From the “stone age” onward the probabilities are that man has always
had some kind of bowling game.
Bowling, as we know today, is an indoor adaptation of, and an
improvement upon, the old Dutch game of “nine-pins.” This game was
brought from Holland by those colonists who settled Manhattan Island in
1623.
Washington Irving, in his story, “Rip Van Winkle,” refers to the old
Dutch fairy tale, that the rolling thunder on the mountain tops of the
Catskill was the noise made by the rolling balls as the elfs and gnomes
engaged in their favorite pastimes of bowling.
That little section of New York City known as Bowling Green is the
original spot which, in 1732, Peter Bayard, Peter Jay and John Chambers
leased for eleven years and enclosed for a bowling green.
With the influx of German immigrants, who brought with them a game
similar to the Dutch game, additional popularity was given to the sport.
[Illustration: LOOP THE LOOP RETURN]
The game was originally played on the bare ground. The Germans used a
board about a foot wide on which to roll the ball, and then improved on
this by using cohesive mineral substances solidly packed together. At an
early date, the Dutch had covered the alley with a roof, and later
enclosed it in a rough shed, to protect it and make play possible in any
kind of weather. But, great as these improvements were over the
crudeness of previous centuries, they are not worthy of comparison with
a modern bowling academy.
In the best hard-wood section of the United States, one of the large
bowling equipment manufacturers owns about thirty thousand acres of
maple. From this raw material is gathered the chief stock that goes into
bowling alleys and the pins.
The company has its own logging crews that cut the timber and pile it on
flat cars, whence it is transported over a private railroad until it
arrives at the company sawmills. Here the raw material enters upon the
manufacturing process.
The rough stock-strips for the alley “bed,” “leveling strips,” “return
chute,” “post” and “kick-backs” are sawed out of certain of the logs.
They are then shipped to a factory where they are seasoned, being kiln
dried. The stock is next cut to the required sizes.
The bed stock is cut into strips, planed on all sides, and tongued and
grooved on the widest sides. When finished, the strips measure 3 x 1
inch. Part of the bed stock, however, is hard pine, shipped from the
Southern states in the rough boards. This is finished similar to the
maple strips.
The “kick-backs” are the two partitions, shaped somewhat like a ship’s
rudder, which form the two pit sides. Each consists of two facings of
the best maple with a core of hard but resilient wood in the middle.
They are built in this way to make the pins that fly side-wise spring
back on the bed and knock down other standing pins, and also to
withstand the exceedingly rough usage to which they are subject by the
flying pins and rolling balls.
The cushion forms the rear end of the pit. The frame is stoutly
constructed, and the face thickly upholstered with scrap leather and a
heavy but pliable covering. It swings on hinges which suspend it from
the cross bar, running from each of the kick-backs across the pit end at
the top. The cushion diminishes the force of the rolling balls and
flying pins, permitting them to fall gently into the pit.
The “gutters” are the concave boards that extend the complete length of
the alley, from the foul line to the pit, on both sides of the bed. The
purpose is to take care of the misdirected balls that roll off the bed
before reaching the pit.
The “return chute,” or “loop-the-loop return,” is the railway along
which the balls travel in their return from the pit to the bowler. It is
usually placed on the right-hand side of the alley, or between a pair of
alleys.
At the pit end, the chute is solidly constructed with a concave flanged
surface placed on the top of the kick-back. It conforms to the downward
curve of the latter, but the rail work begins at the top of the incline
and extends back to the newel post at the bowler’s end of the alley. The
flanges easily accommodate the balls when placed on the chute by the pin
boy.
The newel post is not made of a solid block, but is built up, being
veneered on the inside, as well as on the outside, to make it impervious
to atmospheric changes. The top contains a sponge cup to moisten the
fingers of the bowler.
[Illustration: CROSS-SECTION OF BOWLING BED SHOWING STEEL CLAMP]
The rails form a semicircle at the post, with the ends of the arc
pointing down the alley. A tightly stretched leather strap extends
horizontally from the upper end of the arc back to the post, where it is
fastened with a swivel screw. Half way up, from the points of the arc, a
second rail, _i. e._, the “receiver,” is built, with sufficient space
between it and the strap to allow the passage of the largest size ball.
