AN IMPROVED METHOD OF REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES AND CERTAIN PORTIONS OF GAMES PLAYED AT BILLIARDS, POOL, PYRAMID POOL, BAGATELLE, PROAL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lea, of 49, Peel Strect, Prince's Park,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES AND CERTAIN
PORTIONS OF GAMES PLAYED AT BILLIARDS, POOL, PYRAMID POOL, BAGATELLE,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lea at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1875.
I, JOHN LEA, of 49, Peel Street, Prince's Park, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMROVED METHOD OF REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES AND
CERTAIN PORTIONS OF GAMES PLAYED AT BILLIARDS, POOL, PYRAMID POOL,
BAGATELLE, AND OTHER SIMILAR GAMES OF SKILL," to be as follows:-

page_text: "
On the
I adopt as the basis of my apparatus a marking board about 30 inches
wide and 24 inches high, or other convenient facial proportions, and of
sufficient depth or thickness to contain the mechanical accessories which
are as follows, viz., for the purpose of recording ordinary games of
"billiards" I employ two rollers of about 2 inches or any other con-
venient diameter, which "rollers are framed in the "marking board
horizontally in two parallel planes extending to the full width of the
' marking board and having at each of their ends a spindle which
passes through the framed side of the " marking board to receive a
knob or handle by which to actuate the roller to revolve.
surface of each roller is painted or printed four series of numbers, of
twenty-five numbers in each series, consecutively but separately presented
to view through an aperture or apertures at the front of the "marking
board," and collectively comprising from number "1" to number "100"
inclusive. At the end of each roller where each series of numbers is
initiated I provide four equidistant holes on its circumference to receive
in its revolutions a spring bolt designed to lock and restrain the revolution
when the travelling index by which the progress of the game is denoted
shall be absent from that end of the roller.
وو
The "travelling index" referred to is placed and moveable in a groove
adjacent and parallel to the "roller," and I affix at the back of each
such index, but within the "marking board," a piece of wood or
metal which operates as a key to unlock and release the "roller" for
remains stationary at
any number of revolutions whilst the "index
that end of the "roller." At the other or right-hand end of each "roller"
there are four equidistant ratcheted indentations, and a click spring
provided to prevent the "roller" moving round in more than one and
the same direction. The said "ratcheted indentations" as well as the
lock sockets are invisible externally.
وو
For the purpose of registering each series of twenty-five points recorded
in any game I employ a metal wheel of arbitrary diameter in connexion
with each "roller" and fix the same within and parallel to the front of
the "marking board on a pivot or stud in a position to be acted upon
by a spring ratchet attached to the back of the " travelling index," and
to engage which spring ratchet the "metal wheel which is suitably" toothed
in its circumference. Each "metal wheel" is connected by a cord
chain, or metal bar with a lever attached to the axis of the initiative
circle of an arbitrary multiple of circles representing a combination of

page_text: accumulating mechanism similar to that employed for registration in
gas meters.
The lever above referred to is arranged to move freely around the axis
to which it is annexed, but has attached to itself a spring pawl which
acts upon a ratchet wheel with exactly twenty teeth, and which is
rigidly fixed on the same axis or centre, and which the said spring pawl
causes to revolve in one direction, but it passes freely over the teeth of
the ratchet wheel in the opposite direction. In each course of the
travelling index" over any series of numbers on the surface of the
"roller" it passes the toothed "metal wheel," which it causes by its
connected "spring ratchet" to revolve just enough to move the lever and
connected ratchet wheel of "the initiative circle" of the registering
dial through one-twentieth of its circumference, and the metal wheel is
retained in its progress by a pin attached to a spring, which "pin"
drops into consecutive holes within the circumference of the metal
wheel until the roller passes in its revolution from the series of numbers
"76 to 100" to the series of numbers "1 to 25, in the course of which
transition the accumulated restraint on "the metal wheel" is removed
by a cam" point on the left hand or "lock" end of the roller, which
"
cam acts upon a lever that momentarily raises the restraining "pin"
from contact with "the metal wheel," which is then instantly brought
back to its original position by a metallic or india-rubber spring connected
with the lever affixed to "the axis of the initiative circle" of the
registering dial, and acting in an opposite direction to the "cord, chain,
or metal bar" which connects the said "lever" with the motor " metal
wheel." Each fraction of a revolution of the "ratchet wheel" affixed to
the axis of the initiative circle" of the system of the indicator is
denoted by an index fixed on the opposite end of the said axis and
visible externally on the disc presenting to view through an aperture in
the front of the "marking board," the multiple of circles constituting
the accumulating capacity of the individual "indicator."
"
<<
"
It is necessary to explain that when either of the metal wheels acted
upon by the travelling indexes has effected its record of any series of
numbers on its associated roller the other metal wheel in its revolution
in connection with the same series of numbers on its companion roller
does not produce any motion of the ratchet wheel of the " initiative
circle of the indicator, which is only acted upon once in connection
with each series of numbers on the rollers by the metal wheel which
"

