IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MARKING BILLIARDS AND OTHER GAMES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Kennard, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MARKING BILLIARDS
AND OTHER GAMES.”
Sealed the 25th May 1880, and dated the 11th December 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Kennard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th December 1879.
ALFRED KENNARD, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester.
IN APPARATUS FOR MARKING BILLIARDS AND OTHER GAMES."
"IMPROVEMENTS
This Invention relates to improved apparatus for indicating the number of games
which has been played on public tables, the object being to prevent the fraudulent
appropriation of fees taken by the attendants at billiard tables.
The Invention applies to the various kinds of billiard markers now in use,
namely, to those in which the figures are carried by a roller, to those where the
figures are arranged over horizontal slots in the board, and to those which are
provided with dials.
In each case I apply a novel arrangement of bolts by means of which the index,
whether a sliding or rotating one, is arrested when it has arrived at 50 or any given
number, which shews that a game has been played out.
In the roller billiard marker I arrange the figures for a 50 point game in four
lines on four faces of that roller, thus the first face will take the number from
1 to 5 inclusive, the second will take the number from 6 to 23, the third from
24 to 38, and the fourth face will carry from 39 to 50 inclusive. The distribution
of the figures may however vary according to the requirements of the game, or the
fancy of the manufacturer.
The roller will present one of its faces through a slit in the board to a sliding
pointer as usual, and it will receive an intermittent axial motion from a handle on
its axle to bring the lines of numbers up in succession to the sliding pointer.
This pointer is free to move from end to end of its race in either direction.
Projecting from one end of the roller is a pin which, when the fourth face of the
roller is brought into view, will rest against a sliding bolt. A ratchet wheel and
pawle are provided to prevent a reverse motion being given to the roller. When
a game has been played out it will be necessary to turn the roller, bring the first

page_text: line of figures again into view to provide for marking the progress of a new game;
but before this can take place the bolt which arrests the further motion of the
roller must be withdrawn. This is done by means of a key applied to the locking
apparatus by the attendant, who in the act of releasing the roller and bringing it
round to a starting position causes the registration of the game just completed.
The locking apparatus consists of a pair of sliding bolts so placed with regard to
the roller that their rear ends will serve alternately to arrest the advance of the
pin projecting from the roller; these bolts work in fixed guides, and they are so
connected with each other that by the application of a key to the apparatus the
one will be withdrawn from the pin, and the other simultaneously advanced into
the path thereof, thus by turning the key in one direction, say, to the right, the
uppermost bolt will be drawn from under the pin, and the roller will then be free
to turn.
Before however it has moved sufficiently far to complete a rotation, the pin will
have to pass the second intercepting bolt, which may be withdrawn by reversing
the action of the key.
To this second bolt I apply a spring pawle which takes into a ratchet wheel
forming part of a counting apparatus.
As this wheel is driven round the distance of a tooth for every thrust of the
pawle its motion will be transmitted to the hand or dial of the registering apparatus,
which is rendered inaccessible to the attendant, and thus the number of games
played in the course of a day or any other period will be registered as against the
attendant.
All the apparatus above described will be conveniently duplicated on the board
for the purpose of indicating the progress made by two players.
In applying the locking and registering apparatus to the billiard marker board
which has a fixed line of figures, I so arrange the sliding bolts that they will arrest
the progress of the sliding indicator when a game is complete.
The race for this indication will consist of two parallel horizontal slots connected
together by vertical slots at their opposite ends, and the figures will run above the
lower slot from right to left, say, from 1 to 25, and above the upper slot from left
to right, say, from 26 to 50. It is across the slot down which the indicator must
slide to reach the lower slot from the upper that the bolts are caused to intercept
the indicator.
As their construction and operation will be substantially the saino as that of the
locking apparatus above described, no further explanation of this arrangement will
be required.
The indicator is provided with a right and a left handed pawle for taking
alternately into two racks at the back of the board, and thereby preventing the
fraudulent movement of the indicator backwards.
When applying the Invention to dial billiard markers the index axlo is fitted
with a disc behind the dial, which disc carries on its edge ratchet teeth that come
into contact with a fixed retaining pawle when an attempt is made to move back
the index.
