Tether-ball.

(Application filed Feb. 5, 1900.1

<img file="US660787A_D0001.tif" />

<img file="US660787A_D0002.tif" />

Witnesses:

<img file="US660787A_D0003.tif" />

<img file="US660787A_D0004.tif" />

<img file="US660787A_D0005.tif" />

THE NORAIS PETERS CO . PHOTO-LITHO . WASHINGTON, O. C.

United States Patent Office.

LOUISE BISSELL, OF ARLINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TETHER-BALL.

SPECIFICATION forming· part of Letters Patent No. 660,787, dated October 30, 1900.

Application filed February'5,1900. Serial No. 3,980. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Louise Bissell, of Arlington, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new 5 and useful Improvements in Tether-Ball, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the construction of the ball employed in the game known as “tether-ball.” Its object is to prevent injury io to the racket or other implement with which the ball is struck.

The invention consists in the improvements which I shall now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a tether-ball embodying my improvement. Fig. 2 represents an enlarged side elevation of the upper part of the cover and ring with parts broken 20 away.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in both the figures.

The ball commonly employed in apparatus of this kind is constructed with a resilient 25 body or center, such as an ordinary tennis or rubber ball, surrounded by a sheath, bag, or covering of woven, netted, crocheted, or knitted material, with a ring at the top, to which the cord suspending the ball is attached, said 30 ring being commonly made of metal. The tendency of a metal or other hard ring is to injure the racket or other instrument with which the ball is struck. To overcome this objectionable feature in a tether-ball I propose 35 to attach to the cover a soft ring, which will , have no tendency to injure the instrument which strikes the ball.

In the drawings, 1 designates a tether-ball | composed, as herein shown, of a rubber ball or other resilient body 2, a cover or holder 3 40 surrounding the ball 2 and made of fibrous material, such as cord or thread, crocheted, woven, knitted, or netted in any suitable pat• tern, and a soft ring or loop 4, the surface of which is formed by a continuation of the 45 thread or threads making up the cover 3. The body of the ring 4 may be made of thread or cord, wound concentrically to form an annular core 5. The ring is thus made of sufficient stiffness to retain its shape and is at the 50 same time soft-surfaced and flexible or pliable, so as to yield to the blows of the racket when struck instead of offering a hard surface or obstruction tending to abrade or break the strings, of the racket or injure the hoop there- 55 of. The ring is at the same time firmly attached to the cover 3, and the two may be continuously formed by any well-known crocheting, weaving, knitting, or netting process.