US470275A - wooster - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet' 1.

(No Model.)

H. S. WOOSTER. BILLIARD SCORE KBBPBR AND GAMB COUNTER.

Patented Mar. 8, 1892.

En A

(No Model.) v 3 sheetssheen 2; H. S. WOOSTBR. BILLIARD SCORE KEBPER AND GAME COUNTER.

No. 470,275. Patented Mar. 8, 1892.

Q@ MM (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

H. S. WOOSTER.

BILLIARD SCORE KEEPBR AND GAME GOUNTBR.

No. 470,275. Patented Mar. 8,1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT SIDNEY IVOOSTER, OF BATH, ENGLAND.

BILLIARD-SCORE KEEPER AND GAME-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,275, dated March 8, 1892.

Application filed June 2, 1891. Serial No. 394,826. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT SIDNEY VOOS- TER, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Bath, in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, have invented a certain Apparatus for Scoring the Game of Billiards and Indicating the Number of Games Played, ot which the following` is a Specification.

The invention consists in an improved appliance for scoring the game of billiards and affording a return ot the number of games played. The appliance is, therefore, a provision against false returns by attendants as to money due by them to proprietors of bil'- liard-tables.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a front elevation, and Fig. 2 a partial vertical transverse section, of my improved appliance for scoring at the game of billiards and giving a return of the number ot games played. Fig. 3 represents a rear elevation, the cover of the back being removed and the pointers at the mid-height, which I term the games-register, being traversed to their full extent to register twenty-iive games. Figs. e to S are on a largei` scale. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the uppermost of the two endless screws, which extend horizontally across the machine at the midlieight to register the number of the games. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and S are front views of one end of one of the rollers, turned in four different positions. Figs. 9 and lO are outline drawings of the same scale as Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Fig. 9 is a vertical section of the parts near the top and bottom of the machine, the middle parts being broken away. Fig. l0 is a front elevation showing the mechanism which connects the upper and lower parts of the machine and makes their action dependent on each other. This is useful under certain conditions. Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the iigures where they appear.

Toward the top and bottom, respectively, of the machine are the usual marking-rollers c, bearing numerals from l to 100, arranged in series. I have made them four series of twenty-iive each.

In front ot the rollers a arev the pointers l), which may for convenience in description be termed the units-indicators, by which the points are marked by simply moving the pointers along from lett to right.

As the action is similar in both sets of indicating mechanism at the top and bottom, respectively, it will simplify description at first to set forth the operation with respect to one set only-the upper set.

The pointer h is secured to a carriage or plate c, which is free to slide on rails d, Fig. 2, fixed behind the face of the appliance, and carries a yoke c, having a short arm e at top and e2 at bottom projecting backward into grooves provided in rollers fand g, arranged parallel with the rollers c, and which perform important functions. The roller a is tted with a toothed wheel a', gearing with a toothed wheel f', iixed on the roller f. Each roller g has a toothed wheel g gearing with a pinion t', which latter gears with toothed wheel k', fixed on the corresponding endless screw k, which works through an easy-iitting sleeve Z, a separate view of which sleeve, on an enlarged scale, is shown by Fig. 4l. Each sleeve l carries a pivoted lever m, which is urged downward by the springs n, so as, when permitted, to engage in the helical groove of the screw 7c.

Upon the spindle o, extending outward to the front from the sleeve l, is carried a pointer p, for indicating the number of games and half-gaines played and scored by the unitsindicators b. The pointers p may, for convenience in description, be termed the gamesindicators. Behind them is a flat plate or board q, bearing numerals l to 25, arranged at equal distances apart in :regular sequence, each major graduation-that is to say, from one numeral to another-being of the value of one game of one hundred points as spaced upon the roller a. Each roller f and g has four longitudinal grooves connected by four diagonal grooves. short arms e e2 engaging in the grooves, couples the rollers f and g together, as seen at Fig. 2.

