Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-12-14

slble to produce genuine rise, but to
do so would require such a speed that
it would be out of the question.
For several years ingenious men have
been trying to invent something which
might take the place of the pitcher So
far as is known at the patent office
none succeeded until Mr. Hinton went
TO work. And he makes no such claim
for his gun, his present one at least,
for he designed it solely for the pur-
pose of giving practice to batsmen with
out wearing out the pitchers. He is
now at work on another machine of Il
very different character, except in so
far as the actual making of the curves
is concerned. which he thinks will be
not only suited for practice work, but
for games also.
A clearer idea of the gun will be had
by first giving the history of the vari-
Gus experiments that led to the present
instrument. Mr. Hinton is an English
man, an oxford man, who has been at
Princeton for four years. Prior to his
coming to this country he conducted a
boys school in Yoliohoma. In England
he was a lover of cricket and a con-
slant player Of the game. he is also
an able mathematician. Long before
he came to this country he had studied
up the various theories about the curves
q pitcher gives to a base ball. and
Wnen in Yokohama he tried to get some
of the Americans there to tell how the
trick is done. But he was not success
full, and it was not until he went to
Princeton four years ago that he saw
a ball curved. He became a constant
visitor at the base ball cage in the Win
ter and the ball field in the summer.
and in the course of the year, by his
questions and his observations. he be
came an expert in base ball, and es-
pecially in pitching.
As result of what he learned he be-
came convinced of three things. The
first was that pitching was harder
physical exercise than bowling in crick
ct. The second was that the men re-
ceived insufficient practice in batting,
and the third was that it would Wear
out the good pitchers Of the college if
they We're to give the men sufficient
practice Mr.. hinton had in the course
of his first year at Princeton become
an ardent follower of Nassau sports,
and he decided that something could be
ef' for practice work. and he began to
think about a mechanical device that
would work to that end.
For more than year he studied the
question of curves. in an endeaVor to
find out just what relation the rota-
ton of the ball had to the curve. At
last he decided on a design that might
or might not do what he wanted. He
succeeded in interesting Peter Wilkes,
a skilled machinest of Trenton. in the
work, and the two began about two
years ago, Mr. Hinton supplying the
theory and Mr.. Wilkes the practice.
The first idea of Mr.. Hinton's was to
have something in the nature of cata-
pult The first two or three machines
built succeeded in doing nothing but
sending the base ball out of sight at 4
speed that would have meant death to
any one in it's way. Nor had the ball
any curve. so far as Mr.. Hinton could
see Mr. Hinton went to work again
on the curve theory, and finally another
catapult was made. a portion Of which
is shown here. This catapult was
built on the general plan of an old
fashioned cross bow. Where. in real
catapult, is the groove for the arrow,