The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1890-10-02
HOW MANY CARTONS IN ATusK7
A Talk on Billiard Balls That Tells Much
About Original Ivory.

interviewed on the subject of how
| billiard balls are made, James Bur-
roughes, F. z. S.. OF TIE firm of Messrs.
BURROUGHS & Wattes. Soho Square,
London, has supplied some very inter-
esting information. The average num-
Der of billiard balls cut from the tusks
of an elephant is ten-tivc from each
tusk-so that the stock represents the
produce of no fewer than 1000 ele-
plants. I'VE turn out. said Mr.. Bur-
roughes, from TO- 900 to y, 900 balls a
year, and to do that we must keep q
very large stock in order that they may
be thoroughly seasoned. Why they
require to be seasoned is that the ivory
is Il gelatinous substance and requires
to be dried. We take Il great deal of
pains in this process. A ball never
shrinks at the end grain, that is to say,
in the way the tooth grows, but always
in the diameter. After it has been
roughed out we keep it for two OF three
years.
Two sizes of billiard balls are made
One for the continental and Ameri-
can markets and one for the English.
The former measures 2 IA inches to
1-2 inches. Immense quantities of
these are manufactured in England
and shipped to both continents. The
size most in use in England is / 1-16
inches, which is the match size as used
by Roberts, but 2 1-8 inches is also
made. No other sizes can be used on
an English billiard table, as the cush-
ions are only built for that height of
ball. The American game is based on
the French, and the tables are the same
size.
THE size of tusks out of which balls
are turned are called serivelloes. You
cannot make satisfactory ball out Of
a tusk that is over certain size, be-
cause if you turn a 2 1-16 out of q
tooth that measures 2 IA or 2 3-8 you
will remove too much of the outside
skin or hard surface of the tusk. The
nearer you have the tusk to the size of
the ball the better surface you obtain.
1.-The process of manufacture is very
simple, but it requires great skill. The
block of ivory is placed in an iron
chuck, and one-half of the ball is
turned. The ring that is taken off is,
in the case of the smaller size, used as
coupling ring for IL pair of horses,
and in that of the larger is sent to India
as a native bangle. After the second
half has been turned it is hung up for
few months with its fellows in a net
to dry. No artificial heat is used.
They are kept free from any draught
of air, as ivory cracks when exposed to
either hot or cold current. When
considered thoroughly seasoned they
are most skillfully turned by men who
have been taught this process for years,
and it is certainly one of the most Won
erful pieces of handicraft there is.
There are thousands of turner's in the
kingdom, but not one in a hundred will
turn billiard ball SO as to produce g.
perfect sphere.
The life of ball is very various. A
ball Will not remain perfectly true,
much as it is seasoned, because of the
continual conclusion, which causes the
cells of the ivory to close up. If ball
is very much played with, especially in
heated room, Immediately it is
turned, it is very liable to crack and
become untrue. have known a ball
to run untrue in match of thousand
up