page_text: takes procedure in motion, and the temporary inertness of the companion
"metal wheel" arises from "slack" in the cord or chain connecting it
with the lever of the initiative circle of the indicator, or if that con-
nection be by a metallic bar thus by a "slot" in each bar.
When this portion of my apparatus is not in legitimate use the two
travelling indexes forming part of it are secured to the left-hand end of
their grooves by a lock, the key of which is intended to be in the
custody of the "marker" or other attendant who may be responsible for
the proceeds of the amount of play recorded on the indicator.
For the purpose of separately recording and "registering" games known
as "pyramid pool" I also employ the agency of rollers, but I fix two
shorter ones, say about 8 inches long, or of other convenient length in
the same plane, either combined in construction in the same "marking
board," with the registration of ordinary games of billiards or in a
seperate construction. These two shorter rollers are pivoted in their
conjunction at one end of each in a mutual block of wood, and at the
other end of each is affixed a spindle to project through the frame of
the “marking board" and receive a knob or handle with which to turn
the roller. On the surface of each roller in arbitrary subdivisions are
printed or painted the numbers, "1 to 16" inclusive, each subdivision
being separately exsposable to view at the front of the "marking board”
through an appropriate aperture.
In order to "register" each game of "pyramid pool" I employ an
indicator exactly like that used by me to "register" the ordinary games of
billiards, and described above, and including the lever and ratchet wheel
affixed to the axis of the leading or initiative circle of the "registering"
disc. To the said lever I attach a cord, chain, or metallic bar, which I
motion pro-
connect with two combined levers, which are actuated
duced by the revolution of either short "roller" and provided by a groove
cut in the concealed end of each short roller through a portion of its
circumference sufficiently to move the index of "the initiated circle of the
registering disc" through our truth of its circumference. This motion
results from the revolution of either of the short rollers which may act
first, and the twin roller thus remains inert for that game. The rollers
are restrained from revolving in more than one and the same direction
by mechanical ratchets and springs or pawls similar to those described
.in connexion with the large rollers employed to denote and register the

page_text: ordinary games of billiards, and these shorter rollers are locked when
not in actual and legitimate use by spring bolts similar to those described
in connection with the large rollers, and are unlocked when required by
a key intended to be always in the custody of the person who may be
responsible for the proceeds of the registration.
{"
"
For the purpose of recording and registering the game known as
pool" in connection with billiards I employ as my basis the ordinary
form of "pool boards," with horizontal slides and small painted or inlaid
discs denoting so called "lives or stars," but I plant this ordinary
facial construction on a hollow frame of sufficient depth to admit the
apparatus herein-after described, viz., at each side of the hollow interior
of my "pool board," and extending over all the "slides," I erect a
vertical pivoted roller of about one inch in diameter. One of these
rollers is designed to be enveloped with several yards of thin tenaceous
paper equal in width to the length of the roller. This store or reserve
roller acts passively, but to the upper pivot of the companion roller I
annex a ratchet wheel with an arbitrary number of teeth for the purpose
of collecting from the "store" or reserve roller its coating of paper.
This collection is gradually made by connecting the sheet of paper with
the ratcheted roller, which is actuated by a bar of wood or metal about
one inch in width, and of the same length as or similar to that of the
wooden rollers, having at one of its sides a pivot extending beyond its
length at each end, and forming its flap into a lever. This "lever is
fixed within the hollow interior of the "pool board," about midway
between and parallel with the "
'paper rollers. On its upper pivot,
which is in the same plane as the ratchet wheel of the collecting roller
and proximate thereto I fix a chaw which is adjusted to the teeth of the
ratchet wheel of the collecting roller. At the back of each " pool "
slide I affix a small block of wood or piece of metal having two raised
points slightly differing in elevation.
"
In drawing out each slide the first and more clevated of thesc points
is adapted to act upon the lever bar in passing, and by thus moving
the "claw" at its summit to cause the collecting roller" to make a
partial revolution, and thus draw gradually the store of paper from the
store roller. This motion consequently creates a constant change in the
surface of the transitory sheet of paper presented opposite to any
vertical line of the hollow interior of the "pool board," but the lever
bar only acts once in the course of cach pool, and only repeats its

