US867935A - George s - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED OCT. 8, 1907.

- ,c. s. PARKER. GAME APPARATUSL APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10. 1907.

lnvenior: deorge ,S'. Parker, 1-!

Wii'nesses 1 5M 17% WW firm.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE S. PARKER, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PARKER BROTHERS, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 8, 1907.

Application filed June 10,1907. Serial No. 378,051.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, GEORGE S. PARKER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Game Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to game apparatus adapted not only to afford amusement and recreation, but to test ciated by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings of an apparatus embodying one form of my invention and selected for purposes of illustration herein, its scope being more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: Figure l is a perspective view of a selected embodiment of my invention showing a plurality of repositories and the implement upon which a ball is supported and conveyed to one of the repositories; and Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional detail, showing one of the hollow repositories partially filled with balls resting upon a slightly different form of support and in the act of being tipped over by their action upon th inclined walls of the repository. I

Referring to the drawings and the particular embodiment of my invention selected for illustration therein, 1 provide one or more repositories 1, herein four in number, adapted to rest upon a suitable flat support, such as the tray 2, having the upturned edge 3, the said repositories in the position shown in Fig. 1 being adapted to receive one or more balls 4 from the conveying implement 5. The tray may rest upon a table or any other support preferably smooth and flat, thereby permitting the balls to roll freely thereon, or the tray itself may be given a greater area or extent and caused to form such support. In the present instance the repositories are fitted somewhat snugly within the upturned edge 3 of the tray, said edge acting to space and retain the reposito say, the repositories being assembled in this case in a rectangular formation, the tray is rectangular, and the edge thereof conforms to such general formation of the repositories.

The balls 4 may be of any desired material and are preferably sphericalin shape, so that they will roll freely upon any smooth or flat surface with little or no friction and without any fixed positions of rest. They may be made of earthen ware or glass, like the common playing marble, or of polished hollow steel or other material, the latter in many respects being preferable, owing to the fact that they may be shaped into true spherical form with considerable accuracy and permanency and as they insure a quick rebound when dropped upon a hard surface as well as general liveliness in their movements.

While any number of repositories 1 may be employed, in the present instance 1 preferably provide four, each preferably taper shaped, herein frusto conical, the same being shown as arranged or grouped close together on the supporting board, with their small ends uppermost. Each of these repositories as shown comprises a thin shell of cardboard or other suitable material open at its upper and lower ends. The circular opening in the top of each of these shells is a little larger in diameter than that of the ball or sphere 4, so that the latter may be dropped into it, the bases being a little more than twice such diameter, each repository being thus adapted to receive a plurality of the balls as the latter are suc-v cessively deposited therein through the cylinder ball receiving aperture at the upper end.

The conveying implement by which the balls are picked up from the flat supporting table or other surface and conveyed to the apertured end of the repository, comprises a preferably spatulate or fiat shovel shaped head 5, and a preferably inclined handle 6 by which it may be manipulated. The head 5 is preferably provided with a fiat, smooth or polished face 7 upon which a ball is balanced with more or less difiiculty, and conveyed to position over the aperture in one of the repositories, the shovel then being tipped in an attempt to cause the ball balanced thereon to roll towards and fall into the repository. The front endof the shovel, the right Fig: 1, is preferably beveled as at 8, to permit the shovel to be presented to face 7 of the implement and to prevent it from rollingoff, which, as will readily be understood by those skilled in the art, causes the exercise of considerable skill in balancing as well as the exercise of patience and selfcontrol, since the least displacement of the conveying surface of the implement from a horizontal position, permits the ball to roll off, unless it is retained by a reverse or other suitable movement of the implement. Having balanced the ball on the conveyer, the player next attempts to convey it towards the aperture in the top of one of the repositories and then to tilt the supporting face of the implement to cause the ball to roll off into said aperture.

To deposit the ball in the repository, usually requires numerous attempts before a sufiicient balance or control over the ball and implement is acquired and it is still more difficult to convey the ball toward and deposit it in the repository aperture 9. These movements are successfully accomplished only by the exercise of considerable skill or unusual luck and even more is required to guide the ball off the edge of the implement into said aperture. It will be apparent that the repeated tipping movements made in an attempt to maintain the ball in equilibrium upon the supporting face of the implement tend to send the ball off the conveying surface of the implement at a point and in a direction quite unexpected, causing the ball usually to strike either the rim of the aperture and fall off or to strike the inclined face of the repository and roll away instead of entering it as is desired.

