An Improved Parlour Game of Skill with Apparatus or Appliances for Playing the same.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 14th Apr., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Parlour Game of Skill with Apparatus or Appliances
for Playing the same.
We WALTER KERSHAW of Kershaws' Bazaar, Blackpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Fancy Goods Dealer, and JOHN BENTLEY BRIERLEY of 103 Camp
Street, Broughton, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Traveller, 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 and accompanying drawings:
Our said invention relates to improved parlour games of skill and refers also to
the means or appliances for carrying the invention into effect. The game is intended
to develope qualities of skill and judgment in shooting balls at marks or into orifices
or spaces, the success of the player being marked by a greater or less number of
points corresponding to the difficulty of the shot. To give greater interest to the
game we form the marks, preferably but not necessarily, in the form of well known
public or private erections or objects which might be varied according to the town
or part of the country in which the game is sold. Thus, a local interest may be
imparted to the pieces comprising the appliances. For instance the leading object
of interest in Blackpool is the Blackpool Tower made on the principle of the Eiffel
Tower. Therefore for sale in Blackpool or Lancashire we would make the main
piece as a miniature imitation of the tower. In the same manner, other noted
erections or buildings might be imitated in other towns or places. Referring to the
toy imitation of the tower, we make the said imitation cheaply from tinned sheet
metal, pasteboard or other suitable material and paint it in attractive colours. One
side of the tower is pierced by a succession of numbered orifices or compartments
which may decrease in size towards the top, the mark giving the highest number
being represented for example by a flag flying from the top of the tower.
To project the balls we use a spring catapult or a trap and bat and the success of
the player depends upon his skill and judgment in shooting the balls at the indicated
marks. The balls may be of different colours to distinguish the players.
In order that our invention may be clearly understood we have attached hereto an
illustrative sheet of drawings to which we will now refer.
Fig. 1 on the said sheet is a representation of a toy imitation of the Steel Tower
at Blackpool. The tower is surmounted by a flag numbered 12; beneath it is a
crows nest numbered 11; beneath, an orifice numbered 10, and so on down towards
the foot of the tower the holes preferably increasing in size as they near the foot the
lowest hole being numbered 1. Shelves may be placed beneath each of the holes.
In conjunction with this tower we use a ball or balls which are of such a size as to
pass easily through the numbered orifices in the tower, and players of approved skill
may be handicapped by being required to play with balls of a larger size than the
others, so as to render their task more difficult.
The balls are thrown towards the tower by means of a mangonel or catapult,
The base a of this spring
formed from a piece of bent wire and illustrated by Fig. 2.
mangonel is held on the table by one hand and the spring arm a' manipulated by the
other. The ball b is placed in an eye or pocket in the spring arm a' and when this
spring arm is drawn back and released the ball b is projected towards the tower.
The player scores the number of points gained, in accordance with the orifice he
enters or flag struck, the lowest score being hole No. 1 at the foot and the highest
the flag No. 12, at the peak of the tower.
Instead of the spring mangonel or catapult shown in Fig. 2 we might use a trap
or kicker to provel or throw the balls at the tower. A suitable trap is shown at

page_text: Fig. 3 and a striker at Fig. 4. The trap is made from bent wire, the base c resting
on the table, while the bent sides c¹ form pivots to support the swinging frame d also
formed from bent wire. The frame d has an eye at each end which takes the
ball to be projected at the tower. When the ball has been placed on one end of the
frame d ris. the end furthest from the tower the other end is struck by the striker
and the ball is thrown in a parabolic curve towards the tower. This trap and
striker arrangement requires greater skill than the aforesaid mangonel or spring
catapult. We do not however confine ourselves to either the trap or striker or
mangonel, as a spring mortar or barrel might be used to throw the balls.
Instead of numbers to designate the different orifices in the tower we might use
words or letters to designate the relative scoring. Also instead of orifices we might
fix cups to receive the balls thrown or hang bells or other objects in the orifices or
erect flags capable of being struck down by the balls. The whole of the
appliances for playing the game may be neatly packed into a box and can be sold
at a moderate price.
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. The improved parlour game of skill and the various means or appliances
for playing the same, substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated.
2. The described means or appliances for playing the improved parlour game
herein before referred to, the said means and appliances consisting of a mark or ball
receptacle assuming preferably the form of some well known public or private
building or edifice and fashioned with orifices or marks at which balls are shot or
thrown by suitable appliances such as the indicated spring mangonel or trap and
striker or other shooting or throwing means substantially as hereinbefore described
and shown.
Dated this 13th day of March 1894.
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.