Improved Apparatus for Practising Golf Strokes.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Practising Golf Strokes.
I, JOHN GRANT WARREN, of 11, Wrotham Road, Gravesend, Kent, Medical
Officer of the Port of London Sanitary Authority, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus designed to be employed in practising the
various strokes of or appertaining to the game of golf, and to be of benefit both
to beginners in learning the strokes and in qualifying themselves to play with skill,
and to those accustomed to the game in perfecting themselves in the trueness and
energy with which they swing their clubs and deliver the strokes thereof on the
ball and on which the trueness and extent of the desired flight of the ball is depen-
dent, the apparatus being especially adapted for practising driving or for brassy
strokes or for iron play with a teed-ball or equivalent object, (hereinafter referred
to as a "ball") and being of advantage in serving to enable any desired repetition
of any desired stroke to be made without necessitating that the player should
remove from his position, so that he may accustom himself to any given position
in relation to the ball to effect any given stroke, and also in serving to indicate the
direction of the stroke, whether straight ahead, sliced or pulled, enabling the
player to correct any natural tendency he may have to slice or pull the ball; and
also the distance to which the ball, if free, would have been driven, enabling the
player to regulate the force with which he strikes the ball to project the same any
given distance.
To this end, the invention consists essentially in a tee or practice board, on which
the player stands or may stand, and which is adapted with a golf ball so arranged
as that it may be set at different elevations above the tee-board respectively suit-
able for driving or for brassy strokes, or may be set dead level therewith in posi-
tion suitable for iron play, and which is also so arranged as that when struck by
the club, it will be caused, by the impact of the blow, to descend below the
tee-board out of the path of the swing of the club, and will, immediately after the
passing of the club, automatically return to its normal position above the tee-
board or be re-placed by another ball assuming such position, in immediate
readiness for another stroke of the club, so that following strokes may be made as
quickly after one another as the player may wish.
The part (or parts) of the tee-board through which the ball (or balls) descends
and returns is cut away to permit of such action and is or may be covered with a
flexible or other flap or device which permits of the passage and re-passage of
the ball but at other times closes the opening, or such closing device may be fitted
to the ball carrier and descend and return therewith.
Immediately to the rear of the place occupied by the ball when in position,
the tee-board is also fitted with a yielding plate which will allow of play with
the "irons" when the ball is resting dead level on the tee-board, without injury
to the board, the plate yielding to the stroke of the iron without impeding the
latter or interfering with the stroke, and preventing injury to the tee-board."

page_text: The ball is or may be centred on an arm, which may be rigid or flexible,
pivotally mounted below the tee-board so as to be caused to partake of a sectoral
motion when struck by the club, and, in such. motion, to descend, as stated, below
the tee or surface of the practice board clear of the club by which it is struck.
The arm is or may be counter-weighted or combined with a spring or otherwise
equivalently adapted, so as, upon its being struck and sent below the tee, as afore-
said, to be caused to immediately return to its normal position above the tee, in
readiness for the next stroke. Or, a series of balls may be mounted on a rotating
carrier adapted to receive a sectoral motion at each impulse so as to cause one
ball to follow and replace the ball lastly struck.
The ball carrier may be so adapted as to permit of the ball or balls being adjust-
able thereon to permit of its or their being set dead level with or more or less
above the tee as aforesaid, or the ball carrier may itself be adjustable with the
same object.
The ball carrier is so arranged as to have facility of a limited side motion, so
that, accordingly as the ball is struck by the club in a direction right ahead, or
more or less to one or the other side (in such a stroke as, in actual play, would
slice or pull the ball) the ball carrier will take a direction determined by the
actual impact of the club on the ball.
་
The direction of the stroke of the club may be caused to be indicated either
visible or audibly by means operated by the ball carrier, and thus the player may
be accurately informed of the actual direction of the stroke. This indication may
be caused by the ball carrier, if struck to either side of straight ahead, sounding
differently toned bells, neither of which would be struck if the stroke should be
directly ahead, or by any other suitable means.
The distance that the ball would, if free, have attained, due to the impetus
given by the blow of the club, may also be indicated. This indication may be
effected by a pointer on a dial graduated to yards or other measurement, the
pointer being connected by levers or otherwise in any suitable manner with a
part struck by the ball or ball carrier in its descent and itself moving according
to the impetus thus imparted to it.
The tee-board may be large enough to enable the player to stand thereon, or
it may only be sufficiently large to act as a base and means of connecting the parts
of the apparatus, in which event, the player would stand on the floor or on the
green or where else the apparatus may be used.
