Improvements in Tennis Rackets.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Oct., 1892-Accented, 3rd Dec., 1892
Improvements in Tennis Rackets.
I, CLEMENT BEECROFT, of No. 2210 N. 3rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :---
My invention consists of a racket having its hoop or ring reinforced by a wrapping
of parchment, skin or other integument or material.
It also consists in passing the gut or cords through the wrapping and hoop, thus
tightening the wrapping and increasing the strength of the hoop.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a racket embodying my invention.
Figure 2 represents an edge view of a portion of the head thereof, drawn to an
enlarged scale.
Figure 3 represents a section on lineæ & Figure 2.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
A designates the head of a racket, and B designates the handle thereof. The
head consists of the wooden ring or hoop C, and crossed gut or cords D. E designates
a piece or strip of parchment, skin or other integument or material of a tough and
strong nature, the same being glued or cemented, and wrapped spirally around the
hoop C, and secured at its ends to a proper portion of said hoop or of the handle,
thus completely encasing the hoop with the integument by which provision the hoop
is vastly reinforced and strengthened, and enabled to withstand the severe usage to
which it is subjected.
The outer periphery of the hoop is grooved as at F where the cords cross_from
one opening F to another, or are reeved on said periphery, and said cords are
passed through the integument so that the latter is drawn into said grooves F,
and thereby tightened to a greater extent, whereby the strengthening nature of the
integument on the hoop is increased, it being also seen that the portion of the
cords that are on the outside of the integument are sunken, owing to the grooves F,
so that they are not liable to be struck, scraped or otherwise injured when the
racket is in use.
The integument E is wound in strips on the hoop C, and the passages forming
the openings F are inclined, having their entrances on the outer face of the hoop
near the upper and lower edges thereof, and on the inner surface of the hoop at or
about the central line thereof, and are so arranged with reference to the edges of
the strip E that the portions of the cord in the grooves F cross the said edges,
thereby siding in keeping the said strip in place on the hoop.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
First. A racket having a hoop provided with a reinforce consisting of a strip of
suitable material wound thereon, openings in the hoop and strip, and cords which
pass through said openings and are tightened on the portion of the strip extending
from one opening to the other of the hoop, substantially as described.
Second. A racket having a hoop provided with a reinforce consisting of a strip of
integument wound thereon, openings in the hoop and integument, and grooves on the
periphery of the hoop leading from one opening to another, and cords which pass

page_text: through the said openings and are sunken in the portion of said integument drawn
into said grooves, substantially as described.
Dated this 18th day of October 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.