BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 7, 17 August 1910, Page 9

BILLIARDS.

The Billiard Table. ITS MANY l-Et riAAIUTIES AXD VARIETIES.

db

H. W. STEVENSON.)

One would think, to look at il, what a truly remarkable creation i.-> represented by the 12ft. x lift. Bin. billiard table. Th® beas moments are so beau tif u Illy* exact, that there “corresponding angles ” to be found at every part of it The formation is really two squares, ea-.h of six square feet, placed side Ly side, whereon the ball makes right-angled movements according to the direction it is played from. These angles are most truly set in every particular, so long as the ball rolls correctly ami without any side-spins. Wherever and whichever way they travel, the cushion throws them oil at something like a reflection of the angle to which they have been attacked. The ball runs on a square tack all the time; but these movements may be broadened or flattened at the will of the skilful player by the use of “ side," fast or slow speeds, “screw” and “top.’’ The one reliable quality which the steadfast billiard table treats as a wholly uniform quantity is the cenlr.il plain ball stroke. There are many varieties of billiardtables, ranging from the ideal and select match-table to the humble everyday affair so frequently to be found in public saloons. The most notable fact concerning the whole of them is that no two arc alike. Billiard tables are like men, who all look alike yet differ in some important particulars. Just as good breeding and careful training reveal their signs on

mankind, no are quality of materia! and the best uf workmanship clearly to be noticed in the billiard table. But a table ma mi tact tired by the very same set ut inen and of precisely the same articles as another will not be the same in effect, much as it looks to be so. There will be a matmial difference in some particular or another, and notably in respect to the angles that the cushions throw. Local conditions nave much to do with this, a damp room or district showing a table off perceptibly, whereas a keen atmosphere and generally dry environment, as>i*ted. of course, by proper attention, give it the tip-top limit of speed. The billiard cloth is such a sensitive thing that there is no finer or more acurate foreteller of a change in the weather, hours ahead of the time, that this actually comes to pass. It is, indeed, as receptive as the turf of the fields, and it shows the prevailing conditions as clearly. The master mind that devised the orthodox oblong shape of the billiardtable looked deeply into the possibilities it provides. Set with three balls of the proper dimensions - which is somewhere between the 2 1 16th and 2 3 32nd inch diameter there is no 'movement, however fantastical and apparently impossible, but can be accomplished with them. In short, there is no impossible proposition to be set upon the billiard-table. There i«s a finding line of some definite kind to the most seemingly inaccessible pocket or ball, whether this be gained by a curly and circuitous masse or a jump over stroke, which stand for the highest Hights of playing skill. The more one makes a ntudy of this green plane, and its bordering cushion lines, the greater scope and unbounded nature of its possibilities rise up before the thinking mind. But the factor in all the anglerebounds are the cushions. They turn the balls about, give them fresh direction, and accelerate or retard speed, according to the way they are .struck. All the peculiar qualities of a table are represented by their influence over the balls. One may quickly appreciate the pace of the cloth. But the cushion fis another matter. There arc many types of cushions, and all agree to differ income essential or another. Some will deal with a ball as it should be dealt with, namely, throw it off at a reflection of the angle from which it has come, but only from one speed. Medium pace is the best to obtain a proper angle throw-oil with, just as this strength of stroke is easiest and safest to administer for cannon and hazard play. Running slowly, a ball will travel further forward, as it is not powerful enough to make a true rebound. On the other hand, the very fast ball comes of! the cushion much straighter than any other at a given angle. The reason for this ir> its getting momentarily embedded in the rubber of the cushion, which pinches it, and causes an eccentric throw-off*. }>ome cushions exaggerate these differences in the angles more than others. The effect upon a very fast ball in many eases is nothing .short of extraordinary. It i«s the brisk, lively cushions which do their work best and send the balls off in the truest angle-lines. ‘•Side” is such a variable quantity and tolls so much more at slow speed, that it cannot fairly enter into the discussion. Jsiitlice it to say that a good judge of pace can effect many of the results peculiar to “side” by judgment of pace alone. One may well describe* the pockets as forming part of the cushion rails. They are so placed at the midway and corner points as to come in line with every .main natural angle that the table can throw. If there are many varieties of cushions, these do not outnumber the difl ering classes of pocket open ings. There are pockets which draw the ball towards them along what are known ns “trainway lines,” pockets which have the shoulders cut away, pockets of a halt-ami halt description, and pockets of what -hould be a rigid standard pattern. Curious to rela t e, even the supposedly rigid “standards” are by no means of a uniform kind, although they are made to lit the measurement templates issued by the governing bodies of billiards. The fact of the matter is, different types of cushions, the amount of rubber contained inside the jaws of the pocket, and the height which the point of the cushion has. all tend to a disparity in the recepti venose of the pocket. This is not taking into account the actual quality of the cushion, another detail that en luuice- the difficulties or eastw the cn-

trance to the pocket. Yet all the “standards” are 3 5-8 inches wide at the fall of the slate.

Quite the most leading feature of the billiard table is, however, its likeness to a down-hill and an up-hill movement, according to the end-to-end running of the balls. It is a far easier task for a ■ball moving on a good billiard doth to reach the top-cushion when played from the baulk end, than to run in the reverse direction, that is, from the top to the bottom cushions. On a worn out thin cloth the difference is not perceptible. But running on a cloth of good texture, any slowly played ball will clearly reveal what influence the nap of the

force of the nap is met with. Across the grain of the doth there is no counteracting influence, but the ball has to travel at a perfectly straight line drawn from side cushion to side cushion to bring this about. The slightest deviation one way or the other brings it in working with the strands of the cloth in a manner resembling the teeth of a cog-wheel coming in mesh. This is the friction which, in course of time, helps to destroy the momentum of the ball. But a greater factor in a fast stroke is the change of motion that it has to make each time it meets an end cushion, where every contact robs it of some degree of force.

The lighting of a table is a matter of no small consequence. An unequal or weak circle of illumination, giving black and dull patches around pockets and cushions, is a great drawback to good billiards. As bad as anything, however, are the open kind of shades set around the lights. When these let the glare of the gas or electric light come full into the player’s eyes he cannot possibly play his proper game. The great idea in lighting is to arrange the shades so that they throw the light out well to the ends of the cushion-wood work and pocket plates, while retaining the illumin ant within the screen. A nice diffused light reflected down from the interior is the thing required.