Doted this 27th of Tr
1000
Improved Apparatus for Practising Golf Strokes.
I, JOHN GRANT WARREN, of 11, Wrotham Road, Gravesend, Kent, Medical
Officer of the Port of London Sanitary Authority, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to apparatus to be employed in practising the game of
golf, and especially suitable for practising driving or brassy strokes or for iron
play with a teed-ball The apparatus is designed to be of benefit to beginners in
learning the strokes and in qualifying themselves to play with skill, and to those
accustomed to the game in perfecting themselves in the trueness and energy with

page_text: which they swing their clubs and deliver the strokes thereof on the ball and on which
the trueness and range of the ball is dependent; and is of particular advantage in
enabling any desired repetition of any desired stroke to be made without necessita-
ting that the player should move from his position, so that he may accustom
himself to any given position in relation to the ball to effect any given stroke;
and also in serving to indicate the direction of the stroke whether straight ahead,
or "sliced" or "pulled," that is to say, driven outwards to the right or inwards to
the left, (so enabling the player to correct any natural tendency he may have to
slice or pull the ball,) and also the range or distance to which the ball, if free,
would have been driven, so enabling the player to regulate the force with which
he strikes the ball to propel the same any given distance.
In the apparatus, a tee or practice board is adapted with a golf ball so applied
as that it may be set, or may be replaced by other balls, at different elevations
above the tee respectively suitable for driving or for brassy strokes, or level there-
with in position suitable for iron play, and as that, when struck by the club, it
will be caused by the impact of the blow, to descend below the tee out of the path
of and without interfering with the swing of the club, and will then operate means
by which the direction of the stroke, if not straight ahead, will be audibly indi-
cated, and other means by which the range or distance the ball would, if free, have
attained, due to the impetus given by the blow of the club, will be visibly indi-
cated, and will then immediately be automatically returned to its normal posi-
tion above the tee in readiness for another stroke of the club, so that following
strokes may be made as quickly after one another as the player may wish.
On the accompanying drawings;
Fig. 1, represents a plan view of the apparatus, showing in dotted lines the
encased parts in their normal position in readiness for a stroke;
Fig. 2, represents a vertical section through A-B, Fig. 1;
Fig. 3, represents a like section through C-D, Fig. 1;
Fig. 4, represents a like view to Fig. 1, showing the position of the parts
immediately after a stroke straight ahead;
Fig. 5, represents a vertical section through E-F, Fig. 4; and
Fig. 6, represents a horizontal section through G-H, Fig. 5, but shows the
position of the parts immediately after a pulled" stroke.
"
a, is the tee or practice board, which is made as a casing adapted to contain
and support the several parts of the apparatus and to be inserted into a suitable
recess made in the flooring, in the grass or where else the apparatus is required to
be used.
b, is the practice ball to be struck by the golf club. To enable the ball to
receive right ahead and also laterally deviating movements, it is mounted on a
spherical centre, 61, having two opposite segments, 63, respectively adapted to
engage with two opposite parti-spherical bearings, c, which are located by
blocks, a', cast with the tee casing, a, and by set pins, c¹, and screws, c², or may
be located in any other convenient manner.
The segment of the spherical centre, 61, intermediate of the segments, 62, is cut
away, as at 63, and is fitted with a roller, 6', which is mounted on a pin, 65, and
fits snugly between said segments, projecting sufficiently beyond the same to
engage with the edges, c³, of the bearings, c, and to act therewith as a guide to
the centre, 6, and to prevent any rotation thereof about the axis of its stem, 66,
on which the ball, b, is mounted. The lateral movements of the ball together
with its stem and centre, b', are provided for by the gradual widening apart, as
at , of the edges, 3, of the bearings, c, within the range of movement of the
ball stem, b, vide Fig. 6. The roller, 64, thus partakes of all movements of the
centre, b', and, in its return movement, guides the latter back to its normal
position.
The ball is connected to its stem by being cast with a screw-threaded boss, b7,
into which the screwed end of the stem is inserted or it may be otherwise connected
to the stem in any convenient manner. Its elevation in relation to the tee may

page_text: be altered by screwing it up or down its stem, or by fitting to the stem other balls
having projecting screw-threaded bosses of different lengths, or otherwise in any
convenient manner.
