A Marine Billiard Table and Adjuncts thereto.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 27th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 31st Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Marine Billiard Table and Adjuncts thereto.
We, JAMES CRAWFURD BAYLEY, of 8, Tredegar Road, Bow, London, E.,
Warehouseman, and THOMAS HENRY COOPER, of 36, Hancock Road, Bromley,
London, E., Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
A table upon which any game that is now played upon ordinary billiard
tables, can be played on board ship.
To be constructed with or without legs, the bed to be faced with sheet steel, or
any other metal, also any hard wood, polished, the sides to be fitted with india
rubber cushions and to have six pockets.
The objects to be played with hereinafter called balls, to be shaped as follows-
the bottoms to be slightly concave, sides perpendicular; tops curved ball shape
(convex) bottoms weighted with lead let in a groove running all round, or in holes
at equal distances.
These balls to be made of ivory or any hard heavy wood shape may be varied,
also proportion of diameter to height.
The impetus (a sliding motion) to be given with a cue or mace.
May be converted into a table for the cannon game only, by placing a frame fitted
with cushions on the table shutting off the pockets, and slightly reducing the size.
Another game may be played by placing partitions at the top side of table, large
enough to admit each a ball, a ball to be placed on a line outside each partition, the
player endeavouring to knock one into its place between the partitions, at each
stroke the striking ball to first strike a ball placed on a fixed spot, rules as to
number of points, &c., and mode of playing to be made hereafter.
21st Moah 1800
JAMES CRAWFURD BAYLEY.
T. H. COOPER.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Marine Billiard Table and Adjuncts thereto.
We, JAMES CRAWFORD BAYLEY, of 8, Tredegar Road, Bow, E., Warehouse-
man, and THOMAS HENRY COOPER, of 36, Hancock Road, Bromley-by-Bow, E.,
in the County of London, Clerk, 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 :-
This invention relates to a novel construction of a billiard table, and the adjuncts
thereto so as to admit of billiards or other similar games being played on board ship
without the action of gravity interfering to any material extent with the movement
of the balls or other objects when the ship rolls or pitches causing the surface of the
table to take a position out of the horizontal.
In order that our invention may be the better understood we now proceed to
describe the same in relation to the drawing hereunto annexed, reference being had
to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a perspective sectional view of our table in part.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of one form of body used in substitution for the
ordinary billiard ball which for purposes of description we will hereafter designate
the term "hall"

page_text: Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the same.
Figure 4 is a perspective view of another form of ball weighted with lead at its
lower part.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of the same.
Figure 6 is a vertical section of a further modification in the ball with hollow
space in upper part.
Figure 7 is a transverse section of the side of the table with a modified cushion.
Figure 8 is a reduced plan of the same.
Figure 9 shows another section of elastic cushion.
Figure 10 shows the partitions arranged upon the table for playing other games
as described.
The construction of our improved billiard table is as follows:-
We may form it as a table with legs attached thereto as a whole, or in the form
of a billiard board which may be supported upon any ordinary table and clamped
thereto by any suitable means. As shown in Figure 1 the material A. of which the
upper surface of the table is composed may be sheet steel or other metal, hard
wood polished, plate glass, polished marble, slate, earthenware, metal enamelled or
glazed or wood cut in blocks, or otherwise, so that the grain shall be perpendicular
and the surface polished, and they may be mounted on an elastic lining such as
indiarubber.
When plate or other glass or transparent material is used as the surface material
we provide green or other coloured cloth B fitted directly beneath the said glass A
upon which cloth can be marked the baulk line and other necessary spots in a similar
manner to that upon existing billiard tables, with the exception that the spot marked
must be of the same size as the bottom of the balls or equivalently a ring may be
used of the same diameter in order that the balls may be placed exactly concentric
with the spots underneath the glass. A sheet of gutta-percha or other flexible
material may be fitted under the cloth and the whole being afterwards backed up
with wood in the form of boards, or in any other equivalent manner.
