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User:Fuhghettaboutit/History of the billiards cue

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All billiard games are regarded as having evolved into indoor pursuits from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn games (sometimes termed ground billiards),[1] and thus the stick employed in early billiard games, called a mace, mast or masse,[2][note 1] had a form and functionality growing out of those used in the lawn games.[3] The very word "billiard" is thought to have evolved from the French word billart or billette, meaning "stick", (though the term's origin has also been ascribed to the French bille, meaning "ball").[4]

The mace consisted of "a square-fronted box-wood head, attached to a fine ash pole, of some four of five feet in length"[5] or, as described in 1611, "a short and thicke trunchion or cudgell ... wherewith we touch the ball at billyards".[6] The mace head was made to lay flat upon the cloth, while the stick depending from it angled up to rest upon a player's shoulder,[7] from which vantage point it was used to shove rather than strike the cue ball.[4] Use of the mace was difficult when the ball sought to be moved was frozen against a rail cushion because the foot of the mace would not fit under the edge of the cushion to allow a square strike.[4] Thus, by 1670 experienced players often used the tail or butt end of the mace instead.[4] The term "cue" itself comes from queue, the French word for "tail", in reference to this practice.[4] This style of shooting led to the development of separate, footless cue sticks, first seen in the early part of the eighteenth century.[8]

Three gentlemen playing a billiard game with maces, c. 1730

The cue was used initially as an adjunct to the mace. In those early days only skilled players in public billiard rooms were allowed to use cues because the fragile cloth of tables could easily be torn by novices.[4] After a transitional period during which only the better players used cue sticks, by the late 1700s[3] the cue came to be the first choice of equipment[4]—at least for men—while women and children continued to use the mace until well into the 19th century.[5] By about 1860 women were also commonly using cues[9] but the idea that it was unbecoming for a woman to play with a cue persisted well past that time.[10][note 2] Regardless of sex, the mace was all but obsolete by about 1900.[3] The idea of the cue initially was to try to strike the cue ball as centrally as possible to avoid a miscue;[4] that is, to avoid the cue tip glancing or slipping off the cue ball, thus not effectively transferring the intended force, almost always resulting in a bungled shot.[11]

The concept of placing spin on the cue ball (e.g. by striking near the bottom of the cue ball to make it go backwards upon contact with an object ball) was discovered before the cue tip was invented.[4] Cues initially had a flat-fronted end, which made slippage without a central hit inescapable.[8] The first departure from a flat pointed cue was a beveled tip[8] which allowed it to lay flush with the cloth.[12] Such tips, called 'Jefferys,' were filed to increase friction and enable the wielder to impart a small degree of backspin to the cue ball by a below center hit.[12]

Man playing billiards with a cue and a woman with a mace, from an illustration appearing in Michael Phelan's 1859 book, The Game of Billiards.

In or about 1790 a new practice of rounding off the entire tip further decreased slippage.[8] Some publications credit Mingaud with not just the invention of the leather cue tip but with the practice of rounding off a cue's terminus,[13][14] while other publications ascribe the practice to no particular author.[8][3] Regardless, application of spin remained a hit or miss affair, with no fine control yet possible,[8] and miscues still "unavoidable where hard wood came in contact with slippery ivory."[5] Application of sidespin or "twist" (sometimes called "English", especially in North America) was at the time an unknown artform.[15]

It is into this picture that the leather cue tip came, allowing the cue ball to be sharply and precisely struck below, above and to either side of its center point without a miscue[8] (ultimately made even more reliable upon the common use of chalk to increase friction),[16][note 3] thereby imparting controlled degrees of spin to it such that it might, upon contacting an object ball, stop or reverse direction upon the hit by the application of backspin;[17] race forward chasing the struck ball by application of topspin;[17] take widened or shortened angles off rails or throw a struck ball off the natural path it would otherwise take via sidespin;[18] curve in its flight using the semi-massé;[19] and even describe magnificent arcs like a boomerang, traveling away from the striking cue tip, pausing in its path, hesitating, and returning to the sender without ever touching another ball or rail using a full massé stroke.[20] Before the advent of leather cue tip with its ability to grip the surface of the cue ball and apply controlled applications of spin, "let any billiard player imagine what the game was without [that ability]; the dark ages of billiards indeed must those benighted times have been."[9]

