IMPROVEMENTS IN RACKETS OR RACKET BATS USED IN LAWN-TENNIS AND OTHER SIMILAR GAMES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hookham, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RACKETS
OR RACKET BATS USED IN LAWN-TENNIS AND OTHER SIMILAR GAMES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hookham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th May 1881.
GEORGE HOOKHAM, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RACKETS OR RACKET BATS USED IN LAWN TENNIS AND
OTHER SIMILAR GAMES."
My Invention relates principally to the rackets or racket bats used in lawn
tennis, but is also applicable to rackets or racket bats used in ordinary rackets, as
well as to bats used for like purposes.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a lawn tennis racket or racket bat.
As the said bats are ordinarily constructed, the web or stringing is fixed to the
frame or rim in a plane midway between the opposite faces of the frame.
As the stringing is thus sunk some distance below the frame, the effective playing
surface of the bat is considerably diminished, the marginal portions of the stringing
for about an inch all round the head of the bat being rendered inoperative by the
projecting frame. In constructing rackets or racket bats according to my Invention
I employ a double stringing, that is, I employ two parallel stringings separated a
distance equal or nearly equal to the depth of the frame, and situated respectively
in the same or nearly the same planes as the two faces of the frame. By this
method of construction the whole of the stringing is effective playing surface, and
the practical loss as playing surface of the marginal portions hereinbefore referred
to is avoided.
The increase of playing surface in rackets or racket bats made according to my
Invention is especially valuable in the oblique stroke.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said George Hookham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th November 1881.
GEORGE HOOкHAM, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RACKETS OR RACKET BATS USED IN LAWN TENNIS AND
OTHER SIMILAR GAMES."
My Invention relates principally to the rackets or racket bats used in lawn
tennis, but is also applicable to rackets or racket bats used in ordinary rackets,
as well as to bats used for like purposes.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a lawn tennis racket or racket bat.
As the said bats are ordinarily constructed, the web or stringing is fixed to the
frame or rim in a plane midway between the opposite faces of the frame. As the
stringing is thus sunk some distance below the frame the effective playing surface
of the bat is considerably diminished, the marginal portions of the stringing for
about an inch all round the head of the bat being rendered inoperative by the
.projecting frame.
In constructing rackets or racket bats according to my Invention I employ a
double stringing, that is, I employ two parallel stringings separated a distance
equal or nearly equal to the depth of the frame, and situated respectively in the
same or nearly the same planes as the two faces of the frame.
By this method of construction the whole of the stringing is effective playing
surface, and the practical loss as playing surface of the marginal portions herein
before referred to is avoided.
The increase of playing surface in rackets or racket bats made according to my
Invention is especially valuable in the oblique stroke.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a plan, and Figures 2 and 3,
vertical sections, taken at right angles to one another, of a lawn tennis racket or
'racket bat constructed according to my Invention.
The section of the bat represented in Figure 2 is taken in the longer direction of
the head of the bat, and the section Figure 3 is taken across the head of the bat in
its shorter direction.
a is the handle, and b, 6%, is the frame or rim of the head of the bat to which the
web or stringing is fixed. The double stringing of the bat according to my
Invention is marked c and d. It will be seen by an examination of the sections,
Figures 2 and 3, that the two stringings c, d, are parallel to one another and
are separated a distance nearly equal to the depth of the frame or rim b to which
they are fixed. It will also be seen that the said stringings c, d, are situated
respectively nearly in the same planes as the two faces of the frame b, whereby the
advantages herein before pointed out in the use of the racket or racket bat are
obtained. The stringings c, d, are supported upon the inner part b² of the frame b,
which inner part is of somewhat less thickness than the outer part b. That portion
of the stringings near the junction of the head of the bat with the handle a is
supported by the separate piece e having the same depth as the inner part 2 of the
frame b, the said piece e being inserted between the parts f, f, (see Figure 1). The
said middle piece e is firmly secured to the parts f, f, by the cross pin or screw g, or
by glueing as usual.
I do not limit myself to any particular way of connecting the double stringing c, d,
to the frame or rim b, 63, of the bat, but I have found the method represented of
connecting the double stringing to answer well in practice.
In applying my Invention to rackets or racket bats other than lawn tennis
rackets or bats, I construct and arrange the parts substantially as herein described
and illustrated with respect to lawn tennis rackets or bats.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention,―
The improvements in rackets or racket bats used in lawn tennis and other similar
games herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that
is to say, the combination with the frame or rim of the racket or racket bat of a
double parallel stringing, the two stringings being situated respectively in the same
or nearly the same planes as the two faces of the frame or rim, substantially as and
for the purposes described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hookham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one,
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
GEORGE HOOKHAM. (L.S.)