A New Game, and Apparatus to be used therewith.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Nov., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Aug., 1895-Accepted, 7th Sept., 1895
A New Game, and Apparatus to be used therewith.
'
I, WILLIAM DALGLISH BELLASIS, of 4 Cromwell Place, London S.W.
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
:-
My invention relates to a new game of chance, and to part of the apparatus or
appliances to be used therewith.
The game, which I propose to call "Topedo," and "Topspeedo" consists in the
spinning of a top or tee-to-tum, which is allowed to fall after expending the rotatory
energy imparted to it, and bring uppermost one of a series of numbers upon the
flats of it.
The table upon which the game is played is divided off into a series of courts,
corresponding in number to the players, and as near as possible, to the numbers on
the top.
When the top falls, then the number that comes uppermost makes the holder of
a like numbered court, the winner of the game.
When the top is spun it is apt to run over the edge of the table and in order to
keep the top in play, each court holder is provided with a bat or instrument as
hereinafter described, which is presented within the path of the rotating top
on the same coming near the table edge or within the precincts of one of the
courts, and on the said top striking the cushion bar of the bat, it rebounds, either
into the play space again, or into or past one of the adjacent courts.
The use of the bat is to prevent the running and rotating top from passing over
the edge of the table onto the floor, and should any player allow the top to pass
through his court and fall to the floor, he is penalized.
The rules under which the game is played are the following, (although the same
may be modified in certain respects as required)
(1) The game is best played upon an ordinary full sized round table, and can be
played by two or more players, according to the size of the table.
(2) The players take their places around the table, each armed with one of the
bats provided with the game, and a chalk dot or other mark is made upon the
extreme edge of the table, equidistant between them for the purpose of marking
the boundaries of their courts. (A small piece of gummed paper, such as stamp
paper, or envelope edging will be found suitable for the purpose.)
(3) Each player takes a number, corresponding to a number upon the top, which
the player may agree to change each game.
(4) The preliminaries having been arranged and an umpire appointed, the game
is commenced by the top being spun, usually by the umpire, provided he can spin
well.
(5) The bat should never be lifted off the table, or tilted, and no part of the arm
above the wrist should during piay be on or over the table.
(6) No player should attempt to play a top that is clearly not directed to a point
within his own boundaries.
(7) The aim of the players should be, while defending their own courts, i.e. not
allowing the top to escape off the table within their boundaries, to direct not push
it, past another persons court.
(8) It a player fails to play the top, and allows it to fall off the table, he is
penalized. No player can be penalized for failing to play the first stroke of a
game, which may be refused. The spinner of the top is also exempt from penalty
Umins 17

page_text: until he shall have played a stroke. The player who fails to play a stroke is
disqualified from winuing the game.
(9) The winner of the game is the player whose number corresponds to the
number that falls uppermost upon the top, when it has ceased spinning upon the
table. It is optional, and must be settled before the game is commenced, whether
the players read the number upon the floor in the event of the top falling off the
table. In that case, should the top get lodged in the folds of a dress, or upon a
chair, the player should at once rise and allow it to fall upon the floor.
(10) It must be borne in mind that the top is the aggressor, and that the players
are on the defensive, and that consequently it is not allowed to push the top. If a
player is declared by the majority of those playing to have pushed the top he is
penalized. But the question is one that can only arise should the recipient of a
stroke, or the player immediately following, fail to play their stroke in consequence
of what they believe to have been a push. The game is then declared a draw.
(11) If the top is judged to have left the table over a boundary mark, it is no
game.
(12) If there are fewer players than numbers upon the top, and an unallotted
number should be declared the winning number, the game is a draw.
(13) No penalties can be incurred once the top has fallen.
(14) When there are no more than two or three players each player should
use two bats.
(15) The player who allows the top off the table is responsible for fetching it.
(16) All matters of dispute are settled by the majority of the players, and the
umpire has a casting vote.
