US3206210A

US3206210A - Cylinder enclosed ball sliding game piece

Info

Publication number: US3206210A
Application number: US371136A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bard George
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-05-28
Filing date: 1964-05-28
Publication date: 1965-09-14
Anticipated expiration: 1982-09-14

Description

Sept. 14, 1965 BARD CYLINDER ENCLOSED BALL SLIDING GAME PIECE Filed May 28, 1964 FIG.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 5.

INV EN TOR. G EOAPGE 5/220 United States Patent 3,206,210 CYLINDER ENCLOSED BALL SLIDING GAME PIECE George Bard, 10540 84th Ave., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Filed May 28, 1964, Ser. No. 371,136 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-128) This device relates generally to game pieces and par ticularly to game pieces of the type adapted to be slid over a playing surface.

Indoor games, using hand propelled game pieces include the games of shuffleboard, curling and the like wherein an elevated playing surface is provided and opposing players utilize game pieces that may be propelled over the playing surface to strike against and knock off the opponents game pieces or that may be propelled with sufficient accuracy to stop in a scoring area.

In general, the playing pieces comprise some form of circular weighted disc and it is necessary to maintain the playing surface in a very clean and highly polished condition if the weighted game pieces are to be operated thereover with any degree of success.

To overcome the necessity for highly polished playing surfaces, there have been developed patents of the type described in US. 1,849,414 to Turnbull in 1932 and 2,454,492 to Turnbull in 1948 wherein there is provided an outer casing with a weighted ball contained within the casing and freely rotatable so that when the casing is propelled over a playing surface the ball will roll over the surface within the casing.

The difficulty With devices of this sort and in particular the Turnbull devices is found in the fact that the ball rolling over the playing surface invariably picks up minute dust and dirt particles and, since the ball is rolling, these particles are carried up into the outer casing and lodged in the casing. When this dirt accumulates to a sufiicient degree, it will act adversely on the rolling ball with the result that the game piece will assume an erratic path as it is propelled over the game surface.

A further disadvantage lies in the fact that it is diflicult for the user of the game piece to clean out the dirt and dust unless the entire game piece is submerged in a cleaning solution and then dried.

In addition, the construction of prior devices of this sort has been such that it is difiicult to separate the ball and the casing should there be any damage to either of the components and, as a result, when the device hecomes defective, it is usually more economical to discard the defective device and to obtain a new one.

Further, devices of this nature generally may be operated with only one side in contact with the playing surface and the user must always insure that the correct side will be in contact with the surface before the playing piece is thrown.

I have developed an improved game piece of the general type utilizing an outer casing with an inner Weighted ball and I have overcome the above and other difficulties inherent in game pieces of this nature by providing an outer casing having a longitudinal straight sided bore with a weighted ball positioned within the bore and contained within the casing by simple snap rings located in grooves in the wall of the bore.

Further, my game piece is provided with parallel ends and is constructed so that the garne piece may be used with either end in contact with the playing surface and so that the user is not required to check that the correct side of the game piece is being used.

Further, the use of a simple snap ring located in a groove in the wall of the bore makes it possible to remove the ring quickly and easily to extract the ball from the outer casing so that repair or replacement of the ball or casing may be made with little difiiculty.

A further and important advantage of my improved construction may be seen from the fact that the longitudinal bore of my outer casing has straight Walls so that the weighted ball may move freely longitudinally in the casing and is limited in its movement only by the snap rings in the grooves. With this construction, I am enabled to provide a game piece wherein the weighted ball may project sufiiciently below either end of the casting so that a brush or other cleaning implement may be inserted from the opposite end of the casing to remove any dust or lint on the surface of the ball and around the Wall of the bore. When the dirt andlint has been removed from the one side of the casing, it is only necessary to invert the game piece to allow the ball to drop to the opposite end of the bore and dirt and lint may then be removed from the opposite side.

In the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment:

FIG. 1 is a view in projection illustrating my game piece in its preferred form.

FIG. 2 is a sectional side elevation illustrating my device raised from a playing surface so that the ball will drop within the casing to the maximum distance permitted by the snap ring.

FIG. 3 is another side elevation, partly in section, to illustrate the construction of my device and the relative position of the ball and easing when the game piece is resting on a playing surface.

As seen in the drawings, my device consists of a casing indicated generally at 1 which is cylindrical in form and which has a straight sided longitudinal bore there through. The ends 3 and 4 of the casing 1 are parallel and it should be noted that the sides of the casing are bevelled as indicated at 5 to reduce the end area of the casing and to minimize the frictional drag of the casing when it is slid over a playing surface as designated at 6.

While the casing 1 could be constructed of any suitable material, I have found it best to use a high impact plastic or composition material that will not easily chip or mar.

The ball 7 within the bore 2 is of a diameter to be freely rotatable in the bore and is contained within the bore by the snap rings 8 and 9 seated in grooves 10 located adjacent the ends 3 and 4 of the casing.

As illustrated best in FIG. 3 in the drawings, when the casing 1 is rested on a playing surface on either of the ends 3 or 4, the ball 7 will also rest on the playing surface and, as the casing 1 is slid over the playing surface, the ball will roll within the casing. During this rolling movement over a playing or other surface, the ball 7 invariably will pick up lint or small dirt particles and these particles will be carried up into the casing to be lodged on the walls of the casing at approximately the midpoint of the casing as designated by the numeral 11.

To clean this dirt or lint from the casing, it is only necessary to elevate the casing 1 from the playing surface to allow the ball 7 to drop in the casing as illustrated in FIG. 2 in the drawings and then a cleaning brush, rag or other device can be inserted easily from the opposite end of the casing to remove the dirt. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the brush or rag would of course be inserted from the end 3 of the casing. Should it be desired to remove dirt from the opposite end of the casing, it is only necessary to invert the casing 1 to allow the ball 7 to drop to its maximum limit at the end 3 and so that the brush or rag could be inserted at the end 4.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 in the drawings, the end 4 of the casing is in contact with the playing surface 6. It will be obvious that the casing could be inverted if desired so that the end 3 were in contact with the playing surface and the device would operate in precisely the same fashion.

3 What I claim as my invention is: References Cited by the Examiner A playing piece for sliding moye rnentacross a laying UNITED STATES PATENTS surface comprising a casing, a stialght sided longitudinal bore through the casing, a ball freely rotatable in the 1,849,414 3/32 Tumbuu 3 bore and adapted to roll on the playing surface when 5 2585:4525 2/52 GOYdOIl 273-128 A1 either end of the casing is in sliding movement across the playing surface and means to retain the ball in the FOREIGN PATENTS bore, such means positioned in the bore to allow the ball 16,613 1901' Great Britain.

to drop suffiicently through the bore to allow more than half of the Wall area of the bore to be cleared for cleaning. 10 RICHARD PINKHAM, Primary Examiner-