NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR PLAYING GAMES OF SKILL AND CHANCE
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Taylor at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th November
1867.
I, THOMAS TAYLOR, of No. 7, Wellington Row, Bethnal Green, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"NEW OR IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR PLAYING GAMES OF SKILL AND
CHANCE," to be as follows:-
The sides of the board.
My Invention consists in the arrangement of a board or table formed of
any suitable material, and with a number of recesses in the central portion
thereof, upon which board or table are used pieces of ivory or other suitable
material formed so as to slide easily along the surface of the said board, to
rebound freely from one another, and to fit the recesses. The pieces may be
of a circular, diamond, heart, or other suitable shape.
are fitted with an elastic cushion, and a semicircular piece which forms the.
head of the board has a similar cushion upon it, and is made so that it can.
be reversed to enable another person to play from the opposite end of the
board. The pieces are struck with a flat circular-headed mace or hammer
of ivory or other suitable material, or they may be struck in any other con-
venient manner. Instead of recesses in the central part of this board or table
pieces with or without an elastic cushion on them may be made to project

page_text: from the surface of the table and arranged in a circle or in any other desired
manner, so as to admit of the sliding pieces passing between them. Similar
pieces or pillars with elastic cushions may all be connected at top by being
screwed or otherwise fastened into a circular, octagonal, or other shaped ring
of metal, wood, or other suitable material. So combined it may be used either
upon the above-mentioned board in lieu of the fixed projecting pieces, or
upon an ordinary table or upon a lawn, and balls or sliding pieces may be
used, and the size of the apparatus. may be varied to suit the circumstances,
the object being either to get the most pieces or balls. to pass between the
cush pillars into the interior, or to strike out or release one or more pieces
or balls placed therein. When this apparatus is used on an ordinary table
it may be surrounded by an external cushion. A board or table similar to
the above may be arranged to turn on a pivot, so that two or more persons
can play upon it without being required to move into another place during
the game.
This board or table may be used as a base or stand for supporting
a T-shaped rod, from the extremities of which are suspended cords having a
ring at their ends. Each of these rings when swung by the players, who sit
opposite each other, are caused to catch on to a hook placed at the requisite
elevation at each end of the board. Or in lieu of using the before-mentioned
board or table for supporting the T-shaped rod, a weighted pillar or base may
be used, into which are fastened projecting rods which carry the hooks for
catching the rings. The above-mentioned reversible head may be applied
to boards where balls are used.
Another game of skill consists in the use of a tray or circular piece of wood
or other suitable material having a raised rim all round it and fixed centrally
upon a bandle. Upon the inner surface of this tray I arrange any convenient
number of holes or recesses, and indicate them in any convenient manner by
the names of towns or other localities, adding if desired the distances from
each town or from any particular locality, and also what the town or locality
is remarkable for. I connect these holes or recesses by means of lines
painted, inlaid, or printed to show the direction in which the towns or other
localities are to be passed through in successiou. In front of some or all of
these recesses I prefer to place an arch of any suitable material, which may
he formed to represent an entrance gate to a city or other place in order to
check the entrance to the recess, and thus increase the interest of the game,
but they may be dispensed with if desired. Upon this tray so arranged I
employ a ball which is placed in the recess representing the town or other
locality from which it is desired to start. By holding the handle and giving the
tray a slight jerk the ball is released from this recess, and by properly balancing

page_text: the tray the ball is caused to roll on in the proper direction under an arch
and into each of the recesses in succession until the journey is completed,
thereby affording instructive amusement to the players. 1 prefer the tray to
be held by means of the central handle, but it may be held at the rim, or it
may turn upon a pivot placed upon the table, and it may be square, octagonal,
or any other convenient shape, and in lieu of the names of towns and distances
any other kind of information may be used.
In lieu of arranging the inner surface of the tray with holes it may have a
series of concentric grooves turned or otherwise formed thereon. The sides of
these grooves may be cut away at intervals, leaving spaces formed so as to
just retain the ball and admit of its being released by a slight jerk or to allow
it to pass through freely from one groove to the other in any indicated direction.
These spaces may or may not be arched over, and may be indicated by the
names of towns or any other desired information.
In another arrangement for a game of chance I employ a spiral drum
surrounded by a casing, the bottom part of which is arranged so as to form a
shoot, down which balls may be dropped. By causing this drum to revolve
upon its axis the balls in the shoot will enter the spiral at the periphery of
the drum, and its revolutions being continued they will be delivered through
an eye at its centre on to a surface containing holes or recesses coloured or
numbered.