Patent Research

[sweetmeats]

I can now add the English patent numbers for the Twister: 20115 (1890), Gripper (1890), Cricketer: 14484 (1899) and to complete the cast iron machines, Two Player Footballer: 9731 (1896), Yacht Racer Mermaid: 19812 (1900) , Six Man Footballer: 2862 (1903). I suspect the Golfer is a variation of this patent. Also, the Doughy and Barrett race game: 1322 (1896). My Twister is 20660 and is dated 18/12/1890, so nine days newer than the Barrett which is 9/12/1890. After a little time and a few dead ends I have found the patent for the Shooter. It is patented to a Mr Cummings: 18830 in November 1890.

[pennymachines]

Great work Sweetmeats.

The British format for these early patents is GB+YEAR+FIVE DIGIT PATENT NUMBER, so the Twister should be GB189020115. Unfortunately it's not currently in the Espacenet database (or any other online resource). The US patent US453729 is there, but it's a year later and there is reference to three Canadian coin-freed dynamometer patents by Charles Arthur Barrett: CA41083, CA39419 and CA39418, all dated 1892.

The Cricketer is GB189914484 (already listed in Archive/Patents). For the Two Man Footballer, you have to prefix a zero to the patent number to get five digits: GB189609731 (already listed). The Yatch Racer is GB190019812 (already listed). The Six Man Footballer comes out as GB190302862 and the Doughty & Barrett Racer is GB189601322 (already listed).

Gamewat has fed me a bunch of new patents he's found which I'll post here for now, before putting them in the Archive:

Bowler rifle game: GB363373 1931

Gold changer: US 428514

Everett automatic vending: US 374297 1887

This is an interesting one to add payout to Mills punch bags by Sweetmeat Automatic: US 900126 1908

Another classic: US 621440 1899

And the Double Myers Racer: US 2148828 1936

Scottish target shooter patent (already listed but no link): US 1456191 1923

[gameswat]

Thanks Sweetmeats, here is the US patent for the Barrett Pistol: US 469127
Now I can retire!

[pennymachines]

Brilliant!
But before you settle into your well-earned retirement, how about this one?

My Twister is 20660 and is dated 18/12/1890

And here's some random stuff I found:

GB307095 1929, Greyhound Racing Track, Alfred Leonard Walton

GB173135 1929, Punch Ball improvements, Charles Ahrens

GB323775 1930, Ball game with figures, Avigdor Finkelstein

GB358602 1931, Target game, W A McCurd

GB364632 1932, Miniature Golf, Arthur Egerton Brookes

GB391169 1933, Improvements in 'fruit machines' etc., Gordon Smith

GB413893 1934, Coin-freed billiards, Nicolas Godestar

GB407076 1934, Spinning aeroplane game, William Ebenezer Sparks

GB431643 1935, Striker, Frank James Ralph

GB424023 1935, Coin rolling skill game, Highwebb Company Ltd.

GB425625 1935, Ball rolling game, Mary Christina Myler

GB425237 1935, Coin-freed billiards, Joseph Frederick Horton & Charles Thomas Davis

GB443174 1936, Aerial bomber, Brecknell Munro & Rogers

GB474440 1937, Betting game (French), Marcel Adrien Deborne

[gameswat]

It would help if Sweetmeats tells us the name of the patentee, otherwise I could be quite some time at the computer....

[pennymachines]

Just spoken to him and he's sending details anon.

[gameswat]

PM, cool, that biplane bombing game is amazing! That machine would be a killer find and with such detailed drawings looks likely it did actually exist.

One of the interesting facts of this research is that quite often the Patent was just a sketchy idea existing only on paper when first Registered, to help obtain investors for actual production I imagine. So sometimes the Patent doesn't really match up well with the surviving machinery because when it came to prototypes they quickly found that things didn't work the way they originally planned them! But thankfully more often than not the companies waited until they had a workable machine before investing in the Patents. But no matter what, any Patents and Registered design info you can find for a machine is a wealth of important and factual information.

[sweetmeats]

Post copied from Barrett Test Your Twist Site Admin.

Here is a picture of my twister and the English patent also added (see below). You can see the original idea was to incorporate an advert and give a cigar for maximum twist.

[bob]

Post copied from British/Australian Rifle Ranges Site Admin.

The Electric Pistol that I had is as Rory says a version of the Electric Rifle/Pistol patent machine that was modified to show the result on a target mounted on the machine rather than the target mounted some distance away. This eliminated the need for expensive to replace multi stranded cables that were very vulnerable, a fault perpetuated years later by the Seeburg rifle machines. However the original patent is Thomas Linforth Jones British patent no 7733 of 11th May 1905 not 1901.

[gameswat]

Post copied from British/Australian Rifle Ranges Site Admin.

Here is the link to partial patent for the 1905 Auto-Electric Rifle: GB190507733

And full patent attached.