page_text: actuation after it has been restored to its initiative position by the closing
of some one of the "slides."
"
In order to register the number of players in each game, as denoted
by the number of "slides" drawn out, I provide a wooden printing bar
which extends at a right angle over all the slides, and which I fix
between the "store roller" and "the lever bar. Beneath this printing
bar I provide in connection with each "slide a flap which I affix by a
leather or other simple hinge to the side of the hollow frame, and at the
point of each "flap" in a line with the under surface of the printing
bar, I insert a blunt metal pin whose point, when the "flap" is unmoved,
rests about a quarter of an inch from the under surface of the "printing
bar." The purpose of each of these pins is to indent or penetrate the
paper as the "slide" is drawn out, and this object is achieved by the
less elevated point of the block affixed to the back of each slide, and
which on passing a raised curve at the opposite side of the "flap" to
that in which the pin is fixed, raises the flap sufficiently to indent or
penetrate the presented line of paper with the pins and leave its record
of the action of the slide.
By these provisions each succeeding pool and the number of players
in each is registered by successive parallel vertical rows of punctures
or indentations of the travelling sheet of paper, of which account
may be taken at convenient intervals. This portion of the pool is
hinged to a framed back which is intended to be securely fixed
against a wall, and the mechanical portion of the apparatus safely
locked thereto by a key to be kept in the possession of the proprietor
or party for whose protection the apparatus is designed, while the slides.
when not in legitimate use, are secured in their position by a flap
'extending down one side of the marking board rigidly locked by a key to
remain in the custody of the marker or other person responsible for the
proceeds of the registration.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lea in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LEA, of 49, Peel Street, Prince's Park, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Lea, Her special
licence that I, the said John Lea, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Lea, 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES AND CERTAIN PORTIONS OF
GAMES PLAYED AT BILLIARDS, POOL, PYRAMID POOL, BAGATELLE, AND OTHER
SIMILAR GAMES OF SKILL," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Lea, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 John Lea, 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:-
For the purpose of scoring and registering ordinary games of billiards
I adopt a marking board of a conventional form, comprising two rollers
of optional diameter which revolve horizontally in a frame of a width
adapted to their length, and of any arbitrary elevation. This frame is
faced with a board in which are cut horizontal slots of a width sufficient
to expose at one time about one-fourth of the circumference of each
roller on which are painted or printed four series of numbers, the first of
which series comprises 0 to No. 25" inclusive, the second of which
serics comprises No. 26 to No. 50 inclusive; the third of which series
comprises No. 51 to No. 75 inclusive; and the fourth of which series
comprises No. 76 to No. 100 inclusive. Proximate to and parallel with
the plane in which each roller is fixed I provide a groove to guide tho
"