Projecting from this disc is a pin which, as in the roller arrangement, will have
to pass a pair of sliding bolts when the index shews the completion of a game before
it can be brought to its starting position.
It will be convenient to duplicate the dial and the locking and registering
apparatus on the board in order to show the progress of the two players.
This duplication of the apparatus will also check any irregularities that might
occur from the derangement of a portion of the mechanism of one registering
apparatus.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Kennard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th Juno
1880.
ALFRED KENNARD, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR MARKING BILLIARDS AND OTHER GAMES."
This Invention relates to improved apparatus for indicating the number of
games which have been played on public tables, the object boing to prevent tho
fraudulent appropriation of fees taken by the attendants at billiard tables.
The Invention applies to the various kinds of billiard markers now in use,
namely, to those where the figures are arranged over horizontal slots in the board,
to those in which the figures are carried by a roller, and to those which are provided
with dials. In each case I apply a novel arrangement of bolts, by means of which
the pointer, whether a sliding or rotating one, is arrested when it has arrived at 50,
or any given number which shews that a game has been played out.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings I have shown my Invention as
applied to a billiard marker which has the figures arranged over two parallel
horizontal slots in the board forming the race for the pointer.
For the purpose of simplifying the Drawing I havo shewn only the appliances
for recording the progress of the game of one player. It will, however, be under-
stood that all the parts to be presently described will be duplicated on the complete
board.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the billiard marker, Fig. 2 is a back view of the same
showing the mechanism for actuating the recording indicator (the back board being
removed to bring the mechanism into view), and Fig. 3 is a cross section of the
apparatus taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 2.
The
In these views A is the board to which the mechanism is applied, B is tho
pointer, and C is the race in which it travels, consisting of two parallel horizontal
slots connected together at their opposito ends by short vertical slots.
numerals are arranged in two lines above the horizontal slots, commencing_at_tho
right hand end of the lower portion of the race and running up to 25, and from
the left hand of the upper portion of the race, commencing at 26 and continuing
to 50 at the opposite end thereof.
The pointer is made fast to a slide B¹, shewn best in the detached views,
Figures 4. This slide may be described as a T shaped piece lying on its side, and
having a thin horizontal plate or tail piece B² projecting from its rear.
Slots of suitable section are cut in the board to guide the slide in its course, and
they take the form indicated in the section, Fig. 3, to avoid access being got from
the front to pawls B³, which stand on the course of tho tail piece B, and drop
behind the tail piece as it passes in order to arrest the back motion of the
pointer.
In the Drawing I have shewn two pawls for the lower part of the race and
three for the upper part, but these may vary according to the limit of back motion
which may be thought necessary for affording the requisite opportunity for
correcting errors of marking.
The pointer is moved forward by hand as usual, and when a completed game is
marked it will be requisite to bring the pointer from the top slot where it marks
50 down to zero in the lower slot in order that the counting of a new game may
commence.
It is during this traverse of the pointer from 50 to zero, or from the upper to the
lower slot, that the recording indicator will be set in action. This is done by
means of a locking apparatus which receives motion from the forward and back
turning of a key by the hand of the billiard marker.
The locking apparatus consists of two parallel bolts D, D¹, connected together so

page_text: that they may move simultaneously in opposite directions by a tumbler D. This
tumbler is carried by a square which receives a key for turning it either to the
right or left.
The bolts are so situate with regard to the race of the pointer B that they will,
one or other of them, lie in the path of the tail piece B* of the slide B' as the slide
is moved down from the upper to the lower slot.
It will therefore be necessary to move these bolts out of the way before the
pointer can descend to the lower slot.
Attached to the rear end of the bolt D is a hook pawl D³ which rides upon a
ratchet wheel E, say of twenty teeth, and mounted on the spindle of this ratchet
wheel is an indicating hand E', which moves over a fixed dial E graduated and
numbered to correspond to the number of teeth on the ratchet wheel. The spindle
of this ratchet wheel drives, by means of spur gearing, a spindle which carries a
second indicating hand E3, which moves over a dial E, graduated and numbered to
indicate any desired multiple of the figures on the dial E.
