US2451770A - Game of the ball and mallet type - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 19, 1948. N. M. PARKE 2,451,770

GAME OF THE BALL AND MALLET TYPE Filed Feb. 18, 1946 NORMAN M. PA RKE Patented Oct. 19, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,451,770

GAME OF THE BALL AND MALLET TYPE Norman M. Parke, Jacksonville, Fla. Application February 18, 1946, Serial No. 648,271

' 2 Claims. (01. 273-427) This invention relates to games, and more particularly to a game adapted to be played indoors on a rug, or outdoors on a lawn.

An object of the invention'is to provide a game combining in a, novel form, features of croquet, in a novel setting increasing the opportunities of the player to exercise skill and judgment.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved game apparatus adapted to facilitate the playing of the game.

The invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combinations of parts hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

One sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof in which like referenc characters indicate like parts throughout.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the arrangement of the game apparatus at the commencement of the game.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical cross section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the details of construction of a. ball trap.

Fig. 3 is a perspective View illustrating the plurality of ball traps arranged in nested position when not in use.

In accordance with the present invention, the apparatus used comprises twelve consecutively numbered balls 8 of uniform size, twelve consecutively numbered ball traps, and a mallet for knocking the balls.

In playing the game, the ball traps are arranged in a circle conforming with the positions of the hour marks on a clock and at the commencement of the game, the balls are arranged in perpendicular lines extending from the center toward selected ball traps. As herein illustrated, the balls in Fig. 1 are arranged in lines extending from the center toward the ball traps positioned to correspond with the clock marks 6 and 9 with five balls in each line additional to the center ball and the twelfth ball positioned adjacent the trap located to correspond with hour mark 2. Briefly, ball number 1 will be the initially played ball located adjacent the circumference and the central ball will be number 2 with the other balls arranged alternately and progressively from the center toward the circumference as illustrated.

To start the play, the first player will strike ball number 1, aiming at the formation of balls with a view to breaking that formation. Thereafter he will be at liberty to choose any ball in the field and endeavor to drive that ball into any one of the ball traps. If the player scores he will be entitled to another turn and continues to play until he fails to score or play a ball within a trap. Then the next player takes over, selecting any ball in the field and plays until he fails to score. The balls will be left in the ball traps after scoring and the game ends when all the ball traps are filled.

The preferred scoring for the game would credit each player on each scoring with the sum of the points indicated by the number of the ball and the number of the ball trap into which he succeeds in driving it. Thus, if ball number 6 is driven into ball trap number 9, the player would be credited fifteen points. If ball number 12 is hit out-of-bounds by the same player, his score would be reduced by the twelve-point value of that ball. Balls knocked outside of the circular clock arrangement are to be considered out-ofbounds and the player penalized by the number of points marked on the ball and the ball is returned to the center of the clock dial for further playing.

The improved ball traps herein illustrated comprise spaced parallel side walls 2-2 connected at one end with an end wall 3 and by a bottom which is constituted by a middle transverse vertical wall portion 6, the upper surface of the bottom being inclined from the top of the vertical wall portion 6 toward the front or open end of the trap while the rear portion of the bottom extends from the middle vertical wall portion 6 to the closed end wall 3 constituting a dwell 1 adapted to retain positively any ball driven into the trap beyond the vertical wall drop 6. Preferably, the ball traps will be made of slightly varying sizes to permit their nesting when not in use and this feature can be utilized in the game by making the traps having the lower values the wider, while the traps having the higher values are progressively narrower. The dwell l is of such size relative to the size of the balls that only one ball can be contained in each dwell, the entry of a ball into an occupied dwell being blocked by the presence of the occupied ball.

The balls in playing can be set up initially in different parts of the clock arrangement but the perpendicular arrangement of the balls at the outset and the feature of breaking the balls is recommended as adding materially to the attractiveness of the game.

Various modifications will also suggest themselves in connection with the construction of the ball traps but all within the scope of the present invention as claimed.

side Walls and end wall a dwell for a ball, the

diameter of the balls relative to the length and width dimensions of the dwells being such that a dwell can be occupied by only one ball at one time. r

'2. Clock game comprising twelve balls of uniform size, an equal number of open mouthed ball traps into which said balls are to be projected,

each ball trap comprising spaced parallel side.

walls and an end wall connecting the side walls, a bottom formed with a medial transverse drop, that portion forward of the drop being inclined upwardly from the open mouth, and that. portion between the drop and end wall constituting a.

dwell for a ball the length and width dimensions of the dwell with respect to the diameter of a. ball being such that said dwell can be occupied by only one ball at one time, said ball traps being arranged at equal intervals about the circumference of a circle with their open mouths facing the center.

NORMAN M. PARKE.

' 1 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fiIe of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 74,022 Wheat Feb. 4, 1868 82,370 Wilson Sept. 22, 1868 V 3313-56 Baker Dec. 8, 1885 718,924 Foulis Jan. 20, 1903 722,603. Morgan v Mar. 10., 1903 814= ,46.3, .Linderman Mar. 1, 1,906 1,118,727 Bibeault Nov. 24, 1914 1,3,70,1'71. Velasco. Mar. 1', 1921 1,428,483 Meuris'se Dec. 5, 1923

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