IN CRICKET BATS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Caffarey at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th May 1880.
JOSEPH CAFFAREY, of Streatham, in the County of Surrey.
IN CRICKET BATS."
"IMPROVEMENTS
This Invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in or connected
with the handles of cricket bats, the objects being to prevent the blistering or
galling of the hands or fingers so often arising from the friction or play between
the hands and the string binding of the ordinary bat handle when using the bat,
and to prevent the bat slipping in or from the hands when being used.
The Invention consists principally in the application and use of a case made
of pure india rubber, or of india rubber composition, compound, or material,
vulcanized by steam or by chemicals, which case is so made and fitted as to
entirely surround that part of the bat handle which is usually stringed; the case
can either be put on and secured to the handle in lieu of the usual string binding
(in which case it may be made fast to the handle by means of a solution composed
of india rubber and naphtha), or it can be put on the ordinary stringed handle,
thus providing an easy and efficient method of enlarging when desired, the size of
the handle of the bat.
It is proposed to make or mould the case of any desired size or color, and with
a smooth or a corrugated surface, or it may be perforated or ornamented according
to any design or pattern.
By the adoption of this Invention it will be found that a better balance is given
to the bat, and the jar to the hands will be prevented when a ball is hit with the
lower end of the bat.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Caffarey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th November
1880.
JOSEPH CAFFAREY, of Streatham, in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CRICKET-BATS."
This Invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in or connected
with the handles of cricket bats, the objects being to prevent the blistering or
galling of the hands or fingers so often arising from the friction or play between
the hands and the string binding of the ordinary bat handle when using the bat,
to aid in strengthening the bat handle, to enable a firmer grasp of the handle being
obtained and to prevent the liability of the bat slipping in or from the hands when
being used, to provide a simple means of increasing (when desired) the size of the
handle of the bat, to give a better balance to the bat, and to prevent any jar to the
hands when a ball is hit with the lower end of the bat.
The Invention consists principally in the application to the bat-handle of a case
or cover made of india rubber, and which is prepared, applied, and secured to the
bat handle as hereinafter particularly described.
The Invention is illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of explanatory Drawings
in Figs. 1 to 10.
The improved cases or covers 1 are proposed to be formed as thin tubes of
india-rubber (see Figures 1 and 2), and they are produced by being moulded (as shown
in Figure 3), upon or around a metallic rod or spindle 2 (see Figure 4), by the
ordinary process by which vulcanized rubber articles are made; and when "cured"
and removed from the mould the tubes thus produced are turned inside out, in
order that the surface of the cover 1, which during the process of "curing" was in
contact with the rod or spindle 2, is in the finished india rubber tube or case the
outside.
The material used in the manufacture of the improved cases or covers may be
pure india rubber, or any suitable composition or compound thereof, and may be
made of any required thickness and color, and may be vulcanized by steam or by
chemicals in any usual or necessary manner.
The mould rods 2 are made circular in cross section, see Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10,
which are cross sections of Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, and they be made either solid or
tubular, and of any required diameter and length, depending upon the required size
of the cases or covers, a very usual size being about twelve inches long, and about
one inch and one eighth in diameter, the covers or cases formed thereupon being
suitable for full sized bats, as shown in Figures 5 and 6 on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings. The mould rods 2 may be made of tin, or of brass or copper having the
outer surface coated with tin, in order to give a good finished or smooth surface to
the cover; or it may be made of any other suitable material properly surfaced.
Any pattern, design, or names, or words may be engraved or chased upon the
surface of the rods 2, see (Figures 3 and 4,) which in the process of moulding the
cases 1 are reproduced thereon, but in reverse, see Figures' 1, 2, 5, and 6.
In making the cases 1 the india-rubber may be used in its raw state, and it is
made up the same size as the rods 2, and rolled or wound round the same (see
Figure 3); it is bound tightly thereto with cloth and then vulcanized by steam,
after which the binding cloth can be removed, when the case or cover can be easily
slipped or taken off the rod 2, when its inner surface will be found to have a correct
impress of whatever design, engraving, or names, or words, &c., there were upon
the rod 2.
The improved covers may thus be made of any desired size, and with a smooth,
see Figure 1, or corrugated (see Figure 2), holding surface, or they may be perforated
or ornamented according to any design or pattern.

page_text: The improved bat handle cases or covers 1 as thus, prepared are now ready to be
put on the handle 3 of the bat 4. The case or cover may either be put on in lieu
of the usual string binding, as shown in Figure 6, or it may be put around or over
the ordinary stringed handle (as shewn in Figure 5); but the string 5 which is used
in winding around or binding the bat handle must be clean, and free from all wax,
grease, or fatty matter with which it is usually prepared for such a use, as such
wax or fatty matter would have an injurious effect upon the material of the case or
cover, and would prevent the firm adhesion of the case or cover to the bat handle,
and the adhesiveness of the solution used in securing the same.
In putting the improved cases or covers on the bat handle, the latter, whether it
be surrounded or bound with string or not, is "dressed" with a solution of puro
native india rubber dissolved in naphtha spirita (which is hereinafter designated
the "solution,") and the consistency of which is rather stiff or sticky, the latter
being smeared all over that part of the handle which is to be enclosed by the case
or cover, and also over the top of the handle, and it should be left in this state for
an hour or so, or until the naphtha spirit has so far evaporated as to leave the
handle nearly dry, when a second coating of the solution of a thinner consistency
The case or
may be given to the handle, which is then ready to receive the cover.
cover is prepared by dressing that surface which will be in contact with the bat
handle, the other surface being that which was in contact with the moulding rod
during the "curing" process, with spirits of turpentine, care being taken that too
much turpentine spirit be not used, or the joint of the india-rubber cover may give
way, after which the bat being fixed in a vertical position, as much of the solution
is placed upon the top of the handle as will remain there, say, for about half a
minute without running down. The end of the case or cover which will be against
the shoulder of the bat is then turned back for about half an inch or so, and is
stretched wide open with the two first fingers of each hand, and put over the top
of the handle and let go; it can then be made to slide very easily down the handle
by squeezing together the sides of the cover near the top of the handle, so as to
take up some of the solution which was placed there, which acts as a lubricant to
the drawing or sliding of the case or cover over the top of the handle. It is slid
thus into the position which it is required to occupy, and is left for, say, from
twelve to eighteen hours, so that the cover may perfectly adhere to the handle,
after which the part which was turned back near the shoulder may be turned down,
being again dressed with a little of the solution, and it will not then slip back
again, as would have been the tendency when the case or cover was first put on.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, together
with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that what I claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
The manufacture or production of improved cases or covers for, and the applying
the same to or encasing cricket bat handles therewith, such cases or covers being
made principally of india-rubber, and being prepared and secured to the bat
handles in the manner and by the means, substantially as hereinbefore specifically
described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Caffarey, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
JOSEPH CAFFAREY. (L.S.)