page_text: "
"
index or "traveller," which is necessarily employed to indicate the number
of points denoting the progress of the game, and this groove penetrates
the front of the marking board to the extent of the exposed portion of
the length of each roller. At that end of each roller recording the
highest number of each series (say, "25," "50," "75," "100,") I
either indent the material of the roller (between the termination of its
rows or numbers and its framed pivot) with four equidistant ratched
indentations, or affix thereon a metal collar so ratcheted for the purpose
of restraining by an annexed click spring the revolution of each roller
from more than one and the same direction. Within the corresponding
margin at the opposite end of each roller I provide four equidistant
holes to receive consecutively a vertical bolt, which is raised and lowered
by an annexed spring, and is designed to lock the roller in its position
when the "index or "traveller may be absent from that end of it.
The "spring" last referred to is several inches long, and is riveted at
the end most remote from the bolt to a horizontal plate affixed to the
interior of the front of the marking board, and the said "spring" is itself
horizontal when it holds the bolt out of the socket, but descends to an
inclined plane when the bolt is within any socket, and the restraint is
removed by a metal plate attached to the back of each "index ΟΙ
traveller," and which quasi key operates to raise the bolt out of the
socket by passing under the spring when the "index" or "traveller
is brought back to that end of the roller, and whilst it remains there
the roller may be freely turned in its solitary direction any number of
times. To the extreme of each end of each roller is affixed a knob
visible and accessible outside the frame of the marking board, and pro-
vided for the purpose of turning the roller on its axis.
"
"
"
"
Having thus ordinarily provided for the notation of games of
"billiards" and the due control of the rollers employed for that purpose
I provide for the registration of the results of play as follows, viz. :-At
the back of each "index" ΟΙ traveller I affix to the metal plate
which unlocks the roller a spring ratchet or pawl, and in association
with each of these I affix on a pivot securely attached to the interior of
the face of the marking board and parallel with it a metal wheel
(which I will call Number 1 in the apparatus) of arbitrary diameter with
ratcheted indentations or teeth on its periphery, adapted to be acted
upon by the spring ratchet or pawl attached to the back of the traveller
when passing the said wheel in traversing the groove in which each

page_text: index or traveller runs. Just within the circumference of the metal
wheel at the end of the diameter opposite to that of the first ratchet
tooth acted upon by the pawl of the index or traveller, I provide a pin
to act in the revolution of the wheel as a lever on a metal bar or chain
or cord forming the connexion between the said wheel and the register-
ing apparatus, as hercin-after described.
The registering apparatus above referred to consists of an instrument
identical in principle with the conventional registering gas apparatus,
and being arbitrary more or less extensive in its accumulating range.
The apparatus is inserted at some convenient point in the front of the
marking board, and its facial dial on which the series of recording
indices are displayed is made visible at the front of the board through a
pane of glass provided for the protection of the apparatus from improper
interference. On the rear end of the axis of the initiative wheel of the
registering mechanical system I rigidly fix a ratchet wheel (which I
will denominate No. 2) with twenty teeth, and with an associated spring
ratchet or pawl to prevent the ratchet wheel moving in more than one
direction. On the same rear end of the axis of the said initiative wheel
I pivot a lever of arbitrary length, to the arm of which I annex a spring
ratchet or pawl to connect it with the teeth of the ratcheted wheel and
to move the wheel round, but limited in its direct range to operate upon
not more than four of the twenty teeth, each of which, on being moved
in its restricted direction one-twentieth of the circumference of the
wheel, records on the indexed initial circle at the front of the registering
dial one-half of one of the ten equal subdivisions of the circumference
of the said circle and a proportionate portion of the subdivisions of the
circumferences of the associated subordinate circles of the registering
apparatus.
"
"
The "index or " traveller which actuates the lever and ratchet,
explained above to revolve wheel No. 2, only operates to move the said
wheel through one-twentieth of a revolution cach time that the said
index or traveller passes wheel No. 1, and this motion is communicated
from No. 1 to No. 2 by a metal bar, or chain, or cord, which connects
the rotating end of the ratcheted lever with the pin affixed just within
the circumference of wheel No. 1.
In order to collect the consecutive series of four separate twentieths
of the revolutions of the wheel No. 2 four holes are provided just within

