A billiard table or billiards table (or more specifically a pool table or snooker table) is a bounded table on which billiards-type games are played. A table is a form of Furniture composed of a surface supported by a base usually four legs In the modern era, all billiards tables, regardless of whether for carom billiards, pocket billiards (pool) or snooker, provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by resilient cushions, with the whole elevated above the floor. Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole and in some cases used as a synonym for the game of straight rail from Pocket billiards, most commonly referred to as pool, is the general term for a family of games played on a specific class of Billiards table, having 6 receptacles Snooker is a Cue sport that is played on a large Baize -covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long Slate is a fine-grained foliated homogeneous, Metamorphic rock derived from an original Shale -type Sedimentary rock composed of Clay [1]
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History
In the United States, manufacture of billiard tables has been ongoing since at least the mid nineteenth century. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The forerunner of the Brunswick Company began commercial manufacture in 1845. The Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is a United States -based Corporation that has been involved in Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common [2] In San Francisco, California, several manufacturers were active by the late 1800s. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city
Dimensions
Many people are confused by the use of the word "regulation", using it when what they mean to refer to is the size of tables used for professional tournaments. Regulation tables come in 3. 5 ft by 7 ft, 4 ft by 8 ft, 4. 5 ft by 9 ft, 5 ft by 10 ft, and 6 ft by 12 ft (depending upon factors such as available room in the venue, and what game type the table is intended for) with play areas twice as long as they are wide (plus or minus 1/8 in) from the nose of the cushion to the nose of the opposite cushion, i. e. , perfect or close to perfect rectangles. The 4. 5 ft by 9 ft model is the standard size for tournament play and is "regulation" when the side to side internal width is 50 in and the length is 100 in (plus or minus 1/8 in), when measured cushion nose to cushion nose. In previous generations 10 ft tables were standard for pool, and can still be found as antiques in some pool halls; this size remains the standard for carom games. For home use, 8 ft tables are somewhat common, but infrequently used elsewhere. Snooker tables, the largest at 12 feet when full-sized, have smaller pocket aperatures than pool tables, as do models for Russian pyramid. Snooker is a Cue sport that is played on a large Baize -covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long The 7 ft models, usually coin-operated, are typically found in bars/pubs due to limited space, and are also used for the Korean game of four ball. A bar (also called a Pub or Tavern) is a business that serves drinks especially Alcoholic beverages such as beer liquor and mixed drinks for consumption Four-ball is a Carom billiards game The game is played on a pocketless table with four balls usually one light red one dark red and two white Coin-operated pool tables use multiple ways to determine the cue ball from the object balls, including light sensors, different ball sizes/weights, or magnetic triggers.
While most tables are rectangles, there are novelty tables which are round, hexagonal and even zig-zag shaped. These variants, however, are all far less popular than the ubiquitous, traditional rectangular tables.
Parts and equipment
Cushions
Cushions (also sometimes called “rails”, “rail cushions”, “cushion rubber”, or “bumpers”) are located on the sides of the tables’ rails. There are several different materials and design philosophies associated with cushion rubber. The cushions are made from an elastic material such as vulcanized (gum or synthetic) rubber. Vulcanization (or Vulcanisation refers to a specific curing process of Rubber involving high heat and the addition of Sulfur or other equivalent curatives The chiefly American jargon "rail" more properly applies to the wooded outer segments of the table to which the cushions are affixed.
The purpose of the cushion rubber is to cause the billiard balls to rebound off the rubber while minimizing the loss of kinetic energy. Billiard balls are used in Cue sports, such as Carom billiards, pool, and Snooker. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra Energy which it possesses due to its motion
The profile of the rail cushion, which is the cushion's angle in relation to the bed of the table, varies between table types. The standard on American pool tables is the K-66 profile, which as defined by the BCA has a base of 1-3/16 inches and a nose height of 1 inch [1]. The Billiard Congress of America is a governing body for Cue sports in the United States. This causes the balls' rebound to be somewhat predictable during game play.
On a carom table, the K-55 profile is used (with a somewhat sharper angle than pool cushions). K-55 cushions have cloth, usually canvas, vulcanized into the top of the rubber to adjust rebound accuracy and speed [2].
Finally, snooker tables use the K-66 profile, like pool tables, but the cushion is an "L" shape. This is mostly because snooker uses balls of a smaller diameter and smaller pocket entrances than does pool.
