A New or Improved Key-board Game to Imitate Football.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Nov., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 19th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 19th Sept., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Key-board Game to Imitate Football.
We, ROBERT ALEXANDER SLOAN and JOHN EDWARD LLOYD BARNES,
both of 26 Castle Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Consulting
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our present invention has reference to a new or improved parlour or table game
intended to imitate closely the Association game of football, the game being played
with a small ball on a surface fenced in and provided with goals, like a miniature
football field, and the various phases of the play in the actual game, such as
kicking, passing, centring, shooting and kicking out from goal being all more
or less closely represented. The game is adapted to be played by two or more
players, constituting opposing sides, who actuate the ball, as hereinafter described,
by means of keys or levers.
The "field" is represented by a sheet of green cloth or other suitable fabric,
mounted at its edges on a base of wood or other material, and a number of positions,
suitably distributed over the field, are distinctively marked thereon to indicate the
positions of the "men as we shall hereinafter term these positions.
"
In order to propel the ball about the field, we provide means, adapted
to be actuated by keys, for locally lifting the cloth, under any of the men,
through a short height, the keys being distinctively marked in accordance with
the corresponding men. If the ball be immediately over or very close to a man,
it can be propelled or "kicked" with some vigour, by operating the corresponding
key in a starcato manner; if it be some distance away, it rolls down, or, if
already in motion it is deflected by the hump caused by lifting the cloth under
the man.
"
We may arrange the men in "sides so that any one can be actuated by its own
player only, but as the effect upon the ball, caused by actuating a man, depends
(so far as direction is concerned) entirely upon the relative positions of the ball
and the man, we find it convenient to make all the men, except the goal keepers,
Bo that they can be actuated independently by either player.
To simplify the construction, we may arrange that one key may actuate a group
of two or more men, and instead of providing a series of keys for men in the wings,
we may arrange to hinge the sides of the base to which the wings of the field are
connected, so that a whole wing can be raised by depressing a single key.
The keys are arranged side by side, as in a key board, at opposite ends or wings
of the field, each player having his own set, and any suitable simple mechanical
device may be used to convey their motions to the appropriate points under the
corresponding men.
We find it answer very well to make the keys in the form of simple levers,
fulcrummed at about their centres, and long enough to reach to the desired
points.
If a goal keeper be provided in the goal mouth, it is desirable to make its
connection with the corresponding key discontinuous, and by taking advantage of
inertia, to arrange matters so that the lift of the goal keeper, when the goal key
is simply held down, is considerably less than that of the other men, but that it
can be jerked to a greater height by striking the goal key smartly; in this way,
ny attempt to simply block the goal would result in a weak defence, the

page_text: correct play consisting in taking advantage of the staccato effect at the right
instant.
From the description given, it will be seen that there is roora for considerable
quickness and skill in playing the game, and that the play of the actual game can
be pretty closely imitated. A further feature is that each player can play
continuously without having, as in most parlour games, to wait his turn, and that
the rules may be very few and of the simplest kind, it being probably only
necessary to provide specially for the contingency of the ball being jerked off the
field which we find occurs but seldom with moderately skilful players.
The attachment of the cloth to the base may be elastic to permit the necessary
lifting; we have found however that a rigid attachment answers well in most
cases.
It will be seen that our invention is applicable generally to parlour modifications
of games similar in character to football.
نديد
LN
L1005
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26 Castle Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicants.
A New or Improved Key-board Game to Imitate Football.
We, ROBERT ALEXANDER SLOAN and JOHN EDWARD LLOYD BARNES,
both of 26 Castle Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Consulting
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
Our present invention has reference to a new or improved parlour or table game
intended to imitate closely the Association game of football, the game being played
with a small ball on a surface fenced in and provided with goals, like a miniature
football field, and the various phases of the play in the actual game, such as
kicking, passing, centring, shooting and kicking out from goal being all more or
less closely represented. The game is adapted to be played by two or more
players, constituting opposing sides, who actuate the ball, as hereinafter described,
by means of keys or levers.
The "field is represented by a sheet of green cloth or suitable fabric mounted
at its edges on a base of wood or other material, and a number of positions,
suitably distributed over the field, are distinctively marked thereon to indicate the
positions of the "men as we shall hereinafter term these positions.
"
In order to propel the ball about the field, we provide means, adapted to be
actuated by keys, for locally lifting the cloth, under any of the men, through a
short height, the keys being distinctively marked in accordance with the
corresponding men. If the ball be immediately over or very close to a man, it
can he propelled or "kicked" with some vigour, by operating the corresponding
key in a staccato manner; it it be some distance away, it rolls down, or,
already in motion, it is deflected by the hump caused by lifting the cloth under
the man.
"
if
We may arrange the men in "sides so that any one can be actuated by its own
player only, but as the effect upon the ball, caused by actuating a man, depends
(so far as direction is concerned) entirely upon the relative positions of the
ball and the man, we find it convenient to make all the men, except the goal
keepers, so that they can be actuated independently by either player.
To simplify the construction, we may arrange that one key may actuate a group

page_text: of two or more men, and instead of providing a series of men in the wings, we may
arrange to hinge the sides of the base to which the wings of the field are connected,
so that a whole wing can be raised by depressing a single key.
The keys are arranged side by side, as in a key board, at opposite ends or wings
of the field, each player having his own set, and any suitable simple mechanical
device may be used to convey their motions to the appropriate points under the
corresponding men.
We find it answers very well to make the keys in the form of simple levers,
fulcrummed at about their centres, and long enough to reach the desired points.
If a goal keeper be provided in the goal mouth, it is desirable to make its
connection with the corresponding key discontinuous, and by taking advantage of
inertia, to arrange matters so that the lift of the goal keeper, when the goal key is
simply held down, is considerably less than that of the other men, but that it can
be jerked to a greater height by striking the goal key smartly; in this way, any
attempt to simply block the goal would result in a weak defence, the correct play
consisting in taking advantage of the staccato effect at the right instant.
From the description given, it will be seen that there is room for considerable
quickness and skill in playing the game, and that the play of the actual game can
be pretty closely imitated. A further feature is that each player can play con-
tinuously without having, as in most parlour games, to wait his turn, and that the
rules may be very few and of the simplest kind, it being probably only necessary
to provide specially for the contingency of the ball being jerked off the field--which
we find occurs but seldom with moderately skilful players.
The attachment of the cloth to the base may be elastic to permit the necessary
lifting; we have found however that a rigid attachment answers well in most
cases.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figs. I to V inclusive, illustrate the simpler form of the game, in which some
of the keys are adapted to actuate groups of "men." Fig. I is a plan looking
from above; Fig. II is a plan looking from below; Fig. III is a side elevation
in medial section; Fig. IV is an end elevation and Fig. V is an isometrical
projection;
Figs. VI, VII and VIII are detail views to larger scale;
Figs. IX, X and XI have reference to the form of the game in which each key
is adapted to actuate one "man" only.
Throughout the drawings similar parts are indicated by the same reference
figures.
Referring first to Figs. I to V; for the sake of simplicity, the goal and wing
boundary wires are omitted from Figs. I, III, and IV, being shown clearly in
Fig. V; the cloth forming the "field" is omitted in Figs. III and IV, and the key
levers are omitted in Figs. IV and V; in Fig. III, only two key levers are shown,
these being typical of the rest, and in Fig. IV one of the wings is shown raised.
The main frame of the game is comprised of a series of wooden cross-pieces 1
nailed to a pair of longitudinal battens 2. The wings 3 are articulated to the main
frames by the short lengths of steel or iron hoop W, loosely fulcrummed by the
staples 4 which are clinched into the end cross-pieces; these pieces W being
bent at the fulcrum point, serve as key levers to actuate the wings, and also to limit
the movement thereof; springs, not shown, are fitted to the wings to urge them
towards the horizontal or normal position.
