USRE2512E - Improvement in cushions for billiard-tables - Google Patents

Description

process of vulcanization.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

HUGH W. COLLENDER AND MICHAEL PHELAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNEES OF HUGH W. COLLENDER.

IMPROVEMENT IN CUSHIONVS FOR BlLLlARD-TABLES.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,177, dated September 25, 1860; reissue No. 2,512, dated March 19, 1R67.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that HUGH WV. COLLENDER, of the city, county,.and State of New York, in-

vented a certain new and useful improvementA in Combination Cushionsfor Billiard-Tables; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe aceompanyingdrawings making' part of this specification, and which represent a cross-vertical section of the said improved cushion as applied to a billiardtable.

Cushions for'billiard-tables have heretofore been made with the back of what is known as the soft compound of vulcanized india-rubber or allied gum, and with a facing of the same gum or gums, also vulcanized, but rendered harder either by mixing iibrous or equivalent substances with the gum while in the green or plastic state, and then vulcanizing it, or by mixing with the gum a larger proportion of sulphur to make what is known as the hard compound of vulcanized india-rubber, or an approximation thereto, and whether made in the one or the other ot' the above modes, the facing of the more dense substance has been united with the more elastic back while the two compounds are in the green or plastic state, and then, so united, submitted to the The object of so com posing cushions was to overcome a known defect in cushions made wholly of the soft compound of vulcanized india-rubber. The soft compound, from its great elasticity, makes the ball rebound with great activity, but as this substance is very compressible it follows that the ball, in striking, buries a considerable portion of its circumference into the cushion, and, although the ball rebounds accurately after striking the cushion at right angles with its face, such is not the result when the ball approaches the cushion diagonally. The great difference between the angle of reflection and the angle of incidence which was observed in the use of such cushions led to the invention and introduction of what is known as Phelans Combination Cushions, which has contributed so much to the practical accuracy ofbilliardtables for playing the carom game.

modes of construction above indicated, which The twoA are improvements ot' Michael Phelans combination cushion, avoid the defects of the single cushion made of the soft compound of vulcanized india-rubber, for they present a face for the ball to strike -against which yields to the blow with a steel-like spring-viz., by bending instead of permitting the ball to bury a considerable portion of its circumference in the cushion-and, as the back is made of the soft compound, it gives great activity tothe rebound, for at every blow a much greater length of cushion is brought into action by the bending of the hard face than if the whole cushion was made with the soft compound. We have found, however,that, notwithstanding vall the good qualities of cushions so constructed, they are still objectionable because ofthe disagreeable banging sound produced when struck by the ball, and because ofthe rapid wearing away of the cloth along the upper edge, which wearing is due to the hard facing which extends up and forms the upper edge of the cushion immediately under the cloth.

The desideratum was to avoid the defects and retain all the advantages of the above modes of construction; and to this end my said invention consists in tbrming billiard-table cushions of three thicknesses of vulcanized indiarubber or allied gum, the back or body of the soft compound, then a layer or thickness of the harder compound prepared according to either of the modes above described, or by any equivalent preparation, and a thin facing of the soft compound, all united in the green or plastic state and then vulcanized.

We take ablock or strip, a, of the usual soft compound of vulcanizable gum to form the elastic and compressible back. We then prepare a strip, b, of much less thickness, either by increasingthe proportional quantity of sulphur to make what is known as the hard compound, or an approximation thereto, or by mixin g fibrous or equivalent substances with the soft compound, and while in the green or plastic state we cause the two to adhere; and we then apply to the outer face of the layer b a thin strip, c, ofthe soft compound and cause that also to adhere while in the green or plastic state, and then vulcanize the whole and apply it to the table in the usual manner of applying india rubber springs, or in any other suitable manner;

Cushions so constructed will be found superior to all other known kinds, for the face immediately next to the cloth being of the soft compound will not produce the disagreeable sound or bang experienced in the use of cushions with a comparatively hard face; and as this facing is thin, and the comparativelyhard layer or thickness is immediately behind, the ball in striking will not be buried .in the cushion, as it would be if the whole cushion was made of the soft compound, but in yielding to the blow it will bend along a consider-v able portion of its length, as in the case ofthe usual combination cushion, and as this is backed with the soft compound forming the body of thecushion it will have all the activity n fof reaction due to the best-known construction of combination cushion.

In this way we are enabled to retain all the advantages known to be possessed by the combination cushion, while we avoid the defects above pointed out.

What we claim as the invention ofthe said HUGH W. COLLENDER, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv Making cushions for billiard-tables of two thicknesses of what is known as the soft compound of vulcanized india-rubber or allied gum, with au interposed thickness of what is known as the hard compound of vulcanized india-rubber or allied gum, or, as the equivalent thereot', with an interposed thickness of thevsoft compound of vulcanized india-rubber or allied gum rendered hard by the admixture of fibrous or equivalent substance, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

HUGH W. GOLLENDER. MIOHL. EHELAN. Witnesses:

WM. H. BISHOP, A. DELACY.

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