Courts or Boundaries.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Feb., 1889
Specification Accepted, 6th Apr., 1889
Courts or Boundaries.
We THOMAS BAINES HARPHAM and ALFRED HOWES trading as Harpham and
Howes of 107 Church Street Edgware Road N.W. in the County of Middlesex,
Horticultural Builders, 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 :—
The objection of this invention is to provide means or appliances for marking lawn
tennis courts or boundaries in a more permanent or lasting manner than heretofore
and at the same time to make them removable at will and further to save time and
trouble and to ensure accuracy in the marking of the said lawn tennis courts or
boundaries.
.0
According to this invention we employ strips or sections of iron steel or other
metal dovetailed or similarly fitted to each other and to corner centre and side and
end pieces so as to form the court. The upper surface of each strip or piece is
enamelled galvanized or painted, and the under surface formed into the shape of an
irregular prism corrugated longitudinally and with a flange along the outer edges.
Spikes are also constructed on the prism and on the flanges for the purpose of better
securing the strip or piece in position.
And in order that our invention may be more fully understood and carried into
practice, we will now proceed to describe the saine with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which similar letters are used to indicate corresponding parts in all the
figures.
Figures 1 and 2 are top and bottom views of the straight piece or strip used for
the centre of each side of the court with a projecting tongue A to indicate the position
for the net. Figures 3 and 4 are top and bottom views of the T piece for each end
of the court; Figure 5 is an edge view of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the
arrow shewn; Figure 6 shews top and bottom views of the corner piece.
is an enlarged section taken transversely through any piece or strip.
shews top and bottom views of the double T or cross piece. Figure 9
and bottom views of a straight piece or strip.
Figure 7
Figure 8
shews top
>

page_text: In carrying this invention into practice we provide suitable patterns or moulds
and cast each strip or piece from iron steel or other metal preferably from malleable
iron. The upper surface B is perfectly flat and we galvanize and enamel it or
enamel it only, or simply paint it, or we leave it quite plain as desired.
The under side we form with a central prism C the ends of which are bevelled as
shewn at D Fig. 5 and the sides corrugated longitudinally as shewn at E. Side
flanges are also formed on the under side of each piece or strip and any suitable
number of spikes G are formed upon the sides of the prism C and upon the
flanges F.
In the drawings we have shewn the pieces and strips with dovetailed joints, but
they may be constructed with juggles tee grips, egg and tongue or other means for
quickly joining them together.
To make the court on a lawn we take say, a corner piece and press it firmly in
the ground, the corrugations E will take a firm grip of the mould turf or other
material and the spikes G will prevent the piece from rocking transversely. We
then place the other pieces one after the other and dovetail or otherwise join them
together as they are laid. As all the straight pieces or strips are cast in one mould
they may be used in any order and for the same reason so also may the centre T
corner and double T or cross pieces. To make the court on an asphalted ground,
we dig a trench therein and lay all the pieces in position and fill up with hot asphalt
or with cement and sand and allow it to set. We make all the pieces of a convenient
length and breadth for stowing away compactly in a box when transported from place
to place.
°.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
The construction of pieces and strips with flat upper surfaces B corrugated prisms C
flanges and spikes G on the under surfaces, dovetailing or otherwise joining
together to form a lawn tennis court boundary, substantially as and for the purpose
hereinbefore set forth and illustrated in accompanying drawings.
Dalth: 011 1.
1000