Improvement in Stringing Lawn Tennis and other Rackets.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 21st June, 1898
1000
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvement in Stringing Lawn Tennis and other Rackets.
ALBERT EGERTON LEGH SLAZENGER, Manufacturer, Laurence Pountney Hill,
Cannon Street, E.C., JOHN HENRY HITCHCOCK, Foreman, above address, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Nearly the whole of the play of a racket is in the centre of the gutted frame,
consequently this part soon becomes slack, our invention consists in introducing
extra gut in this part either in the main or cross strings.
We are aware that rackets have been made with double gut all over but not
any have hitherto been made with extra gut to support the centre only.
1000
A. E. L. SLAZENGER,
J. H. HITCHCOCK.
Improvement in Stringing Lawn Tennis and other Rackets.
We, ALBERT EGERTON LEGH SLAZENGER, Manufacturer, of Laurence Pountney
Hill, Cannon Street, London, E.C., and Joux HENRY HITCHCOCK, Foreman, of
Laurence Pountney Hill, London E.C., do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
The object of our invention is to effect improvements in stringing lawn tennis
and other rackets whereby the playing or central portion of the gutted frame is
materially strengthened and given additional power and permanency, such improved
stringing also serving to bind the frame and centre piece more firmly together.
According to our invention we introduce extra gut in the central or playing
portion of the gutted frame, either in the main strings or in the cross strings.
Preferably we arrange that when the racket has been strung in the ordinary way
a considerable length is left after it comes out of the last stringing holes under
the ordinary system. These extra lengths are re-introduced into the holes through
the centre piece and up to the head of the bat (and sometimes down and up again)
the ends being finished off in any well known manner.
And in order that our said invention may be particularly described and ascer-
tained, reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawings in which similar
letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is a front view and Fig. 2 a side view of a racket strung according to
our invention.
a is the frame and is the centre piece. The racket is strung in the ordinary way,

page_text: with the exception that the vertical strings are not finished off after passing
through the frame for the last time. The ends e are left long and pass through the
frame at c and are carried down under the. bends or loops of the main and cross
strings (Fig. 2) to the lowest holes d where they are passed through the frame
and centre piece. They are then led up to the top of the frame and turned down
through an adjacent hole and bound to one of the other strings as shown at f.
The upper and lower ends of such extra strings e may be bound together by the
cross strings as shewn at g, g; similarly the strings e may be contiguous to the
vertical strings or equidistant therefrom (as shown in the drawing) as found desir-
able in practise.
In some cases the strings e are carried down and up again and finished off as
set forth, where still more reinforcement of the central portion is required. By
our improved stringing the glue joints are greatly reinforced and the whole string
greatly improved in strength, power and permanency.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In stringing rackets, reinforcing the central or playing portion by the intro-
duction of extra gut in the main or cross strings, substantially as described.
2. In stringing rackets, reinforcing the central or playing portion by reintroduc-
ing the extra lengths e of the main strings, by passing such extra lengths through
the frame at e and down under the bends or loops of the main and cross strings
to the lowest hole d, through the frame and.centre piece and up to the top of the
frame (and in some cases down and up again) the ends being turned down through
an adjacent hole and finished off, substantially as hereinbefore described and illus-
trated by the drawings.