IMPROVEMENTS IN PARLOUR FOOT-BALLS AND OTHER INDIA-RUBBER ARTICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE PARTLY TO ILLUSTRATING THE SURFACES OF SUCH ARTICLES, AND PARTLY TO INFLATING THE SAME
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Jefferson Mayall at the
Office of the. Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th May 1870.
I, THOMAS JEFFERSON MAYALL, of Lifford Mills, King's Norton, in
the County of Worcester, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PARLOUR FOOT-BALLS AND OTHER INDIA-RUBBER
ARTICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS RELATE PARTLY TO ILLUSTRATING THE SURFACES
OF SUCH ARTICLES, AND PARTLY TO INFLATING THE SAME," to be as follows :—
My Invention relates mainly to balls, usually made of india-rubber or
some india-rubber compound, which are inflated with air, and are
commonly used as toys for children, and the said Invention is designed
to render such balls a medium for imparting instruction or amusement
by having their surfaces illustrated with geographical, astronomical,
pictorial, or other delineations. These illustrations are all in raised lines.
or relief, and although
may color or tint the same, yet the permanence.
of the design or representation does not in any way depend upon the.
colouring but is formed of the substance of the ball and therefore cannot
be rubbed off or obliterated.

page_text: An example of the practical use of my said Invention is the manner
in which an ordinary india-rubber parlour foot-ball for children may be
made to serve also as a globe, the surface representing the land is raised
above that representing the water, the lines of latitude and longitude,
the equator and other lines, and also the names and other indications
being in relief. Other toys and articles formed of india-rubber or india-
rubber compounds may have their surfaces illustrated in the same
For home use india-rubber balls and other articles are sold
ready inflated, and they do not require any provision for allowing the
air to be expelled; but for exportation I prefer that such balls or other
articles should be provided with a valve of peculiar construction,
whereby they may be packed for transport in an uninflated condition,
and may be conveniently inflated at any time by a child or other person
using the ball or other article.
manner.
The said valve is constructed and acts as follows:-A thin disc of
suitable size has projecting from it a socket, through the bottom of which
is an aperture. The interior of the socket is formed with a screw
thread. In this socket is fitted a hollow screw plug, whose inner end
forms the valve, and which by being turned in the socket will open or
close the aperture at the bottom of the socket. A portion of the plug
is of considerably smaller diameter than the socket, so that an annular
space is left around the same, and this small part of the plug, which is
just above the valve, is perforated so that when the valve is raised from
the seat a clear passage is formed through the plug and the bottom of
the socket. The disc or plate of the socket is secured between two
thicknesses of the india-rubber or other substance of which the ball or
other article is formed, with the socket inside the plug when screwed
down in the socket being level with or a little within the exterior of the
said article. Across the top of the socket is a small cross bar to receive
the key, which is a small tube having the end notched to fit the said
cross bar.
The said improved stop valve may also be applied to air cushions for
invalids and to other inflated articles.