AN IMPROVEMENT IN MALLETS USED IN THE GAME OF CROQUET AND OTHER SIMILAR GAMES
Year: 1865

page_text: Sealed the 24th October 1865, and dated the 27th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Frederick Feltham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th April 1865.
I, JOSEPH FREDERICK FELTHAM, of Aldersgate Street, in the City of
London, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MALLETS USED IN THE GAME OF CROQUET AND OTHER
SIMILAR GAMES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to provide a soft face to the mallet in order
to prevent injury to the ball on being struck by it, at the same time to
increase the wear of the mallet and prevent the jar on the ball being struck
to the hand and arm of the player.
My Invention consists in covering both faces of the mallet with a soft
material or substance, by preference with stout leather blocked to the shape
of the face of the mallet and extending round the sides. The edges of the

page_text: leather are covered by or held in a metal collar, and the whole secured by.
pins or nails, or the collar may be dispensed with. Instead of leather, vul-
canized caoutchouc, gutta percha, or other like suitable material may be used.
When using cork I fit it in a ring round the face of the mallet; I also some-
times fit a block of vulcanized rubber in the same way, the ring being tapered
to prevent the block flying out.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Frederick Feltham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FREDERICK FELTHAM, of Aldersgate Street, in the City of London, Manufac-
turer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Frederick Feltham, Her special licence that I, the said
Joseph Frederick Feltham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joseph Frederick Feltham, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MALLETS USED IN THE GAME OF CROQUET AND
OTHER SIMILAR GAMES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Frederick Feltham, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Joseph Frederick Feltham, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings bereunto
annexed, that is to say:-

page_text: The object of my Invention is to provide a soft face to the mallet in order
to prevent injury to the ball on being struck by it, at the same time to increase
the wear of the mallet and prevent the jar on the ball being struck to the hand
and arm of the player.
My Invention consists in covering both faces of the mallet with a soft
material or substance, by preference with stout leather blocked to the shape
of the face of the mallet and extending round the sides. The edges of the
leather are covered by or held in a metal collar, and the whole secured by
pins, screws, or nails; or the collar may be dispensed with.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side view of a mallet, both
faces of which are covered with leather A, A, blocked to the shape of the
face of the mallet, as before mentioned, and extending round the sides; B, B,
are metal collars for holding the edges of the leather; C, C, are screws passed
through the collars B, B, leather A, and into the wood D of the mallet.
Instead of leather, vulcanized caoutchouc, gutta percha, or other like suitable
material may be used. When using cork I fit it in a ring round the face of
the mallet. I also sometimes fit a block of vulcanized rubber in the same
way, the ring being tapered to prevent the block flying out.
Figure 2 is a side view of a mallet with one end in section, showing the
manner in which I secure cork or vulcanized rubber to the faces of the mallet.
A, A, are blocks of cork or rubber held in tapered rings B, B; these rings
are secured to the wood D of the mallet by screws C, C. In some cases I
make mallets with only one soft face.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
mallets used in the game of croquet and other similar games with one or
both faces covered with or formed of soft material, substantially as herein.
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Frederick Feltham, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
J. F. FELTHAM. (L.S.)