In scoring from one to twenty-live by a unitsindicator l) the upper arm c ofthe yoke e slides in the straight longitudinal groove f2 of the roller f and produces no effect on the rollers. In its return passage from right to left the yoke leaves the straight groove and traverses the inclined or diagonal groove f3 and turns the The yoke c, which has IOO roller f a quarter of a revolution. This is et'- fected as follows: In traversing to the right the yoke raises a spring-switch r, which switch is closed by its spring after the yoke has passed. This movement is to the left in Fig. 3, because Fig. 3 is a rear View. This switch directs the upper arm ot' the yoke into the groove f3 on the return motion. 'Ihe lower arm e2 of the uppcr'yoke e in travelingto the right moves in the diagonal groove g3 of the roller g, causing that roller to revolve until it has turned a quarter-revolution. At the end of its traverse the said lower arml e2 of the yoke reachesv the next longitudinal groove g2, and on the return of the yoke e from right to left the inner and lower arm remains and slides in the groove g2. As the yoke approaches t-he left end of the appliance, its lower arm e2, following the conformation of the groove in which it is traveling, turns the roller gslightly, so that on its next move to right the arm e2 passes into the groove g3, and by traversing this causes the roller to revolve enough to complete aquarter-revoln# tion. I

Each diagonal groove f3 in the roller fand g3 in the roller g is of such pitch that while the proper armrof the` yoke e is traveling in it the roller f or g, as the case may be,.is rotated, through one-fourth of a revolution. During the motion to thev left the roller a is by the intervening gearing f and a turned a quarter-revolution, and hence the second set of numerals, commencing with 26, appears at frontinstead of the first series, and so on. So, also, each .movement Ato theright turnsthe roller ga quarter-revolution, and by means of the. toothed wheels g', @and/c', thescrew 7c is caused to rotate `to such an' extentr as to move the sleeve Zlongitudinallythrough onefourth of the distance between two cons ecutive numerals on the plate or board q behind the` games-indicator. It will now be seen that a completerevolution ofthe roller c at the top or bottom, whichis made in scoring one 1 hundred. points by one player, moves thecorresponding 'games-indicator p' through one complete graduation. Then the game is tinished, and thel units-indicator for the other player being. now idly made. .to `complete the movements to register one hundredand back again to zero like the other, the apparatus is readyto register anew game, until 4the whole length of the screwslc have been traversed by the game-indicators.

The position of the game-indicators is a true, index of the totalnumber of the games played, and thus acheck is provided upon the return given by attendants to proprietors of billiard-tables as to payments which are due to them, the computation` being based on the usual system of a tixed charge for each game of titty or one hundred points, respect-V ively.y

When .it is required, as, aftereach payment made by the attendant, to return the gamesindicators to the starting-point, the Window free to be drawn backward along the screw without rotation of the latter. On withdrawal of the pressure from the stud u the spring n restores the lever m to engagement with the screw, and the spring fv returns the stud u to its normal position. Now all -is `ready fto again register any required nu mber of games up to the limit. As shown, this is twentytive full games.

To adapt the machine for registering halfgames or games in which only iifty points are scored, it is of advantage to be able toset the indexes back to zero .without moving them idly through the several motions required to register the next fifty. I have equipped the machine for attaining this end, allowing each units-indicator to be set back to zero when only fifty points are made. Furthermore, I provide mechanism which connects the upper and `lower part otthe machine, so that although the upper units-indicator can be set back when iifty points are made it can only be done provided the lowerone is broughtup to the same number, 50, and the lower can be moved back to zero from 50, provided the upper one is carried forward to 50. The diagonal groove f3 in each roller f, in which at the termination of each game the yoke e is returned from right'to left, opens at the vleft end in Fig. l, which is the right end in Fig. 3,.,into a part f4, which is of smaller diameter than the general body of the roller, as seen more..-particularly in thepseparate view, Fig. 6, and extends half around the roller. The grooves f2 f3 in each roller f, along the first ofv which the yoke e has been traversed to the right and along the second of whichl itis to.

