closing said bleeding openings.

Claim 9

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, and wherein said supply of compressed gas comprises an electrically-operated air blower having a casing with an air outlet end, the bottom of said box having an air inlet opening, the outlet end of said casing being suspended from said box through a flexible tube in communication with said box bottom opening.

Claim 10

A game comprising a box having a top wall defining a playing surface on the top of said box, said top wall having a plurality of through bores in communication with the inside of said box and distributed substantially uniformly over said playing surface, a supply of compressed gas in communication with said box, whereby gas is discharged under pressure through said through bores, and playing pieces adapted to be slid on said playing surface, said playing pieces having an underface covering a portion of said playing surface provided with at least one through bore when supported by said playing surface, the relation between the weight of each playing piece, the area of its underface and the pressure of the gas in said box being such that an air cushion is produced under said playing piece, lifting the same off said playing surface to thereby permit movement of the playing piece on an air cushion, and wherein said supply of compressed gas comprises an electrically-operated air blower having a casing with an air outlet end, the bottom of said box having an air inlet opening, the outlet end of said casing being suspended from said box through a flexible tube in communication with said box bottom opening.

Claim 11

A game as claimed in claim 6, further including a sound deadening box surrounding said air blower and having an air inlet, an air filter in said air inlet and a second air filter disposed intermediate said box and the outlet of said air blower, said sound deadening box being inwardly lined by sound deadening fibrous material.