The bat consists of a long U-shaped frame, alike unto a rake used on gaming
'tables, but with the ends turned forwards, and with a cat-gut or other membrane
string drawn taut between the said ends. The ends of this string are made
continuous and to pass through adjustable slide loops or rings, threaded or connected
with the back bar of the frame, of which the open front is closed by the stretched
membrane string, which forms as it were a cushion or buffer from which the
tee-to-tum or top rebounds on striking.
The adjustable slides or rings are retained in fixed positions by engaging with
notches formed within the bar.
By changing the relative positions of the slide rings, or the distance between
them, the membrane string is more or less tightened, although I do not limit myself
to this particular means, as tightening may be performed by one or both ends of
the string being attached to a thumb screw or screws.
The bat is taken hold of by a handle, and is elevated to a suitable height by rest
legs at the ends of the frame, thus keeping the contact or impingement string
always at a given height from the table.
Dated this 13th day of November 1894.
I, WILLIAM DALGLISH BELLASIS, of 4 Cromwell Place, London S.W.
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My invention relates to a new game of chance, and to part of the apparatus or
appliances to be used therewith.

page_text: The game, which I propose to call "Topedo," or Topspeedo consists in the
spinning of a top or tee-to-tum, which is allowed to fall after expending the rotatory
energy imparted to it, and bring uppermost one of a series of numbers upon its
circumference.
The table upon which the game is played is divided off into a series of courts,
corresponding in number to the players, and as near as possible, to the numbers on
the top.
When the top falls, then the number that comes uppermost makes the holder of
a like numbered court, the winner of the game.
When the top is spun it is apt to run over the edge of the table and in order to
keep the top in play, each court holder is provided with a bat or instrument as
hereinafter described, which is presented within the path of the rotating top
on the same coming near the table edge or within the precincts of one of the
courts, and on the said top striking the cushion bar of the bat, it rebounds, either
into the play space again, or into or past one of the adjacent courts.
The use of the bat is to prevent the running and rotating top from passing over
the edge of the table onto the floor, and should any player allow the top to pass
through his court and fall to the floor, he is penalized.
The rules under which the game is played are the following, (although the same
may be modified in certain respects as required):-
:―
1. The game is best played upon an ordinary full sized round table, and can be
played by two or more players, according to the size of the table.
2. The players take their places around the table, each armed with one of the
bats provided with the game, and a chalk dot or other mark is made upon the
extreme edge of the table, equidistant between them, for the purpose of marking
the boundaries of their courts. (A small piece of gummed paper, such as stamp
paper, or envelope edging will be found suitable for the purpose.)
3. Each player takes a number, corresponding to a number upon the top, which
the players may agree to change each game.
4. The preliminaries having been arranged and an umpire appointed, the game
is commenced by the top being spun, usually by the umpire, provided he can spin
well.
5. The bat should never be lifted off the table, or tilted, and no part of the arm
above the wrist should during play be on or over the table.
6. No player should attempt to play a top that is clearly not directed to a point
within his own boundaries.
7. The aim of the players should be, while defending their own courts, i.e. not
allowing the top to escape off the table within their boundaries, to direct, not push
it, past another persons court.
8. If a player fails to play the top, and allows it to fall off the table, he is
penalized. No player can be penalized for failing to play the first stroke of a
game, which may be refused. The spinner of the top is also exempt from penalty
until he shall have played a stroke. The player who fails to play a stroke is
disqualified from winning the game.
9. The winner of the game is the player whose number corresponds to the number
that falls uppermost upon the top, when it has ceased spinning upon the table. It
is optional, and must be settled before the game is commenced, whether the
players read the number upon the floor in the event of the top falling off the
table. In that case, should the top get lodged in the folds of a dress, or upon a
chair, the player should at once rise and allow it to fall upon the floor.
10. It must be borne in mind that the top is the aggressor, and that the players
are on the defensive, and that consequently it is not allowed to push the top. If a
player is declared by the majority of those playing to have pushed the top he is
penalized, but the question is one that can only arise should the recipient of a
stroke, or the player immediately following, fail to play their stroke in consequence
of what they believe to have been a push. A game is then declared a draw.

page_text: game.
womanary HAIR,
12. If there are fewer players than numbers upon the top, and an unallotted
number should be declared the winning number, the game is a draw.
