IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PARTS, APPARATUS, OR MATERIALS OF CERTAIN GAMES, BY WHICH IMPROVEMENTS SUCH GAMES ARE ADAPTED TO BE PLAYED IN ORDINARY Rooms
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Garbett, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford,
Wine Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE PARTS, APPARATUS, OR MATERIALS OF CERTAIN GAMES, BY WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS SUCH GAMES ARE ADAPTED TO BE PLAYED IN ORDINARY
Rooms."
Sealed the 5th May 1868, and dated the 16th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Garbett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
November 1867.
I, RICHARD GARBETT, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Wine Merchant
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS, IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PARTS, APPARATUS, OR MATERIALS OF CERTAIN GAMES,
BY WHICH IMPROVEMENTS SUCH GAMES ARE ADAPTED TO BE PLAYED IN ORDINARY
Rooms," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
This Invention has for its object the adaptation of the ordinary games of
American bowls or ten pins, skittles, and nine pins, so, that they may be
played upon a board or table.
For the purpose of American bowls or ten pins the game is played upon a..
board which I propose to form of wood or a slab of slate covered with cloth
and placed horizontally in a frame upon legs or supports, or laid flat upon a
table, and with this table are furnished three balls and ten pins, the pins are
placed in the form of a triangle or other required shape at one end of the slab

page_text: or board, and are played at from the other end with the balls propelled from
a cue or mace. Surrounding the board on which the game is played is con-
structed a trough or margin, or in some instances I prefer to employ bags or
pockets to receive dead or fallen pins or to retain ill-played balls, and the
sides of the slab or board are padded to protect the frame, and the pin end is
raised to prevent the pins from being knocked off the table, and I propose to
form these pins to be used with my improved games in such manner that the
resistive power of each pin will be equal to the weight of each ball, employed,
this provision enabling me to adapt them for play upon bagatelle and billiard
tables; with some slight modifications I employ similar arrangements to those
ulready specified for the purpose of playing the games of skittles or nine pins..
These modifications consist in so forming a bagatelle table that the game
of bagatelle may be played at one end and the game of skittles or ten pins at
the other; for which purpose I propose to lay a moveable plate or flat piece
of metal or wood covered with cloth over the cups into which bagatelle balls"
are usually played and play from the cup end of the table so covered at the
pins suitably arranged at the other end, and to place at the back and sides of
the frame of pins a trough or pocket to receive them when fallen and to
prevent the balls from rebounding among them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Garbett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
GABBETT, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Garbett, Her special license that I, the said Richard Garbett,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Garbett, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE PARTS, APPARATUS, OR MATERIALS OF CERTAIN GAMES, BY WHICH IMPROVE

page_text: MENTS SUCH GAMES ARE ADAPTED TO BE PLAYED IN ORDINARY ROOMs," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Garbett, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, 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 Richard Garbett, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
-
This Invention has for its object the adaption of the ordinary games of
American bowls or ten pins, skittles, and nine pins, so that they may be
played upon a board or table.
For the purpose of American bowls or ten pins the game is played upon a
board which I propose to form of wood or a slab of slate covered with cloth
and placed horizontally in a frame upon legs or supports, or laid flat upon a
table, and with this table are furnished three or more balls and ten pins, the
pins are placed in the form of a triangle or other required shape at one end of
the slab or board, and are played at from the other end with the balls pro-
pelled from a cue or mace. Surrounding the upper end of the board on which
the game is played is constructed a trough or margin, or in some instances
I prefer to employ bags or pockets to receive dead or fallen pins or to retain
ill-played balls, and the sides of the slab or board are padded to protect the
frame, and the pin end is raised to prevent the pins from being knocked off
the table, and I propose if preferred to form the pins to be used with my
improved games in such manner that the resistive power of each pin will be
equal to the weight of each ball employed; with some slight modifications
I employ similar arrangements to those already specified for the purpose of
playing the games of skittles or nine pins upon bagatelle boards or billiard
tables.
These modifications consist in so forming a bagatelle table that the game
of bagatelle may be played at one end and the game of skittles or ten pins at
the other; for which purpose I propose to lay a moveable plate or flat piece
of metal, wood, or other suitable material covered with cloth over the cups,
into which bagatelle balls are usually played, or fill up such cups with suitable
plugs and play from the cup end of the table so covered at tho pins suitably
arranged at the other end, and to place at the back and sides of the frame or

