Mr. Mark Silverton, of East Fife, has invented a wonderful instrument, by means of which any person with a working theory of billiards, though without practical knowledge, may become a crack player, able to rattle up his or her hundred break with the best. At present the instrument can only be used on English tables, but the patentee hopes to make it adaptable to French table within a few months.
By the aid of this machine anyone who understands the half-ball aim and the natural angle may score with the certainty of a John Roberts; and it is not unlikely that the introduction of the "The Billiardplaga" to the billiard world will have a very serious effect on professional players.
In the course of an interesting interview with Mr. Silverton last week, I raised this question of the displacement of labour, but failed to enlist that gentleman's sympathy.
"Machinery always displaces a certain amount of labour for a short period immediately after its introduction," was his dry remark. "Why should professional billiard players escape the penalty of that law any more than miners, for instance? Besides." he added, with grim humour, "let them take situations as markers for my 'Billiardplaga'— until I find time to invent an automatic scoring-board."
The "Billiardplaga," to my non-technical mind, seems a combination of pianola, typewriter, adding-machine, gramophone, and pocket gasworks. It is a conglomeration of levers, keys, wheels, pistons, and cylinders. But though I cannot help being impressed by its remarkable performance at the table, I miss the human personality. The" Billiardplaga "may kill the professional player, but I do not believe it will ever appeal to the spectator like our leading exponents of the game. How can one be enthusiastic over the performance of a machine! After the interest aroused by the first exhibition, one calmly takes every new and wonderful piece of mechanism for granted and thinks no more of the extraordinary brain that dreamed it into life.
The "Billiardplaga" in Mr. Silverton's billiard-room is suspended from a moving crane which travels along two rails slung from the ceiling parallel with the sides of the table and about seven feet from the floor. It occupies the space of a portable typewriter and is worked from the baulk end, where the players are seated during the game. In the bottom cushion-rail is fitted a series of keys marked "halfball," "bottom," "screw," "running-side," etc., through which the movements of the machine are controlled by an action somewhat on the lines of the well-known Bowden brake. The wires pass from the cushion-rail to the floor, under the players' stool, and so up behind to the travelling crane. Nothing impedes the view of the game, and all the fittings are made with an eye to the decorative effect.
As cue-room is not required where this instrument is in use, it is obvious that the billiard-room of the future will tend to become less spacious.
"Before I begin with a demonstration of the powers of the 'Billiardplaga,'" said Mr. Silverton, seating himself at baulk, "perhaps I had better tell you that this little invention of mine is the outcome of a discovery I made some years ago and to which, by the way, I observed in last month's Billiard Monthly one of your fellows has given axiomatic shape. Billiards is an exact science; and, like your confrere. I believe that there is not a stroke upon the table that cannot be executed and controlled by mechanism, and accomplished in this way every time, as he so cleverly puts it. Now, behold!"
The red ball had been placed on the billiard spot, the plain white on the centre, and the spot white was in hand.
Pressing a key the inventor brought his machine down with a slightly whining noise over the D. It hovered over the spot white and dropped from somewhere in its internals a four-pronged clutch which seized the ball and placed it in position for the stroke. This clutch then disappeared whence it came, and the "Billiardplaga" was lowered nearer to the bed of the table until about an inch and a half from the cloth and immediately behind the ball. Here the machine settled for a second, and with piston-like action a six-inch cue shot out from the under part of it and hit the ball, making the losing hazard off the white into the top right pocket.
All this happened while I gaped. The pocketed ball coming back to baulk via the returner, and being put upon the table a g a i n, was grabbed by the "Billiardplaga" as before and placed for the next stroke. This time the instrument made a beautiful gathering cannon, getting into position at the top of the table in two strokes, and with uncanny rapidity ran up a break of 250.
At this point Mr. Silverton stopped and, suggesting that I should "have a go," showed me how to handle the instrument. To play the "Billiardplaga" is as easy and simple as going to sleep; one has only to keep an eye on the balls and press the keys. Although a comparative duffer at billiards, after the first few preliminary fumbling attempts I managed to make a break of 174.
"My own average," said Mr. Silverton, applauding this effort, "taken on the B.C.C. system, is 2,193."
"Your average, did you say?" I was impolite enough to ask.
"Of course. I play with an expert knowledge of the 'Billiardplaga,'" he went on, "and under perfect conditions.
With very fast cushions and a very slow cloth, for instance, it would be impossible to rely on the balls reaching their appointed and expected positions, and this would throw me out. But my own table—(A Burroughes & Watts?) Yes, certainly!—my own table by Burroughes & Watts is ideal in this respect. The pace of the cloth is equal to the strength of the cushions, and the balls are accurately balanced. These conditions provide that unity, as it were, in the table which makes top-notch billiards possible. Even with this invention of mine I frankly admit I could not score so well on an inferior make of table, the various parts of which do not harmonise. But enough of that. I daresay you are anxious to understand how my little machine works?"
"If you think I can, yes. But I have no skill in mechanics. And your invention seems a most complicated arrangement."
"Oh, it's perfectly simple," laughed my host. "To grasp in your mind the whole movement of any piece of machinery, get hold of the primary action and trace it step by step until the total combination is as clear as a well drawn street map. Now then, never mind that guiding rule for the present. This is what will interest you."
And for the rest of the visit I was in a haze of engineering terms transmission of motion, reciprocating action, pivoted slats, and what not. But out of the haze I found my way with a vague idea of how the latest billiard marvel works. The little cue swings by two bars hung on broad pivot bearings. These bars, fixed one at each end of the cue, are so delicately adjusted that there is no difficulty whatever in hitting the ball in any way desired. By an interlocking action of certain levers which work automatically, "screw," "stab," and similar shots are made. The motive power is compressed air, and the various strengths for different strokes are adjusted by a tiny expansion engine which reduces the "atmospheres" to whatever number the player deems suitable for his purpose. The whole machine is kept steady while the stroke is being made by gyrostatic action. The only difficulty Mr. Silverton has to overcome is the question of the lighting of the table. The space taken up by the ordinary pendant being used now by the travelling crane, the lights will have to be fixed elsewhere. The inventor has experimented with an arc lamp fixed to the roof, but this throws a shadow from the moving instrument. Burroughes & Watts' patent "Searchlight" pocket lamps have also been tried, but not with the success desired by the experimenter. He hopes, however, to get over this small obstacle before the season ends.
"By the way, Mr. Silverton," I asked. as I bade him good-bye, "how do you get the masse shot with the 'Billiardplaga'? I don't think you played that to-day."
He smiled. "The masse is used only to get you out of an awkward situation. There are no awkward situations created by the 'Billiardplaga' That is where it beats the professionals hollow. You'll just catch your train if you run."