The Story in a Billiard Table[24]

The origin of billiards is lost in antiquity. Who invented the game and the early processes of its evolution remain mysteries.

The first known reference to the game with any traditional or historical accuracy occurs in Abbe McGeoghegan's "History of Ireland." Cathire More, a sub-king who ruled over Leinster, died A. D. 148. The Abbe, quoting from King Cathire's will, says, "To Drimoth I bequeath fifty billiard b.a.l.l.s of bra.s.s with the cues of the same material."

As early as the fifteenth century we have much evidence of the universality of the game all over southern Europe. It was certainly known in France in the time of Louis IX, who died nine years before Columbus discovered America.

Shakespeare, in Anthony and Cleopatra (Act II, Scene 5), makes the latter say, "Let us to billiards."

Cotton's "Compleat Gamster" published in 1674, refers to billiards as "This most gentle, cleanly and ingenious game." He states that it was first played in France, but later gives Spain as its birthplace.

That the game was well known in England, and in fact in all Europe, is revealed when Cotton says, "For the excellency of the recreation, it is much approved of and played by most nations of Europe, especially England, there being few towns of note therein which hath not a public billiard table; neither are they wanting in many n.o.ble and private families in the country."

Billiards was brought to America by the Spaniards who settled St.

Augustine, Florida, in 1565. While we have no direct evidence, it is very safe to a.s.sume that the English gentlemen, so familiar with the game in the home land, who colonized Virginia in 1609, were not long in introducing it in Jamestown.

There is also every reason to believe that the French colonists in Maryland and Canada let no great time elapse before importing tables and equipment into those colonies.

In the days of Cromwell, billiards had been tabooed by the Puritan, not on moral grounds, but rather political. Billiards was the game of the aristocracy and the Puritan hated not only the aristocrat, but the style and color of his clothes, the cut of his hair, as well as the games he played.

Doubtless this att.i.tude was carried to America by the New England colonists, and only when those colonies had been diluted by the injection of other social groups did Puritan prejudice die and billiards enter into their recreational life.

However, there is no doubt that by the latter part of the seventeenth century the game was universally played in the United States.

From that time to the present the tide of popularity for billiards as the premier indoor game has been steadily rising.

Unlike most things in the affairs of men, billiards has not developed at either end of society, thus working toward the opposite extreme; but it began at both ends and worked towards the middle.

In the early days we witness the strange spectacle of the game being indulged in by the wealthy and leisurely cla.s.s on the one hand, and the idle and vicious on the other. It is easy to understand why. The first group was the logical extension of the old-world aristocracy. The second group lived in an age when the great middle cla.s.s was struggling for a foothold in a new country. Men had very little time and disposition for play, and this, coupled with the remnants of Puritanic influence, left the game in the hands of those who lived by their wits rather than work.

From these two extremes, therefore, the game began to work toward the great middle cla.s.ses. In process of time recreation became a necessity, until today it is considered a duty. Men learned to play and, casting about for a game worthy of them, naturally laid hold of billiards.

Toward this desired result the Y. M. C. A. and church clubs have contributed greatly. They have broken down much of the illogical prejudice against the games, and have shown the public-room keepers that billiards can flourish under good and healthful conditions.

As the game became more universally played, a better cla.s.s of billiard-room keepers entered the commercial field, thus helping to eliminate the incompetent and vicious.

Today the game has practically thrown off the last vestige of disrepute.

In those sporadic instances where such is not the case, it is due to two causes. First, the majority of people in the community have low ideals.

Second, excessive license taxes forces certain room keepers to resort to disreputable means for keeping alive their business.

Nevertheless, billiards today throughout the land is ranked among the highest and cleanest forms of recreation. The exceptions mentioned prove the rule.

Through a long, hard, vigorous opposition the virtues of billiards have a.s.serted themselves. Today the game stands vindicated and triumphant. It is entering thousands of homes, church clubs, industrial welfare, charitable, educational and all other inst.i.tutions. There are more billiard players in the United States than there are baseball players; not mere spectators, but actual players.

One large company alone manufactures 500,000 cues every year, and we must remember that a billiard cue, unlike a baseball bat, can be repaired and lasts for many years. This fact is sufficient to convey an idea of the vast extent to which the game is played.

In the early part of the nineteenth century there were no manufacturers of billiard equipment in the United States.

