IMPROVE- MENTS IN CROQUET MALLETS
Year: 1870

page_text: BE
LETTERS PATENT to Ernest De la Ruc, of the Observatory, Cran-
ford, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CROQUET MALLETS.”
Sealed the 21st June 1870, and dated the 14th April -1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest De la Rue at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th April 1870.
I, ERNEST DE LA RUE, of the Observatory, Cranford, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN CROQUET MALLETS," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in croquet mallets.
In order to facilitate the placing the axis of the mallet head truly in
a line with the player's ball and the ball or stick, it is desired to strike
so that the blow may be truly given, I mount on the head of the mallet
or on its stem an inclined mirror, so placed that the player looking

page_text: down upon
the mallet when placed in front of his ball may see the object
ball reflected, and when the mallet is suitably placed the reflection will
appear in the centre of the mirror.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ernest De la Rue in the Great Seal Patent Office f
on the 13th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERNEST
DE LA RUE, of the Observatory, Cranford, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 1
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ernest De la Ruc, Her special
licence, that I, the said Ernest De la Rue, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ernest De la Ruc 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 g
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN CROQUET MALLETS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Ernest Do la Rue, my exccutors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 Ernest De la Rue do hereby declare a
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :—

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in croquet mallets.
In order to facilitate the placing the axis of the mallet head truly
in a line with the player's ball and the ball or stick it is desired to strike,
so that the blow may be truly given, I mount on the head of the mallet
or on its stem an inclined mirror, so placed that the player looking down
upon the mallet when placed in front of his ball may see the object
ball reflected, and when the mallet is suitably placed the reflection will
appear in the centre of the mirror.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shown a croquet mallet
with an inclined mirror applied to it as above described.
Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of the mallet, and Figure 2
is an end view of the same. The mirror A is carried by a metal framo
B which is formed with two legs C, C, these legs rest upon the mallet
head, and the frame is held down on to the mallet head by the screw D;
E is a piece of cork to cover over the head of the screw. The mirror
rests on a flat inclined bed on the frame B-and is held down on to it
by overlapping flanges B¹ at the two sides of the inclined bed; F, F, arc
stop pieces screwed down on to the inclined bed at the two ends of the
mirror. In order that the mirror may not be broken by concussion
during play, felt or vulcanized india-rubber is placed between the mirror
and the inclined bed and end stops F; G is a slotted plate fixed to the
handle of the mallet above the mirror to form a sight, the employment
of such a sight is however not essential. It is necessary that the bottom
edge of the mirror should be sufficiently above the mallet head to be
above the balls with which the mallet is to be used, it is also necessary
to have a clearance between the handle and the upper edge of the
mirror, otherwise it might when a heavy blow is struck come in contact
with the handle. When using the mallet the head of the mallet is
to be placed against the centre of the player's ball and approximately
in a line with the object aimed at. The player then looks down through
the slot in the sight G on to the inclined mirror and twists the mallet
to the right or left until the image of the ball, or stick, or hoop it is
intended to strike is scen in the mirror, the axis of the mallet head will
then point accurately to that object. The player in striking the ball
should take care to swing the mallet in the vertical plane which passes
through the axis of the mallet head after it has been adjusted. Some
players are accustomed not to look vertically on to the head of the mallet
but to incline the mallet while playing as shown by the diagram,

page_text: Figure 1. In such case the mirror may be adjusted so as to reflect
the image in the required direction as shown by the dotted line a, b.
In this case the sight G, Figure 1, is dispensed with, and the bottom of
the mallet head is cut to a flat plane to enable a player to bring his
mallet uniformly to the same inclination.
In order to be able readily to fix the inclined mirror correctly on to
the cylindrical head of a croquet mallet the ends of the legs C, C, of the
frame B are planed in such a manner that their outer edges shall bear
on the mallet head as shown by the Drawing. When these legs have
been planed the frame is set by means of these planed edges over a 1
properly formed chuck which has receptacles to hold the legs C parallel
with the path of the planing machine. The inclined bed upon which
the mirror is to rest is then planed and will be true with the supporting
legs, so that when the frame is screwed down on to the mallet head
the mirror will be fixed in such a direction that its plane will be at 1
right angles with a plane which would cut the axis of the mallet head.
To test and finally adjust the position of the mirror, I employ a long
L straightedge H, I, K, L, as seen at Figures 3. The head of the
mallet is rested against the back edge H, I, and lays flat on the side
K, L, a ball M. being placed at the further end of the straightedge will
be reflected by the mirror along the handle of the mallet or in the
direction desired, provided the mirror is truly fixed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim the
combining an inclined mirror with the head of a croquet mallet:
substantially as herein described.
In wituess whereof, I, the said Ernest Do la Ruc, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Third day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.