US287352A

US287352A - Thomas heney waed

Info

Publication number: US287352A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1883-10-23
Anticipated expiration: 1900-10-23

Description

oooooooo GAME APPARATUS.

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NITED STATES THOMAS HENRY WARD, TIPTON, COUNTY OF STAFFORD, ENGLAND.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 287,352, dated October 23, 1883.

Application filed September 15, 1883. (No model.) Patented in England June 8, 1883, No. 2,670.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS HENRY WARD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and residing at Tipton, in the county of Stafford, England, have invented a certain improved apparatus to be employed in playing puzzle or educational games, (for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, dated June 8, 1883, N 0. 2,870,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an arrangement of apparatusor means to be employed in playing a new game, which may be arranged simply as a puzzle or as an assistance in education.

I will explain my said invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, Figure l of which represents one of the pyramidal pieces, hereinafter described. Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 3 an elevation, of a number of such pieces arranged upon a tray, table, or holder, as also hereinafter described.

According to my said invention I provide a number of pyramidal pieces, A, of wood, or other material, each with four equal sides, reckoning the base as a side, or, in other words, each consisting of pyramids, with an equivalent triangular base. Each of said four sides I will call a face. Upon one, more, or all of these faces is placed some distinguishingmark, say the letters of the alphabet or of a part of the alphabet. The said pyramids are preferably arranged upon a tray, table, or holder, B, which is made of any suitable shape and material, and has a raised rim, 1), to retain the pyramids in place, the said tray, table, or holder being of such a size that the said pyramidal pieces fill the said tray, table, or holder when they are all in place thereon. In playing the game or puzzle with these pyramidal pieces A they are arranged upon the said tray or table, each placed upon oneof its faces as a base, a space equal to that occupied by one of the said pyramidal pieces A being left unoccupied. The said pyramidal pieces A may then be one at a time tipped over, each to rest upon another of its faces as a base, and thus the said pyramidal pieces A may be caused, one at a time, to change their position on the tray or table. The object of the game or puzzle is, by this tipping of the pyramids one at a time into the space which is left unoccupied by the displacement of the one last moved, to eventually, by this means, bring the said pyramidal pieces A into any relative order that may have been previously settled upon. Suppose, as an example, that the pyramidal pieces, as shown in the drawings, are marked upon each of their faces with the letters of the alphabet from A to X, each pyramidal piece being marked with one of the letters. Thus one of the said pieces will be marked on each of its faces with the letter A, another will be marked on each of its faces with the letter B, another with the letter O, and so on. The said pieces are then placed upon the tray, table, or holder B, each upon one of its faces, as a base, but in disorder. The object of the game or puzzle is, by simply tipping the pyramidal pieces over upon one of the edges of the base upon which it originally rested, to cause it to take up a new position upon another of its sides as a base, and thus to ultimately bring all the pieces into such a position that the letters on the several pieces appear in their correct alphabetical order.

It will be evident that an almost endless number of signs, names, drawings, subjects, or other devices or marks may be made upon the several pieces, the object of the game or puzzle being to arrange them in any given order or orders, so as to exercise or attain by this means any requiredknowledge of rela- 'tion or order of the subjects marked upon the pieces; and thus the apparatus may be utilized not only as a game for amusement, but ,one for the education of the player in the particular matter to which the signs, names, drawings, subjects, devices, marks, or the like relate.

It will be evident that more that one space .may be left unoccupied, which will have the effect of simplifying the game or puzzle.

The apparatus or means for playing puzzle or educational games, consisting of a number of pyramidal pieces, formed as hereinbefore described, and shown at A, which are placed upon a tray, table, or holder, to be arranged in any desired order by tippingfrom one position to another, substantially as hereinbefore described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses:

' F. BRAME,

JOHN M. DICKINSON,

THOMAS HEN RY WARD.

U. S. Consulate, Birmingham.