It will now be seen that while passing the pointer B from the upper to the lower
Thus the
slot an indication of a completed game will be effected on the dial E'.
bolt D being withdrawn from under the tail piece by the turning of the key to
the right, the released tail piece B2 will fall onto and be arrested by the now
protruded bolt D¹. In order that it may pass this bolt the key is now to be
turned in the opposite direction, in doing which the bolt D will be forced back into
the slot, and by means of its pawl pull round the ratchet wheel the distance of one
tooth, thereby indicating on the dial Es by the hand E¹ that a game has been
played.
These movements of the locking and indicating apparatus are repeated at the
completion of every game, the return of the pointer B to zero necessitating the
withdrawal of the bolt D from the slot and its replacement in the slot as
oxplained.
In Sheet II. of the Drawings I have shown my Invention as applied to a roller
billiard marker. The roller is in this example forined with six faces, three of which
are employed to carry the figures for the gaino of billiards, and two others are
used to carry figures for marking the game of pyramids. The sixth face may
conveniently carry a notice that the board is locked.
Fig. 5 shews in front view the roller billiard marker, one set of mechanism only
being shown for the purpose of simplifying the Drawing; Fig. 6 is a back view of
the roller billiard marker, with the back board removed to shew the mechanism
fitted to the front board; and Fig. 7 is a cross section taken in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 6.
In these Figures A is the front board, B the pointer which traverses in an endless
race C, as explained with reference to the first arrangement, and C' is the roller
carrying the numerals.
The roller C is mounted on pivots which turn in suitable bearings in the
board A.
Fitted to the right hand end of the roller, looking at it from the back, are three
wheels C, C, C+, which are employed for turning and for locking the roller. The
wheel C has ratchet teeth on its face, into which takes a pawl c carried by a
vertical slide C. This slide works in guides formed for it in the front board, and
it is morticed at its lower end to receive one end of a rock lever C. This rock
lever is pivotted at about the middle of its length, immediately below the lower
slot of the raco C, and for about one half the length of this slot the lever in its
normal position lies parallel therewith, it being held down by the pressure of a
spring which bears against the undersido of the free end of the lever C.
This free end of the lever instead of running in line with the coupled end forms
an inclined plane, and rises up gradually above the lower slot of the race to receive
the tail piece B of the pointer slide.
When the slide is brought down onto the raised end of the lever by the hand of
the attendant the lever will bo rocked, and the slide C connected therewith will

page_text: be caused to rise; its pawl c will then turn the wheel C' the distance of ono
tooth, and thus bring into view another face of the rollor. The roller being formed
with six faces the wheel C will have a corresponding number of teeth for the
pawl c to act upon.
To prevent the roller moving round otherwise than by the action of the pawle c
the wheel C is provided with notches on its periphery corresponding in number to
the teeth on the wheel C, and into these notches takes a stop c¹ projecting from the
slide C at every descont of that slide, thereby locking the rollor after each axial
motion.
As a further security to the proper movement of the roller the ratchet wheel C³,
with teeth corresponding in number to those of the wheel C, is employed. A
projection C from the slide C extends to this ratchet wheel, and as tho roller is
turned it moves into contact with the ratchet wheel and arrests its motion so soon
as one sixth of a rotation has been completed. This arrangement ensures the proper
shifting of the roller as the progress of the game proceeds.
I will now explain how the indicating apparatus is set in action on the completion
of a game. At the opposite end of the roller to that which carries the ratchet and
locking wheels a radial pin d is provided. In the path of this pin the bolts D and
D'aro set; these bolts are connected together by a tumbler D2 which is mounted
on a squaro and receives a rocking motion from a key fitted to the square, in the
manner already explained with reference to Sheet I. of tho Drawings.
The indicating apparatus in connection with the bolt D being substantially the
same as that already described its action will require no further explanation. It
will be understood that as the roller is fitted with but ono radial pin the bolts will
be required to arrest the motion of the roller only on the completion of a game;
thus in recording the progress of a game of billiards three faces of the roller will be
brought into view in succession without affecting the indicating apparatus, the first
face carrying numbers from 0 to 16, the second face from 17 to 33, and the third
face from 34 to 50.