Cloth
Billiard cloth (sometimes erroneously called felt) is a specific type of cloth that covers the top of the table's "playing area". Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting condensing and pressing fibers Both the rails and slate beds are covered with 21-24 ounce billiard cloth (although some less expensive 19oz cloths are available) which is most often green in color (representing the grass of the original lawn games that billiards evolved from), and consists of either a woven wool or wool/nylon blend called baize. Green is a Color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a Wavelength of roughly 520–570- nm. Wool is the fiber derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles of animals in the Caprinae family principally sheep, but the hair of certain species Overview Nylon is a Thermoplastic silky material first used commercially in a nylon- Bristled Toothbrush (1938 followed more famously by Baize is a coarse Woollen (or in cheaper variants Cotton) Cloth, sometimes called " Felt " in American English based on a
Most bar tables, which get lots of play, use the slower, thicker blended cloth because it can better withstand heavy usage. This type of cloth is called a woolen cloth. Woollen ( American English: woolen) is the name of a Yarn and Cloth usually made from Wool. By contrast, high quality pool cloth is usually made of a napless weave such as worsted wool, which gives a much faster roll to the balls. Worsted (pronunciation) is the name of a Yarn, the Cloth made from this yarn and a yarn weight category This "speed" of the cloth affects the amounts of swerve and deflection of the balls, among other aspects of game finesse. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles Snooker cloth traditionally has a directional nap, upon which the balls behave differently when rolling against vs. toward the direction of the nap. Primarily nap is the raised (fuzzy surface on certain kinds of cloth, such as Velvet.
Carom billiards tables
Pocketless carom billiards tables are used for such games as three-cushion billiards, straight rail, balkline, artistic billiards and cushion caroms. Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole and in some cases used as a synonym for the game of straight rail from Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole and in some cases used as a synonym for the game of straight rail from Balkline (sometimes spelled balk line)is the overarching title of a large array of Carom billiards games generally played with two and a third red, on a -covered Balkline (sometimes spelled balk line)is the overarching title of a large array of Carom billiards games generally played with two and a third red, on a -covered Artistic billiards, sometimes called fantasy billiards or fantaisie classique, is a Carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 Cushion caroms (or cushion carom billiards) sometimes called by its original name the indirect game, is a Carom billiards discipline generally played on Regulation carom billiards tables are rectangles, with the bed of the table (the playing surface) measuring 10 feet by 5 feet (though 9 ft by 4. 5 ft are increasingly common).
The slate bed of carom billiard tables are often heated to about 5 degrees C (9 deg F) above room temperature, which helps to keep moisture out of the cloth to aid the balls rolling and rebounding in a consistent manner, and generally makes a table play faster. Slate is a fine-grained foliated homogeneous, Metamorphic rock derived from an original Shale -type Sedimentary rock composed of Clay Room temperature (also referred to as ambient temperature) is a common term to denote a certain Temperature within enclosed space at which humans are accustomed A heated table is required under international carom rules and is an especially important requirement for the games of three-cushion billiards and artistic billiards. [1]
Heating table beds is an old practice. Queen Victoria of England (1819-1901) had a billard table that was heated using zinc tubes, although the aim at that time was chiefly to keep the then-used ivory balls from warping. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Zinc (ˈzɪŋk from Zink is a Metallic Chemical element with the symbol Zn and Atomic number 30 Ivory is formed from Dentine and constitutes the bulk of the Teeth and Tusks of animals such as the Elephant, Hippopotamus, The first use of electric heating was for an 18. 2 balkline tournament held in December 1927 between Welker Cochran and Jacob Schaefer, Jr. The New York Times announced it with fanfare: "For the first time in the history of world's championship balkline billiards a heated table will be used. Welker Cochran ( October 7, 1897 &ndash July 26, 1960) was an American professional Carom billiards player who won world Jacob (Jake Schaefer Jr ( October 18, 1894, Chicago, Illinois, U . . "[1][3]
Pocket billiards (pool) tables
