billiards
its history and influence



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history

The origin of the game of billiards is unclear and very mythologized. There are dozens of fables that claim different times, different places and different reasons for the invention of the game, and there simply aren't enough reliable records to determine which comes closest to the truth. But, most likely, billiards grew out of the fifteeth century tradition of lawn bowling games, in which players rolled balls across lawns towards a target. Obstacles and hoops were added to create a game comparable to croquet. When this game was translated to the indoors, it developed sticks with which to drive the balls, a raised table surface covered in green cloth to emulate the color of the lawn, and edges around the table to prevent the balls from dropping to the floor. The hoops disappeared, the targets became a series of pockets lined along the edges of the table, and the object became to use one ball to knock the other, or others, into the pockets. This was the game of billards as it was popularized in the years of the fifteenth century and beyond, primarily in France and England, and all of the innovations that followed after were technological improvements on the accessories and techniques involved.

For example, the cue, which derives from the word queue, meaning "tail", was originally an unwieldy, mace-like instrument sharply pointed on one end and needlessly bulky at the other. Refining it into a slender tool like we know today was due in no small part to a Frenchman named Minguad, a former solider of Napoleon imprisoned in the Bastille. Somehow he managed to have a billiards table put into his cell, and spent most of his time practicing and studying the game. It was his idea to round the formerly sharp tip of the cue, making a wide variety of shots newly possible. Once he was released from prison, he created a stir in Paris with his new skills and tricks.

The enthusiasm for billiards also spread to England, where John Carr advanced the history of the game by innovating one of its most important modern aspects: the commerical one. Carr developed dozens of trick shots and built an impressive reputation on his skill. He claimed that the secret of his success came from a very special kind of chalk he used to tip his cue. In his heartfelt desire to help improve the game of others, he began to sell his precious chalk, with lucrative results. His business took a turn for the worse when a client ran out of "magic" chalk and discovered that ordinary chalk worked just as well - which sent Carr back to relying on his performance value. His tour through Europe displaying his skill in saloons and gambling halls, and collecting wagers from those who foolishly tried to beat him, led him to claim the dubious distinction of becoming one of the first true hustlers.

Billiards became well-known in America only well into the nineteenth century. Its popularity was largely due to Michael Phelan, who wrote books, devised rules, and formed one of the first companies to manufacture equipment for the game, now on its way to being called pool. The new name referred to a collective bet, or ante, that was commonly placed on the games. Annunal tournaments were established, and their participants won incredible fame, including cigarette cards with their names and pictures, and newspaper reports. At some times during the Civil War, pool results garnered more interest than war news. In the first part of the twentieth century, there was the emergence of a number of professional players who created a mystique about their independence and seemingly magical skill, perpetuating the myth of the pool shark that would culminate in films such as 1961's The Hustler. What was once nothing more than a method for fifteenth century Europeans to entertain themselves at parties has developed into a far-reaching enterprise that prompted sociological and technological changes that would possibly not have developed otherwise.

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materials

Balls: The first billiard balls were made of ivory. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the game of billiards had become so popular that thousands of elephants were killed to obtain the much valued ivory from their tusks. In 1866 John Wesley Hyatt accidentally discovered celluloid when he spilled a bottle of collodon in his workshop and found that the material congealed into a tough flexible film. due to the highly brittle nature of the substance, balls would shatter when they hit each other. The solution to this challenge was the addition of camphor -- a derivative of the laurel tree. This addition made celluloid the first thermoplastic: a substance molded under heat and pressure into a shape it retains even after the heat and pressure have been removed. Celluloid went on to be used in the first flexible photographic film for still and motion pictures.

In 1906, Brunswick was still using ivory in the production of billiard balls. Ivory from elephant tusk grows in an annual ring, much like a tree. A blood vessel that goes through the center of the tusk can be seen as a black dot. This dot becomes the center mark of the ball, and is the point where the ball is pinned when being turned. A ball must be turned perfectly in order to roll properly.

Beginning around 1910 and continuing throughout the 1920s, the Empire and Ivorylene pockets balls were two “best sellers” for Brunswick. The numbers in early Ivorylenes were placed in the stripe. Later the numbers would be moved to the field.

Today, Centennial Pocket balls are the standard of excellence in the industry. Made of premium grade phenolic resin, Centennial balls are exactingly ground and polished for absolute true and accurate roll. Distinguished with the celebrated “dart” and sparkling with lustrous colors, Centennial Balls are superior in both playing quality and appearance.

Balls were “torture tested”—a grueling three floor drop test onto a steel plate! By 1934, the “IvoryleneDart” balls appear in catalogs and advertisements. After 1966, there are no more Ivorylenes. In 1967 an ad was run showing the cosmetic evolution of Centennial balls; clear, sparkling colors, a heavily inlaid black ring, heavy numbers (now cast as part of the ball), and heavier, more defined “dart” markings. Also introduced at this time: new boxes—white with blue printing, featuring a Brunswick logo—and the first sets of “Gold Crown®” balls.

Sticks: On the average, a cue for American Pool weighs 19-20 ounces, but there are also cues in weight less than 18 ounces and more than 22 ounces. The qualitative cue consist of two parts fastened by a connecting unit - a joint which one part is screwed in another. The shaft - the top part of the cue, and the thicker and decorated horizontal bar - bottom. There are also special variations of the cue as three parts when the horizontal bar has an additional joint approximately in the middle that enables the player to shorten cue for performance of special impacts. These are shots at which cue is held almost vertically ( jump/break/masse).

The CueSight laser-sighted pool cue is designed as a training aid to help a player improve his or her stroke. A removable laser in the tip of the cue shines a crosshairs straight ahead onto the cue ball. As you stroke, you can see in real-time any inaccuracies in your stroke, allowing you to correct the problem as it is happening.

The ACA (American Cuemakers Association) was formed to advance the art of cuemaking as a unique American art form by establishing and maintaining high standards for American made cues and cue products, to educate the public, promote the collecting of cues, and to cooperate with other organizations engaged in billiard promotions whose objectives are compatible with those of the ACA. While the general idea of a cuemaker's guild has been around for decades, no one did anything about it, other than talk until January of 1992 when Leonard Bludworth assembled eight cuemakers in Columbia, South Carolina for the organizational meeting of what would soon become the American Cuemakers Association. This group of cuemakers realized the importance of communication between cuemakers and the strength that could be gained by acting together.

Most cues are made of woods such as maple although there are some cues made of graphite or carbon. these graphite or carbon cues are looked upon as perversions of the art of cuemaking by master craftsmen and are much less favorable to players.

Tables: Billiard table tops are slate covered with a sheet of felt.

Most of the slates that were manufactured in China. The slate used in billiard tables is mined from a quarry and sent to a factory.

The slate is then inspected by the purchasing department of the factory and only the best pieces are forwarded into production. the slate is then cut to exact requirements by computer controlled cutting discs.

The cut slate is then put into a type of planer that cuts it to a required thickness.

Next the slate is put into a drilling machine with fixed diamond drill bits that can cut 18 rail bolt holes and 6 pockets at one time. It is controlled by a microcomputer processing various specifications of America pattern pool slate and can easily keep the error of holes and pockets within 0.6mm.

After this step, the slate is put into a grinding machine that smoothes the surface and refines the thickness of the slate.

Finally the edges are bevel-edged by hand, packaged and sent to the client.

Chalk: Tito Sañado invented a new kind of cue chalk and branded his product "TiSan," a contraction of his first and last name. He said that players used "TiSan" chalk during a city government-sponsored billiards' tournament here in 2000. TiSan chalk was the exclusive billiard chalk of that event. Sañado said the players commented that TiSan is "very much" at par with the high-quality United States’ "Master" billiard chalks, the leading brand in the country. TiSan's main ingredient is composed of selica quartz, dye stuff and hardener powder which are readily available in the domestic market. The Arizona Department of Health Services has warned that at least two brands of green pool-cue chalk available in Arizona Ä Master and Pioneer Ä have been found to contain dangerously high levels of lead. Although infants and children are at greatest risk, chronic lead exposure can cause swelling of brain tissue, fatigue, headaches, irritability and kidney effects. Large exposures can even result in death. The ADHS, in coordination with Samaritan Regional Poison Center, tested 18 brands of billiard chalk at a laboratory in Golden, Colo. after pool cue chalk was found to have played a role in the lead poisoning of a two-year-old Phoenix boy. Master green chalk, made in Chicago, tested as high as 8,000 parts per million of lead, and Pioneer green chalk, made in Taipei, Taiwan, exceeded 7,000 ppm. By comparison, lead-based paint, which was discontinued for use in housing in 1978, has a standard lead content of 5,000 ppm. Cheryl Carpenter, a certified poison information specialist, said 40 micrograms per deciliter of blood is considered a toxic level of lead for an adult. That is twice the toxic level for children. Carpenter said the danger for adults is not substantial and is not an issue for an adult who plays pool occasionally. "I'd be concerned about (people who manufacture the chalk), or pool hall employees dealing with it constantly," she said. Other brands tested in the Samaritan study were found to contain either no lead or very insignificant traces of lead. Those include Imperial and National Tournament brands of green chalk, Superior, Triangle and National Tournament brands of orange chalk and all brands of blue chalk tested.

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pictures

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links

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sources

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Michael Mitchum and Jennifer Myers
CS 399 Fall Semester
November, 2003
Mount Union College