page_text: pins a trough or pocket to receive them when fallen and to prevent the balls
from rebounding among them.
I will now proceed to describe my Invention more fully in detail, and by
the aid of the Drawings bereunto annexed.
Figures 1 and 2 represent in plan and longitudinal section a board suitably
arranged with my improvements for the purpose of playing the games of
American bowls, ten pins, or skittles thereupon, and also the games of
bagatelle or billiards, the bagatelle arrangement being shewn in the various
Drawings for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the combination of the
games if such combination is preferred.
(a) is the board which may be formed of wood or a slab of state covered
with cloth and placed borizontally in a frame upon legs or supports, which are
not shewn; or the board (a) may be laid flat upon a table if preferred, and
with this board are furnished three, nine, or other suitable number of balls,
and a sufficient number of pins, ten being shewn in the Drawings marked (b),
and these pins (6) are placed in the form of a triangle or other desired shape,
the board being spotted or marked with some suitable material, as at (c), to
denote the positions for the placing of the pins; the pins when so arranged
are played at from the other end of the board with the balls which are propelled
from a cue or mace.
When playing the games of skittles or ten pins upon a bagatelle board
I propose to lay a moveable plate (d), Figures 1 and 2, formed of metal,
wood, or other suitable material and covered with cloth over the cups of the
bagatelle end of the board or slab for the purpose of playing more readily at
the pins arranged at the other end of the slab or board, or I plug the cups if
preferred. The sides of the slab or board are cushioned in the usual manner,
and the skittle end is padded, as at (e), to protect the frame, and surrounding
the pin end a trough or margin (f) is formed to receive dead or fallen pins,
or to retain played balls.
(9) Figures 1 and 2, represents a portable frame which is formed with
suitable pegs to fit into corresponding holes in the frame of the slab or board
when required for use, the frame (9) preventing the pins from being knocked
off the table during play.
Figure 3 represents the form of pin I prefer to use, but in some cases I
form the pins to be used in my improved games in such manner that
the resistive power of each pin shall be equal to the weight of each ball
employed.
In the Drawings pockets (h) are shewn at the sides of the board, but I
also propose to form my improved boards without pockets for the combined

page_text: playing of the games of skittles and bagatelle; or I construct boards without
pockets upon which skittles only may be played; or again, I form billiard
tables without bagatelle ends, but arranged for the playing of skittles or ten
pins, and for some purposes I can construct these boards so as to be capable
of folding up midway by hinging together the two halves.
Figure 4 shews the disposition of the board described at Figures 1 and 2
when the game of bagatelle is about to be played thereupon, the pins being
removed, as also the covering or moveable plate (d).
Figures 5 and 6 shew in plan and longitudinal section the board suitably
arranged for the game of billiards; in this case I shut off both the play ends
of the board by means of cross pieces or bars of metal or wood (i) which are
bolted or otherwise secured in position to the sides of the board.
In order that my improved games of American bowls or ten pins, skittles,
and nine pins may be more readily known in contradistinction to bagatelle,
billiards, or other similar games, I have termed them "Battue."
Having thus described the object and nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be carried into effect, I claim, without limiting
myself to these precise details, the various improvements in the construction
and arrangement of the parts, apparatus, or materials of certain games, by
which improvements such games are adapted to be played in ordinary rooms,
substantially in manner as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Garbett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
RICHARD GARBETT. (L.B.)