IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIST COUNTERS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Jones, jun., of Solo Square, and William
Frederick De La Rue, of Bunhill Row, both in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIST COUNTERS."
Sealed the 23rd June 1868, and dated the 27th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Jones and
William Frederick De La Rue at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th March 1868.
We, HENRY JONES, jun"., of Soho Square, and WILLIAM FREDERICK
DE LA RUE, of Bunhill Row, both in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WHIST COUNTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in whist counters.
For this purpose we employ a rectangular tablet constructed of card-
board, or it may be of metal or other material. It is made double,.
and between its two thicknesses are concealed the counters for scoring.
Along one side of the tablet arc arranged in a row the four counters

page_text: with which the progress of each game is marked; each counter has a stud
fixed in it projecting through a slotted hole in the upper surface of the
tablet, so that by moving the stud along the slot the counter may be
made to project and appear beyond the edge of the tablet. The counter
is rounded at the end, and has a disc upon it resembling closely the
ivory counters now commonly used in marking. At one end of the
tablet are three markers formed as narrow rectangular strips rounded at
the end; they also are protruded forward beyond the edge of the tablet
by studs working in slotted holes as already explained, these markers are
used to register the single game, the double, and the treble. At the
other end of the tablet there may be a counter with a figure 5 upon it
to adapt the instrument to the marking of long whist. In place of pro-
truding the counters and markers beyond the edges of the tablet to
render them visible we in some cases perforate the upper surface of the
tablet, and the counters are then when required moved by their studs
so as to be seen through the holes in the upper surface of the tablet.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Jones and William Frederick De La Rue
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
JONES, jun., of Soho Square, and WILLIAM FREDERICK DE LA RUE, of
Bunhill Row, both in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry Jones and William Frederick
De La Rue, Her special licence that we, the said Henry Jones and
William Frederick De La Rue, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the, said Henry Jones and William
Frederick De La Rue, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of

page_text: Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHIST COUNTERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Henry Jones and. William Frederick
De La Rue, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Frederick De La Rue, on
behalf of myself and the said Henry Jones, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in whist counters,
For this purpose we employ a rectangular tablet constructed of card-
board, or it may be of metal or other material. It is made double, and
between its two thicknesses are concealed the counters for scoring.
Along one side of the tablet are arranged in a row the four counters with
which the progress of each game is marked, each counter has a stud fixed
in it projecting through a slotted hole in the upper surface of the tablet,
so that by moving the stud along the slot the counter may be made to
project and appear beyond the edge of the tablet. The counter is
rounded at the end, and has a disc upon it resembling closely the ivory
counters now commonly used in marking. At one end of the tablet are
three markers formed as narrow rectangular strips rounded at the end;
they are also protruded forward beyond the edge of the tablet by studs
working in slotted holes as already explained; these markers are used
to register the single game, the double, and the treble: At the other
end of the tablet there may be a counter with a figure five upon it to
adapt the instrument to the marking of long whist. In place of pro-
truding these counters and markers beyond the edges of the tablet to
render them visible we in some cases perforate the upper surface of the
tablet, and the counters are then when required moved by their studs so
as to be seen through the holes in the upper surface of the tablet.

page_text: Figure 1 is a plan of a whist counter constructed according to our
Invention as it appears when the marking discs or counters are con-
cealed; Figure 2 is a plan of the same as it appears when the discs or
counters or markers are protruded so as to project from the edge of the
tablet. The tablet when of cardboard, which is the material we prefer to
use, consists of an upper and lower card. The upper or face card has
eight slits or slots cut in it, as is shown at a, a, Figure 3, and also a
number of pin or rivet holes b, b; the lower or back card is plain, except
that it has pin or rivet holes corresponding to the holes b, b. The two
cards in the finished marker are kept a short distance apart by distance
strips of cardboard and metal, and the counters and markers are received
between them.
Figure 4 is a plan of one of the four counters employed in marking
the progress of the game of short whist, and as will be seen in Figure 2
the fifth disc which adapts the instrument to the marking of long
whist is similar to the four, but of somewhat larger size; Figure 5 is a
plan of one of the markers for scoring the finished game; Figure 6 is
an under side view of the instrument with the back card removed.
c, c, are the distance strips of cardboard; they are laid in their places
as is shown, and the pins or rivets placed through them from the front.
The distance pieces c', c¹, being very narrow are of metal, and the rivets
are formed in one piece with them; one of these pieces is shown at
Figure 7, the counters and markers are now placed in their positions, and
each is secured by means of a button; one of these buttons is shown
separately at Figure 8. It has a stem which is inserted through the
slot in the front card, and through a hole formed for it in the counter
or marker, and beyond it receives a metal disc (also shown in Figure 8),
and the disc is made fast by soldering or rivetting the same. When all
the counters are fixed the back card is applied so that the pins or rivets
project through the holes in it. A small metal ring or washer is applied
around each rivet, and the rivet is clenched by a blow with a light
hammer. In place of arranging the counters and markers to project

page_text: beyond the edge of the tablet they may appear through holes in the
front, but the arrangement described is preferred.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Frederick De La Rue,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.
W. F. DE LA RUE. (L.S.)