US672771A - Bagatelle game. - Google Patents

Description

No. 672,771. Patented Apr'. 2s, :son H. w. Hoops, 1R. v

BAGATELLE GAME.

(Appxscmon med Feb. 2e, 1901.)

(No Model.)

grille-RO? me' ohms warms co., Pusmumo.. wAsmNewN. u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.Y

HENRY W. HOOPS, JR., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BAGATELLE GAM E.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 672,771, dated April 23, 1901. Application filed February 26, 1901. Serial No. 48,95 7. (No model) To @ZZ whom it mar/y concer-71,:

Be it known that I, HENRY W. HOOPS, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, in the city and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Bagatelle Game, of which the following is a specification.

My improved game-board is constructed with an inclined ball-race terminating at its lower end in a horizontal range of pockets, to which different values are assigned. On or in the surface of the inclined ball-race are placed a number of defiecting obstructions formed of oblique ribs or channels, so that a number of balls started at the upper end of the race will follow devious and indeterminable courses in running by gravity to the bottom, where they are caught in pockets, the location and value of which cannot be readily determined in starting. The values of the respective pockets are indicated by any one of a series of differing scales, on each of which the n u In bers are irregularly arranged, the said scales being marked on any desirable number of parallel vfaces on a rotatable cylinder mounted in a casing at the lower end of the board having a single range of perforations in its side directly over the range of pockets, so that either scale or range of numbers may be exposed to View directly over the respective pockets, enabling the value of the respective pockets to be changed at each pla-y.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure l is a plan view of a game-board, illustrating the invention. Fig. 2 is aside view thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 4 is a plan or front view of the scale-cylinder detached. Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section illustrating a modification.

The board may be made of wood, sheet metal, or any other suitable material.

A represents the inclined ball-race mounted bet-Ween sides B B and having at its upper end a fiat space or table ct, on which the balls are placed at starting.

c c represent a number of oblique and irregularly-arrau ged delecting ribs or channels serving to deflect the rolling-balls and divert them into irregular and indeterminable courses. At the lower end of the board are pocket-s d, separated by partitions d' and forming a horizontal range. At the entrance ofthe respective pockets are shallow cu ps or depressions e, adapted to receive and hold a ball descending with moderate velocity and to prevent the entrance of a second ball into the same pocket unless this strikes the first ball with considerable momentum, in which case the first ball may be driven to the bottom of the pocket, so that in the case of rapidly-running balls two or more may occupy the same pocket. The deflecting obstructions c-byoffering unequal and uncertain resistance to the run of the respective balls render it uncertain whether one or more than one will lodge in the same pocket, thus enhancing the uncertainty of the result and the difficulty of determining the same beforehand.

At the lower end of the board is a cylindrical casing f, having in its front face a horizontal range of apertures' g, one for each pocket d, and within this casing is a rotatable cylinder 72 preferably made in hexagon,

Octagon, or other polygonal form, and having on its flat faces any desirable number of scales 1I or ranges of figures, as illustrated, for example, in Fig. t. On the end of this cylinder is a thumb-handlej for turning it so that either one of its scales or ranges of numbers '1l may be brought into View through the sight-apertures g, the exposed numbers determining the value of the respective pockets at each play and enabling the value of the respective pockets to be varied indefinitely.

If preferred, the fiat table a, from which the balls are started, may be formed with depressions a', and may be hinged, as at a2, as illustrated in Fig. 5, so that a set of balls may be disposed on the said starting-table and the latter then lifted, as shown in dotted lines, to start them on their course.

In operation two or any larger number of persons may play, and the game is won by the player who Iirst reaches a predetermined number-say two hundred, more or lessby the sum of the numbers of the pockets in which he may place the balls in successive plays. Each player in succession takes any equal number of balls k-four, for exampleplaces or drops them on the flat head 0L of the race, and starts them on their way. When they reach the bottom, he adds up the numbers assigned to the particular pockets in roo which the balls may have lodged, and this is his score.

The' cylinder h may be shifted after each play, so as to change the values of the respective pockets, or, if preferred, a player may be allowed to give the cylinder a turn at the instant the balls are started, so that he can form no judgment as to the values of the pockets at the moment of starting the balls.

The balls used may be small common marbles of glass or clay or may be of lighter or heavier material, as preferred.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A bagatelle game constructed with an inclined race for a number of balls, a range of pockets at the lower end of the race for the reception of balls running down the race by gravity, and a shiftable scale of numbers readable with relation to the several 'pockets and enabling the values of the respective pockets to be changed, as described.

2. The combination of the inclined race A, oblique obstructions c, placed in said race to deect the course of the balls; a range of pockets d, at the lower end of the race into which the balls run by gravity; and a series of diverse scales applicable to said pockets to change their respective values, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the inclined ballrace A, deecting obstructions c thereon range of pockets d, and rotatable cylinder h having a series of diverse horizontal scales i, either of them capable of being placed opposite the pockets so as to vary the values of the respect-ive pockets, as explained.

HENRY W. HOOPS, JR.

Witnesses:

OcTAvIUs KNIGHT, J. GREEN.

Images