US2248161A - Scoreboard for games - Google Patents

Description

July 8, 1941. E. J. CROSS SCOREBOARD FOR GAMES Filed Oct. 1, 1938 RS 03 mm .nc W. IJ T S m R E ATTOR 1:. S

Patented July 8, 1941 SCOREBOARD FOR; GAMES Ernest James Cross, Westclifffon-Sea, England, assignor to Betterway Ideas Limited, London, England, a company of GreatBritain Application October 1, 1938, Serial- No. 232 890 In Great Britain October 13, 1937 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to Scoreboards for games, and although it has been primarily devised for use in connection with the game of darts, it is also applicable to scoreboard-s for other games.

The main object of the invention is to eliminate the use of pencil and paper, or chalk and slates, such as are commonly used for scoring in the game of darts and in other games, and a further object is to facilitate quickness of scoring and appreciation of the state of the game at any time, by the players.

In accordance with the foregoing our improved scoring board for darts and other games comprises. a back board on which is mounted one or more rails used in common byall the playing sides, adjacent to which scoring figures are marked on the back board, in combination with jaws of the clip devices are shaped to make a' sliding frictional fit in said grooves.

The invention isclearly distinguished from. prior construction of scoring boards for games in that by using marking devices removably mounted on the scoring rails, a single set of scoring rails may be used in common by all the playing sides, and the marking devices or clips may made to pass each other in moving them to different scoring positions so that the scoring range of a given size of board is considerably increased, or with a given scoring range the board may be of smaller size, as compared with prior construction of scoring board on which each playing side has a separate set of scoring rails with sliding members permanently mounted thereon.

By way of example only, and in order that the invention may be more clearly understood, a construction of scoreboard intended for the game of darts is illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a face view of the scoreboard.

Figure 2 is a detail view to a larger scale showing an end portion of one of the rails in side elevation.

Figure 3 is a corresponding plan view.

Figures 4 and 5 are respectively a side view and an edge View of one of the scoring clips.

Figure 6 is a sectional View showing a clip device applied to a rail.

- Figure 7 is a view to a larger scale of one of the main scoringv rails, and

Figure8 is a similar view of one of the hundreds scoring rails.

The scoreboard comprises a back board a mounted in a frame b. This back board may be madeof thin wood or of sheet metal and is preferably enamel-led or glazed. The portions of the scoring board above andbelow the scoring rails may carryadvertising matter printed or otherwise applied thereto. The suriace of the board a is divided into a number of panels 0 in each of which is provided a scoring rail e, whilst along the two side portions of .the board or panels d containing the hundreds scoring rails f.

grooves into which the jaws i of the scoring clips gfit inafrictionally tight manner.

The scoring clips illustrated in Figures 4, 5 and6- comprise two sides or limbs h fastened together at the top ends and pressed apart by the spring 7'. The lower end of one of the limbs 3 h is slit to allow the end of the other limb h to passtherethrough, and the ends of the limbs h terminate in jaws i which are shaped to'fit closely intothe grooves in the sides of the rails e. In orderto apply the scoring clips to the rails e the limbs h, are pressed together so that the jaws are opened whereupon they can be slipped over the head of the rail 6 so that the jaws i engage in thewgroo-ves of the rail and obtain a friction grip onthe web thereof. It is then possible to move the clips along the rail to any desired position, in which they will remain until moved again.

The clips 9? for application to the rails e have pointers 10 mounted on each limb 71. thereof, Whilst the clips 9 for the hundreds rails f are of the same construction but only have one pointer is.

Scoring clips are of different. colours and apportioned according to their colours to the several playing sides taking part in the game. Thus for games having two playing sides the scoring clip of one side may be red and that of the other side green.

As mentioned before, the scoring clips for the hundreds rails (Figure 8) only require one pointer 7c and according to a modification the markers for use on the hundreds rails may be permanently mounted thereon and be in the form of simple sliders instead of in the spring clip form as illustrated by Figures 4, 5, and 6.

