A NEW OR IMPROVED GAME OF SKILL, AND NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR PLAYING THE SAME.
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Francis Leigh Clare, Gentleman, and George Lamb
Campbell, Secretary, both of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster, for the In-
vention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED GAME OF SKILL, AND NEW OR IMPROVED
IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR PLAYING THE SAME.'
ealed the 16th June 1876, and dated the 17th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Francis Leigh Clare
and George Lamb Campbell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on
the 17th March 1876.
"
JOHN FRANCIS LEIGH CLARE, Gentleman, and GEORGE LAMB CAMPBELL, Secretary,
both of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster. A NEW OR IMPROVED GAME OF
SKILL, AND NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR PLAYING
THE SAME."
Our Invention relates to a new or improved game of skill similar to and which
may be substituted for the games known as "curling" played upon ice surfaces,
and "bowling" played on ordinary ground, and to implements or apparatus to be
employed in playing the said game; and it consists in the utilization of what are
known as skating rinks and other suitable surfaces for the traverse of apparatus
which are to be driven or projected over the same after the manner of curling
stones, bowls, or similar appliances.
These apparatus according to our Invention consist of bodies of suitable form,
material, and weight mounted upon one or more rollers or wheels so as to facilitate
their transmission over or along such surfaces, and they may be constructed in such
a manner that there shall be a bias or tendency in the apparatus similar to that in
ordinary bowls to roll, run, or move in a curvilinear course or obliquely either by
arranging that the apparatus shall have the centre of gravity eccentrical, or by a
variation in the diameters of the respective rollers or wheels, or by making any one
or more of the rollers or wheels slightly conical or curvilinear in the direction of it
or their axis or axes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said John Francis Leigh Clare and George Lamb Campbell in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th September 1876.
JOHN FRANCIS LEIGH CLARE, Gentleman, and GEORGE LAMB CAMPBELL, Secretary,
both of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster. "A NEW OR IMPROVED GAME OF
SKILL, AND NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR PLAYING
THE SAME,"
Our said Invention relates to a new or improved game of skill similar to and
which may be substituted for the game known as "bowling" played on ordinary
ground, and to impleinents or apparatus to be employed in playing the said game;
and it consists in the utilization of what are known as skating rinks and other
suitable surfaces for the traverse of apparatus which are to be driven or projected
over the same after the manner of bowls or similar appliances.
These apparatus according to our Invention consist of bodies of suitable form,
material, and weight, mounted upon rollers or wheels so as to facilitate their
transmission over or along such surfaces, and constructed in such a manner that
there shall be either a natural bias or tendency in the apparatus similar to that in
ordinary bowls to roll, run, or move in a curvilinear course or obliquely; or that
the apparatus shall be capable of receiving a bias or tendency to so roll, run, or
move at the will and according to the skill of the operator.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer
to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of
reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of our Drawings represent in end and side elevation and
under plan 5 several modifications of our Invention, portions of Figure 4 being
shewn in section.
A are the bodies which may be of any form, material, and weight, adapted for
the purpose, and which are mounted upon rollers or wheels B, B1, so as to facilitate
their transmission over or along skating rinks and other suitable surfaces, and are
provided with handles A¹ for the convenience of impelling or projecting them.
The rollers or wheels may be employed in any required number.
In Figures 1, 2,
and 4 we have illustrated the use of three rollers or wheels. Figure 3 is an
example of the application of four rollers or wheels, and in the arrangement shewn
in Figure 5 two rollers or wheels only are employed.
The natural bias or tendency to roll, run, or move in a curvilinear course or
obliquely may be obtained in various ways. For example, in the modification
shewn in Figure 1 the apparatus is so arranged that the centre of gravity is
eccentrical, being an imaginary line indicating the position of the natural centre
of the apparatus; and b denoting the approximate position of the centre of gravity.
