A New or Improved Device for Chalking Billiard Cues.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Dec., 1898-Accepted, 21st Jan., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Device for Chalking Billiard Cues.
We, HEINRICH KIRCHMANN, Tin Smith, and HUGO LACER, Master Stonemason,
both of Wesel, Rhineland, in the Empire of Germany, 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:—
As is well known it is very inconvenient for the purpose of chalking billiard
cues, to take the piece of chalk in one's hand and to rotate the same around on
the tip of the billiard cue until the desired object has been effected. But apart
from the tediousness of this method there is further the additional drawback that
the hands of the players get covered with chalk, whilst the pieces of chalk are
very easily lost, so that also the floor gets soiled with the small particles of chalk
that drop down.
Now the present invention relates to a device which has for object to entirely
obviate these drawbacks by enclosing the piece of chalk in a casing which may
be arranged at a suitable spot, for instance in the wall of the room, and adapting
said chalk, by means of a special mechanism, to be automatically rotated by
the pressure exerted in a rectilinear direction by the tip of the billiard cue, so
that the friction which is thereby produced between the chalk and the periphery
of the tip of the cue, effects an extremely uniform. and intense chalking of the
latter.
An apparatus acting on this principle is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the
accompanying drawings, in one form of construction shown by way of example,
and which is constructed as follows:-
On the bottom of a casing a of any suitable form in cross section, there is
arranged a rod b which is twisted around its axis after the manner of a screw, or
it may be a spindle provided with a screw thread, around the periphery of which
there engages a box c which is provided with a guiding aperture o corresponding
to the cross sectional shape of the spindle, in such a manner that said box is
normally forced upwards by the action of a helical spring d which is slipped over
the spindle. Into the upper chamber of the box c, there is placed the piece of
chalk which is limited in the vertical direction by means of a mouth piece e
that is screwed on to the casing a and of course can be removed therefrom. If
now the tip of the billiard cue f be moved in a rectilinear direction against the piece
of chalk, this force will have the result of overcoming the opposition of the
coiled spring d and of causing the box c to move down around the helical con-
volutions of the spindle b, and so that of course the tip of the billiard cue f will
be chalked by the action of the friction thereby produced. When the billiard
cue is removed, the force of the coiled spring d will move the box c, and with it
the piece of chalk back again into the initial position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-

page_text: that by pressing the tip of the billiard cue upon the piece of chalk d¹ which is
arranged in a rotary manner in a stationary casing a, the said chalk is auto-
matically caused to rotate and by reason of the friction thus produced, to effect
the chalking of the cue, whereupon, when the latter is removed, the initial posi-
tion of the piece of chalk is automatically restored by the action of a spring.
(2) A form of construction of the chalking device specified in Claim 1, in
which the rotary motion of the piece of chalk that results from the pressure
exerted upon the said chalk, is produced by the fact that the pice of chalk d
which is arranged in a box c, rotates with the latter around a fixed, screw threaded
spindle b, whilst the restoration of the initial position of the piece of chalk s
effected by means of a coiled spring d which is arranged around the screw threaded
spindle and presses against the box.
(3) A device for chalking billiard cues constructed arranged and adapted to
operate substantially as hereinbefore described and shown.
1000
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., M. I. Mech. E.,
Chartered Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Associate Agent.