AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES OF LAWN TENNIS PLAYED OR WON."
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eustace James Campbell Baird of Ripple House near
Deal in the County of Kent for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES OF LAWN TENNIS
PLAYED OR WON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eustace James Campbell
Baird at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th April 1883.
EUSTACE JAMES CAMPBELL BAIRD, of Ripple House, near Deal, in the County
AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES
OF LAWN TENNIS PLAYED OR WON.
of Kent
The object of my invention is to register the number of games won by the
player during a "set" of Lawn Tennis (a "set" being six games out of eleven).
I provide a dial of any suitable material, round the face of which are marked in
figures the greatest number of games a player can gain in any one "set." In the
centre of this dial is a hand or pointer moving on a pin, on which pin is fixed a cog
wheel underneath the dial. The cogs are six in number and the wheel is made of
exactly such a circumference that on one cog being moved the hand or pointer will
move from one figure on the dial to the next. The dial and works are enclosed in
a case made of nickel silver or other suitable material. In the circumference of
the case is a slot in which a pin works up and down. The outer end of this pin
takes the form of a knob, and the inner end is attached to a bent spring, which is
also fastened to the inside of the case. On pressing the knob the point of this
bent spring (which is made somewhat of the shape of the letter V) presses against
one of the cogs of the small wheel and pushes it round, and with it of course the
hand or pointer. There is another small spring fixed to the inside of the case
which acts on the cogs of the wheel somewhat like the "paul" of a winch and
checks it from moving further at one motion than just sufficient to move the pointer
from one figure to the next, and so on.

page_text: There are other methods in which the mechanism may be constructed, such as a
spring to wind up like an ordinary watch spring, or a system of small levers, but I
prefer the one I have described as being in my opinion the simplest.
At the back of the case I affix a pin similar to the pin of a brooch, so that the
apparatus can be easily attached to the cuff of the left sleeve of the player's dress,
as being the most convenient place, or to any other part which may be suitable.
I prefer to cover the dial with glass, so that the hand or pointer may not be
broken or moved out of its position.
The whole apparatus can be made of any convenient size, but I prefer it' for all
practical purposes to be about the size of a florin, or of a half crown piece.
...U.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Eustace James Campbell Baird in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th October 1883.
-
EUSTACE JAMES CAMPBELL BAIRD of Ripple House near Deal in the County
of Kent "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE NUMBER OF GAMES
OF LAWN TENNIS PLAYED OR WON
"
"
The object of my invention is to register the number of games won by the
player during a "set of lawn tennis (a "set" being six games out of eleven..
I provide a dial of any suitable material, round the face of which are marked
in figures the greatest number of games a player can gain in any one "set." In
the centre of this dial is a band or pointer A Fig: 1 moving on a pin B Figs 1
and 2. on which pin is fixed a cog wheel C Fig 2 underneath the dial. The
cogs are six in number, and the wheel is made of exactly such a circumference, that
on one cog being moved, the hand or pointer will move from one figure on the
dial to the next. The dial and works are enclosed in a case made of nickel silver
or other suitable material. In the circumference of the case is a slot in which a
pin D Figs 1 and 2 works up and down. The outer end of this pin takes the
form of a knob, and the inner end is attached to a bent spring E Fig 2 which is
also fastened to the inside of the case. On pressing the knob, the point of this
bent spring (which is made somewhat of the shape of the letter V (E¹ Fig 2)
presses against one of the cogs of the small wheel, and pushes it round, and with
it of course the hand or pointer. There is another small spring F Fig 2 fixed to
the inside of the case, which acts on the cogs of the wheel somewhat like the
'paul" of a winch, and checks it from moving until the wheel is again acted upon
by pressing the knob.
'
There are other methods in which the mechanism may be constructed, such as a
spring to wind up like an ordinary watch spring, or a system of small levers, but
I prefer the one I have described as being in iny opinion the simplest.
At the back of the case I may affix a pin similar to the pin of a brooch; so that

page_text: the apparatus can be easily attached to the cuff of the left sleeve of the players
dress, as being the most convenient place, or to any other part which may be
suitable.
I prefer to cover the dial with glass, so that the hand or pointer may not be
broken or moved out of its position.
The whole apparatus may be made of any convenient size, but I prefer it for all
practical purposes to be about the size of a florin or of a half crown piece
Having now described my invention and the manner of constructing the same
what I claim as my said invention is the apparatus as above described for registering
the number of games of lawn tennis played or won.
In witness whereof I the said Eustace James Campbell Baird have hereunto set
my hand and seal this seventeenth day of October 1883.
Witness
AJRISBRIDGER
EUSTACE JAMES CAMPBELL BAIRD (LS)