Pocket billiards tables, sometimes called pool tables, are specific to the various pool games such as eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool and one-pocket. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles Pocket billiards, most commonly referred to as pool, is the general term for a family of games played on a specific class of Billiards table, having 6 receptacles Eight-ball, sometimes called stripes and solids and more rarely bigs and littles or highs and lows, is a Pocket billiards (pool game popular Nine-ball is a contemporary pocket billiards (pool game with historical beginnings rooted in the United States and traceable to the 1920s Straight pool, also called 141 continuous or simply 141, is a Pocket billiards game and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken One-pocket is a two-player (or -team Pocket billiards (pool game As the name implies, pocket billiards tables have pockets; normally six of them – one at each corner of the table (corner pockets) and one at the midpoint of each of the longer sides (side pockets). TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles
Pockets, usually rimmed with leather or plastic, may have leather bags to catch the balls, common in home billiard rooms and pool halls, or (most commonly in the coin-operated tables found regularly in bars/pubs) may lead to ball-return troughs inside the table, which channel the balls into a collection chamber on one side of the table (or, in non-coin-op models, on the racking end of the table). A billiard room (also billiards room, pool room, snooker room) is a Recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center with a billiards A billiard[s], pool or snooker hall (or parlo[u]r or room) (sometimes written poolhall, snookerhall
"Pocket" can be used as a verb, meaning to send a ball into a pocket (as in, "He pocketed the 8 ball by accident. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles ")
Snooker tables
A billiard table designed for the game snooker is called a snooker table. Snooker is a Cue sport that is played on a large Baize -covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long
Dimensions
A standard tournament snooker table measures 9 ft 5 in by 5 ft 10 in (2895. 6 mm by 1554. 48 mm), though commonly referred to as 9 ft by 5 ft. . The height from the floor to the top of the cushion is between 2 ft 9. 5 in and 2 ft 10. 5 in (851 mm and 876 mm).
Pockets
A snooker table has six pockets, one at each corner and one at the center of each of the longest side cushions. The pockets are around 90 mm (3. 5 in), though high-class tournaments may use slightly smaller pockets to increase difficulty. The amount of "undercut" in the pocket determines how easily a ball is accepted. Compared to a billiards table, snooker table pockets are rounded, while pool tables have sharp corners. This affects how accurate shots need to be to get in a pocket and on rail shots from one end of the table to the other.
Cushions
The cushions (sometimes known as rails, though that term properly applies to the wood sections the cushions are attached to) are usually made of vulcanized rubber. Vulcanization (or Vulcanisation refers to a specific curing process of Rubber involving high heat and the addition of Sulfur or other equivalent curatives
The bed
The playing surface or "bed" of a good quality snooker table has a base of slate and is covered with green baize or worsted wool. Slate is a fine-grained foliated homogeneous, Metamorphic rock derived from an original Shale -type Sedimentary rock composed of Clay Baize is a coarse Woollen (or in cheaper variants Cotton) Cloth, sometimes called " Felt " in American English based on a Worsted (pronunciation) is the name of a Yarn, the Cloth made from this yarn and a yarn weight category The thickness of the cloth determines the speed, accuracy and responsiveness of the table to spin, thicker cloths being more hard-wearing but slower and less responsive. The nap of the cloth can affect the run of the balls, especially on slower shots. A snooker table traditionally has the nap running from baulk to the top end and is brushed and ironed in this direction.
Markings
The baulk area is marked by a line drawn at 29 in (737 mm) from the bottom cushion. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles A semicircle with a radius of 11. 5 in (292 mm) centred on this line within baulk forms the "D" in which the cue ball must be placed when breaking or after the cue ball has been potted or shot off the table. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles The position of four of the colours are marked along the long string (lengthwise centre) of the table, perpendicular to the baulk line: the spot, or black spot, 12. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles 5 in (324 mm) from the top cushion; the centre spot, or blue spot, located at the mid-point between the bottom and top cushions; The pyramid spot, or pink spot, located midway between the centre spot and the top cushion; and the brown spot, located at the mid-point of the baulk line. TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles TemplateCuegloss will have to be hacked to support multi-page articles The exact placing of these markings will be different on smaller tables, such as a 5 ft by 10 ft pub table.
References
- ^ a b c Shamos, Michael Ian (1993). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Billiards. New York, NY: Lyons & Burford, Pages 115, 238. The City of New York
- ^ History of the Brunswick Company
- ^ New York Times Company (December 16, 1927). To Heat Table for First Time In World Title Billiard Match. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
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