When the pointer has arrived at 50 the bolts will have to be shifted by the
billiard marker, as before explained, and at the same time the pointer will be moved
down to the lower groove of its racc.
These movements are to be effected simultaneously, as the pointer cannot move
down and depress the lever until the roller is unlocked by the attendant turning
the key on the tumbler square, as already explained. When the bolt D is with-
drawn the tail piece B2 of the slide carrying the pointer B will be free to depress
the raised end of the lever C, and thereby through the pawl c on the slide C³ to
turn the roller and bring a fresh face into view. The pointer B having traversed
the bottom slot is raised to the upper slot of the race, and the counting will then
proceed as before.
.
To permit of the next downward movement of the pointer slide, and the con
sequent depression of the rock lever C, it will be necessary to reverse the position
of the bolts, and in doing this the pawl of the bolt D will set the registering
indicator in action, causing it to record the completion of the last game.
The back traverse of the pointer B is prevented as before by tumbling pawls
lying in the path of the tail piece of the slide B.
It will be understood that as only one register is made for one rotation of the
roller the apparatus will be equally applicable to the recording of all games whose
progress the numbers on the roller will serve to denote. Thus to adapt it to the
marking of pyramids two faces of the roller are furnished with numbers running on
the one from 0 to 5 and on the other from 6 to 15. These numbers may con-
veniently be painted of a color differing from that used for the billiard numerals in
order to mark a distinction between them.
Figures 8, Sheet II., shew a modification for limiting the back motion of the
pointer. Instead of fitting tumbler pawls to the board I fit to the board A, both
above and below the race, a rack A¹ into which gears a pinion B³ mounted on a stud
pin carried by a vertical plate Bª attached to the tail piece B³

page_text: As the slide and pointer are moved along an axial motion will be imparted to the
pinion by reason of its teeth interlocking with one or other of the racks A. To
limit the back motion of this rotation the pinion has attached to it a wheel with
one tooth, and the plato B' is fitted with a spring pawl to engage with this tooth
when the pinion moves in a backward direction.
By means of this pawl, therefore, the backward motion of the pointer will
be arrested, but as it moves forward it will offer no obstruction to the rotation of
the pinion B.
In Sheet III. of the Drawings. I have shewn my Invention as applied to a dial
billiard marker, Fig. 9 being a front view, and Fig. 10 a vertical cross section in
the line 1, 2, of Fig. 9. In these Figures A is the front board carrying the
pointer B which moves over the face of the dial C numbered from 0 to 50. The
board is conveniently provided with two dials and pointers and with a double set
of locking and rogistering apparatus to indicate and register the progress of the
game of two contending players, and thereby check any inaccuracy which might
occur in the working of the apparatus.
To the arbor of each pointer is keyed a disc B' which is fitted with a stud for
encountering at each rotation of the disc the locking bolts D, D', as explained with
reference to the roller arrangement. The discs are notched to receive a pawl B³
made fast to the board and serving to prevent the back rotation of the discs. The
bolts, as they are actuated by the billiard marker to allow of the passage past them
of the pin on the disc B', will work the recording apparatus as above explained,
and thus a record will be made of the number of times that the pointer has moved
from 50 to 0 on the dinl.
I may here remark that the object of employing the two bolts D and D', which
act sympathetically and alternately serve to obstruct the progress of the pointer, is
to provide against the possibility of holding back the bolt carrying the pawl for the
fraudulent purpose of rendering the recording instrument inoperative.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus
for Marking Billiards and other Games," and explained the manner of carrying thie
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First. The application to apparatus used for marking and recording games played
on billiard or similar tables, of locking and releasing bolts for controlling the move-
ment of the pointer on or after the completion of a game and actuating a recording
instrument in the manner above set forth.
Secondly. The application to the roller marker of locking and releasing bolts
acting as and for the purpose described with reference to Sheet II. of the Drawings.
Thirdly. The uso in billiard markers of an endless race for the reception of the
traversing pointer, such race being furnished with suitable means, as described, for
preventing the fraudulent back movement of the pointer.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Kennard, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty.