AN IMPROVEMENT IN LAWN TENNIS AND OTHER BATS
Year: 1885

page_text: I FRANK BADEN-POWELL, of 8 St George's Place, Hyde Park in the County
of Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN LAWN TENNIS AND OTHER BATS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a method of stringing bats for games and more especially
tennis bats or racquets.
One of the great faults in bats hitherto has been that the hitting power is
greatest near the frame and is least at the centre of the bat, that is where the
strings are farthest from their points of support. To obviate this I propose to
arrange the strings so that the strength of the hit is constant for any part of the
bats surface. This is arrived at by bringing a greater number of strings into play
at those points where the strings have less resistance that is at about midlength
by making them approach each other in a certain degree as they near the centre
of the bat, the strings being kept in these curved lines by being knotted or secured
together.
Of the several knots or hitches suitable for this, I prefer the common netting
knot as being sure and simple and 'enabling the net to be constructed apart from
the frame and then simply laced into it, but also because it gives such a gripping
surface for such strokes as "cut" and "twist," the surface being at the same time
level for direct strokes. This concentration of the strings about the centre of the
bat has also many other advantages, such as offering at the sides much less
resistance to the air also rendering the bat stronger in that part (the centre) where
bats usually wear out first; moreover the network pattern of stringing is most
suitable for the application of tighteners, as the few end loops, when attached to
the tightener will slacken or tighten the entire network of the bat, and not as is
now usual merely a few of the strings.

page_text: I FRANK BADEN-POWELL of 8 St. Georges Place, Hyde Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire 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 :-
My Invention relates to an improved method of stringing bats used in games
such as Lawn Tennis and Racquets, and it has for its object to obviate defects
common to the existing systems of stringing; viz-the inequality of hitting power
at different parts of the bat, and the liability of the strings near the centre to
loosen and wear out before the others, in consequence of the greater wear coming
on them.
My Invention consists in a method of stringing such bats, whereby the meshes
are gradually diminished in size from all parts of the circumference to the centre,
by concentrating the strings at the latter part. The variation in the size of the
mesh is so proportioned to its distance from the supporting frame as to, as nearly
as possible, equalize the elasticity of the bat over its entire surface, thereby
rendering the hitting power approximately uniforin at all parts. The variation
in the size of the mesh, and the consequent concentration of the strings at the
centre, necessitates hitching, tying, or knotting them together, to retain them in
their allotted positions, and this enables the network to be made apart from the
frame if preferred, and to be laced into it subsequently, and ensures that the strain
coming on any particular portion shall be equally distributed, and borne by the
adjacent portions, thus enabling the tension of the whole bat to be adjusted at will,
by the use of tighteners, instead of such adjustment being limited to merely a few
of the central strings only, as at present. Such tying, etc, also imparts to the
surface the necessary gripping qualities for such strokes as "cut," "twist," etc.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, wherein;-Figure 1. is a diagram, illustrating the gradual diminu-
tion in the size of the mesh towards the centre; and
Figures 2 and 3 represent portions of netting in course of construction and
illustrate two different methods of stringing which may be adopted in carrying
out my Invention as illustrated by Figure 1. In Figure 1. it will be seen that the
meshes, whose outlines are represented by single lines, are so graduated as to be
smaller at the centre of the bat, and the strings are correspondingly concentrated
about that part, the general directions of the lines of stringing being, for the most
part, more or less curvilinear. The system of stringing here represented may be
said to be diagonal but I do not limit myself thereto, as the lines of string which
are least curved may run longitudinally, and transversely of the bat.
The methods of stringing illustrated in detail in Figures 2 and 3, are such that
the strings are permanently retained in the positions in which they are first placed,
so that the size of the mesh at any particular part, having been once determined,
cannot subsequently become altered by any shifting of the strings, (as might
happen if the lines of string were simply crossed, and interwoven) but any other
method of forming the mesh, and of interlocking the strings, may be adopted
which will have the same effect, and I therefore do not limit myself to these two
methods, although I prefer them. Figure 2 represents the commencement of one
method of netting, or stringing, by looping single continuous string through
itself, in the manner of a knitted fabric, the notting, or stringing, being performed

page_text: the centre.
on a board, having removable pegs fitted in holes in its face at the points of inter-
section of the lines of stringing, that is to say, at the corners of the meshes, the
distance apart of these pegs being gradually diminished from the circumference to
A few only of these holes are shown. The string is secured by one
end to a peg, and passed round the pegs in such manner as to form rows of loops,
each succeeding row of loops being passed through the loops of the preceding row,
the pegs being removed as the work progresses, that is to say, I attach the end of
the string to a marginal peg, say that indicated by the letter a, then pass it round
pegs at b, and c, then round the two marginal pegs, d, e then round a peg at f
then round marginal peg g, then around pegs at h and i, then round the peg at f
(passing through the loop formed round e, f, g,) then around c (passing through
the loop formed round a, b, c, d,) then round pegs at k, l, then round peg b (passing
again through loop a, b, c, d) then around a marginal peg, and so on for succeeding
rows of loops, until the whole network is completed, leaving only the end of the
string to be secured. As each crossing or interlocking of the string with the
previously formed loop is effected, as at f, the peg is withdrawn, and the string
pulled tight.
Figure 3 represents a method of stringing in which the strings are knotted
together at each point of intersection. In this case also, a board with removable
pegs is employed. Around a narginal peg is passed the bight of a string A, one
half of which passes to peg 1. and the other to a peg at 2. where it is knotted to a
single string B, coming from a peg at 3. The two parts of string A then converge
at peg 4, and are knotted together thence they diverge, the one to a marginal peg,
and the other to form another knot at 5 with string B, and so on, in a zig-zag
direction right down the bat. In the same way the two parts of string C, diverge
from a marginal peg, one part forming a knot at 3 with string B, and the other
forming a knot at 6, with one member, or part of a string D the two members of
string C then converging, and being knotted together at 7. and so on, to the other
end of the bat. Similarly the remaining strings take zig zag courses down the bat,
a knot being formed at each point of intersection in Figure 1. whereby the whole
of the strings are united to form a network having a gradually diminishing mesh
towards the centre. The pegs which are used to determine the size of mesh, and
temporarily hold the strings, or loops in position are withdrawn as the work.
progresses, the pegs around which a row of meshes is made being, preferably, left
in until the succeeding row is formed, to keep the net work true to the design.
Instead of constructing the network separate from the bat, it may be strung into
the frame at the same time, in which case the frame and the holes therein, would
take the place of the marginal pegs, a board with the remaining pegs being placed
behind or within the frame of the bat and used, as before, for the construction of
the mesh.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed; I declare that what
I claim is
A Bat for Lawn Tennis, Racquets, and the like, so strung, that the network has
a progressively diminishing size of mesh, from all points of the circumference
to the centre, and the strings are concentrated about that part, substantially as
specified.