US57443A - Geoege millee and john eeicheet - Google Patents

Description

MILLER 81. REICHERT.

Billiard Game Keeper.

Patented Aug. 21, 1866.

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UNITED STATES PATENIRQFFICE.

GEORGE MILLER AND JOHN REICHERT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSLGNORS TO JQHN REIOHERT AND DOMINIGOS EOTTKAMP.

BlLLlARD-GAME KEEPER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,443, dated August 21, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE MILLER and JOHN REIOHEET, both of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and Improved Billiard-Game Keeper; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of this specification.

The game of billiards is one of the most popular and fascinating of the present day. In many private families the table and the string upon which the game is kept have been introduced in order to keep the younger members of the family from those places where dissipation prevails. WVhile inventive genius has been alive to improve the board upon which the game is played and surroundings, the structure or device for keeping the game still remains the same. Still is heard the click of the stick'and counters against each other, respectively, and still is seen the ungainly swaying to and fro of the strings. One inroad has been attempted upon the old style of keeping the game by the use of a frame containing two tiers of numbers, from one upward, and

having a pointer for each tier sliding along underneath. These pointers are moved with the hand, there being a dial above the tiers for the purpose of registering the successive games as the termini on the tiers are reached by the pointers. This last method is objectionable, for the reason that it admits of foul play and of mistakes being made, as in the old way of keeping the game.

Our improved keeper is at once efficient and reliable. It checks all foul play and enables the parties to keep their eyes at all times directed to the motion and position of the balls on the table, the ear keeping the run of the count.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our said improvement, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The game-keeper is composed of a duplicate mechanism, so that only one side or portion will be here explained, the other side being the exact counterpart thereof.

ais the division-plate. bis the plate against which one of the dials is attached. a c are the pillars connecting these two plates. There are between these two pillars two arbors, (Z 0. These arbors project up through the dial and have each a. hand attached for registering.

The arbor 61 contains a ratchet-wheel, f, against which works the pawl g, said pawl being attached to an arm the boss of which is upon the arbor containing said wheel. This arm has a spring placed behind it, so that when the toe of the lever h lifts the arm to move the ratchet-wheel and has moved up out of contact, and thereby released said arm, it will cause the pawl to move back on the ratchetwheel a specified distance, the ratchet-wheel beingheld the distance the said pawl has been so moved by another pawl, 17, on the opposite side. hen this ratchet-wheel f has made one revolution the pin or disk j on its side will raise the arm 7;, which has jointed thereto an upright pawl, Z, (the pawl having a spring attached,) and as it is raised it is thrown against the ratchet-wheel m on the arbor c, and as the pin j moves away out of contact with the arm k the said pawl 1 brings down the ratchetwheel m a fixed distance, thereby registering one game.

The pawl n on the opposite side of the ratchet-wheel m serves to keep the wheel on rigid while the pawl is being raised, and only releasing said wheel the necessary distance as the pawl l, engaged in the wheel, falls with it.

The keeper is operated on either side, in order to register a single count at a time, by the lever h, which being drawn down by the cord and tassel to be attached, the toe p raises the arm and pawl g, which latter carries the ratchet-wheel along a given distance-say one onehundredth of a circle-when the toe gets out of the line of contact with said arm, and being above it the arm falls and the pawl is enabled to slip back over the ratchet-wheel the distance it moved said wheel along by. means of the wheel being held firm by the pawl 27, as stated, and the hand it on the index registers one count. Below this arm and pawl g is a projection s, to which is attached a small hammer, which, as the arm and pawl g drops quickly, strikes the little bell q, denoting to the ear of the player thata countis registered.

The lever h is rigged with the spiral spring and arm 7' 1", which enables the, lever h to move back into its place when the cord to be attached to the outer end of said lever is released from the hand of the billiard-player. The toe 1), having a moving joint at r, enables it to pass underneath the arm and pawl 9, so as to be ready to again raise said arm and pawl when required. The lever h is arranged in the same manner and attached to the same arm as lever h is, and, acting on the projection s, or longer arm of pawl g, has the same mode of operation as lever h, except that it moves the ratchetwheel f five counts at a time, and thereby saving repeated and separate registering by means of said lever h. To enable the operator to distinguish the working of this lever h, its toe first strikes the arm 0, which, as seen, causes an additional alarm to be made when five is to be registered. The toe of lever h passes back beneath the arms it operates in the same manner as the lever It does with respect to the arm and pawl g each time it is used and by similar mechanism.

Thus itwill be seen that by the bell-rope and tassel in the hands of a player the lei'erh will cause the hand on the dial to register one or more on the game up to five or over; but if five, ten, or fifteen counts are required to be registered at a time, a bell-rope and tassel, larger or of another color, and attached to the lever k, can be made to register them within a shorter space of time.

It is evident from the feregoing that when hand 25 has made one revolution hand a will register one game, and so on upward.

Having thus described our improved billiard game keeper, what we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patcut, is

l. The combination of the ratchet-wheels f m, pawls l g, thereto attached, arms k k, and operating-levers h h on either side of the division-plate, arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. The combination of the ratchet wheels, pawls thereto attached, operating-levers, and the arms, hammers, and bells, or their equivlents, on either side of the division-plate, arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. The levers h h, with their toes arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

4. The combination of the ratchet-wheel f, pawl g, and lever h, either with or without the bell attachment, arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

5. The combination of the ratchet-wheel f, pawl g, arm 8, and levers h h, either with or without the hell attachment, arranged and operating substantially as and for the pur pose herein described.

. GEORGE MILLER. JOHN REIGHERT.

Witnesses:

ANDREW I. TODD, J. W. HAUXHURST.

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