Puzzle or Game.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 31st Aug., 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Puzzle or Game.
CHARLES JOHN JOHNSON Watchmaker 15 Culmore Road Peckham, Surrey
JOHN HENRY PALMER, Watchmaker 80 Caversham Road, St. Pancras, Middlesex
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
We claim for our invention a novel game or trick, the game, to consist of a box
with two or more shelves, to be made of cardboard or any other material, with glass
front and top a small ball made of glass or any other material is placed upon the
top shelf, each shelf has a number, points being counted according to the number
upon the shelf into which the ball rolls.
The box being held upright by the player who endeavours to roll the ball over
edge of top shelf into the highest number, which will be found very difficult to
accomplish..
The game to consist of as many points as shall be agreed upon by the players.
Dated this 13th day of July 1893.
CHARLES JOHN JOHNSON.
JOHN HENRY PALMER.
Fr COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
h
Puzzle or Game.
We, CHARLES JOHN JOHNSON, of 15 Culmore Road, Peckham, and JOHN
HENRY PALMER, of 80 Caversham Road, Camden Town, N.W., do hereby declare
the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement and
accompanying drawing, that is to say :-
Our invention relates to a novel puzzle or game.
It can be played by two or more persons as a game, or by one person as a puzzle,
by means of a box having. two or more horizontal or nearly horizontal shelves,
arranged one above the other at a sufficient distance apart, so as to admit freely
between them a small ball of glass or other suitable material. The front and
top of the box are made of glass and the front edges of the shelves are at a
sufficient distance back from the glass front to allow the ball to pass freely
between them.
Each shelf, or the recess of which it forms the bottom, has a number marked or
indicated upon it, these numbers being different, an 1, in playing the game, being
counted by the player according to the particular shelf upon which the ball rolls in
the manner hereinafter described.
The accompanying drawing is in illustration of the invention, Figure 1 being a
view of the box constructed as just described.
a is the box itself which may be of wood, cardboard, or other suitable material,
b,b, being the glass front and top respectively. dis the glass ball...The recesses
formed of the shelves c, c, c, c, c, are numbered 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25, respectively,
and a space is left between their front edges and the glass front through which the
ball d can pass.
The game is played as follows:-The ball d being on the upper shelf, the box is
held upright by the player. He endeavours by careful manipulation to cause the
ball to roll over the front edge of the said upper shelf, and then to fall back into
one of the recesses formed by the shelves below, his object being to cause it so to

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enter into the highest possible one.
This will be found very difficult to accomplish
and requiring considerable skill and perseverance.
The player who succeeds after one or more previously determined attempts in
scoring the highest number wins the game.
Of course if the ball falls upon the
bottom of the box a nothing is scored.
If the box be used by a single player as a puzzle, his aim is to cause the ball d
to roll over the front edge of the partition c, into the highest of the recesses formed
by the other partition.
The device may be modified more or less, as for example, in the way illustrated
in Figure 2, in which circular holes varying in number and arrangement may be
made through one or more of the several partitions c, the object in such case.
being to cause the ball d to pass through such holes in such order as may be
determined.
Or the rule may be that the ball may be made to pass over the front edge of the
partitions without dropping through the holes e. Figure 3 is a perspective view
and Figure 4 a vertical section of a simpler device in which only one shelf or
partition is used having a hole or holes e through it, the object of the player being
to cause the ball d to drop through the hole e without falling over the front edge of
the partition c, or on the other hand to fall over the latter without passing through
the hole e.
b
In this case the top only of the box is made of glass. In the forms shewn in
Figures 1 and 2 the front 6 may be transparent whilst the top may be of the same
material as the rest of the box.
b
The front. edge of one or more of the shelves may be made convex instead of
straight as shewn in the top one in Figure 2, and the shelves may be made either
flat, curved, or inclined, or of other desired shape.
We do not confine ourselves to the precise details which may be varied more or
less as may be found desirable. For instance the front and top may be open
instead of transparent:
The game consists of as many points as may be previously determined upon by
the players.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be. performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The puzzle or game consisting of a box a having a transparent front and top,
shelves or partitions c, having a space between their front edge and the front of the
box and the ball d all arranged and operating substantially in the manner and for
the purpose described and illustrated.
2. In the puzzle or game claimed in Claim 1, the front curved edge to one or
more of the partitions e, substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 2.
3. In the puzzle or game claimed in Claims and 2, the holes e through one
more of the partitions c, substantially as described and illustrated in
or
Figures 2, 3, and 4.
'
Dated this 30th day of August 1893.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants.