US1708503A - Apparatus for scoring football games or the like - Google Patents

Description

J. M. HARi'LEY APPARATUS FOR SCORING FOOTBALL GAMES OR THE LIKE Filed Oct. 12, 1927 April 9, 1929.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH M. HARTLEY, OF

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR SCORING FOOTBALL GAMES OR, THE LIKE.

Application filed Gctober 12, 1927. Serial No. 225,636.

to be made when the progress of the game is being reported by radio or telephone to the operator of the device.

Various devices have hitherto been suggested for this purpose but so far as I am aware they are all open to the objection that as the object representing the ball'is moved 1 from one posit-ion to another on the back- CAD ground representing the field of play 'no record is left of its previous position; consequently while at any given instant the position of the ball on the field is visibly indicated to the observers there is nothing to show the course which the ball has taken during the preceding period of play. Additionally, it frequently happens that the observers are interested in noting the performance of the different players on theteam and to this end it is desirable that a visible indication be given of theground gained by each player as he carries, kicks or otherwise moves theball during the game as well as of the various types of plays employed in such manner that a permanent record thereof may be maintained for as long as may be desired, which will ordinarily be from the start to the finish of the game. Such a record contributes materially to the'enjoyment and interest of the ob servers and enables them to follow the game much better as is indicated on the device than is the case where, as'in the devices hitherto employed and to which I have referred, no such relatively permanent and detailedv record is made but the ball or other indicating object merely moved about irom place to place on the field, and, in some instances, the name of the player and character of play momentarily displayed when or just after a given play takes place and then changed uponor following the ensuing play.

The principal object of my invention herefore is to provide a device by means of which the progress of a game of football or the like may be visibly indicated as the game progresses in such way that a complete record of the consecutive movements of the ball from the beginning of the game until the end thereof will be afforded together with an indication of the character or type of plays by which the ball is moved about and of the players responsible therefor, so that the observer at any given moment during the game will have before him a substantially complete graphic record of the game up to that time and can thus readily note therefrom numerous facts relating to the game such, for example, as the I types of play by which the most ground has been gained or lost, the players responsible for the maximum gains or losses and other matters of similar nature which contribute to the intelligent understanding of the progress of the game and consequently enhance the interest of the persons who are observing the indicating device.

Further objects of the invention are to provide an indicating device of the character of that to which reference has just been made which is simple, relatively inexpensive and readily operable for its intended purpose; which may be constructed in various sizes so as to adapt it for use under different conditions, as for example, for outdoor use in which case the device is made of such size that the record of the various plays thereon may be readily observed from a considerable distance, or in smaller sizes suitable for use in an auditorium or club or in even still smaller sizes for home use.

Other objects and novel features comprehended by the invention are hereinafter more particularly referred to or Wlll be apparent from the following description of certain forms thereof as illustrated 1n the accompanying drawing.

In the said drawing Fig. 1 is a top plan iew of one form of the invention in which for convenience the board on which the field of play is indicated is represented as divided longitudinally into upper and lower sections on which, respectively, are represented two methods of indicating the progress of the same game as hereinafter more fully explained; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail plan view showing a port-ion of the face of the board and certain of the indicatmeans disposed thereon, while Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2. Figs. 4

and 5 are respectively fragmentary plan views showing different forms of indicating tapes Which may be utilized in recording the progress of the-game. i

In accordance with the present invention '1 provide a :board of suitable size on one face of which is drawn a representation of a football field. This board 1 may be of any suitable material, the selection of which will frequently dependupon the nature ofthe use towhich the device-is to be put. 7 Thus,

for example, if thedevice is to be permanently installed outdoors near a football field or stadium with the intention that it shall be observed by the spectators at the game, the board must necessarily be of large size and will 'tln1s'ordinarily be constructed of suitable lumber. while, on the otherhand,

if it be intended for home use and thus of a I size which may be conveniently laid on a table or even held in the lap or in the hand it may desirably be constructed of plywood, wall board or other like material preferably of such acharacter that it will not readily bend or: warp. The diagram representing the playing field is painted, drawn or otherwise producedon the face of the board and may include the goal'linesfl, 2 adja- 7 cent the ends of the board, representations 3, 3 of the goal posts, and the playing field appear indistinct at the distance from which they will ordinarily be observed; therefore on a relativelylarge board a suflicient number of yardage hnesmay be drawn so that the intervals will represent one half a yard f v during the gamesuitable tapes T are re-' 'or one yard but where the overall: dimen sions of the board are relatively small it is preferable to use fewer yardage lines and cons der the intervals between them as representing live yards as in the drawing or evenfla greater number. 7

For 1nd1cat1ng the progress of the ball fmovably secured to the board and for this 'purpose the latter is provided with a plurality of permanently positioned pins 5 which pr'ojectoutwardly from its face and are arranged at suitably spaced intervals 1 on. the board, yVlnle these pins may be of any suitable construction I prefer to employ relatively sharp pointed headed tacks or nails of such length that when driven through the board fromrthe back thereof theirpoints will project for a relatively considerable distance above its face, sub: stantially as shown in Fig. 3. v If desired, in order to give a neat fin1sh,a sheet of any As manypins are suitable covering material 6 may be secured to the back of the board after the pins are placed in position. 1

disposed at equal intervals on each yardage line as convenientlymay be without getting the intervals between them too small and thus the number of pins on each line will ordinarily vary in accordance with the size of the board,

large board than on a small one. lso

where enough yardage lines are used so that the intervals between them indicate a yard or a fraction thereof, the pins will ordi-' narily be disposed on the yardage lines only but where the yardage lines are spaced to indicate five or ten-yard intervals it is desirable, as shown in Fig. 1,'t-o' place a row of pins'5 'midway between each pair of yardage lines with the pins in longitudinal alignment with the pins 5 in the latter.

As stated, inscoringthe game use is made primarily of suitable tapes which are of different colors so as to represent the opposing teams or differently colored on opposite sides for the same purpose thus when a'tape of the latter character is employecha given side thereof when turned outwardly toward the observer will represent one team, 1

while the other side when so turned will represent the other, thereby avoiding the.

necessity of using two separatetapes of different colors. As the gameprogresses the show which team is carrying the ball and, also, under certain conditions, in sucha way as to indicate, the particular kind of play by which the ball is moved. Furthermore, to indicate points at which the ball is brought to rest at the conclusion 'ofeach play, or downed as it is termed in football, suitable markers may be disposed on the pins, for example, circular markers 7 which may consist of discs of paper, celluloid or other suitable material having a central' hole adapted to'snugly receive the pin when the marker is placed thereon) To indicate particular types of plays other forms of marl:- ers may be employed in conformity with a ments, of the ball and in such manner as to lll) predetermined system; thus, for example, a. v

marker 8 having a plurality of points. may be employed to indicate a penalty and another form to indicate an offside kick, still another form to indicate a forward pass and so on as will be readily understood. For indicating the player by whom the ball displayed thereon may be. utilized; while these players markers may be of any shape I prefer to make themsubstantially circular save at one point where they may.

vided tending tab which is pierced for the passage of the pin similarly to the other markers. Thus when the players marker is placed over one of the principal markers it is readily distinguishable from the latter; preferably the players markers are, colored to correspond with the tapes'representing the team to which the player belongs.

iVhen employing boards of relatively large size I prefer to utilize paper tapes suitably c'olored as aforesaid which are conveniently wound in rolls so that after a length of the tape is positioned on the pins it may be torn off from thebody of the roll and left in position on the board. Preferably when using tapes of this character dotted, broken or zig-zag lines or marks of other character designed to indicate different types of plays may be printed or otherwise displayed on the tape as in Fig. 4 which illustrates a portion of tape having a zig-zag line printed thereon.

For use with boards of smaller sizes, however, I prefert-o employ a continuous tape of woven fabric or the like difierently colored on opposite sides as previously explained and instead of tearing or cutting off a length of the tape to designate each play as in the case of the paper tape, to carry it from onepin to another as may be required from time totime, turning the tape over when necessary so that its exposed face will indicate the team in whose possession the ball may then happen to be. Such ainbric tape may be either sufiiciently loosely woven to permit it to be readily thrust down on the pins or else, as shown in Fig. 5, prowith suitably spaced eyelets 12 adapted to slip over the pins and maintain the tape thereon.

As an example of one method of using the device, I will now describe the scoring of a consecutive series of plays from'the beginning of an imaginary game of football when using, as illustrated on the upper part of the board as shown in Fig. 1, a continuous fabric tape differently colored on opposite sides as the principal indicating medium. Assuming the red team is defending the right hand goal and the white team defending the left hand, and that the former is given'the ball at the beginning of the game, the red team kicks off from its own 40-yard line to the 15-yard line of the white As soon as this kick is made the operator, preferably beginning at the uppermost pin on the red teams -yard line, stretches the tape from that pin to the correspondingpin on the whit teams 15-yard line and then places a down marker on that pin, of course keeping the side of the tape which denotes the'red team outwardly. To show that this movement of the ball has been a kick, the tape may have printed thereon a' dotted line or when using a fabric tape a dotted appearance may be given thereto by placing on the pins along the tape at suitable intervals a plurality of small preferably rectangular markers 13 which are the same or contrasting color as the face of the board 1, thus giving to the tape a broken or dotted appearance, as the markers at a little distance are either substantially indistinguishable from the background or in sharp contrast therewith and with the tape. To indica e that the ball was kicked by player 6, for example, a players disk with the proper number thereon may be placed on the pin on the 40-yard line where the ball was put into play, while a players disk giving the number of the player who caught the ball, for example 7, may be placed on the pin to which the tape is attached on the 15-yard line. The ball being now in possession of the white team, it is put into play on the 15-yard line and carried to the 20-yard line by a short run; it is there downed, then carried forward 2 yards and again downed, and then carried forward 5 yards. To denote these several plays the tape is reversed at the pin on the 15-yard line, brought down to a lower horizontal row of pins and then run in the opposite direction and down and players markers placed on the pins at the proper points so as to indicate the number of yards the ball was carried in each play and the number of the player who carried it; to avoid confusion, however, on account of the necessarily small scale of Fig. 1 the players markers are not shown for these and subsequent plays as the manner of using them will be clear from the foregoing. The next play, a punt by the white team carries the ball to the red teams -yard line, and to indicate this the tape may be zig-zagged from the point where it was punted to such 45-yard line. At this point the ball, of course, passed into the hands of the red team who immediately p unt in the opposite direction to the white teams 15-yard line so that the tape, reversed so as to indicate the red team, is zig-zagged down in the opposite direction to the proper point to denote this punt and down and players disks placed on the proper pins as already described. The white team being now again-in possession of the ball, carry it toward the red goal for a distance of 5 yards, indicated by again reversin the tape and stretching it toward the red goal for the proper distance. Following this play, however, the white team receives a 10-yard penalty for some infraction of the rules and the same is indicated by running the tape back for 10 yards and placing a penalty marker 8 over the tape. On the next play, No. 9 of the white team carries the ball by a long run to the 12 -yard line of the red team and in the ensuing plays the ball is carried over their goal line; these several plays are indicated by stretching the tape between the proper points and properly positioning down and players markers on the pins. The ball is then brought out from behind the goal line to the red teams 10- yard line and from there a goal is kicked .by the white team as indicated by placing the rectangular markers 13 at intervals over the tape so as to give thedotted .eiiect and thus represents a kick. I

While the foregoing is merely illustrative of a series of assumed plays during an imaginary" game it is believed that the method of carryingthe tape from one pin to another on the board and reversing it where necessary to indicate a change of possessionof the ball will be readily apparent as well as the use of different kinds of1narkers .to indicate different types of plays, penalties or other incidents in the game so that a continuous record of the latter is pro- 'duced on theboard which is entirely intelligible to an observer familiar with the system of notation employed and which, of course, is capable of considerable variation and elaboration in conformity with the amount of information-which it'is desired to aliord. Substantially the same method of scoring may be employed when paper or other tapes are used which maybe torn oil after they have been stretched to indicate a given play and upon thefaces of which suitable notations may be printed to conveniently indi- "oate the character of the play.

The use of such tapes is indicated on the lower-half of the board shown in Fig. 1,

I the same seriesof plays being there illustrated' as hasflbeen previously described. Thus, the ball being kicked off from the red 'teams er-O-yard line by that team and downed on the 15-yard line of'the white team, a tape of properc'olor'to denote the red team and having a dotted line thereon to denote a kick is stretched between the -prop'er points; the plays by which the ball was th'en carried by the white team are denoted by using a plaintape of the proper color and the following punt from the white teams 27 -yard' line to the red'teams yard line by a tape having a Zig-zagged line displayed thereon and "so' on, it being thought that the manner of indicating the subsequent plays will be evident without- .furth er description.

