Improvements in Parlour Games of Skill, applicable also as Aids to and Tests of Education.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 12th May, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Parlour Games of Skill, applicable also as Aids to
and Tests of Education.
We WALTER KERSHAW of Kershaw's Bazaar, Blackpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Fancy Goods Dealer, and JOHN BENTLEY BRIERLEY of 103 Camp
Street, Broughton, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Traveller, 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 and accompanying drawings :—
Our said invention relates to parlour games of skill of such a nature that the
hand, eye and intellect are alike called into play. According to our invention, the
object of the game is to throw or strike a ball or other suitable projectile into one
of a number of spaces or receptacles, sometimes of equal, sometimes of differing
difficulty of attainment.
Under one form of the game the object of the player is only to score the
largest number within a given time or number of attempts, and in such a game we
use a case or box divided into a number of compartments of different sizes, each
compartment bearing a number commensurate with the difficulty of attainment.
In other developments of the game the compartments might contain letters, and a
word being given to the players, their object is to throw the ball or other projectile
into those compartments only which contain the letters composing the word
submitted to them. The players are therefore not only required to spell the word
correctly but they must also bring their skill of hand and eye to bear, in order to
shoot, throw or strike the object into the compartments containing the desired
letters. In the same manner the compartments might contain words, and a phrase
or line of prose or verse of poetry being given, the object of the player is to land
in the compartments containing the desired words. The projectiles used may be
balls or other objects or they might be bone discs such as are used in the well
known game of "Tiddley-winks."
Such discs might be snapped or flipped into the compartments by another disc,
but when balls are used we employ a spring thrower or kicker or trap and racquet
or striker, or otherwise any suitable means might be used to throw the balls or
objects. The balls and bone discs might be of different colours to distinguish the
players. In a cheaper form of the appliances we might make a folding sheet or
board of pasteboard or wood with divisions containing numbers, letters or words
marked or painted on the board instead of the hereinbefore described compartments.
To help the players in setting down the words in the sentence or piece of poetry
they are picking out, we propose to issue with the game a number of slips of paper
at the top of which the complete sentence or verse is printed while the remainder
of the sheet is divided into spaces where the initial letter of each word is set down
with a blank for the remainder of the word. Thus the player can set down his
words as he proceeds without misplacing them.
To render the invention more clear and to illustrate the appliances used in the
games we have attached two sheets of drawings which we will now proceed to
describe.
Fig. 1 on Sheet 1 is a perspective view of a box or case a narrower at one end
than at the other and divided by partitions into a number of compartments, each
compartment bearing a numeral representing the amount to be added to the
score of the player should he succeed in lodging his ball or projectile in the
compartment.

page_text: In the drawing, the compartments are numbered 1 to 22 but any other system of
numbering may be employed.
The box a is supported at an angle by means of a folding flap which folds close
to the bottom when the box is put away. The lowest numbers are put upon the
largest compartments at the higher and wider end of the box because these are
more easily attained. The highest numbers are towards the narrow end where the
compartments are smaller and more difficult to enter.
A suitable means for throwing the ball c or other object is shown at Fig. 2. It
consists of a spring thrower or mangonel d made from wire or other suitable
material bent to the proper shape. The base d' is held to the flat table or other
surface and the ball is placed in an eye d² bent out of the spring arm d. On
pulling back the spring arm d with the finger and releasing it the ball c is thrown
towards and into one of the compartments in the box a and the player scores in
accordance with his success.
We might however use other means to throw the ball.
For example Fig. 3 represents a kicker or trap e made from bent wire and
adapted to throw the balls. The base e' rests on the flat table or other surface and
the bent sides e² support a loosely pivotted frame e³ having an eye at each end to
receive the ball c. In conjunction with this kicker or trap e we use a striker f
shown at Fig. 4 which we use to strike the free end of the trap causing the other
end to jerk up and toss the ball e towards the box a and the numbered compartments.
We might also in conjunction with the trap e use a racquet g shown at Fig. 5 this
racquet g being made from bent and twisted wire and having a face g¹ covered by
fine crossed wire or gut, the margin of the face g' being corrugated as shown to
hold the crossed fine wire or gut better. When employing the racquet, the player
strikes the ball up from the trap and as it rises in the air it is struck with the
racquet and propelled towards the compartments. We might however instead of
the said ball and appliances, use the bone discs which are employed in the well
known game of Tiddley-winks, and spring or flip the said discs into the
compartments.
The educational features of our game are represented by Figs. 6 and 7 on Sheet 1
and Fig. 8 on Sheet 2.
Fig. 6 represents a circular box h (which box might however be of any other
desired shape) having a number of compartments in it corresponding to the letters
of the alphabet. The letters are printed upon little squares of pasteboard such as
is shown at Fig. 6A and a number of these squares are dropped into the compartment
answering the letter. The lettered compartments might be in alphabetical order
or otherwise. Balls or discs or other objects are thrown or flipped into the
compartments by any of the herein before described means.
In playing this game the players fix upon a word.
For example if the word chosen is "prudence" the player on his first attempt
might get the letter "d" on his second the letter "r" and so on until he has
obtained all of the necessary letters, his chances of success of course decreasing
with every successful shot.
Thus not only is the player called upon to exercise his intellect and test his
educational acquirements, but his coolness and certainty of hand and eye are also
exercised. The player who first succeeds in securing the letters necessary to make
up the word is the winner.
The little squares bearing the letters may be fished out of the compartments by
a pricker.
Balls or bone dises or any other suitable objects thrown by the described or other
suitable means may be employed with this educational and amusing appliance.
The well in the centre may serve to hold spare supplies of letters or balls or discs
required in the game.
Another modification of the educational game is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Fig. 7
represents a box k divided into a number of compartments each compartment
containing a removable and changeable or a fixed word. We select a sentence in