The roller, b, is fitted with a bell hammer, 68, and is connected to a spring, 69,
which tends to retain the ball, b, in its normal position, vide Fig. 2. The ham-
mer, 68, in its normal position, lies intermediate of and equidistant from a pair
of elliptical bells, d, which serve to give two distinguishing sounds respectively
adapted to indicate whether the bell has been struck with a pulling or with a
slicing stroke. The bells are located by studs, d', screwing into the tee casing, a,
and nuts, d², or may be located by any other convenient means. They are made
of an elliptical form so that a beginner may set them with their minor axes in
alignment (vide Fig. 6,) so that there will then be the greatest space between them,
as he probably will more often slice or pull a ball than drive it right ahead, and
so that, as he perfects his stroke, he may set the bells with their major axes more
and more in alignment, (vide Fig. 1,) until practice and the indications which the
respective bells afford him enable him to perfect his stroke, when the bell hammer
will at each actuation clear the two bells.
The spring, 69, is only of just sufficient strength to retain the ball, b, in its
normal position, so as not to offer any appreciable resistance to the swing of the
club, it being an especial object of the apparatus to reproduce the conditions of
actual play as completely as possible.
To this end, the ball, when struck by the club, meets with no appreciable resist-
ance until it has descended below the level of the tee, vide the dotted lines Fig. 5.
Thereupon, the ball connections immediately meet with the resistance of the
means by which the force of the blow (expressed in terms of the distance which the
ball, if free, would have been driven by the blow) is registered, and of the means
by which the ball and its connections and such registering means are, immediately
after the passing of the club, returned to their normal positions, the range indica-
tor alone maintaining its position for inspection and requiring to be reset.
To this end, there is mounted in the tee casing, a, a cradle, e, adapted to recipro-
cate about end bearings, e¹, mounted in the casing sides. The cradle is formed
with end discs, 2, and a connecting cross piece, e³, and with rubber covered
stops, e, adapted to bear against the underside of the casing top, and is connected
to springs, e, which tend to maintain the cradle in its normal position, vide Fig. 2.
Upon the ball being struck by the club, its stem, at the moment the ball des-
cends below the tee, comes into contact with the cradle cross-piece, e³, with the
effect of turning the cradle about its axis of movement to an extent determined
by the force of the blow of the club on the ball, and by the resistance of the
springs, e, One of the end bosses of the cradle is formed with a projection, eº,
which extends through an aperture, a³, in the tee casing, a, and, when the cradle, e,
is thus actuated, serves to actuate a pointer, f, so as to cause the latter to indi-
cate on a dial, f¹, the range of the ball due to the blow of the club.
The pointer, f, is mounted on a centre pin, f, which is held down by a
spring, f, so arranged as to cause a sufficient friction between the pointer and
the dial piate or its centre pin to prevent the pointer from receiving any motion
except when positively moved by the actuating projection, e6, or by hand in being
reset.
The top of the casing, a, is covered by a thick pad, a³, of rubber serving to offer
a yielding resistance should the club he swung into forcible contact therewith,
that part of the casing and of the rubber pad through which the ball descends
being made open, as at, a, and covered by a thin rubber membrane, a³, serving
to close the opening and to yield and descend with the ball without offering any
material resistance thereto, and to immediately return to its normal position as
the ball is returned to its position; or, the yielding resistance of the top of the
casing to forcible contact with the club, and the covering of the opening in the
casing through which the ball descends may consist of or be effected by any other
convenient means than the rubber pad and membrane described. It is not essen-

page_text: tial that said opening should be covered, but it is advantageous that it should
be, in order that the viewing of the ball by the golfer when making his stroke
should not be interfered with by the appearance of the opening.
The top of the apparatus may advantageously be coloured green to represent
an actual tee as nearly as possible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
In golf practice apparatus; in combination, a tee or practice board, having a
cavity (preferably covered) below its level in advance of the normal position of
the ball to be struck; a. practice ball adjustably mounted in relation to its distance
from the tee, and so mounted in relation to its centre of movement as to be adapted
to receive both right ahead and laterally deviating movements according to the
direction of the blow of the club by which it is struck, and as to be caused, when
struck by the club, to descend into the cavity below the level of the tee and out
of the path of the club; a spring controlled bell hammer applied to the ball
centre and serving to guide its movements and to audibly indicate laterally devia-
ting movements thereof and to retain the ball in its normal position ready for
actuation; and a spring controlled cradle adapted to take up the impetus of the
ball from the moment it descends below the level of the tee, and to actuate a
pointer by which the range of the ball due to the blow of the club is visibly
indicated on a dial, and to automatically return the ball to its normal position, as
set forth.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
Chartered Patent Agents,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.