Aids to Practical Billiard Science

A recently-published patent by Col. C. M. Western, by way of addition to the parent specification of 1910, relates to devices for indicating or determining the path of the cue ball after it has made contact with the object ball. Fig. 1 in the accompanying diagram shows a half-ball guide consisting of a plate a having a slot b and two straight edges c, d. In use, the slotted portion b is pushed under the object ball until the ball is in the position shown in dotted lines, and the plate a is turned until the edge c points to the cue ball. The edge d then indicates the direction of the cue ball after contact with the object ball. Pins may be placed in holes e to assist the player in guiding his eye along the lines c, d. The device shown in Fig. 2 is used to indicate whether the player's aim has been accurate, or by what amount it has departed from accuracy. It consists of an arch x adapted to stand on the table, and is provided with two sets of holes y, 2, from which freely-swinging pins are suspended.

Other holes, numbered as shown, for the insertion of pins are formed in a central bar 2, and in curved bars 3, 4, which project from the top portion of the arch. The pins are displaced by the ball and their movement indicates its line of travel.