It is to beunderstood that when the paper tapes are employed they will ordinarilybe torn ofit' at the proper points after they have been placed on the pins and that the markers are'preferably so arranged as to frictionally engage the pins and'thus assist inholding the tapes in position when they are superimposed thereon. v

It will further be appreciated that it is ordinarily desirable to commence the scor- I ing of the game'as near the upper edge of the board or field as maybe convenient and to continue the record of the plays toward the bottom edge of the board as the game progresses substantially as shown in the drawing. It is thus unnecessary to make 7 the field ai)'cdon the board of the same width in proportion to-its length as a regular football field which is ordinarily I 100 yards long; in fact, it is frequently deutilized for scoring a subsequent game butif paper tapes have been employed these will ordinarily be thrown away. and only the markers preserved for subsequent use.

It will thus be apparent that by the use of my invention a visible recordof the progress of the game and of numerous facts incidental thereto such as the types of plays,

names of players and the like may be read- 1ly made as the game progresses and preserved for as long as desired so that at any period of. the game the observer Wlll have beforehim a full and complete record ofthe as far as it has then progressed.

Moreover, it is to be understood that while I havereferred more particularly to the use of metallic pins as supporting means for the tapes as the same are convenient and well adapted for this purpose, other equivalent means may be employedtherefor if desired,

and "other changes and modifications made in the details of construction and arrange.

ment of the various'parts without departing (from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. I

Having thus described my invention, I

claim and desire to protect by Letters Pat- 'cnt of the United States;

1. In a device for forming a visible rec- ,ord of the progress of a football game or the like, the combination of a board having displayed thereon areprese'ntation of the playing field, a plurality of pins disposed at regularly spacedintervals over the face.

of the board and projectingthereabove and forming a part thereof and a tapefada pted to be selectively positioned and supported on said pins to'extend from different points on said board, to other points thereonto' thereby denote the course of the ball durmg the game.

.2. In a device of forming a visible record 7 of the progress of a football game or the like, the combination of a board having thereon a representation of the playing field, a plurality of pins permanently disposed on said board in transversely extending symmetrically spaced rows, projecting above the face thereof and permanently secured theretoand a fiat tape adapted to be stretched from one of said pins to another and supported thereupon to thereby give a gra hic representation of the movements of the all during the game.

3. In a device for forming a visible record of the progress of a football game or the like, the combination of a board having thereon a representation of the playing field, a plurality of pins disposed on said board in transversely extending spaced rows and permanently secured thereto, a tape adapt ed to be stretched from one of said pins to another and supported thereupon to thereby give a graphic representation of the movements of the ball during the game and markers adapted to be positioned on the pins in superimposed relation tothe tape to afford a graphic representation of incidents of the game in accordance with a predetermined system.

4. In a device for forming a visible record of the progress of a football game or the like, the combination of a board having thereon a representation of a playing field, a plurality of pins arranged at spaced intervals in parallel rows running transversely of the field, said rows being equidis tantly spaced from each other and the points of the pins projecting above the face of the board and a tape differently colored on opposite sides to denote the opposing teams and adapted to be stretched between and supported on said pins selectively to afford a graphic representation of the movements of the ball during the game and to indicate the team by which each such movement is effected in accordance with the face of the tape which is turned outwardly as it is displayed on the board.

5. In a device for forming a visible record of the progress of a football game or the like, the combination of a board having thereon a representation of a playing field, a plurality of pins arranged at spaced intervals in parallel rows running transversely of the field, said rows being equidistantly spaced from each other and the points of the pins projecting above the face of the board, a tape differently colored on opposite sides to denote the opposing teams and adapted to be stretched between and supported on said pins selectively to afford a graphic representation of the movements of the ball during the game and to indicate the team by which each such movement is effected in accordance with the face of the tape which is turned outwardly as it is displayed on the board, and markers adapted to be positioned on said pins in superimposed relation to thetape to indicate incidents of the play in conformity with a predetermined system of notation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of October, 1927.

OSEPH M. HARTLEY.

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