IMPROVEMENT IN RITARD TADEG
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Marvin Story, of No. 2, Coleman Street, in
the City of London, and George William Edwards, of No. 37, Mintern
Street, Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENT IN RITARD TADEG "
Sealed the 16th October 1861, and dated the 27th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Marvin Story
and George William Edwards at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th April 1861.
We, GEORGE MARVIN STORY, of No. 2, Coleman Street, in the City of
London, and GEORGE WILLIAM EDWARDS, of No. 37, Mintern Street, Hoxton,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BILLIARD TABLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in billiard tables. In many
cases it is desirable to make billiard tables in such a manner that when not
required for the game of billiards they may be folded and reduced to a smaller
size and lessened in height, so as to render them suitable for use as ordinary
library or dining tables. For this purpose I make the frame of the table
telescopic, as the frames of dining tables are commonly made. The top or
bed of the billiard table is divided into two parts, which are hinged together

page_text: at the centre, so that one-half may be folded over the other half to reduce the
top of the table to half the size of the billiard table. The telescopic frame
also in made capable of sliding in to a corresponding extent. When the
billiard table is so folded the under side of one-half of the bed of the same
forms the top of the ordinary table, and it is suitably constructed for the
purpose. The telescopic frame also is of such a height as to be convenient for
a library or dining table.
When the table is required for use as a billiard table, it is necessary to raise
the height of the top or bed to the height required for billiards. In order that
this may be done, the half of the bed which is connected to the frame is
attached thereto by means of four rods of equal length, each hinged at one
end to the frame, and at the other end to the under side of the bed; thus it
will be seen that the bed can be lifted up off the frame to the required height,
in which position it may be secured by blocks or screws placed so as to
prevent the rods again folding down. When this is done the folding portion
of the bed is opened out, and when opened will rest on supports which turn
up from the top of the frame. To level the table accurately, screws are
arranged in each of the legs.
When a dining table of large size is required, the table may be opened out
as for billiards, without, however, raising it to the same extent, and flaps
suitable to form the top of a table may be placed on it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Marvin Story and George William Edwards in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
MARVIN STORY, of No. 2, Coleman Street, in the City of London, and GEORGE
WILLIAM EDWARDS, of No. 37, Mintern Street, Hoxton, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said George Marvin Story and George William Edwards, Her
special licence that we, the said George Marvin Story and George William
Edwards, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,

page_text: -
"
the said George Marvin Story and George William Edwards, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BILLIARD TABLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said George Marvin Story
and George William Edwards, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Marvin Story, on behalf of
myself and the said George William Edwards, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, that is to say:-
In many
This Invention has for its object improvements in billiard tables.
cases it is desirable to make billiard tables in such a manner that when not
required for the game of billiards they may be folded and reduced to a smaller
size and lessened in height, so as to render them suitable for use as ordinary
library or dining tables. For this purpose we make the frame of the table
telescopic, as the frames of dining tables are commonly made. The top or bed
of the billiard table is divided into two parts, which are hinged together at the
centre, so that one-half may be folded over the other half to reduce the top of the
table to half the size of the billiard table. The telescopic frame also is made
capable of sliding in to a corresponding extent. When the billiard table is so-
folded, the under side of one-half of the bed of the same forms the top of the
ordinary table, and it is suitably constructed for the purpose. The telescopic
frame also is of such a height as to be convenient for a library or dining
table.
When the table is required for use as a billiard table, it is necessary to
raise the height of the top or bed to the height required for billiards: In order
that this may be done, the half of the bed which is connected to the frame is
attached thereto by means of four rods of equal length, each hinged at one
end to the frame, and at the other end to the under side of the bed; thus it

page_text: top removed, of a billiard table constructed according to our Invention ;
Figures 3 and 4 are similar views of the table expanded and raised to a proper
height for billiards.
The frame of the table which is marked a, a, is made similar to the frame of
an expanding dining table, the side pieces of the frame sliding the one on the
other, these pieces being fitted with grooves and projections, the projections on
the one piece fitting into the grooves in the other, as is well understood. In
order to prevent the side pieces of the frame spreading laterally and separating
the one from the other, metal angle pieces a* are employed; they are each
screwed to the under side of one portion of the telescopic frame, and are
turned upwards to enter a groove in another adjacent portion of the telescopic
frame. The frame of the table is expanded and contracted as required by
means of a screw, as also is common in dining tables. The screw is marked b,
and is capable of turning in a collar c, which carries it, but it cannot slide
endways therein. The collar is attached to one end of the table; there is a
moveable handle for turning the screw. 61 is a tube for receiving the same
when the table is folded; d is a nut through which the screw b passes;. this
nut is mounted on the cross bar a¹ of the frame. It will be seen that the nut d
being secured to one end of the frame and the screw 6 to the other, the turning.
the screw will cause the ends of the frame to recede from or approach each
other according to the direction in which the screw is turned. The top of the
table is made in two parts e, e¹, and is, arranged so as to be suitable for billiards,
that is to say, with cushions, pockets, and other fittings; the under side of
the part e¹ is made suitable to form the top of an ordinary table; the two parts

page_text: are hinged together at e*. The lower part e of the top of the table is connected
to the frame by means of four connecting rods or links f,f; these are each
hinged or pin jointed at one end to one of the blocks g, g, fixed to the under
side of the top of the table, and at the other end they may in a similar
manner be hinged or pin jointed to the frame; it is, however, more convenient
and better to employ axes h, h, turning in suitable bearings in the frame a,
and having the rods or links f, f, fixed on them. In order to raise the table
when the frame is expanded the telescopic rod i is employed; one portion of
this rod is hooked on to the extremity of the arm j, on the axis ¹, and the
other portion is pin jointed to the arms k, k, on the axes h, h. The telescopic
rod, when the frame is expanded, comes to its full length before the expansion
of the frame is complete, and it then commences to turn the axis, raising the
support fixed on the axis j, into a vertical position ready to support the
part e¹ of the top of the table when the same is unfolded. When the support
is vertical the axis is stopped by the hook m fixed to the end of the table,
taking on to a stud at the end of the arın j, and then when by turning the
screw 6 the frame is further elongated, the telescopic rod i gives motion to the
arms k, k, and raises the top of the table up as required. Thus it will be
seen that the screw 6 serves both to raise the top of the table and to secure it
when raised. n is an end piece which goes on to complete the end of the
table when folded; it is fixed in its place by suitable catches, and it may be
so made as to serve also as a marking board for the game of billiards. If it
be desired to use the table as a dining table it may be expanded without being
raised by first unhooking the telescopic connecting rod i from the arm j. The
top of the table may then be covered with flaps having suitable fastenings to
secure them, the one to the other, and also to the table.
Figure 5 is a side view partly in section, Figure 6 is a side view, and
Figure 7 also a side view partly in section (raised to a height for billiards),
of a table similar to that already described, except that the frame does not
expand and the top does not fold. In most respects the description already
given is applicable to this arrangement, and the parts are lettered to correspond
with this description. The raising apparatus, however, in this table is actuated
directly by the screw o, which works with a nut p, pin jointed to an arm q on
the centre axis h. The axes h have, as before, arms k, which are all con-
nected together by a connecting rod r.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the exact details described, but what we claim is, the connecting

page_text: the top of a billiard table with the frame thereof by means of rods or links, all
of equal length, and arranged as herein-before described, so that the top of the
table may be raised or lowered independently of the frame with which it is at
all times kept parallel.
We also claim the making billiard tables with a telescopic frame and folding
top as described, the top of the table being, as before, connected with the
frame by rods or links to allow of its being raised and lowered.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Marvin Story, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.