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Post by specialone on Dec 22, 2012 10:31:17 GMT
Last night I was talking to a young fella, whom when younger had a Bar Bills table. He asked me if
I knew why the length of the game was 19 minutes when it first started. I told him I did not. According
to him, the original timers where adapted from WW2 bomb timers and that these timers had a maximum
delay of 19 minutes. Can anyone confirm or debunk this one. Like this theory as the old timers ''Tick' like a bomb.
Regards
Shaun
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Post by Chris_Sav on Dec 22, 2012 11:02:27 GMT
The original timers came from the mid thirties, prior to WW2 so myth I am afraid.
The early ones were a straight import of the existing French timers from the Billard Russe tables which had been around for many years. You can spot the difference by the size of the diamond pattern, the very small diamond pattern are French clocks and the bigger diamomd pattern are subsequent English made
Sav
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2012 21:29:55 GMT
Urban Myth in the wording as presented, but the story could contain a modicum of truth, in that it may be the other way round !
As Sav says, the early timers were French, 1930s or before, and are engraved "Brevete S.G.D.G." - which in my ignorance I thought was a maker's mark.
The phrase "Brevete San Garantie Du Governement" simply means "Patent without the Government guarantee".
The patent being for the timer with that particular escapement movement, which could have been adapted for use in bombs in WWII.
The one on my table is an early French (or Belgian) one with an additional label "A.Basile". I have found a Monsieur Basile who matches that era by surfing the net, and he was a Belgian barrel-organ maker. :o
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