With the momentum gained by rolling down the incline of the kick-back,
the ball rolls back on the inside of the curve until it strikes the
strap, where its course is stopped, and it drops on the receiver, ready
again for use by the bowler.
In beginning the construction of an alley, the mechanic lays the
leveling strips on which the bed is to rest. These are set at right
angles to the direction in which the bed is to lie, and must be
spirit-leveled for accuracy, and firmly fastened to the foundation. A
strip of cork carpet is then laid the full width of the alley and
extending the entire length of the bed. This is to reduce to a minimum
the sound of the balls dropping on and rolling down the bed.
On the leveling strips at the extreme side of where the bed is to lie, a
3 x 1-inch maple strip is laid, widest side downward, with its finished
one-inch edge nearest to the gutter. One end of this strip marks the
extreme end of the approach. The other end of the strip is continued by
adding other strips the full length of the bed. When these have been
carefully squared to the exact direction the alley is to run, they are
fastened to the leveling strips.
The next strip, also of maple, is tongued into the lower one, but its
continuous length extends only about five feet beyond the foul line, or
about eighteen feet from the approach end.
A bowling bed cannot be laid as an ordinary floor. It is built upon its
side and when finished resembles a wooden wall about seventy-five feet
long four inches high and three inches wide.
The approach end of the bed, approximately eighteen feet long, is
constructed of maple, with each alternate strip of the 3 x 1-inch bed
stock about eighteen inches shorter. The pit end of the bed is similarly
constructed for a distance of about six feet. The space between is
filled in with the pine strips of the same dimensions, and the alternate
long and short strips at the inner ends of the approach and pit ends
form mortices into which the pine dovetails.
[Illustration: PIT END SECTION OF BOWLING ALLEYS]
The wear on the bed occurs where the bowler walks and drops the ball and
where the ball strikes the pins; hence the hard maple. The interior is
filled with pine, which is softer, because it retains a higher polish
and prevents the rolling ball from bumping; thus throwing it from its
proper course.
The bed is thus built up for its continuous length, strip by strip, the
tongue of one strip fitting into the groove of the other, and both
nailed firmly together, until the proper width (while being built, the
height) is attained. When the bed is finished, the strips are clamped
with steel clamps, the turned-up ends of which firmly grip the sides of
the bed, thus preventing warping or spreading. While the bed is still in
this upright position, a one-inch slot is cut across where the foul line
is to rest, and holes are bored through the bed. A black composition
strip, _i. e._, the “foul-line,” is inserted in the slot and bolted
through the holes to the bottom of the bed.
At the pit end, circular slots are cut and holes bored for the purpose
of countersinking and fastening the “pin spots.” The latter are of the
same substance as the foul-line and all are sunk flush with the surface
of the bed.
This--clamping and fastening--explains the necessity for building the
bed on its side.
It is now ready to be placed into position. It is merely toppled over,
face side upward, clamped side underneath. So exact has it been built,
according to specifications and alignment, and the mass is so heavy,
that the dead weight makes it lie where it falls and only the slightest
adjustment is necessary.
The height of the leveling strips, plus the height of the bed, lift its
surface about six inches from the foundation floor. At the pins end of
the bed, this forms one of the sides and the bottom of the pit. The
bottom is floored with maple and covered with a specially prepared pit
mat, durable, yet soft, so as not to damage the balls and pins falling
upon it. The back and sides of the pit are formed by the kick-backs,
braces and cushion.
After the kick-backs are placed in position, the gutters are laid, and
then the return chute railway is laid, between and slightly above them.
At the approach end of the bed the newel post is firmly fastened to the
foundation, and the floor that is laid above the latter and flush with
the surface of the bed serves to brace the post, making it immovable.
The curved end of the chute and the receiver are then added.
The bed is then planed its entire length, sandpapered, shellaced and
polished. The remainder of the woodwork is finished in its natural color
except the gutters, which are stained mahogany and shellaced. They are
thus stained, not only for artistic effect, but to clearly define the
outer edges of the bed--a matter of great importance to the bowler when
trying to knock down the two outer pins in the third row.
In making the pins, the best selected logs are sawed into blocks about 2
x 1 feet. These are placed in a lathe and gouged out, forming the pin in
the rough. They are next turned down to size and selected for quality
and weight, after which they are kiln dried and receive a final turning
to perfect their formation, then smoothed and finished.
