Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Apr., 1886.
Complete Left, 6th Jan., 1887
Complete Accepted, 8th Feb., 1887
I, JAMES HERBERT BULLARD of Springfield Hampden County and State of
Massachusets United States of America Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in lawn tennis court markers, the object being
to provide a marker for laying out a tennis court of improved construction whereby,
by rolling the marker on the court lines, the marking material is deposited on the latter,
and at the same time the proper length of the lines is measured by the revolutions of
the marker; and my said invention consists essentially of a drum or cylinder perforated
or reticulated upon its outer periphery, and through which perforations or sieve like
holes, a powdered material contained in the drum, passes. The reticulated or grating
periphery, is elevated a short-distance-from the ground, to prevent the holes or meshes
through which the powdered material passes outwardly, from becoming clogged by
dirt.
The drum or wheel thus described, is elevated by side flanges which may be plain or
serrated..
The marker wheel or cylinder is made up of two side plates, fashioned from sheet
metal; and near the outer edges of the said sides or disc, an outer sieve like periphery
is disposed, which may be of perforated sheet metal, or other suitable reticulated material,
that will admit of finely powdered material falling through. Thus the periphery of
this marker wheel, is of less diameter than the sides; so that on the underside being
presented to the ground, the reticulated drum part is elevated, thereby admitting of
the free outward passage of the powdered material from the drum. One of the two
sides of the marker wheel is provided with a door for gaining access to its interior, or
for placing within it, the powdered material which is sieved in a line, over which the
marker wheel may have been drawn.
By serrating the outer periphery of the edges constituting the sides or flanges of the
marker wheel, a more positive engagement with the ground is thereby obtained; and
further, the rotations of the wheel are made more closely approximate to the distance
travelled for measuring purposes.

page_text: The diameter of the drum is preferably made to cover a certain determinate distance,
such as a foot or three feet, so that the wheel constitutes a court marker and a court
measurer, by simply counting the number of revolutions made.
The means of rotation, or the means by which the wheel is propelled, is effected by
a forked handle, or fork piece, in which the forked ends are turned inwards, and passed
through the middle of the sides of the wheel, and upon these pivot ends, the wheel
turns, on being drawn or pushed. The other or straight end of the forked piece, is
provided with a handle of any convenient form.
In order to prevent the marking material dropped from the wheel from being
displaced, after it has been deposited in the form of a band along the ground, I provide
the roller with a drag or presser which is drawn immediately over its traction, thereby
rolling or patting down the material deposited.
The drag or presser is carried at the back of the marker wheel by depending bracket
arms secured and attached about the centre of the wheel, so as to be able to loosely
hang upon a bolt or other connector, thus admitting of the drag pressing with its whole
weight upon the ground.
The drag may be in the form of a wheel or in the form of a rounded bottomed
skid.
The operation of marking and measuring is easily accomplished, by filling the drum
with suitable powdered marking material, then roll the drum around the court lines, at
the same time noticing the number of revolutions to be made, whereby the length and
boundary lines are determined and marked.
JAMES HERBERT BULLARD.
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham,
Agent to the Applicant.

page_text: 1, JAMES HERBERT BULLARD of Springfield Hampden County and State of
Massachusets United States of America Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in lawn-tennis court markers, the object
being to provide a marker for laying out a tennis-court of improved construction,
whereby by rolling the marker on the court-lines, the marking material is deposited
on the latter, and at the same time the proper length of the lines is measured by the
revolutions of the marker; and my said invention consists essentially of a drum or
cylinder perforated or reticulated upon its outer periphery, and through which
perforations or sieve like holes, a powdered material, contained in the drum, passes.
The reticulated or grating periphery, is elevated a short distance from the ground to
prevent the holes or meshes through which the powdered material passes outwardly,
from becoming clogged by dirt.
The drum or wheel thus described, is elevated by side flanges, which may be plain
or serrated.
The marker wheel or cylinder is made up of two side plates, fashioned from sheet
metal and near the outer edges of the said sides or disc, an outer sieve like periphery
is disposed, which may be of perforated sheet metal, or other suitable reticulated
material, that will admit of finely powdered material falling through-Thus, the
periphery of this marker wheel, is of less diameter than the sides; so that on the
underside being presented to the ground, the reticulated drum part is elevated,
thereby admitting of the free outward passage of the powdered material from the
drum One of the two sides of the marker wheel is provided with a door for gaining
access to its interior, or for placing within it the powdered material which is to be
sieved in a line over which the marker wheel may have been drawn.
By serrating the outer periphery of the edges constituting the sides or flanges of
the marker wheel, a more positive engagement with the ground is thereby obtained;
and further, the rotations of the wheel are made more closely approximate to the
listance travelled for measuring purposes.
The diameter of the drum is preferably made to cover a certain determinate
distance such as a foot or three feet, so that the wheel constitutes a court marker
and a court measurer, by simply counting the number of revolutions made.
The means of rotation, or the means by which the wheel is propelled, is effected by
a forked handle, or fork piece, in which the forked ends are turned inwards, and
passed through the middle of the sides of the wheel; and upon these pivot ends, the
wheel turns, on being drawn or pushed-The other or straight end of the forked
piece, is provided with a handle of any convenient form.
In order to prevent the marking material dropped from the wheel from being

