AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR MARKING OUT LAWN TENNIS COURTS, OR THE CREASES FOR CRICKET, OR SIMILAR MARKINGS FOR OTHER GAMES."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Coote at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 16th March 1881.
EDWARD COOTE, of New Wimbledon, in the County of Surrey. AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR MARKING OUT LAWN TENNIS COURTS, OR THE
CREASES FOR CRICKET, OR SIMILAR MARKINGS FOR OTHER GAMES."
This Invention relates to certain improvements in apparatus to be used in
marking the base, serving, or boundary lines, in marking out the "courts" in the
game of lawn tennis, or in marking the " creases in the game of cricket, or in
making other similar markings in or for other games; the special object of the
Invention being to provide a greater facility of controlling the supply of the liquid
whitening or other marking liquid to the marking wheel, so as to avoid waste and
obtain a better control over the marking.
In carrying my Invention into practice I lead a shallow channel or spout of
about the width of the marking wheel from the bottom of the usual receptacle of
the whitening or marking liquid, and as near to the fore end of the receptacle as is
convenient to over the wheel, instead of leading it from the front side of the
receptacle as is usual; and in lieu of the usual vertical slide by which the supply
of the marking liquid has been hitherto controlled, I use a horizontal valve, the
bottom of which is provided with a facing of india-rubber or other suitable elastic
or yielding material, and beds upon a slightly raised well which encircles the
opening in the bottom of the receptacle through which the marking liquid obtains
access to the said channel or spout, and thence to the marking wheel by which it
is transferred to the ground. The above mentioned valve works between vertical
guide standards rising from the bottom of the receptacle and united by a bridge-
piece through which a vertical rod which rises from the valve passes, and in and
guided by which it works, the part of the rod which is between the bridge-piece
and the valve being encircled by a spiral spring which has a constant tendency to
keep the valve closed down upon the exit opening of the marking liquid. The
upper end of the rod rising from the valve is connected by a link to one arm of a
bell-crank lever centred in a standard rising from the bottom of the receptacle,
the other arm of the lever being connected to one end of a pull rod, the other end

page_text: of which extends to near the handle by which the machine is driven or pushed
along and rests upon a catch projecting from the handle bar, and is formed with a
notch or notches, so that it can be pulled into the desired position by hand and be
held by the said catch, and thus raise the valve against the resistance of its spring
so as to allow of the outflow of the marking liquid to the marking wheel.
Immediately the required marking has been effected the pull rod is released from
the catch, and the spring immediately closes the valve down and prevents the
further issue of the marking liquid.
I do not limit myself to the use of the above described means for actuating the
valve, as I may use a chain for actuating the bell-crank lever or other equivalent
means than the bell lever and its attachments for actuating the valve.
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