Fun With Pinball

The Restoration and Photographic Study of a 1934 Rock-Ola World's Series Pinball Machine (continued)

The Outs Counter

A game of World's Series lasts until the player reaches three outs or runs out of balls.  It's essentially one half inning of baseball.  The Outs Counter keeps track of the outs so far and ends the game if the third out is reached.

604 Trap-Door Die Cast 604 Trap-Door Die Cast 604 Trap-Door Die Cast

The 604 Trap-door Die Cast is the game's main objective which gathers balls launched by the player to determine whether they're balls, strikes, hits or outs.  It is a single, often broken casting with a sheet metal 621 Trap Door that pivots along the back edge.

Installing the 604 Trap-Door Die Cast Installing the 604 Trap-Door Die Cast Installing the 604 Trap-door Die Cast

The 604 Trap-Door Die cast is fastened to the top of the playfield with a pair of #4 x 1/2" oval head slotted wood screws.  Below the playfield it attaches to the 620 Bracket for Trap-door Lock with a pair of 6-32 x 3/16" round head slotted machine screws.  A third identical machine screw mounts between the two mounting screws and can be used as a fine adjustment to the angle between the the two pieces if necessary. (Details on the Tuning page.)

Escapement mechanisms Escapement mechanisms Escapement mechanisms

These are parts that drive the escapement mechanism which is the heart of the Outs Counter including the 618 Escapement Trip Lever, 619 Shaft for Escapement, 620 Bracket for Trap Door Lock, 622 Trap Door Lock, 659 the Escapement and 660 Escapement Ratchet.

An escapement is part of a mechanical step unit that allows a ratchet to rotate in small fixed steps.  It is commonly used in mechanical watches and clocks to regulate how often the first gear in the gear train is allowed to advance.  Each tick and tock you hear as a clock runs is the escapement taking another step.

Each time a ball falls through one of the Out holes in the playfield it pushes down on the Escapement Trip Lever and rocks the escapement mechanism which advances the number of outs shown on the playfield.  Note that one of the white numbers with the black background on the Escapement Ratchet shows through a window in the playfield.  Each out shown on the Escapement Ratchet (0,1,2, & 3) is another fixed step in the rotation. The escapement is reset to 0 outs at the start of a new game by the 603 Main Push Bracket activated by the coin slide.

Patent US1975374 Fig 8

Figure 8 from the patent shows how the Outs Counter parts are mounted above and below the playfield.

Installing the 688 Bearing for 3 Outs Lockwire Installing the 688 Bearing for 3 Outs Lockwire Installing the 679 Stamping for Segment Spring Installing the 679 Stamping for Segment Spring

Installing the 659 Escapement Installing the 659 Escapement Installing the 659 Escapement and related hardware

The 688 Bearing for 3 Outs Lockwire,  679 Stamping for Segment Spring and 659 Escapement are each mounted to the underside of the playfield with a pair of #6 x 3/8" round head slotted wood screws.

686 Lock Stamping Installing the 686 Lock Stamping

The 686 Lock Stamping is a three part clamp that mounts to one end of the 624 Three Outs Lockwire.  A 6-32 x 5/16" round head slotted machine screw passes through the oversized hole in the larger piece and screws into the threaded hole in the smaller piece to form a clamp. 

The Lock Stamping is activated by the 603 Main Push Bracket at the start of a new game. It keeps the Three Outs Lockwire in the three outs or game over position while the Outs Counter is being reset.  The Lockwire in turn disables the Elevator mechanism to prevent balls from being lifted onto the playfield during reset.  Otherwise a player could hold the coin chute in and elevate and launch any balls in the Elevator lift assembly.

RWS19 Escapement Trip Lever Spring Installing the RWS19 Escapement Trip Lever Spring

The RWS19 Escapement Trip Lever Spring mounts between a small hole in the 618 Escapement Trip Lever and a tooth in the 620 Bracket for Trap Door Lock.  Note that the spring pictured here is not an original but something I found in my parts stash that fits.

The Escapement Trip Lever is pushed down by balls falling through Out holes in the 604 Trap-door Die Cast to activate the Outs Counter escapement and ratchet mechanisms.  The Escapement Trip Lever Spring returns the Escapement Trip lever to its armed position once the out has been counted.

RWS17 Jip Ball Spring Installing the RWS17 Jip Ball Spring

The RWS17 Jip Ball Spring mounts between the 620 Bracket for Trap-door Lock and the 626 Jip Ball Deflector through small holes in both parts.  When three outs are counted the Three Outs Lockwire rotates which in turn raises the Jip Ball Deflector from below the playfield to block any more balls from reaching the Field Disc. When the game is reset the Jip Ball Deflector drops below the playfield with the help of the Jip Ball Spring to allow play to resume.

RWS14 Escapement Ratchet Spring Installing the RWS14 Escapement Ratchet Spring

The RWS14 Escapement Ratchet Spring provides energy to the escapement so that it can take a step each time an out is registered. It is mounted between the 676 Stud for Escapement Ratchet and a hook on the 603 Main Push Bracket.

At the start of each game the Push Bracket slides to the right as the coin slide is pushed in and pushes the Stud to reset the Ratchet so that the outs count shown on the playfield is zero.  As the Stud moves to the right it stretches the Spring which will pull the Stud back a step each time an out is registered to increase the out count.

World's Series Outs Counter

This video demonstrates how the Outs Counter is reset at the start of the game and counts outs as balls fall through the Outs holes in the 604 Trap-door Die Cast.  Pay attention to the far end of the 624 Three Outs Lockwire at the top of the video.  When the third out is reached it raises (or drops when the playfield is installed in the game) to disable the Elevator machanism, preventing any more balls from being lifted into the shooter lane.

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