The cushions G as shown in Figure 1 may be similar in form and character
to those used on billiard tables at present in use the only difference being that
the height of the round part of the cushion upon which the ball strikes must
be lower than in the ordinary case as the centre of gravity of our special balls
is much lower than that of the ordinary spherical billiard ball.
We may however use a modified cushion as shown in Figures 7 & 8 which
consists of a series of metal springs Cattached to the side frame of the table D
at one point and to a flexible connecting strip E at the other which presses
against the cushion forcing it out.
The flexible strip E may be formed either of a length of flexible material
such as india-rubber, or may be composed of a series of sections of wood or
similar material one section being attached to one spring and the whole number
of sections being linked together by a strip of elastic material upon the outside
as shown in Figure 8.
In place of the cushion as shown in Figures 1 & 7 we may use one of the
section shown in Figure 9.
The balls may be of the form shown in Figures 2 & 3 where it is a domed
topped cylinder having a concave base in which the height is considerably less
than the diameter, or they may be of the form shown in Figures 4 & 5 which
is that of a segment of a sphere, the base upon which the segment rests being
concave, and a certain amount of lead or other heavy material being inserted in the
base thereof preferably in the form of a ring, in order to reduce the height of the
centre of gravity of the body, otherwise if this were not done the ball would be
liable to turn over and over instead of sliding along.
Another method of reducing the height of the centre of gravity is shown in
Figure 6 in which no lead or other heavy material is used, but the upper part of the
bail is hollowed out, this being effected by making the ball in halves.
We do not
confine ourselves to the particular method mentioned for effecting the low disposition

page_text: of the centre of gravity as it is obvious that this may be effected in many
ways:-
The balls may be made of any hard wood such as boxwood, ebony, or of ivory
similar to those at present used. The method of playing upon our marine billiard
table is as follows:-
The ball is struck by a cue or mace in the ordinary manner, the impulse trans-
mitted to it making it move with a sliding motion upon the glass or polished surface
of the table in a similar manner to the rolling of a ball on an ordinary billiard table.
The usual side or bias may be given but it is obvious that the effect of striking an
ordinary billiard ball either above the centre or below cannot be effected in our
invention. The table may be arranged for a cannon game by placing a frame fitted
with cushions upon the surface of the table so shutting off the pockets. Or a further
game may be played by placing a frame F having partitions at the top side of the
table, the space between the partitions being large enough to admit only one ball, as
shown in Figure 10.
A white ball is placed in a line with each partition and two red balls are
placed at a a.
The player plays from baulk it being optional to play direct on a white ball or to
cannon off the red, in the event of his placing one of the balls red or white into the
space between the partitions after cannoning, the value of the stroke to be doubled,
in any case the placing of the striking ball in a space to count against the player
according to the value of the stroke, if off the red the penalty to be doubled.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we.
claim is :-
1st. A billiard table having a bed with a highly glazed upper surface and elastic
cushions around its sides.
2nd. In combination with a billiard table frame, supports, and surrounding elastic
cushions, a bed of polished or enamelled glass, steel, or other metal, marble, slate,.
earthenware or polished wood mounted on an indiarubber or clastic lining, substan-
tially as described.
3rd. In combination with a billiard table frame, supports, and surrounding elastic
cushions a bed of transparent polished material such as glass mounted on an under
green or coloured cloth showing certain markings and an indiarubber or other elastic
lining, substantially as described.
4th. The combination with a billiard table frame, supports, elastic cushions, and
highly polished or enamelled bed, of balls or blocks for playing games thereon,.
which have a flat or concave face, and a lowered centre of gravity to enable them to
slide thercon without overturning under the impact of a cue or mace, substantially
as described.
5th. The specific form and construction of balls or blocks for sliding upon such a
billiard table, substantially as illustrated and described in relation to Figures 2, 3,.
4, 5, and 6
D
1900
han 1000
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.