page_text: displaced, after it has been deposited in the form of a band along the ground, I
provide the roller with a drag or presser, which is drawn immediately over its
traction, thereby rolling or patting down the material deposited.
The drag or presser is carried at the back of the marker wheel, by depending
bracket arms secured and attached about the centre of the wheel, so as to be able to
loosely hang on a bolt or other connector, thus admitting of the drag pressing with
its whole weight upon the ground.
The drag may be in the form of a wheel, or in the form of a rounded bottomed skid.
The operation of marking and measuring is easily accomplished, by filling the drum
with suitable powdered marking material; then roll the drum around the court lines,
at the same time noticing the number of revolutions to be made, whereby the length
and boundary lines are determined and marked.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the
manner in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a lawn-tennis marker, constructed
according to my invention, and with the upper end of the handle part broken off-
Figure 2 represents a modification of the same, in which the annular flanges or
standing out rims, which elevate the perforated or reticulated periphery of the
marker from the ground, is made plain, instead of being serrated, as in figure 1-
Figure 3 is an end elevation, and figure 4 is a vertical section on the dotted lines A B
figure 2.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures of
the Drawing.
a is the marker wheel or drum, consisting of two metallic sides.c C₂ cut out from
sheet metal, the boundary edges or peripheries of which, are serrated as in figure 1,
or made plain as in figure 2; and situated between the said sides, and at a short
distance from their boundary edges, a perforated or reticulated band or broad
periphery is secured, and which said band constitutes the face of the wheel, and
through the perforations of which, powdered material, such as marble-dust, air-
slacked lime, Plaster-of-Paris, and the like, drops-Thus the band or face of the
wheel e is set, or somewhat removed from the peripheries or boundary edges of the
side .C, in order that the said face e shall be elevated above the rolling edges, so as not
to come, into direct contact with the ground, and thereby have its perforations clogged
or filled with dirt-is a sliding door in one of the sides c, and through which, the
wheel or drum is supplied with the marking material.
The serrated peripheries or edges of the sides c as represented at figure 1, are made,
in order to cause the wheel in rolling, to have a more positive engagement with the
ground, so that the rotations of the wheel are proportionate to the distance over which
it is moved for measuring purposes as hereinafter described, although the said
peripheries may be made plain as already referred to with respect to figures 2, 3 and 4.
The wheol a is made preferably of such a diameter, that its circumference shall
measure a certain number of feet, as for instance two or three feet, the latter being
preferably owing to the convenience of measuring off, while using the wheel as a
marker, the court lines of 78, 36, 42 and 27 feet; and in order that the operator may
easily count the revolutions of the wheel, the radial line is provided on one or both
sides thereof.
is a pivot or axis passing transversely through the middle of the wheel
k; and
around which, the said wheel rotates-o is a forked connection or shank, having
arms o' with eyes or holes at their forked ends, through which the axis passes-
&is a handle or stock, secured to the said forked connection o.
In order to prevent the displacement, by wind or otherwise, of the powdered or
marking material thus deposited upon the ground, I provide a convenient means in
the form of a cast iron roller or drag d, which compresses and sets the marking
material; and which said roller or drag is situated immediately behind the drum or
wheel, so that the material deposited, is followed and pressed down by the roller as it
is delivered.
The roller or drag d is carried by, and pivoted at n, to the lower ends of a carrier,

page_text: or carrier arms w, and which said arms are loosely hung on the axis v, so that the
whole weight of the roller and attachment parts shall press upon the ground.
To provide means for lifting the said roller or drag from off the ground if desired,
the carrier or arm w is provided at its joint end with a supplementary arm w¹ and
cross arm w², at its extreme end, and which said cross bar or long stud, is presented
to the front of the fork o o', so that when the wheel or drum is being used as a
marker, the arms of the forked part, and the stud w³ are free.
In view of the foregoing detailed description of the marker, the operation will be
casily understood, it being requisite only, to supply the hollow wheel a with the
aforesaid powdered marking material, roll it on the court lines, meanwhile noting the
revolutions of the wheel, whereby the length of the lines marked, is determined.
It is obvious that the marker may be made, if desired, without the drag d, and its
supporting arms.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is,
:-
First A lawn-tennis court marker, consisting of an enclosed hollow wheel or drum,
having a perforated or reticulated periphery or face, through which powdered or other
marking material placed within the interior of the said drum, passes. The rolling
edges of the sides of the wheel or drum are flanged or raised, into annular rims for
the purpose of elevating or raising the perforated or reticulated part or parts, from or
above the ground, over which the marker is drawn or rolled, substantially as and for
the purpose herein described and set forth.
:
Secondly A lawn-tennis court marker, consisting of an enclosed hollow wheel
or drum, and perforated face, provided with serrated, flanged or raised edges,
substantially as and for the purpose as described and represented in figure 1.
Thirdly A lawn-tennis court marker, consisting of a hollow wheel, perforated face
with flanged edges; and which said marker is provided with a door or entrance,
(through which powdered material is introduced into the interior thereof) shank o o¹,
handle and axis », substantially as described and set forth,
Fourthly-A tennis court marker and measurer, consisting of a hollow wheel,
substantially as described, having a given circumference, and the radial indicating
line thereon extending between its axis and its periphery, substantially as described
and set forth.
:-
Fifthly In combination with lawn-tennis court markers of the kind herein
specified in the preceding claims (or other like court markers) of a supplementary
roller or presser d, with loosely jointed connecting arm or arms w, with short arm
and cross arm w²; the parts being constructed, combined, and acting in the manner
and for the purpose herein described and set forth in figure 1.
JAMES HERBERT BULLARD.
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicant.