A NEW OR IMPROVED BALL AND BOARD GAME OR PUZZLE
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ROBERT FERGUSON of 52 Glassford Street, Glasgow in the County of Lanark,
North Britain Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED BALL AND BOARD GAME OR PUZZLE" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a novel form of game or puzzle played or manipulated
by means of balls and a board of the form hereinafter described. The said board
may be made of wood, papier maché, metal or other suitable material or composition
and may be made in one piece or hinged so as to fold together. Grooves are formed
on the face of the board which grooves in the arrangement I at present adopt
consist of three straight grooves two of which are placed in communication at both
ends with semicircular or curved loop grooves. The loop of the first straight
groove at the top of the board communicates with the right hand end of the second
straight groove at the centre of the board by means of a groove the inlet to which
is governed by a style capable of passing two balls in the same direction successively
and a similar groove and governing style (the latter passing one ball at a time in
either direction) places the loop of the second straight groove in communication
with the third and final straight groove at the bottom of the board. By these
means the balls can be passed under certain conditions from the top groove through
the various straight and curved grooves to the straight groove at the bottom of
the board and the game or puzzle consists in so manipulating the balls in their
passage as to cause them to arrive at the bottom groove in the same order in which
they were originally arranged in the top groove or by a variation of the puzzle
they might be required to arrive at the bottom groove in a certain order differing
from the original arrangement. The balls are made of glass or other suitable
material or composition and are of different colows or shades and in some instances
of different sizes so as to determine the order of arrangement. The number of balls
used in the puzzle may vary but as an example suppose that nine balls are arranged
in the top groove in the following order from left to right. viz:-Black, White,
Black, White, Red, White, Black White, Black, and it is required to pass these
balls through the grooves and styles so as to cause them to assume the same order
in the bottom groove. I begin by passing the first black ball from the left round
the loop and through the first style into the second straight groove, the right hand
entrance to the loop of the second straight groove being meanwhile barred by
a hinged gate or directions to that effect may be printed on the board. The next

page_text: ball in order (white) is passed entirely round the first loop into the right hand end
of the first straight groove while the next two in order (black and white) are passed
through the style into the second straight groove. The central red ball is then
passed round the loop to the right hand end of the first groove and the next white
ball into the second groove. The next two balls (black and white) are then
passed round the loop to the other end of the first groove and the next two on the
left band (black and white) are passed into the second groove. The next two red
and black are then passed round the loop to the right of the first groove and the
next white ball through the style to the second groove. The red ball is again put
back and follows the remaining black ball through the style to the second groove.
In passing the first ball on the left hand in the second groove into the third and
final groove the second outlet style is closed which obliges the next ball to pass
entirely round the loop re-opening the said style and shifting the herein before
referred to gate so as to close communication with the loop of the first groove.
By thus passing each alternate ball round the loop and through the style it will be
found that the balls re-arrange themselves in the order with regard to colour
which they originally occupied in the top groove.
In addition to the foregoing example various modifications in the arrangement
and manipulation of the balls may be introduced the number and variety of the
balls may be increased or diminished according as it is wished to make the solution
of the puzzle easy or difficult.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
"
I ROBERT FERGUSON of 52 Glassford Street, Glasgow in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED BALL AND BOARD GAME OR PUZZLE and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:-
My Invention consists of a novel form of game or puzzle played or manipulated
by means of balls and a board of the form hereinafter described.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I will now proceed
more particularly to describe the same with reference to the annexed drawing
which is a plan view of the board I employ. The said board may be made of wood,
papier maché, metal or other suitable material or composition and may be made in
one piece as shown in the drawing or it might be hinged so as to fold together.
Grooves are formed on the face of the board which grooves in the arrangement I at
present adopt consist of three straight grooves a, b and c two of which viz: a and b
are placed in communication at both ends with semicircular or curved loop
grooves a¹ and 6. The loop a¹ of the first straight groove a at the top of the
board communicates with the right hand end of the second straight groove b at the
centre of the board by means of a groove d the inlet to which is governed by a
style e capable of passing two balls in the same direction successively and a similar
groove and governing style g (the latter passing only one ball at a time in either
direction) places the loop b¹ of the second groove b in communication with the third
and final straight groove c at the bottom of the board. By these means the balls
can be passed under certain conditions from the top groove a through the various
straight and curved grooves to the straight groove o at the bottom of the board
and the game or puzzle consists in so manipulating the balls in their passage as to
cause them to arrive at the bottom groove o in the same order in which they were
originally arranged in the top groove a or by a variation of the puzzle they might
be required to arrive at the bottom groove c in a certain order differing from the
original arrangement in the top groove a. The styles e and g are or may be
stamped from thin sheet metal or may be formed of any other suitable material
and are pivoted at i. Stops are provided to limit the rotation of the styles.
The gate h is similarly formed and pivoted at 7. The stops m, n, hold the gate
in the position shown in dotted lines while the stop o prevents it from being turned
further round than the position shown in full lines. The balls are made of glass or
other suitable material and are of different colours or shades and in some instances
of different sizes so as to determine the order of arrangement. The number of balls
used in the puzzle may vary but as an example puzzle say that nine balls are
arranged in the top groove a as shown in the drawing in the following order from
left to right. viz: Black, White, Black, White, Red, White, Black, White, Black,
and it is required to pass these balls through the grooves and styles so as to cause
them to assume the same order in the bottom groove. The style e is set as shown
in the drawing so as to allow two balls to pass towards the bottom of the board
while the style g is set to allow the passage of one ball. The gate h occupies the
position shown in the drawing. I begin by passing the first black ball from the
left round the loop at and through the first style e into the second straight groove b
the right hand entrance to the loop 61 of the second straight groove b being mean-
while barred by a hinged gate h or directions to that effect may be printed on the
board. The next ball in order (white) is passed entirely round the first loop a¹
and back into the right hand end of the first straight groove while the next two

page_text: in order (black and white) are passed through the styles into the second straight
groove b. The central red ball is then passed round the loop a¹ to the right hand
end of the first groove a and the next white ball into the second groove b. The
next two balls (black and white) are then passed round the loop a¹ to the other
end of the first groove a and the next two on the left hand (black and white) are.
passed into the second groove b. The next two red and black are then passed
round the loop a¹ to the right of the first groove a and the next white ball through
the style e to the second groove b. The red ball is again put back and follows the
remaining black ball through the style e to the second groove b. In passing the
first ball on the left hand in the second groove b into the third and final groove c
the second outlet style g is closed which obliges the next ball to pass entirely round
the loop 6¹ re-opening the style and shifting the herein before referred to gate h
into the position shown in dotted lines so as to close communication with the
loop a¹ of the first groove a. By thus passing each alternate ball round the loop 61
and through the style g it will be found that the balls re-arrange themselves in the
third groove o in the same order with regard to colour which they originally
occupied in the top groove a. As another example suppose fifteen balls were used
of four different colours say Blue, Yellow, White and Red, arranged in the top
groove in the following order :-Blue, Yellow, White, Yellow, White, Yellow White,
Red, White, Yellow White, Yellow, White, Yellow, Blue that is to say one Red
two Blue six White and six Yellow balls they would require to be moved in the
following manner viz: The first two balls would be passed down, through the
style to the second groove and the next ball back through the loop and style to the
other end of the top groove, the next down; the next two back; the next down
and the next back; the next two down; the next back; the next down; the next
back; the next down; the next back; the next down; the next two back; the
next two down-the next back the next down; the next back; the next down,,and,
the next back. At this stage the ball at the right extremity of the centre groove b
is passed up through the style to the left extremity of the top groove; the ball at
the right extremity of the top groove is then passed through the style to the left
extremity of the same groove, and this operation is repeated alternately with the
next following six balls. The left hand ball in the top groove is then passed down,
and the next two back; the next two down, and, the next two back, the next two
down, the next back and the next down. The fifteen balls are now all in the
second groove and by passing them alternately down and back, as in the case of
the nine ball puzzle they will finally be found to have arranged themselves in the
third groove in their original order.
In addition to the foregoing examples various modifications in the arrangement
and manipulation of the balls may be introduced the number and variety of the
balls may be increased or diminished according as it is wished to make the solution
of the puzzle easy or difficult.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The game or puzzle played or carried into effect by means of balls of varying
colours or sizes or marked with varying marks arranged and manipulated on a
board having grooves and styles or their equivalents substantially as hereinbefore
described and shown.