Notes edit

  1. ^
    The English use of the word masse was borrowed from the same French word applied to the implement, which is antiquated French for "hammer"; mace is an English cognate of masse.[3]
  2. ^
    The following excerpt from the 1870 treatise Popular Amusements sums up the attitude: "One writer confesses that the cue is the thing, and the only thing, for the expert to use; but advises ladies to be content with the mace, "since to execute finely with the cue sometimes requires the assumption of attitudes which are not becoming female attire, or to the modesty of the sex." Just so. By all means, let the ladies, however ambitious, stick to the mace, even if it is "considered merely as the implement for novices." Perhaps we ought to condole with the ladies on the distressing dilemma in which this places them. The mace confesses awkwardness; the cue is forbidden. They are doomed to remain forever novices in the high art, or sacrifice delicacy to ambition."[10]
  3. ^
    Chalk was in use as an abrasive applied to the end of a cue stick to increase friction prior to the credited date of invention of the leather cue tip in 1807, a reference to its use appearing in the 1806 Bath, England publication, Philosophical Essay on the Game of Billiards.[3] In early days, the substance used was generally actual chalk, i.e., a substance composed predominantly of calcium carbonate, though it is reported that players sometimes resorted to twisting their cue sticks into plaster ceilings for the same purpose.[3] Players experimented with other powdery, abrasive substances, possibly because true chalk had a deleterious effect on the game equipment,[3] not only discoloring the billiard cloth but allegedly actually causing damage to the fabric.[21] Modern cue "chalk" was co-invented by pro player William A. Spinks and engineer William Hoskins, who patented their invention in 1897.[22][23] Though the form of chalk in general use today varies little from the compound patented by Spinks and Hoskins, despite retaining the name, the substance is not technically chalk at all, but is composed chiefly of silica and aluminum oxide and is sold in compressed, dyed (most commonly blue) cubes wrapped on five sides with a paper label.[3][24]

References edit

  1. ^ Stein, Victor (1996). The Billiard Encyclopedia: An Illustrated History of the Sport (2nd ed.). Blue Book Publications, June 1996. p. 475. ISBN 1-886768-06-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Charles Dickens (April 13, 1889). "Billiards". All the Year Round. 64. London: Charles Dickens and Evans, Crystal Palace Press: 351. OCLC 1479125. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shamos, Michael Ian (1993). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York: Lyons & Burford. pp. 44–45, 67, 142–3, 149, 249 & 307. ISBN 1-55821-219-1.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Everton, Clive (1986). The History of Snooker and Billiards. Haywards Heath, UK: Partridge Pr. pp. 8–11. ISBN 1-8522-5013-5.
  5. ^ a b c Phelan, Michael (1858). The game of billiards (11th ed.). New York: H.W. Collender. pp. 31–32, 44. OCLC 38536192.
  6. ^ Strutt, Joseph (1801). John Charles Cox (ed.). The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England From the Earliest Period. London: Methuen & Co. p. 239. OCLC 1580471. Retrieved August 25, 2009.
  7. ^ Bohn, Henry George (1867). The Hand-Book of Games. London: Bell & Daldy. p. 513. OCLC 12879714. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Johnson, Alvin A. (1893). Robert Lilley (ed.). Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia: A New Edition. Vol. 1. New York: A. J. Johnson Co. OCLC 68137336.
  9. ^ a b Littell, Eliakim (1869). "Billiards". Littell's Living Age. 100. Boston: T. H. Carter & Co: 126. OCLC 19301821. Retrieved August 26, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b Crane, J. T. (1870). Popular Amusements. New York: Carlton and Lanahan. p. 116. ISBN 9781425517359. OCLC 2557436. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
  11. ^ BCA Rules Committee (November 1992). Billiards - the Official Rules and Record Book. Iowa City, Iowa: Billiard Congress of America. p. 32. ISBN 1-87849-302-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  12. ^ a b Straw Hat (1901). "Fores's Sporting Notes & Sketches". 18. London: Messrs. Fores, Piccadilly: 56. OCLC 1569744. Retrieved August 24, 2009. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ Brasch, Rudolph (1970). How did sports begin?: A look at the origins of man at play. McKay. p. 50. OCLC 258011049.
  14. ^ Menke, Frank Grant (1963). The encyclopedia of sports (3rd ed.). Barnes. p. 191. OCLC 490548.
  15. ^ H. B. (1869). "Billiards". The Gentleman's Magazine, Part 2. London: F. Jefferies: 227. OCLC 145145879. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  16. ^ Hoppe, Willie (1941). Byron Schoeman (ed.). Billiards as it Should be Played (1st ed.). Chicago: H. Regnery. p. 4. OCLC 16720473.
  17. ^ a b Kumar, Ashok (1999). Dph Sports Series Snooker and Billiards. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House. pp. 125–6. ISBN 81-7141-475-3.
  18. ^ Lee, Jeanette (2000). The Black Widow's guide to killer pool: become the player to beat (Illustrated, 1st ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. pp. 77–78, 80. ISBN 978-0-609-80506-0. Retrieved August 30, 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Martin, Ray (1993). The 99 Critical Shots in Pool: Everything You Need to Know, to Learn, and Master the Game (Illustrated ed.). New York: Times Books. pp. 120–1. ISBN 978-0-8129-2241-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Byrne, Robert (1982). Byrne's Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards (Illustrated, 1st ed.). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-15-614973-0.
  21. ^ Stein, Victor; Rubino, Paul (2008) [1994]. The Billiard Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). New York: Balkline Press. pp. p. 249. ISBN 9780615170923. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  22. ^ Clark, Neil M. (May 1927). "The World's Most Tragic Man Is the One Who Never Starts". The American.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  23. ^ U.S. patent 0,578,514, March 9, 1897
  24. ^ Associated Press (January 16, 1933). "Billiard Cue Chalk Inventor Dead". San Antonio Express. p. 9. Accessed through Ancestry.com database, September 13, 2009.
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