IMPROVE- MENTS IN BILLIARD TABLES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Pitts, of the Firm of Messieurs Thurston
and Company, of No. 14, Catherine Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Billiard Table Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BILLIARD TABLES."
Sealed the 11th June 1861, and dated the 13th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Pitts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1860.
I, SAMUEL PITTS, of the Firm of Messieurs Thurston and Company, of
No. 14, Catherine Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Billiard Table
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BILLIARD TABLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in retaining the cushions of billiard tables in a
pliable or flexible state in cold weather or in cold climates by means of a
gradual heat.
I propose placing pipes or tubes in connection with the
cushions, either behind or through them, and passing a current of hot air,
water, or steam through the same, by which means the cushions are kept at
one uniform temperature, and thereby retain their required flexibility. These
pipes or tubes may be placed in any convenient position, the supply pipe
passing through or behind the leg or legs of the table, or otherwise suitably

page_text: fixed, the object being to prevent the cushions becoming rigid in cold weather,
or where situated in a cool atmosphere, and for the purpose of using the native
india-rubber in lieu of the vulcanized.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Pitts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
PITTS, of the Firm of Messieurs Thurston and Company, of No. 14. Catherine
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Billiard Table Manufacturers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs-and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Pitts, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Pitts, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Pitts, my executors, administrators, and 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 BILLIARD
TABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Pitts,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Samuel Pitts, 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,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists in retaining the cushions of billiard tables in a
pliable or flexible state in cold weather or in cold climates by means of a
gradual heat, or softening them when they have become hard and rigid.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now

page_text: proceed to describe the best means am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, as follows:-
I place pipes or tubes in connection with the cushions, either behind or.
through them, and pass a current of hot air, water, or steam through the
same, which means the cushions are kept at one uniform temperature, and
thereby retain their required flexibility. The pipes or tubes may be placed in
any convenient position, the supply pipe passing through or behind the leg.
or legs of the table, or otherwise suitably fixed, the object being to prevent.
the cushions becoming rigid in cold weather, or where situated in a cool
atniosphere, and for the purpose of using the native india-rubber in lieu of
the vulcanized.
Many good players prefer the native or unvulcanized india-rubber, as being.
technically termed "faster" than the vulcanized, but unless there be some
convenient means of keeping it warm in cold weather, or of readily warming
it after it has become hard or set, as native india-rubber is liable to, the native
india-rubber is objectionable. Now, I obviate this evil by the use of hot air,
water, or steam, as herein-before described. When I employ hot air I make
use of a fan or other suitable apparatus, which I attach to the egress tube or
mouth of the supply pipe passing through or behind the leg or legs of the
table, or otherwise; and to the ingress aperture I affix a tube or pipe of metal
communicating with a stand made to receive a piece of iron pipe, in such a
way that a connection is formed between the orifice at which the air enters
the fanning apparatus and the iron pipe; the other end of the pipe is left open
to the atmosphere, and so arranged that it (the tube) can be taken away and
heated in an ordinary kitchen or other fire, and when red hot, or nearly so,
can be replaced in the stand with one end in connection with the pipe leading
to the orifice at which the air enters the fanning apparatus, and the other end
open; I then put the apparatus in motion, thus circulating streams of hot
air throughout the cushions, and they in a few minutes become softened, and
are in a perfect condition for playing upon. When I employ water for
warming the cushions, I use a portable boiler or other convenient vessel
heated by gas, coke, or other convenient means, and then by the aid of a force
pump or other apparatus drive the water through the cushions, and almost
instantly bring them to the most perfect state of elasticity. Or I may prefer
to fill the portable boiler with hot water whenever the same can be obtained,
and force it at once through the cushions, thus dispensing with the gas, coke,
or other means necessary to heat the water in the boiler. And when I use steam
as a warming medium, I simply employ a small copper boiler or other apparatus
properly supplied with water, and having no outlet but through the cushions;

page_text: I then heat it by any of the well-known and convenient processes, and drive
the steam through the cushions and out through. a waste pipe; in a very few
minutes the desired elasticity of the cushions is arrived at.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention of "Improvements
in Billiard Tables," and the manner in which the same may be performed, I
would remark in conclusion, that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein described, as other means tending to the same end may be
employed without in any way departing from the principle of my Invention ;
but what I claim as my Invention intended to be secured to me by the herein
in part recited Letters Patent is, the application of a gradual heat to the
cushions of billiard tables, in the manner (or by similar means) herein described
for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Pitts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE, Agent for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.
SAM. PITTS. (L.B.)