Improvements in Playing Boards for Chess, Draughts, and similar Games.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 21st May, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 13th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 12th Mar.,
1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Playing Boards for Chess, Draughts, and similar
Games.
JOHN ALEXANDER GIRLING, The Crescent, Douglas, Isle of Man, Photographer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The playing boards on which the games of chess draughts and other similar
games are played are usually divided into squares of black and white or of a light
and a dark colour alternately. The object of my invention is to substitute for the
plain printed alternate black and white or light and dark coloured squares or
spaces printed photographic pictures or designs, or pictures or designs printed in
colours or inks or tints. These pictures or designs may be produced by any desired
mechanical process or photographic process or combination of processes, utilizing a
light picture for a light coloured or white square and a dark picture for a dark
coloured or black square, or by utilizing an occasional light or dark square to exhibit
a picture as may be desired. I can produce these playing boards as follows and by
this means I utilize the picture as the dark square and a blank space as the light
square. I select such pictures, photographs or designs as I desire to reproduce
and arrange them on a light coloured or white board or other suitable ground
leaving between each a vacant space so that they may be arranged to represent
the alternate light and dark squares of the chess or draught board. I then take
a photographic negative or negatives of the size I may desire and from this or
these can reproduce after the necessary treatment and processes a print, or prints
which will represent the playing ground of the chess or draught board and may
be mounted on any suitable support. which may be arranged to fold up if desired,
or prints may be made direct from the negative on to any suitable support such
as wood etc., or the negative itself may be utilized as a draught or chess board by
being suitably treated or if taken on sensitive collodion and being backed and
finished in any desired manner. By photographing the pictures with a dark
ground the pictures may represent the light squares, and the dark ground, the
dark squares.
Improvements in Playing Boards for Chess, Draughts, and similar
Games.
I, JOHN ALEXANDER GIRLING, of The Crescent, Douglas, Isle of Man, Photo-
grapher, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My invention relates to checkered boards for use in playing the games of chess,
draughts, and other similar games.
Such boards are at present divided into alternate black and white or light and
dark or coloured squares.
The object of my invention is to render such boards more artistic and pleasing
in appearance, whereby they may not only serve the purpose of a checkered board
but also be a work of art and in some cases a souvenir of localities or of persons
or of matters of interest.
a
According to my invention I form the checkered surface of such
board, of pictures, designs, or letterpress, or pictures, designs or letter-
press alternated with blank spaces, or pictures or designs alternated with
letterpress, instead of plain black and white or light and dark checks as at present.
Such pictures, designs, or letterpress may form either the light or the dark checks
of the surface. Where pictures form all the checks of the surface, alternate pic-
tures are printed or otherwise depicted in different shades or different colours.
Where picture checks are alternated with checks containing letterpress, either
may form the dark check, according to the shade or colour in which they are
printed. Picture checks will. in many cases bear letterpress referring to the sub-
ject of the picture.
In producing checkered boards according to my invention, I employ any suit-
able mechanical, artistic, or photographic process, or a combination of two or more
of such processes.
:
To produce a checker surfaced board by photographic means, I first select such
pictures, photographs or designs as I desire to reproduce and cut them to a size,
and I arrange them on a light coloured or white board or other suitable surface
or background, leaving between each picture or design a vacant space equal in
area to the surface of the picture. The pictures and vacant, spaces thus represent
the alternate light and dark squares of a checkered board. If the selected pictures
or designs are arranged upon a dark background, instead of a light background,
the said pictures will represent the light squares and the vacant spaces of dark
background will represent the dark squares of a checkered board.
I then take a photographic negative or negatives of such pictures and vacant
spaces, of the size I may desire, and from such negatives (or from enlargements
of small negatives) I produce, either direct or after any suitable treatment or
processes, a print or prints which represent the checkered surface or playing ground
of a chess or draught board.
A print thus obtained is mounted on any suitable support or backing, which
may be arranged to fold up if desired. In some cases the board may be glazed,
varnished, or otherwise treated to preserve the pictured surface from wear.
Instead of mounting prints upon a board, I may print from a negative direct
on any suitably prepared material, such as wood, papier-mache, or the like. The
negative itself may be utilized as a draught or chess board, after being suitably
treated and backed or mounted; or a positive may be taken and be then backed
and finished in any desired manner.
To produce a checker surfaced board by a combined photographic and mechani-
cal process, I obtain a zincograph or I employ the collotype, Woodbury, or other
suitable and well known process to produce a printing surface-either in line or
half tone from a photographic negative obtained as above specified, and from
such a printing surface an impression is taken which serves as the required
checkered surface. Another process will consist in first obtaining a number of
small printing. blocks, each the size of a check or square of a checkered board,
according to the collotype, or other process, and in arranging these blocks with
or without vacant spaces to give a print which forms the playing surface; or the
printing may be done directly on the board. Such blocks being movable, they

page_text: may be re-arranged, or have others substituted for them, and may be interspaced
with letterpress.
To produce a checker surfaced board by a mechanical process, I employ movable
blocks as described in the preceding paragraph, using engraved blocks, electro-
types or other printing blocks. Or I employ ordinary lithographic or letterpress
printing, using pictures and letterpress either separately or in combination, and
with or without vacant intermediate spaces, to form light and dark checks.
Where colour printing is employed, alternate picture checks, or alternate letter-
press checks, or picture and letterpress checks alternately, are printed in different
colours or different shades of the same colour, or in the same colour or shade.
I would have it understood that there are means, other than those above de-
scribed, whereby a checkered surface according to my invention may be produced,
which come within the scope of my invention. Thus pictured checks may be
hand-painted or drawn upon any suitable surface, or may be engraved or etched
upon metal, wood, or ivory, or may be formed of a mosaic of separate blocks or
pieces bearing pictures and blank surfaces. Such or equivalent means may be
employed when cost of production is not a consideration.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
A playing surface for draughts, chess, and similar games, wherein the light and
dark gradations or checks consist of pictures, designs, or letterpress, of different
shades or colours, or of the same shade, and with or without blank intermediate
spaces, arranged and produced substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day of January 1898.
J. A. COUBROUGH,
Registered Patent Agent (Qual. by Exam.),
10, St. George's Crescent, Liverpool, Agent for the Applicant.