In 1840 J. M. Brunswick, who operated a small furniture repair shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, conceived the idea of making a pigeonhole table.

Success in this line led him to experiment in the manufacture of billiard tables, practically all of which were then imported. The business flourished. At first only the 6 x 12 English pocket tables were made--later the small French carom tables were built.

The two main objects of billiard construction are to create an accurate medium for play and then to keep the table permanently accurate by making it impervious to atmospheric or climatic conditions.

To accomplish this with wood has taken years of experience and experimentation.

Accuracy is obtained by the employment of specially-trained and long-experienced workmen. One large company now has hundreds of men who have been in its employ for twenty years and many who have served from twenty-five to forty years. These men know their business.

Permanent accuracy is obtained by close adherence to two principles.

First, to give weight to the table. One model, 5 x 10 feet in size, weighs 2,000 pounds. Second, all wood parts are built up with veneer layers; never are they constructed of solid blocks of wood. A billiard table is the last word in the art of cabinet-making.

There are six princ.i.p.al parts to all tables.

_The Legs._--Ma.s.sive as these are, they are built up, not turned from solid blocks. In all legs there are at least three veneers, two on the outside and one on the inside. On the highest-grade tables five veneers are used. Six legs are placed on the best and larger tables and four on the smaller.

_The Frame._--Like the legs, the four parts of the frame, which in every case is a perfect parallelogram, are built up and veneered on both sides. When the frame has been bolted to the legs, stretchers or braces are placed within. Two to four, depending on the size of the table, run lengthwise through the center, and two or three running equidistant, crosswise. The top of the stretcher is flush with the top of the frame, making a perfect level upon which the slate bed is to rest.

_The Slate Bed._--Only the highest-grade Vermont slate is used, and on the best tables of standard size, 4 x 8 feet, 4-1/2 x 9 feet, and 5 x 10 feet, the slabs, of which there are three, are 1-1/2 inches thick. At the factory the slate is cut to size and smoothed top and bottom. The pocket holes are next sawed out. On the center slab two are cut, one in the exact middle of either end. On the two end slabs they are cut on the two outside corners.

The slabs, where they join, are then bored along the edges and bra.s.s dowels are inserted which engage sockets set in the opposite slab. This keeps all slabs level with each other. All around the outside edge they are bored for the insertion of the bolts to fasten the cushion rails to the slate. Screw holes, countersunk, are bored from the top down through the slabs, around the outer edges, through which the slate is screwed to the frame.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUPPLY ROOM AT MUSKEGON

The many triangles will convey an idea of the vastness of the billiard industry.]

When the slate bed is laid, the slabs, doweled as the leaves of an extension dining table, are fitted together and screwed to the frame.

The table is then pushed under a huge grinding machine and the slate surface is made plane, as nearly perfect as human ingenuity can make it.

_The Bed Cloth._--Only the finest grade of imported Belgium broadcloth is used on the best tables. It is colored green, which is restful for the eyes.

The bed cloth is first tacked to the frame beneath the slate at one corner. It is then stretched to its utmost to the opposite diagonal corner. When this is fastened the cloth is tacked around the remainder of the bed; being stretched as tightly as possible in every direction.

The table is now ready for the rails and cushions. Like all other wood parts, the rails are built up and veneered, rather than made of a single block of wood. When the rail has been formed, the ivory diamond-shaped squares and name plate are countersunk into the top. The squares are to enable the player to properly judge the angles of play.

The cushions are fastened to the inside of the rail by means of a specially prepared glue.

Only the best grade of rubber is used for good cushions. The rubber is molded in long strips in some form of isosceles triangle, depending on the style of the game to be played. A highly resilient structure is given the cushion for the pocket table, and one less so for the carom.

The latter is preferred for more accurate angle play, position and nursing. Nursing, means to keep the three b.a.l.l.s as close to one another as possible.

The base of the triangle is grooved for the twofold purpose of making the rubber adhere better to the rail, and to increase resiliency. In fastening the rubber, utmost care must be exercised to have it attached to the rail, so that when the latter is fastened to the bed there shall be uniform height all around the table; otherwise the ball when it strikes the cushion will be deflected from the true course or rebound.

On top of the rail next to the cushion edge a narrow ? is cut the entire length. The cushion forms the other side, making a square groove, thus ?.

The cushion is now ready to be covered with the cloth.