Improvements in and relating to Rings for Boxing Contests.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by EUGENE VAN SCHAICK, of No. 6, Wall Street,
New York City, New York, United States of America, Lawyer.]
Improvements in and relating to Rings for Boxing Contests.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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 has for its objects;
First. The arrangement of the ropes in a boxer's ring in such manner that they
will protect the contestants from injury at the corners or supports where the ropes
are sustained.
Second. To facilitate the stretching of the ring ropes; and
Third. To afford as little obstruction as possible to the view of the ring to
surrounding spectators.
These several objects are accomplished by the improved boxers' ring hereinafter
described.
It has heretofore been the custom in the construction of roped rings for boxers to
stretch the ropes from posts secured in the corners of the platform upon which the
contestants stand and to protect the boxers from injury by padding the posts with
With such a structure there is
cloth, rubber or other analogous yielding material.
great danger of serious injury to the contestants when suddenly forced into any one
of the corners or in close proximity to these sustaining posts. Furthermore such
posts being located directly in the corners necessarily greatly impede the view to
lookers-on when the contestants are in any one of the corners.
This invention is designed to overcome these objections and it will be fully
understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the improved apparatus, and
Figure 2 a side elevation.
Figures 3 and 4 are detail views illustrating the manner of securing the ropes to
the corner posts.
Referring now to the drawing in detail, F represents a board flooring or platform
of an ordinary 24 foot boxers' ring sustained upon trusses or uprights T T at the
usual distance from the floor. PPPP represent four corner posts preferably of
metallic tubing secured either to the floor or to the lower portion of the platform
and extending therethrough to the required height, as shown in Figure 2.
RRR are the ropes which constitute the ring, in this instance three in number.
HHH are hooks screw-threaded into the iron posts P and located in alignment
with each other at the desired distance apart, there being three of these hooks
arranged on the inner side of each of the posts. S S S are short guys or stays of
rope or elastic material provided at their opposite ends with metal eyes E E', the
eyes E¹ being adapted to receive the hooks H, and the eyes E the ropes R which
constitute the ring.
R' represents rubber or analogous soft packing arranged around the eyes E next
the inner side of the ring. K are cleats such as are used on sailing vessels, flag
staffs, and the like, for securing halliards, guys, or other ropes, said cleats being
secured to one of the corner posts P as shown in the upper right hand of Figure 1
of the drawing.
The several sets of guys or stays S having been secured in position upon the
hooks H, the ropes R are threaded through the inner eyes E and they are then all

page_text: drawn to their utmost tension and securely held by the cleats K, or any other
attachment on some one of the posts P.
A ring as thus constructed prevents the contestants from coming in contact with
the corner posts, and the elastic or yielding nature of the suspension guys or stays S,
which may be of rubber or coiled springs, is such as to prevent any possibility of
serious injury from the ropes.
This invention is not limited to any special means for securing the ropes of
boxers' rings at points inside the corner of sustaining posts, as it is believed to he
broadly new with the inventor to construct a guy-supported ring of ropes as herein
described.
Nor is the invention limited to corner posts P for securing the stays as any
exterior supports may be utilized.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :—
1. A boxer's ring having one or more ropes sustained by guys or stays attached
to corner posts, as described.
2. A boxers' ring consisting of a platform and one or more ropes sustained by
guys or stays attached to corner posts, substantially as described.
3. A platform, corner posts secured thereto and one or more ring ropes attached
to said corner posts by short stays or guys, substantially as described.
4. A platform and one or more ring ropes supported above said platform by
corner stays or guys attached to fixed points, substantially as described.
5. A boxers' ring consisting of a series of ropes sustained at various points by
guys or stays attached to fixed supports, substantially as described.
6. A boxers' ring consisting of one or more ropes; a series of short stays or guys
joining the ropes to the posts and means for securing the ropes under tension,
substantially as described."
7. A boxers' ring consisting of a series of ropes threaded through eyes in the
ends of short stays or guys attached to corner posts, in combination with means for
securing the ropes under tension substantially as described.
8. A boxers' ring consisting of one or more ropes secured to corner posts by
elastic or yielding guys or stays and held under tension by means secured to one of
the posts, substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day of November 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.