be returned when twenty-five points have been scored, is blocked at the left end, the right in, Fig. 3, (shown by f in Fig- 65) also the grooves by which, when the seventy-tive points are scored and the yoke returned, are not (see Fig. 4). run out to they roller-neck; but the grooves in v each roller along which the yoke is returned, when fifty points have been scored, opens into a cavity or sunk space. When the upper arm e of the yoke e inthe upper partV of the apparatusy orv the corresponding arm, the lowervarm (similarly lettered e) in the lower part of the apparatus, is moved to the left end of its traverse after registering fifty points and is in the positionvto register fifty-one pointsand Vcommence therefrom to go on to complete the hundred,thereis liberty, if the players lso elect, by reason of the yoke e being in the sunk space f, which extends half around theroller, forthe player by operating on the knob a2 at the end of the apparatus to turn the roller back to 1, and

thus to commence again at l to register a new game. This is important to allow half-games to be registered. I avoid all possibility of thus turning back one, the upper or the lower, rollera, without the otherhavin g been brought up to 50, by the following` means: At the gearing end of each roller a is a ratchet-wheel. (See Fig. 9.) The ratchet-wheel .fr of the upper units-indicator roller engages with a pawl y, (see Fig. 9,) pivoted at y to the frame of apparatus, and connected at the outer end to a rod y2, which extends downward and is connected at the lower extremity to one end of the horizontal arm of a bell-crank lever 54, pivoted to a iixed bracket .25. The pawl y is normally kept engaged with the ratchet-wheel e' by a spiral spring if bearing at the upper end against a collar on the rod y2 and at the lower end upon a stop fixed to the frame. The lower yoke e carries a curved arm e3, which extends backward, so as to come into contact with the upper limb of the bell-crank lever .24, when the lower units-indicator is moved sufficiently far to the left. The ratchet-wheel of the lower units-indicator roller engages with a pawl a', pivoted at z2 to the frame of the apparatus, and connected at the outer end to a rod ,23, which extends upward and is connected at the upper extremity to one end of the horizontal arm of a bell-crank lever yg, pivoted to a fixed bracket y1. The pawl e is normally kept in engagement with the ratchet ,e by a spiral spring e, bearing at the lower end against a shoulder on the rod e3, and at the upper end against a stop fixed to the frame. The upper yoke e carries a curved arm similarly lettered es, which extends backward, so as to come into contact with the lower limb of the bell-crank leverg/3 when the said unitsindieator is moved sufficiently far to the left. By this arrangement of ratchet-wheels, pawls, levers, and springs, and rods extending up and down, the upper pawl y is freed from engagement with the ratchet-wheel a; only when the lower bell-crank lever ,e4 is tilted by contact therewith of the arm e3 of the lower unitsindicator, and, similarly, the lower pawl e is freed from engagement with its ratchet-wheel a' only when the upper bell-crank lever yg is tilted by contact therewith of the arm e:E of the upper units-indicator. Accordingly, the pawls can be freed from engagement with the ratchet-wheels of the rollers dy only when bot-h units-indicators stand near 51,to which position both must consequently be brought before either roller d can be reversed to Zero through the medium of its handle a2. Vhen the rollers a have been so reversed, the yokes e enter the grooves in the roller f at the zeropoint, passing over and depressing a springtongue t', Figs. 6 and 8, which thereafter rebounds, blocking the groove, and preventing withdrawal thereat of the yokes.

gear for this purpose is shown at Fig. 10. It consists of a system of articulated levers A, C,and F, pivoted to the frame and connected 7o links B, D, and E. rlhe link D is guided on the stud l, and receives in a slot G an arm (not shown) fixed to the spindle of the handle H. By partially turning' the handle ll and-thus moving the link D downward the levers A and F are turned upon their pivots, so as to cause the teeth A and F to take into notches provided in the slide c of cach unitsindieator. In this position the mechanism is 'locked by the bolt of an ordinary lock (not 8o shown) being shot into the slot B of the link B by turning the key of the said ordinary lock. The spring L serves to maintain the levers either in the position shown at Fig. l0,

or in the position occupied by them when the teeth of the levers A and F are engaged in the notches of the slides c until such positions are changed by turning the handle Il.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the ad- 9o vantages of the invention.

instead of employing switches, such as r, Fig. 3, for diverting the upper arm e of the yoke e from a longitudinal to a diagonal groove, the transfer may be effected in the same way as above described with reference to the in ner or lower arm.

l claim as my inventionl. In a games-register, the combination of a units-indicator l), arranged to traverse backroo ward and forward in registering the number of points, and gearing operated by such traverse communicating motion to a screw-shaft k, carrying a sleeve Z, and games-indicator p, adapted to register the number of games and m5 half-games, as herein specified.

