Improvements in Battledores for Use with Shuttlecocks, which Improvements are also applicable to Racquets and Bats for Use in the Game of Lawn Tennis and for other like purposes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Appl cation, 14th Mar., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 12th Dec., 1894-Accepted, 12th Jan.. 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Battledores for Use with Shuttlecocks, which
Improvements are also applicable to Racquets and Bats for Use
in the Game of Lawn Tennis and for other like purposes.
1 EDWARD MORGAN GASKELL of No. 50 Weaman Street, Birmingham in the
County of Warwick, Commission Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists in making battledores for use with shuttlecocks and in
making racquets and bats for use in the game of lawn tennis and for other like
purposes such for example as the ordinary game of tennis and my said invention
consists in making the said battledores racquets and bats in the mauner herein-
after described whereby greater elasticity is given to the palm of the battledore,
racquet or bat than when the said palm is made in the ordinary way.
I will describe my invention in connection with a battledore.
1 form the palm of the battledore preferably of the air tight material commonly
called xylonite the said palm being made of two pieces of thin sheet xylonite of
the shape of the palm to be made. The two pieces or sheets of xylonite are
connected together air tight at their edges and at the part where the handle is
joined to the palm so that the said palm consists of a flat air tight or pneumatic
chamber which in consequence of the flexibility of the xylonite and the elasticity
of the air enclosed within it possesses an elasticity unattainable by the ordinary
method of manufacture.
Although I prefer to make the pneumatic chamber constituting the palm of
xylonite yet parchment or paper parchment or other like material approximately
air tight may be employed as in using the battledore the blow it receives in
striking the shuttlecock is momentary and there is consequently no leakage of
air or only such as is compensated for by the restoration of the sides of the palm
to their normal shape.
The pneumatic palm may be connected to the rim of the battledore externally
or the said rim may be situated in the interior of the pneumatic chamber.
In order to give greater elasticity to the palm an oval or other shaped spring of
xylonite may be placed in the interior of the palm and fixed to the middle of one
of the sides of the palm.
The application of my improvements to racquets and bats for use in the game of
lawn tennis and for other like purposes differs in no essential respect from their
application to battledores as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 14th day of March 1894.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Battledores for Use with Shuttlecocks, which
Improvements are also applicable to Racquets and Bats for Use
in the Game of Lawn Tennis and for other like purposes.
I EDWARD MORGAN GASKELL, of No. 50 Weaman Street, Birmingham in the
County of Warwick, Commission Agent do hereby declare the nature of my
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to battledores for use with shuttlecocks and to racquets and
bats for use in the game of lawn tennis and for other like purposes, such for
example as the ordinary game of tennis and cricket; and my said invention
consists in making the said battledores, racquets and bats in the manner herein-
after described whereby greater elasticity is given to the palm of the battledore
racquet or bat than when the said palm is made in the ordinary way.
I will describe my invention in connection with a battledore.
I form the palm of the battledore preferably of the air tight material commonly
called xylonite, the said palm being made of two pieces of thin sheet xylonite of
the shape of the palm to be made. The two pieces or sheets of xylonite are
⚫ connected together air tight at their edges and at the part where the handle is
joined to the palm so that the said palm consists of a fat air tight or pneumatic
chamber which in consequence of the flexibility of the xylonite and the elasticity
of the air enclosed within it possesses an elasticity unattainable by the ordinary
method of manufacture.
The pneumatic palin may be connected to the rim of the battledore externally
or the said rim may be situated in the interior of the pneumatic chamber.
In order to give greater elasticity to the palm an oval or other shaped spring of
xylonite may be placed in the interior of the palm and äxed to the middle of one
of the sides of the palm.
The application of my improvements to racquets and bats for use in the game of
lawn tennis and for other like purposes, differs in no essential respect from their
application to battledores as herein before described.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in elevation a pneumatic
battledore made according to my invention; Figure 2 represents a longitudinal
section of the same, part of the handle being broken away; Figure 3 represents a
cross section through the palm and Figure 4 represents, drawn to a large scale, a
cross section through the handle.
Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8 represent views of the parts of which the battledore
Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 is made.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
In making the battledore Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, I take a blank of xylonite
marked a, a in Figure 5, the edge a³ of the part a being turned up at right angles
or nearly so to the said part a (by pressure between a pair of heated dies) as is
best seen in the section Figure 6. The part a³ from which the core or foundation
of the handle of the battledore is to be made has a width of about five or six
times the thickness of the handle to be made. The said foundation of the handle
is formed by rolling or coiling the part a² into a compact cylinder (see Figure 4)
the part a' being wetted with spirits of wine (or other spirits) prior to rolling and
being securely held in a heated mould so as thereby to unite and retain the part a³
in its rolled up condition. I also take a similar palm blank b, 6 represented in
elevation in Figure 7 and longitudinal section in Figure 8, the handle part b
having a width equal to the circumference of the compact cylindrical part a³ of
the blank Figure 5. The half battledores thus made are fitted together so as to

page_text: produce the finished battledore Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the following manner. The
outer side of the turned up edge a of the palm part a of the partly made
battledore being wetted with spirits of wine the said half battledore is applied to
the other half 6, the edge as of the part a being pressed within the edge of
the part b and retained under heat and pressure so as to unite them together. The
part is then heated and rolled upon the solid handle part a' and the battledore
Figures 1 2, 3 and 4 is produced. The palm of the battled ore thus consists of a
flat hermetically sealed air chamber which in consequence of the flexibility of the
xylonite and the elasticity of the air enclosed within it possesses an elasticity
unattainable by the ordinary method of manufacture.
Figures 9, 10 and 11 represent respectively in elevation, longitudinal section
and cross section, a pneumatic battledore made of cardboard according to my
invention. In making a battledore according to this part of my invention I take a
flat cardboard box of the shape of the palm of the battledore to be made the edge
of one half of the box fitting within the edge of the other half in the manner
represented in Figure 11. Between the engaging sides or edges of the halves of
the box a wire bow d is inserted the said bow being retained by short turned out
Hanges c made at intervals from the inner half of the box and corresponding
turned in flanges made from the outer half of the box as will be seen by reference
to Figure 10. The ends of the wire bow are twisted together so as to form the
handle and the whole is covered with paper i so as practically to produce an
airtight cardboard chamber constituting the palm of the battledore. The handle
is covered preferably by coiling the paper i upon it as represented.
Figures 12, 13 and 14 represent respectively in elevation longitudinal section
and cross section a lawn tennis racquet made according to my invention. The
palin of the racquet is made of two halves as described with respect to the
battledore Figures 1, 2 and 3. Figures 15 and 16 represent in elevation and
section a portion of one of the halves of the same. In this arrangement the half
palin not separately represented is without a handle strip the solid handle being
made of wood or cane enclosed in the part of the half b, & (see Figures 12
and 13).
A spring of xylonite may be provided at the middle of the palm so as to give
it additional elasticity.
The handle of the racquet may be made in the same way as the handle of the
battledore Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the reverse; the palms of the battledores
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11 may also have springs k to increase their elasticity.
Figures 16, 17 and 18 represent respectively in elevation, longitudinal section
and cross section a cricket bat of xylonite made according to my invention and
Figures 19 and 20 represent the blanks of which the said bat is made.
Figure 21 represents a modification of the said cricket bat as is hereinafter
described.
The blank Figure 19 has the edges e, e of its blade part chamfered or bevilled
and bent over so as to overhang or form a dovetail for the edges f,fof the blade
part of the blank Figure 20 to engage with. The handle part 2 of the blank e
Figure 19 is made into a tube and the handle part of the other half is made
solid in the way described with reference to the handle of the battledore
Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4. Or the handle parts of both blanks may be made tubular
the inner one being filled by means of a wooden stick or cane, or by a doubled
wire g of steel or other elastic metal or alloy as represented in Figure 21.
The blank Figure 20 is passed into the blank Figure 19 by a sliding motion, the
solid handle f of the one passing up the tubular handle of the other, the
engaging edges and handle part being wetted with spirits of wine prior to fitting
the two parts together. The two engaged halves or blanks are dried in a heated
mould whereby the parts become united together so as virtually to constitute one
piece.
Where thought necessary a tube of xylonite or other elastic material may
be inserted in the blade of the bat, or the tube may pass into and form a part of

page_text: the handle of the bat. Or in place of the tube flat or girder like strips may he
arranged in the blade of the bat.
Although I prefer to make the pneumatic chamber constituting the palm or blade
of xylonite yet parchment or paper parchment or other like material approximately
airtight may be employed as in using the battledore the blow it receives in striking
the shuttlecock is momentary and there is consequently no leakage of air or only
such as is compensated for by the restoration of the sides of the palm to their
normal shape.
Bats for use in the ordinary game of tennis and for use in other games may be
made substantially in the manner herein before described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my inven-
tion of "Improvements in battledores for use with shuttlecocks, which improvements
are also applicable to racquets and bats for use in the game of lawn tennis and for
other like purposes " ;-
First. Making the palms of battledores and racquets and the blades of cricket
and other bats of two nearly symmetrical halves fitting one within the other so as
to produce a flat air tight or pneumatic chamber, the said halves being secured
together substantially in the ways herein before described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Secondly. The several methods hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings of constructing the handles of the battledores, racquets
and cricket and other bats having palms or blades of the kinds claimed in the first
-claim.
Dated the Seventh day of December 1894.
EDWARD MORGAN GASKELL.