The conveying or supporting surface of the implement, as has been stated, is preferably smooth and preferably Without directing means, such as concavities, grooves, depressions, or the like, which might assist the player in directing the ball towards the aperture. It will be furthermore observed thatthe head or upturned end of the ball or repository, namely the cone, presents a ball receiving aperture surrounded only by a narrow rim formed by the thin wall of the cone, so that there are no supporting surfaces presented to the ball, when it is delivered from the implement and along which the ball might be directed into the ball receiving aperture. On the contrary, the ball must be deliberately delivered and directed into said aperture, otherwise it will miss it.

The repositories are so constructed that they afford no means for assisting the player in directing the ball towards and depositing it in one of the repository apertures, so that, the results of his play depends entirely upon his skill in manipulation.

The repositories are preferablydifferently colored, for example, one blue, another green, red, yellow, etc.', so that a repository may be assigned to each player, and such repositories readily identified.

In playing the game, there being, for example, four players and preferably a plurality of balls for each player, each in turn takes the implement and attempts to pick up a ball and convey it, in the manner described, to the aperture in the top of one of the repositories and to cause the ball to fall through said aperture into said repository.

If the repositories rest upon a table or a smooth supporting tray without the retaining edge 3, their propertions are such that a number of balls having accumulated within any one repository, gravity causes the described, the upsetting of a repository by balls to wedge against the inner sides of the repository and finally upset when a sufficient number have accumulated, as indicated by dotted line in Fig. 2. When the game is played with the repositories free to tip over,

the accumulation of balls may be taken as indicating the termination of the game.

When the game is played by a plurality of players, (itch player may and preferably will be provided with a separate conveying implement and the desired number of balls, each of which may be and preferably is given a distinct color to distinguish them from those used by the other players. Upon an unsuccessful attempt to deposit a ball in his selected repository, the player may be penalized and also, when played as in Fig. 2, in each instance in which one or another of the repositories is upset by the impact of the misdirected ball upon the outer surface thereof.

In case a penalizing feature is employed a continuous score may be kept, each player in turn being entitled to a play, and a score for or against each player being carried along until some prescribed limit is reached. Obviously, any other desired rules may he made and employed for utilizing this novel game apparatus, for example, the provision of hollow repositories, each being very light and easily upset, requires a great deal more skill on the part of the player than would be required were said repositories made solid or heavy and provided with a socket or opening to receive the ball, so that, in the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 2, the penalizing of each player may be made proportiomite to the number of repositories improperly upset. In such case the repositories are each of such height as to present its small circular aperture at the top at some distance above the supporting surface.

The implement by which the balls are conveyed to the repositories is also of sufficient width to necessitate considerable care on the part of the player to prevent his tipping the same in proximity to the repositories without displacing or upsetting one or lnore of them, while attempting to cause the ball supported thereon to roll into the aperture in the desired repository.

While I have described my invention with reference to one specific embodiment thereof, obviously my invention is not limited thereto, nor to the specific construction and arrangement of details, the same being capable of modification within wide limits without. departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

Claims.

1. As a new article ofmanufacture, a game apparatus of the type described comprising a repository consisting of a frusto conical hollow shell of relatively light material adapted to be supported upon its base, and to receive a plurality of balls therein through the open upper end, and to be tilted by an accumulation of such balls.

As an article of manufacture, a game apparatus of the type described comprising a plurality of repositories having distinguishing characteristics, each consisting of a frusto conical hollow shell of relatively light material adapted to be supported upon its base and to receive a plurality of balls therein through theopen upper end and to be tilted by an accumulation of such balls.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a game apparatus of the type described, comprising a tray, a plurality of repositories supported upon said tray, each repository consisting of a frusto-eonical hollow shell of relatively light material adapted to be supported upon its base and to receive a plurality of balls therein through the open upper end, and to be tilted by an accumulation of such balls, the tray and the outer periphery of the plurality of repositories being of substantially the same shapes and sizes.

5 4 As an article of manufacture, a game apparatus of the type described having a tray, 2, provided with an upturned edge 3, a plurality of repositories supported upon said tray, each repository consisting of a frnsto-conical hollow shell of relatively light material adapted to be 10 supported upon its base and to receive a plurality of balls therein through the open upper end, and to be tilted by an accumulation of such balls, the upturned edge having the general outline of the plurality of repositories.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. 15

GEORGE S. PARKER.

Witnesses THOMAS B. BOOTH, JosIAH Mmo'r FOWLER.

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