Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 13th Aug., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 13th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 27th July, 1895
I ROBERT WILLIAM WYETT of Yarram Yarram South Gippsland Victoria
Australia, Accountant, 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 :-
My invention relates to billiard tables for delivering balls from the pockets.
At present the balls when played into the pockets have to be taken out by hand,
which necessitates the player or a second party walking to the pocket or pockets
to obtain the ball, which when taken out by a second party is thrown down the
table, involving trouble and loss of time and often causing inconvenience by
interfering with the balls remaining on the table. The object of my invention is
to cause the balls when played into a pocket to drop into a declining groove and
run from any pocket round to the bauth end of the cable ready for replaying.
pocket found to the Daulk end of the cable ready for replaying.
REFERENCE TO DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 showing a top view of the grooved work before it is fastened to the board,
A being the groove which the balls run in, B. B. B. B. B. B. being slightly wider
for the balls to drop into when leaving the table, C being the receptacle for the
balls coming from either side of the table, the whole of the grooved work having
a decline to receptacle C.
Fig. 2 shows a side view of the grooved work fastened to board E, D being the
spring fixed to the board under each pocket-hole.
Fig. 3 is an end view of the grooved work showing receptacle C.
Fig. 4 an end section on a larger scale of the grooved work A fastened to
board E, the whole of which is fastened to cushion F by means of a bracket or
plate of iron G.
Fig. 5 gives a side view of an ordinary billiard table with the apparatus attached,
E being the board obscuring and suspending the grooved work A, and H the
Betting which takes the place of the ordinary pocket and is fastened from the
board E to the brass work on the table for conducting the balls into the groove,
J being the opening between the pockets.
For my purpose grooved work made from wood or other suitable material is
placed under the cushions of an ordinary billiard table and fastened to a board
on edge, the board is fastened on the outside edge of the cushions suspending the
grooved work immediately under the pocket holes. The pockets now used are
taken away and a piece of netting fastened from the brass work to the edge of the
board assures the ball dropping into the groove.
Do77

page_text: An opening about four inches deep and four feet long is cut out of the top edge
of the board E between the different pockets to allow of the red ball being inter-
cepted when running down the groove and placed on the spot when occasion arises,
a small opening is also left at the bottom of the board at the baulk end of
receptacle C.
To give the balls an impetus when entering the groove and to cause the ball
to drop silently therin, a strip of steel slightly curved or other pliable material
covered with cloth is fixed immediately under the pocket holes at the two corner
pockets at the spot end of the table, and at the two centre pockets and the two
corner pockets at the baulk end similar springs are used and fixed sufficiently high
to allow balls coming from behind to pass under. The grooved work is lined with
cloth to avoid noise, and having a decline from the spot end to the baulk end of
the table causes the ball to roll from whichever pocket it is played into, into a
receptacle at the baulk or commencing end of the table. For portability the
grooved work is made in three sections and joined at the corners of the table, and
for uniformity a board is fixed under the spot end to correspond with the boards
around the sides and baulk end, whilst in building new tables the apparatus can be
permanently included in the construction.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :
Grooved work such as A in combination with board such as E and springs such
as D arranged on the underside of billiard table cushions.
Dated this Sixth day of July 1894.
ROBERT WILLIAM WYETT.