IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCORING THE GAME OF BILLIARDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Hamilton Colles, of the Firm of Orme
2
and Sons, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Billiard Table
Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCORING
THE GAME OF BILLIARDS."
Sealed the 24th April 1874, and dated the 29th October 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Hamilton”
Colles at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 29th October 1873.
علم
I, ALEXANDER HAMILTON COLLES, of the Firm of Orme and Sons, of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Billiard Table Maker, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR SCORING THE GAME OF BILLIARDS," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the scoring of the game of
billiards from the table or from any convenient part of the billiard.
44.44

page_text: for the spot ball. All the handles for the different balls are connected
by shafts and pinions to two central wheels, which are each connected
by shafts, wheels, and pinions, or by wheels and pitched chains to the
recording dials. The first dial scores the units, and it is connected to
the ten's dial by a stud taking into an intermittent wheel or other suitable
gearing. By this means each player can score his points without leaving
the table, but I also propose to place the handles in any convenient part
of the room and connect them by gearing to the scoring dials, so that a
person sitting on a couch may score the game.
I wish to remark that the number of handles and the details of the
caaring may be varied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Hamilton Colles in the Great Seal,
Patent Office on the 25th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
HAMILTON COLLES, of the Firm of Orme and Sons, of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Billiard Table Maker, send greeting.
4
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the 2
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Hamilton Colles, Her special.
licence that I, the said Alexander Hamilton Colles, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Hamilton Colles, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all timės
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might.
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SCORING THE GAME OF BILLIARDS," upon g
the condition (amongst others) that. I, the said Alexander Hamilton
Colles, my executors, or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that Ì, the said Alexander Hamilton Colles, do
hereby declare the naturo of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say): —
The object of my Invention is to facilitate the scoring of the game
of billiards from the table or from any convenient part of the billiard
room.
In performing my Invention I place two handles at each side and end
of the billiard table, one set of handles for the plain ball and the other
for the spot ball. All the handles for the different balls are connected
by shafts and pinions to two central wheels, which are each connected
by shafts, wheels, and pinions, or by wheels and pitched chains to the
recording dials. The first dial scores the units, and it is connected to
the ten's dial by a stud taking into an intermittent wheel or other suitable
gearing. By this means cach player can score his points without leaving
the table, but I also propose to place the handles in any convenient part
of the room and connect them by gearing to the scoring dials, so that a
person sitting on a couch may score the game.
I wish to remark that the number of handles and the details of the
gearing may be varied.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to the figures and letters marked
thereon :-
་་
Fig. 1 is an elevation; Fig. 2, a plan; and Fig. 3, an end view of
an ordinary billiard table to which my improved scoring apparatus is
applied.
a, a, and b, b, are two sets of shafts which are supported in bearings
attached to the under side of the table. The shafts a, with their handles
a¹, are for scoring the plain ball, and the shafts b, with the handles b¹,
are for the spot ball. The shafts a are placed on a lower level than the
shafts 6 in order that they may clear each other. At the inner ends
of each of the shafts a and b is fixed a bevel pinion a² or b², the pinions

page_text: 1
a gearing into the crown wheel c, and the pinions 62 into a similar
wheel d. These wheels c and d are each fixed on an upright shaft c¹, di,
at the lower ends of which are the mitre pinions ², d², gearing into
corresponding pinions e, f, fixed on the horizontal shafts e, f, which
are placed under the floor of the room, as shewn best in Fig. 3. To 5
these shafts are also fixed the mitre pinions e², f, gearing into similar
pinions g, h, fixed to the lower ends of the upright shafts g', h³, and at
the upper ends of these shafts are fixed the mitre pinions g³, h², which
gear into similar pinions fixed to the recording dials i and j. These dials
record the units, and to each is fixed a projecting stud or pin which 1
gears after every complete revolution into the intermittent wheel at the
back of the second dials % and 7, and moves it one-tenth of a revolution
forward.
1.
#
The recording apparatus is contained in a box fixed to the wall of the
room or in any other convenient position, and in this box are slots or 1
openings through which the positions of the dials can be seen. The
plain ball is now supposed to have scored 26 points and the spot
ball 18.
4857
The two recording dials shewn will suffice to score up to one hundred,
but if it should be found desirable to score up to one thousand a third 2
dial actuated by a stud on the ten's dial can be added.
I have shewn a pair of handles at each side and end of the billiard
table so that each player by turning or partially turning the handle
may be able to score his points from either side or end without leaving
the table, but I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to limit 2
myself to that particular arrangement as the number of handles may
be reduced or increased.
I also propose to place the handles in any convenient part of the room
and connect them to the scoring dials, so that a person sitting on a
couch or in other position may score the game, or the game may be 3
scored by a handle on each unit wheel. The gearing for connecting the
handles to the scoring dials may be considerably varied, and in some
cases pitched chains and toothed pulleys may be used in lieu of the
shafts and toothed wheels and pinions.
... 51.
**
Fig. 4 is an elevation, and Fig. 5 a plan of a scoring apparatus that 3
can also be actuated by the players without leaving the table. The
framing m is supported by the ordinary gas bracket or otherwise, and on
+

page_text: each side and end of the frame is a series of numbers, say from 1 to 50.
The frame also supports toothed guide pulleys, around which the pitched
endless chains or bands n, o, are carried, and to these chains or bands
are fixed the pointers n³, o¹. One set of pointers is for scoring the plain
ball and the other for the spot ball.
The toothed guide pulleys are placed in each corner of the framing m,
and to each pulley is connected a handle. As the game progresses the
players can score their points by turning the said handles, thereby com-
municating motion to the chains so as to traverse the pointers along the
series of numbers. By this means the state of the game is marked
simultaneously on the sides and ends of the frame.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described two
convenient modes of performing the same, I wish to remark that I do
not intend to limit myself to the details given, and that I claim the
improved machinery and apparatus shewn and described for scoring the
game of billiards from the table or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Hamilton Colles, have.
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON COLLES. (L.s.)