GB2096470A - Cue - Google Patents

Abstract

A cue comprises mutually engageable male (17) and female (19) portions. The male portion includes a cylindrical boss (23) and, extending coaxially with the boss, an externally screw threaded rod (21). The female portion includes a nylon body (31) with an internally screw threaded bore. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cue joint The present invention relates to joints for joining together separate sections of cues for playing snooker, billiards or any game of a similar nature, such as pool.

Snooker cues are inconveniently long and conse quentlyjointed cues are known and in common use.

However, existing joints have various disadvantages. In particular, the playing characteristics of jointed cues are generally noticeably inferior to those of unjointed cues, and one major factor causing this problem is that the joint is not sufficiently secure. Also, when using jointed cues, a noticeable "clicking" sound occurs when the ball is struck, this possibly being due to interference by the joint of the manner in which the shock wave produced by the impact of the cue on the ball is transmitted along the cue.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved cue joint.

According to one aspect ofthe invention, there is provided a joint for joining separate sections of a cue for snooker or billiards or the like, the joint comprising mutually engageable male and female screw threaded portions, the male portion including a cylindrical boss from which extends coaxial ly therewith an externally screw threaded rod and the female portion including a body with an internally screw threaded bore having at one end a cylindrical recess corresponding to said cylindrical boss, whereby when the joint portions are mutually engaged and the externally screw threaded rod screwed into the internally screw threaded bore, the cylindrical boss enters the cylindrical recess.

In a particularly advantageous form of the invention, a part of the joint is formed of resilient material arranged so as to be axially compressed on tightening the cue sections together. Preferably the resilient part comprises part of the female joint portion. For example part of the body of the female portion, particularly that part of the body which surrounds the cylindrical recess may be made of resilient material, e.g. a plastics material.

The choice of resilient material for optimum performance has, as a result of many years' research and experiment, been found to be fairly critical and most preferably the resilient material is nylon, especially nylon 6,6. Particularly, in use of a cue with a joint having a nylon female part, there is no loud "clicking" sound each time the ball is hit, as was generally the case with prior joints.

It has been found that by utilising the present invention, a very secure joint can be obtained when the sections of the cue are screwed together.

Preferably, in use of the joints according to the invention an annular collar is located between the ends of each of the cue sections to be joined and the respective joint portions so that on tightening the joint, the body of the female joint portion is compressed between the collars. For example, one collar may be located between the end of one cue section and that part of the body of the female joint portion which surrounds the cylindrical recess before the female joint portion is attached to its respective cue section.

The other collar may be formed integrally with the cylindrical boss of the male joint portion. These collars tend to contribute to the strength of the joint by spreading the load transmitted between the joint and the cue sections.

In one construction of joint according to the invention the boss of the male joint portion comprises a cylindrical sleeve surrounding the threaded rod. This form of construction tends to reduce the likelihood of the rod snapping off if the section of cue having the male portion is dropped. Suitably, the material of the rod is brass and that of the boss is aluminium.

As indicated previously, it is particularly advantageous for the female portion to have a nylon body member, and the provision of a joint having a nylon body member is itself novel and forms a separate aspect of the invention.

Thus, the present invention further provides a joint for joining together separate sections of a cue for snooker or billiards or the like, the joint comprising mutually engageable male and female screw threaded portions, the male portion comprising an externally screw threaded metal rod and the female portion comprising an internally screw threaded body member formed of nylon, particularly nylon 6,6 said portions being adapted for attachment to the ends of the respective cue sections so that the joint parts may be screwed together to hold the cue sections in axially aligned relationship. Cues incorporating such joints have been found to be particularly quiet in use.

The invention also provides a jointed cue for snooker, billiards or the like comprising separate cue sections provided respectively with complementary male and female joint portions of the kinds referred to above.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure lisa side view of a cue with a preferred embodiment of a joint according to the invention, with the male and female portions screwed together; Figure 2 is a side view of the male portion of the joint of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side view of the female portion of the joint of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a side view of the joint of Figure 1 with the male and female portions unscrewed and separated.

Referring to the drawing, Figures 1 and 4 show two separate sections 11 and 13 of a snooker or billiards cue. Section 11 extends to the tip end of the cue and section 13 to the butt end.

The cue is provided with a joint, generally indicated by the numeral 15, which comprises a male portion 17 (see Fig. 2) and a female portion 19 (see Fig. 3). As shown in Figures 1 and 4, the male portion 17 is attached to the tip section 11 of the cue and the female portion 19 is attached to the butt section 13, using a suitable adhesive.

The male joint portion comprises an externally threaded metal rod 21, made of brass, and a cylindrical boss 23 made of aluminium. The boss comprises an internally threaded cylindrical s!eeve 24 which is screwed onto the rod 21 and prevented from unscrewing by application of a suitable adhesive to the screw threads. It is not essential that the whole length of rod 21 is threaded as shown, although this may be convenient, and for example only rod portion 25 need be threaded. The rod portion, for a short distance from the free end thereof, is unthreaded and slightly tapered. This provides the advantage that if the section of rod with the male portion is dropped and the rod end hits the ground, the screw thread will not be damaged and there will be no subsequent difficulty in joining the cue sections.The end of sleeve 24 remote from the projecting portion 25 is provided with a collar in the form of flange 27 which is of the same diameter as the cue at the joint and is formed integrally with sleeve 24.