Figure 7 illustrates the manner in which scoring figures may be printed or otherwise applied to the panels ('2 alongside the rails e. As illustrated in Figure 1 these rails e are intended for the scoring of 301 points in the game of darts, in which case each rail e corresponds to a score of 50 points, the first 50 being scored on the left hand rail and being continued from rail to rail, the right hand rail scoring the last 50 points of the game. On the left hand sides of the rails the scores are in ascending order from top to bottom of the rails, whilst on the right hand sides of the rails the scores are in descending order. Thus a clip adjusted to any particular place on the rail will'indicate on the left hand side of the rail the total number of points scored, and on the right hand side the number of points remaining to be scored to complete the game. Every additional score is readily scored up with the aid of the figures on the left hand side of the rails 6. This will facilitate and increase the speed of scoring, since it is usually done in scoring for darts.

Should it be required to play a game having a total score of more than 301 points the hundreds scoring rails are brought into use.

One of these rails is apportioned to one side and the other to the opposing side. If there is a possibility of more than two sides taking part in a game additional hundreds rails can be provided in the upper and lower panels of the board, and additional removable markers of distinctive colours used on the main scoring rails common to all playing sides. In making use of these hundreds scoring rails it is most convenient to arrange for the last 301 points to be scored on the main rails e. Accordingly, if say, a game of 501 points is being played, the first 200 points are scored on the first four rails e, and when the scores on these rails have been completed, the sliders g on the corresponding hundreds rails f are set to 200, and the scoring clips on the fourth rail 6 are returned to zero on the first rail e. Thus if seven hundreds scoring points are provided for on the rails f a game of 1001 points can be scored on the board.

The end of each clip remote from its jaws is fiat, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, so that it may be gripped by the jaws of another clip in the event, for example, of tie scoring.

The scoring board may be used or adapted for use with games other than darts in which points are scored. Thus it may be used or adapted for use for scoring at billiards, snooker, rings, etc.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of the board illustrated in the drawing, but may be carried into practice in many different ways within the scope of of the appended claims. For example, as previously indicated, instead of providing removable scoring clips for the hundreds rails j they may have friction sliders permanently mounted thereon to serve as markers.

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A game scoring board having a column of scoring indicia thereon, a rail on said board extending parallel to said column, and a scoring clip comprising limbs movably connected together at their ends adjacent to one end of the clip, jaws on the other ends of the limbs, urged towardeach other to engage said rail, the intermediate portions of the limbs being movable toward one another to release and disengage said jaws from the rail, and a pointer member on one limb having an indicating end to cooperate with said column, said indicating end being opposite to but terminally spaced from the jaw on the other limb to enable movement of said jaw to disengage the clip from said rail.

2. A game scoring board having a column of scoring indicia thereon, a rail on said board extending parallel to said column, and a scoring clip having upstanding limbs joined at their upper ends and having crossed portions midway of their height and jaws at their lower ends urged toward each other to engage said rail, and a pointer member attached to the outer face of one of the limbs and having an indicating end to cooperate with said column, said indicating end being terminally free opposite the adjacent crossed portions of said limbs and extending outwardly therefrom.

3. A game scoring board having laterally spaced columns of scoring indicia thereon, a rail on said board extending longitudinally between said columns, a scoring clip having upstanding limbs joined at their upper ends and having crossed portions midway of their height and jaws at their lower ends urged toward each other to engage said rail and separable to disengage them from said rail by a compressive force applied to the outer sides ofsaid limbs, and pointer members attached to the outer faces of the limbs and having indicating ends terminally free opposite the adjacent crossed portions of the limbs and extending outwardly in opposite directions to cooperate with the respective columns of scoring indicia, the clip having a relatively fiat portion at the top engageable by the jaws of another clip in tie scoring.

ERNEST JAMES CROSS.

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