2. In a games-register, the roller d, carrying several series of figures to be presented in succession by partially revolving the roller, gearing df, and roller f, the latter having in- 11o clin ed grooves f 3, in combination witha unitsindicator b and adapted to be reciprocated, as shown, and with means, as the arm e, for engaging in the groove f3 and partially revolving the latterby the reciproeations of the 1 15 former, and with mechanism connecting it to a screw 7e, arranged to be revolved and to communicate a slow registering motion to the games-indicator p, as herein specified.

3. In a games-register, in combination with I 2o the units-indicator d and pointer l), arranged to be traversed relatively thereto, the roller f, geared to the roller a and having two sets of grooves f2 f, and a switch lr, combined and arranged for joint operation as herein specified.

4i. In a games-register, the games-indicator p, carried on a sleeve Z, mounted on the screw k, in combination with each other and with the engaging means fm, and provisions, as the 13o push-pin t; and wedge w, for disengaging, when required, and with the window S, with locking means, all arranged for joint operation substantially as herein specified.

5. Ina games-register, the rollers f g, having inclined grooves f3 g3, and the yoke e, having arms e e2 connected to the units-indicator b', in combination with each other and with an endless screw k and games-indicatorp, traversed thereby, and gearing connecting these parts, all arranged for joint operation as herein speciied. l

6. In a games-register, the pointer b, mounted on a carriage adapted to be reciprocated between guideways, as shown, in combination with the roller f, having two sets of grooves f2 f3, communicating, as shown, the provisions for registering half-games consisting in providing said roller f with cavity f4, arranged to receive the arme and allow the roller f and its connections to be revolved backward, as herein specified.

7. In a games-register, the pointer b, mounted on a carriage adapted to be reciprocated between guideways, as shown, in combination with the roller f, having two sets of grooves f2 f3, communicating, as shown, the provisions for registering half-games consisting in providing the said roller f with a cavityr f4, arranged to receive the arm e and allow the roller fand its connections to be revolved backward, and with thespring-tongues t ,and arranged to allow the arm e to be so moved and to forbid-a return movement, as herein specied.

8. In a games'register having two rollers a, carrying numerals and adapted for registering units, and mechanism for registering the number of games, with provision for turnlng backward the units-registerlng rollsv to register fractions of games, so connecting the two rollers a that neither can be turned to commence anew until thc other has been turned to complete the corresponding portion ot' a game, substantially as herein specified.

9. In an appliance for marking or scoring games, an arrangement of rollers, such as ct, f, and g, grooved and coupled by yokes, such as e, screw-thread rollers, such as le, carrying sleeves, such as Z, or their equivalent, said arrangement being such that as each series of units displayed from end to end on the units-indicator rollers is indicated by the units-indicators in the progress of the game the games-indicators actuated through the said screws and sleeves indicate through the medium of a graduated board, such as q, the totalnumber of games and half-games played, substantially as hereinbefore described.

10. In apparatus for marking or scoring games, the mechanism for interlocking the units-indicator rollers, whereby on. the conclusion of a game of fifty points both unitsindicators must be returned tothe starting end of the apparatus before either of the unitsindicator rollers can be reversed to zero, as herein set forth. 4

l1. The spring sleeve or clip carrying the games-indicators, consisting of the lever m, spring n, spindle o, with wedge-piece w, spiral spring u, and stud u, arranged and operating substantially as herein described.

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

HERBER" sIDNEY woos'rEE.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN HICK WATTS,

13 Queen Square, Bath, Solicitor. GEORGE SEPTIMUS HORFIELD,

13 Queen Square, Bath, His Clerk.

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