page_text: the periphery of wheel "No. 1," at intervals adapted to arrest each
fraction of a revolution by a short pin attached to a spring which is
fixed so as to drop into each succeeding hole till not more than four-
twentieths of a revolution have been collected, and as this maximum of
"four" represents the "four" series of numbers on the circumference
of the rollers it implies that the roller has completed one entire
revolution, and when the roller revolves to retire the series of numbers
"76 to 100" in order to display the series of numbers "0 to 25," the
spring "stop" which has accumulated the immediately preceding
fraction of a revolution of wheel "No. 2" is raised by a lever actuated
by a cam pin inserted at a suitable point in the circumference of the
"lock" end of the roller; the pin is thereby released from its restraint
on wheel "No. 1," and the ratcheted lever pivoted on the axis of wheel
No. 2 is drawn back by an india-rubber or metal spring to its previous
starting point, to which it is limited in that direction by a rigid "stop,"
and wheel "No. 1" is also by a rigid "stop" correspondingly limited in
its range to the accumulation of the four-twentieths of the revolution
of wheel "No. 2."
Having thus explicitly detailed the principles and clements of the
apparatus for registering the game of ordinary "billiards "it is necessary
to explain that as at least two persons necessarily compete in the game
it is indispensable to associate two rollers to record the rival accumulation
of "points," but as it is only necessary to record one result for the
protection of the proprietor of the billiard table it is provided that the
metal bar, chain, or cord of each of the lever rollers connecting wheel
No. 1 with the ratcheted lever pivoted on the axis of wheel "No. 2"
shall be mutually annexed to one and the same ratcheted lever, so that
whichever index or traveller shall be in advance on entering upon any
new series of the numbers on the roller shall secure the registration of
that series, and the associated roller be inert through that series. This
is provided by "slots" of adequate length in each metallic bar when
employed as the connecting link between wheel No. 1" and the
ratcheted lever pivoted on the axis of wheel "No. 2," and when chains
or cords are employed as such connecting links the inertness of the non-
actuating index or traveller results from the temporarily neutralized
tension of part of its connecting gear.
65
For the protection of the marker or other person who may be

page_text: the two indices or travellers fixedly at their starting points when not in
legitimate use, and the key of this lock is placed in the custody of the
marker or other responsible attendant.
"
For the purpose of separately recording and registering games known
as "pyramid pool" I also employ the agency of rollers, but I use two
shorter ones, say, each about eight inches in length in its maximum
diameter, and fix them in the same plane, either combined in construction
in the same "marking board" with registering apparatus for the ordinary
games of billiards, or in a separate construction optionally. These two
shorter rollers are extended in their length beyond the limits of their
equal maximum diameter on a reduced scale, so as to elongate each to
one-half the width of the marking board in which they are to be inserted.
Each end of each roller is pivoted similarly to the rollers employed in
the "billiards" register, and one pivot of each passes through a side of
the frame of the marking board to receive a knob by which it is made to
revolve on its axis. The other pivot of each roller is lodged conjunctionally
in a block of wood affixed in the centre of the width of the marking
board. The maximum circumference of cach of these rollers is gradually
exposed through slits in the front of the marking board, similar to those
which exhibit the series of numbers on the rollers used in the "billiards
marking board, but the total number of points denoted on each shorter
roller employed to record the game of "pyramid pool" is only 1 to 15
inclusive, which numbers are arbitrarily distributed in three lines, occupy-
ing three-fourths of the circumference of each short roller, and on the line
of the remaining fourth is printed or painted the word "pyramids," or
the words "pyramid pool." This lettered portion of the circumference of
each pyramid roller is intended to be exposed at the front of the marking
board when the scoring apparatus is not in use, and at this crisis a bar
with two studs and actuated by a spring on its upper edge is provided to
drop into two corresponding holes in the reduced diameter of the two
rollers at convenient points, near to their junction in the centre of the
marking board, so as to lock the associated rollers mutually when the
scoring apparatus is not in legitimate use. This bar is lifted out of its
restraining position by a key inserted through the front of the "marking
board," and which key is retained in the possession and control of the
responsible superintendent for his personal protection.
In order to register the games of "pyramids" or "pyramid pool " I
emplov an instrument identical in principle and construction with that