13. No penalties can be incurred once the top has fallen.
14. When there are no more than two or three players each player should use
two bats.
15. The player who allows the top off the table is responsible for fetching it.
16. All matters of dispute are settled by the majority of the players, and the
umpire has a casting vote.
The bat consists of a long U-shaped frame, alike unto a rake used on gaming
tables, but with the ends turned forwards, and with a cat-gut or other membrane
string drawn taut between the said ends. The ends of this string are made
continuous and to pass through adjustable slide loops or rings, threaded or connected
with the back bar of the frame, of which the open front is closed by the stretched
membrane string, which forms as it were a cushion or buffer from which the
tee-to-tum or top rebounds on striking.
The adjustable slides or rings are retained in fixed positions by engaging with
notches formed within the bar.
By changing the relative positions of the slide rings, or the distance between
them, the membrane string is more or less tightened, although I do not limit
myself to this particular means, as tightening may be performed by one or both
ends of the string being attached to a thumb screw or screws.
The bat is taken hold of by a handle, and is elevated to a suitable height by
rest legs at the ends of the frame, thus keeping the contact or impingement string
always at a given height from the table.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a plan of a table set out into
courts for playing the game, each court being held by one of the players who is
provided with a bat for preventing the tee-to-tum employed from leaving the table
through his particular court. The said courts are marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, but
to this number I do not limit myself. The bats a, shown in this plan are assumed
to be held by the hands of the players.
Figure 2 represents an elevation of the tee-to-tum which I prefer to employ,
although other kinds may be used.
Figure 3 is a like view, but with the lower part in section.
Figure 4 is an underside plan of Figure 2 and Figure 5 is a topside plan
thereof.
b is the body of the tee-to-tum which has a row of figures around it, disposed
intermediate between pairs of projections 63, which make the top (when at rest)
assume a position in which one of the numbers comes uppermost. is the stem
of the top and a groove cut around the lower part of the body, into which a
rubber ring, is sprung and extends a little beyond the surface of the top for
preventing the same rolling about after it has fallen.
Figure 6 represents a full sized plan of the bat with which the game is played,
whilst Figure 7 is a front view and Figure 8 an end view of the same.
a is an elongated U-shaped frame, with the turned forward ends a², elevated to
a suitable height and carried by feet or rests a³, whilst b is the handle by which
the instrument is held. c is a cat-gut or other cushioning string, which is continuous
or end-less and is threaded through eyes a', in the ends of the frame and also
through the loops d', of loose and sliding rings d, adjustable upon the back bar of
the framing for the purpose of tightly stretching the cord and retained in their
adjusted positions by engaging with the notches a³, formed in the rear edge of the
said bar.
Figure 9 represents a plan of an end of a bat in which the sliding rings are
adjusted for tensioning the string through the medium of a rotating screw.
a is the back bar of the frame, a² the ends and a the rest legs or supports.
c is

page_text: the stretched cord and dis the adjustable eye sliding upon the back bar and having
a screw box d formed within it, through which a non-traversing screw d³, whose
plain end d³ is directed through a plain eye d', carried by the end of the framing
and which has a milled head do, for its rotation, passes. By turning the head of
the screw in one or other direction the sliding ring is correspondingly traversed and
the tension of the cord increased or relaxed.
As a modification of this last described form, the screw may be made to traverse,
whilst the ring may be swivelly connected to its end.
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 :-
First. The game herein described.
Secondly. A game, played with a tee-to-tum or top and bats upon a table or like
surface divided off into courts, and with the said tee-to-tum made substantially as
herein described and set forth.
Thirdly. The bat used for playing the game referred to in the first claim, con-
sisting of a portable frame having a cushion or cushioning string at its front part
or its open front part, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 6, 7, 8
and 9.
Fourthly. In the bats referred to in the preceding claim, the means of tensioning
the cushioning cord, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 6, 7, 8
and 9.
Dated this 2nd day of August 1895.
WILLIAM DALGLISH BELLASIS,
By Henry Skerrett,
24 Temple Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.