As shown in Figures 1 and 4, the male portion is attached to cue section 11 by gluing one end of the rod 21 in a suitable boss formed in the end of cue section 11 so that flange 27 abuts the end of the cue section.

The female portion 19 which is formed of nylon 6,6, comprises a cylindrical body 31 having a smooth sided cylindrical recess formed in one end face 39 thereof. A spigot 37 extends from the opposite face 40 of the body. The outside diameter of the body 31 is the same as that of the cue section 13 to which it is to be attached.

A screw threaded bore 33 extends from the bottom of the recess along the spigot 32 towards the free end thereof. The screw thread of bore 33 is complementary to that on rod 25 and the recess 37 is so shaped as to receive, as a close fit, the sleeve 24 of the male portion. As seen in Figure 1, when rod 25 is fully screwed into the bore 33, the end face 39 of body 31 abuts the collar 27 of the male portion of the joint.

A collar in the form of washer 41, suitably formed of aluminium, is glued onto the female portion 19 against the face 40 of the body 31 and female joint portion 19 is attached to cue section 13 by gluing spigot 32 into a complementary bore in the cue section.

A suitable glue for gluing the end of the rod 21 into the boss in cue section 11 is LOCTITE STUD GLUE 270, and for gluing nylon spigot 32 into the cue section 13, LOCTITE 495 is advantageously used.

When the glued joint portions are set, the cue sections 11 and 13 may be jointed simply by screwing the male and female joint portions together. As shown in Figure 1,when the sections are joined, the external surfaces of the joint lie flush with one another and with the surfaces of the cue, with no gaps.

The joint illustrated has been found to provide a very secure joint, and several factors are believed to contribute to the strength. Thus, one degree of strength is provided by the brass rod 25 being screwed into the nylon bore 33. A second degree of strength is provided by the fitting of aluminium sleeve 23 into the cylindrical recess 37 and finally a third degree of strength is provided by the compression of the nylon body 31 between collars 21 and 47.

The cue joint can accordingly be conveniently named and referred to as '7he Nylon Join with the Three Strengths". Furthermore, wooden cues with previously used joints have tended to split at the joints as a result of impact. The collars 21 and 47, together with the resilient nylon body, protect the cue sections and tend to reduce splitting of the wood. The collars also enable there to be a good contact between the joint portions and cue sections when the cue sections are joined.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many changes can be made to the joint shown without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the male portion could be attached to the butt end of the cue, instead of to the cue end as shown. Further, a single cue could be formed in more than two sections and the sections joined by two or more joints.

Claims (16)

1. Joint for joining separate sections of a cue for snooker, billiards or the like, comprising mutually engageable male and female screw threaded portions, the male portion including a cylindrical boss from which extends coaxiallytherewith an externally screwthreaded rod and the female portion including a body with an internally screw threaded bore having at one end a cylindrical recess corresponding to said cylindrical boss, whereby when the joint portions are mutually engaged and the externally screw threaded rod screwed into the internally screw threaded bore, the cylindrical boss enters the cylindrical recess.

2. A joint as claimed in Claim 1, wherein part of the joint is formed of resilient material arranged so as to be axially compressed on tightening the cue sections together.

3. Ajoint as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the resilient part comprises part of the female joint portion.

4. A joint as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the part of the body of the female portion which surrounds the cylindrical recess is formed of resilient material.

5. A joint as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the resilient material comprises nylon.

6. Ajoint as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the resilient material comprises nylon 6,6.

7. Ajoint as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising an annular collar arranged to be located between the ends of each of the cue sections to be joined and the respective joint portions so that on tightening the joint, the body of the female joint portion is compressed between the collars.

8. Ajoint as claimed in Claim 7, wherein one collar is arranged to be located between the end of one cue section and that part of the body of the female joint portion which surrounds the cylindrical recess before the female joint portion is attached to its respective cue section.

9. A joint as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the other collar is formed integrally with the cylindrical boss of the male joint portion.

10. Ajoint as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the boss of the male joint portion comprises a cylindrical sleeve surrounding the threaded rod.

11. A joint as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the material of the rod is brass and that of the boss is aluminium.

12. A joint for joining together separate sections of a cue for snooker or billiards or the like, the joint comprising mutually engageable male and female screw threaded portions, the male portion comprising an externally screw threaded metal rod and the female portion comprising an internally screw threaded body member formed of nylon, said portions being adapted for attachment to the ends of the respective cue sections so that the joint parts may be screwed together to hold the cue sections in axially aligned relationship.

13. Ajoint as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the body member is formed of nylon 6,6.

14. Ajointed cue for snooker, billiards or the like comprising separate cue sections provided respectively with complementary male and female joint portions according to any preceding claim.

15. A joint for joining separate sections of a cue for snooker, billiards or the like, substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

16. A jointed cue for snooker, billiardsorthe like, substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and as shown in the accompnaying drawings.