In the Drawing, Figure 1, the eccentricity is obtained by making the side c of
the body so as to project to a greater distance beyond the side of the wheels than
the opposite side d, but a similar result may be produced by making portions of
One side of the material of greater density than the other, or by the employment in
a chamber formed in the apparatus of a weight serewed upon a threaded rod so as
to be capable of being moved to either side at will, or it may be obtained in any
other convenient manner. By means of these arrangements when the apparatus is
driven or projected over or along the rink or other surface it will have a tendency
by reason of the preponderance of the one side, videlicit, the side c in the example,
Figure 1, to incline towards that side, and thus follow a curved course, the contour
of which curve will vary according to the force with which the apparatus is driven
or projected.
In the modification, Figure 2, the bias or tendency to move in a curved or

page_text: oblique course is obtained by making the two wheels B at one extremity of
different diameters and bevelled, the single wheel B¹ at the opposite extremity
being also bevelled so that the three wheels together form one complete truncated
cone. The operation is similar to that of the arrangement shewn in Figure 1, the
apparatus when driven or projected over or along the rink or other surface is caused
by reason of the smaller extremity of the truncated cone being situate on the side c
to incline toward that side, whereby the apparatus is conducted in a curved courso
as before.
In lieu of employing wheels of a bevelled shape they may be made of a rounded
form, as indicated by the dotted lines in the plan view of Figure 2, and by full
lines in Figure 3, in which latter Figure two pairs of wheels are shewn employed,
the two wheels of each pair being constructed of different diameters in a similar
manner to the pair of wheels B at one extremity in the apparatus, Figure 2.
It is obvious that in all cases the apparatus may be constructed so that there
shall be a bias or tendency to follow a curved course in the direction of the side d
in lieu of that of the side c, also that the direction of the curve will be reversed
according to which extremities of the apparatus are used for the time being as the
front and rear. The rollers or wheels may also be made of any convenient
curvilinear form in the direction of their axes.
It is not essential that the apparatus should be arranged so that there shall be a
natural bias or tendency to roll, run, or move in a curved course provided that it is
suscepticle of such a bias or tendency to be imparted to it at the will and according
to the skill of the operator. For example, a bias may be given by moving one or
more of the wheels out of its original plane to a plane at an angle with it, and con-
sequently at an angle with the other wheels or wheel. Figure 4 illustrates one mode of
carrying out this arrangement, in which example the axle of the wheels B is shewn
carried by a swivelling frame e, the upper extremity of which forming a vertical
axis passes through the body A, and is provided at its upper end with a handle g
for the convenience of radially adjusting the wheels B before playing so as to cause
them to travel in the desired curve; a screw h is employed for the purpose of fixing
the handle g in any adjusted position.
A similar effect to that obtained in the apparatus, Figure 4, is also produced by
making the centre of gravity moveable at will, in the manner herein-before
described.
The apparatus may also be constructed, as shewn in Figure 5, with one of the
rollers, videlicet, that B, of a barrel shape, so that by the act of the operator depress-
ing the body A. to one side or the other as the apparatus is driven or projected it
will be caused to move in a curved course in the direction of the side so depressed.
Similarly, apparatus may be constructed upon the principle of roller skates, in
which by the act of depressing, canting, or tilting the body, the rollers, or wheels
are locked, and the apparatus is directed in the required curvilinear course; such
apparatus when utilized in carrying out our Invention are driven or projected over
or along the rink or other surface, and at the moment when the impulse is imparted
they are depressed on one side or the other so as to cause the rollers or wheels to
describe the required curved path, the skill of the operator being displayed in
regulating the degree of depression and the force with which the apparatus is
driven or projected, according to the range and trajectory which it is required to
obtain.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is, or may be used, or carried into effect,
we would observe in conclusion that what we consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the game of skill similar to and which may be substituted for the
game known as "bowling" to be played by driving or projecting over or along
skating rinks and other suitable surfaces after the manner of bowls on ordinary
ground implements or apparatus consisting of bodies mounted upon rollers or

page_text: wheels, such implements or apparatus being constructed and arranged so as to
operate, substantially in the manner and for the purposes bercin-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Francis Leigh Clare and George Lamb
Campbell, have to this our Specification, set our hands and seals, this
Thirteenth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
J. F. LEIGH CLARE.
(L.S.)
GEORGE L. CAMPBELL.
(L.S.)