GAME AR CROCHER
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Langrishe Fyers Banks, of the Royal Hospital,
Kilmainham, in the County of Dublin, Esquire, for the Invention
MED GAME AR CROCHER"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Langrishe Fyers Banks
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st July 1869.
I, LANGRISHE FYERS BANKS, of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, in
the County of Dublin, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MARKERS FOR THE GAME OF CROQUET," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved markers to be used in the game of
croquet, and consists essentially in constructing the said markers in the
form of a small tablet of ivory or other suitable material to be worn on
the person
of each player, such tablet containing a miniature diagram
of the game, the positions of the hoops and starting and winning pegs
being indicated by holes made in the tablet in corresponding positions.

page_text: Or a diagram of one-half the game may be made on each side of the
tablet. A small marking peg or pin, which may be of the color of the
player's croquet ball, is attached by a thread or fine chain to the said
tablet, such pin being composed by preference of whalebone, gutta
percha, or some slightly elastic material, so that when inserted into any
one of the holes in the tablet it will remain secure therein. Should the
player be playing two balls then an additional pin of corresponding color
to the second ball will be employed. Arrows are marked on the tablets
indicating the direction of the course of the player to and from the
winning and starting pegs. In lieu of pins a slide or slides may be
employed or a hand or indicator used moving along the face or faces of
the tablet as required, or an adjustable sliding clip may be fitted on to
the edge of the tablet with a raised stud in it which drops into the
different holes in the tablet. These tablets may be made small enough
to be worn as "charms" on the watch chain if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Langrishe Fyers Banks in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LANGRISHE
FYERS BANKS, of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, in the County of
Dublin, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the 33rd
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Langrishe Fyers Banks, Her special
license that I, the said Langrishe Fyers Banks, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Langrishe Fyers
Banks, my executors, administrators, or 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 MARKERS FOR THE GAME OF CROQUET," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Langrishe Fyers Banks, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, 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 Langrishe Fyers Banks, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improved markers to be used in the
game of croquet, and consists essentially in constructing the said markers
in the form of a small tablet of ivory or other suitable material to be
worn on the person of each player, such tablet containing a miniature
diagram of the "game," viz., the direct course of a ball from the starting
peg to the winning peg, the positions of the hoops and pegs being
indicated by holes made in the tablet in corresponding positions. Or a
diagram of one-half the "game" may be made on each side of the tablet.
A small marking peg or pin, which may be of the color of the player's
croquet ball, is attached by a thread or fine chain to the said tablet, such
pin being composed by preference of whalebone, ebonite, or gutta percha,
or some slightly elastic material, so that when inserted into any one of the
holes in the tablet it will remain secure therein. Should the player be
playing two balls, then an additional pin of corresponding color to the
second ball will be employed. Arrows are marked on the tablets
indicating the direction of the course of the player to and from the
winning and starting pegs. In lieu of pins a slide or slides may be
employed, or a hand or indicator used moving along the face or faces of
the tablet as required, or an adjustable sliding clip may be fitted on to
the edge of the tablet with a raised stud in it which drops into the
different holes in the tablet. These tablets may be made small enough
to be worn as "charms on the watch chain if desired.
"
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
I shall refer to the various Figures on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, which illustrates some of the various forms of croquet markers
which may be adopted in carrying out my said Invention.

page_text: a is a tablet consisting of a piece of flat ivory; bone, mother-of-pearl,
colored enamel, or other material, and of various shapes or designs,
some of which I have shewn full size, and say about one-sixteenth
this tablet is to be
to one-eighth of an inch in thickness; on
marked a diagram in black or colored lines or produced by inlaid
metals representing the course of a croquet ball on its journey to
the furthest peg from the "starting peg." This will be virtually a
diagram of half the game, as shewn in Figure 4, but if desired a full
diagram of the game may be given, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, 5,
and 6; along this line the positions of the hoops and the middle peg are
to be indicated by holes drilled right through, as represented in the
accompanying diagrams. It is obvious that similar lines drawn past
the same holes on the reverse of the ivory tablet (Figure 4) will shew the
return course of the ball to the "winning peg." The position of the
player in the game, viz., the hoop through which his ball has next to pass
or the peg which it has next to strike, is to be marked by a small peg b
made to fit tightly into the holes in the tablet, which peg is to be
inserted in the corresponding hole in the diagram on the ivory tablet or
marker a, at one side or the other according as the ball is going from
the "starting peg" or returning to the "winning peg," the course on
either side of the marker being distinctly shewn by well defined arrows
pointing in the direction of the course, as will be seen in the diagrams,
the peg being shifted by the player as the game advances. Should two
balls be used by the one player the position of the second ball may be
marked in like manner by a second small peg b', Figure 1, of a different
color or attached by a cord of a different color, there being a second hole
for the purpose in the marker. These small pegs b and b' are to be
secured by pieces of chain, silk, cord, or other suitable material c, c', to
the ring d fastened to the end of the marker or tablet, by which ring it
is to be suspended as a "charm" to the watch chain or to a cord round
the neck, or to a hook for the waistcoat button hole, or otherwise carried
on the person. Sets of these charm croquet markers might be supplied
with croquet sets to be used by the different players, each peg being
colored to correspond respectively with the balls.
I do not confine myself to any particular form of tablet or to the
adoption of ivory or other material for their manufacture, nor to the use
of pegs of whalebone or other material, as a slide or hand may obviously
be employed, moved so as to mark or indicate the "position" of the
player on the tablet. The marker being carried, about the person of

page_text: the player may be readily referred to at any moment, or his "position"
shewn to a friend without a word being spoken.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the con-
struction and use of croquet markers intended to be carried about the
person of the player and containing a miniature diagram of the game,
the progress of which is indicated on the marker by a peg or other
indicator, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Langrishe Fyers Banks, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
eighth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
LANGRISHE FYERS BANKS. (L.S.)