[Illustration: BACKUS AUTOMATIC PIN SETTERS]
The Backus pin-setter is almost human in its operation. The old way was
to hire boys to set up the pins on the spots and return the ball via the
return chute. The pin-setter relieves the boy of the major and most
time-consuming part of this work. A frame holding the machine is set up
over the spots. It is placed so high that it does not interfere with
either the flying pins or the rolling balls.
As the pins are knocked off into the gutters, or the pit, the pin boy
picks them up and lays them flat on their sides into the pockets at the
top of the machine. When a “frame” is rolled those pins standing on the
alley remain there and the machine is lowered by a balance weight
controlled by a lever. As it descends the pins are automatically set on
end, and when they rest on the spots on the alley the machine releases
them and springs up to its original position.
Wooden balls for bowling were never satisfactory. They wore out too
easily and never retained perfect rotundity. Fortunes were spent in
experimenting with other materials until at last the famous “mineralite”
ball was perfected.
Its composition is a trade secret, but its chief ingredient is rubber.
First the composition is rolled into sheets. These are then molded and
later vulcanized, being subject to terrific pressure. The balls are then
smoothed and polished.
As it is impossible to make a perfectly round ball and have the weight
equally distributed, the ball can not roll true; an ingenious device
overcomes the difficulty. The ball is set in a basin of mercury, where
it floats. Naturally, the heavier side of the ball swings to the bottom.
On the top, diametrically opposite to the center of weight, a chalk mark
is placed on the ball and it is then lifted out of the mercury.
Diametrically opposite to the chalk mark a small hole is punched into
the ball to indicate the weightiest point. Directly beneath this is
stamped the trademark of the firm.
Having ascertained the proper distance apart the finger holes are to be
bored, the ball is weighed to determine the excess of its proposed
weight when finished.
The holes are then machine bored at the respective points, sufficiently
deep to reduce the weight to exact specifications.
* * * * *
How are Artificial Precious Stones Made?
The art of manufacturing gems synthetically, that is, by the combination
of chemical elements present in the real stone, has reached a high
degree of success.
The diamond, which is an allotropic form of carbon, has hitherto
resisted attempts to reproduce it of sufficient size to have a
commercial value. By dissolving carbon in molten iron and suddenly
cooling the molten mass by a stream of water, whereupon the outer part
contracts with great force and compresses the interior so that the
carbon separates out, Moissan, the French chemist, succeeded in
isolating small crystals, none, however, as large as one-twenty-fifth of
an inch in diameter.
Experiments in the manufacture of the ruby have met with such success
that the synthetic ruby is produced of a size and of a perfection that
would place a prohibitive value on the natural stone. The ruby,
chemically considered, is crystallized alumina, or oxide of aluminum,
with a small percentage of oxide of chromium.
Sapphire is of the same material, differing from the ruby only in color.
The ruby owes its fine red color to the presence of oxide of chromium;
the sapphire its deep blue to either a lower oxide of chromium or to an
oxide of titanium.
Crystallized alumina in the different colors receives different trade
names, as Oriental emerald for the green; Oriental topaz for the yellow;
Oriental amethyst for the purple; while the water-clear, colorless
crystal is known as white sapphire.
The process of manufacture of rubies is carried on with the oxyhydrogen
blow-pipe, to whose intense heat the powdered alumina with its coloring
oxides is subjected. Rubies have been thus produced weighing twelve to
fifteen carats when cut. The average weight of the native Burmese ruby
is about one-eighth of a carat. The sapphire and the so-called Oriental
stones are prepared in the same manner, with the addition of proper
coloring matter.
The emerald and opal have not emerged from the experimental stage,
although Becquerel, a French chemist, is reported to have produced opals
from solutions of silicates with high-tension electric currents.
To be distinguished from synthetic gems are reconstructed stones, which
(as yet only done with the ruby) are pieces of the natural stone fused
together. They are very brittle.
The pearl is not produced synthetically, but many imitations exist. The
Japanese produce them by fastening a piece of mother-of-pearl in the
shells of the pearl-oyster and allowing it to remain there for a number
of years.
The turquoise, a phosphate of aluminum colored with copper, is not
synthetically produced, although various experiments with its
manufacture have been made.
[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of The Philadelphia Museum._