The Statman for mastermind!

[PaulTheSoave]

No problem! I will be honoured to buy you a couple of Jars!

btw Paul. Have added a pic of my ugly mug in the gallery, so when you see me walk in The Monk, you can buy me a pint of lager.

[Cyril]

Good man !

[100-uper]

BALLS
"Bonzoline" were one of the early makes of composition balls.

My records tell me the following:

Wooden balls were used before 1820.
Ivory balls were then used for the next century.
Composite balls were first marketed in Britain in 1901.
The most well know composition ball, the "crystalite" came about in 1909.
Ivories were phased out of all competitions by the 1930's.
The "Super Crystalite" ball, a much lighter ball, was introduced in 1972 and is still used today.

Ah, balls! An interesting subject indeed. People say I talk about nothing else. Timelines are a bit variable here. Take wooden balls. Definitely popular pre-1820 but I have seen kits designed to convert dining tables which included sets of full-sized wooden balls and these can be dated to the late 19th century. There was a set of old wooden "snooker" balls on eBay recently (sold for £23) which the vendor dated as early 20th century, and he probably wasn't far out.

Composition balls have been around for longer than many people think. In 1865 a prize of $10,000 was offered in the USA for the first person to make a synthetic billiard ball. John Wesley Hyatt (Albany, New York) patented his composition ball on 10th October 1865 and won the prize in 1868. The ball was made from Cellulose Nitrate Camphor & ground animal bone. His earlier attempts involved shellacking a paper pulp sphere and a ball made from layers of cloth. This is fairly typical of early attempts of making a synthetic ball which only really established themselves as the cost of ivory started to increase dramatically at the end of the 19th century. Hyatt's ball was later marketed as "Bonzoline" and first references appeared in England about 1890. This type of ball was made popular by John Roberts, the recognised champion at this time, who played with them exclusively when all other professionals used ivory. His brother Charles had a simple test for these balls. He wrote: "I used to drop composition balls from the top window at Heddon Street (and as this was a back street it could be safely done), a height of forty to fifty feet, on to the pavement below, to see if they would break." Those which survived where presumably used by Roberts.

Crystalate balls first appeared in 1902 and were of English manufacture, being made by the Endolithic Manufacturing Co., London. They amalgamated with the Bonzoline Manufacturing Co. in 1913 and became the Composition Billiard Ball Supply Co. Ltd. which continued until they sold their interest to Saluc in 1988.

[Cyril]

Thank you, 100 upper. Load of balls, eh? lol