A NEW AND IMPROVED CRICKET AND PLAYING BALL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hamlet Nicholson, of Drake Street, in the Borough
of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Shopkeeper, for the Invention
of "A NEW AND IMPROVED CRICKET AND PLAYING BALL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hamlet Nicholson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
June 1860.
I, HAMLET NICHOLSON, of Drake Street, in the Borough of Rochdale, in the
County of Lancaster, Shopkeeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED CRICKET AND PLAYING BALL," to be as
follows:-
First, I employ for the manufacture of the inner body of the ball, cotton,
either cleaned or uncleaned, hemp, wool, or other fibrous substance, closely
compressed, and either containing or without a central substance or core com-
posed of cobler's wax or other adheasive material.
Second, I bind the said inner body together with cotton or other threads, so
as to cause it to retain its proper form until the application of the outer
covering or case.
Third, I employ gutta percha for the outer covering or case, applied in a
warm and plastic state, so as to adhere together and to the said inner body;
and while in a soft state I place the same in a mould of the required size and
form, and apply pressure thereto to give to the ball its true form and sufficient
solidity.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hamlet Nicholson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, HAMLET
NICHOLSON, of Drake Street, in the Borough of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, Shopkeeper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Hamlet Nicholson, Her special licence that I, the said Hamlet Nicholson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hamlet
Nicholson, 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 "A NEW AND IMPROVED
CRICKET AND PLAYING BALL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Hamlet Nicholson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain 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 Hamlet Nicholson, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, that is to say :-
In manufacturing cricket and playing balls according to my Invention,
firstly, I employ for the inner body of the ball, cotton, either cleaned or un-
cleaned, hemp, wool, or other fibrous or filamentous substance, closely com-
pressed, and containing (or without) a central substance or core composed of
cobler's wax, gutta percha, or any adhesive substance, or of wood, or other
bard light substance, covered or coated with glue, cobler's wax, or other
adhesive matter.
Secondly, I bind the said inner body together with cotton or other threads
or twine, so as to cause it to retain its proper form until the application of the
outer covering or case

page_text: Thirdly, I employ gutta percha (either by itself or blended or mixed with a
similar material) for the outer covering or case, applied in a warm and plastic
state, so as to adhere together and to the said inner body, and while in a soft
state I place the same in a mould of the required size and form (previously
oiled or otherwise prepared, to prevent adhesion), and apply pressure thereto,
in order to give to the ball its true form and sufficient solidity.
In some cases where it is thought desirable that the outer cover of the ball
should be of leather, I proceed to make the compound ball in the same manner
as above described, excepting that I make the ball the thickness of the leather
smaller, and then cover the ball with leather in the ordinary way.
This compound ball will be found to be much lighter, harder, more elastic,
and far more durable than cricket and playing balls as usually constructed, and
if made of suitable size and weight, it may be used for other games besides
cricket, such as goff, tennis, rounders, or ordinary playing ball.
Having now fully described the nature and object of my said Invention for
"A New and Improved Cricket and Playing Ball," together with the manner
in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I would remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention, the
manufacture of such articles, by first making a body of cotton or other fibrous
or filamentous material (either with or without the inner core, as above
described), and after binding the same with thread or twine, coating this body
with gutta percha in a plastic state (either by itself or in any of its com-
pounds), and moulding the same by pressure, whether such compound ball so
formed may or may not be subsequently covered with leather in the ordinary
way.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hamlet Nicholson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
30 Signed, sealed, and delivered in the
presence of
OCTAVIUS MARCH,
Clerk to Owen March, Solicitor,
Rochdale.
HAMLET NICHOLSON. (L.S.)