"
5 is the cloth forming the "field," which is folded over the wings and tacked to
the underside thereof, (see Fig. 11).
men
"
The circles shown in Figs. I and V are the positions on the field which we term
and they are adapted to be actuated, that is to say lifted about three
quarters of an inch, by the corresponding key levers. The correspondence between
the men and their respective key levers is preferably indicated in the actual
structure by distinctive colouring. As shown in Figs. II and III, light wooden
battens 7 are placed under the men 6' so that they are actuated in sets of two and

page_text: three; these battens are glued to the under side of the field cloth lying in gaps left
between the cross-pieces 1.
It will be understood that the positions of the single men in the wings are
conventional, as each wing is raised as a whole.
The levers 6 are hinged to the cross-pieces 1 by means of thin strips of steel or
other elastic metal 8, shown to an enlarged scale in Figs. VII and VIII. The
positions of these hinges are shown by the dotted lines marked in Fig. II, each
being at the edge of one of the cross-pieces 1. The strips are simply nailed to
the levers and to the cross-pieces, their elasticity being sufficient to allow the
necessary play of the lever and to give the key end of the latter an upward spring.
9 are fixed pegs to guide the levers laterally and 10 are pieces fixed to the ends of
the levers, to engage with and lift the batteus 7 when the keys are operated ; felt
is fitted between surfaces exposed to impact so as to deaden the noise and ease the
touch.
In the case of the goal levers G, shown to an enlarged scale in Figs. VI and VII
the piece 10' is fixed to the goal levers and also to the strip of metal 11 and to the
field cloth 5, a fold of which is inserted between 10 and 11, the result being to
extend the influence of the goal key lever over a considerable length of the end of
the field cloth, which is otherwise free.
The field is fenced in by the wing boundary wires 12 and the goal boundary
wires 13, which fit detachably in holes in the wood-work, (see Fig. V);
Referring now to Figs. IX, X, and XI; these figures are respectively analogous
to Figs. II, III, and VII, and as already stated, have reference to the form of the
game in which each lever operates one
only; in other respects the
construction is similar to that already described.
"man
"
In place of the battens 7, the blocks 14 mounted elastically on the metal strips 15
are used, and the ends of the key levers 6 are adapted to bear under and raise these
blocks, each lever being arranged to operate one block only, so that the number of
levers is considerably greater than in the first arrangement. Gaps are no longer
left between the cross-pieces 1, the blocks 14 playing through holes cut in the cross-
pieces.
In the case of the goal lever G¹ (Fig. XI), the piece 101 is elastically mounted
on the metal strip 15 which is adapted to be lifted by the goal lever G', fulcrummed
at 16 on the wooden cross-piece as shown in dotted lines. With the object already
stated, these parts are so arranged that the full lift of the piece 10¹¹ can only be
effected by a smart stroke of the lever G', so as to take advantage of the inertia
of 1011.
If it be desired to adapt the game for several players arranged in "sides,"
the levers may be arranged transversely or partly longitudinally and partly
transversely, so as to distribute the keys and leave more room for the players.
In playing the game, it should be set on a fairly level table, and the time for
play be divided into two halves, as in the actual game, the players changing
ends at half-time, (without changing the position of the game), so as to equalise the
conditions.
It will be seen that our invention is applicable generally to parlour modifications
of games similar in character to foot-ball, and that the actual details of construction
are susceptible of considerable modification.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is ;-
1. In games of the kind herein described, a flexible field and means, adapted to
be operated by key levers or the like, for locally lifting the said field so that a ball
may be propelled thereon by actuating the said key levers; substantially as
described and illustrated.
2. In games of the kind herein described, the use of the lifting wings to centre
the ball; substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: 3. The improved game substantially as described and illustrated in Figs. I
to VIII.
4. The improved game, substantially as described and illustrated in Figs. 1X
to XI.
Dated this 18th day of August 1896.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26 Castle Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicants.