IMPROVEMENTS IN. CUES USED IN PLAYING BILLIARDS AND OTHER LIKE GAMES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st December 1875.-A communication from abroad by
Emile Joseph Lamoitié, of Voltri, Italy.
I, JOHN OLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN. CUES USED IN
PLAYING BILLIARDS AND OTHER LIKE GAMES," to be as follows:-
The cues hitherto employed in playing billiards and other like games
have been made of wood, and although well constructed have always
been defective owing to the variations of the atmosphere, which cause
them to warp easily and to deviate from the straight line. The com-
plicated joint in wooden cues, as well as the mode of jointing and the
inherent quality of the wood have always made them very brittle as
every billiard player knows. Further it is not possible to regulate at
will the balance of wooden cues, that is to say, a player cannot at
pleasure render a cue lighter or heavier, or make it balance more to one
end than to the other. Now the object of this Invention is to remedy
these defects.

page_text: The Invention is based on the employment of metal which can be
balanced at will in the manufacture of cues.
The cue consists of a conical tube of iron, steel, copper, brass, zinc,
aluminium, silver, or other suitable metal or metallic alloy, and of length
and dimensions similar to ordinary cues. The thickness of the sides of
the tube is proportional to the specific weight of the metal employed
and to the weight which it is wished to obtain. The tube may be
manufactured in any way thought best, and it may be smooth or fluted,
burnished, colored, varnished or polished, tinned, gilt or silvered, or it
may be veneered or covered with wood for the whole or any portion of
its length.
In making a cheap cue a conical tube of, say, iron or steel is taken
which is closed at its lower or butt end by a wooden or metal cover or
otherwise. At the upper end a wooden plug or button is screwed or
fitted which prolongs the cue about an inch; the leather tip is applied
to the end of this plug.
A more expensive cue may be made of, say, aluminium, and its butt
end may be closed by a hollow screwed stopper, the hollow being filled
with discs of lead, the number of which may be increased or diminished
to increase or diminish the weight of the cue, and these discs may be
held tight by a counter screw. The thin end of the cue is likewise
closed with a hollow screwed stopper, which may also contain a variable
number of leaden discs. The outer end of this stopper is formed to
receive a wooden plug or button to which the leather tip is attached.
If the audible vibrations produced by the percussion of the metal are
thought objectionable the tube may be filled with very light wood,
resin, or other suitable body, which would at the same time make the
cue less fragile and prevent it getting dented.
In some cases the cue may be made of a cylindrical metal tube
covered by or enclosed in wood, which may then be very light because
the metal tube forming the core of the cue renders it insensible to
atmospheric influences and prevents it warping.