page_text: "
employed for the registration of ordinary games of billiards, and when
the apparatus for "billiards" and "pyramids" is combined in the same
frame a single instrument suffices for the registration of both games.
Each game of "pyramids" or "pyramid pool" is recorded on the
registering instrument as follows, viz. :-On a margin of each short
roller on a reduced diameter beyond its maximum diameter, at the end
of each, which is pivoted in the same block, at the centre of the marking
board I fix a metal hoop which is indented in each so as to constitute a
cam," and these two "cams" or indentations are on the same line at
the backs of the rollers at the diameter of cach which is opposite to the
lettering "pyramids" or "pyramid pools." To correspond with these
two cams or indentations I provide a lever forked at its one end so as its
two points may drop into and lodge in the two sunk cams or indentations
when the two rollers simultaneously expose the lettering "pyramids "
or "pyramid pool" at the apertures in front of the marking board. This
lever has only a single stem at its opposite end, and this stem is adapted
in length to extend from the convergence of the bifurcated end to the
circumference of the ratcheted wheel of the initiatory circle of tho
registering apparatus, and is connected therewith by a ratchet point
which causes the said wheel to partially revolve when the lever is moved
from its normal position. This motion is produced by the first portion
of the revolution of either of the two connected rollers which may be
first turned from their mutually normaly position, and the range of the
lever is limited to produce in each game of "pyramids" or "pyramid
pool" a portion of a revolution of the ratchet wheel with which it is
connected, equal to just one-tenth of its circumference, which registers at
once on the face of the indicator a space equal to two series of numbers
registered by the same, or a similar apparatus at the ordinary game of
billiards.
The lever above mentioned is fixed in a groove between the two rollers,
and the ratchet wheel with stops limiting its range of motion, and it is
restored to its normal position and starting point after being actuated by
a metal or india-rubber spring suitably attached. I should explain that
when at the commencement of each game of "pyramids" or "pyramid
pool" the full game has been recorded by either of the two rollers, both
rollers remain inert as to registration throughout the same game, but
the progress of the game is denoted at the front of the marking board
by the numbers on the rollers and the associated indices or travellers.

page_text: revolutions of the rollers employed to record ordinary games of billiards.
The above combination of registering agencies is also applicable to the
ordinary game of billiards.
For the purpose of recording and registering the game known as pool
in connection with the science of billiards, I employ as my basis the
ordinary construction of pool marking boards comprising horizontal
slides and small painted or inlaid discs denoting "lives" or "stars," but
I plant this ordinary facial construction on a hollow frame of a sufficient
depth to accomodate the apparatus hercin-after described, viz., at each
side of the hollow interior of my pool board and extending over all the
slides I erect a vertical pivoted roller of a diameter equal to about one-
half the depth of the recess.
The roller at the side of the recess adjacent
to the discs is provided to be enveloped with an arbitrary length of thin
tenacious paper equal in width to the length of the roller. This store
or reserve roller acts passively, but on the summit of the upper pivot of
the companion roller I fix on a square a ratchet wheel with an arbitrary
number of teeth as an agent for collecting from the passive store or
reserve roller its coating of paper. This ratcheted wheel is restrained
from revolving in more than one and the same direction by an annexed
click spring; this collection of paper is gradually made by connecting
the sheet of paper with the ratcheted roller by means of a groove
through its length, to which a slip of wood is adjusted to secure the
end of the sheet of paper within the groove in the same manner as in
the passive roller.
The ratcheted or action roller is made to revolve vertically by a claw
at one end of a lever, jointed, the other end of which is fixed on a square
at the summit of a vertical lever bar, which extends with its projecting
smaller end throughout the entire vertical length of the hollow recess
of the marking board. This lever consists of a thin bar of wood
or metal of any convenient width according to the dimensions and
capacity of each' particular marking board, but it is extended at one
of its edges in both directions so as to form a pivot at each end, the
lower pivot being socketed in the base of the frame of the marking
board, and the upper pivot passing through a cross bar within the
frame so as to receive on its square terminal the clawed lever which

