Untitled record

Application filed August 10,1893.: Serial No. 482,807. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Charles C. Moore, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and 5 State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Chess and Checker Boards, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a io chess or checkerboard which may be arranged for various modifications of these games and also, for two, three or four players, and to this end my invention consists of a chess or checker board made in sections with attachable 15 wings to multiply the number of squares according to the game to be played and to the number of players, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings to which ref20 erence is made—Figure 1 is a plan view of my new chess or checker board, the parts thereof being put together for use. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken on line x x of Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the 2 5 parts of the board separated to show the construction. Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the intermediate sheets. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the other intermediate sheet. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the entire board for four hand 30 chess or checkers. Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation taken on line y y of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a plan view of one of the wings separate from the main board.

A represents a chess or checker board hav33 ing the usual number of sixty-foursquares— eight in each direction. The board is formed of two sections a a', the section a being formed with a tongue a.³ while the section a'is formed with a recess a³ to receive said tongue, so that 40 the two sections may be readily put together by slipping the tongue into the recess, as shown in Fig. 1, or as readily taken apart as shown in Fig. 2, and placed one upon the other for convenience in packing away in 45 small space. The outer edges of the section a are each formed with a recess marked respectively b b’ b² and the section a’ is likewise formed at its outer edges with recesses c c' c² to receive and hold the wings B C D E 50 shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, which are formed respectively with tongues cf (/and h to fit in said recesses.

The main board A is by preference formed of two sheetsof straw board ij, or other suitable material, and the interposed intermedi- 55 ate plates F, G, each cut to the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and placed between the upper and lower boards and the whole securely glued together. The intermediate plate F is shaped as shown in Fig. 4, to form the tongue 60 a² and cut away at the outer edge as shown at/' to form the recess b, and also at the ends as at/²/² to form the end recesses b’ b². The intermediate plate Gis cut away at front and back as shown at g' g² to form the recesses a 65 and c and at the ends as shown at g^s g to form the recesses c' c². The outer board zj may be covered with cloth, leather, leatherette, or other suitable material.

The detachable wings B, C, D, E, are du- 70 plicatesbf each other, each formed by preference of two pieces of straw board with an intermediate piece shaped to form the tongue to fit in the recesses as shown clearly in Fig. 7 and each wing is marked to form four rows 75 of eight squares each.

In the arrangement of the board as shown in Fig. 6 (which is for four-hand chess or checkers) it will be seen that four rows of eight squares each are added to each side of 80 the usual chess or checker board, the whole being in the form of a Greek cross, with a total number of one hundred and ninety-two squares. For a three hand game one of. the side wings will be removed, thus leaving a 85 board of one hundred and sixty squares. By removing two of the wings, say B and D, a board is produced for two-hand chess or checkers, with one hundred and twenty-eight squares. With the latter adjustment either 90 game is played with the usual moves, but the games assume very different complications from those on the ordinary board, particularly in the game of checkers, so that the checker expert has little or no advantage over 95 a player who has not mathematically figured out and committed to memory all the various openings and moves which may be adopted in the old game.

In playing four-hand chess, each player s 10c set of men are placed in the usual way and the pieces have their usual value, and move all over the board in the same manner as in the ordinary game, save that the pawns after

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511,306 being advanced to the fifth row move one square at a time, laterally as well as forward. In three-hand chess the placing of the men and their movements are the same as in four 5 hand, the pawns, of course, being privileged to move laterally into the wing.

In playing the three or four hand game of checkers, the four sets of men are set in the wings in the usual relation and the men of io either of the players having been moved out of their respective wings on reaching the fifth row may move diagonally either to the right or left or zig zag in both directions, but no man can be moved backward to a square 15 which he has once occupied. When any man has reached the king’s row iu any one of the wings, he has the power of movement in any direction, the same as in the ordinary game.