Improvements in Devices for Chalking the Tips of Billiard Cues.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Sept., 1891-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1891
COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by CHARLES WESLEY KENNEDY, of 1430, South
Penn Square, in the City of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, United
States of America, Merchant.]
Improvements in Devices for Chalking the Tips of Billiard Cues.
I JAMES UNDERHILL ROBERTSON, of 32 Blenheim Gardens, Willesden Green,
in the County of Middlesex, Broker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of my invention is a mechanical device to automatically chalk the
ends of billiard and other cues.
In describing the said invention reference is to be had to the accompanying
drawings.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my automatic cue chalker.
Figure 2 is a sectional view of the same.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 shew preferable shapes or forms of the slot in which the pin,
attached to the frame which holds the chalk, has to move.
Figure 6 shews still another method of rotating the said frame or holder for
the chalk.
Figures 7, 8, 9, & 10 shew another arrangement of the said invention.
.
I take a tube or other shaped case preferably of metal, such as brass or copper,
of the proper diameter (or width) and length to contain the mechanism for holding
and rotating the chalk. I prefer a tube, and through the sides of it I cut one or
more slots, . These slots may be cut spirally, as in Fig. 3, or in the zigzag
manner shewn in Fig. 4, or in the sinuous way of Fig. 5, or in any other proper
manner to effect the result aimed at, which is to turn either wholly or in part the
chalkholder, or receiver, a. I suggest a further manner in which this object may
he obtained in Fig. 6. 4. is the chalkholder, b. the spiral spring upon which it
rests, c. a corkscrew stem of rigid character attached to the underside of the
chalkholder, which, as the chalkholder is pressed upon by the cue, is forced out of
a fitting hole in the closed bottom of the tube, and in consequence causes the
chalkholder to turn or rotate.
The mechanism of my invention consists of a frame, having sides to grasp the
chalk, fitted to the inside of the said tube so as to move up and down therein with
freedom. This frame I denominate the chalkholder. Upon the underside thereof
a proper spiral spring is attached sufficiently strong to force the chalkholder back
to its place at the top of the tube and keep it there after it has been pressed inward
by the cue. Through the chalkholder passes a pin, d. the ends of which move in
the parallel slots above described. The under end of the said spiral spring rests
upon the closed bottom of the tube. The upper or outside end of my cue chalker
is fitted to receive a cap made of metal or of wood, or of other proper material,
which is removable at will, and which serves as a cover to keep the chalk in its
place. Through the centre of the said cap a circular hole large enough to admit
the end of the cue is cut, and the chalk, when in place, is always exposed to view.
The cue chalker may be made with cross bars attached to it in order to be fastened
with screws to the billiard table or to the wall of the room, or elsewhere, or it may
be made without these appendages, and be fitted into the table itself, leaving
exposed only the end upon which is the removable cap.
In Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, I exhibit an arrangement the reverse in some particulars
of the one above described. In this instance a base 1, preferably of wood, is
provided, wherein a recess 2, is formed to receive the spiral spring, 8. The chalk-
holder is a tube 15, having a spiral groove 3, cut in its circumference, in which

page_text: rests a stud 18, provided with a small rotatable disk 9, for the purpose of reducing
friction, said stud is rigidly affixed to the wall of the case, and compels the chalk-
holder to rotate when forced by the cue into the spring recess. Said chalkholder
is provided on its upper inside with ribs 10 to-secure, and firmly hold the chalk to
prevent its turning.
The numeral 12 designates a conical cap or cover, having an annular flange 13 at
its base by which it is secured to the base by means of screws 14.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is;
1. A device for automatically chalking the ends of billiard cues comprising a
case, slots in the sides of the same, a pin moving therein, said pin being attached to
a moveable frame within said case fitted to receive billiard cue chalk, said frame-
attached to and resting upon a spiral spring, a removable cap to the said case
having a circular hole therein to admit the end of a cue, substantially as described.
2. A chalkholder fitted on its upper-side to grip billiard cue chalk, and on its
under-side fitted to receive a spiral spring attached thereto, the whole housed
within a suitable case with a removable cap having a centre hole to admit the end
of a billiard cue substantially as described.
3. A chalking device for billiard cues comprising a hollow base containing a spiral
spring, a movable and rotatable chalkholder spirally grooved upon its circumference
governed by a fixed stud, a cap with a suitable hole to receive the end of the cue,
substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of September 1891.