page_text: imparts motion to the active roller. The flap lever is fixed vertically
within the recess of the marking board about midway between the two
rollers and with its loose flap edge facing the backs of the slides so as to
be acted upon by the traversing cam or stud herein-after described. To
actuate this lever I affix at the back of each slide of the marking board
at or near the end of the slide adjacent to the denoting discs a small
wedge shaped block of wood or metal raised sufficiently above the surface
of the back of the slide to act upon the loose flap edge of the lever in
passing when the slide is drawn out, so as to cause the clawed lever at
the summit of the flap lever to collect part of a revolution of the active
roller and thus draw a proportionate interval of paper permanently off the
store or passive roller. By this mechanical arrangement the first slide
which is drawn at the commencement of any pool alone acts upon the
flap lever which does not act again till it has been restored to its
initiative position by the closing of all or some of the slides.
It will be observed by the transition of the sheet of paper from one
roller to the other a different surface is constantly presented at any fixed
vertical line of the marking board, and in order to register the number
of slides drawn and consequently the number of players in each pool I
provide a wooden rod of the same length as the rollers and about half an
inch square, and which I call a printing bed. I fix this rod vertically
in the hollow recess of the marking board between the passive roller and
the flap lever, and I pass the sheet of paper under it in connecting it
with the active roller, and I provide for the registration of the number
of players in each pool by perforations or indentations in the sheet of
paper in the line of the printing bed.
The perforations or indentations of the paper are produced as follows,
viz., at the back of each slide between the discs and the wedge-shaped
block of wood employed to act upon the flap lever I affix another similar
wedge-shaped block rather less clevated than the lever motor, and above
this latter block in a line with cach slide I affix to the side frame of
the hollow recess a hinged flap of wood with an inclined under surface or
a metal spring descending from its fixed end, so as to present an inclined
under surface when resting upon or immediately over the back of the
slide, and either the wooden flap or the alternative metal spring extends
beyond the point of the less elevated and last described wedge-shaped
block, so that when the slide is drawn the said block in passing under
the incline of the wooden flap or under the inclined alternative metal

page_text: spring raises the flap or spring to the extent of its own elevation, and
as the printing bed is also within the range of the flap or spring I
affix on the opposite side of the flap a spring to that acted upon by the
traversing wedge-shaped block a pin in the line of the printing bed on
the proximate surface of which a portion of the transitory sheet of paper
is exposed, and the pin of the flaps or spring being of sufficient length
and being thus passed on to or into the sheet of paper makes an indulation
or perforation which registers the fact of the individual slide having been
drawn, and thus by the transition of the sheet of paper after every pool
an accurate and reliable record is made of every player. The pool
marking board thus far described is hinged to a frame or back which
is securely fixed against the wall, and the two parts are secured by a
lock of which the proprietor of the table keeps the key, and for the
protection of the responsible attendant the slides are secured when not
in legitimate use by a flap extending over all their projectible ends and
secured by a lock of which the said responsible attendant keeps the
key.
I also provide for the registration of games of "pool" by another
mechanical arrangement as follows, viz., I employ the same form of
pool marking board as that above described, and within its hollow recess.
I affix at the back of each slide at an interval from its projectible end,
not less than its projectible range, a spring ratchet with which I associato
a ratchet wheel so placed that on the slide being drawn out even so far
as only to expose one of the discs or lives employed to record tho
game, the spring ratchet shall act in passing the rigidly located ratchet
wheel so as to cause it to make a partial revolution which is collected
and retained by a click spring attached to the ratchet wheel, and
recorded by a series of numbers engraved or printed just within the
circumference of the ratchet wheel, and comprising as many numbers as
there may be teeth in the ratchet wheel, in the gradual revolutions of
which these numbers pass a fixed index which denotes by the number at
any time opposite to it the number of times the individual slide has been
drawn; and for the purpose of accumulating the registration indefinitely
I employ a combination of pinions exactly similar to that employed by
me to register the games of ordinary billiards or pyramids.
""
In order to record the extraneous or
" star lives for which the
proprictor of the billiard table does not usually receive any payment, I
make the slides of the "pool" marking board double, and paint or print

page_text: the conventional three "stars" on that end of the lower slide which
conceals the three lives, and when the upper slide alone is drawn the
required number of stars is exposed. This is an arrangement for scoring
"stars" at "pool" which I also employ in connexion with my first
described pool registering board.
My secondly described alternative construction is provided with
appliances for the protection of the proprietor of the billiard table and
its attendant, exactly like those comprising part of my first described
"pool" registering board, and the apparatus is identically affixable
for use.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be constructed and used, I would observe
in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before recited
Letters Patent is, the general combination and arrangement of the parts
of the apparatus herein-before substantially described, and especially
the mechanical arrangements of the registrations of the various games
to which my Invention applies.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lea, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.