page_text: "Life is but an empty dream
"For the soul is dead that slumbers
"And things are not what they seem."
This may be printed in the bottom of the well in the box or on a slip given
with the game and each word in the lines is to be found in one of the
compartments.
The players then seek to throw the balls or discs or other objects into the desired
compartments or into any compartment containing one of the words they want.
Each word they win lessens their chances of making a successful shot at the
next attempt, and the player who succeeds in piecing out his lines first is the
winner.
To lessen the trouble of the players in arranging their words as they pick them
out and to lessen the probability of confusion, we supply with the game a number
of slips or sheets of paper, at the top of which the theme is printed, while beneath,
there are spaces bearing the initial letter of each word arranged in proper order
and a blank for the player to fill in the word. Thus if the player wins the word
66 empty "he fills in "impty" after the "e" in the second line. If he gains "not
he may put it either in the first or the last line and so on till he has made up the
whole verse.
"
By increasing the number of the compartments a sufficient number of words
could be introduced to compose the whole poem. Several slips might be supplied
containing extracts from different authors, either so chosen as to contain only the
fixed words in the compartments, or with instructions upon each as to the
substitution or interchanging of the words in the compartments.
Instead of a box with compartments to contain letters or words as described, we
might make use of a flat board of wood, pasteboard or other suitable material
capable of folding together when not in use. The face of the board is marked into
squares or spaces representing the compartments, and each square or space has
its word or letter. In playing with such a flat board we would prefer the use
of the bone discs as projectiles, or we would throw dice shaped blocks so as not to
roll when they alight on the square.
A portion of the boxes or boards constituting the appliances of these games
might be utilized for advertising purposes. The boxes are fitted with lids which
cover the whole when not in use and serve to confine and hold the letters, balls,
discs, counters and other appliances used in the game.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. The parlour game of skill described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5, and
the appliances for carrying the same into effect, consisting of the case a (with
compartments of different sizes) capable of being set at an angle and used in
conjunction with balls and other objects and the several means for throwing and
striking such balls or objects; or in conjunction with discs of bone or other
material, for the purposes and substantially as herein before described and shown.
2. The educational game described with reference to Figs. 6 and 6A and the
method of and means for carrying the same into effect substantially as described
and shown.
3. The box or case shown at Fig. 6 or any mere modification thereof, with a
series of compartments corresponding to the letters of the alphabet and containing
a number of pasteboard or other squares, having printed thereon the letters

page_text: corresponding to the several compartments, for the purposes and utilised in the
manner herein before described and shown.
4. The educational game described with reference to Figs. 7 and 8 and the
appliances for playing the same, the said appliances consisting of a box (or it
might be a flat board) containing a number of differently sized compartments
(or it might be squares) each compartment or square containing or bearing a word
corresponding to a word or words in a selected piece of poetry or prose, printed on
the box, or on slips supplied with the game, as illustrated at Fig. 8, the same being
used in conjunction with balls, counters, discs or other objects thrown by means of
the appliances illustrated or by any other suitable means, substantially as described
and illustrated.
Dated this 6th day of Anril 1894
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, Agents.