IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES EMPLOYED IN THE PRESSING OF RACQUETS OR BATS FOR PLAYING TENNIS AND OTHER SIMILAR GAMES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Davis at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd September 1883.
GEORGE DAVIS, of Aberystwith, in the county of Cardigan,
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESSES EMPLOYED IN THE PRESSING OF RACQUETS OR BATS FOR PLAYING
TENNIS AND OTHER SIMILAR GAMES."
This invention relates to improvements in presses employed in the pressing of
racquets or bats for playing tennis and other similar games in order to keep the
racquets or bats in shape after they have been made.
Presses employed for this purpose have hitherto been usually constructed of two
pieces of wood or other material between which the head of the racquet or bat is
inserted, the required pressure being effected by means of a number of set screws
which require to be turned in succession until the necessary degree of pressure is
produced, such pressure in consequence not being equal on all parts of the head of
the racquet or bat.
Now by my improvements the press is tightened up and the necessary pressure
upon the head of the racquet or bat is effected by a single operation, the pressure
produced being equal on all parts of the head of the racquet or bat.
In carrying out my invention I construct the press of two parts or pieces of
wood or other suitable material placed one above the other and connected together
at their two sides by links or arms in such a manner that the parts of the press
can be moved with a parallel motion towards or apart from each other; at one end
of the lower part of or in any other suitable position on the press I fix or form a
bracket or support extending above the upper part of the press; in the upper part
of the bracket or support works at a suitable angle a set screw which bears against
and is suitably secured (or not) to a projection on the upper surface of the top part
of the press and serves to force the top part of the press in a parallel manner down
towards the lower part and to bring it back therefrom. By curving the bracket or
support the screw could be made to work from below the upper surface of the top
part of the press.
In a press of this construction in order to press the head of a racquet or bat it is
simply necessary to insert the head between the two parts of the press and by then
operating the set screw in one direction the two parts of the press will be forced

page_text: towards each other in a parallel manner and will exercise an equal pressure upon
all parts of the head of the racquet or bat. To remove the bat from the press it is
only necessary to operate the set screw in the opposite direction.
The set screw may sometimes be made to enter a recess formed in the end of the
upper part of the press the hereinbefore described projection or stop being then
dispensed with.
That part of the bracket or support in which the set screw works may sometimes
be hinged or pivotted to enable the set screw to be operated at any required angle.
Instead of the screw working backwards and forwards in the support it may
work in a projection having a female screw thread on the upper part of the press.
The pressure can also be effected by employing a right and a left handed screw
operated by a right and left handed thumb nut or its equivalent.
I sometimes dispense with the set screw and produce the required pressure by
means of a lever jointed to the bracket or support and bearing against a cam
shaped projection on the top part of the press; the pressure could also be produced
by means of a suitably arranged lever and rack or by a cam shaped lever having
its fulcrum in a suitable position over the top of the press.
Or I sometimes effect the necessary pressure by the introduction of a wedge
between the end of the top part of the press and the piece forming the hereinbefore
described bracket or support.