IMPROVE-. MENTS IN CRICKET WICKETS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hubert Stanley, of Chipping Campden, in
the County of Gloucester, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN CRICKET WICKETS."
Sealed the 30th October 1866, and dated the 2nd May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hubert Stanley.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd May 1866.
I, WILLIAM HUBERT STANLEY, of Chipping Campden, in the County of
Gloucester, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRICKET WICKETS," to be as follows:-
My improvements in cricket wickets consist in having a metal plate
furnished with two or more pegs to secure it to the ground, to this metal
plate are attached three short tubes, which may be made of brass, iron, or
other suitable material; these tubes are connected in such a way with the
metal plate by springs that they can yield in any direction, either backwards
or forwards, to the right hand or to the left. The stumps are placed in the
tubes, and the whole appearance of the wicket is almost exactly the same as.
the ordinary one. When however the wicket is struck or knocked down
the stumps immediately regain their upright position by means of the springs.
above mentioned.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hubert Stanley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HUBERT STANLEY, of Chipping Campden, in the County of Gloucester, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hubert Stanley, Her special licence that I, the said William Hubert
Stanley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Hubert Stanley, my 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 Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CRICKET WICKETS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Hubert Stanley, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Hubert Stanley, do hereby
declare the nature 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:-
My improvements in cricket wickets consist in having a metal plate
furnished with two or more pegs to secure it to the ground, to this metal
plate are attached three short tubes, which may be made of brass, iron or
other suitable material; these tubes are connected in such a way with the
metal plate by springs that they can yield in any direction, either backwards
or forwards, to the right hand or left. The stumps are placed in the tubes,
and the whole appearance of the wicket is almost exactly the same as the
ordinary one.
When however the wicket is struck or knocked down the
stumps immediately regain their upright position by means of the springs
above mentioned.

page_text: secure it to
In order fully to explain the manner in which I carry out my Invention I
have hereunto annexed Drawings illustrating the same. Fig. 1 represents
an elevation of my improved cricket wicket, and Fig. 2 a plan of the same.
The same letters in both Figures denote corresponding parts. A, A, is a
metal plate, which may be made of steel, iron, brass, or other metal, and of
any convenient size or shape, as that represented in Fig. 2. To its under
side are attached two or more iron or steel spikes B, B, &c. to
the ground, in this case I have inserted four, as seen in Fig. 2. The plate A
can be pressed into the ground, so that its upper surface is level therewith
in the manner shown by the shaded lines in Fig. 1; this of course is not
essential, but by its being so it does not interfere with the ball; C, C, C, are
three brass tubes which contain in their lower ends the spiral springs D, D, D ;
these spiral springs are secured by any suitable attachment at their lower
ends to the plate A, and at their upper ends to the inside of the tubes C, C, C,
as shown; these tubes are so arranged as to maintain the ordinary distance
between the stumps; the stumps E, E, E, are inserted in the top part of
the tubes, as shown in Fig. 1, but in such a way that they can be withdrawn
at pleasure. The tubes may or may not come quite down to the surface of
the plate, I have shown them as being raised from it slightly, so that they may
yield more readily when struck, the flexibility of the spiral springs permits
them to yield in any direction and instantly regain their vertical position.
Having now fully described the nature and object of my said Invention,
and the manner in which I carry the same into effect, what I claim as my
Invention is, the construction of cricket wickets in the manner herein-before
described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hubert Stanley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 28 day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM HUBERT STANLEY. (L.S.)
WILLIAM STANLEY,
Farmer,
Chipping Campden,
Gloucestershire.