AN IMPROVED GAME SUITABLE FOR OUTDOOR OR INDOOR EXERCISE, AND INSTRU- MENTS AND APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Bernard McEvoy at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
April 1869.
I, BERNARD M'Evoy, of 25, Hall Street, in the County of Warwick,
Metal Roller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED GAME SUITABLE FOR OUTDOOR OR INDOOR EXERCISE, AND INSTRU-
MENTS AND APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows :-
When it is intended that the game should be played out of doors a
level lawn or grass plot is a desirable place for fixing the instruments
used, which I shall now proceed to describe.
The position to be occupied by the players at the commencement of
the game is marked by an appliance, by which also the progress of the
game is marked or registered. This appliance, which consists of a frame
upon which two arches are supported, is fixed into the turf or ground
by means of spikes which are attached thereto. Upon these arches,
which I prefer to make of round iron of about a quarter of an inch in

page_text: of them is so fixed that its disc
diameter, are threaded, previously to the arches being fixed on the frame,
a series of washers or perforated discs, moving easily thereon, and upon
which, if it be desired, numbers may be marked. At the beginning of
the game these washers are all placed on one leg of each arch. The
arches with their washers are painted two different colours, to indicate
the two sides of the game taken by the players. It is desirable to place
the washers on the outer legs of the arches, and as numbers are gained
by the respective players a corresponding number of the washers are
easily moved round the bows of the arches to the inner legs thereof, and
thereby the progress of the game is indicated and marked. At a suitable
distance from these arches, which distance will be greater or less
according to the skill of the players, are fixed one or more instruments
or targets, which I shall now proceed to describe. These instruments or
targets each consist, first, of what may be described as an oblong box
fixed upon a base, which being furnished with spikes on the under side
is readily and firmly fixed in the position on the turf selected for it. In
connection with and attached to this box I use two levers, each having
a disc rigidly fixed upon one end of it. These levers are made to work
upon pivots near their centres, and one
projects horizontally from the end of the box facing the players; and as
this disc is intended to receive a ball thrown by the player I prefer to
make it slightly concave after the fashion of a watch glass. The disc of
the other lever has a number marked upon it, and is made to lie face
downwards upon the top of the box when the instrument is put into
gear before commencing to play. The player being furnished with
suitable balls (such as tennis balls) aims to depress the concave disc
which projects from the end of the box by making his ball alight
thereon. This being done a catch attached to the lever thus depressed
releases from its horizontal position the top lever, which immediately
assumes a vertical position and exhibits its number to the players. The
same effect may be produced by attaching a convex disc to the end of
a sliding bolt or bar, so that the same projecting from the end of the
box, as in the former case, shall present its entire convex side to the
players. The object of the player in this case is by means of bowling
the ball instead of throwing it to strike the disc; this drives the bolt
inward, and the same effect is produced by this movement upon the top
lever, as before described. This latter contrivance is best adapted for
playing upon a dining or other table indoors, in which case the various

page_text: instruments used in the game are reduced in size. The various instru-
ments and appliances used in this game may be made of wood or iron,
or these two combined, or any other suitable material.